[Surf Monkey]

I'm gonna have to register a hard disagree on this one. The Diokos are pretty terrible, IMO. The note weight is probably the most bothersome thing to me because nothing has authority or even clean/clear definition and that undermines many tracks from the start. There are other issues as well. As with all things in audio, it just a "to each their own" situation.

I will say that when the Diokos came out they were the cheapest planar option so I commended them for lowering the cost of planar IEMs. Given their technical performance, I have always thought that they might be a good pick for those down to EQ and save a few bucks, but I reaold mine after owning them for four days lol! I got offered what I paid for them and saw no reason to pass on that.

“Suck” is a strong word.

 

[gmdb]

I think Warmth and mid-bass bleed is pretty much same concept, someone’s warmth may be someone’s bass bleed. For more of this : https://www.head-fi.org/threads/thieaudio-signature-series-tribrid-iems.936212/post-16315031

For that, with stock ear tips, of which I believe Crin tested with, does great amount of mid bass bleed. And a bit too warm for 80% of the audiences I assume. I‘ve lived with that Weatone’s bleed/warmth, so I was fine with that, well not ST10 level of “omg you BASS”. It is fully understandable “mid-bass hater” Crin ranked Tonality to C.

What I did was to remove that stock ear tip with something modern, reduce basa floor to Wu Zetain’s slightly warm level, and increased upper-mid and upper. Because that’s what W80 is capable of. So re-matched eartip version of W80 is more of non-harman neutral with bit of mid-bass elevation.

If you feel Wu/Wan’er SG’s bass floor too high, W80 will have the similar curve.

Thanks for that link.

 

[Carpet]

As most of the time, i bought sub $30 iems and i often give them away when i got new one to family and friends.
Spreading the hobby a bit, replacing those sub $5 no brand iems the often use
One thing i heard multiple time when i hand over more balanced iem, is "where is the bass/its a bit lacking in bass".

Thanks to bass marketing from things like XB line, some equate bass quantity with sound quality

Same here, seeing someone's face light up, when they hear something better than they're used to, is well worth $20!

Although on occasion I wonder, if I look like someone hanging around a van full of homemade pharmaceuticals...
Saying "Would you like a sweetie?"

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Many of the collaborations are ignored! Anyone remember the..........

https://majorhifi.com/the-yanyin-x-hbb-mahina-has-been-released-at-linsoul/

Yep, fully forgotten and it came out in August!

Mahina got ignored exactly for the reason I said it would be ignored. PRICE. I said this and you can look it up when they announced the price, and it turned out to be prophetic. $600 for an off-brand isn't going to sell, regardless of collab.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Mahina got ignored exactly for the reason I said it would be ignored. PRICE. I said this and you can look it up when they announced the price, and it turned out to be prophetic. $600 for an off-brand isn't going to sell, regardless of collab.

Yea…
Sonion EST ($30) x 2
Knowles ($5) x 4
Bio something DD ($5) x 1
+ extra raw material ($10) for shells & resin & accessories
+ man hour in China (2mhr) $20
Overhead cost $50
= $165 vs $600
Did HBB get 30% of sales price? Nah… royalty of his would be 5-15%.
Also, as international tax expert, royalty payment from China to US is very very very high hurdle to pass.
You will need to involve IRS and Chinese counterparts to sit on table for the discussion, which will take years of negotiation.

PRC gov won’t let some small companies to simply sending money outside. So it will be a one lump-sum payment in a form of advisory commission.


$400+ profit too ambitious for Yanyin.

If they were the early bird in EST wave, maybe. But now…it’s been more than 2 years. Too late.

 

[JAnonymous5150]

Yea…
Sonion EST ($30) x 2
Knowles ($5) x 4
Bio something DD ($5) x 1
+ extra raw material ($10) for shells & resin & accessories
+ man hour in China (2mhr) $20
Overhead cost $50
= $165 vs $600
Did HBB get 30% of sales price? Nah… royalty of his would be 5-15%.
Also, as international tax expert, royalty payment from China to US is very very very high hurdle to pass.
You will need to involve IRS and Chinese counterparts to sit on table for the discussion, which will take years of negotiation.

PRC gov won’t let some small companies to simply sending money outside. So it will be a one lump-sum payment in a form of advisory commission.


$400+ profit too ambitious for Yanyin.

If they were the early bird in EST wave, maybe. But now…it’s been more than 2 years. Too late.

Just FYI, HBB lives in Japan. Not that it changes what your saying.

 

[emdeevee]

Friday afternoon, time to roll some new tips!

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Yea…
Sonion EST ($30) x 2
Knowles ($5) x 4
Bio something DD ($5) x 1
+ extra raw material ($10) for shells & resin & accessories
+ man hour in China (2mhr) $20
Overhead cost $50
= $165 vs $600
Did HBB get 30% of sales price? Nah… royalty of his would be 5-15%.
Also, as international tax expert, royalty payment from China to US is very very very high hurdle to pass.
You will need to involve IRS and Chinese counterparts to sit on table for the discussion, which will take years of negotiation.

PRC gov won’t let some small companies to simply sending money outside. So it will be a one lump-sum payment in a form of advisory commission.


$400+ profit too ambitious for Yanyin.

If they were the early bird in EST wave, maybe. But now…it’s been more than 2 years. Too late.

Oh I know how that is! I'm guilty as charged! I was an early bird adopter of the EST and coughed up $600 for an IEM that turned out to be not to my liking. Actually, the last two times I've gone "stupid" and bought some IEM over the $600 barrier (The Mofasest Trio and the Dita Truth), I was sadly disappointed. I should have bought the Dunu Zen Pro.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Just FYI, HBB lives in Japan. Not that it changes what your saying.

Then why isn’t he JBB?

 

[JAnonymous5150]

Then why isn’t he JBB?

LOL well, he is American and from Hawaii, but he lives in Japan. Beyond that, you'll have to go on over to HifiGuides and ask him yourself.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Then why isn’t he JBB?

Really!? Not Hawaii?? Wow.

Yea even he has full year Japanese residency, he won’t get constant kick-backs from Yanyin.

My guesstimate is primary agreement was based on a sale of 200 units, with HBB’s 8.3% commission on each, $50 of $600. A $5k advisory fee & rest of $5k for tax, paid for him as “promotion advisory” ish payment.

Surely he need to rebrand as JBB.
Strangely enough, His room totally didn’t looked like the ones in Japan though. I can tell from the design of window/doors. It looked very American to my eye. Maybe that’s one of his old youtube videos back then. I haven’t watched any recent ones

 

[Surf Monkey]

Really!? Not Hawaii?? Wow.

Yea even he has full year Japanese residency, he won’t get constant kick-backs from Yanyin.

My guesstimate is primary agreement was based on a sale of 200 units, with HBB’s 8.3% commission on each, $50 of $600. A $5k advisory fee & rest of $5k for tax, paid for him as “promotion advisory” ish payment.

Surely he need to rebrand as JBB.
Strangely enough, His room totally didn’t looked like the ones in Japan though. I can tell from the design of window/doors. It looked very American to my eye. Maybe that’s one of his old youtube videos back then. I haven’t watched any recent ones

I’m not really taking him to task for the name.

Seems like he’s got a decent racket since these “collaborations” seem to amount more to “can we put your name on our product” than any actual technical tinkering.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

I’m not really taking him to task for the name.

Seems like he’s got a decent racket since these “collaborations” seem to amount more to “can we put your name on our product” than any actual technical tinkering.

Of course that's how it works. He tells the tuners (drop the sub bass, bring up the mid bass and warm those mids, and bring down the treble). Collab done.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

There's a new Planar + BA hybrid released.

SeekReal Dawn

$179 USD

https://www.linsoul.com/collections/all/products/seekreal-dawn





BA is a knowles BA
The planar is a square planar driver made of PU composite resin & Lithium-Magnesium alloy

There's a bit of controversy whether square planar drivers can be considered legit planars, this tech is similar to the Kinera Celest Gumiho: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2386473901653225/posts/2973300126303930/







There's some pics of the new See Audio Yume 2:

Will release on 11/11.

1DD + 2 BA





Nothing is complete without the quintessential anime waifu babe.

https://www.facebook.com/Seeaudio20...Jn4LexBCJ31gKJShi89YsZpDtHcAcVcCky6iWutW3okql

Some review of this with FR
https://blog.ear-phone-review.com/entry/SeekReal_Dawn

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Some review of this with FR
https://blog.ear-phone-review.com/entry/SeekReal_Dawn

Followed up by virtual waifu review (the actual editor of this youtube channel, from circumstantial evidences, is an IEM store’s manager, so that he has very quick access to some latest gadgets)


It’s in Japanese, but to summarize the point.
“It’s a typical cold-sounding Chifi-V”

I asked the channel owner to release his video with English subtitles so that he would get more views. He’s got 1,184 videos of mainly IEM reviews…that’s insane amount of reviews from a single IEM shop manager.