Gather around, folks. I have a tale to tell of Japanese Generosity!
As I already posted a while back. I was quite interested in
634EARS SARN II, and had placed an order. The price was about $160, and even though there are numerous single DD iems at that price range, somehow I was feeling the need of a wooden shell IEM. On top of that, I have this knack of trying to find hidden treasures - these are the two reasons why I felt myself drawn towards
634EARS, even though I had an earlier inkling for the JVC woody iems. But anyway, I digress.
So I hit 634EARS up on instagram, and got talking. Let me tell you - it's a one man company, and he is an extremely nice person to deal with, but, he also does not take crap from anyone! (Loved that about him, by the way.) I read the sound signature of SARN II, and found out it has a bright sound with strong low end. Now, while I am fond of strong low end, and I prefer some amount of brightness, too bright iems makes it fatiguing for me, and I was also concerned about the bright Asian tuning. So I discussed all of these with him, and asked if the brightness of SARN II can be mellowed down. He explained that only 8ite-TS have the warm and mellow sound signature, SARN II is not designed like that. He shared with me a histogram chart of Frequency Response of SARN II, and informed that he can tweak its tuning slightly to reduce upper end attacks a bit as per my request. I decided to go with that. Paid the amount, and then sit tight.
About two weeks later, he shared with me two different histogram charts with the said modifications - one had more reduction in the upper frequencies than the others. He suggested the one with less reduction, I took his advice and confirmed it, and sit tight. He shipped my iems a few days later.
Once I got the package, and I opened it, I found all the mundane items - cables, a very nice hardshell box, 3 sets of eartips - 2 normal silicone, 1 whirlwind, C rings for further tuning, etc. The iems were in a different box, and when I opened it, this is what greeted me:
Folks, there were not one, but
TWO PAIRS OF IEMS!! I was completely overwhelmed and surprised and giddy! He decided to gift another pair of IEM just like that!! I never even asked him! What a man!
And then I noticed the writings on the pouches - the stabilised wood one is what I originally requested, and it has the name
SARN II written right there. The other one, however, has the name
Special written on it. I recognised the housing from his insta page - it was a
Granadillo Wood housing. So then, barely able to contain my excitement, I popped the SARN II in my ear. Suffice to say I was completely blown away, but I will continue with my initial impression of SARN II in a later post. Thereafter I tried on the Special, and was surprised to find it rocking a completely different tuning! It was more bassy, with much more fuller midrange, and slightly smoother upper range. Bass was bumped up in quantity. The tuning was different, but still quite good.
Then, I noticed a black thank you note, which, when turned over, revealed this:
Guys...I mean...I can't even...he made this
SPECIAL specially for me, trying to match my taste from what little I told him! Later through insta DM he confirmed that he tried to replicate the 8ite-TS sound signature with a PET DD, as that is what I requested at first. I of course could not thank him enough for being so sincere...he is one gem of a person, honestly!
I cannot thank you enough,
Masashi Saita. You will have my gratitude forever and always for being so sincere to try to create an entirely new iem for my taste, even though you had no obligation to. Thank you. You have a big heart and I feel so fortunate to have a touch of it in my possession.
