[fonkepala]

The ZEN is the problem. The treble is not sparkle. No clearer mids. And, importantly, everyone knows it is praised for its sound sig everywhere on the net but it cannot boast for the bass response, definitely it is not for the bass heads. With foams, the whole sound get muffled, spoiling the mids even further. Maybe it is a beauty with its siblings amp Runabout which I do not own nor did I have a chance to test it with.

Ah, I see. The Mojo is plenty powerful already & it should be able to drive the Zen. It also has a warm sound signature with nice slightly boosted bass so I'm surprised you still find the bass of the Zen to be lacking when paired with the Mojo. If the Mojo doesn't provide good synergy between it & the Zen, then I doubt the Runabout will.

I think the housing diameter is like common housing mx500 etc..
Not comfortable for me but not bad either..

Really? They do feel very slightly larger to me. It might just be my particular ear anatomy. Anyway, I'll try putting on different foams. Currently using the ones it came with.

 

[ncristia]

Hey all new to the earbud game and just got the Kbear Knight. It's really nice with some eqing. Very mid forward and imho to much mids. With 10band eq I just lowered the 2k down about 3 db and boosted the bass 64/100 both 3db. Sounds great now. Love the sound and for work where I have people talking to me all the time I really like the way I can hear quality sound and everyone around me.

So I looked around and just bought the Sambot M1 Pro as I see it's targeted to be very natural/neutral sound. If you notice in my signature I like Neutral sound for the most part. Any recommendations in the Neutral department or is the M1 Pro a solid choice in that mid-tier price range? I do not have Facebook so MoonBud is out for me... Thanks!

Moondrop Nameless

 

[rangachari]

Es

see

Ah, I see. The Mojo is plenty powerful already & it should be able to drive the Zen. It also has a warm sound signature with nice slightly boosted bass so I'm surprised you still find the bass of the Zen to be lacking when paired with the Mojo. If the Mojo doesn't provide good synergy between it & the Zen, then I doubt the Runabout will.

One can not find fault with Mojo, it delivers its own base that has a nice impact with a long decay, no question about it, but in order to get this base you will have to listen at a little higher volume. I am comparing now the base with the Yuin PK1's, it does produce a reverberating punchy base and it is so fun to listen to even at a lower volume and no doubt will definitely bring a smile to anyone's face listening on it which is not the case with Zen 2.0, at least basis my experience. Of course, again, each bud has its own pros and cons. PS: Lee from Veclan agrees that Mojo does not drive their 2.0 well enough like their Runabout and says many confirmed as much.

 

[robar]

My coupler wouldn't show a ruler-flat response, because it accounts for the resonance from the inner part of the ear canal (711 couplers were designed originally for deep-insert hearing aids). In theory, if I took the mic out and put it right up against a flat FR DUT, it would then show a ruler-flat response throughout the spectrum - even in the bass. (But one important word of warning to anybody with a 711 coupler - you're never supposed to take the mics out. They're calibrated as an entity and the coupler resonance chamber volume is carefully adjusted to give the correct transfer impedance. You can destroy your coupler by removing the mic!)

It might be interesting to compare measurements of the same headphone on both our rigs. I do own many cheaper earbuds, but in my experience, unit variance can be pretty large - even on more expensive buds like the Shozys and the Moondrops. The best option would probably be for us to mail the exact same pair of earbuds to one another. Are you, by any chance, in the US?

Thanks for the interesting info! I do notice that the measurement you posted few days ago has a very distinct U-shaped dip at about 7-8khz. I've seen this before with other graphs, could this be an uncompensated part of your measurements or these buds just happen to have a dip there? Mine shows usually flatter more varying graphs at that frequency range, maybe this is one of the main effects of your coupler?
Sadly I don't live in the US, shipping would probably be a pain. I think this experiment would still be interesting even if there is some sample variation involved, (I have graphs about 3 different vidos for example) like if we choose earbuds with very different sound signatures, we could still pinpoint some useful landmarks. What cheap earbuds could you measure? I have graphs about most that are mentioned in my signature likes vidos, qians, silver, b40 etc

 

[citral23]

Battle of the Tonekings

From left to right : Tomahawk, TO180, TO200, TO600
Not present : TO400s (gifted to my father)

The Tomahawk is by far the most fatiguing Toneking of this list, with forward high mids that hurt my head a bit, but I'm really sensitive so YMMV. It's a good choice for someone who wants the toneking sound in an easy to drive and fixed cable package and is performing well for me at low to mid volume with full foams. It has good bass quantity for my taste and sounds fine overall, but if I had to do it again I think I'd skip it.

The TO180 is the second most fatiguing, but it's only very slightly fatiguing in some conditions for me. It's more controlled than the Tomahawk, but still shares the same forward high-mids characteristic, that works very well on some genres and can cause fatigue on others. It has pretty good bass quantity and extension, with no bleed into mids, but a bass that sounds sort of boomy, not the most natural I've heard. It has a big slam tho which creates an exciting sound.

The TO200 is less fatiguing to my ears, with more low mids than high mids, and as a result can be listened to higher volumes, where the big soundstage and superb instument separation really start to shine. It has however the less bass of the bunch, so that won't please everyone, but as you start to turn the volume up you hear more of the bass, so it somewhats mitigates the characteristic. I wouldn't even call it neutral at low volume, more like bass deficient, but it's moving towards neutral at high volume. It has a very good slam on kicks, like the TO180 but with a very dry sound instead of the boomy hit.

The TO600 is by far the least fatiguing of the bunch, with a very warm tonality, emphasized bass that bleeds into low-mids, and very polite mids and treble, it is a really relaxing sound that should please most, but is also the hardest to drive. It performs much better for me on balanced output than SE.

Absent at the moment is the TO400s, which is the only toneking earbud I owned that had a perfect cable. It is also the most neutral of the lot, with the best extension on both ends, reaching deeper in sub and having more sparkle in the highs, but without any kind of fatigue to my ears. It also had much less coloured/grainy mids than the 4 of the picture, which resulted to my ears in a more "correct" listen, but also less exciting for acoustic music. It was however able to reproduce classical in a very, very good manner, and was doing well for genres like hip-hop or EDM where sub is called for.

My preference :
Jazz : TO200 by far
Rock, Folk etc : TO600 or TO180 depending on mood and material
Classical, Hip-Hop, EDM : TO400s

 

[acroyear]

Anyone know why K's make a $500 earbud with a chin slider that doesn't work? I've had the Bell Ti for a few days now. It's the best earbud I've ever heard, but I'm going crazy trying to figure out how to keep the chin slider up. Yes, I actually use them. It's so loose it almost immediately slides straight down. Seems like something they could easily make properly, just making the two holes smaller!

 

[DBaldock9]

Anyone know why K's make a $500 earbud with a chin slider that doesn't work? I've had the Bell Ti for a few days now. It's the best earbud I've ever heard, but I'm going crazy trying to figure out how to keep the chin slider up. Yes, I actually use them. It's so loose it almost immediately slides straight down. Seems like something they could easily make properly, just making the two holes smaller!

Maybe you could stick thin, black plastic twist ties through the holes, and twist them on the back side - to provide additional friction for the wires in the slider.

 

[assassin10000]

Anyone know why K's make a $500 earbud with a chin slider that doesn't work? I've had the Bell Ti for a few days now. It's the best earbud I've ever heard, but I'm going crazy trying to figure out how to keep the chin slider up. Yes, I actually use them. It's so loose it almost immediately slides straight down. Seems like something they could easily make properly, just making the two holes smaller!

Maybe you could stick thin, black plastic twist ties through the holes, and twist them on the back side - to provide additional friction for the wires in the slider.

Or maybe roll an o-ring over the plug and splitter up to the slider.

 

[acroyear]

Or maybe roll an o-ring over the plug and splitter up to the slider.

I'm thinking about using some type of wire.

 

[BadReligionPunk]

Could use black yarn or some kind of thread?

 

[acroyear]

Could use black yarn or some kind of thread?

I was thinking seriously about using thread. I just don't know how to finish the wrap so no excess thread hangs off. I was thinking about a teeny dab of super glue when the thread wrap is finished.. then, I decided maybe the idea was strange an too complicated. Now, since YOU had the same idea I'm more confident about the idea

 

[BadReligionPunk]

I was thinking seriously about using thread. I just don't know how to finish the wrap so no excess thread hangs off. I was thinking about a teeny dab of super glue when the thread wrap is finished.. then, I decided maybe the idea was strange an too complicated. Now, since YOU had the same idea I'm more confident about the idea

Yea. I think you could wrap it in a way that looked nice, and then either use a bit of super glue on the bottom of the splitter or maybe use some clear polish. I think that's what girls used back in the day to resize their BF's Class Rings so they would fit them.

https://www.leaf.tv/articles/how-to-wrap-a-class-ring/

 

[mbwilson111]

Yea. I think you could wrap it in a way that looked nice, and then either use a bit of super glue on the bottom of the splitter or maybe use some clear polish. I think that's what girls used back in the day to resize their BF's Class Rings so they would fit them.

Angora yarn was used for that... in colors to match the outfit. Don't ask me how I know... lol

I was thinking maybe some nice black embroidery thread from a craft/sewing/ yarn shop The person working at the shop might have some ideas if they were shown the problem.

They might even do it

 

[sainteb]

Can anyone here comment on the microphone quality of **** RW-100 and the likes? I'm currently using a pair of Monk Plus but people are telling me that my mic is really bad and I'd like to replace it with something half-decent like my EarPods' mic.

 

[acroyear]

Thanks everyone! I used a black twisty tie and it's working, but a little too thick. When I slide the slider the tight friction twists the wires together. I think I see why K made the slider loose now, but it's still way TOO loose imo. Next stop, fabric store. Titanium colored thread