[ezekiel77]

Thanks for sharing. Nice impression you wrote. May I ask Eze, what do you think of the sound compared to Flamenco?

Need more listening time for a more complete comparison, but right now, Flamenco has thinner, faster notes and slightly better resolution. Gemini is more tonally accurate, and very emotionally engaging. I'm in love with the tuning. More to come hopefully.

you might also want to give the Final Audio E tips a try!

Any idea where I can get those without buying E2000?

 

[karloil]

Any idea where I can get those without buying E2000?

E1 Personal Audio! It's not on their website, but you can just PM them in FB to order

 

[khestoi]

Thanks for the response guys. Its nice that this thread is being active again. Looking forward to trying out 3sh and neptune.

 

[Kuwan]

there's a nice air around the vocals.

"air around the vocals" that is the perfect description of how the vocals sound. Felt exactly the same way.

I personally prefer the stock white silicone tips. They seem like the only ones without treble loss.

 

[headwhacker]

Managed to visit Music Sanctuary today and demoed the QDC lineup. (3SH, Gemini, 8SH and the 5SH).

The Gemini, sound like having a freakishly huge stage. Non-fatiguing overall sound and very nice textured bass. Mids and treble are nicely detailed and sounds very natural. Not much hint of metallic sound that I notice common usually to BAs.

The 3SH hit me like a weird sounding IEM. It appears the soundstage is very compressed, smallish and imaging looks circular. I did not like how it presents the sound. Though it sounds fun and energetic, it appears something is lacking or sounding artificial.

The 8SH the most neutral of the bunch to my ears. If I don't already have a few neutral-ish iems like NT6 and Prophile-8, this could be the iem that would appeal to me. But on this particular audition, it strike me as a familiar sounding iem leaning towards being boring. Not that the iem sounded bad, it just sounded too familiar for me and I was out tonight looking for a warm-ish iem.

As for 5SH, this iem definitely has a warm tuning. However, unlike other warn iems I tried this iem still managed to maintain a high level of clarity in the mids and treble. The reason I don't like warm iems/headphone in general because, the upper mids and the highs are mostly subdued and rolled off too much so that the lower mids to bass can be emphasized. To my ears the 5SH is a touch warmer than Gemini having a smaller stage. Otherwise, they are more similar than different. Unlike the 8SH and the 3SH having a totally different tuning.

Overall, I enjoyed the QDC tuning. They have the most natural and textured bass reproduction I ever heard for a BA-based iem. The 5SH is definitely in my short list for the hunt of warm iem.

 

[ranfan]

Managed to visit Music Sanctuary today and demoed the QDC lineup. (3SH, Gemini, 8SH and the 5SH).

The Gemini, sound like having a freakishly huge stage. Non-fatiguing overall sound and very nice textured bass. Mids and treble are nicely detailed and sounds very natural. Not much hint of metallic sound that I notice common usually to BAs.

The 3SH hit me like a weird sounding IEM. It appears the soundstage is very compressed, smallish and imaging looks circular. I did not like how it presents the sound. Though it sounds fun and energetic, it appears something is lacking or sounding artificial.

The 8SH the most neutral of the bunch to my ears. If I don't already have a few neutral-ish iems like NT6 and Prophile-8, this could be the iem that would appeal to me. But on this particular audition, it strike me as a familiar sounding iem leaning towards being boring. Not that the iem sounded bad, it just sounded too familiar for me and I was out tonight looking for a warm-ish iem.

As for 5SH, this iem definitely has a warm tuning. However, unlike other warn iems I tried this iem still managed to maintain a high level of clarity in the mids and treble. The reason I don't like warm iems/headphone in general because, the upper mids and the highs are mostly subdued and rolled off too much so that the lower mids to bass can be emphasized. To my ears the 5SH is a touch warmer than Gemini having a smaller stage. Otherwise, they are more similar than different. Unlike the 8SH and the 3SH having a totally different tuning.

Overall, I enjoyed the QDC tuning. They have the most natural and textured bass reproduction I ever heard for a BA-based iem. The 5SH is definitely in my short list for the hunt of warm iem.

While your memory is fresh, what do you think/did you find about Gemini to be its weakness? Just curious. Everywhere almost all impressions seem very positive so far. Good for QDC.

 

[ezekiel77]

While your memory is fresh, what do you think/did you find about Gemini to be its weakness? Just curious. Everywhere almost all impressions seem very positive so far. Good for QDC.

For me, the only weakness is the relatively smaller stage size (width, depth and height) compared to the soundstage elites like W900. I haven't heard A18, SE5U or Maestro V2, but in Nic's review I think he mentioned that these three have a bigger and more spacious headstage. But if you don't compare, the stage is pretty good by itself. The biggest selling point of Gemini is it's overall tuning and mastery in balancing the spectrum. It sounds superbly natural and lively.

 

[headwhacker]

While your memory is fresh, what do you think/did you find about Gemini to be its weakness? Just curious. Everywhere almost all impressions seem very positive so far. Good for QDC.

I have not done on the spot comparison with other iems I already have as I only want to get a general idea of QDC's overall tuning. If I answer your question based on what I heard, I would say the price. Which is by the way common nowadays on any brand's lineup. I don't find the difference between 5SH and gemini significant enough to warrant the price difference. But between 3SH and 5SH I believe is justifiable.

Usually the mid tier offering of each brand provide the best price/performance ratio.

 

[4Fan]

I have not done on the spot comparison with other iems I already have as I only want to get a general idea of QDC's overall tuning. If I answer your question based on what I heard, I would say the price. Which is by the way common nowadays on any brand's lineup. I don't find the difference between 5SH and gemini significant enough to warrant the price difference. But between 3SH and 5SH I believe is justifiable.

Usually the mid tier offering of each brand provide the best price/performance ratio.

I personally think 3->5 isn't worth it, I like the 8SH the most, and speaking from a value POV i feel that 3SH>8SH>5SH>Gemini. Though I only audition the 5SH for less than 30 minutes.. For me, the 5SH have a warmer sound than the 3SH, with a slightly bigger soundstage and bass, what's your take on the 3SH v 5SH?

 

[headwhacker]

I personally think 3->5 isn't worth it, I like the 8SH the most, and speaking from a value POV i feel that 3SH>8SH>5SH>Gemini. Though I only audition the 5SH for less than 30 minutes.. For me, the 5SH have a warmer sound than the 3SH, with a slightly bigger soundstage and bass, what's your take on the 3SH v 5SH?

5SH is warm so is the 3SH and gemini. Only the 8SH sounds flat/neutral.

As for 5SH vs 3SH I’ll take the 5SH. The 3SH just doesn’t sound right to my ear. Imaging is a bit off. And as I mentioned the overall soundstage is compressed. It strikes me like how a picture looks like using a fish eye lens in photography. The edges are warped or as they call it suffering from barrel distortion.

 

[khestoi]

How would the 5sh and 3sh compare with noble sage?

 

[headwhacker]

I did another round of audition with Gemini, 5SG and 3SH. This time at Jaben using my QP2R and a balanced cable which is used on all 3. My initial impression has not change much between 3SH and 5SH. But, comparing Gemini again with 5SH, this time I appreciate the Gemini even more. It has a touch more clarity in the high-mids to treble compared to 5SH. But overall, in sound presentation they are more alike than different. Also I had the chance to compare the AAW W500. As expected, the dynamic driver in W500 delivers a very natural and realistic bass. But it just made the Gemini/5SH much more impressive because it generates similar bass response and quality as the W500. But as far as the mids to treble goes, QDC sound much more natural and clear and very spacious (especially Gemini). The W500 at some point sound very colored and unrealistic. It is very energetic and splashy but just not as natural to me compared to QDC.

But after a lengthy audition, I left the store carrying an ATH-MSR7SE.

 

[HuoYuanJia]

Good call on the MSR7! Very good headphones.

If you don't mind me posting an external URL, I wrote a review of the Gemini and posted it on Headfonics.com: https://headfonics.com/2017/12/qdc-gemini-review/
It's interesting to hear that the 8SH are more linear. I will definitely check them out if I have a chance.

 

[Bina]

Gemini in it's core is combination of 8Live (more bass Gemini) and 8Hifi(other part of Gemini). More linear model is 8 Studio. I was in QDC factory and did compare them directly against each other.

 

[Kuwan]

Gemini in it's core is combination of 8Live (more bass Gemini) and 8Hifi(other part of Gemini). More linear model is 8 Studio. I was in QDC factory and did compare them directly against each other.

Yep. They'll tell you exactly the same thing if you ask QDC themselves. Crinacle's measurements of the 8sh and Gemini show slight differences, but the differences are within a decibel or two. They should sound almost identical unless you have VERY well trained ears.