[jogawag]

From on top of my head, pretty sure I paid more since I own multiple pairs of the same model.

If you don't trust me, that's fine. I don't need it anyway. I am out, for good.

I am in this thread, so of course I trust you.
I just thought if you got some discount because you are famous.

What I wanted to say in reply to @waynes world was that "Though SMBAT has been annoying buyers twice in the past and SMBAT is only receiving an unconditional compliment on their new products. I am not satisfied as one of the past buyers. "

 

[Danneq]

Thank. When I last corresponded with Henry, the red dragon cost $ 600 or 650, was close in signature to the HD800. And what other totl can you name besides these two? Can there be reliable ratings? I have a JH-16, but I want no less detail in a bigger stage.

On one of my more and more rare visits here. There are more TOTL earbuds than SWD3 and CAX Red Dragon. I remember Herry said that he would not make more Red Dragon because it took too much time and he's got other projects plus a full time job. The first pair was made after a guy asked for a custom made pair of earbuds. I actually own that very pair, and bought it second hand from the original owner. I think he paid close to $700 and I got it for a little over $600. That pair had a sound that was customed to be close to HD800s. At least one more pair has been made, that was sold to a guy in South Korea. If you search this thread, you can probably find info on that.
While I think Red Dragon is far above my other earbuds in SQ, dynamics, detail etc, I am not sure if I would pay that much again for earbuds or headphones. (other earbuds I own are for example SWD2+, Cypherus Campfred 2 & Zoomfred, Blox TM 7 & TM9 & ABnormal Diomnes Lv2). Plus the cable is super stiff which makes difficult to use when moving around. Just move your head slightly and they pop out of your ears.

Prices have gone up the last few years. Still cheaper than IEMs, though.

There are a lot new TOTL earbuds that have come out in the last 1-2 years that I have not heard. They might be quite good. I was close to buying the Ourart QJ21 but after Swedish customs started putting import taxes on EVERYTHING from outside the EU, no matter the value of the parcel, I sort of lost the will to buy stuff from outside the EU.

Lately I've been amazed by the beauty of the earbuds that Korean Dez Kim has custom made and displayed on his Facebook page. Check it out!

 

[RikudouGoku]

On one of my more and more rare visits here. There are more TOTL earbuds than SWD3 and CAX Red Dragon. I remember Herry said that he would not make more Red Dragon because it took too much time and he's got other projects plus a full time job. The first pair was made after a guy asked for a custom made pair of earbuds. I actually own that very pair, and bought it second hand from the original owner. I think he paid close to $700 and I got it for a little over $600. That pair had a sound that was customed to be close to HD800s. At least one more pair has been made, that was sold to a guy in South Korea. If you search this thread, you can probably find info on that.
While I think Red Dragon is far above my other earbuds in SQ, dynamics, detail etc, I am not sure if I would pay that much again for earbuds or headphones. (other earbuds I own are for example SWD2+, Cypherus Campfred 2 & Zoomfred, Blox TM 7 & TM9 & ABnormal Diomnes Lv2). Plus the cable is super stiff which makes difficult to use when moving around. Just move your head slightly and they pop out of your ears.

Prices have gone up the last few years. Still cheaper than IEMs, though.

There are a lot new TOTL earbuds that have come out in the last 1-2 years that I have not heard. They might be quite good. I was close to buying the Ourart QJ21 but after Swedish customs started putting import taxes on EVERYTHING from outside the EU, no matter the value of the parcel, I sort of lost the will to buy stuff from outside the EU.

Lately I've been amazed by the beauty of the earbuds that Korean Dez Kim has custom made and displayed on his Facebook page. Check it out!

Wow another Swedish headfier!!!

I thought I was alone out here

 

[Danneq]

Wow another Swedish headfier!!!

I thought I was alone out here

Well, perhaps you are these days. I used to be VERY active from around 2010-2018. After that stupid decision to put import taxes on everything from outside the EU I haven't bought many earbuds. My last pair was SWD2+ that I bought from Massdrop in the autumn of 2018. I feel I cannot contribute anything here if I don't buy anything new...

There used to be another Swede here, from Göteborg, but he stopped visiting this forum a while ago, I think...

 

[superuser1]

Esteemed members, does anyone know where i could convert something like the NiceHCK B40 into mmcx @ClieOS

 

[RobinFood]

I am in this thread, so of course I trust you.
I just thought if you got some discount because you are famous.

What I wanted to say in reply to @waynes world was that "Though SMBAT has been annoying buyers twice in the past and SMBAT is only receiving an unconditional compliment on their new products. I am not satisfied as one of the past buyers. "

I got two faulty Smabat st-10s in a row. Luckily I anticipated it and bought from Amazon. It was more expensive than Aliexpress, but as a prime member I was pretty confident that I could get an easy replacement if there was a problem with them.

The first time I had a faulty mmcx cord. The second time I had rattling in the sun bass region, which is a seriously annoying and common problem with earbuds.

I don't put the fault entirely on Smabat though. I think it's a thing with earbuds and IEMs in general. They are really small and small but annoying qc issues seem to get through. I had similar issues with Sony IEMs and custom hand made earbuds. It's just part of the game, in a way. I almost always make sure I can get easy replacements if I have issues.

 

[jogawag]

I got two faulty Smabat st-10s in a row. Luckily I anticipated it and bought from Amazon. It was more expensive than Aliexpress, but as a prime member I was pretty confident that I could get an easy replacement if there was a problem with them.

The first time I had a faulty mmcx cord. The second time I had rattling in the sun bass region, which is a seriously annoying and common problem with earbuds.

I don't put the fault entirely on Smabat though. I think it's a thing with earbuds and IEMs in general. They are really small and small but annoying qc issues seem to get through. I had similar issues with Sony IEMs and custom hand made earbuds. It's just part of the game, in a way. I almost always make sure I can get easy replacements if I have issues.

You were smart to think to buy Smabat st-10s from Amazon, 'cause at that time it was already famous that the quality control of Smabat is poor.
But when I bought faulted SVARA-L and old Smabat st-10 I don't know enough about the poor quality control of Smabat, and they were not sold on Amazon yet. And so far I've bought 3 IEMs and 1 Earbuds for MMCX, but they were all fine...

 

[baskingshark]

Hi earbuds aficionados!

In view of the previous earbuds thread being closed for replies, here's a new one for discussion of all things earbuds related, from cheap $1 USD sets all the way to TOTL ones.

TBH, I've always looked down on earbuds for many years, as I've always liked isolation and subbass response of IEMs. I'm a pretty new convert to the earbuds rabbithole after trying a few in mid 2019, and I've not looked back. Earbuds are like mini headphones, providing good soundstage compared to IEMs, yet without the heat/clamp that traditional headphones give. Granted, they do not have isolation, but they generally have good timbre and even at sub $20, there are many good sounding buds nowadays. Also, for folks that get ear infections/poor fit with IEMs, earbuds are another route to audio nirvana!

As I'm typing this, I'm rocking a RY4S 300 ohm bud in my ears now! I've learnt a lot from the earbuds gurus in the previous thread, so I look forward to your input and experiences with earbuds!

I do hope the old thread gets reopened one of these days though. Mods or ClieOS, please let us know if it is reopened, and I can shut down this one for sure!

 

[mochill]

I'll be first to join this thread. I have been a fan of earbuds since the blox tm7

 

[IEMusic]

I’m not an earbud aficionado, b/c I’ve never been able to get a good fit. So, I’ll follow this thread to learn!

 

[baskingshark]

I’m not an earbud aficionado, b/c I’ve never been able to get a good fit. So, I’ll follow this thread to learn!

Well buds generally come in a few shell shapes, the common being categorized into 4 types. These info below is courtesy of @WoodyLuvr and some of the gurus from the old headfi thread, thank you for the excellent info and 100% credit to them, especially @WoodyLuvr who took the time to compile and source the info for us, extremely helpful, thanks once again!

Type I; MX500 shell (eg Monks, Yukis) - this mimicks the original Sennheiser MX400/500 Lightweight In-Ear Headphones (c 2001) (it is larger in size and diameter; protrudes outwards more; and has a longer/wider stem than Yuin PK2 shell).

Type II; Yuin PK shell (eg PK2, Docomo) - is slightly shorter and narrower stem wise with a smaller diameter and head than the MX500 shell, this mimicks the c2006 Japanese Docomo New Variant earbud series.

Type III; bell shaped (Moondrop Liebesleid, FAAEL Datura Pro, K's Poseidon/Ling/LBB)

Type IV; New Variants shell (which includes NiceHCK ME80, Smabat ST10, Rose Technologies Mojito/Maysa, Toneking, DAIK etc).


MX500 (left) vs Yuin PK (right) :

Yuin PK shells typically have two long Cylon-like slots in the middle of the back cover while the MX500 shells typically have a long slot on the top outer rim with some combination of holes and short slots on the left and right side rim. However, there are many slight variants of both to date.


Type 1: MX500 like shells:





Type 2: Yuin PK like shells:



Type 3: bell shaped:

Type 4: NiceHCK ME80 shell

Type 4: Smabat ST10 shell

U can possibly get a better fit by putting on thicker foams (or even double layers of foams), much like eartips help the fit of an IEM. Or possibly trying to wear them over ears instead of cable down.

 

[Brando]

I've had the yuin pk2 for a few years and thought they were pretty good until I got a couple new sets last week. For $13 the snow lotus plus destroys the pk2. Also got the smabat st10s silver/black and was disappointed at first listen but for some reason I can't explain they keep sounding better the more I use them. I never believed in break in and maybe I'm brainwashing myself but I swear they sound way better now that I've been using them awhile. Awesome earbuds!

 

[WoodyLuvr]

ꟻ⅃ATHEAD TIME⅃IИƎ

 

[Alex.Grimm]

Got a Yincrow RW-1000 Bass Pro Version, I liked more than Smabat ST-10s Black Gold

Spoiler

 

[RikudouGoku]

Any good buds with a warmer and more relaxed sound, with good timbre and tight powerful bass with the Type 1 or Type 2 build?

Since I have no idea how many options there are lets say a budget of 200 usd. (if there are a lot of options then maybe cut it down to 100 usd).

TIA