PixelSquish
Previously known as idiotekniques
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I have a like-new CF01 for sale in the new classifieds. Cheers!
iBasso CF01 (Cable Free), BT MMCX adapter for any MMCX IEM.
- Thread starter Paul - iBasso
- Start date
Erikdebrabander
New Head-Fier
Great short term review!
I would request you to match this to the Shozy Black hole and have a listen for me please. I have been eyeballing to this IEM for a while as an open back option, but found my LZ-A7 needed gold tips to get the bass to be very similar to the IT00 I keep as a spare IEM. difference is the IT00 sounds damped and the A7 much more detailed. Because of this I have been very hesitant to upgrade my A7 to an other IEM which lacks tuning options and would opt only the IT07 or BH but from this point I'd seriously consider to test a local manufacturor demo IEM and have it build in CIEM for best alternative.
For me I like the CF01 very much. Going back to wired seems to be a hard choice.
The CF01 is not perfect at all and there are some detaills worth notifying for future buyers:
-The case outside is slippery and you might drop it per accident.
-The case inside is dirt sensitive. The rubber top rubber cushen becomes dull and can be cleaned easely. The lower cushens need frequent cleaning from eargrease/sweat. Downside is this is glued and locked by small pins and comes loose easely. I swapped this for plastic sheet with wallnut print which is easy to clean. I used a small piece of velcro with sticky back , taped to the bottom case and wallnut plate.
-The lock tab is not positioned correctly and does barely lock the lid. I disassembled the inside, slit 0.5mm on the slot to have the tab more outwards and added a small piece of foam (green) to press it more outward for a slightly more decent lock. If this fails I will epoxy small neodym magnets (from magnetic earrings seems easy to get local and cheap).
-The inside case should have a high polished finish for decent cleaning IMO.
-Wireless charging on a Samsung 9W wireless charger seems less effective. The charger goes solid/flashes frequently noting the charger is not detecting a known device. The case is flashing while charging and stops when ready but this info gets misinterpreted easely. USB-C is a solid charge.
-While few like slow charging I think this is the best route for long batterie life and love this feature.
-pressing the buttons is not too easy. They are small and need a hard press but angled buttons feels like you press on a wedge slipping away to the back of your ear creating an airgap on the tips. One needs to push the middle finger to the IEM into your canal to press the buttons preventing from slipping.
-The comfort for MMCX it great one does not feel the wires over your ear no bending needed and the tips fit great in the canal. I definately feel the comfort over a 2 pin connector.
-Only ON,OFF, BACK, FORWARD can be operated but the timing is critical on FORWARD/BACK and one turns off the CF01 quite a lot. The TAKE/CLOSE CALL is a fail for me, never managed to take a call.
-The CF01 makes a cheap smart watch to operate music controls, volume and calls almost a mandatory item! However, a Spotify (offline music storage) smartwatch semms to be contradictive because one can only link to one device to the phone OR watch. The Iwatch has good memory but for android the Garmin vivoactive4music seems what I have been eyeballing quite a bit but seems not to be worth considering due to bluetooth linking hassle.
-Bluetooth connection to my Samsung A42 5G is great BUT when walking outdoors wearing the A42 in my front pocket of my pants it really struggles to keep connection hence the search for a Spotify watch. I'd liked a Shanling M0 Spotify wrist version or FIIO M5 with a decent finish instead of a smartwatch with expensive sensors and features.
The comfort wearing the CF01 and audio is great and hope to enjoy this while waiting for an improved CF02.
I would request you to match this to the Shozy Black hole and have a listen for me please. I have been eyeballing to this IEM for a while as an open back option, but found my LZ-A7 needed gold tips to get the bass to be very similar to the IT00 I keep as a spare IEM. difference is the IT00 sounds damped and the A7 much more detailed. Because of this I have been very hesitant to upgrade my A7 to an other IEM which lacks tuning options and would opt only the IT07 or BH but from this point I'd seriously consider to test a local manufacturor demo IEM and have it build in CIEM for best alternative.
For me I like the CF01 very much. Going back to wired seems to be a hard choice.
The CF01 is not perfect at all and there are some detaills worth notifying for future buyers:
-The case outside is slippery and you might drop it per accident.
-The case inside is dirt sensitive. The rubber top rubber cushen becomes dull and can be cleaned easely. The lower cushens need frequent cleaning from eargrease/sweat. Downside is this is glued and locked by small pins and comes loose easely. I swapped this for plastic sheet with wallnut print which is easy to clean. I used a small piece of velcro with sticky back , taped to the bottom case and wallnut plate.
-The lock tab is not positioned correctly and does barely lock the lid. I disassembled the inside, slit 0.5mm on the slot to have the tab more outwards and added a small piece of foam (green) to press it more outward for a slightly more decent lock. If this fails I will epoxy small neodym magnets (from magnetic earrings seems easy to get local and cheap).
-The inside case should have a high polished finish for decent cleaning IMO.
-Wireless charging on a Samsung 9W wireless charger seems less effective. The charger goes solid/flashes frequently noting the charger is not detecting a known device. The case is flashing while charging and stops when ready but this info gets misinterpreted easely. USB-C is a solid charge.
-While few like slow charging I think this is the best route for long batterie life and love this feature.
-pressing the buttons is not too easy. They are small and need a hard press but angled buttons feels like you press on a wedge slipping away to the back of your ear creating an airgap on the tips. One needs to push the middle finger to the IEM into your canal to press the buttons preventing from slipping.
-The comfort for MMCX it great one does not feel the wires over your ear no bending needed and the tips fit great in the canal. I definately feel the comfort over a 2 pin connector.
-Only ON,OFF, BACK, FORWARD can be operated but the timing is critical on FORWARD/BACK and one turns off the CF01 quite a lot. The TAKE/CLOSE CALL is a fail for me, never managed to take a call.
-The CF01 makes a cheap smart watch to operate music controls, volume and calls almost a mandatory item! However, a Spotify (offline music storage) smartwatch semms to be contradictive because one can only link to one device to the phone OR watch. The Iwatch has good memory but for android the Garmin vivoactive4music seems what I have been eyeballing quite a bit but seems not to be worth considering due to bluetooth linking hassle.
-Bluetooth connection to my Samsung A42 5G is great BUT when walking outdoors wearing the A42 in my front pocket of my pants it really struggles to keep connection hence the search for a Spotify watch. I'd liked a Shanling M0 Spotify wrist version or FIIO M5 with a decent finish instead of a smartwatch with expensive sensors and features.
The comfort wearing the CF01 and audio is great and hope to enjoy this while waiting for an improved CF02.
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Peddler
1000+ Head-Fier
I'm very impressed with mine - I did have them paired with my Magaosi K3 Pros but I've found that they definitely work best with the iBasso IT00's - definitely producing the best sound quality out of all my other Bluetooth devices.
cleg
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2011
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And here are all 3 models compared
I ordered my CF01 about ten minutes before I found your video, bud. Grabbed a couple of the OE 2-pin adapters as well, but looks like they'll be coming 4px.
Really excited at the prospect of using my DK-3001 Pro without the wires. Thanks for the time you took comparing all 3 sets.
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Anyone had issues with the MMCX connector fitting their IEMs? My Sennheiser MMCX connection is recessed and my CF01 doesn't go in far enough to click and make a proper connection.
It's a tight fit on standard connections as is. Don't think you're going to make it work on recessed cups without an adapter. Have you considered some OE?
This, by the way, is almost perfect. So much headroom, fantastic clarity, and the timbres are just infectious. I have a really hard time wrapping my head around how a 5-way hybrid IEM can play with this much authority and not be wired.
Bravo, iBasso. Well done.
jamato8
Headphoneus Supremus
I have no issues with any IEMs but I can see that an MMCX could be a problem but I never liked the deeper recessed MMCX connector.
Now that I have the OE adapters in, I can finally speak on fit inside the case. Decided to break out some of the bigger boys to put this theory to the test...
I mean I did pluralize it...Moondrop Blessing 2 with the Dunu DK-3001 Pro sitting in there just to simulate even more size. Case closes just fine without interrupting charging and nothing moves. Have zero complaints about this case and, as you can see, it'll still close even with the OE adapters attached.
I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Bravo, @Paul - iBasso ! You and the rest of the team should be extremely proud of developing this product. It's a veritable powerhouse, even giving the P1 enough current to have some seriously shining moments, but it's honestly impressive just how powerful the Blessing 2 sound here. Still have a bunch of 2-pin IEMs to go through, but we're off to a really good start so far.
Perhaps in future iterations, you can upgrade the BT radio. There are moments where I get signal dropouts if I put my phone in my back pocket, even if it's on the same side as whatever ear I'm using at the time. It's honestly the only real complaint I have with the entire unit.
I mean I did pluralize it...Moondrop Blessing 2 with the Dunu DK-3001 Pro sitting in there just to simulate even more size. Case closes just fine without interrupting charging and nothing moves. Have zero complaints about this case and, as you can see, it'll still close even with the OE adapters attached.
I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Bravo, @Paul - iBasso ! You and the rest of the team should be extremely proud of developing this product. It's a veritable powerhouse, even giving the P1 enough current to have some seriously shining moments, but it's honestly impressive just how powerful the Blessing 2 sound here. Still have a bunch of 2-pin IEMs to go through, but we're off to a really good start so far.
Perhaps in future iterations, you can upgrade the BT radio. There are moments where I get signal dropouts if I put my phone in my back pocket, even if it's on the same side as whatever ear I'm using at the time. It's honestly the only real complaint I have with the entire unit.
This adapter continues to surprise me. Figured the Tin P1 synergy was a fluke, but the CF01 does it again, this time with the Moondrop Kanas Pro.
And, man, what a treat. You really don't think about how much of a difference the cable makes until you no longer need it. I'm perfectly happy with this representation and I don't even have to break out the DAP, let alone the desktop rig.
And, man, what a treat. You really don't think about how much of a difference the cable makes until you no longer need it. I'm perfectly happy with this representation and I don't even have to break out the DAP, let alone the desktop rig.
Question for @Paul - iBasso
Does iBasso have any plans to release a variant of the CF01 that supports LDAC? This seems to be the first question I receive from everybody who starts to show interest in it. While I could argue that it's not a very value-added feature (the battery drain doesn't offset the boost in sound quality), I figured it would be worth asking to see if iBasso has any plans for incorporating LDAC into future development.
Adding in another unlikely combination and one that honestly surprised the heck out of me yesterday:
I didn't think the Noble X had this much energy, especially given its 2-BA arrangement. the CF01 managed to completely dash those concerns. Supremely impressive. As someone who owns the Falcon Pro, I can honestly say that it's a complete toss-up between the two in terms of SQ. They both do what they do very well and that's a testament to Noble's pedigree. I have spent a lot of money chasing a device that can run the Noble X and it blows my mind that the CF01 manages to do so without even breaking a sweat.
Does iBasso have any plans to release a variant of the CF01 that supports LDAC? This seems to be the first question I receive from everybody who starts to show interest in it. While I could argue that it's not a very value-added feature (the battery drain doesn't offset the boost in sound quality), I figured it would be worth asking to see if iBasso has any plans for incorporating LDAC into future development.
Adding in another unlikely combination and one that honestly surprised the heck out of me yesterday:
I didn't think the Noble X had this much energy, especially given its 2-BA arrangement. the CF01 managed to completely dash those concerns. Supremely impressive. As someone who owns the Falcon Pro, I can honestly say that it's a complete toss-up between the two in terms of SQ. They both do what they do very well and that's a testament to Noble's pedigree. I have spent a lot of money chasing a device that can run the Noble X and it blows my mind that the CF01 manages to do so without even breaking a sweat.
Do you know if an adapter or workaround exists?
Theoretically, you'd just need a deep socket adapter that terminates in either MMCX or 2-pin. OE has a couple.
Honestly, it might be worth it just for the reduced strain on the in-built connector.
Which adapter did you use? Did you need it because of recessed MMCX connection on your IEMs?Now that I have the OE adapters in, I can finally speak on fit inside the case. Decided to break out some of the bigger boys to put this theory to the test...
I mean I did pluralize it...Moondrop Blessing 2 with the Dunu DK-3001 Pro sitting in there just to simulate even more size. Case closes just fine without interrupting charging and nothing moves. Have zero complaints about this case and, as you can see, it'll still close even with the OE adapters attached.
I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Bravo, @Paul - iBasso ! You and the rest of the team should be extremely proud of developing this product. It's a veritable powerhouse, even giving the P1 enough current to have some seriously shining moments, but it's honestly impressive just how powerful the Blessing 2 sound here. Still have a bunch of 2-pin IEMs to go through, but we're off to a really good start so far.
Perhaps in future iterations, you can upgrade the BT radio. There are moments where I get signal dropouts if I put my phone in my back pocket, even if it's on the same side as whatever ear I'm using at the time. It's honestly the only real complaint I have with the entire unit.
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