[LordZero]

After almost an year of everyday use, my bk2 are doing a strang buzz. They didn't have the sound sig that i liked, but for watching youtube, bed, movies, etc, they were amazing, very confy and flexible cable, nice to hear.
I doubt they have 1 year warranty, so i need a new replacement.

Is there a better thing that the bk2 with a flexible cable at the same price? I dig the OPENHEART earbuds, but are they good? Or I am better of buying another bk2?

Btw, tried the bk2 cable with the Vido MMCX, very confy but they got really shouty.

 

[jogawag]

After almost an year of everyday use, my bk2 are doing a strang buzz. They didn't have the sound sig that i liked, but for watching youtube, bed, movies, etc, they were amazing, very confy and flexible cable, nice to hear.
I doubt they have 1 year warranty, so i need a new replacement.

Is there a better thing that the bk2 with a flexible cable at the same price? I dig the OPENHEART earbuds, but are they good? Or I am better of buying another bk2?

Btw, tried the bk2 cable with the Vido MMCX, very confy but they got really shouty.

The bk2 has a strange peak at 12kHz, which may make the treble jarring. Also, the attached cable of bk2 is silver-plated, so the treble is emphasized.
So I use the following MMCX single crystal copper cable (about $ 5) on bk2 to increase the bass and soften the treble.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32977455076.html

I think using this cable for your Vido MMCX will also help soften the treble.

Also, I saw on another site that OpenHeart is good, but this attached cable is also silver-plated.

By the way, where did you buy your Vido MMCX? Or is it DIY?

 

[LordZero]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33038850404.html

The bk2 has a strange peak at 12kHz, which may make the treble jarring. Also, the attached cable of bk2 is silver-plated, so the treble is emphasized.
So I use the following MMCX single crystal copper cable (about $ 5) on bk2 to increase the bass and soften the treble.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32977455076.html

I think using this cable for your Vido MMCX will also help soften the treble.

Also, I saw on another site that OpenHeart is good, but this attached cable is also silver-plated.

Thank you! that cable looks nice, how is the flexibility compared with the bk2 original cable?

By the way, where did you buy your Vido MMCX? Or is it DIY?

Sorry, it was a gift from a user here, when i bought a earbud from him.
I think it is a RY4S, but is the same thing as Vido, right?
I think it is this one:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33038850404.html

 

[jogawag]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33038850404.html

Thank you! that cable looks nice, how is the flexibility compared with the bk2 original cable?

That's a bit stiff.

Sorry, it was a gift from a user here, when i bought a earbud from him.
I think it is a RY4S, but is the same thing as Vido, right?
I think it is this one:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33038850404.html

Eh, RY4S uses Vido's driver? I did not know...

 

[furyossa]

Eh, RY4S uses Vido's driver? I did not know...

Normal version of RY4S probably uses vido's, but "PLUS" no.

 

[SiggyFraud]

If one wanted to try a 150 Ohm earbud, would FAAEAL Rosemary be a good first choice? It was mentioned just a few posts back, and they have some really good reviews on AE. I was also thinking about picking up these 15.4mm drivers (1, 2), since I think that they're the same as in the Rosemarys.
I'll appreciate any input about the FAAEALs or the drivers

 

[macunaima]

Any thoughts on the ourart ti7 ? Looks very interesting

 

[Sam L]

How to make your Nicehck B40's sound 2.58X better (windows 10 users)

- install apo equalizer and the peace gui
- download the peq file here. Set your pre amp value in peace to -15dB

do this:



and it will compensate in this manner:



sublime sound!

Ok, I know what's going on with peace/apo vs. wavelet implementation of my files. For some measurements the adjustments required beyond 13k to match my target curve are so dramatic that it affects a number of things negatively in the output values. The biggest hit is to tonality past 5k to 20k. For buds that measure with less drop off in the brilliance range the compensation values are accurate.

What this means is that for a number of buds, I'm going to have to compensate to my target up to 10k to maintain accuracy in my PEQ files. Wavelet seems to be more forgiving for some reason.

Here are the correct B40 compensation files, v.1.5 bass edition. I'm hoping wrap up a neutral bass version 1.5 today and start generating correction files for my most listened to buds (to start) -- em5, rambo ii, x6.

@theresanarc, try this file out. Still stay with -15dB for preamp and start with hitting the "compress" button 3 times. Let me know what you think.

 

[Sam L]

One of my favourite chillstep/dupstep tracks which I no with a passion Mr FijiWiji - Cynical (feat. CoMa) I've never heard it sound so spot on an earbud,bass,miss,treble just sound full stage is also wide and anything with atmosphere just reasonates.
The wooden seems well made and construction is solid cable seems decent to.

Hmmm, you're doing an excellent job of selling the merits of this bud. Do you have wavelet? If you do, I'll buy the bud, measure it and make compensation files if you agree to give input. I'm curious if I can improve on the sound stage even more.

 

[Sam L]

No it's not, that's just the character of the bud. I also find the midrange tonality weird, I think that 6k peak followed by a treble shelf is doing that, technically it's ok, but similarly it doesn't get much eartime on my end due to the off timbre and tonality. Maybe eq can fix it since the driver seems quite capable.

Even without listening to the bud, I'm almost 100% sure you are correct. On top of your observation, midrange deficiency is already an inherent flaw with earbuds in their default tuning.

 

[Sam L]

Yes the RW9 is a great bud I have days I like it more that the X6 and days when the X6 has the upper hand.

Yeah, I have the same feelings about those two buds. But if I had to choose one, I'd still go with the x6. Everyone needs to get the rw9 before they are all gone.

 

[Sam L]

K thanks for the input. Ya i tried EQing the Tingo TC200, it can take EQ well, but EQ doesn't fix the timbre. If a flute don't sound like a flute, it doesn't haha. Will probably sell it away.

Anyways wanna say appreciate yours and @Sam L 's earbud EQs and graphs and all the good advise about buds from the rest of the folks in this thread. I have to say this earbuds thread is one of the most helpful and friendly threads here on headfi.

Good thing about buds is the entry level is so low compared to other transducers, like even $1 can give happiness in the vido. Sub $20 can give superb sound and there's so many options and unknown gems to unearth on places like taobao and aliexpress. Even TOTL buds (which admittedly i haven't tried) can be gotten at $100 - 200, which would be entry midfi level for IEMs.

Agreed, this is a great thread. It would be awesome if we all could turn this into the most watched/active thread on headfi -- all in the effort to push the value and advantages of buds to the audiophile world at large. How awesome would it be if we could be a part of creating global demand (outside of china/indonesia/philippines for buds and see manufacturers respond in kind and start innovating on the format. That would be so fun to see.

I'll make some eq files for the tc200 later this morning and see if there's any improvement.

I completely agree, $20 and under should be the entry point for new earbuds users. No need to go beyond that, especially if they use wavelet. One last thing, @baskingshark thank you for the kind words. Like you, I'm fairly new to buds. It all started with the pandemic and you were helpful in my education with your quick response to my first post in here. I appreciate your post on sizes. It really helped to get a sense of how to navigate the world of buds.

 

[RikudouGoku]

Agreed, this is a great thread. It would be awesome if we all could turn this into the most watched/active thread on headfi -- all in the effort to push the value and advantages of buds to the audiophile world at large. How awesome would it be if we could be a part of creating global demand (outside of china/indonesia/philippines for buds and see manufacturers respond in kind and start innovating on the format. That would be so fun to see.

I'll make some eq files for the tc200 later this morning and see if there's any improvement.

I completely agree, $20 and under should be the entry point for new earbuds users. No need to go beyond that, especially if they use wavelet. One last thing, @baskingshark thank you for the kind words. Like you, I'm fairly new to buds. It all started with the pandemic and you were helpful in my education with your quick response to my first post in here. I appreciate your post on sizes. It really helped to get a sense of how to navigate the world of buds.

I agree with @baskingshark that EQ doesnt fix timbre, it can help with the overall naturality of the sound due to it making the tonality better for that particular instrument. But EQ cant fix timbre unfortunately.

 

[rprodrigues]

If one wanted to try a 150 Ohm earbud, would FAAEAL Rosemary be a good first choice? It was mentioned just a few posts back, and they have some really good reviews on AE. I was also thinking about picking up these 15.4mm drivers (1, 2), since I think that they're the same as in the Rosemarys.
I'll appreciate any input about the FAAEALs or the drivers

There might be some direction here (EA group on facebook)

 

[Sam L]

RW-9 wavelet and PEQ files v.1.5 target is up here.

Let me know what you think!