Quill Acoustics Satin: Impressions and Discussion

[Dandelion777]

USPS deciding to play hide and seek with my Satin. :') Longest express shipping of my life.

 

[Aetherhole]

There is a Satin photo there. It counts. Besides, sometimes we just want to express ourselves and share our joy. Cables are a part of the experience.

Absolutely! Hope you are well, sir! Curious what you are listening with nowadays!

USPS deciding to play hide and seek with my Satin. :') Longest express shipping of my life.

Sorry to hear that. USPS has been known to be hit and miss, even here within the contiguous US.

---

Yesterday, I spent the better part of 7 hours listening to the Satin again. It’s after 6AM and I cannot sleep for various reasons and, yep, listening to the Satin again. I’m enamored by this IEM. There’s just so much note weight across the frequency spectrum and nothing sounds disjointed. This morning I started listening by listening to one of my favorite sopranos, Renee Fleming and her album “Guilty Pleasures”.

Renee’s voice is just such a timbrally rich instrument. This album also has the Philharmonia Orchestra backing her and I’m so enthralled by how commanding both Renee and the orchestra are. Both are so expressive and listening through the Satin I feel emotionally connected. It’s gorgeous.

 

[Dandelion777]

Absolutely! Hope you are well, sir! Curious what you are listening with nowadays!



Sorry to hear that. USPS has been known to be hit and miss, even here within the contiguous US.

---

Yesterday, I spent the better part of 7 hours listening to the Satin again. It’s after 6AM and I cannot sleep for various reasons and, yep, listening to the Satin again. I’m enamored by this IEM. There’s just so much note weight across the frequency spectrum and nothing sounds disjointed. This morning I started listening by listening to one of my favorite sopranos, Renee Fleming and her album “Guilty Pleasures”.



Renee’s voice is just such a timbrally rich instrument. This album also has the Philharmonia Orchestra backing her and I’m so enthralled by how commanding both Renee and the orchestra are. Both are so expressive and listening through the Satin I feel emotionally connected. It’s gorgeous.

Love how the repeating word of the thread is timbre. I should have mine either today or Monday, pray for me peeps! xD Regardless, very curious as how it does with synths and how it breathes in a track. Only set ive only heard this track feel im floating at a couple miles an hour was with the trailli jp and it was, impressive.



How does this do with the Satin? In my mind its made for it, no?

 

[Audioenophile]

USPS deciding to play hide and seek with my Satin. :') Longest express shipping of my life.

I hope it arrives soon. Looking forward to hearing your impressions. Which cable (s) so you have on hand that try with it? I want to try the Temptation cable with Satin, but it’s a bit out of my price comfort zone.

 

[Aetherhole]

Love how the repeating word of the thread is timbre. I should have mine either today or Monday, pray for me peeps! xD Regardless, very curious as how it does with synths and how it breathes in a track. Only set ive only heard this track feel im floating at a couple miles an hour was with the trailli jp and it was, impressive.



How does this do with the Satin? In my mind its made for it, no?

I have no frame of reference for this particular track, but as I’ve just finished listening to it, I can say, what an interesting track. It’s a fascinating track texturally. It’s both intimate and expansive. The horn sounds lovely. Especially towards the first 3rd of the track when there’s not a whole lot going on, focusing on that horn player, you can hear and feel the onset of the notes being buzzed.

Already listening to the next track and have the rest of the album queued, but there’s a lot of heft and density to the sound. It’s lovely.

I look forward to when you get yours and hear it to let us know what you hear or feel.

I hope it arrives soon. Looking forward to hearing your impressions. Which cable (s) so you have on hand that try with it? I want to try the Temptation cable with Satin, but it’s a bit out of my price comfort zone.

Oh, Temptation… if Tim wasn’t burning his in when I met up with him a couple weeks ago, I could have tried it on Satin. Very curious how that cable would fare on it, too! Definitely a bit out of my comfort of “just try it on a whim” as well!

 

[btwine]

I’m on my 4th day with Satin, many hours of listening and burn in later, and I am mostly thrilled with what I hear. My source is N30LE, and I’m sticking with the stock cable for now after my initial connection challenge.

Satin’s primary highlight for me is its mids, with exceptional timbre, expressiveness, and richness. Acoustic instruments and male vocals in particular are excellent. I find Satin to be on par with the best mids-focused sets I have heard. That said, I haven’t heard many of the latest summit-fi sets, so my most recent point of reference, the UM Mason FS ST, features what until now have been my favorite mids ever. Satin is in the same neighborhood, more than any other set I’ve heard except Traillii. But Traillii so lacked bass depth in my book that it detracted from my enjoyment of its mids. The same to a lesser degree goes for Mason FS ST. No DD or planar bass on that set limited how immersive I really felt while loving its mids. Satin on the other hand has the full picture for me. Thus, it is my favorite mids set I have heard.



Examples of remarkable mids performance for me include David Crosby’s Buddha on the Hill, with its acoustic guitar intro leading into rich male and female harmonies, blissful on Satin. Also, Nat King Cole’s L-O-V-E is simply excellent on Satin, giving Nat’s voice even more detail and character than I’ve ever heard.



Other Satin highlights include its powerful sub bass, which knows its place, stepping back when not called for, and visceral when a song requires it. The bass is a standout among most IEMs I have heard for its impact and attack.

Satin’s upper end with its planar treble driver is wonderful: not sibilant, detailed, slightly rolled off, plenty of air, and attack as needed, similar to its bass in that it stands out more when called for. Satin will probably not be a treble lovers set, in that it doesn’t feature Lee-level EST-driven detail or extension, and is unlike sets with exceptional tactile BA treble such as Amber Pearl or Mason FS ST.

Technicals are great in many ways. A standout to me is the very wide stage. It is wider by a noticable degree than 2 recent sets I’ve heard that have good stage size, Elysian X and Novus. Within that width there is excellent differentiation of voices and instruments, terrific holography. The stage depth and height isn’t as vast, but that doesn’t detract for me. Also a standout are Satin’s dynamics.

With all of this excellence, I have only area of concern: upper mids. I am very sensitive to heightened energy in the 3-4k zone. I have had to move on from IEMs that I found to peak too much in this area, sets that were otherwise very good, such as Fei Wan, Jewel, and Loki.

The squig Leo shared earlier in this thread shows a higher upper mids level, and he commented on being intentional with including that rise in the sound profile. When I read that I got a little worried, and now that I’ve listened to Satin for 4 days, I do find the upper mids to be a distraction. Particularly on songs where female vocalists hit peaks in their singing, such as the Renee Fleming album that @Aetherhole shared. In music that is otherwise brilliant to listen to, Renee’s vocal peaks are in the danger zone for me. Also any orchestral music that climbs to crescendos lead me to turn the volume down. I’m not sure how many other audiophiles have this problem, since IEM creators continue to produce sets with this quality. I wish I didn’t have this sensitivity.

I will have to see if I can get past this aspect of Satin, because the rest of what it provides is truly excellent. I’ve played with N30 settings, and have landed on P/Class A/mid gain/Hyper off/classic tube as giving me the least upper mids peaks with the best of everything else. I’m hopeful that more burn-in will tame that part of the SQ, perhaps the treble planar driver is the culprit and it will mature? I’m not going to cable roll for now but am open to suggestions for what could reduce upper mids rise.

 

[Dandelion777]

I’m on my 4th day with Satin, many hours of listening and burn in later, and I am mostly thrilled with what I hear. My source is N30LE, and I’m sticking with the stock cable for now after my initial connection challenge.

Satin’s primary highlight for me is its mids, with exceptional timbre, expressiveness, and richness. Acoustic instruments and male vocals in particular are excellent. I find Satin to be on par with the best mids-focused sets I have heard. That said, I haven’t heard many of the latest summit-fi sets, so my most recent point of reference, the UM Mason FS ST, features what until now have been my favorite mids ever. Satin is in the same neighborhood, more than any other set I’ve heard except Traillii. But Traillii so lacked bass depth in my book that it detracted from my enjoyment of its mids. The same to a lesser degree goes for Mason FS ST. No DD or planar bass on that set limited how immersive I really felt while loving its mids. Satin on the other hand has the full picture for me. Thus, it is my favorite mids set I have heard.



Examples of remarkable mids performance for me include David Crosby’s Buddha on the Hill, with its acoustic guitar intro leading into rich male and female harmonies, blissful on Satin. Also, Nat King Cole’s L-O-V-E is simply excellent on Satin, giving Nat’s voice even more detail and character than I’ve ever heard.



Other Satin highlights include its powerful sub bass, which knows its place, stepping back when not called for, and visceral when a song requires it. The bass is a standout among most IEMs I have heard for its impact and attack.

Satin’s upper end with its planar treble driver is wonderful: not sibilant, detailed, slightly rolled off, plenty of air, and attack as needed, similar to its bass in that it stands out more when called for. Satin will probably not be a treble lovers set, in that it doesn’t feature Lee-level EST-driven detail or extension, and is unlike sets with exceptional tactile BA treble such as Amber Pearl or Mason FS ST.

Technicals are great in many ways. A standout to me is the very wide stage. It is wider by a noticable degree than 2 recent sets I’ve heard that have good stage size, Elysian X and Novus. Within that width there is excellent differentiation of voices and instruments, terrific holography. The stage depth and height isn’t as vast, but that doesn’t detract for me. Also a standout are Satin’s dynamics.

With all of this excellence, I have only area of concern: upper mids. I am very sensitive to heightened energy in the 3-4k zone. I have had to move on from IEMs that I found to peak too much in this area, sets that were otherwise very good, such as Fei Wan, Jewel, and Loki.

The squig Leo shared earlier in this thread shows a higher upper mids level, and he commented on being intentional with including that rise in the sound profile. When I read that I got a little worried, and now that I’ve listened to Satin for 4 days, I do find the upper mids to be a distraction. Particularly on songs where female vocalists hit peaks in their singing, such as the Renee Fleming album that @Aetherhole shared. In music that is otherwise brilliant to listen to, Renee’s vocal peaks are in the danger zone for me. Also any orchestral music that climbs to crescendos lead me to turn the volume down. I’m not sure how many other audiophiles have this problem, since IEM creators continue to produce sets with this quality. I wish I didn’t have this sensitivity.

I will have to see if I can get past this aspect of Satin, because the rest of what it provides is truly excellent. I’ve played with N30 settings, and have landed on P/Class A/mid gain/Hyper off/classic tube as giving me the least upper mids peaks with the best of everything else. I’m hopeful that more burn-in will tame that part of the SQ, perhaps the treble planar driver is the culprit and it will mature? I’m not going to cable roll for now but am open to suggestions for what could reduce upper mids rise.

I see, also sensitive to upper mids, lets see what happens!

 

[EnigmaFotos]

Absolutely! Hope you are well, sir! Curious what you are listening with nowadays!



Sorry to hear that. USPS has been known to be hit and miss, even here within the contiguous US.

---

Yesterday, I spent the better part of 7 hours listening to the Satin again. It’s after 6AM and I cannot sleep for various reasons and, yep, listening to the Satin again. I’m enamored by this IEM. There’s just so much note weight across the frequency spectrum and nothing sounds disjointed. This morning I started listening by listening to one of my favorite sopranos, Renee Fleming and her album “Guilty Pleasures”.



Renee’s voice is just such a timbrally rich instrument. This album also has the Philharmonia Orchestra backing her and I’m so enthralled by how commanding both Renee and the orchestra are. Both are so expressive and listening through the Satin I feel emotionally connected. It’s gorgeous.

Brings back memories. My Trombone professor at Oberlin Conservatory Raymond Premru played with the Philharmonia for 29 years as the Bass Trombonist. Awesome orchestra.

 

[Aetherhole]

I’m on my 4th day with Satin, many hours of listening and burn in later, and I am mostly thrilled with what I hear. My source is N30LE, and I’m sticking with the stock cable for now after my initial connection challenge.

Satin’s primary highlight for me is its mids, with exceptional timbre, expressiveness, and richness. Acoustic instruments and male vocals in particular are excellent. I find Satin to be on par with the best mids-focused sets I have heard. That said, I haven’t heard many of the latest summit-fi sets, so my most recent point of reference, the UM Mason FS ST, features what until now have been my favorite mids ever. Satin is in the same neighborhood, more than any other set I’ve heard except Traillii. But Traillii so lacked bass depth in my book that it detracted from my enjoyment of its mids. The same to a lesser degree goes for Mason FS ST. No DD or planar bass on that set limited how immersive I really felt while loving its mids. Satin on the other hand has the full picture for me. Thus, it is my favorite mids set I have heard.



Examples of remarkable mids performance for me include David Crosby’s Buddha on the Hill, with its acoustic guitar intro leading into rich male and female harmonies, blissful on Satin. Also, Nat King Cole’s L-O-V-E is simply excellent on Satin, giving Nat’s voice even more detail and character than I’ve ever heard.



Other Satin highlights include its powerful sub bass, which knows its place, stepping back when not called for, and visceral when a song requires it. The bass is a standout among most IEMs I have heard for its impact and attack.

Satin’s upper end with its planar treble driver is wonderful: not sibilant, detailed, slightly rolled off, plenty of air, and attack as needed, similar to its bass in that it stands out more when called for. Satin will probably not be a treble lovers set, in that it doesn’t feature Lee-level EST-driven detail or extension, and is unlike sets with exceptional tactile BA treble such as Amber Pearl or Mason FS ST.

Technicals are great in many ways. A standout to me is the very wide stage. It is wider by a noticable degree than 2 recent sets I’ve heard that have good stage size, Elysian X and Novus. Within that width there is excellent differentiation of voices and instruments, terrific holography. The stage depth and height isn’t as vast, but that doesn’t detract for me. Also a standout are Satin’s dynamics.

With all of this excellence, I have only area of concern: upper mids. I am very sensitive to heightened energy in the 3-4k zone. I have had to move on from IEMs that I found to peak too much in this area, sets that were otherwise very good, such as Fei Wan, Jewel, and Loki.

The squig Leo shared earlier in this thread shows a higher upper mids level, and he commented on being intentional with including that rise in the sound profile. When I read that I got a little worried, and now that I’ve listened to Satin for 4 days, I do find the upper mids to be a distraction. Particularly on songs where female vocalists hit peaks in their singing, such as the Renee Fleming album that @Aetherhole shared. In music that is otherwise brilliant to listen to, Renee’s vocal peaks are in the danger zone for me. Also any orchestral music that climbs to crescendos lead me to turn the volume down. I’m not sure how many other audiophiles have this problem, since IEM creators continue to produce sets with this quality. I wish I didn’t have this sensitivity.

I will have to see if I can get past this aspect of Satin, because the rest of what it provides is truly excellent. I’ve played with N30 settings, and have landed on P/Class A/mid gain/Hyper off/classic tube as giving me the least upper mids peaks with the best of everything else. I’m hopeful that more burn-in will tame that part of the SQ, perhaps the treble planar driver is the culprit and it will mature? I’m not going to cable roll for now but am open to suggestions for what could reduce upper mids rise.

Very much appreciate you sharing your thoughts more! I understand what you are saying about the 3-4K zone. That’s not where my sensitive resonant frequencies are, so it doesn’t bother me. Upper mids/lower treble still are very trouble some, but mine are more in the 4.5-6K range. So where the Satin recesses seems to be precisely where I need them. That is why other sets are much more bothersome and the 3-4K range is much less problematic for me. It gives me just the right amount of energy to engage in female vocals, like Renee’s, without issue.

Every ear is different, so how you hear it is exactly how you hear it and so if it is bothersome, I definitely get that! Continue to evaluate and see how it fares as it settles. It could also be helpful using other sources to see how it might fare differently, too.

I see, also sensitive to upper mids, lets see what happens!

Definitely will be curious to hear your thoughts, too. As mentioned above, every one has different resonant frequency.

Brings back memories. My Trombone professor at Oberlin Conservatory Raymond Premru played with the Philharmonia for 29 years as the Bass Trombonist. Awesome orchestra.

They are a fantastic orchestra. My good friend, who’s actually going with us to compete/tour, taught choir over at Oberlin for a couple years. This was probably in the last five to ten years, so well after our time school.

 

[YudaZzZ]

Collected Satin this afternoon! Will post more details later, but first impressions:
1, What a Bass presentation!! I have Duality, and Satin's bass is nothing less amazing! I did not expect this level of bass, especially sub. Pleasant suprise. It is different from Duality. Quantity and quality both impressed me.
2, Much more emotion and richness in mids than my 622, Duality. Finely textured instruments that also layered very well. Spectrumica might have an edge with the BCD spatial magic thingy, but this is not far. Imaging is tight too, everything has clear body and spatial location despite warmness, which usually disturb imaging imo.
3, Treble is certainly unusual, sometimes it presents with great brilliance and smooth extension, some other times cymbals and highhats can feel low volume.

So far Nightcraft cable is winning (2pin socket is very tight at beginning).
Source1: Apple Music > Holo Cyan2 > Holo Bliss.
Source2: A&K SE300—not quite enough for Satin imo, tonally nice though.

Will give it time, but since I felt hair raising chill multiple times listening this afternoon, impressed is a little understating things.

 

[Jasonaudio23]

Thats what I like to hear! Have one coming Tuesday! Pumped

 

[Dandelion777]

Collected Satin this afternoon! Will post more details later, but first impressions:
1, What a Bass presentation!! I have Duality, and Satin's bass is nothing less amazing! I did not expect this level of bass, especially sub. Pleasant suprise. It is different from Duality. Quantity and quality both impressed me.
2, Much more emotion and richness in mids than my 622, Duality. Finely textured instruments that also layered very well. Spectrumica might have an edge with the BCD spatial magic thingy, but this is not far. Imaging is tight too, everything has clear body and spatial location despite warmness, which usually disturb imaging imo.
3, Treble is certainly unusual, sometimes it presents with great brilliance and smooth extension, some other times cymbals and highhats can feel low volume.

So far Nightcraft cable is winning (2pin socket is very tight at beginning).
Source1: Apple Music > Holo Cyan2 > Holo Bliss.
Source2: A&K SE300—not quite enough for Satin imo, tonally nice though.

Will give it time, but since I felt hair raising chill multiple times listening this afternoon, impressed is a little understating things.

Nice impressions. Also going for a nightcraft cable for it, Vesper. SE300 used to love it, even more with in combination with the AK pa10. It turns into a smooth machine, a very very smooth, warm sound, with richness. I AM SO EXCITED FOR MINE. Gets here tomorrow. :,)

 

[Aetherhole]

Collected Satin this afternoon! Will post more details later, but first impressions:
1, What a Bass presentation!! I have Duality, and Satin's bass is nothing less amazing! I did not expect this level of bass, especially sub. Pleasant suprise. It is different from Duality. Quantity and quality both impressed me.
2, Much more emotion and richness in mids than my 622, Duality. Finely textured instruments that also layered very well. Spectrumica might have an edge with the BCD spatial magic thingy, but this is not far. Imaging is tight too, everything has clear body and spatial location despite warmness, which usually disturb imaging imo.
3, Treble is certainly unusual, sometimes it presents with great brilliance and smooth extension, some other times cymbals and highhats can feel low volume.

So far Nightcraft cable is winning (2pin socket is very tight at beginning).
Source1: Apple Music > Holo Cyan2 > Holo Bliss.
Source2: A&K SE300—not quite enough for Satin imo, tonally nice though.

Will give it time, but since I felt hair raising chill multiple times listening this afternoon, impressed is a little understating things.

Awesome!!! Great thoughts so far! Canpur’s CP622B were some of my favorite mids, too. I agree, I am even more engaged with the mids on the Satin! And I also agree with your assessment of the Satin’s bass. Sub-bass frequencies are impressive. Especially on a desktop system, it’s fantastic! I think the BCD implementation is going to vary from individual to individual, so your ear anatomy with the Spectrumica may just work better, for sure, or just the way the BCDs were implemented might be different and have different goals.

Thats what I like to hear! Have one coming Tuesday! Pumped

Nice impressions. Also going for a nightcraft cable for it, Vesper. SE300 used to love it, even more with in combination with the AK pa10. It turns into a smooth machine, a very very smooth, warm sound, with richness. I AM SO EXCITED FOR MINE. Gets here tomorrow. :,)

Looking forward to hearing what both of you think when you receive it!

 

[btwine]

I decided to try my luck at removing the Satin stock cable after the difficult first connection. With bit of sensitive touch I was able to disconnect then reconnect a few times, and I could feel the tight 2-pin sockets loosening up just a bit, just enough. I tried a different cable, the 1950s clone I have on hand, and its 2-pins connected better than the stock. So it’s good news, and in case anyone else has a hard time with initial cable connection on their Satin, there is hope!

 

[AboveNBeyond]

Seriously, dude? More of those delicious photos?

I know this is a Satin thread, but…

Wow, Satin and Victoria are actually a great match! For Odin, I feel the SoA is the go