I have the same reaction when i got my Aria, its surprisingly small compared to the promo photo.
If Chu is close to Aria which some review said it does,
Now that everyone seems to be obsessed with Chu, I found my old KZ ATE in the closet with suspiciously identical cable. It used to be priced even less and is also very good sounding for the price if paired with similar eartips... it also suspiciously vanished from ShenzhenAudio right before the Chu came in. It somehow escaped the hype at the time. Probably because a hype train was not common in those days. BTW it has a really good bass. Just saying
In the meanwhile, I'm still exploring my Kato and just wanted to share something about the nozzles. Can someone confirm that the brass nozzles can sometimes emphasize sibilance? For example, when I listen to the following track, some s-sounds become really offensive with brass nozzles (1:43 "...under the spell of SSoft SSumer rain"):
I've got it in hi-res FLAC. The steel nozzles seem to mitigate that issue. I also perceive them as fuller and richer sounding but I know a few people who prefer brass nozzles. Just wondering how many Kato owners use their steel nozzles instead of the brass ones?
Just received my Chu. This almost certainly fills a gap in the ultra-budget market. Tonally there are very few missteps. Vocals are weighted well and have good clarity and in general instruments have good timbre and are revealed with good detail. To be critical, there's some glare to the uppermids that when compounded by the lighter noteweight makes some piano notes sound unnatural. I think some tip rolling might control this. Other than that I struggle to grumble at a $20 markup. I might even get another pair for backup.
Not a set for bass lovers but if you want a clean midrange with air and decent technicalities at less than $20, this is the go-to.
How does that cable feel? That new splitter looks better than the old one IMO.
vs
My Aria's arrived today and I noticed a very small thing that seems different on mine, as you can see the circled section of my cable is completely cylindrical, all others I've seen are flat, does this denote some kind of revision or cable change?
Aside from that I'm absolutely loving these, most comfortable IEM I've owned thus far, I didn't think you could be the Blon BL-05s for comfort but these are better, exceptionally well tuned, very linear which I like, not fatiguing at all but at the same time you can still connect with the music emotionally, it's something I've not really been able to do with my HD6XX's. I much prefer the tuning over the Blessing 2, yes the blessing sounded better 'technically' but I prefer the flavour of the Aria, they sound a lot more natural rather than clinical, only critique I would say is the treble which I think be a little more refined, but really for the price that is asking a lot, these are ridiculus value for money, they must be one of if not the best price to performance IEM's out there.
Surprisingly, they are pretty similar despite different driver technology. There are a few minor differences. Kato has slightly more forward and warmer mids including the upper midrange, therefore more accentuated female vocals that sometimes can get too forward and shouty to the point of masking the rest of the mix. At the same time I don't have to EQ the frequencies above 10K since they don't cause me pain with every hat and shaker attack. This area is exactly as it should be. Didn't find any major difference in bass presentation. Maybe some more prolonged trailing ends of tones and more natural transients as characteristic of dynamic drivers. But otherwise very similar sound signature. I really have to nitpick here because Kato sounds really good overall.
Frankly, I found the spring tips to be the best sounding ones on the Kato, at least when compared to the other two I've tested (Spinfit CP145 and Acoustune AET07). The spring tips give warmth to the mids and make the upper midrange and treble smoother and more natural, but it does reduce the mid bass and emphasize the subbass, which I think contribute to the sense of space that spring tips have compared to the other two.
Interesting discovery, the ATE is like from 2016? I think it's one of the first IEMs KZ released, a time when just about everyone was on the infamous 1more Triple Driver hype train.
