[Danneq]

I totally agree. This talk of custom-made Red Dragons that are tuned to sound like the Utopias is a total turn-off for me. It sounds sketchy on too many levels. Firstly, it's BS marketing. Even if they've somewhat tuned the FR to match that of the Utopia - and even if you wanted your headphones to have a nasty 5 kHz peak, THD, noise and transient response won't match those of an actual Utopia. Plus, I doubt Focal are being paid to license their product name.

Maybe these Red Dragons are awesome to the ears of their current owners, but we all hear things differently. (It was lucky I never recommended the Shozy BK buds to hawaiibadboy - I love them, but obviously he didn't.) Buying any headphones unseen/unheard is a crapshoot, but the Red Dragons look like a really expensive crapshoot.

I owned my pair for over 1 year without having the faintest idea that they were tuned to resemble full size headphones (Senn HD800S). I only learned it about 2 weeks ago when I asked Herry of Cypherus.
Until he told me of 2 more orders for Red Dragon where one wanted his pair to sound like Focal Utopia and the other like Audeze LCD 3, I just thought that the potential of the RD was maximized in regards of the material used and that there was a "set sound" for RD.

Cypherus or Herry (same thing) has never gone out and claimed anything about Red Dragon in regards to Utopia. It's just users here, like me, that does that. I have no doubt that if there is anyone who can make a pair of earbuds sound like a specific full size headphone, it is Herry. I don't know how he does it, but he does it well. All Cypherus earbuds have a common sound signature of being extended mainly in bass but also in treble without it being sharp or bright in any way. Herry says he aims for an "analogue" sound. That might be interpreted as a sound with treble roll off etc. Acoustic instruments sound exactly like they do in real life and that if one of the main positives about Cypherus buds.

And yeah, we do hear things differently. I do not like to sharp treble, which is why I quickly sold my pair of Rose Mojito. I like Moondrop Liebesleid from a technical aspect, but again, a bit too much focus on upper mids and treble for me. So up for sale they go. I worry a bit about SWD2+ since the treble is described as being a bit bright for some people. That "some people" might be me. But I still have to give them a chance and if I don't like 'em I'll sell them.

There are 2 great Cypherus earbud models for sale - CampFred 2 and ZoomFred, and I would recommend any of them before Red Dragon. RD is a sort of end game earbud for a very small audience.

 

[RodRevenge]

It's always difficult or had that lack of confidence in buying such diy / amateur made earbuds especially when it's something cost over a hundred or several hundreds usd dollar earbud .
Unlike big brand names phones which is readily available for proper audition at the local friendly audio store .
These diy / amateur made earbud is nearly impossible to do a proper audit before purchasing .
Unless someone around you had own one and let you had a go with it before anything or the seller are based at where you are , if not most of the purchase of such ear buds are based on reviewer reviews or mouth to mouth recommendation etc .

It's equally to a blind purchase actually without testing it , even though the product had been highly rated among user there's still that bit of risk which after parting your money for the product , in the end the product may not suit your taste at all , unfortunately this is one of the downside and it's going to be like this , unless seller can appoint agents or dealers with their products in different countries .

Even when it comes to venture electronics products , be it hi end or low end priced , they're products are no where easier to access for audition before purchasing , still need to rely on mouth to mouth recommendation , user hands on impression etc .. in order to build up a certain amount of confidence first before purchasing .

It's more or less about having that confidence really , maybe it's easier to made a buying decision for a $5-20usd purchase , but a lot more different when it comes to purchase things which cost over hundreds or several hundreds usd dollar .


There's plenty of diy / amateur ear buds nowadays which easily cost over hundreds of usd on the market , it's nearly impossible for a normal user like me and many others here to have a seller willing to mail me a pair of their earbud for me to do a proper audition before purchase .

So I too rely on mouth to mouth recommendation and owner reviews online , but umm so far I got to admit and to be frank the only earbud purchase which did not disappoint me are those comes with VE .
Especially with that 320ohm 178usd earbud , which I had recable .
It's a fxxing good buy and a awesome reasonable priced for a detachable earbud .

Maybe that Hawaii bad boy ought to choose the 178usd earbud a go on his next review .
I think he would love it , Especially it's a potentially basshead earbud after recable and pair it up with a powerful Amp and have it Amp it up

I totally get your point, for the looks of it most of the earbud enthusiasts live on asia, people over the earbuds anonymous FB group seem have listening parties/ meetings or even borrows so they can audition before purchansing, while i have to wait up to two months to see if i like my purchase, sad life.

 

[groucho69]

Maybe they didn't fit his ear well?

He said he din't get a good fit. If you are not going to attempt to get a good fit how can you judge?

 

[waynes world]

It's pretty amazing that my $8.39 RY4S w/UE cable, sounds nearly as good as my $108 set of K's 500.

Thanks for that. I just got mine, and they you are right - they are awesome and instant budget king - giant killers imo!

btw, I really had to suck my gut in for that pic lol!

 

[seanc6441]

I'll give 'em a try in 1 year. Just wait a bit!

Time to make connections at the local PO, bribe someone high up

That's interesting. I wonder if he got a defective pair?

They just have a tuning that will not be loved by everyone. I kinda agree with his points if I had to use the stock foams with them too. It's after swapping to a combo of thin foams and donuts or just thin foams that these start to sound better.

But again they really do have the thickest low mids in all the earbuds ive heard and it can be perceived as veil and lack of detail in some cases.

 

[Danneq]

Time to make connections at the local PO, bribe someone high up

It's not THAT bad. It "only" took about 3 weeks from Arlanda customs in the north of Stockholm to my town south of Stockholm...

I meant that I will try the new ATH earbuds out when the family goes to Japan next year, probably in August/September...

 

[seanc6441]

I totally agree. This talk of custom-made Red Dragons that are tuned to sound like the Utopias is a total turn-off for me. It sounds sketchy on too many levels. Firstly, it's BS marketing. Even if they've somewhat tuned the FR to match that of the Utopia - and even if you wanted your headphones to have a nasty 5 kHz peak, THD, noise and transient response won't match those of an actual Utopia. Plus, I doubt Focal are being paid to license their product name.

Maybe these Red Dragons are awesome to the ears of their current owners, but we all hear things differently. (It was lucky I never recommended the Shozy BK buds to hawaiibadboy - I love them, but obviously he didn't.) Buying any headphones unseen/unheard is a crapshoot, but the Red Dragons look like a really expensive crapshoot.

I think you misunderstood, herry doesn't market them as 'Utopia' or 'HD800', its simply the buyers who are saying that he attempted to tune them as such (which is pretty awesome right?)

 

[handwander]

If anyone here wins a bs1 experience in the penon giveaway, give it to me! I want the inferior experience not official version.

 

[HungryPanda]

He said he din't get a good fit. If you are not going to attempt to get a good fit how can you judge?

The Linsoul have PK shells so I don't think fit had anything to do with it

 

[csglinux]

I think you misunderstood, herry doesn't marked them as 'Utopia' or 'HD800', its simply the buyers who are saying that he attempted to tune them as such (which is pretty awesome right?)

I honestly don't know if that's awesome. There was a reason I sold my Utopias. I do really like the HD800S, but when I want to hear something that sounds like an HD800S, I just use my HD800S.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, every headphone has its flaws. I'd expect a $700+ headphone to forge its own sound and try to be the best it can, given the limitations of its own form factor, and not try to mimic the warts and flaws of something else. But I concede it's a great marketing pitch. I can imagine somebody taking this one step further and selling pot-luck headphones - each of which would come with a randomly-chosen FR. Nobody could write a negative review of your headphones, because the CNET/Verge/Hawaiibadboy units would all be different. Happy days

 

[bhima]

Shozy BK's are in the house (thanks Bavinck for selling them to me!)!

Clearly better than every other earbud I own. Better instrument placement, better air, better detail and better soundstage. BUT, in terms of actual frequency response, the BKs have a peak in the 4-6K region that makes them peaky. Personally, the Yincrow RW-777 portrays the frequency range better than these Shozys even if they don't have quite the detail. I'd rather have slightly smoother resolution if it means no annoying 4-6K chi-fi peak. I need some better Equalizer APO skills to really target and fix this. Anyone know of a good tutorial for it?

 

[mochill]

Selling my TM9 , need money .pm me if in the usa

 

[iron2k]

Selling my TM9 , need money .pm me if in the usa

2.5mm???

 

[mochill]

3.5mm

 

[iron2k]

3.5mm

thanks