DutchKarma
Head-Fier
Update after one week:
- runtime around 120 hours (they have been running almost continuously even when not listening)
- tips: the medium size stock tips & spiral dots size ml (my standard choice)
- sources: laptop+teac ha-p50, phone Bluetooth ldac to sony nw-a45 (with 55 firmware), bluesound node to smsl su-9 to little dot 1+
- music mix from local (flac16&24 bit, dsd128, some mp3) and Spotify as streaming service
Fit & wear
For me the fit is very comfortable, I can easily wear them for hours on end. The correct tips are very important though, they are very much iems that need a perfect fit.
What I also very much like is because they are open backed, I can still hear some of the environment. For office and outside its nice to still pick up sounds. They do leak quite some sound but I find it highly depends on the type of music.
Sound
Clearly a planar, so very accurate, crisp, speedy, wonderfully defined lows. I do miss that bass "push" a dynamic driver can do though (that's where my fx850 have spoiled me a bit).
The mids could be a bit better, they are a bit recessed. Vocals are great though!
The highs are very very well done . So much detail and not too harsh or too much. It's not hyper extended but what is there is presented very well.
Their tonality is very much on spot too, organic & natural with a great timbre.
They definitely need some form of amp in order to really shine. 200mw+ or so would be around right for them.
I liked them the best on my teac, the little dot tubes are not a success I think. With my Sony they are okay but the Sony is underpowered for it I think.
Because of their tuning genres like edm & hiphop are their strong point. Rock guitars are also great, but since the mids are a little recessed it will be very song dependent how good rock will sound. Jazz & Blues profit very much from the Hook-X tonality and can sound amazing.
Actually they are very well suited as an every day carry. Since they do so much so well.
So to summarize:I'm quite happy with the Hook-X, I think they offer enormous value for their money. If one would want something even better then this you need to probably look into the kilobuck range to find something significantly better.
For me I think the ideal iem would be a hybrid that combines a dynamic driver with a planar, but the Hook-X will definitely do for now at least
- runtime around 120 hours (they have been running almost continuously even when not listening)
- tips: the medium size stock tips & spiral dots size ml (my standard choice)
- sources: laptop+teac ha-p50, phone Bluetooth ldac to sony nw-a45 (with 55 firmware), bluesound node to smsl su-9 to little dot 1+
- music mix from local (flac16&24 bit, dsd128, some mp3) and Spotify as streaming service
Fit & wear
For me the fit is very comfortable, I can easily wear them for hours on end. The correct tips are very important though, they are very much iems that need a perfect fit.
What I also very much like is because they are open backed, I can still hear some of the environment. For office and outside its nice to still pick up sounds. They do leak quite some sound but I find it highly depends on the type of music.
Sound
Clearly a planar, so very accurate, crisp, speedy, wonderfully defined lows. I do miss that bass "push" a dynamic driver can do though (that's where my fx850 have spoiled me a bit).
The mids could be a bit better, they are a bit recessed. Vocals are great though!
The highs are very very well done . So much detail and not too harsh or too much. It's not hyper extended but what is there is presented very well.
Their tonality is very much on spot too, organic & natural with a great timbre.
They definitely need some form of amp in order to really shine. 200mw+ or so would be around right for them.
I liked them the best on my teac, the little dot tubes are not a success I think. With my Sony they are okay but the Sony is underpowered for it I think.
Because of their tuning genres like edm & hiphop are their strong point. Rock guitars are also great, but since the mids are a little recessed it will be very song dependent how good rock will sound. Jazz & Blues profit very much from the Hook-X tonality and can sound amazing.
Actually they are very well suited as an every day carry. Since they do so much so well.
So to summarize:I'm quite happy with the Hook-X, I think they offer enormous value for their money. If one would want something even better then this you need to probably look into the kilobuck range to find something significantly better.
For me I think the ideal iem would be a hybrid that combines a dynamic driver with a planar, but the Hook-X will definitely do for now at least
Last edited:
