[gooberbm]

Apparently I'm dumb enough to go out on a limb for an 80% discount! The Canpur 1+2 appears to be sold out and the 1+1 got the recommendation in the video as the best of the bunch. Have I ever mentioned a weakness for 1+1 hybrids?

I anticipate both the Hexa and ZS10Pro X will blow it out of the water. But at least it looks pretty, and comes with a decent set of accessories. That counts for more if it ends up as a relationship lubricant (er, gift). I'm sure someone in the US will be able to report back before me, since Amazon Australia doesn't have the discount coupon.

It's a bit like finding a really cheap holiday deal with Southwest Airlines (or Jetstar). What can possibly go wrong?

This is not the time to reference Southwest Airlines, if it’s not the butt of a joke

 

[gmdb]

Never knew much about iBasso products or Cirrius Logic DAC chips but managed to pick up DX160 for a good price and quite honestly one of the best purchases I have ever done it this hobby. Sounds so much better to me than my Hiby R6 2020 and a close second to the Geshelli J2 AKM.

I am thinking about buying the DX170 over the 240 because of the way it sounds with the CL Chip. That's my discovery or 2022. That and cheap IEM's still have a place in my collection.

CL chips are a big favourite among a lot of people. Topping used to use them quite a bit and a few other companies but we now seem to be in a period where sabre chips dominate. The cheapest way I know of getting a CL dac at the moment is the Pro-Audio dongle. There a few different sellers on AliE.

 

[Carpet]

This is not the time to reference Southwest Airlines, if it’s not the butt of a joke

It was the butt of a joke! Perhaps I should explain more carefully!

Referring to trusting the airline whose appalling failure during the worst travel disruption since 9/11. As being equivalent to making a purchasing decision based on promotional hype of an unproven product. Was not complimentary. Southwest's performance in relation to disruption from cold weather events was about as reprehensible as the failure of Texas's maintenance and upgrading of power distribution infrastructure. Who could possibly have anticipated the potential for cold weather events disrupting a busy travel season in the middle of winter. Every other airline apparently, since none of the others failed their passengers so badly.

Google "Irony"

 

[PhonoPhi]

CL chips are a big favourite among a lot of people. Topping used to use them quite a bit and a few other companies but we now seem to be in a period where sabre chips dominate. The cheapest way I know of getting a CL dac at the moment is the Pro-Audio dongle. There a few different sellers on AliE.

Nominally, the cheapest CL-based dongle, at $8 or so, would be the Apple one not CS43131-based though.

CS43131 is surely one of the most popular and competitive audiophile chips. Many companies implement them. My favourite is Tempotec E44, while I never had a strongly coloured implementation that is more common with ESS.

Newer CS43198 are also competitive and promising.

 

[Vonbuddy]

Apparently I'm dumb enough to go out on a limb for an 80% discount! The Canpur 1+2 appears to be sold out and the 1+1 got the recommendation in the video as the best of the bunch. Have I ever mentioned a weakness for 1+1 hybrids?

I anticipate both the Hexa and ZS10Pro X will blow it out of the water. But at least it looks pretty, and comes with a decent set of accessories. That counts for more if it ends up as a relationship lubricant (er, gift). I'm sure someone in the US will be able to report back before me, since Amazon Australia doesn't have the discount coupon.

It's a bit like finding a really cheap holiday deal with Southwest Airlines (or Jetstar). What can possibly go wrong?

I bought it too.

 

[Tzennn]

It's a really good IEM . I find the double DD with cross-over to provide a very sophisticated bass response. I am interested in why you regard the treble as too relaxed. I think it may be. But the graph would suggest that people who are sensitive to treble gain would run screaming before they let it anywhere near their ears. I bought the Meaoes Eagle on the chance it may be a more technically sophisticated "Amazing" (and more sophisticated GK10) and it is. But its treble response has caused critical problems for some people. Perhaps it is because it is a bit more diffuse field in its reponse. Only graph I have seen for the Eagle is below.

The treble on this isn't good by any means, the 5k peak with 8k peak, bass bleed and pinna 2,2khz make vocal really close up and it will hide a lot of the detail, with 7khz dip and 10-11khz dip, even more detail hidden. Jinghong treble to my ear sound grainy, undefined, and lack that bit of extension. Usually with 5k peak iem, to make it more balanced by having a peak run from 5khz to 8khz, or having high peak at 13500hz to 16khz (like U12t).

 

[Vonbuddy]

After looking at a review of the allure from Kiiboom it is stated Thieaudio owns them. I didn't know that.
" I believe it’s universally different; THIEAUDIO/KiiBOOM states that it is."

Redcarmoose​

Headphoneus Supremus​

 

[o0genesis0o]

The treble on this isn't good by any means, the 5k peak with 8k peak, bass bleed and pinna 2,2khz make vocal really close up and it will hide a lot of the detail, with 7khz dip and 10-11khz dip, even more detail hidden. Jinghong treble to my ear sound grainy, undefined, and lack that bit of extension. Usually with 5k peak iem, to make it more balanced by having a peak run from 5khz to 8khz, or having high peak at 13500hz to 16khz (like U12t).

This comment perfectly captures the point raised by Dunu’s rep long ago: “serving the most detailed oriented customer base in the world is not exactly a good way to get rich”

 

[baskingshark]

After watching Timmy’s latest video (TURN $20 INTO $2000 (kind of) - YouTube) about the AutoEQ feature on squiq I wanted to dive deeper into this feature and I’m utterly baffled how good this works with a few after-apply tweaks. More on these later.
First let me describe my setup. I installed APO (Equalizer APO download | SourceForge.net) and Peace (Peace Equalizer, interface Equalizer APO download | SourceForge.net) on Windows 11 as well as wavelet on my Android phone.
Next I checked if imports of AutoEQ exports into Peace work. Check

.
Now i wanted to find out
a) how close does an AutoEQd IEM measure to the target curve with my 711 coupler.
b) how does it sound, or rather, can I apply the distinct Devialet-engineered Huawei Freebuds Pro 2 sound that I love to the budget TRN ST5

TRN ST5 stock FR



Freebuds Pro 2 FR



As in the video suggested I only applied AutoEQ up to around 8000Hz, imported into Peace and measured.
The result was pretty good.

TRN ST5 AutoEQ




Overlayed Graphs


I could have stopped there but I wanted to improve the eq profile.
First listening tests and the graph revealed that there’s a lack of air/brilliance. In order to mitigate this I added a +14 dB, high shelf band in Peace.

The end result is this and it sounds fantastic. If that doesn’t look like a TOTL graph then get outta here

TRN ST5 x Huawei Freebuds Pro 2




Afterthoughts
Today’s experiment opened up endles

Anything with smooth and standardized frequency response is good for EQ, IMHO. I call these tuning “unopinionated” because manufacturers do not impose an opinion on how music should sound but just try to present everything as “flat” (equal) as possible. This tuning allows you to apply your “will” on the IEM without fighting against the existing “will” of the manufacturer.

For example, Blessing 2 is quite alright to EQ. You only need to cut the 250 a few dB to make it “flat” and then you can go nut. I o B2 EQed to my target, that sounds like 64 Audio Trio. B2 has enough capability to realise that tuning thanks to the dual BA tweeters.

Something like ER2SE for instance, fall apart when I slam 10dB bass boost on. The bass just feel wrong.

So, in general, right ear gain + flat midrange + strong technical performance = good EQ foundation.

Btw, $20 EQ to $2000? What a click bait

Edit: even if technical performance can be captured in frequency response graph, EQ those nooks and crannies is not easy at all even with PEQ.

EQ is definitely a very nifty option to have in the pocket, to improve on certain stock tuning flaws.

But I found that some drivers don't take to EQ too well, they distort with too much EQ. Better quality ones do take EQ decently though.

EQ can perhaps fix tonal flaws but unfortunately I don't think they can improve technicalities to make a $20 usd iem become a $2000 usd one?

Technicalities and timbre are partially related to the FR, but I don't think you can EQ away BA timbre for example. Or increase imaging tremendously via EQ. Micro details and soundstage perhaps can be changed with EQ to some extent.

But if EQ can fix all ills, why not just buy a $1 thrift shop IEM and EQ it to a TOTL IEM and call it a day?

My DX170 was my beast purchase of 2022, and is far and away my best DAP of all my circus of DAPS and this includes both my Hiby DAPS that are parked in the junkyard due to battery failure. The DX170 is an aural wonder and I love it.

Wow how is the battery life on this DAP?

 

[freelancr]

But if EQ can fix all ills, why not just buy a $1 thrift shop IEM and EQ it to a TOTL IEM and call it a day?

Of course that's not working. Why so extreme? With decent drivers I'm sure totl tuning can be achieved. From what I experienced today. Absolutely.
I don't think that the usual high price IEMs have spectacular drivers inside that are hand crafted by inuit virgins only at three quarter moons on even Sundays. Most of the tuning is psychoacoustics. Venting, filters, crossovers and such.

If someone wants to try some different tunings I'm building this autoeq repository which will grow over time.

https://github.com/harpo/autoeq

Most of the profiles will be tested, adjusted and remeasured with my 711 coupler in order to correct unwanted dips and spikes.

 

[PhonoPhi]

EQ is definitely a very nifty option to have in the pocket, to improve on certain stock tuning flaws.

But I found that some drivers don't take to EQ too well, they distort with too much EQ. Better quality ones do take EQ decently though.

EQ can perhaps fix tonal flaws but unfortunately I don't think they can improve technicalities to make a $20 usd iem become a $2000 usd one?

Technicalities and timbre are partially related to the FR, but I don't think you can EQ away BA timbre for example. Or increase imaging tremendously via EQ. Micro details and soundstage perhaps can be changed with EQ to some extent.

But if EQ can fix all ills, why not just buy a $1 thrift shop IEM and EQ it to a TOTL IEM and call it a day?

Very good point about equalizers.
I could not help with a bit of science and then some curious quote from the Science Forum here.

One of the useful appoach is that to know someting better and to apply it, understanding its limitations is very instructive.

Equalizing is a subset of transformations in a time-frequency domain.
In these transformations, it is hard to add someting missing or lacking in a first place, e.g. extending treble range in a frequencies.
Similarly, for a time response, it is hard to add faster components, but it is more feasible to suppress/dampen faster ones.
So it is more feasible to mask BA timbre by dampening or modulating a selected frequency range than imitating BA timbre even with the most capable single DD, if anyone would ever think about such thing in a first place

Now, one of my favourites from the Science forum:
"With transducers, it's common to compensate for missing frequencies by boosting something near that range... for instance, a mid bass boost to make lack of sub bass less noticeable." (A direct quote from one of the main contributor to the Science Forum)

How often do you boost your mid-bass to compensate for missing sub-bass?

 

[gmdb]

The treble on this isn't good by any means, the 5k peak with 8k peak, bass bleed and pinna 2,2khz make vocal really close up and it will hide a lot of the detail, with 7khz dip and 10-11khz dip, even more detail hidden. Jinghong treble to my ear sound grainy, undefined, and lack that bit of extension. Usually with 5k peak iem, to make it more balanced by having a peak run from 5khz to 8khz, or having high peak at 13500hz to 16khz (like U12t).

Thanks. I am trying to better understand how the graphs relate to actual performance. So your comments relate to the graph for the "Amazing"? So with those dips at the top end, we lose a sense of detail and fullness at the top end and the peaks that occur don't compensate for that. This would fit my listening experience.

 

[ToneDeafMonk]

My DX170 was my beast purchase of 2022, and is far and away my best DAP of all my circus of DAPS and this includes both my Hiby DAPS that are parked in the junkyard due to battery failure. The DX170 is an aural wonder and I love it.

Nice to hear I think I will get that but someone has a used 240 for sale for $400 less than new is tempting.

 

[Tzennn]

This comment perfectly captures the point raised by Dunu’s rep long ago: “serving the most detailed oriented customer base in the world is not exactly a good way to get rich”

hahaha that absolutely right. "Musical" and "detail" both are subjective, having a mutual detail perception is hard

Thanks. I am trying to better understand how the graphs relate to actual performance. So your comments relate to the graph for the "Amazing"? So with those dips at the top end, we lose a sense of detail and fullness at the top end and the peaks that occur don't compensate for that. This would fit my listening experience.

yes these dip at 6-7khz usually what i call "dry treble", both macro/micro is there, it make music more dry or "go through", it's not stopping, these peak usually make one iem sound more "refrence" and lost it's "musical", the Amazing have a hugh dip at that region, the 9khz-11khz usually make tiniest cymbal stand out as well as vocal more siblant (or edgy), Amazing have huge dip there aswell so both combine you get this extreme mid range yet grainy and "subwoofer" kind of treble

 

[Surf Monkey]

After looking at a review of the allure from Kiiboom it is stated Thieaudio owns them. I didn't know that.
" I believe it’s universally different; THIEAUDIO/KiiBOOM states that it is."

Redcarmoose​

Headphoneus Supremus​

I mean, it appears that Linsoul is the front end consumer facing element of a set of factory brands that includes, amongst others, Thieaudio and Kiiboom. It’s dead obvious that the Allure and the Elixir are the exact same thing. The marketing on the box for both is almost word for word identical and the shells are exactly the same with the exception of color of the faceplates and the shells.

This kind of thing is something to keep an eye on for sure. The same thing happens with Chinese wrist watches. One manufacture site houses a half dozen or more factory brands that are all made on the same machines and with only slightly differing designs and features. Same thing is clearly going on in the IEM world. And when a loss-leader like the Allure comes along, an Elixir at half the price? Done deal.