[o0genesis0o]

+ >>>

I think @forestitalia is talking about ST20 (the one without BA driver). Is that one badly tuned too?

 

[samandhi]

I think @forestitalia is talking about ST20 (the one without BA driver). Is that one badly tuned too?

If I'm not mistaken, they are both very boosted in the pina gain (though I can't confirm this, as I have not heard either one to this point).

 

[baskingshark]

If I'm not mistaken, they are both very boosted in the pina gain (though I can't confirm this, as I have not heard either one to this point).

The general Smabat house signature does boost the 3 kHz region for sure.

 

[Svstem]

I have a question for you all - I am essentially split between buying the Rose Maria I and II, and am seeking guidance on their sonic characteristics from those who have heard both. How do the two compare? Is the II simply a better I? Or do they each have unique redeeming qualities?

 

[dinodogJR]

If you want big time sound for little money (comparatively) the Focal Elegia are selling for $399 (were $1k)... I recently aquired a set and they are fantastic. They are closed back, but are VERY close to sounding like open backs (amazing technology inside IMO).


This is what this tool is made for (about $1.50 or so). The person in this video actually made it look much harder than it is, and with this tool, there isn't a chance of messing up the connectors.



I still think the RW3000 might be your best bet for what you are looking for, and they are MMCX so that you can use a BT adaptor with them. Of the ones suggested so far, these are the only ones that have a removeable cable. Speaking of which, and IMHO these have one of the best stock cables in the market.

But if you want laid back, then the RW3000 aren't really that. They are also not totally in your face but are not laid back at all. I would say these are more on the bright/neutral side of things. But boy do they have good resolution with some bass slam to keep it fun sounding also. Staging isn't quite what the FF3 are though.

Having said that, and if you have decided that you want a bit laid back but with some deep bass, I might also throw in the Yinman 2.0 600 to the mix. For being warmer and a bit laid back, the clarity is actually surprising. They lack a tad bit of the slam in the bass but make up for it by having very deep and linear bass response (though some slam is there). This is a mid forward set, but in no way is the pina gain boosted (no shrillness at all even at higher volumes), and the staging and technicalities are right up there with the FF3, maybe a bit deeper, where the FF3 are a bit wider. Though dynamics are something to behold on both sets.

@samandhi Thanks for the headphone recommendation. Perhaps i didn't addressed my question in clearly. I am searching for any today's earbuds can achieve/closer to Headphones sound performance. I am retired from Headphones hunting journey since most of them just clamping over my skull. Also sweaty on my ear in the summertime.
I had keep an Eyes on Yincrow RW3000. It comes with different Ohm in the market. Not too sure are they any major sound affection in each others.
I would go for Yincrow Calf on the safer route before straight into the Flagship RW3000. For a taste of their timbre and earphone shell wearing comfortability. Also i don't even listened to X6 or RW9 as the proudness entry-level earbuds. Yincrow Calf would be much better in overall built for longer years. And it's lightweight to the RW2000 / RW3000 for comfortability.

Yinman 2.0 600 Ohm
I read thru some pages from you guys discussion over previous pages. It seems like a tricky game to amp up this High impedance Babe. Surely the price is a best bang with its Ohm. From your writing, i would put on my list as well. Hopefully their craftwork quality are trustworthy. Delightful Interesting to see a wooden shell for earphones~! I guess its not sweat resistant. I hope they got baked well the wooden shell else wooden could be "distorted or deformed" when times comes by.

Today i compared with Two headphones in comparison of Bright vs Laid-back sound. B&O sound signature consider as Laid back as it a closed headphones. I rarely got excited by Closed Headphones overall performance from the past memories. Today, i feel laid back is probably the ideal way to enjoy cinematic, wider headroom or airness quality in the content especially immersive into a Movie atmosphere with Depth x atmospheric like Blade Runner 2049 or Dune 2021. There's sacrifice with forward vocals & energetic fast punchy impact from drums. Laid back sound is suitable for darkly and cold temp content, trip hop/Lo fi electronic or futuristic complex electronic samplers musician like bjork, Burial, Kruder & Dorfmeister, James Blake and fourtet. Most peoples would auditoning Laid back sound with Orchestral/Classical for its overall performance. Sorry i am not into that region of music genre.

Yuin PK 2 + ibasso DC05
Received my DAC ibasso DC05 only yesterday. It is such a wonderful little dongle and overcome the weak volume from cheapo DAC (Ugreen). This combo keeps the warmful forwading sound from Grado and increment in Instrument separation, also bringing good Imaging from B&O.
I am satisfy with the sound clarity in this combo. Just the soundstage could be further away from my shoulder if there's possible to reach "headphone" experience.
Yeah, there's no Depth in PK 2. I heard of depth in B&O in a distant but its tinnier consider as a microdetail.
I can confidently to say with Yuin Pk2 connected with iBasso DC05 does delivers a further refinement in every level of details. Honestly speaking if the earphones got no depth or wider soundstage information, there's nothing much it can improved from.

Ahhh.. i love earbuds with big sounds.~ Yeah i need to gently press B&O earpads for that low bass impact.
Earbuds got no such bass "leaking" issues.

 

[JAnonymous5150]

p/s: No worries about the auditioning. You can do it over weekend. No rushy man~. As i stay here you guys keep coming up with interesting knowledges and got my brain nucleus exploded even more.

Thanks for understanding. I've been at the studio for like 36 hours straight and just swung home for the last couple hours to shower, eat, and listen to my Audeze MM-500s that showed up yesterday for the first time. I'm already about to head back there now, but I brought the FF3s, ES-P1s, and the RW-3000s with me so I can look up those tracks and give them a whirl with each of my recommendations for you if I get a chance.

 

[JAnonymous5150]

Guess what else arrived yesterday while I was at the studio? My VE Megatron! I'm taking it with my for when I get a break, but I took a few minutes to check it out and this thing is a BEAST! I was expecting it to be bigger by they way some reviewers were saying it's way too big to be a dongle and it's more like a desktop piece. Its basically the same size as portable amps like the Gryphon for example, though it is definitely the biggest "dongle" I've ever seen.

As I said before, when I tried it out an acquaintance's Megatron it sounded killer with my ES-P1s. The two just match very well. Even single ended this thing has a good bit of power, but when you plug into it on the balanced outputs it really does have some real muscle behind it. It sounded great with the AKG K702s I plugged into it which are a moderately hard to drive pair of headphones and it had plenty of power to spare and the 4.4mm output drove the HD650s I had on hand with no problem, not just getting enough volume out of them, but providing the requisite current to get them sounding full, controlled, and detailed which is no easy feat. I'll have to wait for another time to try it with even harder to drive stuff.

Just wanted to include that quick update since I believe some of you guys were interested in adding the Megatron to your arsenals IIRC. For $50 this is a crazy good deal.

Also I should mention that I got lucky and despite only paying for the $50 package I recieved the box with the Master buds bundle. I messaged the VEClan store on AE that I purchased them from because it felt dishonest to say nothing and they just said to enjoy them on the house. That's obviously the expected response, but good customer service all the same so I thought I'd like to give them their props.

 

[WoodyLuvr]

Guess what else arrived yesterday while I was at the studio? My VE Megatron! I'm taking it with my for when I get a break, but I took a few minutes to check it out and this thing is a BEAST! I was expecting it to be bigger by they way some reviewers were saying it's way too big to be a dongle and it's more like a desktop piece. Its basically the same size as portable amps like the Gryphon for example, though it is definitely the biggest "dongle" I've ever seen.

As I said before, when I tried it out an acquaintance's Megatron it sounded killer with my ES-P1s. The two just match very well. Even single ended this thing has a good bit of power, but when you plug into it on the balanced outputs it really does have some real muscle behind it. It sounded great with the AKG K702s I plugged into it which are a moderately hard to drive pair of headphones and it had plenty of power to spare and the 4.4mm output drove the HD650s I had on hand with no problem, not just getting enough volume out of them, but providing the requisite current to get them sounding full, controlled, and detailed which is no easy feat. I'll have to wait for another time to try it with even harder to drive stuff.

Just wanted to include that quick update since I believe some of you guys were interested in adding the Megatron to your arsenals IIRC. For $50 this is a crazy good deal.

Also I should mention that I got lucky and despite only paying for the $50 package I recieved the box with the Master buds bundle. I messaged the VEClan store on AE that I purchased them from because it felt dishonest to say nothing and they just said to enjoy them on the house. That's obviously the expected response, but good customer service all the same so I thought I'd like to give them their props.

Lee (@zhibli06)

 

[jogawag]

I have a question for you all - I am essentially split between buying the Rose Maria I and II, and am seeking guidance on their sonic characteristics from those who have heard both. How do the two compare? Is the II simply a better I? Or do they each have unique redeeming qualities?

See this post by @WoodyLuvr.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/earbuds-round-up.441400/post-16633306

 

[ttorbic]

Guess what else arrived yesterday while I was at the studio? My VE Megatron! I'm taking it with my for when I get a break, but I took a few minutes to check it out and this thing is a BEAST! I was expecting it to be bigger by they way some reviewers were saying it's way too big to be a dongle and it's more like a desktop piece. Its basically the same size as portable amps like the Gryphon for example, though it is definitely the biggest "dongle" I've ever seen.

As I said before, when I tried it out an acquaintance's Megatron it sounded killer with my ES-P1s. The two just match very well. Even single ended this thing has a good bit of power, but when you plug into it on the balanced outputs it really does have some real muscle behind it. It sounded great with the AKG K702s I plugged into it which are a moderately hard to drive pair of headphones and it had plenty of power to spare and the 4.4mm output drove the HD650s I had on hand with no problem, not just getting enough volume out of them, but providing the requisite current to get them sounding full, controlled, and detailed which is no easy feat. I'll have to wait for another time to try it with even harder to drive stuff.

Just wanted to include that quick update since I believe some of you guys were interested in adding the Megatron to your arsenals IIRC. For $50 this is a crazy good deal.

Also I should mention that I got lucky and despite only paying for the $50 package I recieved the box with the Master buds bundle. I messaged the VEClan store on AE that I purchased them from because it felt dishonest to say nothing and they just said to enjoy them on the house. That's obviously the expected response, but good customer service all the same so I thought I'd like to give them their props.

Thanks for sharing your impressions! I have yet to collect mine from the local post office as I've been on holiday... Hopefully they haven't sent it back to Wild Lee!

Btw, how are the Rikubuds treating you?

 

[Ronion]

I couldn't resist today. I know I am a bit compulsive, but no matter the previous tunings, the 500Be just wasn't close enough to perfect. I played the whac-a-mole game with the response balance, but ultimately I cannot deny the rightness of approximating my target. So, that's just where I landed: a small deviation again from target. There's a range of divergence that sounds acceptable and even enjoyable for their individuality for sure, but too far away, and I eventually find them a nuisance. I thought I would like the big bass, but it quickly went out of fashion. I know this target thing is essentially settled for me. No matter what comes on my various sources, this sounds right.

 

[forestitalia]

If I'm not mistaken, they are both very boosted in the pina gain (though I can't confirm this, as I have not heard either one to this point).

I hear the peak with the ST10s, not with the ST20 and ST20 pro.

 

[o0genesis0o]

I think I can finally understand why some manufacturers get so defensive when facing negative reviews. Because I was certainly pissed when getting my colleagues to review my butchered GEM001

Drilling extra bass vents around the MX500 drivers is certainly not a good idea, here are some complaints:

• “Too muddy, not clear, like a lot of details are missing” (excuse meeee? Lacking details? The 64 ohm composite TI drivers?)
• “Too much bass”
• “Sound soft, like the beats are not done properly” (in the end, the girl realised that it is not that the beats are soft, but because the bassline is not articulated)

Time to desolder the drivers and try again

Edit: despite saying “my ears are not good”, “I can’t hear”, “I’m not audiophile”, anyone can hear and provide critique on sound quality. It seems that extra energy around 250 to 500hz is universally hated

 

[Ronion]

I think I can finally understand why some manufacturers get so defensive when facing negative reviews. Because I was certainly pissed when getting my colleagues to review my butchered GEM001

Drilling extra bass vents around the MX500 drivers is certainly not a good idea, here are some complaints:

• “Too muddy, not clear, like a lot of details are missing” (excuse meeee? Lacking details? The 64 ohm composite TI drivers?)
• “Too much bass”
• “Sound soft, like the beats are not done properly” (in the end, the girl realised that it is not that the beats are soft, but because the bassline is not articulated)

Time to desolder the drivers and try again

Edit: despite saying “my ears are not good”, “I can’t hear”, “I’m not audiophile”, anyone can hear and provide critique on sound quality. It seems that extra energy around 250 to 500hz is universally hated

But didn't they line up well with the FiiO over that frequency range on your rig?

 

[JAnonymous5150]

Btw, how are the Rikubuds treating you?

Funny you should ask because I was just thinking that I haven't taken the time to post about them as I promised Riku and others that I would. I've been pretty busy so I have had to break my listening sessions up and I have had a lot of new headphones showing up that I have had gear demos with local shops set up for to find matching amps and DACs so that along with studio work caused things to get put off. I'll still try to do something more thorough when I get more time, but here's a quick summary:

I got the RikuBuds Rider 1s a couple weeks back and I have to say that I think Riku nailed it by suggesting this model to me after I relayed my musical tastes because these are very well suited to the indie, blues, punk, and emo kinda stuff I told him I wanted a set for, though they can certainly cover more than that.

In many ways the Rider 1s remind me of an easier to drive if slightly less detailed RW-3000s or a slightly more tame, more detailed Toneking TP16. To me these are both pretty big compliments because I am a big fan of both of those buds and use them both on a regular basis.

The real beauty of the Rider 1s is actually in their simplicity. The MX500 shell fits me well and the blue shells with the matching blue and silver twisted cable is a nice understated look. The Rider 1s are what I like to call an "uncolored" earbud meaning they give you exactly what you feed them, nothing more and nothing less. If you plug them into a quality source you get plenty of precise details back, but conversely if you give them a source that isn't up to snuff (the files or the hardware) you'll hear it on the other end and I like that a lot about these buds.

The Rider 1s are a pretty balanced earbud, though I wouldn't call them neutral per se. The low end is slightly boosted and mid bass focused, the agile bass/driver producing a detailed, punchy, and lively low and that's perfect for letting the listener hear the kick drum, bass guitar, and floor tom beats that are the driving force in most of the songs from the genres I mentioned above. The mids are pretty level and linear with perhaps a slight lean into the upper mids, but only very slight so female vocals are sweet, but male vocals come off with plenty of body and fuzzy distorted guitars chug along with good bite and grit. The treble is polite though detailed and reasonably well extended. This is where the more tamed comparison to the TP16s comes in as they have more air and sparkle, but to the point that it can get a little too aggressive for certain tracks.

The soundstage on these is pretty wide which along with the balanced tuning makes the reminiscent of the RW-3000s. The instrument separation is pretty good throughout the sonic range. One small criticism is that I feel like on some songs the center imaging tends to get a little soft. By that I mean that when sources are coming from either side of the soundstage there is adequate space and crispness to differentiate between their points of origin, but in the center all the sounds seem to come from a single somewhat nebulous source. It's very important to keep a couple things in mind when I say that though: 1) This isn't something that is noticeable on very many tracks because most popular rock music (music in general really) just isn't mastered or recorded well enough for precise imaging to play a role in its reproduction regardless of a given transducer's properties and 2) These are only €50 earbuds! For this to be the one and only tiny niggle I have speaks to the fact that they're a nice pair of earbuds that Riku has done a good job with.

The last thing I will mention is that I would encourage anyone looking to get these buds to make sure they have a good clean source available for plugging the Rider 1s into. They seem to do well with ESS sources that sound clean leaning towards clinical and with the less warm AKM sources. My favorite match with these, believe it or not is with the Tempotec iDSD (not the plus version) which has the ES9018K2M chip in it or the A&K Kann Alpha I own which is known for being a clinical and detailed sounding DAP. The Rider 1s LOVE detail and are more than capable of taking advantage of higher resolution files. I don't mean that they're the most detailed buds, but they show off their best attributes (like that agile bass I like) when reproducing high quality files from quality sources. I hope that makes sense.

Sorry to Riku and you guys that after 2+ weeks I still basically only gave you a post with the detail of one of my "first impressions" pieces, but I didn't want to ignore @ttorbic and put off posting something even longer when I have already promised this. Also, I'd like to thank Riku for the putting his work out there and for the solid recommendation. The Rider 1s are an easy to recommend bud that I think would please any listener accept maybe the most ardent trebleheads and bassheads.

Cheers and I hope this is detailed enough to be useful!

P.S. You'll have to excuse any typing errors. I'm pressed for time and I'm typing on a phone while eating lol!