[FranQL]

Hey, look at what did arrive last Saturday!

Spoiler: Faaeal Iris CE transparent gray

Spoiler: MEMT R7

Spoiler: S**f*r PT25

Ordered the 3 the same day 12 days ago and they arrived the same day as well, which is a first in my case.
And that's not the best thing since you have to chose which one you will listen to...

Anyway, let's start with the (really) bad news, my MEMT R7 was probably borked from the beginning, or the tuner of this earbuds almost forgot there can be some sound coming out of music instruments under 200Hz, because there was NO BASS at all!!
And I'm not a basshead by any mean but here it was so bad that it was totally un-listenable.
Ok, the fit was bad, a bit like what I'm getting with Smabat earbuds, they don't want to stay in my ears and you lose a big part of the sound, but I never experienced something like this before, weird...

But I'm a lucky guy and I discovered that they were some of the (very) few items you can send back to AE free of charge! (they get back to a facility in your country, in my case France, and they get them back to China I guess...)
So they already are on their way to home, it was quick!
That's still disappointing though, as they are gorgeous and perfectly built, I would have loved them even if they had sounded average!...

On to Faaeal Iris CE transparent gray, which is really different from the transparent version.
They have similarities of course, but they are easily distinguishable from each other and I must say I prefer this transparent gray version to the transparent one.
The transparent gray have less mid-bass and as such sounds a lot less boomy, while digging deeper in sub-bass. Transparent gray is more balanced to my ears, even if those two earbuds are on the warm side. (take into account my way of wearing buds, though, ymmv)
Details and high-end of the spectrum seem to be more or less the same, so, overall, I think the transparent gray is the best sounding of the two, to my ears at least.

Ok, now on to the PT25, which is an "Earpod like" pair of buds. To me they are extremely good, clarity, bass, mids, trebles, they are all there, in place, everything is flowing like it should and I just get lost in me music, which is the best compliment I can give to an audio gear!
They are very comfortable as well (I must say I dig Earpod like format, so keep that in mind) and, even though the cable is sonically ok, they deserve a better cable so I just bought a new KBEAR Limpid MMCX just for them, it says a lot coming from me!

That's it for now, coming back later with some more impressions!

@furyossa Here I could read some of this buds

 

[furyossa]

Anyway, let's start with the (really) bad news, my MEMT R7 was probably borked from the beginning, or the tuner of this earbuds almost forgot there can be some sound coming out of music instruments under 200Hz, because there was NO BASS at all!!
And I'm not a basshead by any mean but here it was so bad that it was totally un-listenable.
Ok, the fit was bad, a bit like what I'm getting with Smabat earbuds, they don't want to stay in my ears and you lose a big part of the sound, but I never experienced something like this before, weird...

Yup I remember these post The reason this happens (bass problem) is because they often put glue on the inside of the shell at the point where the stem begins to prevent the cable from moving, which is bent at that point and can cut because there is a sharp edge.

 

[digititus]

Excellent review! I would be very interested in a comparison with Smabat ST10s 40Ω. The design principle and tuning of those two seems to be similar, but the shells are somewhat different...

Specs for the drivers are:
Smabat ST10s 40Ω sensitivity:115dB/mW
Smabat M2S Pro (40Ω) sensitivity:110dB/mW
So the drivers are probably not the same.

Anyway I am more interested in higher impedance buds, so ST10s 150Ω might be my Smabat pick.
Btw. does anyone know where could I get the ST10s 150Ω drivers for a good price?

NiceHCK has them for $72

 

[WoodyLuvr]

Any idea where I can buy them? I found them on Pennon audio, it says both in stock and out of stock for some reason:
https://penonaudio.com/shozy-bk-black.html

Shozy Cygnus

Shozy BK Balanced was sold in some AliExpress stores until a couple of months ago, but it's gone now.
So I voted for Shozy Cygnus instead, but it's also sold out.

Then I recommend Onmyoji 2021. It's the first of the color options on the following page.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32983807186.html

The Cygnus has been re-issued as 2021 - Shozy Cygnus II (32Ω). Now with a 32Ω driver instead of 18Ω like the original.

https://penonaudio.com/shozy-cygnus.html

 

[furyossa]

The Cygnus has been re-issued as 2021 - Shozy Cygnus II (32Ω). Now with a 32Ω driver instead of 18Ω like the original.

https://penonaudio.com/shozy-cygnus.html

I will love to see more color options, unfortunately only one is left and that is "out of stock"

 

[povidlo]

For those considering buying the Tingo TC200, a mmcx version has appeared, with a new GUN METAL shell, which means less visible fingerprints

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002805336074.html

Got them (shiny mmcx ones) recently and been pretty underwhelmed. Nothing really stands out about them sound wise. I get bored listening to them. Ancestor and Headroom MS16 cheapos I also got recently are much more enjoyable.

The Cygnus has been re-issued as 2021 - Shozy Cygnus II (32Ω). Now with a 32Ω driver instead of 18Ω like the original.

https://penonaudio.com/shozy-cygnus.html

Looks like 2021 version requires four ears as well.

 

[furyossa]

Got them (shiny mmcx ones) recently and been pretty underwhelmed. Nothing really stands out about them sound wise. I get bored listening to them. Ancestor and Headroom MS16 cheapos I also got recently are much more enjoyable.

Yup that why I use it as sleeping buds but TG-38s leaves me awake until your playlist is complete

 

[WoodyLuvr]

@jogawag @uneri @furyossa @FranQL @RikudouGoku
Profuse apologies gents for the delay in my updating (reporting) what the issue was with my Bell-Ti 120Ω. I was sincerely hoping to receive some feedback from our comrades over on erji.net regarding the other failures that were being experienced and reported. Unfortunately, I did not receive as much information as I had hoped... other than a few vague responses amounting to "driver and/or cable failure". They do tend to be very hesitant and/or even unhelpful in responding to "outsiders" which is a shame because erji.net is quite "earbud" active. To be honest it may be me though... my "Me Tarzan, You Jane" level of Chinese probably reads like that of a maniac six-year old idiot on crack! Any how, please read my updated post here (click me) where I go over the issue and the repair of my Bell-Ti 120Ω. Cheers!

 

[jeejack]

My opinion on budget earbuds:
1. RY4S mmcx plus is the only earbuds you need.
2. For DIY lovers only 19-21 red dot you need
3. If you like collecting you need Yincrow X6, Vido, TG-38s and for DIY lovers 130ohm beryllium

 

[Narayan23]

I'm kinda curious about whether you guys have the black or transparent shell?

Mine was the Gray (transparent) no mic version.

 

[furyossa]

My opinion on budget earbuds:
1. RY4S mmcx plus is the only earbuds you need.
2. For DIY lovers only 19-21 red dot you need
3. If you like collecting you need Yincrow X6, Vido, TG-38s and for DIY lovers 130ohm beryllium

I can say "you need" only if I'm thinking about X6

Anyway ...
RY Audio Store has probably most minimalistic and quite affordable offer of budget buds (with "nozzle" or "flat head")
I didn't try OG RY4S. I don't have RY4S 300ohm version but Mr. @jeejack confirmed that they use DIY 300ohm N52 driver which I own and tested too many times with
different shells. This is the tough and durable aka. "savage" driver with mid-bass centric stock tuning. This is a real challenge for DIY fans.
Again this driver alone cost around $10 and RY stose sale assembled version (with mmcx connectors) for $8
Latest RY buds are RY4S Plus with famous Tingo silver shell. This is the fun sounding buds which overall value is hard to beat.
For $8 you get, good sound and possibility to try different cables (SE or balanced).

As for DIY lovers and people who want to try, play and listen something different from branded models, there is a really diverse offer of these low and high impedance drivers whose performance matches the much more expensive models of well-known manufacturers. More info on DIY Earbuds thread

And finally we have to mention the models that attract the most attention and represent a nice introduction to this hobby.
Out of respect for Mr.@RikudouGoku, I will state first Yincrow X6 , and RW-9. Smabat lineup with modular system (interchangeable drivers).
Vido, NiceHCK MX500, Tingo lineup (TC-200, TC-300, TC-400 and TG-38s), HE150Pro, ShoonTH ESEP-01BL etc.

 

[Question2]

OK can someone explain why my NiceHCK PK1s sound very soft compared to the Ksearphone LBBS at the same volume? I had to crank up the volume quite a bit before the PK1s started sounding decent. Is it because the PK1s are 16 ohms compared to the LBBS having 30 ohms?

Was quite surprised when I listened to the PK1s at the same volume and it felt like the clarity was much worse. I thought something was wrong with the PK1s at first.

 

[FranQL]

OK can someone explain why my NiceHCK PK1s sound very soft compared to the Ksearphone LBBS at the same volume? I had to crank up the volume quite a bit before the PK1s started sounding decent. Is it because the PK1s are 16 ohms compared to the LBBS having 30 ohms?

Was quite surprised when I listened to the PK1s at the same volume and it felt like the clarity was much worse. I thought something was wrong with the PK1s at first.

what a good question !!!!!

I am very attentive to the solution, normally when that happens I turn up the volume, but I will wait for another solution.

 

[jogawag]

OK can someone explain why my NiceHCK PK1s sound very soft compared to the Ksearphone LBBS at the same volume? I had to crank up the volume quite a bit before the PK1s started sounding decent. Is it because the PK1s are 16 ohms compared to the LBBS having 30 ohms?

Was quite surprised when I listened to the PK1s at the same volume and it felt like the clarity was much worse. I thought something was wrong with the PK1s at first.

I also used to have a NiceHCK PK1.
The reason why the clarity of NiceHCK PK1 is much worse than LBBS is because the performance of NiceHCK PK1 is poor.
Did anyone recommend the NiceHCK PK1?
It simply means that you have bought a cheap, low performance NiceHCK PK1.
The fact that the PK1 is 16 ohms and the LBBS is 30 ohms has nothing to do with it.

 

[Ronion]

Mine is the black shell Iris Ancestor by the way, and after spending more time with them today, I'm sort of 50/50. To me, they are warm sounding with elevated bass, a bit of mid bass bleed, very tame upper mids, rolled off treble. Not my favourite tuning, but it's a non-fatiguing sound that works better at high listening volumes to me. At lower volumes, I can see why some might feel like the mids are recessed though.

that said, I feel like they're a nice step up from the vido still. Slightly more bass compared to the red vido, slightly tighter bass I think, and slightly better sub bass. I think the red vido has a tiny bit more upper mids, but that is likely due to the slightly lower bass quantity. But more importantly, I do feel like the driver on the iris ancestor sound a bit more technically capable to me. Better detail retrieval and separation, and sounds less congested. Not to mention you get a way nicer cable that is thicker, and for some reason longer at around 145cm. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's probably one of the better options in this price range to me. previously mentioned on first impression that I still like the Traceless more, but that could be because of the song I was listening to at that time, and the volume. After more comparison across more tracks and different listening volume, I think it's better than the Traceless overall. Traceless has a much leaner and brighter sound, so at lower volumes, vocals, especially female are forward sounding and has better perceived clarity (which is enjoyable in certain tracks actually). Though at higher volumes, they quickly become a bit shouty and harsh sounding. The Iris Ancestor's driver sounds more refined to me, so much like the vido, i think it has better detail retrieval, separation, and sounds less congested. Not much surprise here since from what I can see, it looks like the vido and traceless are using very similar (if not the same) drivers just with a different tuning. whereas the driver does look different on the ancestor.

Anyway, still not my favourite tuning and would gladly pay more for the K's earphone K64S and NiceHCK ME80 which is more my cup of tea. But for around 3.35 USD (on shopee.sg), it's a nice option. I don't have the KBEAR stellar or K's Nameless with me anymore (gave those away), so can't go into details in terms of sound, but IIRC they should be around the same ballpark too in terms of tuning. Just because the cable on the Iris Ancestor is nicer to me, I think it's probably a better buy over those too.

Your impression is essentially identical to mine On the Iris 2.0. They may be the same thing......