oBravo Cupid

[josesol07]

Hi, my Cupids up for sale.
Open to consider a reasonable offer.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/wts-price-drop-obravo-cupids-like-new.922595/

 

[nihalsharma]

Very nice review. Thanks! Can you recommend the cupid with the dethonray dtr1?

I have enjoyed the pair of DTR1 and Cupid a lot. Cupid definitely needs a good source to shine. And if you can, try it with spiral tips. The sound comes out much better.

 

[nihalsharma]

Not surprised. Cupid are very very tips and seal sensitive. Reviewers with a lot of review backlogs will not spend a lot of time on this. It can sound bad in many ways if you get the seal wrong. Too much bass or closed in or too thin sounding and shouty with no bass...

With a good seal without the pressure in the ear canal, the Cupid can be exceptionally good. Now after 3 months + and countless ear tips, I have finally settled with Complys. Roll them, insert them and then hold the stem and press them so that there is a small gap for the air pressure to equalise and voila, audio bliss.

Please don't dismiss the Cupid for it's low price. They are punching way above it's price tag.

Ditto.

Cupids need a good source, a good pair of ear tips and some decent burning time. It was my blind buy. No impression to take reference from. But after a few days of burning, they sounded so great. Vocals on cupids sound so amazing. Much better than FH5 and Polaris, IMO. Spiral tips also changed the sound a lot. On my N6ii balanced o/p, they go to a totally different level of awesomeness.

 

[2050m]

Ditto.

Cupids need a good source, a good pair of ear tips and some decent burning time. It was my blind buy. No impression to take reference from. But after a few days of burning, they sounded so great. Vocals on cupids sound so amazing. Much better than FH5 and Polaris, IMO. Spiral tips also changed the sound a lot. On my N6ii balanced o/p, they go to a totally different level of awesomeness.

It would be interesting to know from PhilW how many hours burn-in is experimented with at oBravo. My Cupids are still changing subtly after three months.

 

[PhilW]

It would be interesting to know from PhilW how many hours burn-in is experimented with at oBravo. My Cupids are still changing subtly after three months.

I'd give a rough estimate at around 100hrs.

 

[jhog]

I've just upgraded to the CA Atlas, and shipped out my Cupids - but thought I'd add some very brief endnotes for an iem I really enjoyed, comparing it (entirely unfairly, against Campfire's former flagship).

In terms of bass slam the Cupid competes. It loses, but it competes, and I really do think there's something enormously impressive about the lows of this iem.

The highs are good, not as refined as the Atlas, but with plenty of detail if you listen to it.

The mids are thicker than the Atlas, but having moved in, I do come back to thinking there is something a tad, well, weird, about the Cupid mids. Something about the timbre, the way they sit in the mix. I wouldn't even call them bad, just very very different.

Staging on the Cupid is excellent, not as expansive as the Atlas, but wide enough and with excellent positioning. And fit... While the Atlas isn't the horror show some reviews suggest, I do markedly prefer the Cupid. Also the Atlas is v hiss prone, the Cupid not so much. On the other hand the Atlas is a much more coherent listen (those mids again) and slightly less warm, with significantly better detail retrieval and clarity.

Overall I'm really happy with my upgrade. The Atlas does much of the same stuff as the Cupid, but a good deal better, and I got a good deal. However... The Cupids are incredibly impressive for their price, and they don't pretend to be a flagship (they're barely a rowing boat compared to some of Obravo's offerings). So I say well done OBravo. In another world, with better self control, I'd have kept you and been happy with you, and I'd have been right.

 

[endlesswaves]

While the Atlas isn't the horror show some reviews suggest,

My audition with Atlas was not good. Vocals are anaemic and hollow. Atlas is good for the genre doesn't involve vocals.
Solaris fares better and I think Solaris is a better all rounder than Atlas.

Cupids' mids is not great but they are also not bad. It has enough weight to convey the emotions from the vocals. Listening to some old tracks recorded in DSD with WM1A FW1.2, vocals are so emotional that I have not experienced how a song can actually touched my emotions so much so that there was tears my eyes by the end of the song. Maybe it's just me with those old songs that I grew up with but my point is the mids of Cupids are good enough to convey all the details while not sounding thin. I think it's always a fine balance between details and density of notes and Cupids' tuning are spot on to my preference.

IMO Cupids is not totl but for it's price they are very good. They are so good that I can't justify paying 3x or more of it's price to get some slight improvements. But if I have a lot of crazy money to spend without a care, I would want to get a IER-Z1R or FW10K or both.

By the way, has anyone done any cable rolling for their Cupids?

 

[duaned]

I agree, the Atlas is nothing special. I found the bass not overwhelming, but just too boomy and the mids not shining through. And to top it off was driver flex heaven and ear vaccum which I had to continuously adjust so I could get sound from each monitor. Pretty poor design really.

 

[endlesswaves]

ear vaccum which I had to continuously adjust so I could get sound from each monitor.

Did the same thing with Cupids every time, everyday. If only Cupids were vented. Eagerly waiting for Cupids MKII.

 

[jhog]

Did the same thing with Cupids every time, everyday. If only Cupids were vented. Eagerly waiting for Cupids MKII.

Weirdly I had no driver flex issues of note with the Cupid, but have some with the Atlas. So much of it comes down to individual ear shape I reckon

 

[holsen]

Weirdly I had no driver flex issues of note with the Cupid, but have some with the Atlas. So much of it comes down to individual ear shape I reckon

And tips.. With Cupids I have no flex with Comply 400 but I do get quite a lot of ex with the whirlwinds. Less flex with medium; more with the large but large seal and sound better I my ears..

 

[endlesswaves]

Weirdly I had no driver flex issues of note with the Cupid, but have some with the Atlas. So much of it comes down to individual ear shape I reckon

No driver flex on the Cupids. Just the increased pressure in the inner ear when inserting them and able to hear my own footsteps while walking. To get rid of this, I have to push the stem of the Cupids up to break the seal and equalise the pressure and to make adjustments to get the right seal. Love it when I am able to get the perfect seal but hate it when I have to keep making these adjustments.

 

[2050m]

I'd give a rough estimate at around 100hrs.

Thanks Phil, why does the sound change so much?

 

[Andrew DiMarcangelo]

If there are any existing reviewers here who would like a Cupid out on loan, shoot me a DM. Happy to hook you up.

 

[Niyologist]

If there are any existing reviewers here who would like a Cupid out on loan, shoot me a DM. Happy to hook you up.

I bought one from Bloom Audio. I'll tell you if my Cupid is in good shape. So far it sounds good. How can I tell if it's out of phase?