[chickenmoon]

K3003i is great.
LZ A2 had a QC problem, they didn't always sound the same, so you may have gotten a bad one.
LZ A2 pro had much better QC - hence increase in price.

If you do prefer "dark", "mid-foward" headphones, you probably would hate k3003i too (and a "good" LZ A2) - it's treble is clean, but very well extended.

As I recall I found my A2 incoherent, "all over the place" and incredibly bass heavy. It's buried in a box with those I don't bother with anymore.

 

[BenF]

Signature: Balanced
Music: Rock, indie rock, folk
Looking for something with lush vocals.

Current IEMs: EE Bravado, ER4XR, MD+, Campfire Comets/Novas, IT01

DAC/Amp: Chord Mojo

SKC-CNT1.
It has thicker than average presentation, which makes vocals lush, while preserving natural tone - kinda like LZ A5 with the new filters.
Bass and mids take precedence over treble here.
Folk and indie rock sounds great on it.
If you'll buy it, start burning it for 100 hours immediately without listening - this driver can be very rigid out of the box.

EDIT: Since it's a darkish IEM, soundstage is average at best.

 

[Colors]

SKC-CNT1.
It has thicker than average presentation, which makes vocals lush, while preserving natural tone - kinda like LZ A5 with the new filters.
Bass and mids take precedence over treble here.
Folk and indie rock sounds great on it.
If you'll buy it, start burning it for 100 hours immediately without listening - this driver can be very rigid out of the box.

I will make this my next purchase. Thanks

 

[zazaboy]

@BenF can you drive the semkarch SKC-CNT1 iem from weak sources? can i get plenty of volume ?

 

[BenF]

@BenF can you drive the semkarch SKC-CNT1 iem from weak sources? can i get plenty of volume ?

It's easy to drive, but needs a source with good bass control - most smartphones won't sound good. SMSL Idea is recommended.
See first post in this thread for 78$ price for Idea: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/takstar-pro-82-review-impressions-and-discussion-thread.849965/

 

[B9Scrambler]

My long overdue review of the A5. Kind of glad it turned into a long-term thing because I've grown to appreciate it quite a bit. The updated filters were key to this.

The Contraptionist / Head-fi

​

 

[crabdog]

Hey, could you give some more suggestions/comparisons so I can browse PenonAudio and maybe pick up some haha. Price range: USD100-300.

Hifi Boy OS V3. Stellar IEM. At times I find it more enjoyable than the Bravado depending on the album (hides from the raised torches and pitchforks).

 

[DannyBai]

Hifi Boy OS V3. Stellar IEM. At times I find it more enjoyable than the Bravado depending on the album (hides from the raised torches and pitchforks).

Any comparison to the king pro?

 

[Colors]

Hifi Boy OS V3. Stellar IEM. At times I find it more enjoyable than the Bravado depending on the album (hides from the raised torches and pitchforks).

You best be hiding!

I’m kidding. I’ll check them out

 

[crabdog]

Any comparison to the king pro?

I have the King Experience version but have not tried the Pro.

I find the King to be too sharp in the upper midrange/lower treble, although it does have excellent clarity. The OSV3 has a better fit for my ears. It's more balanced and has a little more body in the mids, well-extended but incredibly smooth highs and a really fun but tasteful bass. Removable 2-pin cable is nice too (although the stock cable is already v good).

 

[DannyBai]

I have the King Experience version but have not tried the Pro.

I find the King to be too sharp in the upper midrange/lower treble, although it does have excellent clarity. The OSV3 has a better fit for my ears. It's more balanced and has a little more body in the mids, well-extended but incredibly smooth highs and a really fun but tasteful bass. Removable 2-pin cable is nice too (although the stock cable is already v good).

I thought you had both. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Apputty]

Hifi Boy OS V3. Stellar IEM. At times I find it more enjoyable than the Bravado depending on the album (hides from the raised torches and pitchforks).

Ohho that is really tempting now. @crabdog I have been thinking of ordering bravado. The only thing holding me back is the price and no way to try it before placing an order here in Australia.
If osv3 is that good then I might give it a try. I have been waiting for it04. If that's not coming out by the end of this month then will buy some new iem.

 

[Colors]

Ohho that is really tempting now. @crabdog I have been thinking of ordering bravado. The only thing holding me back is the price and no way to try it before placing an order here in Australia.
If osv3 is that good then I might give it a try. I have been waiting for it04. If that's not coming out by the end of this month then will buy some new iem.

I don’t think you can go wrong with the Bravado. They’re amazing for the price. Great sub-bass extension quantity and quality, tight and clear mid-bass without drowning the nice vocals. Good treble extension too.

If only you can demo it

 

[superuser1]

So I got a 3 BA offering from a brand called TSMR. i am very happy with the price performance ratio. Its too early for me to say anything about the sound. It has a unique tuning and has switches (i have all the switches ON) to change the sound. The mids are really great and so is the treble extension decent for the price. Fun tuning IMO. Here are some more details .. LINK

 

[menuki]

With all this frustration going on and some people which receive(d) a dud HK6, I can tell you, I ordered them as well and they will arrive soon, but I'll probably have to send them back after all the reports about them just sounding off... Unwanted stuff happens and this is bad luck and if they sound off or if the QC is just really bad on these then the hype should genuinely stop so people don't order them hoping they'll sound amazing. I will definitely share some impressions once they arrive.

In any case, what I wanted to say is, if you're feeling a bit unhappy about Chi-Fi headphones lately, and I'm also sorry about your LZ-A5 @bhazard, give the QKZ VK1 a try if you like a neutral/natural sound signature with a very smooth but still detailed top end.

Again, I'm not giving recommendations lightly and I had a lot in In-Ears in the past so I do have some references and I can safely say that these punch waaay above their price, I'm talking about 10 times as much. I'm of course baffled myself, after I received them via mail yesterday my expectations weren't high, but I was also expecting them to sound OK for all the good ratings they have on Ali, but I didn't expect this at all.

Let me give you some short impressions after about 4-5 hours of listening:

Comfort:
The comfort on these is rather nice. If I push them in too deep, the case does push a bit on my ear, so I don't insert them as deep as possible, which is rather deep, but on its own not uncomfortable! They are very lightweight and the design is rather ergonomic, nothing to complain about yet!

Soundstage:
Impressive. The soundstage is rather wide and comparable to my IMR R1's which are about 29 times the price. I have to give them more time in my ear to further judge this though!

Bass:
Tight, detailed, not overbearing at all and it sits along the midrange in terms of quantity. I wouldn't say they lack bass or sub-bass at all but compared to the bigger drivers of the IMR R1's they provide a bit less sub-bass to my ears, although they may sound even a tad more natural down low. The bass is satisfying and it has a very quick decay which I attribute to the graphene drivers used. If you're a basshead, you might either want to EQ them a bit or maybe look elsewhere.

Mids:
I was very surprised by the mids these provide. They are, to my ears, a bit V-Shaped but the midrange shines through without getting colored too much. I would say I prefer the midrange of the IMR R1's since they just sound a bit clearer, but this may also be because the R1's have, to my ears, a bit of boosted top-end. Overall, I really like the mids. You hear a lot of detail in them and you would never ever expect this from a 17€ headphone.

Highs:
Maybe my favorite aspect about them is that they sound rather smooth and don't boost the highs, at least not to any extend that it would cause any fatigue. I'd say I prefer this smoothness in the top-end over the IMR R1's insanely clear treble, at times at least, because especially at work I don't any headphones which drain me through grinding highs. Even though the top-end is smooth, I wouldn't call it recessed at all and there is still a lot of detail.

Microdetail:
Microdetail is impressive. Again, very impressive for 17€ headphones, actually unbelievable considering the price. I also attribute this to the graphene driver which probably offers a rather distortion-free sound which lets a lot of details come through.

To sum it up, they are great. The build quality is good, although I would improve the connector since it is a bit loose and this might become a problem if being used daily, maybe! I cannot say anything about them regarding long term usage. Also, I think they sound as good because the driver is something special. They call it "Helmholtz resonating double cavity" and it has 2 graphene drivers inside with "Magnetic flux close to 1 Tesla". Oh, and they received a High-Fi certificate as well as the German Red Dot Design Award, which is crazy a bit.

If you have a bit of money to spare and/or if you're looking for a bang for your buck iem or spare headphones in general, just give these a try. For 17€ they give you so much than you'd expect and a second pair is already on the way, just so I can gift them to a close friend and blow his mind!

Cheers guys!