[baskingshark]

If one were to pick one of the 2020 IEMs under $150 to stick with for a long period of time, what would you choose? I'm thinking the TRI Starsea might be a good, versatile pick?
How does it compare to a moondrop SSR/SSP?

I think @redguardsoldier summarized things nicely and I agree 100%.

Just to add on, in general it's comparing apples to oranges to compare single DD types like the SSR versus multi driver/hybrids like the Starsea as the different transducers have their strengths and weaknesses. Not to mention these sets are in different price brackets too.

Anyway in terms of versatility the Starsea wins due to the tuning switches giving in 4 sound signatures from V shaped to U shaped to neutralish. Starsea has better technical performance as expected of a multi driver setup but the timbre for acoustic instruments is a tinge artificial in the higher frequencies handled by the BA drivers compared to the SSR.

SSR has actually very good technicalities for a budget single DD and good timbre too, but it still loses to the Starsea in technical performance.

Starsea also is easier to drive but is picky with sources due to the very low 9ish impedance. It sounds good with sources with as low output impedance as possible (< 1 ohm ideally).

I haven't tried SSP but SSR is very volume dependent (fletcher munson curve). Sounds great at low volumes but on pumping up the volume the 3 khz area is an icepick for me.

 

[Xinlisupreme]

Thanks for the many, many nice pics! You have really gone to great lengths to show off this set. Much appreciated!

@courierdriver thank you...
Reecho looks amazing but also sounds very well

 

[Barusu Lamperouge]

My humble impressions on Smabat NCO.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/bes...s-sharing-reference-list.805930/post-16032930

 

[RikudouGoku]

yup, no changes....

Guess this will be a torture weekend for me....

 

[TheVortex]

yup, no changes....

Guess this will be a torture weekend for me....

I have a Shuoer Tape Pro on the way to me.....

 

[RikudouGoku]

I have a Shuoer Tape Pro on the way to me.....

Yeah, I feel bad for you. Just consider it work when you are listening to it and you should survive lol.

 

[Banbeucmas]

• Poor isolation. As I said above, sometimes, you want this .

Literary the reason why I use SSR outdoor these day. That and how easy it is to abuse lol

 

[dharmasteve]

I have a Shuoer Tape Pro on the way to me.....

A lot of people ike the Tape Pro. There's a good chance you will like them. Mine are great. Hope you like them.

 

[ChrisOc]

A lot of people ike the Tape Pro. There's a good chance you will like them. Mine are great. Hope you like them.

I was lucky enough to have a kind gentleman give me a pair of Tape Pro, only condition is that I honestly review them.

I have been burning the Tape Pro in for some 72 hours so far, to allow sufficient time for the drivers to settle. Hopefully, they will settle closer to the 100 hours mark.

 

[RikudouGoku]

This is a ****ing joke....

The "tuning" screws literally dont do anything...sure the graph does show a higher bass shelf from like 50 hz down but its not noticeable and the time it takes to change the screws is long enough for you to forget a lot of the information you tried to remember from the last config....

 

[dharmasteve]

I was lucky enough to have a kind gentleman give me a pair of Tape Pro, only condition is that I honestly review them.

I have been burning the Tape Pro in for some 72 hours so far, to allow sufficient time for the drivers to settle. Hopefully, they will settle closer to the 100 hours mark.

I think they need a good period of burn-in/brain burn-in. I burned in/brain burned in whilst listening for some time. They definitely divide opinion, mine have no odd peaks and have a good analogue sound from a dark background.

 

[chinmie]

This is a ****ing joke....



The "tuning" screws literally dont do anything...sure the graph does show a higher bass shelf from like 50 hz down but its not noticeable and the time it takes to change the screws is long enough for you to forget a lot of the information you tried to remember from the last config....

scenario 1: change the screw only on one side, and listen to a mix-to-mono material with both of them (taking turns of course ) on the same ears

scenario 2: change the screw only on one side, and listen to them simultaneously (with either mono mixed songs or regular stereo file) to find small differences between them

that's just ideas, though i do often use scenario 2 to quick-compare different eartips if I'm in a hurry

 

[RikudouGoku]

scenario 1: change the screw only on one side, and listen to a mix-to-mono material with both of them (taking turns of course ) on the same ears

scenario 2: change the screw only on one side, and listen to them simultaneously (with either mono mixed songs or regular stereo file) to find small differences between them

that's just ideas, though i do often use scenario 2 to quick-compare different eartips if I'm in a hurry

Its a pointless gimmick of a feature that doesnt help it whatsoever. If burn in for 10000 hours will reforge it into something else, then they should do it before they send this crap out to their paying customers.

 

[lgcubana]

...
yup, no changes....

Guess this will be a torture weekend for me....

I feel your frustration. I recently had a bad run, with a couple of my recent acquisitions (one by trade, one by purchase) and my transition to Tidal HiFi (on my phone). The purchased IEM was my most expensive endeavor into the IEM hobby; I was so looking forward to the product and was so disappointed that it just wasn't for me.

Ironically it was my most recent purchase (used Shuoer Tape), that turned my frown upside down; that and having to traverse the developer's, advanced settings, in my phone, for Tidal to work properly.

 

[RikudouGoku]

I feel your frustration. I recently had a bad run, with a couple of my recent acquisitions (one by trade, one by purchase) and my transition to Tidal HiFi (on my phone). The purchased IEM was my most expensive endeavor into the IEM hobby; I was so looking forward to the product and was so disappointed that it just wasn't for me.

Ironically it was my most recent purchase (used Shuoer Tape), that turned my frown upside down; that and having to traverse the developer's, advanced settings, in my phone, for Tidal to work properly.

You need EQ for the tape. But with it, it sounds like a beast and is worth at the 130 usd price it was at.

The tape pro on the other hand.....still sounds worse than the tape (EQ) with EQ on it.....