[RikudouGoku]

That looks good I couldn't find anything about it in a quick search, though - is this a new model?

Probably a typo, i88 and i88 mini exists.

 

[jkjk123]

Unfortunately, I don't have a Zen Pro with me for A/B comparison; the Zen Pro Production version in my database is Super*Review's. But I can tell you that the Zen Pro's more technical than the Dark Magician from memory.

Regarding the IE900's midrange with EQ, maybe a 6 or a 7 for the midrange tuning? Been a while since I've heard it. I sold mine because the stock tips were a headache.

Thank you! Appreciate your contributions to the community.

 

[rggz]

Regarding the IE900's midrange with EQ, maybe a 6 or a 7 for the midrange tuning? Been a while since I've heard it. I sold mine because the stock tips were a headache.

Wow, that info about the eartip is kinda concerning. Didn't it work with any good 3rd party eartips? I've heard good things about normal AZLA, Acoustune AET07, and JVC spiral dots paired with the IE900. I've been searching for an IE900 but it's OOS everywhere, do you think any other single DD can compete with IE900's bass and treble res?

 

[jkjk123]

I think there was a uploading mistake - it's actually the graph of the HBB tuned EJ07M.

https://hbb.squig.link/?share=Bad_Guy_Target,7Hz_i88_2,7Hz_i88_2

 

[kairoo]

Unfortunately, I don't have a Zen Pro with me for A/B comparison; the Zen Pro Production version in my database is Super*Review's. But I can tell you that the Zen Pro's more technical than the Dark Magician from memory.

Regarding the IE900's midrange with EQ, maybe a 6 or a 7 for the midrange tuning? Been a while since I've heard it. I sold mine because the stock tips were a headache.



That looks good I couldn't find anything about it in a quick search, though - is this a new model?

I heard of it 1/2 year ago or so. But yeah still not much to find.

 

[kairoo]

I think there was a uploading mistake - it's actually the graph of the HBB tuned EJ07M.

https://hbb.squig.link/?share=Bad_Guy_Target,7Hz_i88_2,7Hz_i88_2

Seems you’re right. I and thought - wow 7hz done something really interesting.

 

[gLer]

Wow, that info about the eartip is kinda concerning. Didn't it work with any good 3rd party eartips? I've heard good things about normal AZLA, Acoustune AET07, and JVC spiral dots paired with the IE900. I've been searching for an IE900 but it's OOS everywhere, do you think any other single DD can compete with IE900's bass and treble res?

Same question. Stock tips are hit-and-miss, but the IE 900 absolutely excels with third party tips. I don't think I've actually ever settled for stock tips on any IEM I've bought, come to think of it.

 

[Precogvision]

Wow, that info about the eartip is kinda concerning. Didn't it work with any good 3rd party eartips? I've heard good things about normal AZLA, Acoustune AET07, and JVC spiral dots paired with the IE900. I've been searching for an IE900 but it's OOS everywhere, do you think any other single DD can compete with IE900's bass and treble res?

I tried all of the tips you have listed (and about a dozen others) and none of them gave me bass like the stock small silicones. The balance the IE900 strikes in the mid-treble is also really fine. I found most tips, even the few that came close to matching the stock silicone's bass, to make the treble sound overly tinny or dry. Other people have had better luck than me, though. Maybe I'm just really picky.

In terms of competitiveness, I think the IE900 is probably one of the most technically competent single-DDs that I've heard. It has terrific extension on both ends of the spectrum and you can tell it's got a superb-quality DD in there when you hear it. The only other single DDs that I think compete are DUNU's stuff. The Luna surpasses the IE900 for dynamic contrast and a sense of attack immediacy. But I don't find the tonality as agreeable on it and I think it might be discontinued. Then the Zen Pro has a more traditional tuning than the IE900 but is a tad less technical.

 

[redrol]

@Precogvision I notice you rated the MiM Dark Magician badly. This is an affront to my ego. We must duel at sunset. ON GUARD!

 

[Precogvision]

MiM Dark Magician Impressions

Price: ~$500 USD
Configuration: 1DD
https://carousell.app.link/0HZpVOCbZmb
Special thanks to reader "OGK" for loaning these for review.

The Dark Magician...boy does this take me back to playing Yu-Gi-Oh as a kid. But we're not talking about the famous playing card today. We're talking about the less known single-DD IEM. Indeed, I suspect most won't be too familiar with this IEM. To lend some context, it's produced by ethanmusic7's in-house brand, MiM. Currently, the Dark Magician can be purchased exclusively on the SG shopping site, Carousell, but it looks like Linsoul might be stocking it soon too.

Diving into the sound, bass on the Dark Magician is mid-bass oriented and just slightly above neutral. As one might imagine with this type of tuning, decay does lean toward the faster side and bass texturing is a little too dry for my tastes. Doesn't sound like it pushes much air either. An interesting tidbit about the Dark Magician is that it has small vents on the nozzles that one can block by sliding the ear tips further down. That said, even with the vents blocked, I don't find the Dark Magician's bass transients to be particularly thick, nor does it sound like it has as much SPL as it graphs with. In a manner not dissimilar to the SeeAudio Yume, I suspect that this has something to do with the nature of the bass slope. Anyways, I prefer it unblocked and, overall, this is just a passable bass response in my book.

The midrange of the Dark Magician is its strength to my ears. It's right about where I'd like it to be as a self-proclaimed aficionado of the "Western" tuning philosophy. Lower-mids are warmer than neutral, sitting oh-so-pleasant to my ears on Joe Nichol's discography, and the pinna compensation and upper-midrange are gentle and forgiving. I'm reminded of the Vision Ear VE7's midrange in many respects. This is the type of midrange you can listen to for hours without fatigue, and it's probably why it took me a while to catch on to what I was hearing (see my thoughts on technicalities further below).

Now, the treble response of the Dark Magician strikes me as somewhat odd. Stick impact is generally a little fuzzy and, not dissimilar to the Etymotic ER2XR, there's definitely a dip somewhere through the mid-treble that kills crash on cymbals. I believe it comes back up from this dip in the upper-treble (just after ~10kHz), but too early and with inadequate SPL to give the Dark Magician a real sense of airiness or splash. It exacerbates an odd, dry sort of scraping to when certain synths are hit on Taeyeon's "Vanilla" (0:10, 0:40, and 1:35 for example); it could just be the recession itself even if I don't hear a similar phenomenon on my ER2XR. In any case, timbre doesn't sound quite correct even if I can't bring myself to really hate this treble response. It's missing something.

And here comes my caveat with the Dark Magician. The overall tonality is pretty pleasant, but I couldn't knock the feeling that it wasn't all that resolving while listening. Bringing in the Moondrop Kato and Etymotic ER2XR for A/B suggests that the Dark Magician is still decently resolving (in that they're all roughly par), but not really $500 material. I don't hear the Dark Magician as having noteworthy "latent" intangibles either. Dynamics are average; abrupt hits to the piano keys, such as on Sawano Hiroyuki's "scene" at 1:00, don't quite pop and sound as loud and jarring as I feel like they should. Same story for imaging where staging is confined to the shell like most single-DDs.

I feel that assessing the competitiveness of the Dark Magician requires some nuance. It should be noted that most all (good) single DD IEMs you'll find under $500 are sporting some iteration of the Harman target or the Diffuse Field target. That isn't the Dark Magician. It offers a more relaxed, yet balanced tuning for people who find those IEMs overly shouty. But the technicalities aren't necessarily better or even comparable with the cheaper competition. That in mind, I think that you'll have to decide for yourself how much that tuning distinction is worth. $500 is on the steeper side of what I'd be willing to pay, and at that price I'd rather go for a hybrid...but hey, that's just my opinion.

Score: 5/10

All critical listening was done off the 4.4mm jack of my iBasso DX300 with the stock tips and stock cable.

 

[WAON303]

It's a shame that the Dark Magician is 500 bucks, this IEM would be competitive at around Oxygen price. I don't think the big surplus justifies different flavor. You can buy an O2 or KATO and EQ down the bass and upper mids which saves you around over 200 bucks.

Speaking of single DD IEMs, will you ever cover the Fiio FD7? It's been largely ignored by the community. In fact, the recent Fiio product line (FD7, FH9 and FA7s.) has been pretty much ignored by the community.

 

[vsg28]

It's a shame that the Dark Magician is 500 bucks, this IEM would be competitive at around Oxygen price. I don't think the big surplus justifies different flavor. You can buy an O2 or KATO and EQ down the bass and upper mids which saves you around over 200 bucks.

Speaking of single DD IEMs, will you ever cover the Fiio FD7? It's been largely ignored by the community. In fact, the recent Fiio product line (FD7, FH9 and FA7s.) has been pretty much ignored by the community.

FiiO was quite selective in whom to send out the FD7 and FH9 to, look at how the current reviews are towards those products and you will understand more

The FA7s seemed to have more samples available though, I have had one here for a few weeks now and yet to open it lol. Precog should not have an issue getting one I imagine.

 

[redrol]

It's a shame that the Dark Magician is 500 bucks, this IEM would be competitive at around Oxygen price. I don't think the big surplus justifies different flavor. You can buy an O2 or KATO and EQ down the bass and upper mids which saves you around over 200 bucks.

Speaking of single DD IEMs, will you ever cover the Fiio FD7? It's been largely ignored by the community. In fact, the recent Fiio product line (FD7, FH9 and FA7s.) has been pretty much ignored by the community.

Basically I consider the DM the best DD i've ever heard and beyond that my 2nd favorite set ever. It drips musicality for me. It's extra ordinary. And as a matter of fact, my crew has been buying every set we can get our hands on. So far, maybe 10 people got a set I think. Everyone kept theirs and considers them special.

 

[Precogvision]

It's a shame that the Dark Magician is 500 bucks, this IEM would be competitive at around Oxygen price. I don't think the big surplus justifies different flavor. You can buy an O2 or KATO and EQ down the bass and upper mids which saves you around over 200 bucks.

Speaking of single DD IEMs, will you ever cover the Fiio FD7? It's been largely ignored by the community. In fact, the recent Fiio product line (FD7, FH9 and FA7s.) has been pretty much ignored by the community.

FiiO was quite selective in whom to send out the FD7 and FH9 to, look at how the current reviews are towards those products and you will understand more

The FA7s seemed to have more samples available though, I have had one here for a few weeks now and yet to open it lol. Precog should not have an issue getting one I imagine.

I'm pretty sure MRS has them (minus the FH9); I just couldn't bring myself to give them a listen last time I visited. All of their models are starting to sound the same to me and not in a good way. It's just not worth my time covering stuff that is the oh-so-winning combination of 1) not going to be talked about come next month, and 2) unremarkable sound-wise from the start. In any case...I'd maintain that their best IEMs are still the FH5 and FH7 from several years ago haha.

 

[gLer]

In any case...I'd maintain that their best IEMs are still the FH5 and FH7 from several years ago haha.

I agree, and FH5 over FH7. They really lost their way after the FH5.