Really thank you for your feedback, appreciate it a lot! Because I don't necessarily need the warmth and midbass, I will go with the DS then.
Like it a lot to have a great staging too and enjoying that from a bud especially.
TGXEAR discussion thread.
Like it a lot to have a great staging too and enjoying that from a bud especially.
Sounds just right for you then! Enjoy and check back in with us with your impressions!
Ordered the DS and will keep you updated on my impressions, thank you so much again for your support and advise!
sofastreamer
Headphoneus Supremus
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why should one wait? you can read as many reviews as you want, but finally you need to hear it yourself to judge.
BTT: i wonder if the DS is bright neutral or warm neutral? I dont like any treble glare or emphasized upper mids. to me real neutral must not be engaging and has to sound boring on first listen.
BTT: i wonder if the DS is bright neutral or warm neutral? I dont like any treble glare or emphasized upper mids. to me real neutral must not be engaging and has to sound boring on first listen.
When it's the "one" earbud for me, that I hope, then I am fine with the price, even when it's rather high for a bud.Just like that?Man, someof you just ready to drop 600$
))
If I buy various others instead, I then also end up with the price at some point, have different signatures perhaps, but I do not attach so much importance to it.
To my ears it's closer to warm neutral than bright neutral. Upper mids aren't overly emphasised or sibilant. Treble is present and exacting in character but I don't hear it as 'glaring'. Upper mids and treble are very personal areas of tolerance though so as you say, nothing beats hearing it for yourself.
Congratulations! Let us know what you think of them
I'm expecting my TGXEar SBS in a couple weeks!
hongky
100+ Head-Fier
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How close or far away Ripples compare to DS ?
I already have Ripples & Serratus and having a hard time not to ordering DS, but $600 quite pricey for an earbud
Thanks
From a brief comparison a week or two ago, Ripples is a good earbud but I feel DS is in a different league from a technical standpoint i.e. staging, layering, resolution, timbre. I think DS is more neutral and by comparison Ripples may be more energetic in bass and upper midrange/lower treble. However, I do need to spend more time comparing and I'll put some more thoughts in my upcoming review.
Of course I will let you know, but probably in 3-4 weeks, really excited already!Congratulations! Let us know what you think of them
I'm expecting my TGXEar SBS in a couple weeks!
Anyone reckon Jim will use a shell other than MX500? as much as I love my Serratus and Sunni they’re not the best fitting…so going down a $600-1000 bud rabbit hole is getting less and less appealing 
Anyone reckon Jim will use a shell other than MX500? as much as I love my Serratus and Sunni they’re not the best fitting…so going down a $600-1000 bud rabbit hole is getting less and less appealing
He has his bell shaped shell that has undergone some revision and may be used for a few future projects. I also think he's looking into other custom shell designs. Probably a way off yet, though!
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Upper20c
New Head-Fier
Update: I installed Equalizer APO and used its configuration. It is already installed there while I wrote my review, so how come it had suddenly disappeared? Anyways, now that I re-installed the driver, I encourage anyone who listens on PC to use this thing. It is much better than my laptop's default processor, and listening on high volumes have much less sibilance.
On the Sunnivas, this improvement causes the bass decay to replicate faster, and guess what? Removes bass bloat! Yes, I found out that it was due to the software that causes bass bloat and not the tuning of the flagship earbuds that causes my listening discomfort. This makes the sound more natural and more transparent, sibilance were also reduced to a stage where I can turn the volume knob up to 11 o'clock, as how I did in my review. I also changed the bitrate to 32bit 48kHz, as it sounds more open to 44.1kHz, (which also resets as the same thing happen with my Equalizer APO). Superior music experience even when compared to the Serratus. I found that some music that I liked when listening to the Serratus, I found them more appreciable on the Sunnivas. Though, I can't wait for the tuning kit as I would love to listen to how the Sunnivas sound with less bass.
Update: Since I don't want to start another post, I'll update my settings that I use for my desktop here. I disabled a window's APO with this method and removed Equalizer APO to be used on my sound settings. Overall it sounds cleaner, much more cleaner than having EAPO enabled. New territory achieved, though this might not be the end of tinkering, as we all know there is no end-game, but what's not to be satisfied about one's growth?
Update 2 - Set onto 32bit rate for now. Changing the sample rate to 44.1kHz removes majority of the sibilance I encountered with Spotify, yet some are still present. These are likely due to volume issues, as lowering the volume with Spotify's normalization feature solve these problems. Yet when switching onto Youtube Music (Premium), these problems are all gone, doesn't matter what sample rate, listening on 48kHz also shows no sibilance issues. The listening pleasure I gained while listening to Youtube Music was retained even when switching from Spotify. Whatever Youtube did, they sure did a good job on maintaining the audio quality. Plus, watching Youtube while able to listen to music without changing the sample rate? Count me in! Youtube Music let's go!
Yet the sound signature described by the reviewers regarding Sunnivas matches the description I heard via my Spotify listening sessions (intimate soundstage, mid-bass presence and warm tuning). That though, is for another day to investigate. Still, one thing is assured, the Sunnivas are more sensitive than the Serratus when it comes to sources, as my Serratus never had these issues with sibilance. I will need to investigate more.
Update 3 - I found the problem: Ground loops are an audiophile's pet's peeve.The laptop's charging port is causing some issues. My DC amplifier is plugged alongside with my laptop charger on my power filter. Unplug the laptop charger and plug it into another socket solves it. Problem now, I need
either a UK plug power source for my DC amp ora separate item to filter the laptop charger, because the Sunnivas are sensitive, picks up sibilance on not so clean power source from the socket.
Update 4 - Using 32-bit 44.1kHz with Tidal MQA. The Sunniva's can dial up to a maximum of 11 o'clock and the Serratus 12 before my ears cannot take it. Comparing the Sunniva's and the Serratus again after the improvisations I made, the Serratus also improved, but scales lesser than the Sunnivas. Technically and tonally the Sunnivas are better than the Serratus, but their sound is slower and also more sensitive with sources. If your sources aren't clean or not optimized for high sensitivity devices, the Sunnivas are more prone to hiss. High quality dongles like FiiO KA5 and Moondrop Moonriver 2 TI should work fine with the Sunnivas, even my lesser tier Moondrop Dawn pairs very well with it, only a quarter step back overall and one step back with the dynamics to my desktop setup. J-Pop, and Trance are overall better on the Serratus, as expected due to their brighter tuning that resolves faster tunes better. What Sunnivas outdid the Serratus though, are other genres like Rock and Metal, those that have more impact on the bass will shine better than the Serratus. (Though I still wish for the tuning kit to arrive sooner or later.)
Update 4.1 - Tinkered with the XMOS driver and increased the buffer size, now performs optimally throughout all platforms without sibilance. Hooray!
Update 4.2 - Reverted buffer size, moved NVIDIA driver processing to another CPU core for hyperthreading (this). Use other plugs in my house to avoid EMI & RFI, so far all is good. Also Deftones sounds very good with the Sunnivas.
Update 5
Observations: Sunniva no longer has overly prominent bass that shadows the mids and treble. Sound is now Fast, and quite ethereal, resembles a lot like Electrostats. Sibilance is completely gone, volume gap improved from 11 o'clock to 11.30 for clarity, can be dialed up to 2'o clock and beyond, but 2 o'clock is the maximum tolerance for my ears. Resolves fast tracks perfectly. Mids and Treble are more upfront. Loving the tuning, loving the earbuds, I love it even more than the Serratus now. The Serratus are still the faster buds, but its brighter tuning now hurts my ears, and I am required to add more buffer size to slow them down to a tolerable level. The Sunnivas though, have realism, and its overall tuning is better, has better transparency and resolves tunes much better, makes them overall more musical and enjoyable. If one manage to get optimal performance out of the Sunnivas, I think they can be a reasonable endgame.
Do you have a review of the amplifier you show in the picture?
IamInnocentX3
Head-Fier
The amplifier is made by a manufacturer in China, and there aren't any credible reviews out there that I know of. Though, there are people sharing their reviews on the official product page here, along with mine if you can see it, you might need to use google translate on the page.
https://www.taobao.com/list/item/714520075327.htm
Edit: Oh, I have to mention, I tried the amp's 'Mid' button. This pumps up the mids and treble by 3-4db, along with the Bass tuning kit lowering the midbass by 3-4db, the Sunnivas become more of a brighter bud, contrary to how Jim intended. Surprisingly, the buds take the tuning adjustment like a champ, turning into almost a new earbud entirely without any major issues. While the original Sunniva intends to have warmer tuning and darker treble, the tuning adjustment pushes back the midbass, sacrificing meatiness while enabling faster resolution, and shoves the mids and treble forward, making both melodies and atmosphere louder, easier to perceive and enjoy. The treble shoutiness that I loved from the Stax is back. And thus atmospheric songs like Trance or songs with female vocals turned out to be more enjoyable.
As enjoyable as the new tuning is, many songs are still preferred neutrally, without the 'Mid' button tuning. Turning it on also makes the Sunniva more prone to sibilance, and lowering the volume anymore ruins the bass impact and timbre/presentation, nullifying Sunniva's uniqueness. Well, at least I still have brighter equipment like my Stax and Moondrop Venus at home.
Edit: Also another note, when volume goes loud, my setup would benefit from a grounding box, as placing my finger on the knob or casing opens up the sound, momentarily, as the 'veil'/'noise' will come back later, and I would battery power my SU-1 DAC and feed it with SPDIF signal if I had the equipment.
Edit 2: While the 'Mid' button is on and I am in a hurry to test out the qualities of the Sunnivas and the amp, I thought I heard some noises and wondering if someone actually comes behind me. Turns out it is actually just the song. At the 0:02 mark where there is the sound effect of a stick dropping on the floor, that was the cause of my fright. These earbuds are truly something else.
Edit 3: I added a power filter towards the chain. And after listening for some time, I decided to try the Sunnivas again without the bass tuning. As I reckoned, in the first few moments of listening, I found the midbass to be more present. And because of the presence of the midbass, I am required to dial the volume down to around 10 o'clock to prevent bass bleeding, as for listening to the artist mentioned above. Even with the bass presence, the sound quality is simply better than with the bass tuning. This is expected from the unaltered yet masterful tuning of the Sunnivas. Though it's not just the tuning that changed, the presentation and detail becomes much more richer and manifested, contrary to how I first knew the Sunnivas. Let me explain this in examples. Sunniva without the bass kit is like 4K HDR, whereas Sunniva with the bass kit is 1440 WQHD, and the Serratus is like 2K upscaled. However, now rather than being 8K HD, the difference is like looking through a TV monitor towards simply being "there". Even though the midbass is elevated, surprisingly in contrast to the first time where I found the bass to overshadow the mids and treble, now I don't find the mids or treble lacking. Rather, everything feels just right, just perfect, as all things were simply placed where they should be.
At this time, I thought about one thing, 'burn-in'. I don't really believe in burn-in would change an equipment's performance, and those that do improve are things that require meticulous amounts of care, like electrostats. Do these equipment get better with burn in? Maybe they gotten better at handling signal overtime? Is it because of unlocking the equipment's capability when feeding suitable amounts of power for the earbuds? Or its simply because of the added power filter? Several things really do need proper handling and improvement. I have been doing light exercises recently, cutting myself from the time spent in front of my computer, and do things that will preserve my health. Putting myself away from listening at shouty volumes. It was then I noticed, all the details that weren't there, now being there. It's a newfound pleasure to get to know them.
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