[JAnonymous5150]

Here you go :
SHOONTH ESEP-01BL (around 25$), i've just got this one.
SHOONTH ESEP-01BU (around 200$) is their flagship.
and
SHOONTH ESEP-01BLE (around 100$), no reviews to be found for this one...

I have the 01BLE and it's a pretty good pair of buds. It's nicely balanced with enough bass to be fun and a touch of euphonic warmth, but both are done in moderation so that they do the jack of all trades thing pretty well. They're one of the pairs I generally keep in my backpack as a good pair to pull out for impromptu sessions when I decide to listen on the fly and I'm not sure what genres I'm gonna end up listening to.

I don't know how they compare to the other versions though as I haven't heard either of the other models. Sorry I can't be more helpful on that front. In general, I find them to be an enjoyable and non-fatiguing set that may not be the last word in earbud performance on any given genre or tuning, but do a good job on just about anything I throw at them.

 

[samandhi]

I have the 01BLE and it's a pretty good pair of buds. It's nicely balanced with enough bass to be fun and a touch of euphonic warmth, but both are done in moderation so that they do the jack of all trades thing pretty well. They're one of the pairs I generally keep in my backpack as a good pair to pull out for impromptu sessions when I decide to listen on the fly and I'm not sure what genres I'm gonna end up listening to.

I don't know how they compare to the other versions though as I haven't heard either of the other models. Sorry I can't be more helpful on that front. In general, I find them to be an enjoyable and non-fatiguing set that may not be the last word in earbud performance on any given genre or tuning, but do a good job on just about anything I throw at them.

Ah, thanks for sharing that. I am (so far) just a bit curios about the 01BU; though I probably should "just say no" even to the thought of purchasing yet another set...

 

[JAnonymous5150]

Ah, thanks for sharing that. I am (so far) just a bit curios about the 01BU; though I probably should "just say no" even to the thought of purchasing yet another set...

No problem, bro. I haven't tried the 01BU so I can't say whether it will hit the spot for you or not. If you do end up giving them a shot I'd love to hear how they do for you.

 

[samandhi]

So, I got my amplifier in today. HERE are my first impressions of it... I have to say that I was right about the Yinmans. They "sang" before, but now they are simply brilliant and do indeed scale with more power. I will share more impressions with more of my buds later.

Also, @baskingshark you were right, there is a tad bit of warmth to the overall signature with this amplifier (even in SS mode). When in tube mode, it adds enough to actually call it a true tube amp sound (though admittedly I haven't experimented with it a ton as of yet).... I think the most brilliant sounding head gear from what I have listened to so far is coming from the Yinmans and both the Sennheiser HD700 and HD800 S. It does sound good with all my gear (that I have had the opportunity to listen to so far) though; these three seem to have benefitted the most from the amplifier (whether it be synergy or power scaling).

Spoiler

Just ignore the cracked (looking) screen. It isn't actually the screen, it is the glass screen protector. My cat knocked it onto the floor, and I just haven't taken the time to change it out for a new one as of yet... Also, ignore the mismatch cables. I am still awaiting delivery of the new cables that I ordered when I ordered this amp... haha

 

[baskingshark]

What will give better sound with low-impedance earbuds:
- Fiio KA17
- Fiio BTR7 (wired connection)
- Aune Yuki
?
Arranged by increasing price at which I can buy.

I haven't tried the BTR7 but I have the KA17 and Yuki, and the Yuki is a hard pass. Considering the Yuki is just $10 cheaper than the KA17, I would get the KA17 any day of the week, in view of the superior versatility (PEQ available), technicalities, UI settings and power output.

The Yuki has blunted note edges and is inferior technically. It is a league or two behind the KA17, with the former having worse soundstage depth and height, with second-rate imaging and micro-detailing. The Yuki has no app compatibility, no DAC filters and no PEQ. It does not even have an LED screen.

One deal-breaking area for me, is the Yuki's anemic power specs. It has a paltry 160 mW on 4.4 mm, which is multiples lower than the KA17's monstrous 650 mW. Having said that, the Yuki runs cooler during usage, with a bit less battery drain.



EDIT: Oh BTW, the PEQ for the Fiio KA17 only works on Android devices, the app for PEQ is not available for APPLE gear.

Just ignore the cracked (looking) screen. It isn't actually the screen, it is the glass screen protector. My cat knocked it onto the floor, and I just haven't taken the time to change it out for a new one as of yet... Also, ignore the mismatch cables. I am still awaiting delivery of the new cables that I ordered when I ordered this amp... haha

Wow you have a cat too?

I recently got a cat for my kids (after years of being bugged incessantly), and while the cat is a real cute critter, it has a predilection for biting my cables, foams and eartips. It got so bad I had to ban the cat from entering a room where all my audio goodies are stored haha. Still haven't figured out how to solve this, but seems cats and audio gear are not synergistic hahaha.

 

[samandhi]

I haven't tried the BTR7 but I have the KA17 and Yuki, and the Yuki is a hard pass. Considering the Yuki is just $10 cheaper than the KA17, I would get the KA17 any day of the week, in view of the superior versatility (PEQ available), technicalities, UI settings and power output.

The Yuki has blunted note edges and is inferior technically. It is a league or two behind the KA17, with the former having worse soundstage depth and height, with second-rate imaging and micro-detailing. The Yuki has no app compatibility, no DAC filters and no PEQ. It does not even have an LED screen.

One deal-breaking area for me, is the Yuki's anemic power specs. It has a paltry 160 mW on 4.4 mm, which is multiples lower than the KA17's monstrous 650 mW. Having said that, the Yuki runs cooler during usage, with a bit less battery drain.



EDIT: Oh BTW, the PEQ for the Fiio KA17 only works on Android devices, the app for PEQ is not available for APPLE gear.





Wow you have a cat too?

I recently got a cat for my kids (after years of being bugged incessantly), and while the at is a real cute critter, it has a predilection for biting my cables, foams and eartips. It got so bad I had to ban the cat from entering a room where all my audio goodies are stored haha. Still haven't figured out how to solve this, but seems cats and audio gear are not synergistic hahaha.

LOL I hear you there. Perhaps a good squirt bottle left in the room forbidden to enter is in order????

My cat doesn't chew on or play with cables and the like. What happened is that I had my DX300 on the coffee table and had my head gear in place (where they belong ), and as the cat was walking between the couch and table, he made sure his tale was straight up and rigid (not like he normally would) so that the cable would rub against him. Of course the DX300 will move before the head gear would, and off to the floor it went... Overall he's a good cat, but I am not really a cat person. I like dogs much better.

This was my daughter's cat, but when she moved to her new(ish) place, they didn't take cats, so we inherited it (of course I was NOT consulted when my wife said yes)... ROFL

 

[jeejack]

Here you go :
SHOONTH ESEP-01BL (around 25$), i've just got this one.
SHOONTH ESEP-01BU (around 200$) is their flagship.
and
SHOONTH ESEP-01BLE (around 100$), no reviews to be found for this one...

You can find more details in the DIY thread
@furyossa knows these earbuds best
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EwaYuzF
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EwrmNoz

 

[0ostin0]

I have the KA17

Does the balanced output always sound better than 3.5? Even for low impedance IEMs?

 

[baskingshark]

Does the balanced output always sound better than 3.5? Even for low impedance IEMs?

The issue is in a lot of sources with both single-ended and balanced ports, the manufacturer puts the single-ended port in as an afterthought, or deliberately downthrottles it to showcase the balanced port. But all things being equal, usually the balanced port has more power than the single-ended one, and this added power may be beneficial for hard to drive gear (eg high impedance/low sensitivity transducers).

Also in theory, balanced ports may provide better crosstalk values, but whether this is hearable in short cables is another story.

Actually, there are a lot of higher-end sources that are solely single-ended, and they are quite competitive against balanced sources, and can hit huge power output also. So it is all about the implementation.




One other factor to consider for low impedance transducers, is the output impedance of the source. The KA17 has an output impedance of 1 ohm on the single-ended and 1.5 ohm on the balanced ports, respectively. So based on the audiophile rule of eights, divide the impedance of your IEM/earbud by 8, and that's the maximum value of the output impedance of the source that you should accept, otherwise the sound may be skewed on earbuds/IEMs with a variable impedance curve. ie anything IEM/earbud with less than 8 ohm or 12 ohm shouldn't be used with the KA17 on single-ended and balanced ports respectively - there are not many outliers with such low impedance anyway, so not too big of an issue.



Anyway, TLDR:
- Don't pair too low impedance IEM/earbuds with sources with too high output impedance (rule of 8ths).
- If you don't need too much power to drive low impedance/high sensitivity gear, it is best to keep to the single-ended port. Cause ironically, for very easy to drive gear (low impedance/high sensitivity transducers), sometimes the balanced port may be too loud, and you can't really finetune the volume knob/control - or you can blast your ears even at the lowest volume level!

 

[ttorbic]

Also, @baskingshark you were right, there is a tad bit of warmth to the overall signature with this amplifier (even in SS mode).

Wow, amps can have warmth?? How...? I'm genuinely out of my depth here so quite curious

 

[anli]

One other factor to consider for low impedance transducers, is the output impedance of the source. The KA17 has an output impedance of 1 ohm on the single-ended and 1.5 ohm on the balanced ports, respectively. So based on the audiophile rule of eights, divide the impedance of your IEM/earbud by 8, and that's the maximum value of the output impedance of the source that you should accept, otherwise the sound may be skewed on earbuds/IEMs with a variable impedance curve. ie anything IEM/earbud with less than 8 ohm or 12 ohm shouldn't be used with the KA17 on single-ended and balanced ports respectively - there are not many outliers with such low impedance anyway, so not too big of an issue.

You need to add cable impedance (plug to mmcx and back) to source output impedance.
As for 8... I like another numbers: 15, 20...

 

[fooltoque]

This is a conversation from a few pages ago, but I ended up getting a Youkamoo 2.5mm to 4.4mm adapter for connecting my Yinman to my Qudelix instead of a ddHifi one. The reason is that I like to clip my Qudelix to my collar and the Youkamoo hangs nicely.

Aside: Reasons for clipping Qudelix to collar:
1) It's out of the way
2) The mic is close enough to the mouth for calls.

So I did @mt877 's trick of setting up the sensitivity and impedance of the Yinmans in the Qudelix app, so I know I was listening at 70dB.
I roughly volume matched against the Topping G5, which has between 2-3 times the power output, and did some back and forth listening.

I thought that the Qudelix with the Yinmans sounded actually pretty nice. I liked it a lot.
Compared to the G5, it is definitely thinner and lacks bass. That is definitely not a difference that I see in easier to drive earbuds (I checked to be sure), so it isn't a matter of tonal difference between the sources.

Honestly, having a little bit less bass in the Yinmans for me is almost welcome. It allows some of the other frequencies to come through a bit more, and still keeps that wonderful lack of any harshness. It is a very nice listen, and I would say that it is still worth the price. It reminds me of one of my DIY buds that I tried to tune to be similar to Yinman but with less bass.

However, I also feel that strictly speaking, you can't really compare it to the sound that others are getting with more powerful setups. Just understand that what you're hearing from this pairing is different from what others are hearing from the Yinmans.

If you have the Qudelix, and get the Yinmans, then I don't think you'll be disappointed in the sound, and maybe you can look forward to how the sound changes when you get a more powerful source later, like @samandhi is experiencing with his new 4W amp.

 

[mt877]

This is a conversation from a few pages ago, but I ended up getting a Youkamoo 2.5mm to 4.4mm adapter for connecting my Yinman to my Qudelix instead of a ddHifi one. The reason is that I like to clip my Qudelix to my collar and the Youkamoo hangs nicely.



Aside: Reasons for clipping Qudelix to collar:
1) It's out of the way
2) The mic is close enough to the mouth for calls.

So I did @mt877 's trick of setting up the sensitivity and impedance of the Yinmans in the Qudelix app, so I know I was listening at 70dB.
I roughly volume matched against the Topping G5, which has between 2-3 times the power output, and did some back and forth listening.

I thought that the Qudelix with the Yinmans sounded actually pretty nice. I liked it a lot.
Compared to the G5, it is definitely thinner and lacks bass. That is definitely not a difference that I see in easier to drive earbuds (I checked to be sure), so it isn't a matter of tonal difference between the sources.

Honestly, having a little bit less bass in the Yinmans for me is almost welcome. It allows some of the other frequencies to come through a bit more, and still keeps that wonderful lack of any harshness. It is a very nice listen, and I would say that it is still worth the price. It reminds me of one of my DIY buds that I tried to tune to be similar to Yinman but with less bass.

However, I also feel that strictly speaking, you can't really compare it to the sound that others are getting with more powerful setups. Just understand that what you're hearing from this pairing is different from what others are hearing from the Yinmans.

If you have the Qudelix, and get the Yinmans, then I don't think you'll be disappointed in the sound, and maybe you can look forward to how the sound changes when you get a more powerful source later, like @samandhi is experiencing with his new 4W amp.

Yeah, agreed, the Q5K and Yinman 600 combo is (IMO) a minimal setup. While the Q5K don't drive the Yinman like a more powerful amp, you can still enjoy them.

In regards to @samandhi's new amp... add a 1 in front of the 4W... for 14W balanced output.

 

[baskingshark]

You need to add cable impedance (plug to mmcx and back) to source output impedance.
As for 8... I like another numbers: 15, 20...

Yes, though most modern day well designed cables have quite low impedance. So shouldn't be a major issue unless the cable is a fail.

 

[mt877]

Oh sorry, I wrote it wrong!
What I ordered for USD 70 was not Temperament X6, but black Temperament X3.
Is there any hope for the sound with Temperament X3?

I have a set of the Temperament X3 coming as well. I like the sound from the LBBS, Temperament X6 and I think the Temperament X3 will be a further step up.