[Jethrosang]

Hello head-fiers,
Recently I have been brought in by my cousin into the world of customs. What I asked maybe or maybe not asked by others in this 122 pages of replies, so no offense if it bothered you. I am getting a Unique Melody TF10x4 and based on the reviews I have referred to "UM appreciation thread", I found not much of a detailed review. Most of them just commented on how the added mid driver improved the V-shaped performance of the tf10. I am assuming this is the most basic 4-drivers custom I could get, given the price point and the lack of proper reviews.
 
My question is, Does this mean tf10x4 performs how it should (that is better performance in mids, but nothing to shout about), hence not much of worthy attention is paid to it? Will the cost of $279 justified? Or is it just another marketing gimmicks? I have gone through the "customs are over exaggerated" type of thread, and concludes that hearings are very subjective (well, it is a common knowledge I acquired just recently), so any feedbacks would help.
 
By the way, will customs act as sort of ear plug? i.e I take out the cable, then I could concentrate on my studies without music and annoyance from my roommates.

 

[doublea71]

The most common upgrade for the TF10s is TF10X6. I can't say what you should expect or how pleased you'll be with them...re-shelling and upgrades seem to be a roll of the dice - some people end up thrilled with the results while others sort of shrug their shoulders and feel the sting of regret set in. They will probably cut down the noise around you enough to get things done unless you're looking for complete silence - they won't give you that.
 
If you're interested, a seller has a set of Heir Audio 3A customs on the board for $220, and re-shelling them at Heir will only set you back another 70 dollars because of their fantastic ownership transfer service. Here's the link: http://www.head-fi.org/t/619774/heir-audio-3-a-get-them-before-they-are-gone
 
I think they are worth consideration and you can probably find more reviews for these than TF10X4s. I'm shocked that nobody has snapped these up yet - it's nearly impossible to find a set of customs, even entry-level ones like these, in the $300 dollar range.
 

 

[Jethrosang]

Thanks for the reply. It seems like the seller only would prefer cash on delivery or shipping to US. And since I am living 14,400km away... I guess I have to start looking for alternatives. It seems like in customs affair, it is a hit-or-miss, since no one has the same ear. Guess I should roll the dice and cross my fingers.  

 

[doublea71]

Where are you from?

 

[average_joe]

Quote:

Hello head-fiers,
Recently I have been brought in by my cousin into the world of customs. What I asked maybe or maybe not asked by others in this 122 pages of replies, so no offense if it bothered you. I am getting a Unique Melody TF10x4 and based on the reviews I have referred to "UM appreciation thread", I found not much of a detailed review. Most of them just commented on how the added mid driver improved the V-shaped performance of the tf10. I am assuming this is the most basic 4-drivers custom I could get, given the price point and the lack of proper reviews.
 
My question is, Does this mean tf10x4 performs how it should (that is better performance in mids, but nothing to shout about), hence not much of worthy attention is paid to it? Will the cost of $279 justified? Or is it just another marketing gimmicks? I have gone through the "customs are over exaggerated" type of thread, and concludes that hearings are very subjective (well, it is a common knowledge I acquired just recently), so any feedbacks would help.
 
By the way, will customs act as sort of ear plug? i.e I take out the cable, then I could concentrate on my studies without music and annoyance from my roommates.

 
You may want to ask about the TF10 reshells somewhere like the Audio Hub as they do lots of reshells and their customers seem to be helpful.  
 
Once you get a custom IEM you can tell us if it is overrated or not, but a reshelled TF10 really isn't a custom IEM since it was purpose built as a universal.  And then when you add drivers, how well will they be integrated?  If a custom IEM is right for you depends on how much you want to spend and how into audio you are.  Not to mention you won't get the most out of your custom IEM unless you have high quality music and a player to match.
 
Yes, your custom IEMs can act as ear plugs, but they aren't the easiest to remove without the cable (at least for me).  You can leave the cable on and use them to attenuate your surroundings, but hollow acrylic shelled custom IEMs aren't as good as a good silicone ear plug.  If you can get a low cost ear impression, you can use that as an ear plug, just cut to shape and make sure you cut a handle for removal!

 

[Jethrosang]

Quote:

 
You may want to ask about the TF10 reshells somewhere like the Audio Hub as they do lots of reshells and their customers seem to be helpful.  
 
Once you get a custom IEM you can tell us if it is overrated or not, but a reshelled TF10 really isn't a custom IEM since it was purpose built as a universal.  And then when you add drivers, how well will they be integrated?  If a custom IEM is right for you depends on how much you want to spend and how into audio you are.  Not to mention you won't get the most out of your custom IEM unless you have high quality music and a player to match.
 
Yes, your custom IEMs can act as ear plugs, but they aren't the easiest to remove without the cable (at least for me).  You can leave the cable on and use them to attenuate your surroundings, but hollow acrylic shelled custom IEMs aren't as good as a good silicone ear plug.  If you can get a low cost ear impression, you can use that as an ear plug, just cut to shape and make sure you cut a handle for removal!

 Thanks for replying. According to UM, they would tune the tf10x4, but how good would it be is another concern. However, since there is not much of complains (and not much of praises either), I believe it performs fairly. I have always loved music, and although the Nokia N9 can't compete with colorfly or hifiman, or even iPod's CLAS, the music quality is still quite acceptable. Given my current budget, tf10x4 would be the 4 drivers I could afford.
Still, I would get it and then come out with a review as best as I could. The thing is I am not much of qualified myself, since I still someone new to the industry.
By the way, will customs iem's quality improve substantially if we use an amp or a dac? But that would be dependent of the source, isn't it?
 
Quote:

Where are you from?

 I am from Malaysia, in South East Asia. With currency dropping and lack of accessibility, things here can get quite expensive

 

[piotrus-g]

Quote:

 
 
Interesting.  That is not too far off how I heard the demo from a frequency response perspective, but I didn't think it would has that treble response.  From a technical ability standpoint, how did they compare?  How well integrated is the dynamic and BA with the Merlin in comparison with the K3003?

In my opinion from technical point they are on par. Both perform really good. K3003 has slightly better treble response however it's just a matter of your preferences. I like my highs smooth, and that's where Merlin does job well.
As for coherency. Both earphones don't have any issues. I found only one song in my entire collection where you can clearly hear separate work of DD and BA in Merlin. Beside that all songs seem really coherent.
 
Earlier I had super.fi 5EB which was terrible in terms of tuning between those drivers.

 

[doublea71]

Quote:

 Thanks for replying. According to UM, they would tune the tf10x4, but how good would it be is another concern. However, since there is not much of complains (and not much of praises either), I believe it performs fairly. I have always loved music, and although the Nokia N9 can't compete with colorfly or hifiman, or even iPod's CLAS, the music quality is still quite acceptable. Given my current budget, tf10x4 would be the 4 drivers I could afford.
Still, I would get it and then come out with a review as best as I could. The thing is I am not much of qualified myself, since I still someone new to the industry.
By the way, will customs iem's quality improve substantially if we use an amp or a dac? But that would be dependent of the source, isn't it?
 
 I am from Malaysia, in South East Asia. With currency dropping and lack of accessibility, things here can get quite expensive

I'm currently in Vietnam and I've been to your lovely country before, namely the Perhentian Islands, one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Jaben has a shop in your country, but I'm not sure how close you are to them:  http://www.jaben.com.my/ . There's not much you can do about your currency dropping, but maybe they aren't as inaccessible is you originally thought.

 

[Jethrosang]

Quote:

I'm currently in Vietnam and I've been to your lovely country before, namely the Perhentian Islands, one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Jaben has a shop in your country, but I'm not sure how close you are to them:  http://www.jaben.com.my/ . There's not much you can do about your currency dropping, but maybe they aren't as inaccessible is you originally thought.

Well, Malaysia is great for everything except for politics. But leaving that aside, in Jaben, everything is sold at retail price, and the exchange rate means that I am considered paying over 3 times the price. Sometimes, it would be cheaper if we get from other countries then have it send here. I have been to Jaben and it is not too bad, actually. Budding premium audio store, starting to expand, on a bright side

 

[Niyologist]

Hello fellow Headfiers. There's an emerging CIEM company that really need support and I bet you guys are curious how their Customs sound like. How knows, their Customs could be JH 16 killers for a much lower price. Their highest priced customs is an 8-Way which has 2 Highs+2 Mids+2 Lows+2 Super Lows, and for $950 USD.
 
Here's the link: http://g-customs.com/
 
Have a nice day.  

 

[tomscy2000]

Quote:

Hello fellow Headfiers. There's an emerging CIEM company that really need support and I bet you guys are curious how their Customs sound like. How knows, their Customs could be JH 16 killers for a much lower price. Their highest priced customs is an 8-Way which has 2 Highs+2 Mids+2 Lows+2 Super Lows, and for $950 USD.
 
Here's the link: http://g-customs.com/
 
Have a nice day.  

 
This is not new. Gui Ling (proper name of G-Customs) has been in business for some time. Louis Ling of Audiohub just happens to handle orders for Gui Ling in English, but the real engineer behind the scenes is Master Xiao (Xiao Fu-Wen to be exact). He was a designer with Rooth in Guangzhou before he decided to move back to his home province of Guangxi for personal reasons. He decided to set up shop there and named his company Gui Ling, after either the city of Guilin (located in Guangxi province) or the general area, which contains many Sweet Osmanthus trees (Guilin in Chinese means 'Osmanthus Forest').
 
Anyways, I have a remold/upgrade from him. It's not bad; fairly decent, in fact. His designs seem to be very similar to the older Rooth designs (which he did as well).

 

[Niyologist]

It's not new? I really need to do more research before I post. Sorry. 

 

[tomscy2000]

Quote:

  It's not new? I really need to do more research before I post. Sorry. 

 
Well, there is a definite lack of information about him on head-fi; however, average_joe has mentioned him a few times before, as have other members (perhaps not in this thread). The biggest hurdle is availability. The designer's English is limited, and he doesn't really take PayPal, so that's why G-Customs was created in the first place -- to facilitate orders for Gui Ling. However, Master Xiao has a good reputation amongst the mainland Chinese, as well as with people in Hong Kong, and now Singapore (where Audiohub is based). The majority of the orders placed with G-Customs is TF10 remolds, but Mr. Xiao definitely has multiple models to choose from. He seems to be particularly proud of the CX6, which is his 6-driver, three-way design.

 

[average_joe]

Quote:

Well, there is a definite lack of information about him on head-fi; however, average_joe has mentioned him a few times before, as have other members (perhaps not in this thread). The biggest hurdle is availability. The designer's English is limited, and he doesn't really take PayPal, so that's why G-Customs was created in the first place -- to facilitate orders for Gui Ling. However, Master Xiao has a good reputation amongst the mainland Chinese, as well as with people in Hong Kong, and now Singapore (where Audiohub is based). The majority of the orders placed with G-Customs is TF10 remolds, but Mr. Xiao definitely has multiple models to choose from. He seems to be particularly proud of the CX6, which is his 6-driver, three-way design.

 
Thank you for the information.  For the English speakers, talk with Louis from The Audio Hub.  I have talked with him many times and he is a very nice guy, and honest.  Speaking of the CX6, while I can't say how any of the CX line sounds, I have heard all of the Rooth LS lineup and the LS6 may just be the best in the lineup as it is so very neutral (and on the bright side) with a liquid presentation that combines amazing clarity and reminds me of the NT-6 in many ways.  
 
As far as the CX8, I was told there are two options, one with the dual super lows, or, like the LS8, dual super tweeters.  If the CX8 came in that configuration, sounded like the LS6 but with better treble extension, that would be a very nice CIEM.

 

[Cotnijoe]

hey guys, Im back in the game for a CIEM. I've been looking at the 1964 T V3 and Q, as well as Dream Earz. Has anyone tried anything dream earz asides from the AUD 5X? And can anyone do a quick comparison of those 3 CIEMs for me? or suggest anything else?
 
Budget is about 600-700 USD for the CIEM itself (so not including shipping cost)