Night Oblivion Butastur thread

[Ace Bee]

I don't think there ever was a iem in this price range that received so almost unequivocally warm reception from the community. Night Oblivion Butastur has set a standard that will be very difficult for others to overcome.

I am touring my set here in India. Getting SR8 tomorrow from a guy, will listen and send that and Butastur together to him. Till date 3 people have listened to them. All of them currently have or had IEMs worth kilobuck or multikilobucks.
Two of them have kilobuck single DD (D’s Audio Fire Phoenix, Sennheiser IE900), the other has Noble Audio Kublai Khan, 64 Audio Fourte.
All of them unequivocally loved the Butastur. 2 of them are thinking of buying it, but they will decide only after listening to the SR8.

 

[moots27]

What are your favorite portable sources for the Butastur?
Looking for a new phone or dongle. My LG v60 has a slight hiss in the background, but sounds fine on my iemagni/modi. I saw someone said btr7, seems solid but wanna hear more opinions.

 

[Ace Bee]

What are your favorite portable sources for the Butastur?
Looking for a new phone or dongle. My LG v60 has a slight hiss in the background, but sounds fine on my iemagni/modi. I saw someone said btr7, seems solid but wanna hear more opinions.

KA5 is my new on the go partner. Loving it!

 

[firesign]

What are your favorite portable sources for the Butastur?
Looking for a new phone or dongle. My LG v60 has a slight hiss in the background, but sounds fine on my iemagni/modi. I saw someone said btr7, seems solid but wanna hear more opinions.

Butastur is the most source sensitive IEM I have tried.

It changes with every source I have. It sounds well with A&K ACRO CA1000 and iBasso DX170, sounds ok but with hiss with VE dongle, but sounds bad with Qudelix 5K (sounds veiled and lifeless).

 

[Danx3k]

What are your favorite portable sources for the Butastur?
Looking for a new phone or dongle. My LG v60 has a slight hiss in the background, but sounds fine on my iemagni/modi. I saw someone said btr7, seems solid but wanna hear more opinions.

I mainly listen to my iems on my DAP (R6ProII) but I tried it on the RU6 dongle this morning and it pairs extremely well with it. I wasn't too surprised with the type of tuning the Butastur has and the RU6 being an R2R DAC.

If you're more into using dongles, the RU6 is an essential dongle imo for anyone's collection.

I don't think there ever was a iem in this price range that received so almost unequivocally warm reception from the community. Night Oblivion Butastur has set a standard that will be very difficult for others to overcome.

I am touring my set here in India. Getting SR8 tomorrow from a guy, will listen and send that and Butastur together to him. Till date 3 people have listened to them. All of them currently have or had IEMs worth kilobuck or multikilobucks.
Two of them have kilobuck single DD (D’s Audio Fire Phoenix, Sennheiser IE900), the other has Noble Audio Kublai Khan, 64 Audio Fourte.
All of them unequivocally loved the Butastur. 2 of them are thinking of buying it, but they will decide only after listening to the SR8.

I have both, they're quite different iems. The SR8 is more relaxed in the treble, less detailed and resolving overall than the Butastur. That's not to say it lacks detail or isn't resolving - far from it, but compared to the Butastur, its noticeable. However, it has more bass (sub and mid), a thicker/fuller note weight and overall it's bigger sounding. The soundstage is wider on the SR8 with vocals being more forward.

To me the SR8 is kind of a jack-of-all-trades iem. Will do everything very well, although wont have as much bass as an iem that is known for the excellent bass, or as resolving as an iem like the Butastur which excels in this area - if that makes any sense at all? It's a great all-rounder iem.

 

[Ace Bee]

Was able to compare the Butastur and Sound Rhyme SR8 today. From @tgx78 's graph database:

My impressions pretty much reflects what can be depicted from the graph above. Let’s break them down.

• Technicalities-wise both are completely comparable. Note details, textures, and resolution are at par on both.
• SR8 has a slightly bolder midbass with bigger notes and more slam. The subbass has slightly less emphasis but does not feel hollow. In comparison, Butastur has a more evenly emphasised bass region with mid and subbass having comparable energy. Midbass is definitely less bold on Butastur even with 1-0 position, but the slam is still pleasant enough for my ears. Subbass depth is slightly more.
• Butastur is considerably more airy because of the more controlled bass. The presentation is more spacious.
• SR8 midrange is distinctly more warm, with slightly thicker notes. Butastur midrange notes feel slightly leaner, but definitely not thin.
  This may be a personal preference, but to my ears the slightly thicker and warmer midrange of SR8 feels a bit unnatural. Butastur mids sound more akin to DD mids comparably, and hence more to my preference.
• Treble-wise both are comparable - similar energy and extension. SR8 treble has a tinge more warm.
• SR8 soundstage feels slightly smaller due to the slightly thicker notes, but still quite well-defined. Butastur has a bigger soundstage with more enveloping presentation.
• Separation and imaging are comparable on both.
• Was not expecting it, but surprisingly, the SR8 fit is quite comfortable! I was using the T-APB T300 tips, so not sure if that was the reason. But I had very very less pressure build-up inside my ear. Butastur is more comfortable, but SR8 is not bad at all.

 

[nikbr]

Tried a new cable on the Butastur, the Hisenior WhiteWhale.

I did about 12 swaps between this and the stock cable and my findings - which might be placebo talking and are minimal at best - are that WhiteWhale presents upper midrange more naturally, more mature. Details come to life and female vocal is brought a bit more to the forefront. Other thing that seemingly improved is bass texture. Overall signature stays very similar.

Here are the three songs I used:
• Creep by Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox feat. Haley Reinhardt
• Summer by Emeli Sandé
• Animali in Marcia by Gianluigi Trovesi

 

[Dsnuts]

Butastur is the most source sensitive IEM I have tried.

It changes with every source I have. It sounds well with A&K ACRO CA1000 and iBasso DX170, sounds ok but with hiss with VE dongle, but sounds bad with Qudelix 5K (sounds veiled and lifeless).

My fave source thus far on the Butastur is my DX300Max. Unbelivable pairing. Butastur has become my tester for sources and cables due to this.

By the way if you guys are looking for a good tip to use for the Butastur. On a whim I tried one of my inverted tips. Sounds amazing. If you guys have no idea what I am talking about. Try this with your unused tips.



You can do this with just about any tip actually not just starlines.

 

[wdelta06]

My fave source thus far on the Butastur is my DX300Max. Unbelivable pairing. Butastur has become my tester for sources and cables due to this.

By the way if you guys are looking for a good tip to use for the Butastur. On a whim I tried one of my inverted tips. Sounds amazing. If you guys have no idea what I am talking about. Try this with your unused tips.



You can do this with just about any tip actually not just starlines.

Concur !

My Shrek-sized, mutant ear canals need XL (=,>14mm) eartips; stock tips typically won't do.

Usually use a chopstick & flip 'em inside out for modified wide-bore eartips... that actually fit and guarantee a solid seal (the frugal gentleman's, or lady's, diy dunu s&s tips?).

Also a good method to approach iems with short, stubby sound tubes (looking at you tanchjim oxygen )

I did this this for Butastur & the changes were incredible; it added a whole new level of clarity & openness while allowing the bass to punch through!

 

[Dsnuts]

This is the reason why you can't throw out your unused IEM tips. Those old tips in the canister now comes into a whole new light. I am glad manufacturers are coming up with better design tips nowadays but the inverted tip has become one of the best tips for me since its

1) Free, well you have to use your tips you normally would overlook or not use
2) Makes your unused tips usable again.
3) Creates a horn shaped grippy new tip with a longer stem for your IEMs you never thought would be an improvement
4) Did you guys know this was the basis for Dunus S&S tip design?
5) Inverted tips are like a poormans H570 tip design as both are grippy and both are horn shaped.
6) You got nothing to loose but a whole new bunch of tips to gain. Don't knock it till you try it.
7) Kinda fun discovering that you had some of the best tips possible for IEMs already without spending money.
8) Goes against the notion that you have to spend lots of money to get sound gains for our hobby. As it is FREE!

 

[ian91]

I mainly listen to my iems on my DAP (R6ProII) but I tried it on the RU6 dongle this morning and it pairs extremely well with it. I wasn't too surprised with the type of tuning the Butastur has and the RU6 being an R2R DAC.

If you're more into using dongles, the RU6 is an essential dongle imo for anyone's collection.



I have both, they're quite different iems. The SR8 is more relaxed in the treble, less detailed and resolving overall than the Butastur. That's not to say it lacks detail or isn't resolving - far from it, but compared to the Butastur, its noticeable. However, it has more bass (sub and mid), a thicker/fuller note weight and overall it's bigger sounding. The soundstage is wider on the SR8 with vocals being more forward.

To me the SR8 is kind of a jack-of-all-trades iem. Will do everything very well, although wont have as much bass as an iem that is known for the excellent bass, or as resolving as an iem like the Butastur which excels in this area - if that makes any sense at all? It's a great all-rounder iem.

Not sure I had spent enough time with the RU6 + Butastur but gave it a whirl tonight and I have to agree with you. I prefer the pairing over the DX300 Amp12. The softer upper treble presentation and organic tone of the RU6 compliments the Butastur really well. I've paired with a 8W copper cable for better note weight too. If only the RU6 had a slightly wider presentation this would be endgame for me. I wonder if anyone has the RU7 can chime in here? I heard that's meant to be more technically competent than the RU6.

Edit:

I switched out to Amp11Mk1 (warmer and more dynamic than Amp12) on the DX300 and I'm getting a similar tonality to RU6 but with better depth and layering and a bit more treble detail, so...

Current preferred chain (tonality nailed, technically 95% of the way there):
DX300 Amp11Mk1 > Flash Acoustics 'Flash' furutech rhodium 4.4mm > TRN T tips > Butastur (0-0).

Whatever the case, as others have noted this is a super chain-sensitive set and it pays dividends to explore for the sound you want. Fortuitously, I used this IEM to compare all the cables on show at Canjam and in retrospect that probably made the task of comparing them all much easier.

 

[Ace Bee]

Put the SR8 in 0-1 mode and compared again today with Butastur (1-0)

• First of all, the change in sound with the bass switch is profoundly radical compared to Butastur. It completely changes the sound of SR8. The bass becomes flat, and yet the body of the notes is not severely compromised. Just the energy in them is noticeably reduced, but the slam and rumbles have quite nice weight yet. Kind of reminded me of the Tanchjim Ola. The subbass roll off is more noticeable. In this setting of SR8, Butastur has a fuller low-end presentation in comparison.
• The midrange warmth and body are not reduced greatly. May be slightly, but still the midrange has thicker notes compared to Butastur, with just a tinge less warmth, but still more than Butastur.
• Owing to the reduction in bass power, the stage cleans up and transparency improves, surpassing the Butastur slightly. The midrange notes gain slightly more tangibility compared to Butastur.
• The soundstage still seems a tinge less expansive compared to Butastur. Butastur soundstage seems to have a bit more height.

Overall, Butastur still remains my preferred set.

 

[jazzzy]

default bass is not enough but if you add more bass using EQ it is remarkably good

 

[Danx3k]

I have to admit, I now feel I was a little over-critical of the Butastur in my early impressions.

Other than wanting a little more mid bass, I can honestly say it's my favorite iem in my current lineup (at least until the MMK3 arrives )

It's just grown on me more and more. Its's just wonderfully tuned, balanced, transparent and detailed.

Huge thumps up for @AmericanSpirit.

 

[zikarus]

I have to admit, I now feel I was a little over-critical of the Butastur in my early impressions.

Other than wanting a little more mid bass, I can honestly say it's my favorite iem in my current lineup (at least until the MMK3 arrives )

It's just grown on me more and more. Its's just wonderfully tuned, balanced, transparent and detailed.

Huge thumps up for @AmericanSpirit.

Being 5 weeks in I can only second this. The Butastur is truely special and worth owning if one can afford it.

Has taken ~80% of my listening time and seems to get better each day which may in truth be continous brain burn-in to it's slightly different (non-mainstream) tuning, which makes it such a great set on it's own as well as a complementary set to the more forward/in your face IEM.

Would I call this my best set? No, not necessarily. But it is somewhat unique and definitely a keeper for me...