[Precogvision]

@Precogvision

I see you also have SP1000M apart from DX160, how different are they from each other when it comes to hiss and driving performance for your Andromeda 2020.

SP1000M is alright. It definitely doesn’t sound as plasticky as the DX160, but I don’t listen much off of it with the Andro 2020. Hisses about the same, maybe a little more than the DX160. Drivability isn’t an issue with the Andro 2020 off of any source that I’ve tried. In fact, if someone is maxing out with the Andro 2020, I’d be concerned!

 

[gazzington]

SP1000M is alright. It definitely doesn’t sound as plasticky as the DX160, but I don’t listen much off of it with the Andro 2020. Hisses about the same, maybe a little more than the DX160. Drivability isn’t an issue with the Andro 2020 off of any source that I’ve tried. In fact, if someone is maxing out with the Andro 2020, I’d be concerned!

Andros sound great straight out of an iPhone dongle

 

[Billyak]

Andros sound great straight out of an iPhone dongle

They sound great straight out of my galaxy S10.

 

[Precogvision]

Empire Ears ESR MK.II Impressions

Spoiler: FR Graph

Alright, wow. Do I hear an actual balanced tuning coming from Empire Ears of all brands? I think I would describe the tonality here as an “Eastern” tilted Andromeda 2020. Like so, sub-1kHz follows something very similar to the Andromeda 2020, but the ear compensation and upper-midrange have been pulled up a good deal resulting in a more in-your-face, vocal-oriented presentation. This isn’t to my preferences, but no doubt it’s been well-done. Treble is lower and mid-treble oriented, not really airy; however, with a degree of attack sharpness that I’ve not heard from an EST IEM before. Maybe a little...prickly, almost?

The ESR MK.II sounds a whole lot more open than its MK.II peers; I hear a lot more of the excellent soundstage width that characterized the Odin. There does appear to be a Thieaudio Monarch-esque disconnect with which center image is confined to the headstage, however. What else? Layering. The ESR MK.II has pretty darn good layering ability - perceived space between instruments - even if positional accuracy doesn’t seem refined to quite the same degree.

Nice tuning and decent intangibles, what more could you possibly ask for? Yeah, I wish it were that easy. The ESR MK.II sounds plasticky, and excessively so to my ears. Transient weight, density, is rather poor, almost as if notes have been squashed flat and spread thin under a mallet. I’m not quite sure what to make of it, as decay doesn’t seem particularly dirty and I don’t think I would say notes lean textured. In tandem with the in-your-face midrange tuning, I’m left with the impression that the ESR MK.II’s detail is entirely predicated on macro-detail; macro-detail on fine stilts at that.

Gripes aside, the ESR MK.II is definitely a good IEM. In fact, I'd say it's the “best” of the MK.II stuff if we’re going by technicalities and tonal balance; I wouldn't mind recommending it. Alas, it'll have to settle for being ranked lower on the bias scale, as it doesn't capture what I'm looking for in an IEM as closely.

Score: 5/10

 

[Precogvision]

Hey all, here's some notes on the stuff that I got around to listening to this week. Just random stuff, new things that cropped up while listening.

Andro 2020 x A&K SP1000M

Someone asked a while back about my preferred pairing with the Andro 2020, and I mentioned that I don't listen to it off of the A&K SP1000M very often. Well, I did some more listening with the pairing today and now I know why.

TL;DR - It doesn't sound very good. First, there's no bass. Bummer. But it's BA bass anyways, so that's not the end of the world. What I really don't like is how congested the Andro 2020 sounds off of the AK SP1000M. Treble sounds noticeably less energetic. It also sounds like the upwards-compressed attack the Andro 2020 has off of the DX160 has been shifted in the complete opposite direction. And there's this like...plasticky, mucky, warmth to the low-end that I can't stand. It reminds me of the Andro 2019 I had a while back and that I sold for all these exact reasons. What's funny here is that I actually like the U12T off of the SP1000M, and it's probably my favorite pairing so far.

Anyways, if there's a takeaway here, it's that synergy is real. While I'm not much of a source guy, if I ever do source reviews in the future, it'll probably be using the Andro 2020 due to the high sensitivity.

U12T S2

So over the weekend, I had the opportunity to go hear the U12T unit that @MRSallee has on-hand. Immediately, I could tell it sounded different. It sounded warmer and more bassy. I chalked it up to the tips, figured that could be accounting for the difference. But I had to graph it too, and lo-and-behold:

Spoiler: FR Graph

You can see that the second unit I heard has quite a bit more mid-bass. Aside from corroborating subjective listening and confirming that I'm not crazy, there's one other pretty cool thing here: It hits my target, which I took the liberty of tacking some extra mid bass onto, almost dead-on. Sweet, huh? So I basically have a real-life example of how this would sound implemented in an IEM. Of course, I didn't listen to the second set too long and would need more listening time, but I certainly didn't dislike it.

Tin HiFi P2

Spoiler: FR Graph

Graph says P1, but that's just because I got the name confused given how many models they've pumped out. This was sent courtesy of Antdroid along with the Tape Pro a few months ago. Anyways, the P2 is probably one of the most meme-y IEMs I've heard in a while. For starters, it takes as much power as most full-size headphones to drive. Second, the sheer amount of treble air. This thing just skews straight upwards in SPL, all the way up until nearly 20kHz. I think someone asked a while ago how it's possible for treble air to sound sibilant. Well, here's your answer. It physically hurts to listen to this thing; I didn't even make it to five minutes of listening. Vocals sound like they're floating on helium. Just...holy cow, I can't believe this exists. Yeah, it's got treble extension, but at what cost?

 

[Tristy]

Hey all, here's some notes on the stuff that I got around to listening to this week. Just random stuff, new things that cropped up while listening.

Andro 2020 x A&K SP1000M

Someone asked a while back about my preferred pairing with the Andro 2020, and I mentioned that I don't listen to it off of the A&K SP1000M very often. Well, I did some more listening with the pairing today and now I know why.

TL;DR - It doesn't sound very good. First, there's no bass. Bummer. But it's BA bass anyways, so that's not the end of the world. What I really don't like is how congested the Andro 2020 sounds off of the AK SP1000M. Treble sounds noticeably less energetic. It also sounds like the upwards-compressed attack the Andro 2020 has off of the DX160 has been shifted in the complete opposite direction. And there's this like...plasticky, mucky, warmth to the low-end that I can't stand. It reminds me of the Andro 2019 I had a while back and that I sold for all these exact reasons. What's funny here is that I actually like the U12T off of the SP1000M, and it's probably my favorite pairing so far.

Anyways, if there's a takeaway here, it's that synergy is real. While I'm not much of a source guy, if I ever do source reviews in the future, it'll probably be using the Andro 2020 due to the high sensitivity.

U12T S2

So over the weekend, I had the opportunity to go hear the U12T unit that @MRSallee has on-hand. Immediately, I could tell it sounded different. It sounded warmer and more bassy. I chalked it up to the tips, figured that could be accounting for the difference. But I had to graph it too, and lo-and-behold:

Spoiler: FR Graph

You can see that the second unit I heard has quite a bit more mid-bass. Aside from corroborating subjective listening and confirming that I'm not crazy, there's one other pretty cool thing here: It hits my target, which I took the liberty of tacking some extra mid bass onto, almost dead-on. Sweet, huh? So I basically have a real-life example of how this would sound implemented in an IEM. Of course, I didn't listen to the second set too long and would need more listening time, but I certainly didn't dislike it.

Tin HiFi P2

Spoiler: FR Graph

Graph says P1, but that's just because I got the name confused given how many models they've pumped out. This was sent courtesy of Antdroid along with the Tape Pro a few months ago. Anyways, the P2 is probably one of the most meme-y IEMs I've heard in a while. For starters, it takes as much power as most full-size headphones to drive. Second, the sheer amount of treble air. This thing just skews straight upwards in SPL, all the way up until nearly 20kHz. I think someone asked a while ago how it's possible for treble air to sound sibilant. Well, here's your answer. It physically hurts to listen to this thing; I didn't even make it to five minutes of listening. Vocals sound like they're floating on helium. Just...holy cow, I can't believe this exists. Yeah, it's got treble extension, but at what cost?

Soooo... product variation in 64 is a thing? Haha outside of the Customs I mean.

 

[CK Moustache]

Andro 2020 x A&K SP1000M

Someone asked a while back about my preferred pairing with the Andro 2020, and I mentioned that I don't listen to it off of the A&K SP1000M very often. Well, I did some more listening with the pairing today and now I know why.

TL;DR - It doesn't sound very good. First, there's no bass. Bummer. But it's BA bass anyways, so that's not the end of the world. What I really don't like is how congested the Andro 2020 sounds off of the AK SP1000M. Treble sounds noticeably less energetic. It also sounds like the upwards-compressed attack the Andro 2020 has off of the DX160 has been shifted in the complete opposite direction. And there's this like...plasticky, mucky, warmth to the low-end that I can't stand. It reminds me of the Andro 2019 I had a while back and that I sold for all these exact reasons. What's funny here is that I actually like the U12T off of the SP1000M, and it's probably my favorite pairing so far.

Anyways, if there's a takeaway here, it's that synergy is real. While I'm not much of a source guy, if I ever do source reviews in the future, it'll probably be using the Andro 2020 due to the high sensitivity.

Not really a surprise given how the A&K's output impedance (stated 2 Ohms) interacts with the Andromedas' frequency response because of their impedance response. The Andro are very picky about the output impedance and are only not audibly affected if it's below 0.5 Ohms.

 

[Precogvision]

Soooo... product variation in 64 is a thing? Haha outside of the Customs I mean.

n=2 is far from a sufficient sample size to draw conclusions, but anecdotally I would say that some measure of variation exists. Someone I know who has heard three U12Ts tells me they all sounded slightly different. One of the boons of the tia driver is that the un-lidding process doesn't seem to be entirely consistent. SBAF's U18T tour unit was somehow dark, which I never would have believed (sounds darn bright to my ears) at least until I saw the measurements. It stands that, ideally, like units should sound the same, but I don't think it's a dealbreaker. Some variance is always going to be present between IEMs; if I didn't have my own unit to A/B plus a measurement coupler, I would've been hesitant to speak to it.

Not really a surprise given how the A&K's output impedance (stated 2 Ohms) interacts with the Andromedas' frequency response because of their impedance response. The Andro are very picky about the output impedance and are only not audibly affected if it's below 0.5 Ohms.

Yeah, the lack of bass should come as no surprise. What is surprising, however, is how much it shifts around the intangibles. You'd expect less bass to result in a cleaner sound which was the complete opposite of what I heard; even the low-end itself sounded mucky.

 

[Tiax]

In Crinacle's measurements 2 samples of U12t also look slightly different.
But isn't it the case with almost every other model and company as well? I thought that couple of dB here and there is within the norm, unless guaranteed otherwise, as with etymotic certificates.

 

[eloelo]

U12T S2

So over the weekend, I had the opportunity to go hear the U12T unit that @MRSallee has on-hand. Immediately, I could tell it sounded different. It sounded warmer and more bassy. I chalked it up to the tips, figured that could be accounting for the difference. But I had to graph it too, and lo-and-behold:

Spoiler: FR Graph

Man I feel like I would very much prefer the green one to the red one. My U12T was darker sounding in the upper mids vs the demo U12T which made me buy it. It's a slight difference that becomes a deal breaker between the demo that hit the bare minimum for upper mids to make songs sound comfy yet still energetic enough, and my U12T where every singer's high notes which Im used to just falls flat and lifeless. I told the store to convey to 64Audio that mine was darker, hopefully that helps make the change in the right direction.... My U12T was amazing though when it came to bass and that heaps of air on top

 

[imackler]

I wonder if the Andromeda 2020 actually does better on less power? Of course, there is not much room with the volume pot on Modi 3+/Magni 3+, but I really didn't enjoy the 2020 on them. Today, it's back to the Apple USB-C dongle, and enjoying them so much more. (Tidal/UAPP). I know typical wisdom is more power is better...

 

[Tiax]

I know typical wisdom is more power is better...

I think it's true only in some cases, with planar or maybe EST technology, for the rest of iems power is really not such a big deal as some people make it to be
https://crinacle.com/2019/09/30/on-the-record-power/
And CFA iems especially are notoriously sensitive, what would they need an extra power for?

 

[mvvRAZ]

I wonder if the Andromeda 2020 actually does better on less power? Of course, there is not much room with the volume pot on Modi 3+/Magni 3+, but I really didn't enjoy the 2020 on them. Today, it's back to the Apple USB-C dongle, and enjoying them so much more. (Tidal/UAPP). I know typical wisdom is more power is better...

The whole more power is better feels like a huge noob trap to me honestly. Of everything I’ve listened to (must be around close to 100-150 monitors now), I can think of maybe 4-5 IEMs that actually need raw power to perform optimally. Most of what I’ve seen is people not liking a certain IEM, then someone who owns said IEMs goes like “oh you’re not giving them enough power if you aren’t absolutely loving them” which I find hilarious

It’s the same thing as “oh but have you burned them in for 12000 hours” or “oh but you need to use X tips and X cable before you judge them” etc etc etc

Trust your own ears, try out a bunch of different things and see what you enjoy most

 

[Damz87]

IMHO, andro’s are all about finding a source with the right output impedance (low as possible if you want more bass) and a quiet noise floor. I find the Lotoo Paw S1 to be ideal. Zero hiss, low impedance, and the S1’s sound signature synergises well (to my taste at least) with Andromeda.

 

[CK Moustache]

Yeah, the lack of bass should come as no surprise. What is surprising, however, is how much it shifts around the intangibles. You'd expect less bass to result in a cleaner sound which was the complete opposite of what I heard; even the low-end itself sounded mucky.

The damping factor is also a thing to consider - I've perceived some sources with higher than ideal output impedance to soften/muddy up the bass (although not to a large degree, but still noticeable) when used with low (but flat) impedance IEMs (wherefore their FR isn't changed) while there was no such thing audible with higher impedance loads.
Who knows, perhaps the A&K just doesn't like very low impedance loads anyway and introduces higher than normal distortion levels with them.