[aaf evo]

You've never heard Solaris?

I knew I was missing something!

Edited.

 

[DunkFealer]

I think I have now finally heard enough IEMs to put together one of these lists. These are all IEMs I've spent enough time with to form a stable opinion of them (2 weeks minimum, but for most much more than that: months to years).

1) 64 Audio tia Trió: Recently I acquired these and the new Solaris to (supposedly) serve two separate types of listening experiences: critical listening and fun listening. The Trio's were supposed to be the fun ones (and they really are fun), but what I found out is that they can actually serve both purposes. They are extremely competent technically and carry a lot of detail in the top end, deep rumble and punch down low, while retaining good mid presence, along with a massive soundstage. So while the deeply satisfying DD bass keeps me bobbing my head at whatever EDM track I'm listening to, the shimmering treble helps me track textures and details that normally only present themselves under careful listening. I put the Trio above the Solaris because I think they can basically do most of what the Solaris can do while making everything sound extra fun, but I realize that others may not be looking for that and so I see how the Solaris could be your choice between these. While the Solaris is an incredible all-rounder, these are what I'd call a "fun all-rounder." Everything sounds good with them, but it definitely has an added amount of excitement to the sound over the Solaris. In reality, there are certain genres that I prefer to listen to with Solaris than the Trio's so it's not really a one-sided battle. However, while I may prefer the Trio's I'm not sure they're a great value proposition over the Solaris at full retail price ($800 additional bucks seems steep)---thank god for that amazing 30% discount, at that price point it was absolutely worth the money over Solaris.

2) Campfire Audio Solaris (2020): The new Solaris are incredible in their own right. To me nothing in the frequency response feels overemphasized, leading to an extremely coherent listening experience while still retaining a great deal of emotion in the sound. The added mids presence over the Trio and AG are what led me to get these so that I could have a closer to balanced set of IEMs. They definitely succeed at that, but the great sub-bass extension can be as satisfying as the Trio's depending on the genre (i.e., given a genre where more bass quantity isn't an obvious improvement). The highs sparkle a bit less than the AGs and the Trio but we're sort of splitting hairs there, as well as with the soundstage size. If I had no knowledge of what a person prefers as their sound signature, this would be what I would recommend as a TOTL option. It's just easy to love and every time I switch back to them from my Trio's I'm reminded that I made the right choice in getting them.

3) Campfire Audio Andromeda Special Edition Gold: My first purchase in TOTL territory. The bass on these is nothing to be scoffed at despite the fact that they do not extend quite as deep as the Trio or Solaris. The sparkle in the treble is as good and addicting as the Andromeda name is famous for. The soundstage is immediately impressive and extends in all dimensions similar to the Trio and Solaris. My only complaints here were that I wanted more extension in the bass and a bit more presence in the mids. Really an exciting/musical listen and a great implementation of BA bass.

4) Meze Audio Rai Penta: Smoooooooth. Oh so very smooth! The Rai Penta's are very level-headed, coherent, sweet, and relaxed. However, after a while these stopped wow-ing me and I found the sound to be lacking in weight, and so ultimately I looked for other offerings where I could get more heft. These were the first TOTL headphones I heard and they were what helped me gain confidence in the sonic improvements that you can get with a jump in price brackets. Also, these are the most comfortable IEMs I've ever worn.

5) Moondrop Starfield: It's really difficult to say bad things about the Starfield when they are priced at the level they are. These punch way above their price bracket for sure. The best way I can describe them is competent across the board. Although, the soundstage is nothing to write home about, and the treble lacks sparkle relative to my preferences. However, I have to repeat myself here, it's tough to compete with this price-to-performance ratio.

6) Campfire Audio Comet: These have a great neutral-ish sound with great vocals and sparkly highs. Shame that they seem to have been discontinued as they were a good offering a the price point. However, I think I need more bass in my life than this (definitely in terms of extension, but also a bit in total quantity) ...and it was exactly this line of thinking that led me to the awful IEM at the bottom of this list.

7) BGVP Q2 TWS: My current TWS set. Deep bass, they have a very fun V-shaped sound while being technically competent at its price. I love that you can optionally plug in an MMCX cable to listen even if battery runs out. Very convenient and comfortable to boot. Love to use these for exercising.

8) KZ ZS10 Pro: These have a very intense and exciting sound, but they are a noticeable step down in quality from the BGVPs. These are an excellent value proposition as well.

9) KZ S1 TWS: My first TWS set. They actually sound pretty great and are priced extremely competitively. It's a mild V-shaped sound (I hear the S1D is more severely V-shaped) that works really nicely if you want something to go on a run with or work out. The bass is a bit loose but I never used these for critical listening so it never bothered me.

10) Tin Hifi T3: An improvement over the T2 but I don't think that the quality increase was big enough for the price bump. Not my cup of tea.

11) Tin Hifi T2: These were very decent technically for the price, I just don't think I like this kind of signature.

12) Jerry Harvey JH3X: After owning the Comets I thought I could jump a bit in price to get an improvement in sound quality (and maybe I could've with better research). I picked them because after owning the Comets I craved something with more bass, and boy did I mess up this course correction. I disliked these enough to feel like I should just bite the bullet and commit to TOTL price brackets. I absolutely despise how these sound. They sound like mud: the bass is incredibly loose and bloated and obscures everything in the FR.

 

[gnahra]

I think I have now finally heard enough IEMs to put together one of these lists. These are all IEMs I've spent enough time with to form a stable opinion of them (2 weeks minimum, but for most much more than that: months to years).

1) 64 Audio tia Trió: Recently I acquired these and the new Solaris to (supposedly) serve two separate types of listening experiences: critical listening and fun listening. The Trio's were supposed to be the fun ones (and they really are fun), but what I found out is that they can actually serve both purposes. They are extremely competent technically and carry a lot of detail in the top end, deep rumble and punch down low, while retaining good mid presence, along with a massive soundstage. So while the deeply satisfying DD bass keeps me bobbing my head at whatever EDM track I'm listening to, the shimmering treble helps me track textures and details that normally only present themselves under careful listening. I put the Trio above the Solaris because I think they can basically do most of what the Solaris can do while making everything sound extra fun, but I realize that others may not be looking for that and so I see how the Solaris could be your choice between these. While the Solaris is an incredible all-rounder, these are what I'd call a "fun all-rounder." Everything sounds good with them, but it definitely has an added amount of excitement to the sound over the Solaris. In reality, there are certain genres that I prefer to listen to with Solaris than the Trio's so it's not really a one-sided battle. However, while I may prefer the Trio's I'm not sure they're a great value proposition over the Solaris at full retail price ($800 additional bucks seems steep)---thank god for that amazing 30% discount, at that price point it was absolutely worth the money over Solaris.

2) Campfire Audio Solaris (2020): The new Solaris are incredible in their own right. To me nothing in the frequency response feels overemphasized, leading to an extremely coherent listening experience while still retaining a great deal of emotion in the sound. The added mids presence over the Trio and AG are what led me to get these so that I could have a closer to balanced set of IEMs. They definitely succeed at that, but the great sub-bass extension can be as satisfying as the Trio's depending on the genre (i.e., given a genre where more bass quantity isn't an obvious improvement). The highs sparkle a bit less than the AGs and the Trio but we're sort of splitting hairs there, as well as with the soundstage size. If I had no knowledge of what a person prefers as their sound signature, this would be what I would recommend as a TOTL option. It's just easy to love and every time I switch back to them from my Trio's I'm reminded that I made the right choice in getting them.

3) Campfire Audio Andromeda Special Edition Gold: My first purchase in TOTL territory. The bass on these is nothing to be scoffed at despite the fact that they do not extend quite as deep as the Trio or Solaris. The sparkle in the treble is as good and addicting as the Andromeda name is famous for. The soundstage is immediately impressive and extends in all dimensions similar to the Trio and Solaris. My only complaints here were that I wanted more extension in the bass and a bit more presence in the mids. Really an exciting/musical listen and a great implementation of BA bass.

4) Meze Audio Rai Penta: Smoooooooth. Oh so very smooth! The Rai Penta's are very level-headed, coherent, sweet, and relaxed. However, after a while these stopped wow-ing me and I found the sound to be lacking in weight, and so ultimately I looked for other offerings where I could get more heft. These were the first TOTL headphones I heard and they were what helped me gain confidence in the sonic improvements that you can get with a jump in price brackets. Also, these are the most comfortable IEMs I've ever worn.

5) Moondrop Starfield: It's really difficult to say bad things about the Starfield when they are priced at the level they are. These punch way above their price bracket for sure. The best way I can describe them is competent across the board. Although, the soundstage is nothing to write home about, and the treble lacks sparkle relative to my preferences. However, I have to repeat myself here, it's tough to compete with this price-to-performance ratio.

6) Campfire Audio Comet: These have a great neutral-ish sound with great vocals and sparkly highs. Shame that they seem to have been discontinued as they were a good offering a the price point. However, I think I need more bass in my life than this (definitely in terms of extension, but also a bit in total quantity) ...and it was exactly this line of thinking that led me to the awful IEM at the bottom of this list.

7) BGVP Q2 TWS: My current TWS set. Deep bass, they have a very fun V-shaped sound while being technically competent at its price. I love that you can optionally plug in an MMCX cable to listen even if battery runs out. Very convenient and comfortable to boot. Love to use these for exercising.

8) KZ ZS10 Pro: These have a very intense and exciting sound, but they are a noticeable step down in quality from the BGVPs. These are an excellent value proposition as well.

9) KZ S1 TWS: My first TWS set. They actually sound pretty great and are priced extremely competitively. It's a mild V-shaped sound (I hear the S1D is more severely V-shaped) that works really nicely if you want something to go on a run with or work out. The bass is a bit loose but I never used these for critical listening so it never bothered me.

10) Tin Hifi T3: An improvement over the T2 but I don't think that the quality increase was big enough for the price bump. Not my cup of tea.

11) Tin Hifi T2: These were very decent technically for the price, I just don't think I like this kind of signature.

12) Jerry Harvey JH3X: After owning the Comets I thought I could jump a bit in price to get an improvement in sound quality (and maybe I could've with better research). I picked them because after owning the Comets I craved something with more bass, and boy did I mess up this course correction. I disliked these enough to feel like I should just bite the bullet and commit to TOTL price brackets. I absolutely despise how these sound. They sound like mud: the bass is incredibly loose and bloated and obscures everything in the FR.

Great list, thank you.
I found myself chuckling a little bit...I haven't spent a lot of time with the Trio (a few days), I kind of think of you blacked out the name of the IEM and asked people to guess which one you're referring to, several would say the Legend X

 

[DunkFealer]

Great list, thank you.
I found myself chuckling a little bit...I haven't spent a lot of time with the Trio (a few days), I kind of think of you blacked out the name of the IEM and asked people to guess which one you're referring to, several would say the Legend X

Ha! That may be true enough. I haven't heard the Legend X so I can't really speak to how similar it is to the Trio, but it does seem that there are several people in this forum that had a similar goal as mine of having a "fun" set and a more "well-behaved" set so maybe the Trio/LX achieve the same thing within our set ups. I don't know if it's just how people talk about the LX, but based on what I've seen I feel the Trio probably is a bit less bass-focused than the LX. While the bass in the Trio certainly demands your attention I wouldn't say that it steals the show from the Tia treble sound.

 

[IEMusic]

Ha! That may be true enough. I haven't heard the Legend X so I can't really speak to how similar it is to the Trio, but it does seem that there are several people in this forum that had a similar goal as mine of having a "fun" set and a more "well-behaved" set so maybe the Trio/LX achieve the same thing within our set ups. I don't know if it's just how people talk about the LX, but based on what I've seen I feel the Trio probably is a bit less bass-focused than the LX. While the bass in the Trio certainly demands your attention I wouldn't say that it steals the show from the Tia treble sound.

So, is the JH3X just an expensive custom earplug? Good to know. There are so many budget CIEMs out now. I wonder how the 64 Audio A2e sounds? I actually like the looks of the graph for the UE5 the best of those 3, but how they sound is a whole different question.

 

[gnahra]

Ha! That may be true enough. I haven't heard the Legend X so I can't really speak to how similar it is to the Trio, but it does seem that there are several people in this forum that had a similar goal as mine of having a "fun" set and a more "well-behaved" set so maybe the Trio/LX achieve the same thing within our set ups. I don't know if it's just how people talk about the LX, but based on what I've seen I feel the Trio probably is a bit less bass-focused than the LX. While the bass in the Trio certainly demands your attention I wouldn't say that it steals the show from the Tia treble sound.

Yes i think you're right regarding the bass...I wasn't necessarily comparing the two

 

[DunkFealer]

So, is the JH3X just an expensive custom earplug? Good to know. There are so many budget CIEMs out now. I wonder how the 64 Audio A2e sounds? I actually like the looks of the graph for the UE5 the best of those 3, but how they sound is a whole different question.

Yeah, I'd say so. I think these days there's companies that make entry level customs and actually come up with decent products. JH audio seems to be committed to their professional products and so their entry level stuff is neglected.

 

[NewEve]

1) 64 Audio tia Trió: Recently I acquired these and the new Solaris to (supposedly) serve two separate types of listening experiences: critical listening and fun listening. The Trio's were supposed to be the fun ones (and they really are fun), but what I found out is that they can actually serve both purposes. They are extremely competent technically and carry a lot of detail in the top end, deep rumble and punch down low, while retaining good mid presence, along with a massive soundstage. So while the deeply satisfying DD bass keeps me bobbing my head at whatever EDM track I'm listening to, the shimmering treble helps me track textures and details that normally only present themselves under careful listening. I put the Trio above the Solaris because I think they can basically do most of what the Solaris can do while making everything sound extra fun, but I realize that others may not be looking for that and so I see how the Solaris could be your choice between these. While the Solaris is an incredible all-rounder, these are what I'd call a "fun all-rounder." Everything sounds good with them, but it definitely has an added amount of excitement to the sound over the Solaris. In reality, there are certain genres that I prefer to listen to with Solaris than the Trio's so it's not really a one-sided battle. However, while I may prefer the Trio's I'm not sure they're a great value proposition over the Solaris at full retail price ($800 additional bucks seems steep)---thank god for that amazing 30% discount, at that price point it was absolutely worth the money over Solaris.

2) Campfire Audio Solaris (2020): The new Solaris are incredible in their own right. To me nothing in the frequency response feels overemphasized, leading to an extremely coherent listening experience while still retaining a great deal of emotion in the sound. The added mids presence over the Trio and AG are what led me to get these so that I could have a closer to balanced set of IEMs. They definitely succeed at that, but the great sub-bass extension can be as satisfying as the Trio's depending on the genre (i.e., given a genre where more bass quantity isn't an obvious improvement). The highs sparkle a bit less than the AGs and the Trio but we're sort of splitting hairs there, as well as with the soundstage size. If I had no knowledge of what a person prefers as their sound signature, this would be what I would recommend as a TOTL option. It's just easy to love and every time I switch back to them from my Trio's I'm reminded that I made the right choice in getting them.

@DunkFealer

And at their full retail price — if someone has the money — would you tell them to cough up the money for the Trió instead of the Solaris 2020?

Is the sound per dollar worth the extra money for the Trió — i.e. USD$800?

 

[mashuto]

@DunkFealer

And at their full retail price — if someone has the money — would you tell them to cough up the money for the Trió instead of the Solaris 2020?

Is the sound per dollar worth the extra money for the Trió — i.e. USD$800?

I also own both, and the answer would be yes if the specific qualities and signature of the trio appeal to you (or whoever). Otherwise the Solaris is a better deal for a similar level of performance, but maybe isn't quite as exciting of a sound.

 

[NewEve]

I also own both, and the answer would be yes if the specific qualities and signature of the trio appeal to you (or whoever). Otherwise the Solaris is a better deal for a similar level of performance, but maybe isn't quite as exciting of a sound.

Thanks — still curious about @DunkFealer 's feedback though.

So, I understand that out of the three:

• Audio 64 tia Triò: musical, fun yet detailed — the ultimate balance
• Campfire Audio Solaris 2020: musical and detailed though a tad less fun
• Campfire Audio Andromeda Gold: musical, fun yet detailed though BA-only — missing the DD omph and a tad more mids

 

[DunkFealer]

I also own both, and the answer would be yes if the specific qualities and signature of the trio appeal to you (or whoever). Otherwise the Solaris is a better deal for a similar level of performance, but maybe isn't quite as exciting of a sound.

Yeah I agree with this, if the signature sounds like what you're looking for then yes.

 

[DunkFealer]

Thanks — still curious about @DunkFealer 's feedback though.

So, I understand that out of the three:

• Audio 64 Triò: musical, fun yet detailed — the ultimate balance
• Campfire Audio Solaris 2020: musical and detailed though a tad less fun
• Campfire Audio Andromeda Gold: musical, fun yet detailed though BA-only — missing the DD omph and a tad more mids

Sorry, just saw this. I think that's a good assessment of my impressions.

 

[NewEve]

Sorry, just saw this. I think that's a good assessment of my impressions.

Thanks

 

[mashuto]

Thanks — still curious about @DunkFealer 's feedback though.

So, I understand that out of the three:

• Audio 64 tia Triò: musical, fun yet detailed — the ultimate balance
• Campfire Audio Solaris 2020: musical and detailed though a tad less fun
• Campfire Audio Andromeda Gold: musical, fun yet detailed though BA-only — missing the DD omph and a tad more mids

The only thing I personally might correct there is that the ultimate balance would likely apply more to the Solaris than the trio.

Personally I'm actually looking at potentially getting rid of the trio and Andromeda gold. Assuming the Solaris fit works for me longer term. But decisions are yet to be made.

The trio should be bassier based on fr charts, which I personally would like, but since it's got more of a v shape it sounds brighter too, making it sound less full and warm than I would personally like. The Solaris on the other hand is less bassy, but also not as bright so it kind of evens out to a slightly more relaxing and less fatiguing listen.

 

[DunkFealer]

The only thing I personally might correct there is that the ultimate balance would likely apply more to the Solaris than the trio.

Personally I'm actually looking at potentially getting rid of the trio and Andromeda gold. Assuming the Solaris fit works for me longer term. But decisions are yet to be made.

The trio should be bassier based on fr charts, which I personally would like, but since it's got more of a v shape it sounds brighter too, making it sound less full and warm than I would personally like. The Solaris on the other hand is less bassy, but also not as bright so it kind of evens out to a slightly more relaxing and less fatiguing listen.

Right, I didn't mean to imply the Trio's sound "balanced" but that they do strike a great balance between musicality and detail.