[assassin10000]

That's smart. I should try. What is that stick thing?

That's a 'punch' that is used to make the hole. Pictured is 4mm but I now use a 3mm one.

 

[JAnonymous5150]

That's a 'punch' that is used to make the hole. Pictured is 4mm but I now use a 3mm one.

A leather punch?

 

[Headcasey MD]

Got the Smabat M4 today. First impressions - very good buds. Pinna gain is present, but tamed. Excellent sound stage L-R, with a reasonable sense of depth. I got the gold/black 150 ohm driver with it, and am listening with that now. Bass is very present and controlled. Mids seem a bit forward and also the pinna bump. Treble airy & resolving. Imaging & detail seem excellent. Am listening to the Chandos Lutoslawski set, just where the player happened to be, and it is great way to audition new gear. Slight dryness to counteract the slight coloration. Quite neutral feeling. Double foams seem to help with the pinna gain. Pinna gain, no pain. Or not much - solo violin can get a bit edgy. But not much untoward from flutes/piccalo, which are usually the worst. Puts a burnish on string sections. Sounds like good headphones. Bass drum is great, and all percussion. Good packaging, and a real nice embossed fat case to fit all your modules in. Very nice silver plated cable, a little rubbery to the feel, but not at all tangle-prone. No cinch. Changing drivers feels very solid. Very impressed so far.

 

[Ronion]

I guess Fiio pushes the ear gain a bit in case people to use foam.

FiiO knows people will use the foams. They are smarter than Apple. Anyone who doesn’t use the foams….. should use the foams or they wasted their money.

Assuming that your graph accurately captures the real life tonality of the ear buds, I would say they are excellent. Something I would buy for sure. Except the bass, I think it traces my preference target closely, down to the dip around 1k and 3k for soundstage depth. A bit sad about the treble though. We need to bump those 15k-up frequencies, 64 Audio TIA style. (Alright, I wouldn't shut up about TIA treble until I get U12t or Trio )

What’s wrong with the bass? Not enough? This is a top 10 type bud for bass. It’s overall better balanced than the FiiO, but I do prefer the FiiO bass by a slight margin. Both of these have a pleasing midrange character.

I reduced the overall treble intensionally. I imagine you would do the same if given the choice. Unfortunately, no bud I’ve measured has the 15k we all crave and I’ve measured more than anyone I know if we are discussing in a meaningful way. On the grand scheme of things, it’s not actually very important TBH if you believe the last 5 decades of research. I don’t want to challenge your beliefs as we all know that’s fruitless. It has some importance, just not very critical by any means. The FiiO we all love has less. I bet if you listen to the FiiO and see how it compares to my target, you’ll understand that my target is at worst, good. You’ve seen these graphs several times…. Any comments and even criticism can easily be addressed. Please do it in a constructive way though.

 

[JAnonymous5150]

Got the Smabat M4 today. First impressions - very good buds. Pinna gain is present, but tamed. Excellent sound stage L-R, with a reasonable sense of depth. I got the gold/black 150 ohm with it, and am listening with that now. Bass is very present and controlled. Mids seem a bit forward and also the pinna bump. Treble airy & resolving. Imaging & detail seem excellent. Am listening to the Chandos Lutoslawski set, just where the player happened to be, and it is great way to audition new gear. Slight dryness to counteract the slight coloration. Quite neutral feeling. Double foams seem to help with the pinna gain. Pinna gain, no pain. Puts a burnish on string sections. Sounds like good headphones. Bass drum is great, and all percussion. Good packaging, and a real nice embossed fat case to fit all your modules in. Changing drivers feels very solid. Very impressed so far.

Nice! I'm looking at these and the Super Ones to audition for my collection. The inly Smabats I have heard before were the M2 Pros which were pretty good actually and the ST-10 (black/gold) which I didn't listen to for very long. The reviews I have read on other Smabat buds/flatheads led me to looking at the M4 and Super One so your review was very timely.

Thanks for the breakdown! I love reading a nice brief, well written synopsis on a pair of buds.

 

[o0genesis0o]

What’s wrong with the bass? Not enough?

What I was saying is "it matches my target closely, except the bass frequencies", not "the bass is no good". My in-ear target has an unholy amount of sub bass, matching the tuning of three IEMs whose bass I like the most (Z1R, Trio, U12t with M20 module).

Treble wise, I imagine it is not possible to do that targeted 15k boost with a single dynamic driver without messing up the 10-12k. Well, one can dream. I know some tuner criticising 64 Audio TIA treble as uneven and artificial, but my inexperienced ears crave that unnatural treble and its uncanny stereo imaging

On the grand scheme of things, it’s not actually very important TBH if you believe the last 5 decades of research. I don’t want to challenge your beliefs as we all know that’s fruitless. It has some importance, just not very critical by any means. The FiiO we all love has less. I bet if you listen to the FiiO and see how it compares to my target, you’ll understand that my target is at worst, good. You’ve seen these graphs several times…. Any comments and even criticism can easily be addressed. Please do it in a constructive way though.

Duly noted.

 

[Ronion]

Got the Smabat M4 today. First impressions - very good buds. Pinna gain is present, but tamed. Excellent sound stage L-R, with a reasonable sense of depth. I got the gold/black 150 ohm with it, and am listening with that now. Bass is very present and controlled. Mids seem a bit forward and also the pinna bump. Treble airy & resolving. Imaging & detail seem excellent. Am listening to the Chandos Lutoslawski set, just where the player happened to be, and it is great way to audition new gear. Slight dryness to counteract the slight coloration. Quite neutral feeling. Double foams seem to help with the pinna gain. Pinna gain, no pain. Puts a burnish on string sections. Sounds like good headphones. Bass drum is great, and all percussion. Good packaging, and a real nice embossed fat case to fit all your modules in. Very nice silver plated cable, a little rubbery to the feel, but not at all tangle-prone. No cinch. Changing drivers feels very solid. Very impressed so far.

I always worry about SMABAT’s tuning as the 2 buds I have from them have insane amounts of pinna gain and it starts such a rapid incline. I wish we could have a standard measurement rig for thread members to compare buds across the planet. We could know if a bud is going to work for us or not without an audition or a reduction of our cash flow. SMABAT is a company I always root for because they build some great drivers, but their tuning has been off with the 2 shells I’ve tried from them. I’m hoping the M4 fixes it. This is actually a graph of the M2pro (not the ST20 pro) with the LCP driver. The Blue is the FiiO ff3 with worn bass foams.

Here’s the ST20 pro aka the Ice Pick:

 

[JAnonymous5150]

The Blue is the FiiO ff5 with worn bass foams.

How'd you get the FF5 already?!?!?! Do you have some secret hookup at Fiio who's shooting you pre-production units?

 

[Ronion]

How'd you get the FF5 already?!?!?! Do you have some secret hookup at Fiio who's shooting you pre-production units?

Wishful thinking….LOL. I just fixed it. I’m writing wrong buds today.

 

[SBranson]

More TGXEar content.. and contentment

Until recently I have preferred the Tantalus to the Serratus. But…. My Serratus was a prototype, I guess on of the first ones… it was in 3.5mm, had a different shell and cable. I now have the production version and it is a marvel. The bass is insane. So deep but resolved as well. The soundstage has great depth and once again, I’m shocked at how an earbud could create such an illusion of space and stage. I think based on the clean sound and the fullness that this clean extended bass brings, I can say that it has supplanted the Tantalus as my favourite for most genres.
The Tantalus does have a slightly more natural timbre for solo instruments or small groups like a lot of my baroque music or perhaps some quieter piano pieces or even some female vocal/solo guitar. In those cases I might go with the Tantalus but for my ambient type music or classical crossover music with extended bass and more layered instrumentation, the Serratus is amazing. The production version seems to have all the clean separation of the prototype but with a fuller midrange tone and an even better bass response. I think the fuller, more natural timbre, actually, is everywhere which is why the bass is so improved.
I have this playing right now and it’s sounding great.. Thanks @tgx78

 

[JAnonymous5150]

Wishful thinking….LOL. I just fixed it. I’m writing wrong buds today.

Damn, I was gonna see if you could hook me up with a pair!

Seriously though, when I read it my first thought was that it was a typo so I posted that, but then I started having second thoughts like maybe you got a review unit. My OCD-self had to hit Google and confirm that there aren't any FF5 reviews up yet lol! I can be a bit much sometimes...even for myself.

 

[Chessnaudio]

Thanks man! Basically, our record company asked us if we had an producers in mind that we would like to work with on our new album and we put together a few choices. A couple of the picks we obviously had no real expectation of getting, but one of them got back to the rep at our label and said he's a fan and wants to meet at a studio on Monday and Tuesday to see if we'd all like to work together.

I'm pretty stoked because the guy is one of the best artist/producers in indie rock for the last 15 years or so. He's kinda legendary for turning out sick records in our style and he has enough demand that he picks who he wants to work with. With many producers it's just a hiring process where your label offers to pay their fee and it's done. This dude has enough money and can work with anyone he wants so it's more of a mutual tryout process. Everyone wants to bring their best stuff to the table so I'm doing so overtime and compiling all the best takes my band has put together of the stuff we're currently working on. Fingers crossed that it works out.

Good luck man! Hope you guys succeed

 

[JAnonymous5150]

Good luck man! Hope you guys succeed

Thanks, bro! I really appreciate the support!

I'm looking forward to seeing how it works out. Going through the sessions we have recorded from a few pre-production studio days has made me even more confident. We're firing on all cylinders right now and the material we're working with should make a damn good album with some hard work and the right guy working the board and producing.

 

[assassin10000]

A leather punch?

It's a set I bought for making holes in gasket material that goes up to 10 or 12mm. Probably can be found as leather punches too.

I did buy a different punch set of amazon that also works.
https://a.co/d/48Yn48b


I found it easier to put the punch in my adjustable tap socket and press down into a cutting mat with my hand/palm. No hammer needed to make holes in earbud foam.

 

[Ronion]

This 130 Be bud I just tuned slightly bright definitely has incredible synergy with my Little Bear! This is probably why there’s still a fetish around high efficiency loudspeakers and tube amps. This type of system just oozes with warmth and bloom. The little extra harmonics and compression are just killer.