[ctsooner22]

Alex has helped me out greatly. I got the 25 after talking to him about it. I"m going to google the R8 and check it out. I'm having fun with all of this.

 

[proedros]

@Wyville we need a pic of your hunk movie dog star , please

 

[Wyville]

@Wyville we need a pic of your hunk movie dog star , please

He will grow into his dog house...

 

[Sound Eq]

I will receive the mest on tuesday, and I will see how it compares to khan, z1r, kse1500, solaris 2020, JHaudio Lola.

I decided I will not pay from now on more than 1.5k USD on an iem. The khan and kse 1500 were the last iems that I spent over 1.5K usd on

update : got it, just buy it it is a dam great iem period

 

[subguy812]

Hey Pete, always good to see you my friend! Heard you had a lot going on, so sorry to hear that. All my best wishes to you and your family!

I have not seen much of it myself, but the Hiby R8 might be interesting to have a look at, especially if streaming is important. Its onboard 4G reception could be really useful. I have recently started streaming with my Lotoo PAW6000, but it can only do that through BT DAC while using my phone as the source. It works and sounds good, although I only stream low quality files through Idagio's free service for now.

I have the R8 sitting at UPS since Friday. My wife wasn't available and I was out of town. I think Tuesday morning is the soonest I can get it since tomorrow is a holiday.

 

[toaster]

He will grow into his dog house...

Oh...my...GOODNESS!!!!!!!

 

[KuroKitsu]

Usually the Labour Day weekend is suppose to ....be meant for not doing any labour. But because I share a den with the rest of the house and that's where my desktop setup is, this becomes the only time I can squeeze in extensive listening that I've been planning to do on the DMagic and MEST. This consisted of the usual list but with the addition of some asian pop (Which I've been curating the past week). So without further ado the DMagic!

Before I got into depth, I'd like to point out specifically @audio123 and @mvvRAZ for their review and impressions on the DMagic respectively. Both provided accurate descriptions of it and I feel that mine will walk a similar line between the two, since there's a question of preference.

Initially when starting the hobby, I was unaware of established Chinese audio brands and tended to avoid them, instead leaning on the side of American brands. My first touch with them was through Cayin & Fiio (Lotoo and others, came way later), which was a hit and miss (Former referring to Cayin, latter is...you know) so when I heard of QDC it was the VX making it's rounds in the community. Seeing the price tag was a bit of a shock as well as the prospect of Chifi Hifi and I had no plans to get one, and left it as an ambigious: might be gud. About a year ago, fellow Canuck @Titienne was kind enough to have one and let it go at a reasonable price. I eventually passed that on to try a Andromeda S and recoup some funds. but that firmly established QDC in my head for not just technical acumen and their fit, but the fact that Chinese audio brands existed and were very very good. I skipped the next couple releases they did mostly for the reason that they weren't in the bracket I was in. Cue the DMagic getting dropped but with minimal fanfare. I first saw it being listed on Hifigo (No longer there for some reason), then Musicteck. Of course skipping forward, brewing interest in a triple DD iem (Plus those wooden shells are gorgeous!) and a stock cable with interchangeable terminations eventually ended out with me talking to Andrew who gave me a small discount (I eventually ended up getting the MEST as well).

It was interesting with how minimal packaging on the MEST and DMagic was, both fit in a relatively general sized box you get from an Amazon Prime order. I'm not going to focus too much on packaging, but I did really like how they changed it up compared to the VX. Shells were gorgeous and I still take them out to looks at every couple days. As usual the semi custom shape they use was perfect and fit is snug as a bug with the S stock tips. I think that QDC just had Dunu make the terminations for them but with QDC engraved on the plug. I've always been pleased with the QDC stock cable so adding this really eliminates the need for adapters or even cable rolling. To date I haven't tried any other cable on the DMagic and have not felt the urge to. Anyways, listening done on the 1A with 55 or at 9'oclock on low gain off the 789.

Starting with the subbass, the DMagic has good extension though it lacks in the quantity department (As @audio123 puts it: moderate quantity). This doesn't bother me too much, since I don't need LX levels of subbass. The mid bass has good slam and impact with a good quantity, no bleed at all and not overly fatiguing for my years. Over all, the bass is smooth and fast, resembling an all BA bass configuration (per @mvvRAZ description) but retaining DD texture. It's a good balance but might not be for those expecting full on DD bass.

The Mids are clean and clear, they're not masked by other frequencies and are not masking the other frequencies in turn. They're place slighly forward but not too much to become overly prominent. There's a clear bias towards the upper mids area, but the lower mids are no slouch. In overall listening it ends up being a slight difference where the upper mids have the edge, but not so where the lower mids just fall flat in comparison. This is more for North American music though, interesting things happen when you run asian music through, you could say it's.....Magic

Treble has good extension and I have no sibliance. The upper mid/lower treble peak causes no issues that I can discern, and I suspected that fit will be a huge factor in how that works out for you. The tuning makes for a very lively treble that has a good amount of sparkle and air. While I was afraid that the tuning would be too asian specific, to my surprise it seems to benefit asian music but without being a drawback to non asian music. Again, more discussion of the Magic later.

Overall, the DMagic has a smooth balanced sound, and that really doesn't deviate regardless of the genre that you put through them. I could easily seem them being mistaken for an all BA setup (@mvvRAZ said this as well) rather than a triple DD setup. The bass benefits the most from this and you don't have the coherency issues that you would see with the traditional hybrid setup. The soundstage is a good size, and what @audio123 describe as "natural expansion" to me seems like something I've only heard in the DMagic: The soundstage seems to change in size depending of the performance space in question for the track and the sound takes advantage of that without ever feeling that there is too much space between notes.

So bonus round! That D"Magic" as I've hinted in prior paragraphs and teased in earlier posts. It really didn't occur to me to specifically try asian tracks with them, and at the time I got them, I didn't have a decent archive to test off of. Only when I was writing the Viento review did it occur to me: Why try asia fi with asian music, hence the hold up while I archived and rebuilt my previous collection with better sources.Bear with my choices since they're not BTS or Blackpink or Twice
KPop: Taeyeon, Jaejoong, Junsu, JYJ
JPop: Utada Hikaru, Ayumi Hamasaki
CPop: Jay Chou
The DMagic is no slouch,but listening to non asian music it's more of a "this is not my final form!" form. It doesn't offend but doesn't excel spectacularly in anything. I would call it an all rounder, but there are other iems out there that would carry the moniker better. Needless to say, I still like it enough to use as a late night listen in this regard. How, with asian music could then be described as "cower as you witness my final form!" moment. The DMagic comes alive when that happens, it's still smooth and BA like in a way, but the musicality and emotion are dialed up to 12 (Imagine Gohan with glass then suddenly going Super Saiyan and you're Mr. Satan standing there pooping his pants). It's hard to put into words and you have to really here it for yourself. The DMagic also pulls a similarly lesser version of this with accoustic and live tracks. Solid A+ for me as an all rounder, but jumps to S when the genre becomes asian music.

The MEST will be ran through the same gamut before I post and what I have written down is going shift my ranking list a bit.

 

[audio123]

Usually the Labour Day weekend is suppose to ....be meant for not doing any labour. But because I share a den with the rest of the house and that's where my desktop setup is, this becomes the only time I can squeeze in extensive listening that I've been planning to do on the DMagic and MEST. This consisted of the usual list but with the addition of some asian pop (Which I've been curating the past week). So without further ado the DMagic!

Before I got into depth, I'd like to point out specifically @audio123 and @mvvRAZ for their review and impressions on the DMagic respectively. Both provided accurate descriptions of it and I feel that mine will walk a similar line between the two, since there's a question of preference.

Initially when starting the hobby, I was unaware of established Chinese audio brands and tended to avoid them, instead leaning on the side of American brands. My first touch with them was through Cayin & Fiio (Lotoo and others, came way later), which was a hit and miss (Former referring to Cayin, latter is...you know) so when I heard of QDC it was the VX making it's rounds in the community. Seeing the price tag was a bit of a shock as well as the prospect of Chifi Hifi and I had no plans to get one, and left it as an ambigious: might be gud. About a year ago, fellow Canuck @Titienne was kind enough to have one and let it go at a reasonable price. I eventually passed that on to try a Andromeda S and recoup some funds. but that firmly established QDC in my head for not just technical acumen and their fit, but the fact that Chinese audio brands existed and were very very good. I skipped the next couple releases they did mostly for the reason that they weren't in the bracket I was in. Cue the DMagic getting dropped but with minimal fanfare. I first saw it being listed on Hifigo (No longer there for some reason), then Musicteck. Of course skipping forward, brewing interest in a triple DD iem (Plus those wooden shells are gorgeous!) and a stock cable with interchangeable terminations eventually ended out with me talking to Andrew who gave me a small discount (I eventually ended up getting the MEST as well).

It was interesting with how minimal packaging on the MEST and DMagic was, both fit in a relatively general sized box you get from an Amazon Prime order. I'm not going to focus too much on packaging, but I did really like how they changed it up compared to the VX. Shells were gorgeous and I still take them out to looks at every couple days. As usual the semi custom shape they use was perfect and fit is snug as a bug with the S stock tips. I think that QDC just had Dunu make the terminations for them but with QDC engraved on the plug. I've always been pleased with the QDC stock cable so adding this really eliminates the need for adapters or even cable rolling. To date I haven't tried any other cable on the DMagic and have not felt the urge to. Anyways, listening done on the 1A with 55 or at 9'oclock on low gain off the 789.

Starting with the subbass, the DMagic has good extension though it lacks in the quantity department (As @audio123 puts it: moderate quantity). This doesn't bother me too much, since I don't need LX levels of subbass. The mid bass has good slam and impact with a good quantity, no bleed at all and not overly fatiguing for my years. Over all, the bass is smooth and fast, resembling an all BA bass configuration (per @mvvRAZ description) but retaining DD texture. It's a good balance but might not be for those expecting full on DD bass.

The Mids are clean and clear, they're not masked by other frequencies and are not masking the other frequencies in turn. They're place slighly forward but not too much to become overly prominent. There's a clear bias towards the upper mids area, but the lower mids are no slouch. In overall listening it ends up being a slight difference where the upper mids have the edge, but not so where the lower mids just fall flat in comparison. This is more for North American music though, interesting things happen when you run asian music through, you could say it's.....Magic

Treble has good extension and I have no sibliance. The upper mid/lower treble peak causes no issues that I can discern, and I suspected that fit will be a huge factor in how that works out for you. The tuning makes for a very lively treble that has a good amount of sparkle and air. While I was afraid that the tuning would be too asian specific, to my surprise it seems to benefit asian music but without being a drawback to non asian music. Again, more discussion of the Magic later.

Overall, the DMagic has a smooth balanced sound, and that really doesn't deviate regardless of the genre that you put through them. I could easily seem them being mistaken for an all BA setup (@mvvRAZ said this as well) rather than a triple DD setup. The bass benefits the most from this and you don't have the coherency issues that you would see with the traditional hybrid setup. The soundstage is a good size, and what @audio123 describe as "natural expansion" to me seems like something I've only heard in the DMagic: The soundstage seems to change in size depending of the performance space in question for the track and the sound takes advantage of that without ever feeling that there is too much space between notes.

So bonus round! That D"Magic" as I've hinted in prior paragraphs and teased in earlier posts. It really didn't occur to me to specifically try asian tracks with them, and at the time I got them, I didn't have a decent archive to test off of. Only when I was writing the Viento review did it occur to me: Why try asia fi with asian music, hence the hold up while I archived and rebuilt my previous collection with better sources.Bear with my choices since they're not BTS or Blackpink or Twice
KPop: Taeyeon, Jaejoong, Junsu, JYJ
JPop: Utada Hikaru, Ayumi Hamasaki
CPop: Jay Chou
The DMagic is no slouch,but listening to non asian music it's more of a "this is not my final form!" form. It doesn't offend but doesn't excel spectacularly in anything. I would call it an all rounder, but there are other iems out there that would carry the moniker better. Needless to say, I still like it enough to use as a late night listen in this regard. How, with asian music could then be described as "cower as you witness my final form!" moment. The DMagic comes alive when that happens, it's still smooth and BA like in a way, but the musicality and emotion are dialed up to 12 (Imagine Gohan with glass then suddenly going Super Saiyan and you're Mr. Satan standing there pooping his pants). It's hard to put into words and you have to really here it for yourself. The DMagic also pulls a similarly lesser version of this with accoustic and live tracks. Solid A+ for me as an all rounder, but jumps to S when the genre becomes asian music.

The MEST will be ran through the same gamut before I post and what I have written down is going shift my ranking list a bit.

I personally enjoy the Dmagic a lot and concur with your statement "Solid A+ for me as an all rounder, but jumps to S when the genre becomes asian music".

 

[davidmolliere]

So quite a phenomenal meetup in Paris today a lot of exciting auditions!

First, Empire Ears Odin struck me by its impressive resolution with a huge stage and a pinpoint precise imaging. Odin bass is outstanding with superb control and details, the mids are very open and articulate with a lot of bite and treble is highly refined. Of all the EE IEMs I have heard also the one with a coherence and performance on par with the likes of Fourté Noir and Erkönig.



Another IEM I had been willing to audition again in better conditions the IER-Z1R, stage is still very impressive as well as massive bass presence. It's the most headphone like experience with an IEM really powerful and massive, a fairly unique presentation.



And now courtesy of Valentin ( @Modwright01 ) at HiFi Portable (many thanks for this!!!) a pretty unique set of IEM from Rhaposodio the Infinity mk2 stunning looks and even more impressive and unique sounding... dynamics and layering are outstanding and the 3D image is breathtaking! The most impressive listen of 2020 so far @Solarsammy has worked magic there!



Another pic of the internals which are exquisite, unique technology using copper coil around the drivers :



This is really not only a technically superb IEM but it has a lot of soul... The attack and decay of notes is exquisitely rendered and give life to the music, I found myself engulfed at re-discovering my favorite tracks... stunning! I definitely see a custom Infinity mk2 in my future if I only have to get one this year along with the Luna (interestingly both are unique listen to my ears that just stand apart).

Also from Rhapsodio, the Supreme powered by a magnetostatic driver is quite impressive with a huge soundstage, more sub bass presence than Infinity mk2 and more upper treble as well. I had less time wih it than the Infinity mk2 but clearly Sammy is pushing the enveloppe!




Not in the TOTL segment but a brand that I discovered again thanks to Valentin at HiFiPortable, Gaudio Nair a very nice take on reference tuning, superb build quality, highly coherent tuning.



Its brother Gaudio Clariden is more organic with more bass slam, fuller bodied mids and silky smooth treble.
The brand is definitely on my map now!

A great meetup and the most incredible experience with the Infinity mk2 that simply might be the best IEM I have ever heard, which is no small feat!

 

[ctsooner22]

Thanks for sharing. Great stuff.

 

[hshock76]

So quite a phenomenal meetup in Paris today a lot of exciting auditions!

First, Empire Ears Odin struck me by its impressive resolution with a huge stage and a pinpoint precise imaging. Odin bass is outstanding with superb control and details, the mids are very open and articulate with a lot of bite and treble is highly refined. Of all the EE IEMs I have heard also the one with a coherence and performance on par with the likes of Fourté Noir and Erkönig.



Another IEM I had been willing to audition again in better conditions the IER-Z1R, stage is still very impressive as well as massive bass presence. It's the most headphone like experience with an IEM really powerful and massive, a fairly unique presentation.



And now courtesy of Valentin at HiFi Portable (many thanks for this!!!) a pretty unique set of IEM from Rhaposodio the Infinity mk2 stunning looks and even more impressive and unique sounding... dynamics and layering are outstanding and the 3D image is breathtaking! The most impressive listen of 2020 so far @Solarsammy has worked magic there!



Another pic of the internals which are exquisite, unique technology using copper coil around the drivers :



This is really not only a technically superb IEM but it has a lot of soul... The attack and decay of notes is exquisitely rendered and give life to the music, I found myself engulfed at re-discovering my favorite tracks... stunning! I definitely see a custom Infinity mk2 in my future if I only have to get one this year along with the Luna (interestingly both are unique listen to my ears that just stand apart).

Also from Rhapsodio, the Supreme powered by a magnetostatic driver is quite impressive with a huge soundstage, more sub bass presence than Infinity mk2 and more upper treble as well. I had less time wih it than the Infinity mk2 but clearly Sammy is pushing the enveloppe!




Not in the TOTL segment but a brand that I discovered again thanks to Valentin at HiFiPortable, Gaudio Nair a very nice take on reference tuning, superb build quality, highly coherent tuning.



Its brother Gaudio Clariden is more organic with more bass slam, fuller bodied mids and silky smooth treble.
The brand is definitely on my map now!

A great meetup and the most incredible experience with the Infinity mk2 that simply might be the best IEM I have ever heard, which is no small feat!

Just dropped you a note on FB asking whether you tested the Supreme MK2 but I guess I found my answer here.

I should be getting my Infinity 2 within 2 weeks and it’s prob gonna be the first on US soil. Valentin is not making it any easier with all the pics and videos!

That silver cable is another expensive pc of gear! I’ll have to start selling some stuff to fund all these poison

 

[Vitaly2017]

So quite a phenomenal meetup in Paris today a lot of exciting auditions!

First, Empire Ears Odin struck me by its impressive resolution with a huge stage and a pinpoint precise imaging. Odin bass is outstanding with superb control and details, the mids are very open and articulate with a lot of bite and treble is highly refined. Of all the EE IEMs I have heard also the one with a coherence and performance on par with the likes of Fourté Noir and Erkönig.



Another IEM I had been willing to audition again in better conditions the IER-Z1R, stage is still very impressive as well as massive bass presence. It's the most headphone like experience with an IEM really powerful and massive, a fairly unique presentation.



And now courtesy of Valentin at HiFi Portable (many thanks for this!!!) a pretty unique set of IEM from Rhaposodio the Infinity mk2 stunning looks and even more impressive and unique sounding... dynamics and layering are outstanding and the 3D image is breathtaking! The most impressive listen of 2020 so far @Solarsammy has worked magic there!



Another pic of the internals which are exquisite, unique technology using copper coil around the drivers :



This is really not only a technically superb IEM but it has a lot of soul... The attack and decay of notes is exquisitely rendered and give life to the music, I found myself engulfed at re-discovering my favorite tracks... stunning! I definitely see a custom Infinity mk2 in my future if I only have to get one this year along with the Luna (interestingly both are unique listen to my ears that just stand apart).

Also from Rhapsodio, the Supreme powered by a magnetostatic driver is quite impressive with a huge soundstage, more sub bass presence than Infinity mk2 and more upper treble as well. I had less time wih it than the Infinity mk2 but clearly Sammy is pushing the enveloppe!




Not in the TOTL segment but a brand that I discovered again thanks to Valentin at HiFiPortable, Gaudio Nair a very nice take on reference tuning, superb build quality, highly coherent tuning.



Its brother Gaudio Clariden is more organic with more bass slam, fuller bodied mids and silky smooth treble.
The brand is definitely on my map now!

A great meetup and the most incredible experience with the Infinity mk2 that simply might be the best IEM I have ever heard, which is no small feat!

Wow the custom infinity with all that copper inside looks just astonishing. Really curious to hear that one some day. It has to be warm and bassy just by the looks hehe.

 

[arijitroy2]

Just dropped you a note on FB asking whether you tested the Supreme MK2 but I guess I found my answer here.

I should be getting my Infinity 2 within 2 weeks and it’s prob gonna be the first on US soil. Valentin is not making it any easier with all the pics and videos!

That silver cable is another expensive pc of gear! I’ll have to start selling some stuff to fund all these poison

Very keen on your impressions! I wanted to get one before the covid but didnt know how to purchase one in EU and Sammy was also not active in the forum!

 

[davidmolliere]

Wow the custom infinity with all that copper inside looks just astonishing. Really curious to hear that one some day. It has to be warm and bassy just by the looks hehe.

No it's not

It does have fantastic bass with superb control and punchy while smoothly delivered. The mids are very balanced and strike a sweet spot for me of full enough yet so very articulate. Treble are amazing, the lower treble sparkle is beautiful, spot on intensity and smooth delivery again. It's very organic but also superbly articulate and extended up top, it has a lot of clarity. It's really hard to characterize its signature like the Dunu Luna it's something you haven't heard before so I would need more than an hour with it, it's well beyond just bass, mids, treble but the delivery is totally different... the way it handles note decay is unique, it's like so much more nuanced and refined that it changes everything!!!

It's very rare to get this feeling, and as I said a dozen people were there and people with very different taste but all were taken aback by the Infinity mk2, a sign to me... even those who would never spend that kind of money said if they had this would be the IEM they would cross the threshold for....

Just dropped you a note on FB asking whether you tested the Supreme MK2 but I guess I found my answer here.
I should be getting my Infinity 2 within 2 weeks and it’s prob gonna be the first on US soil. Valentin is not making it any easier with all the pics and videos! That silver cable is another expensive pc of gear! I’ll have to start selling some stuff to fund all these poison

Yeah @Modwright01 is always on the hunt for great stuff and knowledgeable and I am so grateful he provided the Infinity mk2 sample. My wallet might not be though

Note I also listened to the infinity with my Dunu Blanche cable and sounded just as stunning so it's not the cable that make for the impression. Also had the chance to listen to the infinity with PlusSound Palladium and it was even more holographic.

This is one IEM I'd love to review but I don't have the funds right now so...

 

[Wyville]

@proedros reminded me I have been neglecting my duty towards the community. So without further delay... Puppy time!

ps. Sammy's new creations look darn good! Thanks for sharing @davidmolliere!