The discovery thread!

[Redcarmoose]

The Bunny is brilliant, and so is the ZERO and the One, so really excited about the Fission.

So if we toss out the meta terms, let's just say it's got polite treble, and lacks a bit of bite in the upper mids and treble region, so the notes are a bit blunt or rounded, but still with enough crispness to where the music isn't boring.


This is a very promising array, but with the current climate in the U.S/China trade, most of these new releases just aren't tempting due to the fiscal approach.

Tangzu absolutely has no house sound. I have owned or continue to own about 6-7 Tangzu IEMs, and none of them sound anything alike, so Tangzu tunes to the tech, and not to achieve a certain tone, so even the Wu Zetian and the Legend are tuned wildly different.


Looks beautiful, and the open design creates a really cool soundstage and spatial cues, but it's on the thinner side of neutral, and if you don't like PZT tonality, you won't like this, because it's got more PZT crispness and timbre than the EW300, with a neutral, linear mid bass.


Septet is good with a warm source (Sony DAPs) and 4.4mm.


What an absolutely brilliant keyboard, but I'm too messy. That keyboard would get gunked up way too fast with all that spacing. lol


For those of you who collect kilobuck DAPs, another one has entered the chat! Elegant design, but no information about it. Just a photo dump. A successor to the DX180?


Right! I've found it difficult to describe just why it hits me in the feels from a technical level too. They just do. That's not going to be good enough for an official review, but for unofficial impressions, that's my approach. IT JUST DOES.


Another person with a charging issue with the JM21?! This is definitely a trend? I wonder if this happened during the last fw update? Sorry to hear you too are having charging issues. Luckily mine, when it was with me, didn't give me any technical issues at all.

Told you they were hit or miss, and in this case, a miss. Similar with the Decet, but in my case, I cancelled it before it got tied up in Alix hell, and got the Decet shipped off through KZ in less than 24 hours.

---

My Tuesday daily trio (my Friyay trio!!) consists of the Penon Archangel (thank you Penon for sending me the Archangel packaging sleeve in the mail. Surprise move. If I ever felt like selling (hardly!), now I have the complete commercial packaging. Class move), Letshuoer DX1, and the 7Hz FIVE. So this is a very powerful and musically capable trio today. But not quite ready to start with this group, as I've been ear melted to my Juzear x ZEOS Defiant, listening to metal. xox xox

The tariffs between US and China went from 120% to 54%.

 

[PhonoPhi]

I have received my KZ AM16 bass today:

Wow! The bass is very powerful, and is way too much for me in general.
I am very happy though to experience such overwhelming BA bass - great job, KZ!
I can enjoy AM16 bass with bass-light recordings quite a bit. The recordings with bass - quite a bit overwhelming.
Bass drivers of AM16 can be felt with some vibrations up.to 11 Hz and more powerful response starts with 18 Hz - wow, mighty for BA drivers!
Hexa showed me the limits of bass-puny IEMs, and AM16 bass clearly demonstrated overwhelming bass BAs - still fast and punchy (!), just with the overwhelming quantity for me.
The overall tuning is the move from "V" to meta - about half way (?)
Compared to KB16 Cepheus, almost everything is less - even the bass, while less deep for Cepheus - more balanced overall and more capable. Treble is more with AM16 - and I personally like it- but it would be a bit more punchy/protruding for most vs. refined KB16. Plus, way more "BA sound" for AM16 vs. well-contained/tempered KB16.
Is KB16 worth twice more than AM16 - surely for me; 2.5-3 times -about at par. I got my AM16 from KZtws at $58, a bit more discounted options should be likely available.

Very impressed with overwhelming bass. AM16 balanced is ordered right away to get a more balanced IEM, and to collect all of them - all-BA KZ pokemons currently available

 

[Khumbaba]

https://hifigo.com/collections/new-arrival/products/ibasso-dx260mk2
iBasso DX260MK2

CS43198 ×8 ~ Flagship DAC Matrix.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 SoC ~ 11nm process technology.
4G LPDDR4X + 128G UFS.
FPGA-Master 2.0 ~ Independent audio master control.
PCM 32bit/768kHz ~ Hard-coded DSD512.
SHARP 5" IPS on cell full display.
QC3.0, PD3.0 dual fast charging protocols.
Two NDK femtosecond crystals ~ less than one trillionth of a second.
FIR 2x / FIR 4x ~ Hardware analog filters.
Low latency USB-DAC ~ USB 3.1 high-speed transmission.
1015mW + 1015mW@32Ω.
THD+N: -123dB ~ Dynamic range: 134dB.
Coaxial output supports 24bit/384kHz ~ DOP DSD 128.
2.4G / 5G WiFi ~ Bluetooth 5.0.
Android13 ~ Mango OS dual system.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

I have received my KZ AM16 bass today:
Wow! The bass is very powerful, and is way too much for me in general.
I am very happy though to experience such overwhelming BA bass - great job, KZ!
I can enjoy AM16 bass with bass-light recordings quite a bit.
Bass drivers can be felt with some vibrations up.to 11 Hz and more powerful response starts with 18 Hz - wow, mighty for BA drivers!
Hexa showed me the limits of bass-puny IEMs, and AM16 bass clearly demonstrated overwhelming bass BAs - fast and punchy (!) with the overwhelming quantity for me.
The overall tuning is the move from "V" to meta - about half way (?)
Compared to KB16 Cepheus, almost everything is less - even the bass, while less deep for Cepheus - more balanced overall and more capable. Treble is more with AM16 - and I personally like ir - but it would be a bit more punchy/protruding for most vs. refined KB16. Way more "BA sound" for AM16 vs. well-contained/tempered KB16.
Is KB16 worth twice more than AM16 - surely for me; 2.5-3 times -about at par. I got my AM16 from KZtws at $58, a bit more discounted options should be likely available.

Very impressed with overwhelming bass. AM16 balanced is ordered right away to get a more balanced IEM to me ears and collect all of them - all-BA KZ pokemons :]

Personally, if not for the tariffs, would have punched my ticket for the AM16 Balanced (want nothing to do with these bass editions. They are never good bass), but not about to pay over $100 for this thing. Maybe with the readjustments coming, I might be able to? Thanks for the impressions. Appreciate it.

 

[Hypops]

I think there is a lot of truth to what you say. A lot depends on tips used, methodology as well. I think the thing to remember is if you insert even 2mm more or less it has a massive change on the FR. So beyond taste, FR placement in ear is massively dependent on how the fit is for you.

Those tiny differences have an even bigger impact once they’re in your ear. I did a bunch of threshold tests with various IEMs and full-size headphones. Learned just how ridiculously sensitive IEMs are to the most minuscule adjustment in-ear. So much so that it’s nearly impossible to perfectly match left and right channels (by contrast, full-size headphones are pretty easy to match channels on/over ear).

I also recommend only looking at one iem vs another. Like having a Truthear Hexa or Waner is good, as you can check how something measures vs that on someone rig who posts measurements openly. There are many variations and you should take them all with a grain of salt, but they do help explain tonality and help explain how it might sound it ear.

Exactly. FR measurements are mostly just useful as a reference. Once they get in our ears, everything goes pretty wonky, especially on the low and high ends.

 

[gadgetgod]

What didn't you like? just curious. Gave it a 4 star and found it quite good, but a little more bright than what I prefer.

From the midtier hybrid sets recently for my preference:

1. Ruviest Audio Prelude
2. Kiwi Ears Astral
3. Ziigaat Arcanis
4. Kiwi Ears Septet
5. Ziigaat Lush

Also getting the Aful P7 soon, look forward to hear it after all the praise.

Man the Ruviest Audio Prelude getting some good amount of love. Need to try this one.

Something came. Something big came.



Thanks to AG tours I can finally spend some time with these blingies! It's the Letshuoer Cadenza 12.

Really love the C12's tuning. I will also get it soon via a friend for review. Lately Letshuoer has been releasing some really good sets.

 

[Cinder]

Hopefully next week will have two vids dropping and I'll be able to be more active.

My eternal struggle. I got buried by my day job and have been clawing my way through my queue lmao

Overall: the Aegis is one of my favorite basshead sets under $1k and is the best blend of bass, warmth and engagement.

I REALLY want to try this IEM but can't seem to get ahold of one.

I'm working the Indy 500. 8 a.m.-9 p.m. every day for 20 straight days.

The Indy 500 is sick, but working 12 hour days is less sick

I'm still working on refining my video reviews, but here's my coverage of the Catchear CE6T. This was a harder video to shoot as I am trying to figure out ways to cut down or run time--and tuning switches are kind of antithetical to that.

 

[BS5711]

Those tiny differences have an even bigger impact once they’re in your ear. I did a bunch of threshold tests with various IEMs and full-size headphones. Learned just how ridiculously sensitive IEMs are to the most minuscule adjustment in-ear. So much so that it’s nearly impossible to perfectly match left and right channels (by contrast, full-size headphones are pretty easy to match channels on/over ear).

Indeed.

Luckily aided by my ear anatomy, I just jam any IEM into my ear until it stops on my outer ear and simply will not go any deeper.

I select tips that seal really well, hold securely, insert repeatably and are comfortable at that deepest possible insertion and with those parameters satisfied I concern myself with tuning sound. As often as not that is very much fine tuning the sound and not massively critical for me. I know that is contrary to the idea that tips are hugely important for sound but for me seal, secure hold, repeatable insertion and comfort are far more important and the exact tip that best achieves that does not often change the sound enough that I might consider a tip that perhaps is less comfortable or doesn't hold as securely or doesn't seat smoothly so that the insertion is repeatable and consistent.

I don't notice huge sonic changes with different fit with a given IEM because for me there is only one fit, jammed all the way in and tips selected that work with that. Beyond that all that happens is the sound goes wrong if the IEM becomes dislodged. I have no use for a sound that works with the IEM inserted "just so" and I have never noticed that an IEM inserted to anything but jammed all the way in providing a sound that I prefer anyway.

Perhaps if somebody has narrow ear canals that would be a problem but it isn't for me , I count myself lucky in that regard despite that it sometimes causes fit issues with short nozzle IEM or limits tip selection to only those that are at the larger end of the typical diameter for the M/L or L range.

Exactly. FR measurements are mostly just useful as a reference. Once they get in our ears, everything goes pretty wonky, especially on the low and high ends.

That certainly seems to be true and makes me glad I have never been a graph guy

If the common 711 graphs are from 20 - 20K but are ideally only good from 100 - 10K that leaves a decent bit of relatively unchartered territory which is nearly exactly what @Erkil shows on that composite comparison graph. The only vaguely consistent area is between those limits at most and barely even that.

 

[Hypops]

If the common 711 graphs are from 20 - 20K but are ideally only good from 100 - 10K that leaves a decent bit of relatively unchartered territory which is nearly exactly what @Erkil shows on that composite comparison graph. The only vaguely consistent area is between those limits at most and barely even that.

GRAS's claim that their 711 is good to 10kHz is based on the fact that couplers have a half-length mode resonance at just over 13kHz. But there is also a much more obvious quarter-length mode resonance at 8kHz (often visible as a narrow peak), which is why the industry standard has been to only trust those 711 measurements up to about 6kHz. And that's with legit GRAS couplers, not the cheaper Chinese clones that most reviewers and hobbyists use.

But these limitations aren't new info. This has been thoroughly discussed and researched. If it's interesting to you, the Headphone Show and Headphones(dot)com have many digestible articles and videos on the subject. And people who work in the industry (like Crinacle at CrinEar, JP at Thieaudio, and Superchonk at Dita) have talked about these limitations on their respective YT channels.

Nevertheless, knowing all of this doesn't stop me (or many others) from still needing our regular FR graph fix.

 

[ToneDeafMonk]

Oh the that new color EPZ Audio TP35 PRO in Sunset Sea

Now available I have one incomming to test.

C$91.98 | EPZ TP35 Pro Dongle Type C USB DAC Audio HiFi Decoder Portable Audio Headphone Amplifier CS43198X2 Decoder Support EQ Mic Call
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mOILgoX

 

[BS5711]

GRAS's claim that their 711 is good to 10kHz is based on the fact that couplers have a half-length mode resonance at just over 13kHz. But there is also a much more obvious quarter-length mode resonance at 8kHz (often visible as a narrow peak), which is why the industry standard has been to only trust those 711 measurements up to about 6kHz. And that's with legit GRAS couplers, not the cheaper Chinese clones that most reviewers and hobbyists use.

But these limitations aren't new info. This has been thoroughly discussed and researched. If it's interesting to you, the Headphone Show and Headphones(dot)com have many digestible articles and videos on the subject. And people who work in the industry (like Crinacle at CrinEar, JP at Thieaudio, and Superchonk at Dita) have talked about these limitations on their respective YT channels.

Nevertheless, knowing all of this doesn't stop me (or many others) from still needing our regular FR graph fix.

Thank you mate

I was aware that it was common knowledge they were not 100% reliable but I was not aware, and was not sure others were, that they are commonly being essentially used well outside the design spec limits and are probably less reliable than some folks (this folk in particular) are aware.

I have had a bit of look at some of the references on it but for me the takeaway is they are not especially accurate so (perhaps oddly for me ) I am not especially motivated to dig deeper to understand the why's about something that I can't change anyway.

I am happy to largely keep not being concerned about graphs, maybe pay a bit more attention to the area that is likely to be a bit more accurate, and place my faith in comparative assessments from people who I seem to gel with in terms of how a particular IEM sounds and/or the tuning abilities of the manufacturers, folks like Abel at my favoured AuR Audio and now Ruviest.

 

[Barndoor]

No. All these in the wild are early review units. When it becomes available for sale, folks here will post it. It's inevitable.

Those little bumps in the mid bass and lower mids, I wasn't sure it had a BCD, but sure enough, it does ("KVT"). Telltale sign of BCD are those blips on the FR graph.

Has shown up on Ali on DD-Audio Store (Linsoul) - Very tempting at AU$170 (circa US$110) before tax/tarrifs

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Man the Ruviest Audio Prelude getting some good amount of love. Need to try this one.

Really love the C12's tuning. I will also get it soon via a friend for review. Lately Letshuoer has been releasing some really good sets.

Letshuoer S12 (2024)
Letshuoer S08
Letshuoer Cadenza 4
Letshuoer DX1

Was supposed to get the Cadenza 12 and the Mystic 8, but somehow, got overlooked for those?

My eternal struggle. I got buried by my day job and have been clawing my way through my queue lmao

I REALLY want to try this IEM but can't seem to get ahold of one.

The Indy 500 is sick, but working 12 hour days is less sick

I'm still working on refining my video reviews, but here's my coverage of the Catchear CE6T. This was a harder video to shoot as I am trying to figure out ways to cut down or run time--and tuning switches are kind of antithetical to that.

And nowhere to buy it online. You do know you drive @Vonbuddy mad when folks do this? LOL

 

[ToneDeafMonk]

In Ears tonight the Ice Lab - Prismatica
On the IBasso DX180 loving this synergy.

The Prismatica needs the right source nothing too colored as this IEM has a very balanced tuning , great bass, great natural sounding mids

and lots of details up top without any harshness!

Liking this one so far very much.

 

[Cinder]

And nowhere to buy it online.

It can be purchased from CatchEar's AliExpress storefront: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256808267695740.html