I don't want to sound rude but I already have a number of budget buds that (IMO) are better than those three. My Kubes are on the way and I was hoping they would be better as well, without modding. Am I missing something?
Well what I meant was it has aspects of all 3 In stock form but I definitely prefer them modded. Like it's enough of an upgrade that I'm going to mod the second pair tomorrow and they will probably become my go to earbuds for a non analytical pure enjoyment listening.
The stock sound is nice and all but it just sounds more to my preference after the mods. Bass was deeper, mids fuller and more open staging. I wish i could measure them tbh, to see if it aligns with what im hearing.
Because the mod literally involed opening up the shell quite a bit, and dampening the open parts to tune the amount of airflow, ill snap a quick picture to show what I mean, but the tuning inside involved quite a bit of tinkering to get the right tonality for use without foams.
As you can see there's an extra vent on each side at the bottom and one at the top. As well as a bass port with a piece of foam in it to adjust it slightly that you cannot see.
For tuning I was going for one thing, making them sound BIG and musical. These things put out impressive stage width with good imaging in the mids when tuned right, vocals sounded phenomenal.
They sound much more cuppy/and a little hollow without the extra venting. Clarity was not effected by opening the shell up as long as i use the right filters inside.
Anywho I'm sure you'll like it stock, but I thought it was a good candidate to go foamless with because it was bassy and the treble was just right without foams, it became a little too smoothed and duller with foams tbh.
The white pair i have actually doesn't have the same peak at 5khz as the blue, so ill mod that one tomorrow and hopefully get even better results.
These are probably the best $8 I spent on earbuds tbh, usually even the best budget buds sound like earbuds, these are different beasts as the sound really fills out the soundstage and the lows extend well, and actually so do the highs, they just aren't over done.