Introduction
Rhapsodio audio is one of the many successful audio companies from Hong Kong, but they are among the oldest IEM cable maker in Hong Kong. I got to know them when I bought their Wizard copper many years ago.
Sammy is the mastermind behind it, putting his heart and soul into his product. Those who speak to email him or inbox him know how quickly he replies to them. He appears to be around the corner, ready to answer the question.
Supreme 3 (SP3) is the most expensive IEM Rhapsodio audio sells, and I cannot call it their flagship, as Sammy considers all its IEM offerings uniquely theirs.
I have not listened to all the IEMs Sammy has to offer, but the one I did made me form a belief that all Rhapsodio audio IEMs are designed based on the unique house sound. Where they differ is how each of those IEMs achieves that house sound.
Little disclaimer, I have bought what I believe to be a casting version of Supreme 3 in the final sample at a discounted price. My unit, as a result, comes without the final package.
Rhaposdio offers the Supreme 3 in both casting and CNC, with CNC said to be a better-sounding version of the two models.
The review is written by me and in no way is influenced by Rhapsodio.
Ergonomics/fit
Without a doubt, this is the heaviest and largest IEM I've tried to date. Finding the right tip took work, and finding the right IEM for Supreme 3 is critical to avoid long-term ear fatigue.
SP3 requires deep ear insertion, which is very similar to ER4S. This way, the IEM weight is distributed more evenly along the ear canal.
The depth of insertion did not change the sound.
SP3 is an IEM that is much more friendly with the larger ear. A friend with a larger ear tried the SP3 and loved it with the Sony hybrid tip. The SP3 fit him like a custom IEM.
The body of SP3 is brass, and as a result, its passive noise isolation of it is excellent. However, due to the deep insertion of the SP3 cable, noise is audible on some cables if not worn correctly.
Sound:
SP3, to my ears, is an analytical IEM with utter care placed on the reproduction of detail and nuances in both musical files and the playback sources used.
With the stock cable out of my Sony WM1AM2, the sound is slightly biased towards neutral bias.
In this hobby, the jargon used to describe sound can get confusing as each person understands it differently. To me, an analytical device is one where the device is:
1) Sensitive to source content: It remains faithful to how the original music is mastered/produced,
2) Sensitive to connected devices: SP3 will let you easily hear the tonality of what it is plugged into.
An analytical sound, to me, is best described as one where the engineered product focuses on producing a highly detailed and accurate representation of the audio source and the audio playback device.
Its purpose is to reveal whether that thing is revelation based on simply listening to different mastering of the same Album or whether it is based on changes made to the downstream chain (DAP, cable) or upstream of the chain (IEM tips).
As such, SP3 is an IEM that a newcomer to this hobby would not appreciate, and it is something that only seasoned audiophiles can appreciate.
SP3 is an ideal IEM for those who want to test various DAP and amp cables, and it reacts to all those things. As such, it brings the question, are audiophile musicphile? I will not use SP3 if I want general mindless listening to music. SP3 makes you want to set up and listen. It will not win you over like my favourite IEM, Dita Perpetua, by making all things sound dream, expansive and tubey sounding. It will not win you over from the first listen as IER-Z1R can, but reinterpreting all the albums one listens to using its typical Sony sound.
SP3 makes you realise things; it makes you play with the volume and wants to experiment with cables. And once you get all of it right, tune it like a perfect vintage Ferrari, and you can be in for a ride.
SP3 would not allow you to melt into your music right away. Listening to SP3 requires patience.
It would be best if you were a gearphile, one of those audiophiles in this hobby, for the joy they get from tweaking and playing with new things, whether cable, tips or listening to all the various releases of Miles Davis Kind of blue. Once again, SP3 reacts to all those things.
SP3 allows you to meticulously examine your tweaks' impact and adjust all those until you reach your desired sound.
The analytical sound of SP3 allows the listener to hear every detail of the performance, from the softest whisper to the loudest crescendo, with incredible clarity and definition, provided you have done your homework. In terms of soundstage, it is not the widest; however, in terms of instrument placement, it is pinpoint accurate.
Thanks to its single-driver 12mm dual Aluminium magnetostatic driver, it can do it all with absolute coherency.
To me, SP3 is genre agonistic. It has the speed to match the fastest EDM song, enough attachment to satisfy rock fans, and the sophistication to please classical listeners.
It does it all and well, and this universality to all sorts of music might be why it would not satisfy all at first listen.
Overall, the SP3 analytical sound reproduction is highly sophisticated, producing an exact and detailed fashion allowing the listener to experience music with razor-sharp accuracy. It sounds change from source to source.
SP3 only needs a little power to play at its optimal loudness. However, what is ideal for DAP comes strongly from one's preference. I enjoy SP3 out of my R-2R sources, and the best I've heard it sound was out of dcs Bartok! SP3, like my Dita Perputa, seems to scale nicely with higher-end sources.
Conclusion:
In addition to its precision, analytical sound is often loved or hated for its lack of colouration or distortion. SP3 will suffer the same faith.
When Sammy was designing the original Supreme IEM, his goal was to reproduce an IEM that is highly revealing and dynamic. That is the house sound of Rhapsodio audio.
So the critical question many will ask me is, do I recommend this to people to buy it? This is the only IEM I recommend demoing before buying; it is also costly, it can be bulky for some ears, and its tunning will require some experience in the hobby.
Its revealing nature will play the sound that its source file is producing after going through the algorithm of the dap. It is unbelievable how the same music file sounds so different when I listen to it using the same cable and ear tip but various DAPs.
SP3 is IEM recommended for those who have the means to want to rediscover new things in the portable hobby, and I believe SP3 allows for that.
