[o0genesis0o]

Since we are talking about DAP, I would like to share some impressions of my @Shanling M6 Ultra (M6U), which just arrived today. First, non-sound aspects:

• I'm more used to the futuristic, robotic styling of Fiio, so the elegant packaging of Shanling surprised me greatly. I brought the whole box to my wife and she also thinks that it's a luxurious item that's worth the amount I paid (I greatly reduced the number, btw)
• Nothing interesting in the box. I like the catalogue with other products for your to drool all over. It reminds me of the Lego sets years ago.
• The device is smaller but thicker than what I expected. The same thickness of my Topping G5, but slightly shorter because it does not have the metal "ears" and the volume knob at the top.
• The Android feels ... alright. Not very snappy but not laggy. My old Xiaomi MiA1 feels snappier. It's likely due to the delayed and mis-touched caused by the screen protector.
• The screen is also alright. A bit less saturated than my old Xiaomi phone and of course far away from iPhone, but it's not bad at all.
• The metal frame feels very good in the hand.
• Button placement is excellent for one-handed operation (if you are right-handed).

Now, the sound. I must say that I finger-crossed and took a deep breath when I pressed the play button with my TGXear Serratus (300ohm), listening to the 3rd movement of Vivaldi's Summer. To my relief, M6U sounds excellent. It matches the resolution and staging of my Topping G5, but offers a noticeably different tonality. To put it simply, M6U is warmer and "rounder" than G5. It's not like adding 3dB via EQ, of course. The change is subtle and only reveals itself strongly when A/B back to back with G5. If you are used to G5, you will hear that M6U is warm. If you are used to M6U, you will hear G5 as too cold.

My other concern was power, as M6U has noticeably less power output than G5. But my worry was unfounded. M6U drives Serratus easily at low gain, only around 40% volume with my classical recordings.

M6U does have some quirks:

• It has the strange tendency of pushing the centre image higher, literally. In some of my cello tracks, I wonder why the cellist is so high up comparing to usual. It might have something to do with the tuning, as Shanling UP4 also projects strange soundstage sometimes.
• It gets warm when I play CD quality FLAC using the stock player.

 

[Jmop]

Finally got the Gimlet in my ears. Forget what I said about the cable, untangling it was a nightmare, and it feels like part of a costume for a third grader. IEM fits fine in the ear, though they are definitely there, and sound is.. good, follows the graph well, nothing peaking much but again lower treble emphasis like Cadenza. Cadenza beats it in timbre to me, treble is a bit steely, but bass is cleaner.. I think, maybe less textured though. Soundstage feels average. Bass has weight but could be tighter, I’m imagining a ballerina with a bit of a beer belly here. Like, she can move, but yeah lol. Idk guys, I’m not being super critical right now, and only an hour on it.

Accidentally dropped it in the HiBy thread.

 

[Jmop]

Bass is actually perceived as cleaner cuz upper bass/lower mid is kinda sucked out. Needs burn in to be sure but I’m not feelin this one as much as Cadenza, it might be distorting easier too.

 

[Tzennn]

Bass is actually perceived as cleaner cuz upper bass/lower mid is kinda sucked out. Needs burn in to be sure but I’m not feelin this one as much as Cadenza, it might be distorting easier too.

So cadenza is really good?

 

[AmericanSpirit]

So cadenza is really good?

I’d say tonality B, Technicality C. Total 70/100, a pass. It smears with complex music. A typical single DD with OK-level of technicality, at least better than technicalities of Wan’er, 7Hz salnotes zero, but behind CRA+, Chu, Lea’s.

Tuning wise it’s very very safe, no harsh treble, clear mid, musically entertaining bass floor, the harman well executed. If as a first set of tasting harman, it’s well worth, but for someone already has harman single DD with better drivers, it will be a piece of collection.

At least I’m not motivated enough to have a full coverage nor writing a review on head-gear. That level “OK, not bad”

 

[Vonbuddy]

So if a person could buy three reasonably priced iems what would they be at this very moment? I am in the market as a picky person who likes balance, musical but technical, and an all arounder given my preferences in music (I listen to everything but metal).

 

[AmericanSpirit]

So if a person could buy three reasonably priced iems what would they be at this very moment? I am in the market as a picky person who likes balance, musical but technical, and an all arounder given my preferences in music (I listen to everything but metal).

Truthear HEXA (technical & musical balancedl)
Tangzu Wu Zetian (musical)
ER4XR (technical)

If you are buying 1 IEM to live with it, my recommendation is AKG N5005.
It has lots of premium options:
4-acoustic tuning filter (as if you are buying additional 4 IEMs)
BT-adapter as well as 2.5mm balanced, 3.5mm single end cable
It used to go around $1k as AKG’s Flagship IEM. Now it’s at very competitive $199 on akg.com
The carrying case is proprietary made for your piece of IEM with serial numbers on it.

The tuning is fairly close to one of best IEM in the world, 64 audio U12t neutral with bass boost.

I’m comfortable to say the tuning is targeted to make sound “pleasant”

Tonal consistency is flagship level.
And most importantly N5005 is made by people who “cares” about their product even to the slightest detail level. A subtle silca-gel placement is a good hint.

If harman target is an upbeat that hit exactly to where you want. These tunings are downbeat tuning, thus some upbeat lover may find it sounding off tone. But another downbeat lover will find that’s exactly what it should have been. There is a dip point to each gain peaks around 3khz,, 6khz, 9khz, and 11-12khz to avoid collisions of peaks hitting ones sensitive resonance spots. Forget 8khz peak that’s coupler’s internal resonance.


Another budget option that is fairly close to one of the best IEM, is See Audio Bravery. It is a slightly younger generation tuned qdc Anole VX. See Audio was started by ex-qdc engineer, so that makes sense.

As a private owner of Anole VX , DUNU SA6 (so called mini-VX), TRI Starsea( I call it baby-VX), and See Audio Bravery ( I call it daughter of VX & Softears RSV), the stock Bravery isn’t that jaw-dropping one (it comes with AZLA Xelastec Crystal ear tips which is a “BAD MATCH” to the timbre of Bravery). Xelastec Crystal will make Bravery to sound metallic, and that influenced my initial impression of Bravery to somewhat (70/100) level, then it was long left in the drawers until very recent.

I come to realize how well tuned Bravery since yesterday, with balanced cable of PWA copper V2($89), and TRI’s $9 ear tip Clarion retuned Bravery to somewhat Anole VX.

What made Bravery unique is that, the sound pressure on low gain of bravery is very realistic, I hardly felt that kind of state of art sound pressure management only except Softears’s Reference Sound series hot shot, RSV.

It’s not that both RSV and Bravery shares same frequency response (tuning), they are two completely different animals in terms of tuning. I’m speculating the mid-range drivers or bass range subwoofer RSV and Bravery uses shares some unique similarities.

The tonality of Bravery is simply put, “gentle” /“Angelic touch”.

 

[chinmie]

Truthear HEXA (technical & musical balancedl)
Tangzu Wu Zetian (musical)
ER4XR (technical)

I finally heard the Hexa yesterday (my friend's unit), i gotta say i really like it, the tuning suits my preference nicely. Highly recommend it to anyone looking for balanced set

 

[lgcubana]

You ever wake up and just feel ornery (o r n e r y) ?
Well today, I'm poking the bear

"Burn in"
I'm using the same cable that my FD5 has
On my testing for DOA: playback is no bueno. Sibilant and the bass is splashy, lacks depth and dominates the playback; some of this can be attributed to my "oven", an older iPad, with the free version of Pandora.
This is the first and last time that I'll listen to the JD7 (should really be a 5), for the next 5 days
.
.
.
Will follow up

JD7 should be a 5

90 hours have passed and I took an initial listen:
1. Hissssing has calmed down
2. Vocals are now more realistic, as some mid bass has made itself present; which has eliminated the shoutiness
3. The low end has woken up. There's now a strong sub bass, with just the right amount of decay, so you know you're listening to a DD

The stainless steel, barrel shaped shells are perfect for my earholes. Minimal adjusting needed, during an extended listening.

For everything listed above (overall playback and fit), the JD7 has the potential to be a successor to the TFZ No. 3

I would categorize myself as a 7.5/10 level basshead enthusiast. I want a low end (sub bass to the lower tier of the mid bass) that is unapologetic and the JD7 gets the job done.

Now comes the (maybe) bad
TLDR: IMO, the tuning of the mid range is over boosted. If you're open to making a cut (around 400hz - 500hz range), the JD7 does get better. With a reduction of a couple dbs, a "Pro" version could be a sub $100 winner, for those that appreciate a good low end, but abhor EQing.

It's clear from the FiiO copy, that the low end response was a priority

• Great Sound Design:The JD7 utilizes a polymer diaphragm with a PU gasket, that makes the sound of JD7 is lush, smooth and well-extended treble and texturing bass.
• JD7 features a 10mm dynamic driver with an internal and external magnetic circuit setup that greatly improves the magnetic flux density, the dual magnetic circuit dynamic driver to bring better resonance control with deeper bass.

On some songs, (e.g. Akon, "Smack that" or Lil Wayne, "Lolipop") around the mid range (400hz - 500hz), the DD can falter, on the cusp of over modulation.

This is my initial tweaking. Still trying to wrap my head around lowering the sub 200hz range, because of the JD7's bottom end strength.

 

[JohnnyOps]

So if a person could buy three reasonably priced iems what would they be at this very moment? I am in the market as a picky person who likes balance, musical but technical, and an all arounder given my preferences in music (I listen to everything but metal).

No one knows what your reasonable is. It'd be easier if we had a total budget for 3 IEMs that we could allocate.

But, since i just went through a bunch of purchasing, what I ended up with at the high(er) end was Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020 and Thieaudio Monarch MkII - I say that not because I think either one is reasonably priced, but rather because it gives you a sense for my comparison.

If I had $350 to spend across three IEMs, personally it'd be Dunu Titan S (perhaps Dunu Kima instead, haven't heard them) + CCA CRA+ + Timeless 7Hz. I might throw in a pair of Etymotic ER2SE's if I wanted to add something completely different.

If you have a different budget in mind, let us know and we can answer that question. It's a great question, but we need to know your actual budget constraint. $250 for 3 is fun but harder. $500 for 3 is interesting. I picked a kind of mid-point.

 

[Vonbuddy]

No one knows what your reasonable is. It'd be easier if we had a total budget for 3 IEMs that we could allocate.

But, since i just went through a bunch of purchasing, what I ended up with at the high(er) end was Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020 and Thieaudio Monarch MkII - I say that not because I think either one is reasonably priced, but rather because it gives you a sense for my comparison.

If I had $350 to spend across three IEMs, personally it'd be Dunu Titan S (perhaps Dunu Kima instead, haven't heard them) + CCA CRA+ + Timeless 7Hz. I might throw in a pair of Etymotic ER2SE's if I wanted to add something completely different.

If you have a different budget in mind, let us know and we can answer that question. It's a great question, but we need to know your actual budget constraint. $250 for 3 is fun but harder. $500 for 3 is interesting. I picked a kind of mid-point.

Sorry, below 500 dollars.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Sorry, below 500 dollars.

I’ve updated rec, it’s all under $300.

 

[lushmelody]

I’ve updated rec, it’s all under $300.

Will you acquire Yume2? It seems Hexa overshadowed every recent hybrid

 

[JohnnyOps]

Sorry, below 500 dollars.

Ok, well my recommendation kind of stands - if I was gonna spend $300, I'd put $200 towards the 7Hz Timeless, and spend the other $100 on a couple of interestingly different IEMs. For me that'd be the Dunu Titan S (listening to it right now even though I own kilobuck IEMs) and the CCA CRA+ (which I think is pound for pound the best $25 you can spend anywhere). Also, if I was really budget constrained, I'd get these all used on ebay if you can / live in a market where that's doable. These budget guys get sold off pretty fast, save a few bucks, buy some eartips and decent DAC for your phone like the Fiio Q3 (or Fiio BTR3k if you can't stand a cable going to your phone).

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Will you acquire Yume2? It seems Hexa overshadowed every recent hybrid

I really like See Audio, and like the shell lf Yume II, but no matter how well tuned, 2BA+1DD is thus far they could reach… owing Yume, Bravery, is a hard jump to Yume II at this moment. Especially knowing See Audio’s dynamic driver is actually a sloppy one compared to the others the ones on Yume OG at least.