[alamnp]

Both are excellent a lot of people love the Starsea (the newest of the two I believe) the Legacy 4 got great reviews and I actually prefer it by a little bit. Your safe either way but I found a Mangird Tea used here in the trades and its my #2 behind my #1 Mest. I’m fine buying used stuff and never had a problem with anything I got its a great way to get the next level or 2 items much cheaper. My Mest is 2nd hand as are several of my best ones are actually. Both my L4 and Starsea I bought new they are very similar…….the Legacy 4 has a bit more detail which I love, my AST is somewhere nearby per tracking and the cost is similar to the other two you may wanna wait for more impressions of the AST before you jump! Sorry if my caffeine fueled post is hard to follow, long day here.

yes please for AST

 

[saldsald]

yup, that's the inner part of the nozzle, can see that the DQ6 wall is so much thinner.
I swapped DQ6 nozzle with ZSN and hear shouty treble and the bass become lacked of punch so I go back to the original nozzle.
In a study show that nozzle diameter influence on RF (picture) :

You can also check out the FR curves of LZ A6 and A7. They come with a range of nozzles which alter the sound character quite significantly.

 

[CT007]

Starsea came in today. Very nice sound overall. Lacking treble refinement/precision/detail and maybe some space, otherwise I like it. Bass is very nice & beefy. Of course not terribly detailed/textured. Stronger than FH3, I think, but less detailed/realistic, and maybe less extended. Great fit. L4 has a very well-balanced, "standard" sound, but is too peaky and lacking soundstage space for me. Hard to say if I like L3 or Starsea better... I love the fit and spaciousness of L3 a lot. But Starsea bass is bigger.

 

[ShakeThoseCans]

So Starsea is kind of a sidegrade from FH3 and L3, maybe a little better or worse than L4. Interesting, as I already have the Starsea, and was considering the FH3.

EDIT: I remember comparing my Starsea to my NM2+ a few months ago.

I found that the Starsea was more melodic, more 'syrupy.' It coloured the music more than the NM2+ in my opinion, which could be a good or bad thing. I found the Starsea a little better for 'folk' type music, where NM2+ was often better with live classical or jazz.

 

[Head-dicted]

Uh huh. I hear ya. You pay for what you get.

2 months is way to long for me. When i order an IEM i want it the next day and if its stuffed, i want my money back the following day or a replacement.

I have received things from aliexpress waiting around 3 months This time things remain in the local post systems for up to 1 month (spedpack from ebay )...

 

[IEMbiker]

That is really interesting, but not practical sizes. I have used 0.2mm ID tubes as a physical low pass for a the bass driver on a diy iem, and it is not reasonable to try anything smaller, especially for full range.



A nozzle diameter change from something like 3.5mm to 3mm for example, should not affect bass at all, should shift 2k-10k peaks left a bit and reduce volume a bit.

Edit: summary, the point I'm trying to make is that at 0.2mm and less, you're just showing when you can almost completely choke off the sound. For bigger tubes or nozzles (1mm+) the difference is subtle but still real in how it affects the peak frequencies and volume.

That's exactly what the author trying to do. Choke the DD treble and left just lower bass.
Full article here: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/9/23/5047
Another way to do this is to put an acoustic filter array to achieve the target FR.

 

[mndless]

I have received things from aliexpress waiting around 3 months This time things remain in the local post systems for up to 1 month (spedpack from ebay )...

My biggest delay when dealing with AliExpress has been with the third-party logistics companies that are supposed to take care of the handoff from customs to the last-mile mail carrier, like from customs to the USPS or UPS/FedEx. Pitney Bowes seems to be the greatest offender from what I've dealt with. I suspect it's probably a Covid-related delay thanks to personnel shortages and other general pandemic delays, since I've ordered from AliExpress in the past and received things from China in less than two weeks. As for Ebay, it's usually delays associated with getting the product to customs, then it can get hung up in the Ebay aggregating sorting facilities for days to weeks. I can appreciate how such logistics management facilities can help keep track of things more easily than having a bunch of smaller sorting facilities, but when they comprise a third of the shipping delay, then they're no longer serving their function and changes need to be implemented. Like, the last time I ordered a bunch of stuff from AliExpress, even with the added delay of them sorting and combining the various orders into fewer packages to be shipped in their aggregating facility, it left China within a week. It sat at Pitney Bowes for a week and a half while literally **** all happened. They were just supposed to shuttle it over to the USPS, but that took way too ****ing long. It took the USPS, like, 5 days to transport it from California to the other side of the continent. Which, for them, isn't particularly bad for standard shipping fare.

Edit: Neat, I didn't realize that the comment system here auto-censored things. This will be fun.

 

[CT007]

I found that the Starsea was more melodic, more 'syrupy.'

Definitely! Reminds me of an LCD.

So Starsea is kind of a sidegrade from FH3 and L3

Yeah. I would say FH3 and L3 are both cleaner/less syrupy sounding, with L3 having a very smooth, spacious, but also BA toned sound. FH3 definitely has the worst fit, the most harsh treble, and possibly the least extended treble.

 

[Capo Dei Capi]

Both are excellent a lot of people love the Starsea (the newest of the two I believe) the Legacy 4 got great reviews and I actually prefer it by a little bit. Your safe either way but I found a Mangird Tea used here in the trades and its my #2 behind my #1 Mest. I’m fine buying used stuff and never had a problem with anything I got its a great way to get the next level or 2 items much cheaper. My Mest is 2nd hand as are several of my best ones are actually. Both my L4 and Starsea I bought new they are very similar…….the Legacy 4 has a bit more detail which I love, my AST is somewhere nearby per tracking and the cost is similar to the other two you may wanna wait for more impressions of the AST before you jump! Sorry if my caffeine fueled post is hard to follow, long day here.

Thanks for that. Yeah i think i might wait for the AST. Seems like there are a few delays in people getting their hands on them.

Out of curiosity, which is your #1 iem?

 

[paulwasabii]

My biggest delay when dealing with AliExpress has been with the third-party logistics companies that are supposed to take care of the handoff from customs to the last-mile mail carrier, like from customs to the USPS or UPS/FedEx. Pitney Bowes seems to be the greatest offender from what I've dealt with. I suspect it's probably a Covid-related delay thanks to personnel shortages and other general pandemic delays, since I've ordered from AliExpress in the past and received things from China in less than two weeks. As for Ebay, it's usually delays associated with getting the product to customs, then it can get hung up in the Ebay aggregating sorting facilities for days to weeks. I can appreciate how such logistics management facilities can help keep track of things more easily than having a bunch of smaller sorting facilities, but when they comprise a third of the shipping delay, then they're no longer serving their function and changes need to be implemented. Like, the last time I ordered a bunch of stuff from AliExpress, even with the added delay of them sorting and combining the various orders into fewer packages to be shipped in their aggregating facility, it left China within a week. It sat at Pitney Bowes for a week and a half while literally **** all happened. They were just supposed to shuttle it over to the USPS, but that took way too ****ing long. It took the USPS, like, 5 days to transport it from California to the other side of the continent. Which, for them, isn't particularly bad for standard shipping fare.

Edit: Neat, I didn't realize that the comment system here auto-censored things. This will be fun.

`00% agree. I have had items arrive to the shipping partner in a couple of weeks and then spend a couple of months waiting for them to hand it over to USPS.

 

[voicemaster]

I usually buy IEM that I want to try on Amazon and if I like it, I will order a second one on AliExpress.

 

[Head-dicted]

I usually buy IEM that I want to try on Amazon and if I like it, I will order a second one on AliExpress.

This year I had two lost parcels from Amazon uk and one bad order for a monophonic BT transmitter
Fortunately the company returned the money back
FYI the next BT transmitter was a real stereo for just 8 usd via eBay with 250 ms latency and audio ok

 

[voicemaster]

This year I had two lost parcels from Amazon uk and one bad order for a monophonic BT transmitter
Fortunately the company returned the money back
FYI the next BT transmitter was a real stereo for just 8 usd via eBay with 250 ms latency and audio ok

Fortunately, I haven't lost any package from any stores yet this year and last year.

 

[eclein]

Thanks for that. Yeah i think i might wait for the AST. Seems like there are a few delays in people getting their hands on them.

Out of curiosity, which is your #1 iem?

1) MEST

My KZ-AST scanned through JFK (NY) yesterday, Tuesday, I’m a short distance from there in Pennsylvania so with the USPS handling it I figure another month, or two!

 

[voicemaster]

1) MEST

My KZ-AST scanned through JFK (NY) yesterday, Tuesday, I’m a short distance from there in Pennsylvania so with the USPS handling it I figure another month, or two!

2022!