The discovery thread!

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

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Sunday daily trio? This was a bit of a difficult task, but I was able to dig deep and pick out three IEMs for a funday Sunday! Letshuoer S12 (2024), Pula Anvil 114, and Tanchjim Bunny. Last day with the Kiwi Ears Aether and CFA Alien Brain, so today, I'll finish my comparison between the Aether and S12 (2024).

 

[jghjkhfd]

NC Audio store?

Not NC, but exactly the same kind of AliX middleman for a wild taobao tuner. MONYUE Y1 Bass (1dd+5ba+1pzt). A pair of Sonions inside. Sub-$100 on TaoBao. (pics by Colin Hopper)

 

[Steve_72]

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Sunday daily trio? This was a bit of a difficult task, but I was able to dig deep and pick out three IEMs for a funday Sunday! Letshuoer S12 (2024), Pula Anvil 114, and Tanchjim Bunny. Last day with the Kiwi Ears Aether and CFA Alien Brain, so today, I'll finish my comparison between the Aether and S12 (2024).

That Tri i3 cable pairing is beautiful. I regret letting go of mine a while ago.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

That Tri i3 cable pairing is beautiful. I regret letting go of mine a while ago.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256807982823902.html - ivipQ 888

I'm really groovin' to the synergy between the Tri i3 MK III and the FiiO M21. In 4.4mm balanced, it simply sings! Beauitiful sound. I wouldn't sell mine.

 

[o0genesis0o]

Mighty impressive project!!

Thanks! If you happen to use it and run into any problem, do drop me a message or (better) open an issue directly on GitHub. I'm taming my headfi addiction so I might not check message often. I'm using this to run a data analysis workbench at office and a home server with AI and media. All of my DAPs now pull FLAC from the home server rather than SD card. It's much more convenient to A/B test sources this way rather than having to prepare multiple SD cards with identical library.

To answer your question here I'm fine with the SIMGOT AUDIO LC7 modular cable in 4.4mm. I use most of the time the leanest wide-bore donuts, which means I'm trying to actually clarify bass tone and pace? I use the SIMGOT AUDIO wide-bore donuts which are also low profile in length?

I just use whatever stock cable with 4.4mm (unless it's something horrifying from a few manufacturers who cut corner with cables). If I'm fancy, I'd prefer a nice 8W from EA because I like the hardware. I find that changes in sonic quality of cable, if exist, in the mind or not, is overshadowed by other parts of the chain quickly when I'm out of critical listening mode.

Tight seal = better subbass, I think. Xelastec tips are quite subbassy for me, though too much subbass makes the whole presentation a bit unrefined.

 

[Hypops]

Ouch! The channel imbalance on the STA seems unfortunate. Is it appearant in use also?

From my many threshold listening tests, I can pretty confidently say that that measured channel imbalance is nothing compared to what happens when IEMs go into actual human ears. With so much emphasis on measuring IEMs using a single, machined coupler, we lose sight of the natural asymmetry of our fleshy ears. Engineers generally claim that as long as the measured imbalance is less than 3dB and doesn't carry over a very wide bandwidth in the midrange, you won't hear it.

hmm, from frist listening I didn't notice it, and now I don't notice it too
I tried measuring it many times and got the same results

Now I have tried playing pink noise and it is indeed sounds uneven, like I use different IEM in each ear. But when playing music I didn't notice it directly
now I can't un-notice it

Totally. You can easily spot channel imbalances by ear with a simple 20-20k sine sweep. The sound will wobble a bit from ear to ear. Then take out the IEMs, reseat them, and run a sweep again. The unevenness will have moved. It's mostly the result of ear physiology. And, yeah, other than in extreme situations, you wouldn't notice the imbalance with music.

 

[jbfps116]

Some may wonder why I have not [extensively, to the point of ad nauseum] raved about/fully reviewed the Jomo Nautilus yet... Maybe I'm weird, but they feel like fine China... meant to be brought out for special occasions. Over double the price of any other IEM I've purchased, they just feel special... and I honestly don't use them a LOT. I mean they're literally heirloom quality especially with the fancy ivipQ golden cable on them. [no fancy name... just "ivipQ high end 8 core 7n occ gold plated"] so it feels like I'm TREATING myself when using them, more-so than the other fantastic sets I have.

So basically, I'm taking my time with the Nautilus... but I gotta say... the VP-07 some scarily close to the sound signature of the Nautilus! [I improved the sound of the VP-07 by switching to the rainbow braided cable by XINHS... looks good except for the glaringly black connectors.] I mean obviously it doesn't have the BC stage but...they both have stellar treble and clean bass. The Nautilus just sound more...expensive I guess!

 

[avishifi]

Totally. You can easily spot channel imbalances by ear with a simple 20-20k sine sweep. The sound will wobble a bit from ear to ear. Then take out the IEMs, reseat them, and run a sweep again. The unevenness will have moved. It's mostly the result of ear physiology. And, yeah, other than in extreme situations, you wouldn't notice the imbalance with music.

Yeah, but it is a bummer to recieve this as a customer. I cannot ignore this the imbalance is a bit extreme here
But you are right, I didn't notice it just right away. It just felt like everything is not exactly in the center.

 

[Hypops]

Yeah, but it is a bummer to recieve this as a customer. I cannot ignore this the imbalance is a bit extreme here
But you are right, I didn't notice it just right away. It just felt like everything is not exactly in the center.

IMO that's not an unusual amount of measured imbalance. Definitely within the realm of acceptable variation (<3dB). Now, if I were paying $500+ for these, I'd feel differently. But for an under-$100 set? That's not bad.

 

[avishifi]

IMO that's not an unusual amount of measured imbalance. Definitely within the realm of acceptable variation (<3dB). Now, if I were paying $500+ for these, I'd feel differently. But for an under-$100 set? That's not bad.

I can understand this, but their other models (STA Pro, STA Pro Ultra) has good channel matching

So I think it is fair to expect seeing better job done with their more expensive IEM in the lineup

 

[activatorfly]

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Sunday daily trio? This was a bit of a difficult task, but I was able to dig deep and pick out three IEMs for a funday Sunday! Letshuoer S12 (2024), Pula Anvil 114, and Tanchjim Bunny. Last day with the Kiwi Ears Aether and CFA Alien Brain, so today, I'll finish my comparison between the Aether and S12 (2024).

Comparo's for Pharaoh's !!

 

[linconleandro]

Does anyone have any suggestions for a cable to use with the Volare? It should have around 0.1 ohm impedance so as not to color the sound.

 

[NymPHONOmaniac]

Not only the Juzear Defiant sound super musical, balanced, versatile, lush mid wise and well articulated macro dynamic wise....and offer high sound value for 100$ but i think you could buy it just for cable and accessories too....

Love the modular unicorn cable included both sound transmission and built design wise...in fact i see very similar cable from Hakugie...selling for around 100$ lol (cant confirm its very same though!)

 

[Redcarmoose]

Thanks! If you happen to use it and run into any problem, do drop me a message or (better) open an issue directly on GitHub. I'm taming my headfi addiction so I might not check message often. I'm using this to run a data analysis workbench at office and a home server with AI and media. All of my DAPs now pull FLAC from the home server rather than SD card. It's much more convenient to A/B test sources this way rather than having to prepare multiple SD cards with identical library.



I just use whatever stock cable with 4.4mm (unless it's something horrifying from a few manufacturers who cut corner with cables). If I'm fancy, I'd prefer a nice 8W from EA because I like the hardware. I find that changes in sonic quality of cable, if exist, in the mind or not, is overshadowed by other parts of the chain quickly when I'm out of critical listening mode.

Tight seal = better subbass, I think. Xelastec tips are quite subbassy for me, though too much subbass makes the whole presentation a bit unrefined.

My thing is the WM1A and WM1Z have a more advanced amplifier with different capacitors on the 4.4mm side of the circuit board. Using 4.4mm ends a noticeable improvement to all the test IEMs. So with that said I review the included cables, but then explore just how good I can make the IEM, if the original is 3.5mm........heck I would explore anyways.

Sure in a way it is Sony marketing going and introducing 4.4mm then making a different amp for it in their players.

Plus cable build materials often alter the sound in my views. Like this new Kiwi ears Astral has a brighter than average modular cable. So that review will defiantly use a different cable to help align the Astral to my tastes. Some reviewers have mentioned this Astral energy boosting the mids and treble. With 6 BAs and a DD that is a very noticeable attribute of the IEM character. I wonder how many reviewers did try an alternative cable? But I don’t mind looking for sonic success in a review. Probably more than 50% of readers here change cables, even if they don’t believe they hear a sonic difference......with that other section of members hearing differences.

 

[avishifi]

My review of the Kiwi Ears Etude is out!!

Any like and/or comment will be blessed

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/brand-spanking-new-kiwi-ears-Étude-hybrid-iem.28201/review/38148/