[thang3291]

Does anyone have both the FF3 and Alpha 3, how do they compare ? I'm mainly an IEM person but I've had the FF3 for more than a year and they're just wonderful. Seeing a lot of positive reviews on the Alpha 3, makes me want to get one since they're on sale where I live.

 

[fooltoque]

I bought the Rikubuds Grand Alter Saber 3 at full price.



This utilizes a RG39-1 shell, with a 15.4 mm light blue PET driver. It has a whopping 180 ohm impedance and 118 dB/mW sensitivity (thus being rather hard to drive, and needs an amp to scale the sonics optimally).

Very comfortable, sitting in the tragal notch nicely. First impressions before burn-in are that this is tuned neutral with a mid-bass boost. Something akin to warm neutral.

Bass is speedy with minimal bleed, very textured and clean. It is mid-bass focused, with a sub-bass roll-off as per most flatheads. Upper mids are forwards without shoutiness. Treble is on the smoother side but with still quite decent resolution. Quite balanced tuning overall.

Timbre is organic for acoustic instruments. Technicalities seem quite good on first listening, but need to do further burn-in and A/B comparisons against other earbud rivals. Quite a promising earbud.

Those are the Rikubuds I'm most interested in. Really pretty, and the tuning sounds like a good balance in the middle of all my other current buds. I really want to try those shells too. They look awesome.

 

[fooltoque]

Duplicate posted

 

[Alohax123]

Very nice looking vintage Sony buds you are getting. Most people (including myself) on this thread right now don't have knowledge of or have even heard music through vintage Sony buds, so I don't think anyone can give you any impressions of how your Sony buds will sound. When you get them, maybe you can share your impressions of how those vintage Sony buds sound compared to a couple modern day earbuds.


I think it will be impossible to find an LCP driver for these Sony shells unless you can obtain another Sony earbud which used the same driver that you can take the drivers and use for your project. Even on AE there are not many 16mm earbud drivers. I did find one 16mm earphone driver which will probably fit the Sony shell and is held in with rings like in your picture. I guess you can try the drivers and see how they sound.

I will probaly try some 15.4mm with fitting to see they could do the magic or not,but thanks.

 

[hiheaded]

Does anyone have both the FF3 and Alpha 3, how do they compare ? I'm mainly an IEM person but I've had the FF3 for more than a year and they're just wonderful. Seeing a lot of positive reviews on the Alpha 3, makes me want to get one since they're on sale where I live.

I had both. Got rid of the alpha 3. They are nice but bass was not present enough for me. In most other aspects the alpha 3 were better than ff3 but at the time I was looking for bass (coming from iems)...today I may prefer the alpha 3 but don't really need them or the ff3 since getting the rikubud saber3. I'd say depends on the genres you listen to.

 

[4ceratops]

I’ve been on a bit of an Earbud hiatus and focusing a bit more on iems the last month or so. I was listening to my favorite jazz album of 2023 on my computer speakers and I said to myself “this would sound much better with APWS!” Out came my precious gold bells



I have to say that no matter how wonderfully amazing iems are in their own right, they will never be able to produce the timbre/tonality and open sound of earbuds. So beautiful is the tone and timbre in this album and I’m in pure bliss! And if you haven’t, check out the enthralling and mesmerizing world of Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Les Jardins Mystiques Vol.1

Thank you very much for drawing attention to this wonderful and colourful (not only) jazz project. I dove into it a while ago and it's very clear to me that it's going to be a beautiful ride and a long evening. Tonight I'll go to sleep again a bit musically richer...

 

[fooltoque]

Thanks for the suggestion! I was shocked at the difference that made, and I actually like VC up a lot better than VC down.

I still like the Heigi foams though. There is a high end frequency that is a bit irritating to my ears that is evened out with the Heigi's, and I don't find that it lacks upper end resolution at all. It's good, because I don't like the Heigi's on any of my other buds, so otherwise they'd be useless

One problem is that I'm away from the house for a few days, and I only have the Qudelix to power them. I'm not convinced that it does them justice, as they are a bit harder to drive. The bass sounds a bit muddy. I'll re-evaluate when I get back home.

@mt877 After getting home I plugged them in to my Topping G5, and it tightened up the bass and evened out the top frequencies as well. Definitely the Qudelix (at least unbalanced) is not enough to power them.

But yeah, with VC up, I don't feel the need to EQ them anymore. They are still bright, but they don't feel like they are missing something. It is a really nice colorful brightness. Compared to the RW-3000, I feel like the top end is a lot more colorful and fun (and detailed), but it doesn't match the timbre and texture of the low end of the RW-3000. Well, I've always thought that the RW-3000 was a real all rounder.

 

[mt877]

@mt877 After getting home I plugged them in to my Topping G5, and it tightened up the bass and evened out the top frequencies as well. Definitely the Qudelix (at least unbalanced) is not enough to power them.

But yeah, with VC up, I don't feel the need to EQ them anymore. They are still bright, but they don't feel like they are missing something. It is a really nice colorful brightness. Compared to the RW-3000, I feel like the top end is a lot more colorful and fun (and detailed), but it doesn't match the timbre and texture of the low end of the RW-3000. Well, I've always thought that the RW-3000 was a real all rounder.

Excellent! Yeah, those drivers need power to bring out the best in them. Thanks for your impressions and confirmation that the D&D build produced some nice sounding buds. While the RW-3000 may not be for everyone, they are definitely one of my goto buds for all around music enjoyment as well.

 

[anli]

Hi,
How often do you replace foams?

 

[mt877]

Hi,
How often do you replace foams?

I guess that would depend how often you use your earbuds. Every couple of months is probably reasonable. You can clean your foams with hydrogen peroxide which will dissolve ear wax followed by gentle soap (dish washing soap) if you just want to clean them.

 

[anli]

I guess that would depend how often you use your earbuds. Every couple of months is probably reasonable. You can clean your foams with hydrogen peroxide which will dissolve ear wax followed by gentle soap (dish washing soap) if you just want to clean them.

Aha, I see. It's funny, at my case with time they become oversized (and still clean).

 

[baskingshark]

Hi,
How often do you replace foams?

I think it depends on the weather conditions at your place, probably humid and hot areas need more frequent changing.

Also depends on the quality of foams. Some of those cheap but crappy ones from Aliexpress tear within a few days! Those like Hiegi foams which are pricier can actually last me 2 - 3 months of weekly use without being damaged.

 

[fooltoque]

Excellent! Yeah, those drivers need power to bring out the best in them. Thanks for your impressions and confirmation that the D&D build produced some nice sounding buds. While the RW-3000 may not be for everyone, they are definitely one of my goto buds for all around music enjoyment as well.

From my perspective, having a simple drag and drop build where I could get my feet wet and gather all the tools I needed was really motivating. Thank you so much for that! Having it sound great is icing on the cake

 

[ColdsnapBry]

Do the white and black hiegi foams have different density? Or is it just color.

 

[jogawag]

Do the white and black hiegi foams have different density? Or is it just color.

Hiegi's white and black foams should be there to distinguish right from left, etc., so the density should be the same.