[mt877]

I've been burned by the wicked icepick upper mids of the Smabat house sound, but if it is toned down on this set, I might be willing to give them a chance again!

I just noticed Smabat had published the M5 Pro Golden FR graph. They still show a peak at 2.5k, but I'm not sure how that compares to the ST10S B&G 150Ω. I definitely think the ST20P maze structure is presenting differently. I was able to listen for a couple hours straight to jazz, rock, orchestral, world music and I didn't feel like my ears were getting "spiked", otherwise I would have pulled the buds off my ears.

Hmmm, very interesting. I feel the same way. Just MIGHT give them another chance... Their drivers are of some of the best quality out there, as seen by some excellent DIY stuff using those drivers.

So, you got the M5 Pro, and not the M5? Do the M4 drivers fit this, or do you need to order those separately? Currently I have the 150 TI, 100 SO, and whatever POS driver is stock from the M4...

Yup, I got the M5 Pro Golden. Fully compatible with the M4 drivers. I also have the 100 SO driver and they sounded really good on the M5 pro body.

 

[Kyonnie]

Cannibalized QKZ MDR shell modded with mmcx and used 80 ohm blue pet driver

 

[samandhi]

@mt877 OK! So, I followed that link, and an error occured. So I went to www.smabat.com and found them on their page, but I am rather confused. If google converter is correct, these are advertised as being $6.41. Am I wrong here? hahaha

Spoiler

 

[samandhi]

Cannibalized QKZ MDR shell modded with mmcx and used 80 ohm blue pet driver

Fantastic looking buds! Question is: how do they sound?

 

[baskingshark]

I just noticed Smabat had published the M5 Pro Golden FR graph. They still show a peak at 2.5k, but I'm not sure how that compares to the ST10S B&G 150Ω. I definitely think the ST20P maze structure is presenting differently. I was able to listen for a couple hours straight to jazz, rock, orchestral, world music and I didn't feel like my ears were getting "spiked", otherwise I would have pulled the buds off my ears.


Yup, I got the M5 Pro Golden. Fully compatible with the M4 drivers. I also have the 100 SO driver and they sounded really good on the M5 pro body.

Interesting. If the store graph is legit (big IF), there is about a 10 dB ear gain in the upper mids here.

I remember the ST20 Pro having a 15 - 20ish ear gain and that was pure ear r**e. I still get PTSD remembering the banshee shrills haha.

Having said that, I think 10 dB is sometimes at the border of being shouty for consumers, though this depends on hearing health, ear anatomy and volume used (Fletcher Munson curve). Sometimes a big bass can also balance out a huge upper mids ear gain, so maybe this Smabat bud's bass is doing that here too. But I think I can live with this amount of ear gain compared to worse ones from Smabat's previous iterations.

 

[Kyonnie]

Fantastic looking buds! Question is: how do they sound?

I loaned it from a friend of mine so that I can test it out before getting myself a pair the driver is pretty impressive a bit of an icepick (can be tamed with Heigi foams) in some genres and it acts very much like the 300 ohm considering they came from the same family of driver but easier to drive

Btw I'm still having a hard time getting used to the UI in this website lol

 

[mt877]

@mt877 OK! So, I followed that link, and an error occured. So I went to www.smabat.com and found them on their page, but I am rather confused. If google converter is correct, these are advertised as being $6.41. Am I wrong here? hahaha

Spoiler

Hmm, that's weird, that link opens to the English version of their web page.

Try: https://www.smabat.cn

That should take you to the English homepage.

 

[samandhi]

I just noticed Smabat had published the M5 Pro Golden FR graph. They still show a peak at 2.5k, but I'm not sure how that compares to the ST10S B&G 150Ω. I definitely think the ST20P maze structure is presenting differently. I was able to listen for a couple hours straight to jazz, rock, orchestral, world music and I didn't feel like my ears were getting "spiked", otherwise I would have pulled the buds off my ears.


Yup, I got the M5 Pro Golden. Fully compatible with the M4 drivers. I also have the 100 SO driver and they sounded really good on the M5 pro body.

Yes, and about the boxing (which special for the crowdfunding people), they said this (LOL):

I wonder what a "devil silicone sleeve" is?!

Hmm, that's weird, that link opens to the English version of their web page.

Try: https://www.smabat.cn

That should take you to the English homepage.

You are correct. That worked for me as well, though if they will sell it to me for $6.41, I might order from there.... The ironic thing is that the link that takes me to the Japanese listing is from www.smabat.com/us through google search..... Looks like their domain help has "biffed it up".

Anyhow, thanks.

@baskingshark Aaaaah, just pull the trigger. What could go wrong, huh?

 

[Kyonnie]

The shell itself is pretty good and also the back vent actually works lol I thought it's for decoration only the fit is actually better than MX500 shell for me despite the weird shape/design

 

[Kyonnie]

Yes, and about the boxing (which special for the crowdfunding people), they said this (LOL):

I wonder what a "devil silicone sleeve" is?!

It's probably the same silicon ear hook buddled with fiio earbuds

 

[samandhi]

It's probably the same silicon ear hook buddled with fiio earbuds

You are probably right. That would be kind of a cool touch, though I wanted to see a modular cable in this case. It seems as though all the companies are offering this as standard nowadays.

@mt877, @baskingshark, I pulled the trigger. You guys are a bad influence for me... ROFL

The good news is that I had about $12 rewards on my card that I didn't know about, so they came up to be about $77. If they sound AT LEAST as good as the ST10S (B&G), then they will have been worth it for me... I have always thought that if Smabat could ever get their head out of their arses, and tune them better, they could be up there with Yincrow, Yinman, FiiO, etc... where buds are concerned. They make a really nice product; they just have to learn to tune them better. I am not convinced that even the Chinese like the super "ice pick" sound that they seem to adore so much...

I actually only got this for the "bat" badge. My grandson is a huge Batman fan and would wear it on his shirt (with his blanket cape) proudly.

 

[BCool]

Thanks guys. There is a difference in the M5 Pro and M5 bodies. M5 Pro has ST20P conch-shaped maze acoustic structure and M5 has ST10S maze acoustic structure. So the 2 bodies will have different tuning. I'm liking what I'm hearing with the M5 Pro body. @samandhi, the big difference is most likely because of the ST20P tuning in the M5 Pro body.

BTW, the M5 Pro (Golden full set) is still available for $89.00 direct from Smabat. The picture below shows $83.00, but it's not correct.
https://www.smabat.cn/smabat/products/53896983.html

Ah that makes sense! shame you can't buy the gold one separately. I don't quite trust smabat enough to drop $90 (even if it does include all the extras) but $35 is enough to test the waters as it were.

 

[Kyonnie]

You are probably right. That would be kind of a cool touch, though I wanted to see a modular cable in this case. It seems as though all the companies are offering this as standard nowadays.

@mt877, @baskingshark, I pulled the trigger. You guys are a bad influence for me... ROFL

The good news is that I had about $12 rewards on my card that I didn't know about, so they came up to be about $77. If they sound AT LEAST as good as the ST10S (B&G), then they will have been worth it for me... I have always thought that if Smabat could ever get their head out of their arses, and tune them better, they could be up there with Yincrow, Yinman, FiiO, etc... where buds are concerned. They make a really nice product; they just have to learn to tune them better. I am not convinced that even the Chinese like the super "ice pick" sound that they seem to adore so much...

I actually only got this for the "bat" badge. My grandson is a huge Batman fan and would wear it on his shirt (with his blanket cape) proudly.

You guys talking about it makes me want to get one too haha but I'll wait for your impression before getting mine after all I just ordered the FF3s

Edit: Tbh I need to practice more restrain I just got out of the IEM rabbit hole

 

[samandhi]

Tbh I need to practice more restrain I just got out of the IEM rabbit hole

LOL I hear ya' there... You see how much restraint I have shown?!

And, I JUST got done saying how I don't need any more...

 

[Kyonnie]

LOL I hear ya' there... You see how much restraint I have shown?!

And, I JUST got done saying how I don't need any more...

Tbh after getting my endgame IEMs I still buy a bunch of eartips and other things to go with it and I can see myself doing that with earbuds hahaha