[doggiemom]

Been catching up on reading here, so sorry for quoting these old posts. I've been in mourning: I went to an overnight work meeting, and left my VUNBUDS in the hotel.

The mk2 is custom order through willsound on facebook. He's a niche seller so he operates through fb and can ship internationally to around the world.

If you want a stock build of a Wilsound bud, the shipping (at least to the US) is cheaper if ordered through Rholupat: http://www.rholupat.com/custom-earphone The MK2 with VJC is really nice. I spend too much darn money on that site....... I've been eyeing the Kanzenoka bundles all weekend (especially the blue one), but can't bring myself to pull the trigger.

If you have a good desktop amp earbuds with high impedance earbuds sound more like full sized headphones

Agreed. When I don't want to mess around with the computer, multiple components and full sized cans, my go to setup is DAP (Hiby R6 or KANN) > Cavalli Liquid Carbon X > ZoomFred. I'm listening to it now.

Can anyone compare ty hi z hp650 to k's samsara, or seahf f400s, been eyeballing them for a year and getting really tempted

Those are pretty different buds, IMHO. I haven't heard the HP650s, but I have TY Hi-Z 150s and TY Hi-Z 32ohm and honestly hate them both. The TY tuning is way too bright for me. The Samsara is bassy and full sounding, and not bright. Haven't heard the Seahf you mentioned.

But which one? I found k's 500 k's 500 samsara, k's 600, k's 300. This is a mess. Ty line is easy to pick. I have many k's in my basket but I don't know which one to choose.

Thanks, wskl for finding that link.

 

[Daegalus]

So I finally had time to run another test of the X6, RW-9, the MX365, and the MEMT T5.

First X6 vs RW-9. In my previous post I mentioned how i could barely tell the difference. Now that I plugged it in to my FIIO BTR3, with a splitter and compared side by side. I do have to say the RW-9 is superior all around. Smoother, slightly cleaner soundstage, slightly better instrument separation. The X6 is no slouch, they are still very close, but the X6 sounds more raw compared the the RW-9's smoothness and cleanliness. I Definitely see why its preferred. But it takes a bit of power to really showcase the difference. They are super close to my ears.

When I went back and tried my MX365s from Sennheiser, they are absolute trash in comparison to the previous 2. It just didn't sound good.

I am really intrigued by the Semi-in-ear style, so I jumped for the MEMT T5. It sounded pretty great, but their Highs are so crystal clear and present, that it triggered a different problem. I normally can't handle lots og highs. I preferred the rolled off/veiled approach as too much highs makes my ears fatigued fast. Its why I tend to prefer Warm setups. Well the T5s had AMAZING highs, really clear, great seperation, very forward. I listened to Enter Sandman, and for the first time I heard those cymbals in the back like I was standing right next to them. But this is a problem for me as its something I am very not used to, and kinda messed with the music for me. So very good stuff, just not my preferred tuning. I might be able to EQ it down, but I don't want to deal with EQ profiles.

I also tested the MEMT X5s and the Einsear T2, but those are IEMs and not part of this thread.

RW-9s are now my main daily driver. Until I find something better or an SIEM thats similar.

Also question to others, how does the donut foams change the sound of the earbuds?

 

[HungryPanda]

@doggiemom sorry to hear about your vunbuds, I take it you called the hotel

 

[Marcos Fontana]

No problem. Vido is a good one to test with. Keep in mind you have to counter the amount of airflow change by using slightly more dampening behind the driver and/or using thinner foams if the sound becomes too bassy/warm.

Ty for the information. Did you buy some shells and drivers from Ali? Do you have good ones that you could share? I'm really intererested in tuning too.

 

[jogawag]

Also question to others, how does the donut foams change the sound of the earbuds?

Generally, donut foams is used when you want to boost the bass while leaving treble.
Or only just for adjusting the size of the face of speaker...

 

[rkw]

What will be the best match/synergy to Radsone Es100 in price ranges 20$, 50$ and 100$ ?

Your first priority should be to choose earbuds according to your preferred sound character, not how it matches with the ES100. In my experience, almost any earbud will match fine with the ES100, which is very versatile and neutral, and certainly delivers more than enough power for any earbud. The only thing I would mention is that when selecting earbuds, don't forget with the ES100 you have the option of choosing balanced 2.5mm cables.

 

[seanc6441]

Ty for the information. Did you buy some shells and drivers from Ali? Do you have good ones that you could share? I'm really intererested in tuning too.

Chitty store and yuming store on aliexpress are good places to look for diy drivers. Many are 150-600ohm and some lower.

I cannot say for sure which are the best, the 400ohm I bought was only tested briefly and it sounds neutral-smooth.

I usually just mod my budget earbuds like RY4S, Vido, Emx500, mx760 graphene, monk plus etc. Because I know the stock sound and can experiment to see if I can improve it slightly.

So far the kube is the biggest improvement when modded, r4ys and vido can be improved too IMO. All three of those buds benefit from mods.

 

[McCol]

Ordered the Koss KDE250 tonight on Massdrop, $60 seemed a reasonable price.

 

[waynes world]

So I finally had time to run another test of the X6, RW-9, the MX365, and the MEMT T5.

First X6 vs RW-9. In my previous post I mentioned how i could barely tell the difference. Now that I plugged it in to my FIIO BTR3, with a splitter and compared side by side. I do have to say the RW-9 is superior all around. Smoother, slightly cleaner soundstage, slightly better instrument separation. The X6 is no slouch, they are still very close, but the X6 sounds more raw compared the the RW-9's smoothness and cleanliness. I Definitely see why its preferred. But it takes a bit of power to really showcase the difference. They are super close to my ears.

When I went back and tried my MX365s from Sennheiser, they are absolute trash in comparison to the previous 2. It just didn't sound good.

I am really intrigued by the Semi-in-ear style, so I jumped for the MEMT T5. It sounded pretty great, but their Highs are so crystal clear and present, that it triggered a different problem. I normally can't handle lots og highs. I preferred the rolled off/veiled approach as too much highs makes my ears fatigued fast. Its why I tend to prefer Warm setups. Well the T5s had AMAZING highs, really clear, great seperation, very forward. I listened to Enter Sandman, and for the first time I heard those cymbals in the back like I was standing right next to them. But this is a problem for me as its something I am very not used to, and kinda messed with the music for me. So very good stuff, just not my preferred tuning. I might be able to EQ it down, but I don't want to deal with EQ profiles.

I also tested the MEMT X5s and the Einsear T2, but those are IEMs and not part of this thread.

RW-9s are now my main daily driver. Until I find something better or an SIEM thats similar.

Also question to others, how does the donut foams change the sound of the earbuds?

Thanks for the update, and for sharing the RW-9 love. They have become my mainly drivers lately as well.

Your first priority should be to choose earbuds according to your preferred sound character, not how it matches with the ES100. In my experience, almost any earbud will match fine with the ES100, which is very versatile and neutral, and certainly delivers more than enough power for any earbud. The only thing I would mention is that when selecting earbuds, don't forget with the ES100 you have the option of choosing balanced 2.5mm cables.

+1 to all of that!

 

[jibberish]

I've had the Toneking TO400 for about a week and a half now, and I will note that I'm pretty unimpressed so far. Shouty mids, tinny treble that's missing detail, poor soundstage, no sense of layering or separation of instruments. I keep burning them in while using other gear and checking in on them, but not really seeing a difference. I thought that I've got source gear that should be up to the task (ES100, Topping NX1s, a behemoth mid 90s Pioneer receiver), but I dunno, maybe not?

They do appear to be properly in phase, and I've swapped out the cable with a couple different mmcx cables to rule that out, no difference.

My impression so far is that RW-9 and Willsound MK2 are far superior, but don't want to give up on these too soon.

 

[purplesun]

Shouty mids, tinny treble that's missing detail, poor soundstage, no sense of layering or separation of instruments.
They do appear to be properly in phase, and I've swapped out the cable with a couple different mmcx cables to rule that out, no difference.

Could still be wired out-of-phase after the MMCX connector. Though the sound stage should then be unnaturally huge.

 

[Marcos Fontana]

Ordered the Koss KDE250 tonight on Massdrop, $60 seemed a reasonable price.

I got mine. Ty for share!

 

[rkw]

I've had the Toneking TO400 for about a week and a half now, and I will note that I'm pretty unimpressed so far. Shouty mids, tinny treble that's missing detail, poor soundstage, no sense of layering or separation of instruments.

The TO400 didn't work out for me. I found them bright sounding and lacking in bass. People who also have the TO200 seem to prefer it over the TO400.

 

[seanc6441]

The TO400 didn't work out for me. I found them bright sounding and lacking in bass. People who also have the TO200 seem to prefer it over the TO400.

To600 is superior also IMO. But i didn't find the to400s dreadful or anything, just lacking in bass. The 600 is more well rounded and consistent in the mid-highs too, but I didn't find the t0400s poor in that area, if not a little clinical-dry and slightly emphasising deep vocals over the upper vocal range.

Only downside of this design is of course it's not going to have the largest soundstage as it's mostly closed back. Luckily the separation is good and it's narrow-ish staging and refined FR presents a lot of detail whilst the smooth FR keeps it from getting fatiguing.

Probably the best toneking earbud I've heard to date. If they could keep that signature in an open design and add slightly more bass extension so it hits a little deeper (not bad by any means in that regard though). I'd call it a true TOTL level earbud. As is it's very good for certain genres and moods but not excelling at others.

 

[Degru]

I've been considering a pair of higher end earbuds, and the Shozy BK seems more and more like the thing I would like: detailed and smooth natural/neutral sound signature. However, it's hard to find comparisons to things I've tried. My benchmark for detail atm is HD600, and I can't seem to find any concrete comparisons of tonality and detail to HD600. How would the Stardust compare?

The only earbuds I've had time with are Monks and Yincrow X6/Vido-with-thicc-foams, and both weren't very convincing on detail, though the X6 improved significantly with an EQ to reduce the 4k mountain.

I actually did order a Shozy BK from Amazon once, but I apparently got a broken pair; even with the foams it sounded extremely thin and shrill no matter how I put it in, so I just sent it back.