[AmericanSpirit]

Today we take a close look at the -AFUL Performer 5 on Headfonia!

https://www.headfonia.com/aful-performer-5-review/

It's also a new recommended buy. A review by @Virtu Fortuna

if you dig deeper to Chinese local source, that company isn’t a joke one
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-discovery-thread.586909/post-17305414

AFUL’s local product line up is called BAND series of which they have Band 5/8. Right now Band5 is re-introduced to western market with renamed Performer 5. P5 has 7 patents inside
its rather smaller shells when compared similar shell designed Monarch MKII


Here is performer 8 info
Post in thread 'The discovery thread!'
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-discovery-thread.586909/post-17306013

 

[gooberbm]

Technically, I can tell from Audiophile’s hunch that the main “love“ that Crin and Timmy have is in favor of J-POP genre.

I‘m pretty familiar with Crin’s taste and his recommendations are very good fit to J-POP, especially mainstream high spectrum —1khz-20khz+ —female vocal type (Suis/Minami/Reol/Reona/LiSa/Dazbee/Ado/Aimer).

There are more technically talented J-Pop female singers like MISIA/Utada Hikaru/KOKIA, and they have wider octaves in singing, “Western style singing” which contains mid-bass elements.

And yes Monarch is indeed specialized for J-POP or other Asian major scenes

That mid-bass limited tuning of Monarchs may not suitable as a all rounder for Billboards tracks though, Billboard top runners have rhythm sections with heavy bass elements in focus. Those needs that “bass bleed” in order to sound engaged.

That’s where Thieaudio divided their product line into Monarch / Clairvoyance. Clairvoyance is tuned better fit with Billboards, Rock, those genre those need “mid-bass” and more “musicality“.

Although the only nitpicking for Thieaudio’s decision is that they set Clairvoyance as lower-grade set when compared to Monarch, means lower price, less hardware spec. It’s to avoid direct competition among their own product line ups, but that’s a bad call.

They should have set those two line up equally and let people decide which one their preference… and Monarch MKII is somewhat mixture of Monarch OG and Clairvoyance’s mid-point(actually more toward Clairvoyance) now, the identity in both tunings virtue is lost and it became more universally all rounder, simpler manufacturing process, more cost efficient, to the extent I see even a downgrade in carrying pouch shifted from original leather case to fabric generic one that comes with XINHS’s $20 cable purchase..

Thieaudio could offer more, and now the prestige seemed to be targeting what Monarch OG was pursuing.

They did this with Oracle/Excalibur. See how that turned out

 

[AmericanSpirit]

They did this with Oracle/Excalibur. See how that turned out

Yea however that was drilling down from the flagship level to the med-fi level.
They could exercise a binary offer for the flagship level or simply add tuning switches which I prefer to flip sound profiles. Not that we always listen to the specific genre with specific tuning so versatility is welcomed to that need.

 

[Ianus]

HAKUGEI cables on AE at a very good price:
US $ 35.21 - HAKUGEI Obsidian Modular plug 5 to 1 Litz silver plated occ%Black litz copper- silver alloy - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005104807872.html
US $18.58 (Type-C)/ US $20.70 (Lightning) - HAKUGEI Rice litz 6N OCC nomocrystalline copper hifi Earphone Upgrade Cable MMCX 0.78 QDC (Type-c/Lightning) - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004986450025.html

 

[domq422]

HAKUGEI cables on AE at a very good price:
US $ 35.21 - HAKUGEI Obsidian Modular plug 5 to 1 Litz silver plated occ%Black litz copper- silver alloy - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005104807872.html
US $18.58 (Type-C)/ US $20.70 (Lightning) - HAKUGEI Rice litz 6N OCC nomocrystalline copper hifi Earphone Upgrade Cable MMCX 0.78 QDC (Type-c/Lightning) - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004986450025.html

Can we stop linking to these beautiful cables with discounts?! My wife is going to kill me if I buy something else this month!

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Technically, I can tell from Audiophile’s hunch that the main “love“ that Crin and Timmy have is in favor of J-POP genre.

I‘m pretty familiar with Crin’s taste and his recommendations are very good fit to J-POP, especially mainstream high spectrum —1khz-20khz+ —female vocal type (Suis/Minami/Reol/Reona/LiSa/Dazbee/Ado/Aimer).

There are more technically talented J-Pop female singers like MISIA/Utada Hikaru/KOKIA, and they have wider octaves in singing, “Western style singing” which contains mid-bass elements.

And yes Monarch is indeed specialized for J-POP or other Asian major scenes

That mid-bass limited tuning of Monarchs may not suitable as a all rounder for Billboards tracks though, Billboard top runners have rhythm sections with heavy bass elements in focus. Those needs that “bass bleed” in order to sound engaged.

That’s where Thieaudio divided their product line into Monarch / Clairvoyance. Clairvoyance is tuned better fit with Billboards, Rock, those genre those need “mid-bass” and more “musicality“.

Although the only nitpicking for Thieaudio’s decision is that they set Clairvoyance as lower-grade set when compared to Monarch, means lower price, less hardware spec. It’s to avoid direct competition among their own product line ups, but that’s a bad call.

They should have set those two line up equally and let people decide which one their preference… and Monarch MKII is somewhat mixture of Monarch OG and Clairvoyance’s mid-point(actually more toward Clairvoyance) now, the identity in both tunings virtue is lost and it became more universally all rounder, simpler manufacturing process, more cost efficient, to the extent I see even a downgrade in carrying pouch shifted from original leather case to fabric generic one that comes with XINHS’s $20 cable purchase..

Thieaudio could offer more, and now the prestige seemed to be targeting what Monarch OG was pursuing.

Additional supplemental information for Crin’s vocal-focused neutral preference.

Recent study finds human brain has specific cells and nerve pathways that only react to vocals, not instruments.

I would assume field expert @baskingshark may find this very interesting

Abstruct:

Highlights​

• •
  Neural population responsive to singing, but not instrumental music or speech
• •
  New statistical method infers neural populations from human intracranial responses
• •
  fMRI used to map the spatial distribution of intracranial responses
• •
  Intracranial responses replicate distinct music- and speech-selective populations

Summary​

How is music represented in the brain? While neuroimaging has revealed some spatial segregation between responses to music versus other sounds, little is known about the neural code for music itself. To address this question, we developed a method to infer canonical response components of human auditory cortex using intracranial responses to natural sounds, and further used the superior coverage of fMRI to map their spatial distribution. The inferred components replicated many prior findings, including distinct neural selectivity for speech and music, but also revealed a novel component that responded nearly exclusively to music with singing. Song selectivity was not explainable by standard acoustic features, was located near speech- and music-selective responses, and was also evident in individual electrodes. These results suggest that representations of music are fractionated into subpopulations selective for different types of music, one of which is specialized for the analysis of song.

Not a big surprise noting that whales are singing together as a mean of communication and human inherited those natural traits.


Trivia about whales singing, they use ULF(ultra low frequency) band in communication which under the deep-sea, and very complex layers of acoustic chambers due to the density of salt, temperature , their ULF songs can travel 3000km, or sometime even further.

 

[NymPHONOmaniac]

Today ive decide to open back my old NBBA: NO BS BUDGET AUDIOPHILE group which was on pause for more than a year...
Since Chifi Love community is begining to achieve what NBBA couldn't (chill open minded chifi community), I decide to change the community goal.
Its now all about BASSHEAD joy and gems. If your one of those (which doesnt mean your binary basshead, but can enjoy fun bass V, U or even W shape), your welcome to join this 1 day old community.
You can join NO BS BASSHEAD AUDIOPHILES here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2356925341002367

Chifi sure have plenty of great basshead IEM, im listening to one of them right now: the Audiosense AQ4

I have my eye on Fatreq Maestro Mini...but then discover a V2 version will come out soon...any graph available yet??

Cheers!

 

[Nimweth]

Additional supplemental information for Crin’s vocal-focused neutral preference.

Recent study finds human brain has specific cells and nerve pathways that only react to vocals, not instruments.

I would assume field expert @baskingshark may find this very interesting

Abstruct:

Highlights​

• •
  Neural population responsive to singing, but not instrumental music or speech
• •
  New statistical method infers neural populations from human intracranial responses
• •
  fMRI used to map the spatial distribution of intracranial responses
• •
  Intracranial responses replicate distinct music- and speech-selective populations

Summary​

How is music represented in the brain? While neuroimaging has revealed some spatial segregation between responses to music versus other sounds, little is known about the neural code for music itself. To address this question, we developed a method to infer canonical response components of human auditory cortex using intracranial responses to natural sounds, and further used the superior coverage of fMRI to map their spatial distribution. The inferred components replicated many prior findings, including distinct neural selectivity for speech and music, but also revealed a novel component that responded nearly exclusively to music with singing. Song selectivity was not explainable by standard acoustic features, was located near speech- and music-selective responses, and was also evident in individual electrodes. These results suggest that representations of music are fractionated into subpopulations selective for different types of music, one of which is specialized for the analysis of song.

Not a big surprise noting that whales are singing together as a mean of communication and human inherited those natural traits.


Trivia about whales singing, they use ULF(ultra low frequency) band in communication which under the deep-sea, and very complex layers of acoustic chambers due to the density of salt, temperature , their ULF songs can travel 3000km, or sometime even further.

Admiral! There be whales here!

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

I saw they're back and had mixed feelings. I've missed my gr07s and wish I hadn't let them go and then also scepticism.. Because everyones gr07 had a driver fail from what I heard.

Why do iem dynamic drivers fail so reliably? Though they were particularly bad, its not just vsonics issue.

Not all fail. I still have my E80 that I bought on pre-sale back in 2013-2014 (?) and they are still humming along about a decade later.

 

[Leonarfd]

Hakugei Sea-Elf is still very new, probably have 10 hours usage now with them. What I find lack the most is that they are soft sounding and just average in how resolving. Tonality there is no peak or anything lacking, but I am not shocked if someone measure them and they have a few db less from the lower treble and up(compared to some referance graphs). Still haven't compared them to anything, can probably compare them later to Blon 03, SG01 OVA and the Truthear Hola when it arrives.

Also did some digging and I have a feel that the FENGRU Gong JueYu Gong (do) used the same LCP diagrams, they are just not illustrating it. Got a msg trough Facebook saying that the IEM they use is is very similar.


https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004477925679.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.87.7ba16232eFAgbo&algo_pvid=43916f9a-38d0-4535-8699-656f95d2c143&algo_exp_id=43916f9a-38d0-4535-8699-656f95d2c143-43&pdp_ext_f={"sku_id":"12000029302571756"}&pdp_npi=2@dis!NOK!986.43!789.15!!!!!@211bf3f816735541047276069d06e7!12000029302571756!sea&curPageLogUid=3C9yhXq6a4P1

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005074583754.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.29.21ef1802aWJsas

 

[Leonarfd]

Just tried the cable on my EST50 and it holds up well compared to some ISN cables I have. Also it looks and feel premium, still this is very subjective. And for another point, damned the EST50 is a fun and great sounding IEM

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Hakugei Sea-Elf is still very new, probably have 10 hours usage now with them. What I find lack the most is that they are soft sounding and just average in how resolving. Tonality there is no peak or anything lacking, but I am not shocked if someone measure them and they have a few db less from the lower treble and up(compared to some referance graphs). Still haven't compared them to anything, can probably compare them later to Blon 03, SG01 OVA and the Truthear Hola when it arrives.

Also did some digging and I have a feel that the FENGRU Gong JueYu Gong (do) is the same IEM.


https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004477925679.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.87.7ba16232eFAgbo&algo_pvid=43916f9a-38d0-4535-8699-656f95d2c143&algo_exp_id=43916f9a-38d0-4535-8699-656f95d2c143-43&pdp_ext_f={"sku_id":"12000029302571756"}&pdp_npi=2@dis!NOK!986.43!789.15!!!!!@211bf3f816735541047276069d06e7!12000029302571756!sea&curPageLogUid=3C9yhXq6a4P1

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005074583754.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.29.21ef1802aWJsas

Wow detective!
by the way I’d avoid Fengru, they source whatever ODM and simply add margin on it.

I doubt that Touhou characters faceplate may be considered copyright infringement

 

[jsmiller58]

Wow detective!
by the way I’d avoid Fengru, they source whatever ODM and simply add margin on it.

I doubt that Touhou characters faceplate may be considered copyright infringement

This is just… just… so wrong…

 

[ToneDeafMonk]

Can we stop linking to these beautiful cables with discounts?! My wife is going to kill me if I buy something else this mo

Can we stop linking to these beautiful cables with discounts?! My wife is going to kill me if I buy something else this month!

C$ 37.47 40%OFF | HAKUGEI Lucky voice headset cable 2.5 3.5 4.4 0.78 mmcx
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mPzHD8A

1/2 the price I see elsewhere on AliX

The flat 2 pin option is baller.no extra and they can make it a modular for not much more I bought 3

 

[Fat Larry]

Not all fail. I still have my E80 that I bought on pre-sale back in 2013-2014 (?) and they are still humming along about a decade later.

Hmm how much use have they had? Any dd set I've used as a daily driver has ended up failing. Many moons ago it started with Creative ear buds, then two sets of Vsonics, xiaomi piston hd, Oriveti NP, and most recently the set of mh-750s.