[Dsnuts]

I am guilty of overlooking buds as I am mostly an IEM guy. Serratus has changed my view of them completely though. I have had a handful of buds I have used in the past but no way was I thinking they could reach the sound quality level of the Serratus.

I have a collection of IEMs I have to review but I keep on listening to the Serratus. Lol. Can't get them out of my ears. Which is kinda playing with the way I view these other IEMs right now. Not good.

 

[tgx78]

Highly interested in the Serratus, @tgx78 I see you're in Canada, how does shipping works for Europe (I'm in France) , thanks

​

My price includes International shipping with a tracking. Cheers.

@tgx78 I have several questions. The first is - will you also start making DD iem? Because if you are, I would like to be the first customer!
The second - can a 200 ohm earbud be driven sufficiently from a portable DAP like Shanling M7? Or does it need a portable amp as well?

Yes I am going to make some DD IEMs. My Shanling M8 drives the Serratus fine. Tantalus and Alpha however benefit from desktop amp greatly.

 

[Ace Bee]

My price includes International shipping with a tracking. Cheers.


Yes I am going to make some DD IEMs. My Shanling M8 drives the Serratus fine. Tantalus and Alpha however benefit from desktop amp greatly.

That's great! I'm gonna be among the first customer of the iem for sure!

 

[felix3650]

My price includes International shipping with a tracking. Cheers.


Yes I am going to make some DD IEMs. My Shanling M8 drives the Serratus fine. Tantalus and Alpha however benefit from desktop amp greatly.

Congratulations on starting your own business man!
I too am an earbud affictionado. Starting with the Monk and ending with the Yincrow X6 (which I modded a bit myself after replacing a faulty cable).

Any plan on doing a "wireless" version of the Serratus? I mean with a mmcx or 2pin connector on top so we can attach something like a UTWS5.
Kinda like ClieOS did here:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cli...r-magnetic-earbud-diy-v3.899252/post-15751012

 

[ian91]

Any plan on doing a "wireless" version of the Serratus? I mean with a mmcx or 2pin connector on top so we can attach something like a UTWS5.

UTWS5, and I imagine other similar adapters, would leave the Serratus underpowered.

 

[felix3650]

UTWS5, and I imagine other similar adapters, would leave the Serratus underpowered.

Probably you're right. For a moment I forgot the Serratus is a 200 Ohm driver

 

[yaps66]

I can absolutely recommend that everyone gets at least one bud from Jim (@tgx78). His buds are phenomenal. Thus far I only have the tofino and I am leaving it to him to recommend my next bud on my TGXEar journey.

I am so happy that he is getting the recognition which he richly deserves!

Edit: Just purchased both the Serratus and Alpha!

 

[ian91]

Probably you're right. For a moment I forgot the Serratus is a 200 Ohm driver

It's actually 300ohm, just to clarify.

 

[cocolinho]

Serratus is the only one available online. Any hint about the other 2 models mentioned here ? Sound characteristics and price ?

 

[weexisttocease]

Tantalus escalates pretty great with power. I've been using the DX320 with AMP12EXN2 with great results. Great dynamics, note weight and bass texture. Fantastic holographic soundstage. Also beautiful vocals. Yann Ligner's voice from Klone is a tool and with Tantalus it sounds intoxicating.

 

[SBranson]

Serratus is the only one available online. Any hint about the other 2 models mentioned here ? Sound characteristics and price ?

Can‘t say about prices but some impressions of the others are in the earbuds roundup thread.

Very briefly, as is one line description based on having had all the models…..

In my opinion, the Serratus is the most “reference” tuned. Clean and spacious sound with excellent extension and technicalities. Lighter on note weight than the others but that contributes to the “clarity”
The Tantalus is more intimate in the mids with denser note weight and a warmer signature. Vocals and mid-centric music are the forte of these buds.
For me that Alpha is a bit in the middle. Similar warmth but with more underlying sparkle and a bit larger stage in height…. That said I do not have the Tantalus on hand to do a direct a/b.

They all have different characteristics so the idea of putting them in a “line“ from reference to warm is not a truly fair characteristic. All with excellent timbre.
Serratus would the best all-around of the models and works with all music.
Tantalus‘ warmth, for me, means that denser music suffers a bit in the separation department but the lusher timbre makes vocals and smaller ensembles sound excellent.
Similarly the Alpha, for me excels on instrumental timbre so I choose it for piano or strings as it has an edge of over the Serratus in fleshing out a fuller 3d violin timbre.

I think preferences will depend on music library. As piano, baroque, solo instrument and classical crossover are the bulk of my library, I tend to choose the Alpha.
faster paced music requiring more note separation and more “speed” I suspect would lead to favouring the Serratus.

All just my opinion though..obviously

But for bass response, I am often shocked how deep and full the bass is on the Serratus. Having a neither the benefit of a full size headphone driver or the isolation of and iem songs like this really surprise me how good the bass is.

 

[ian91]

Tantalus escalates pretty great with power. I've been using the DX320 with AMP12EXN2 with great results. Great dynamics, note weight and bass texture. Fantastic holographic soundstage. Also beautiful vocals. Yann Ligner's voice from Klone is a tool and with Tantalus it sounds intoxicating.

The changes when amped well are appreciable with both Serratus and Alpha. It's not unexpected but I felt it was important to mention it in my first post to the thread. It's possible to have two very different experiences (more so with Alpha) dependent on the power provided to these little gems.

The Serratus goes from transparent to embodied but with the same highly resolving backbone. The Alpha changes more so. It remains warm but the bass tightens, there's greater clarity and the stage extends from intimate to out of the head with more instrument separation.

Serratus is the only one available online. Any hint about the other 2 models mentioned here ? Sound characteristics and price ?

Hopefully @tgx78 will be able to give you more information on availability and sound profiles. There may be a few users who have heard all three to provide comparisons too. I will be comparing Alpha and Serratus in my review and @nymz has all three: Tantalus, Serratus and Alpha.

 

[Dsnuts]

Just spectacular with the DX300Max. Miles never sounded better. It is just amazing how well these things scale.

 

[WoodyLuvr]

tgxear Tantalus MMCX

500ΩBery (86dB/mW)

No. 0004

4.4TRRRS / 4.4MM BALANCED (4.4MM SONY PENTACONN)

tgxear by @tgx78

tgxear Tantalus MMCX hanging out with the tgxear 4-Pin XLR to 4.4MM Pentaconn "Fat Bitch" cable adapter

Full Mini-Review HERE​

 

[tgx78]

tgxear Tantalus MMCX
500ΩBery (86dB/mW)
No. 0004
4.4TRRRS (Sony Pentaconn 4.4MM Balanced)
tgxear by @tgx78


tgxear Tantalus MMCX hanging out with the tgxear 4-Pin XLR to 4.4MM Pentaconn "Fat Bitch" cable adapter​

Summit-fi! An astounding achievement in both sound and finish, these reference tuned flathead earbuds offer stellar timbre and resolution rarely seen in such a small transducer medium! The tgxear Tantalus MMCX are slightly harder to drive than even my power hungry beasts the Longyao-Yinman 2.0 600 LE; 600Ω. And like the Yinman 600 they scale incredibly well with more power. Their sound signature could be classified as being Mid-Centric - Warm and although they are reference-like and very resolute their overall sound signature is actually quite relaxing and fatigue-free. To my ears the offered FR is quite linear, well-balanced; expertly tuned. The signature is super vocal friendly and offers nearly perfect timbre across the board... especially when considering the driver size being employed here. However, it must be noted that they can be awfully critical of poor recordings and sources. The accompanied MMCX cable and cable adapter are extraordinarily well-made and of high-quality materials... some of the best cables I have ever seen in fact. The MMCX cable exhibits no detectable microphonics and is so supple that it greatly aids in a more solid and featherweight fit of the MX500 shells in the ears... well done! Great care was taken in making these earbuds and cables and the passionate skill applied in their creation is overly apparent throughout the build and very much appreciated. Bravo @tgx78!

More information about their sound signature & tuning can be found down below in the second spoiler section entitled "tgxear Tantalus MMCX Sound Signature Chart".

Spoiler: More Pics - tgxear Tantalus MMCX

Spoiler: tgxear Tantalus MMCX Sound Signature Chart

It is crucial that you do not interpret this chart two-dimensionally but rather three-dimensionally using all axes offered. Optimally, this would be best presented as a sphere but in turn that would make it difficult to clearly see and read all the labels and sections. Thus, we are limited to two-dimensions for the sake of presentation and clarity. Please note that I tried my best to stick to the "classic" (more basic) sound signature & tuning characteristic definitions as used by recording professionals & audio engineers.

tgxear Tantalus MMCX Sound Signature Chart

tgxear Tantalus MMCX Sound Signature Plot

Primary = Mid-Centric - Warm​

Secondary (Strong) = Neutral - Flat (balanced and reference-like)​

Secondary (Strong) = Airy (nice sparkle sans sibilance)​

Secondary (Strong) = Forward Mids (vocals focused sans boxy-shouty, hard-harsh, or aggressive)​

Secondary (Weak) = Smooth (fatigue-free; slightly relaxed with a hint of darkness)​

Tertiary (Opposing) = None​

Tertiary (Complementing) = Sharp > Detailed > Critical (this signature delivers! well-timbred & resolute; can be overly critical with poor recordings)​

Breakdown of tgxear Tantalus MMCX Sound Signature Plot

The primary sound signature (red dot and red-shaded oval) of the Tantalus MMCX is "mid-centric - warm" with three (3) very strong secondary sound signatures (blue shaded balloons) that reach out to "neutral - flat"; "airy"; and "forward mids" and one (1) weak secondary sound signature (blue shaded balloon) that reaches over to "smooth" offering an overall relaxing, fatigue-free tuning that is ever-so-slightly "dark" sounding. A prominent complementing tertiary sound characteristic (green shaded arrows) reaches out to "sharp" and "detailed" offering greater resolution and realistic, natural-sounding timbre. This complementing tertiary sound characteristic also has a tendency to reach even further out to "critical" with certain sloppy (poor) recordings, music genres, and weak sources.


Why do I plot the tgxear Tantalus MMCX primary sound signature as "mid-centric - warm"?

Flathead earbuds' primary sound signature are generally mid-centric (please view the chart above as this area is quite large) as it is inherent of and intrinsic to this transducer medium's open-air (open-back like) design. That said many flathead earbuds can and do exhibit VERY strong secondary characteristics that pull their overall sound signature far away from the primary signature into other quadrants (other areas) on the chart (e.g. L-Shape (Basshead); V-Shape; Female Poison; etc.).


Other Flathead Earbuds Models Plots

The other plots indicated on the chart are of familiar earbud models and their primary sound signatures only and are offered for comparison purposes.

Thanks so much @WoodyLuvr ! Always enjoy reading your reviews. Also your sound signature chart is amazing- Tantalus got dissected.