Earbuds Round-Up

[rprodrigues]

I'm afraid they're no longer available, at least on AE. Was looking for a black pair a few weeks back to complement my silver ones, but wasn't able to find a listing.

If it is available in your country, try Shopee.

Found a good price for the K's LBBS and ordered a set too...

Could you share a link?

 

[RikudouGoku]

@InstantSilence I think it is much better for you to return the EM5 and start by trying some cheaper buds (0-10 usd range) with different shapes so you know what type works/dont for you.

Also, when I first bought some buds, it was the Monk plus/lite and a moondrop nameless. I hated the sound out of them for months and thats because I used iems the same day I tried them. So I advice that when you get buds, that you try them before you listen to other transducers as that can affect what you think about them.

 

[Nool]

FAAEAL Datura Pros came in today, my first non-MX500 shelled earbud. I would rate them at 10/10 for build quality, the cable is lovely, and I love the weight and size of the buds themselves. However, the mids have some weird asymmetry right around the vocal range causing female singers to be louder than male singers, which really messes with my head. Between this hump/scoop and the slightly rolled-off treble and bass I will be returning these. I do not like to mess around with EQ; I tend to switch headphones/buds frequently. Not to mention that there are enough transducers out there that if I don't like the tuning of one I would prefer to find something else that suits me in stock form.

Is anyone who has heard both the Datura Pros and the K's LB able to do a quick comparison?

I think you need to use eq with buds, probably none of them out there have "perfect" tuning like you can find in some IEMs. Just get whatever is closest to the signature you want, then EQ it to your preferences. No other way around it.

There are plenty of frequency responses posted by Sam L in this thread you can reference.

 

[jestercow]

I think you need to use eq with buds, probably none of them out there have "perfect" tuning like you can find in some IEMs. Just get whatever is closest to the signature you want, then EQ it to your preferences. No other way around it.

There are plenty of frequency responses posted by Sam L in this thread you can reference.

I really like my FAAEAL Iris CE, without the need for EQ. I use these with my iPhone (plenty enough of headphones for use at home) and like I said just really don’t like to mess around with EQ on-the-go. I can't use IEMs due to physical discomfort so I don't have much for comparison aside from other earbuds. With the thousands of earbuds available, there should be plenty enough that sound right to my ears without EQ anyway - I just need to find the right ones

 

[furyossa]

I really like my FAAEAL Iris CE, without the need for EQ. I use these with my iPhone (plenty enough of headphones for use at home) and like I said just really don’t like to mess around with EQ on-the-go. I can't use IEMs due to physical discomfort so I don't have much for comparison aside from other earbuds. With the thousands of earbuds available, there should be plenty enough that sound right to my ears without EQ anyway - I just need to find the right ones

Most earphones have a pretty good stock sound in the range $20-$40, but there is an exception like DaturaPro.
Because stock tuning is poor, EQ i.e. correction file need to be used as a fix.
So you don't have to adjust EQ manually, just load the file and done. That's the only way you can see the real potential of the aluminum coated driver.
Build quality is the top-notch, no one has complained about it so far, and only that justifies the price.

 

[Nool]

I really like my FAAEAL Iris CE, without the need for EQ. I use these with my iPhone (plenty enough of headphones for use at home) and like I said just really don’t like to mess around with EQ on-the-go. I can't use IEMs due to physical discomfort so I don't have much for comparison aside from other earbuds. With the thousands of earbuds available, there should be plenty enough that sound right to my ears without EQ anyway - I just need to find the right ones

The Iris CE did have a good neutral-bright tuning, just not very good resolution, sound was "muffled". You should try the $8 NSC Clear buds, I posted a link to it earlier. Similar neutral tuning but with better resolution, though it sounds more thin than I'd like. Great for $8. Though BK2 is still the best neutral buds I've heard, definitely worth the ~$25 if you want a clean neutral, no-warmth sound.

 

[jestercow]

The Iris CE did have a good neutral-bright tuning, just not very good resolution, sound was "muffled". You should try the $8 NSC Clear buds, I posted a link to it earlier. Similar neutral tuning but with better resolution, though it sounds more thin than I'd like. Great for $8. Though BK2 is still the best neutral buds I've heard, definitely worth the ~$25 if you want a clean neutral, no-warmth sound.

I've seen folks talk about that, just seems like it's getting hard to find. I'll hunt one down, thanks for the recommendation

 

[40760]

If it is available in your country, try Shopee.




Could you share a link?

Search for "ksearphone" on Shopee and look for the one sold by "Jietu".

 

[rprodrigues]

Search for "ksearphone" on Shopee and look for the one sold by "Jietu".

Thank you.

I've found them sold by 'xingxing'...

 

[XP_98]

The tonality is similar between the 2 earbuds, but EBX 21 kills the ME80 in technicalities by a lot. And of course it is detachable, unlike the ME80. Does that explain a more than 10 times price differential? Probably not, but as usual in this audio hobby, there's huge diminishing returns the higher one goes up the ladder.



SMABAT ST10S (assuming it is the black gold version) will need an amp, hope u have a good source to power it.

As for the earbuds anonymous, if you could cancel your order, I hope it is possible to do that. I found it very anonymous as per its namesake. L shaped bassy set with missing treble and it is quite muddy. Non detachable cable too at $50 USD. One of my worse earbud buys in recent times.



Ya I actually asked them on Aliexpress if they could remake the ME80 again.

But the sellers say, for economies of scale, the various China factories produce many pieces of drivers and shells at one time, and it is cheaper to get it in bulk. They need a bare minimum order of perhaps a few hundreds to thousands. So if only a few die hard earbud fans like us ask for it, but it doesn't even cross a hundred folks, they will most likely not even entertain the idea.

The other issue is that some parts are kind of limited edition. For example, factory A only produces the driver, factory B only makes the cable, factory C only makes the shells. Even if they wanted to restart a new production line for the ME80, sometimes one of these factories has closed permanently or the moulds are lost or something. So perhaps the same shell or driver cannot be obtained anymore. And so if a different shell or driver comes in the new remake, perhaps the sound will be different too.

There's lots of forum reports that the new Tingo TC200 sounds different from the old version. Probably the hype made the old one get sold out, and the factories are rushing to make new stock for more orders, but probably something is different internally in the new batches.

After reading all this, I dug out my Me80 that I had not listenedto since a while... I was surprised as I had forgotten how good they sound and also how good they fit into my ears.
What totl buds have the same shape / form factor ?
And the same / approaching sound tuning ?

 

[povidlo]

Fresh from China this week: some fixed-cable goodness!

Seriously though, having non-datachable cables is disappointing.

Rosemary-H180-Chaconne

 

[RikudouGoku]

Fresh from China this week: some fixed-cable goodness!

Seriously though, having non-datachable cables is disappointing.

Rosemary-H180-Chaconne

Chaconne comparison with yincrow X6 and viridis pretty please.

 

[povidlo]

Chaconne comparison with yincrow X6 and viridis pretty please.

Will do, mate.

It'll be a bit of a wait since Moondrop is instructing to burn in for 100hrs. I am a believer, personally.

 

[vygas]

Fresh from China this week: some fixed-cable goodness!

Seriously though, having non-datachable cables is disappointing.

Rosemary-H180-Chaconne

Didn't know that FAAEAL changed the headphone jack for nearly all of their models, hope you enjoy your pair though!

 

[furyossa]

Didn't know that FAAEAL changed the headphone jack for nearly all of their models, hope you enjoy your pair though!

Even if the model is cheap FAAEAL tries to put cables of average quality which is really nice.