[furyossa]

True, 2020 is indeed the year of the beryllium hypetrain in CHIFI. Though, I have a sneaky suspicion that for some of these budget beryllium sets, the CHIFI companies may be using this material as a marketing gimmick to stand out from the fierce competition at that price range.

The official DUNU folks here on headfi made some interesting comments about the lining/material of drivers for beryllium: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-discovery-thread.586909/page-2968#post-15288735
"The PVD layer has to be thick enough and the microscopic grain pattern has to be regular enough to confer that pistonic motion beryllium is so famous for. That's why our sub-$100 products (DM-380 and DM-480) are still titanium drivers. Even the TITAN 6, at $139, is only coated on one side."

DUNU says they have difficulty implementing this Beryllium coating in their sub $100 USD gear. And we already see unit variation in macroscopic areas in budget CHIFI in terms of sound and build, so I'm not confident that some of these fly by night CHIFI budget IEMs/earbuds can ensure good QC for all their units when it comes to microscopic application of beryllium in the proper layering. For all we know they are just sprinkling a few flakes of certain coatings on their drivers instead of uniformly applying it in the prescribed quantities to truly be effective. In fact if one coats it wrongly, it may possibly make the driver sound worse by affecting its physical properties. There was also a BGVP DN2 saga recently where the company purported to use beryllium drivers, but someone opened the shell and proved it was a fake claim (BGVP had to withdraw the product). Though who knows, maybe with economies of scale and the evolution of CHIFI and cheap labour/materials in China, maybe these budget CHIFI companies can still turn a profit with these coatings that are implemented professionally.

That's why I was a bit surprised the TMusic Beryllium earbud can be sold at $11 USD!

I agree with your statement. All these cheap "Bery" drivers use probably one-side coat. This layer increases the stiffness of the diaphragm and certainly gives better sound characteristics compared to the usual PU diaphragm, of course this also applies to other coatings and not just beryllium. We also have the case with PK1 150ohm "red film" driver where this red filling is actually a kind of elastic gel that increases the mass of the diaphragm and reduces the ripple-like deformations (reducing distortion).That's why PK1 has more refined sound than PK2.
Branded companies certainly have better technology and spend more time for testing and tuning. It's difficult to compare their drivers with mass-produced aka "savage" drivers.
I’m not saying the "savage" drivers are bad, but they definitely lag behind in terms of sound clarity and resolution. These drivers are good for DIY experimentation, they have a noticeable difference when it comes to different coatings (Ti, graphene, beryllium etc) which is good. Also, they are 100% better than any branded consumer model that is sold at the same price.
I honestly don't think it's bad when pre-assembled models of DIY parts are sold like let's say Openheart, FENGRU etc. That way anyone who doesn't want to assemble their own models or has no experience with it, can try these cheaper solutions that really sound good. Of course the risk always exists due to the lack of quality control.
But what is really sad and rude is when someone from well-known branded manufacturers uses these cheap parts and tries to sell them at a great price
For me they all instantly lose respect

 

[furyossa]

How about the FiiO BTR3K for the Smabat? In theory it is intended for a maximum of 100ohm but I have read other opinions saying that it would work well.

Maximum of 100ohm applies to headphones. Earbuds have greater sensitivity and require less power than headphones

 

[The3DCie]

Maximum of 100ohm applies to headphones. Earbuds have greater sensitivity and require less power than headphones

Agree, FWIW I have no problem driving any of buds or IEMs with the (very) low powered Fiio uBTR!

And on the driver type (to avoid another flood of posts...), I must admit that, even if I'm looking at this type of informations from a geek PoV, I really don't care what they are made of as long as they sound good!
But It's easier to say that when you buy almost always cheap stuff, I think I'd be disappointed, to say the least, if I was buying pricier gears supposed to have some exotic material (that would in part explain why they're so expensive), just to discover they are made of standard material...

 

[usergate]

Wrong topic. Removed.

 

[waynes world]

How about the FiiO BTR3K for the Smabat? In theory it is intended for a maximum of 100ohm but I have read other opinions saying that it would work well.

Seems like it will be fine:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/earbuds-round-up.441400/post-16091034

Spoiler

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the...elix-5k-impression-added.906655/post-16093417

Spoiler

 

[povidlo]

@JPardo Btr3k outputs 25mW in single-ended and 78mW in balanced. St-10s Gold will sound decent but nowhere near its capability. You'd want something with at least 250mw imo due to its high impedance. I think Silver version would pair better with your Btr3k.

 

[RikudouGoku]

@JPardo Btr3k outputs 25mW in single-ended and 78mW in balanced. St-10s Gold will sound decent but nowhere near its capability. You'd want something with at least 250mw imo due to its high impedance. I think Silver version would pair better with your Btr3k.

With high resistance, rather than low sensitivity. You want a higher voltage rather than the mw (current). Which is not something portable amps do well since they are powered with batteries.

 

[povidlo]

With high resistance, rather than low sensitivity. You want a higher voltage rather than the mw (current). Which is not something portable amps do well since they are powered with batteries.

How come power output ratings are usually listed vs resistance?

e.g.

 

[RikudouGoku]

How come power output ratings are usually listed vs resistance?

e.g.

Dont really know. Could be because impedances are less random in value than with sensitivity.

 

[The3DCie]

I wear my earbuds in a special way too, with the cord hanging downward as usual, and the speaker side facing forward, pressing against the tragus.
This makes the bass emphasized, so if you're interested, try it this way.

Sorry for the dirty ears in the photo.

I might try that way too, even if I like over the ear wearing, it ensures there is no tension on the cable so the earbuds stay firm in place.
But perhaps should I try wearing the Smabat M2 Pro that way, as it's a No-Go for me over ear? Anyway I am selling it as it seems Smabat earbuds are not for me, despite their great sound quality!

Speaking of Smabat, am I the only one to find that M1 Pro sounds better overall than M2 Pro?

 

[WoodyLuvr]

@JPardo Btr3k outputs 25mW in single-ended and 78mW in balanced. St-10s Gold will sound decent but nowhere near its capability. You'd want something with at least 250mw imo due to its high impedance. I think Silver version would pair better with your Btr3k.

Holy cow I hope so! 250 mW would bring Smabat Black-Golds to 139 dB SPL and well over 120 dB SPL if their sensitivity is lower than the listed 115 dB/mW as some of us believe they may have a sensitivity as low as 96 dB/mW.

 

[JPardo]

Maximum of 100ohm applies to headphones. Earbuds have greater sensitivity and require less power than headphones

Thank you, I will have that data for reference.

Seems like it will be fine:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/earbuds-round-up.441400/post-16091034

Spoiler

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the...elix-5k-impression-added.906655/post-16093417

Spoiler

Thanks! I saw those two comments while researching the Smabat ST-10s and the FiiO BTR3K. I even think I saw a @ClieOS post where I had them connected to the FiiO.

@JPardo Btr3k outputs 25mW in single-ended and 78mW in balanced. St-10s Gold will sound decent but nowhere near its capability. You'd want something with at least 250mw imo due to its high impedance. I think Silver version would pair better with your Btr3k.

With high resistance, rather than low sensitivity. You want a higher voltage rather than the mw (current). Which is not something portable amps do well since they are powered with batteries.

This is one of the aspects that worries me, although it would almost always be used as a dac connected to a pc, the bluetooth function being a more secondary aspect. Another option would be to consider another compact size dac that is portable. Right now I have the BTR3K in my shopping cart for € 58, any similar priced option with more power?

 

[RikudouGoku]

Thank you, I will have that data for reference.



Thanks! I saw those two comments while researching the Smabat ST-10s and the FiiO BTR3K. I even think I saw a @ClieOS post where I had them connected to the FiiO.




This is one of the aspects that worries me, although it would almost always be used as a dac connected to a pc, the bluetooth function being a more secondary aspect. Another option would be to consider another compact size dac that is portable. Right now I have the BTR3K in my shopping cart for € 58, any similar priced option with more power?

You can take a look here for more bluetooth options: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the...-8-jul-20-qudelix-5k-impression-added.906655/

(FIY: it is the amp you should be looking at, not the dac. As that doesnt make any differences as far as the ones I have tried.)

 

[The3DCie]

This is one of the aspects that worries me, although it would almost always be used as a dac connected to a pc, the bluetooth function being a more secondary aspect. Another option would be to consider another compact size dac that is portable. Right now I have the BTR3K in my shopping cart for € 58, any similar priced option with more power?

I know it doesn't have a balanced output but the Shanling UP2 is about the same price as Fiio BTR3K and its single ended output power is the same as the balanced output power of Fiio BTR3K so that could be an option as well.

I think they have more or less the same functionalities on BT or USB DAC front...

 

[povidlo]

Holy cow I hope so! 250 mW would bring Smabat Black-Golds to 139 dB SPL and well over 120 dB SPL if their sensitivity is lower than the listed 115 dB/mW as some of us believe they may have a sensitivity as low as 96 dB/mW.

Sorry, I was attempting to say: use at least "250 mW-rated devices"- as in something that has a max power output of at least 250 mW.

Nobody should try to push 250 mW into anything......