[AmericanSpirit]

With more time on Starsea tonight, here's what I think so far...

Starsea("amazing bass" setting):
+ Really good, straight up studio sound, with bumping bass(as intended..?).
+ Resolution/transparency is very impressive, at this price or whatever. Far clearer & cleaner than AST.
+ Bass is generally good, but sometimes impresses me more.
- Revealing, balanced/level treble shows all the details, therefore can become nearly fatiguing. ("Standard tuning" and "balanced" settings add brightness, so I don't like them)
- Imaging and sense of depth/space clearly inferior to AST.
Wow Factor = ~7/10

AST:
+ Sounds like a full-on tube amp; warm, dark, and smooth like honey.
+ Bass is huge.
+ Treble is noticeably duller than Starsea; darker, smoother; beautiful and non-fatiguing.
+ Sharp imaging & great space/depth help AST come alive.
- Bass is huge.
Wow Factor = ~10/10

Starsea shines for laid back listening, it’s similar type of tuning with one of Best of the best IEM, qdc Anole VX.
With standard mode and low gain mode, that’s what I found the real raison detre of Starsea.

 

[boredbuyingstuff]

-AST works ok with ipad dongle too, but I found this IEM is power hungry, high gain mode on DAP is recommended

I bought a Hidizs S9 Pro which doesn't have a gain mode selector. Do you think this DAC I bought will be ok for the AST?

 

[AmericanSpirit]

I bought a Hidizs S9 Pro which doesn't have a gain mode selector. Do you think this DAC I bought will be ok for the AST?

Yea even on ipad it sounded 80% good, DAP like one of Hidiz shouldn’t be a problem IMO. For $100 I think AST is worth it’s price. For $160 which I paid, It may be a better choice to go Mangird Tea $260 on sale now or Blessing2 Dusk $330 or blessing2 (270 on sale now)

 

[boredbuyingstuff]

Yea even on ipad it sounded 80% good, DAP like one of Hidiz shouldn’t be a problem IMO. For $100 I think AST is worth it’s price. For $160 which I paid, It may be a better choice to go Mangird Tea $260 on sale now or Blessing2 Dusk $330 or blessing2 (270 on sale now)

I decided that if I go higher I'll go Moondrop Variations or some of those Thieaudio Monarch, Clair etc... But now I have to wait for the Variations reviews.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

I decided that if I go higher I'll go Moondrop Variations or some of those Thieaudio Monarch, Clair etc... But now I have to wait for the Variations reviews.

Check moondrop thread
I ordered Variations on 4/18 10:01am the first order from Shenzhen Audio, they said they will ship out today with DHL express, so I may receive it this weekend.
planning cross review of variations to B2/Dusk/RSV/SA6/Monarch/MEST MKII/VX and some upgrade candidates

 

[boredbuyingstuff]

Check moondrop thread
I ordered Variations on 4/18 10:01am the first order from Shenzhen Audio, they said they will ship out today with DHL express, so I may receive it this weekend.
planning cross review of variations to B2/Dusk/RSV/SA6/Monarch/MEST MKII/VX and some upgrade candidates

I'll check that out, can't wait. I hope they ship my s9 tomorrow but that will take at least 2 weeks to be delivered here.

 

[saldsald]

10 hours of burn-in, wow!!!

I have to say not many BA shows this much of burn in response like AST, it definitely need some time to get treble units to kick in. It is probably their missile launcher “matrix “ 50024x6 treble compound unit’s nature. This launcher need some time to get hot for the first time use.



-AST is definitely a darker tuned, but it’s nicely done like Mangird Tea, 6khz is not offending so the “th” sound is not harsh at anytime.
-Bass boosted warm tuning, after all
-Reminds me of CCA CSN for mid range, upscaled
-KZ SKS(tws) has similar tuning (bass-boost with warm and dark tuning from 10khz+)
-AST works ok with ipad dongle too, but I found this IEM is power hungry, high gain mode on DAP is recommended

I will burn in 100 hours and now interested in full review. Current quick rough guess is 75-89/100, anywhere near B+~A+, best of KZ.
@15hours of burn-in
Bass: A
Mid: B+
Treble: A+
Air : A
Diffusion Field: B~A
Resolution: B~A
Positioning: B
Layering: A

How about the treble? Is the AST considerably darker?

 

[forestitalia]

Got my AST, I give at least 24hrs burn in, because now are like a dark cave.

 

[MacAttack7]

Got my AST, I give at least 24hrs burn in, because now are like a dark cave.

The AST, ASX, ASF are supposed to be dark.
The engineers designed them to be dark on purpose.
Burn in won't make it a bright earphone all of a sudden.
Do you not like the dark sound signature?

 

[AmericanSpirit]

How about the treble? Is the AST considerably darker?

depends on the frequency range that your treble: for 10khz+ yes AST is similar to ASX, pretty much calm. 3-10khz, ASX got some peaks which may be offending to some, which AST has more flat tuning, It's pretty smooth tuning, I'm liking AST now. I was thinking to return the $160 stock and repurchase from the AE sale one $97 now, but now I think I'm keeping this $160 stock, just in case the $97 got bad unit variance.

I'm going to plan a full coverage as this AST might deserve to compete with higher-ups.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

The AST, ASX, ASF are supposed to be dark.
The engineers designed them to be dark on purpose.
Burn in won't make it a bright earphone all of a sudden.
Do you not like the dark sound signature?

AST changed drastically through burn-in (just a bare 12hour session) compared to ASX, it did make AST a brighter one all of sudden though.
Now I feel it's a tad darker than ZAX, brighter than CCA CSN.

 

[MacAttack7]

depends on the frequency range that your treble: for 10khz+ yes AST is similar to ASX, pretty much calm. 3-10khz, ASX got some peaks which may be offending to some, which AST has more flat tuning, It's pretty smooth tuning, I'm liking AST now. I was thinking to return the $160 stock and repurchase from the AE sale one $97 now, but now I think I'm keeping this $160 stock, just in case the $97 got bad unit variance.

I'm going to plan a full coverage as this AST might deserve to compete with higher-ups.

Why would you think the AE unit would have bad variance?
They sell tons of earphones, so I don't think very many have issues or their reputation would be ruined by now.
You can get one now for $91 if a coupon pops up for you. $160 is way too much!

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Why would you think the AE unit would have bad variance?
They sell tons of earphones, so I don't think very many have issues or their reputation would be ruined by now.
You can get one now for $91 if a coupon pops up for you. $160 is way too much!

That 40% discount sounds tempting! But AE returns are way time consuming

I'll see how a fully burned-in AST would perform then decide to replace it with a sale unit.

 

[forestitalia]

The AST, ASX, ASF are supposed to be dark.
The engineers designed them to be dark on purpose.
Burn in won't make it a bright earphone all of a sudden.
Do you not like the dark sound signature?

Not too dark, of course is better than the piercing treble of some KZ's.
Anyway, after few hours changed a little bit, I wait til tomorrow then see.

 

[Podster]

With more time on Starsea tonight, here's what I think so far...

Starsea("amazing bass" setting):
+ Really good, straight up studio sound, with bumping bass(as intended..?).
+ Resolution/transparency is very impressive, at this price or whatever. Far clearer & cleaner than AST.
+ Bass is generally good, but sometimes impresses me more.
- Revealing, balanced/level treble shows all the details, therefore can become nearly fatiguing. ("Standard tuning" and "balanced" settings add brightness/fatigue, so I don't like them)
- Imaging and sense of depth/space clearly inferior to AST.
Wow Factor = ~7/10

AST:
+ Sounds like a full-on tube amp; warm, dark, and smooth like honey.
+ Bass is huge.
+ Treble is noticeably duller than Starsea; darker, smoother; beautiful and non-fatiguing.
+ Sharp imaging & great space/depth help AST come alive.
- Bass is huge.
Wow Factor = ~10/10

Both are lovely, now let me say I have a ton of KZ's as well as many other Chi-Fi iem's and what you refer to here as dark many perceive as poor tuning with inferior drivers (I'm not one of those but wanted to put that out here). The warm sounding KZ's are like a 180 turn from where KZ started with ear piercing highs for many so of course they finally came around to what many asked for way back when! Indeed Toobs are warm and sweet to the ear but for me to really reach tube sound it's in how well the music decay's. With that said this little inexpensive amp creates more tube like decay than anything I've ever owned and strange enough at any price. For me all the Walnut products I've owned have so much ambience which adds noise but has that real analog sound. Of course only the Pods take but I stand by it until something else trumps them Depending on filter selection one would be hard pressed to find a more analog/tube sounding amp than the Walnut F1

I was so surprised when it had better tube sound and decay than this actual tube amp

And to not stray too far off the thread model this all BA iem right here is still the best all BA iem I've ever heard and a dang steal at $76, I have 6, 8 and 12 BA iem's that can't hang with these for just any genre! I've heard many a CA but alas to my old ears they were no better and if you factor in price the extra cost of the CA is wasted

And you know what they say about opinions right