Venture Electronics Zen SU (Shining Ultimate)
Just received these in the mail. Will give them a proper listen over the next few days and post some initial impressions.
From first listen it’s very mid bass heavy and warm…
Congrats on your new shiny!
MY TOP 5 EARBUDS
#1 Cypherus Audio Susvara Black Dragon
The mighty 
fills a huge portion of my library, literally everything in my music library sounds incredible. The deepest most layered sub bass of any Bud I know of! I feel like I’ve gushed enough about this bud.
#2 TGXear Desolation Sound
The man, the myth..The Legend! Mr. Jim Park @tgx78 master of flathead wizardry and painter of mystic landscapes blessed us with his masterpiece and I couldn’t be happier. A wonderful all rounder that excels with classical, modern classical, ambient and modern electronic music. Highly resolving bud! Micro dynamics are 
#3 Venture Electronics APWS or Asura Pure White Shining
This is a specialist in my collection and has the best string timbre I’ve ever heard. Excels with solo and small ensemble classical and female vocals. Not a Bud for pop, rock, or anything with too much energy or a lot going on. This is a timbre/tonality king and meant for intimate listening of the highest pedigree.
#4 TGXear Tantalus
An oldie but a remarkable listen when powered properly. This is a recent discovery as I used to own this bud and I sold it due to hearing it muddy and bloated…Re purchased recently as I have a better DAP with better integrated power and Tantalus sounds like an Aroma Jewel in earbud form. Seductive timbre in male and female vocals. Resolving and sparkling treble. Great Modal Jazz bud!
#5 Venture Electronics Zen SU or Shining Ultimate
This is another new bud in my collection and while it sounds GRAND and oozing with warmth I’m still wrapping my head around it. @ian91 was correct in saying it rocks with music from Tool! This bud has some of the most correct sounding guitar tone (electric and acoustic alike) I’ve heard in any monitor, Bud or headphone! Female vocals are favored here and a calling card I’ve noticed with VE. I def hear a house sound in this flagship bud. I still need to run through my library but it’s already a favorite!
This list is subject to change and/or rearrange
Buds I most want to hear:
Yinman 2.0 600ohm
Shozy BK
Puresounds 100-500,600
Ksearphone Bell-Ti+, DBX
Simphonio Dragon 3+
FQL BlueMoon
Yuin PK1
Ucotech Es-P2
Very nice list there.
Reading your comments about the APWS, you might also want to add to "want to hear" the Moondrop Chaconne. They are also an oldie (and there is a reason they are still around), but the overall tone on these (and for the same type of music) is simply rare, and the best I have heard to date. The fact that they have a very low quantity of bass keeps them from being good for anything that is not classical, jazz, instrumental (or music with lots of engery) as well. This set proves (to me anyhow) that you can have a boosted treble and mids that are NOT offensive to the ears, and that if there are no dips and peaks, they can be this way while remaining so smooth sounding. Accuracy of tone and grand sound stage are the forte of these winners (IMHO). If you know this going into them, you will not be disappointed, as can be vouched for by any that bought them and still own them.
Thanks for taking one for the team! Look forward to your impressions man!
Hope this will be the start of Smabat's redemption arc.
Thank you very much. I certainly hope this is indeed a redemption of Smabat. For me, if it isn't I will probably not be purchasing anything from future products from them. At that point I will just live on fondly with the ST10S B&G, and the M2s Pro w/all the driver modules. To me, this is the era of buds from them where they were at their peak in quality to sound. While quality did increase over the years, the sound degraded to nothing more than shouty sound (which as I mentioned was a tragic shame, and a horrible move on their part). I certainly hope that they started actually listening to their audience more.
Are you able to give impressions comparing these to the Yincrow RW-3000?
When I receive mine, I can also give impressions of the comparison of the two. Though, if they are anything like the ST10S B&G, I don't think it will be a comparison so much as they will simply be different (in most ways).
Way to busy lately. Had a long session with SU before I had to remove my listening corner from the living room. Some long overdue refurbish of floor and painting I promised wife
1 week break from hard to drive stuff now.
Zen SU do have much of that rich Zen line sound, with full bass specially mid bass but also some sub. Mids also being in the thicker side.
Don't try with any Tool but I listened to some doom metal and it was very impressive. Actually very similar to FranQL Caelum with just more mid warmth on SU.
Hope you get to try the Blue Moon one day since you love APWS, biggest change for me is that APWS is slightly more bright while the Blue Moon have better textured low range.
The Sun Copper is next in line for me to play with, the short listen it seemed very good also. And the price more easy to justify
Anyway try this on SU, not many buds that suit this type of music and SU do excellent here.
This sounds VERY good on the Yinman 2.0 600 and the Caelum. Both of these buds are detailed enough yet smooth to keep even the most wailing of vocals or guitars from hurting the ears long enough to get the message of the song.
I use these two for (an assortment of) metal quite frequently.
Good rec BTW! I had not heard of them before you shared.
A Silly question
If I have 350mw dongle. What earbud Ohm should I buy? 64ohm, 300ohm, or 600 ohm.
As mentioned, there are too many variables missing here to give a definitive answer. Is the 350mW the max power, or the stated power at 16 or 32ohms? It is fairly likely that the 64ohm variant you mentioned should be able to be driven to full capacity with the dongle, even if the sensitivity is very low, but for the others, I could not venture a guess (let alone an accurate assessment) unless I knew more about both the dongle or the head gear.
Having said that, it is also likely that the 300ohm and 600ohm gear would not be driven well from a 350mW signal, but again, this is also a guess. But, another thing to keep in mind is that even if they can be driven from this dongle, would you want to? The point is that you should look at all the other numbers that factor in to the overall sound makeup. Some might use the generic term "synergy", but you can get a pretty good idea of some of this stuff by looking at those other numbers; though, just like looking at a FR curve, it won't give the full picture.
Things like THD, and DNR, and output impedance, and Crosstalk, and etc... all go together to give you an idea of what the chosen head gear might sound like (or at least how limiting it can be, or things of that nature).
Is it true that 60$ speaker (edifer goodies) can beat 300$ earbud? In sound stage.
Overall, I would say that it is likely true. That is the short answer though, and a bit deceiving on top of that. You MAY have to spend $6000 (for example) to make the room more "acoustically friendly" for those cheap speakers to have better sound stage. Where, with the earbuds, you get this portably, and with the cost that is up front.
Building a "sound room" for loudspeakers is a WHOLE other animal, and the cost can get simply astronomical for those that want it done right. This is only the tip of the iceberg where loudspeakers are concerned too.
It is generally accepted idea that there's nothing going to beat speakers in soundstage but it comes with a caveat needing a somewhat properly treated room and setup
Very true.
Also, coming from a laptop output will probably NOT get you the sound that you are looking for. Head gear, while being expensive itself, is nowhere near as expensive as it can get to have good quality sound from loudspeaker systems.
I moved from IEM to earbud, now to speaker. Comparing them, iem seems like watching movie in a handphone, earbud a 20 inch tv, and speaker a 40 inch tv. Really easy to get chill with heavily congested tracks like samba or funk jazz.
You should not discount a great set of open back headphones to throw into the mix. While I have heard some few earbuds that can get wider/bigger staging than open backs, generally speaking the open back phones have the innate potential to be bigger more often. Size differences alone make them a bit more scientifically probable that this is likely.
I have some of the biggest (known) stage earbuds on the market, and they are indeed bigger than most all of my other gear, but there are a few out there that companies have tried to match/beat for years. A couple of examples are the Sennheiser HD800 (OG), and the Sennheiser HD700; which are only a very small amount smaller than the HD800.
Received my FF3S yesterday and have been comparing with the FF3 (I use the crisp foams with these sets). It's probably too early to draw definitive conclusions, but they do sound a little (as in, a smidge, nothing major) different to me, mostly in the bass presentation. The FF3S is still a bassy bud, but it doesn't sound quite as "big" or meaty as the FF3 to my ear. I find it a little more resolving than the FF3. For those who love the FF3 for its authoritative bass, that might be a factor. For me, I think the FF3S might actually suit me a little better, as I find the FF3 a bit much sometimes. The FF3S feels like more of an all-rounder. I've listened to them out of the Amp14 card in my DX320 and out of my RU7 at 128.
In terms of build quality, the FF3S feels a little cheaper to me (it's much lighter than the FF3). The steel of the FF3 gives that sense a substantial feel of quality that the FF3S lacks. On the plus side, this might make it more comfortable for longer sessions. The cable is as annoying as it was on the FF3 and I'm toying with the idea of ordering the FF5-style cable Fiio recently released for the FF3S, though I don't really love that cable either. This is where the proprietary connector is a bummer. And this is purely esthetic, but where the motif on the back of the bud made sense with the silver or black of the original FF3, I don't think it works with the deep blue of the FF3S and, to me, it further cheapens the FF3S. But that's a very subjective thing, obviously.
Congrats on your new shiny!
I have been waiting to hear this since they came out..
Thanks for taking the plunge to own both (if for no other reason than to have the knowledge of if they are same or different).
Honestly, and for me the OG FF3 bass is what made them so very special. Otherwise, they would be just on the average side of sound (IMHO). Because they have a boosted pina gain (enough to become fatiguing after a time), and a relaxed treble presentation, and I guess that would make them a bit boring without the fantastic bass that they have.
