[james444]

Not the "best bass" but enough bass.

They have said it in press releases about the products. "leaky/open" systems current mems can't produce enough bass volume so if you put that Linner driver in a TWS implementation trying to do ambient/anc it wouldn't go well...

Yup, that's exactly what I said too. The highest SPL in bass isn't needed for music reproduction, but to cancel out external LF-noise with ANC.

However, the Linner unit doesn't offer ANC for music, so that's a nonissue. And for DF-neutral music reproduction, one can see in the graph that bass is perfectly fine.

 

[Not so fat head]

The face plate is default = no other options

Housing = black plastic (lacquered just as the Mystique & Pro)

Nozle = Metal

Nozle = smaller diameter when compared to the Prestige

Smaller’s better she said…..
Hey, where’s the meme….

 

[SenyorC]

A question for you TWS gurus if I may...

I don't really keep up with TWS (not at all to be honest) but like to keep a set in my bag that get used for quick listening to music and video content etc.

I had the Svanar TWS but can't say I was super impressed by them. They are not bad but I fond the jump between those and my wired options still too large for me to warrant having a $500 set of TWS just thrown in my bag.

The ones that have lived in my bag for the past 6 months or so have been the Moondrop Space Travel, which are actually not too bad for the use they get but I wouldn't mind getting something a little better.

I was gifted the Samsung Buds FE for XMas but my phone is a a Pixel 7a and the AAC is not great, causing quite a loss of treble on the FE in comparison to a Samsung phone.

I was thinking of grabbing the Sony Linkbuds S which seem to fit the bill on paper (LDAC and semi decent ANC) but was wondering if you had any better recommendations?

One thing worth noting is that I am in Europe, so not everything is available. Linkbuds S are around 140€ (maybe they will drop a bit in the next week or so with the sales) and I would like to keep it around that price mark.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Not so fat head]

Anyone else notice these Metal drummers need gimmicks to do what Ian Pace from Deep Purple did, on a simple set….
Pace the drummer god!!!!!

 

[clerkpalmer]

Smaller’s better she said…..
Hey, where’s the meme….

Crickets.

 

[Saraugie]

duplicate

 

[Saraugie]

I couldn't wait, so I bought them for $400 from an eBay seller. Can't wait for the Falcon Max to arrive

Waiting to hear your impressions. There used to be an emoji of eating popcorn, I guess we wore it out! lol

 

[helmutcheese]

or others built into Windows/Edge.

 

[cresny]

Wanted to try out what single MEMS-driver based IEMs can achieve, but had a hard time finding any. Soranik MEMS-2 are two-way (xMEMS Montara full range + USound Conamara supertweeter), Singularity ONI IEMs use twin xMEMS Montara drivers, and Creative, Noble and NUARL TWS are all DD + MEMS hybrids. Also, MEMS-2 and ONI are both pretty expensive.

So I went with the Linner Deluxe for $250 (early bird), which is first and foremost designed as a hearing aid, offering TWS audio streaming only as an add-on. However, it had what I was looking for: just one single MEMS driver per side (Usound Conamara full range).


Measurements:

(Linner Deluxe default EQ: diffuse-field compensated = blue, RAW = purple)

(All DF-compensated; Linner Deluxe = blue, Etymotic ER4S = green, Ultimate Ears UERM = purple)

Comments:

• Very DF-neutral. Ignore 2.5k dip, imo shallow fitting IEMs don't need as much ear canal gain compensation as, say ER4S.
• Sound quality in the same ballpark as ER4S and UERM: analytical, extremely clear and detailed.
• Max volume level rather low, not sure whether due to driver or DSP limit.

Overall I'm quite impressed with the single full-range MEMS driver, its fidelity reminds me of TOTL DDs or even electrostats. No BA-timbre and no treble sizzle like with piezo tweeters.

Unfortunately, I can't recommend this particular Linner unit though, unless you have use for the hearing aid function. Its TWS audio streaming is very basic and featureless, hardly any playback controls, subpar headset functionality, no ANC for audio.

Still, I'm looking forward to more advanced implementations of full-range MEMS drivers, as I feel they can cover the entire audible spectrum with highly impressive fidelity. I'm probably in a minority, but I personally like too keep it simple, as long as one single driver can do the trick.

That said, even though the Conamara MEMS driver delivers excellent diffuse-field neutral sound quality, I feel it would probably struggle to achieve Harman-target bass levels, or offer enough SPL for low frequency ANC. But still, a great first foray into what will undoubtedly become an important part of future portable audio.

I have to admit, given my ears limitations I never pay much attention to frequency graphs. Also, I'm a flat EQ person who simply raises total volume if I need to amplify some frequencies. And so, regarding xmems in particular, it's really the lack of THD that matters to me.

You may have read what the recoding engineer Brian Lucey said about them:

“There are innovations and then there are things that take a leap, and this is taking a leap… This is truly disruptive and moving things forward in a way that is game-changing: in the ear, full-range — unbelievable. You can [listen] for hours on end and it’s never fatiguing. The lack of fatigue is from the lack of pistonic pressure and the phase [accuracy]. Phase response being so good is something we’ve never heard. It means the delta between ideal phase, which this is very close to, and what we’re used to with speakers…is experienced as a lack of distortion. THD doesn’t matter anymore. This has rewritten the rules on how I think about what matters.”

My real-world experience of that is both loud AND clear: I can crank the volume and it does not hurt my ears.

 

[james444]

You may have read what the recoding engineer Brian Lucey said about them:

My real-world experience of that is both loud AND clear: I can crank the volume and it does not hurt my ears.

No I hadn't read that, thanks for sharing! Might add that it's mainly true for treble distortion north of 2k or so. The rest doesn't seem to be that much better than other driver tech (according to my measurements), but good treble performance is very important, it makes them sound extremely clear and snappy, without causing fatigue.

 

[clerkpalmer]

My real-world experience of that is both loud AND clear: I can crank the volume and it does not hurt my ears.

May not hurt them, but most likely will damage them. Be safe with volume.

 

[yapp]

Mono mode as in single bud use? Yes it does, I can put one bud in the case and the other bud will keep playing. The sound from the single bud is down mixed into mono.

Thank you! Just what I look for.

 

[dweaver]

A question for you TWS gurus if I may...

I don't really keep up with TWS (not at all to be honest) but like to keep a set in my bag that get used for quick listening to music and video content etc.

I had the Svanar TWS but can't say I was super impressed by them. They are not bad but I fond the jump between those and my wired options still too large for me to warrant having a $500 set of TWS just thrown in my bag.

The ones that have lived in my bag for the past 6 months or so have been the Moondrop Space Travel, which are actually not too bad for the use they get but I wouldn't mind getting something a little better.

I was gifted the Samsung Buds FE for XMas but my phone is a a Pixel 7a and the AAC is not great, causing quite a loss of treble on the FE in comparison to a Samsung phone.

I was thinking of grabbing the Sony Linkbuds S which seem to fit the bill on paper (LDAC and semi decent ANC) but was wondering if you had any better recommendations?

One thing worth noting is that I am in Europe, so not everything is available. Linkbuds S are around 140€ (maybe they will drop a bit in the next week or so with the sales) and I would like to keep it around that price mark.

Thanks in advance!

I found the Linkbuds S to be a bit to tame for bass and treble for my liking.

I personally am finding LDAC isn't what determines great sound especially in the treble region. But if you want LDAC Soundcore Liberty Pro 3 of Liberty 4 both support LDAC as does the 1more Evo does as well. Out of those 3 I liked the soundnof the Evo best but it was a but loose in my ears. Liberty 4 are a stem style but fit really nice and would be my next choice. Lp3 fit the worst (but not terrible) and have hotter treble due to the BA driver.

Just giving the Mackie MP-20TWS a listen and they sound pretty darn good if you can get them on-sale still might be worth a try as they are only $70 in the US. But early days using them so don't want to say to much until I put them through their paces. No app and no hires codecs though...

 

[dweaver]

Mackie MP-20TWS arrived today. Gave them a partial charge and decided to see how they sound.

First blush is pretty darn good! They are detailed and balanced with good low end (maybe a bit to rumbly). The treble is just right for me but might be to bright for some. But if you like strong mids and treble these will definitely not disappoint!

I have a feeling the bass in particular needs time to settle but so far these sound very nice. Will wait a couple days of use and then do some comparisons.

 

[Caipirina]

Guess they are following an agreement with Noble to not ship outside of Japan (gosh, remember region locks on DVDs? ). Not sure if this would also apply once those pop up on e-earphone's used section. I found the lastest Bose TWS there 2 weeks after release at 2/3 of the new price and in excellent condition.

I am always amazed, expecially in-store, when I see that just after the hype died down, just how many of TWS have been resold to e-earphone ... like a bazillion of Fokus Mystiques last time I was there.