The discovery thread!

[AudioNewbie76]

I guess I finally found my bullet IEM sleeping buds endgame

Moondrop Droplet is smaller than ear tips
and sits well between ear and pillow when side sleeping. It doesn’t pressure the ear, very comfy Most importantly it has a little younger tuned Softears RSV style gene,


I guess Moondrop has opened up a good market. Chu / Jiu / LAN is still too big for side sleeping, but Droplet passed the line.

▶︎Small enough for side sleep (many small IEMs failed here)
▶︎No need to worry about battery (TWS failed here)
▶︎Actually tuned right! (many bullet failed here)
▶︎Has very low distortion and great imaging with coherent staging (Many dynamic driver failed here)
▶︎Actually does bass! (many single BA failed here)
All those passed for Droplet except
▶︎iPhone? No.
▶︎ Play/Pause switch needs a surge protector. It has hiccups.

@MOONDROP Please make Droplet with lightning cable… I can’t use Droplet on my iPhone. Also hopefully a TWS. It will sell tons!

Oh damn, that's cool. I'm probably still going to get Etys first, but these definitely do make me curious.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

So I bit on the Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite. I mentioned earlier this month that I was in the market for an all BA set, since I sold all my all BA sets in 2021 when I was nursing through heart failure. Only two BA sets I kept are two OLD dual BA sets (UE700 + ZA Doppio), and both are pretty good, but flawed in many ways. So I figured at that price, for 8 BA set, I'll take the plunge and with the dual dynamic Tri Star River satisfying my want of an all dynamic set, this should satiate me for awhile? Sure...might be a pipe dream, but it's a dream I'm hoping to accomplish lol Plus that green shell is gorgeous!

 

[Redcarmoose]

IMR RAH 2023 Dynamic Driver + 10mm Planar Magnetic Hybrid 2Pin 0.78mm HiFi Audiophile IEM with Tuning Nozzles& Dampers

$675.00

https://penonaudio.com/imr-rah-2023.html

 

[Penon]

Aune M1P
32bit/768Khz DSD512 FPGA 3.5mm Audio/2.5mm/4.4mm Balanced HiFi Audiophile Lossless Portable Music Player

Listed for sale now !
https://penonaudio.com/aune-m1p.html

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Very interesting, as the frequency response curve looks really like a perfect target, so now I am really intrigued by this little droplet...
Unfortunately, I use a little iFi Go Blu BT Receiver (15+ hours playing Time) hanged on the collar of my sleeping T Shirt, I would really prefer a 2.5mm balanced cable than USB-C or Lightning connector.

Hopefully they come with other options soon! I’m on the same boat, need one for iphone myself. Hope they let you choose from those options in the future.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Oh damn, that's cool. I'm probably still going to get Etys first, but these definitely do make me curious.

I’ve done A-B test, it has same spec, and Ety doesn’t have wide staging as well as slamming bass.

Ety is more of treble shifted, and that deep inserts maybe a deal breaker for some, but the noise isolation is one of the best among all IEMs because of that ear plug style usage.

ER4 has pinna gain around 2.6khz Diffusion Field Target or a very low end of general pinna gain area 2.5khz-3.5khz, so if your personal gain spot is around 2.6khz, it will have spot on imaging, if not you can try Droplet it has 3khz gain peak spot.

 

[ExTubeGamer]

Aune M1P
32bit/768Khz DSD512 FPGA 3.5mm Audio/2.5mm/4.4mm Balanced HiFi Audiophile Lossless Portable Music Player

A DAP with an fpga chip? That's something new in this price range.

 

[ChrisOc]

My well travelled AKG N5005 finally arrived. Thanks to @FreeWheelinAudioLuv2 who had to post it twice.

They sound quality is excellent, love the quality of the bass, which leans more to the sub-bass than the mid-bass. The entire frequency spectrum is delivered beautifully with melodic presentation. Detail retrival is great, but the highlight for me is the sound-stage, it is outstanding! A steal at $199, in my view. Thanks for the recommendation @AmericanSpirit.

The fit is not the best which affects the seal but with foam tips (not my favourite tips) they now have a good seal and sit comfortably in my ears.

I got myself the Dethonray Pegasus SG1 bluetooth only DAC/Amp.

It has exceptional sound quality. In my view this device puts bluetooth on par with wired audio.

 

[nraymond]

A DAP with an fpga chip? That's something new in this price range.

I could be mistaken, but I seem to recall most (all?) HibyOS based DAPs have an FPGA.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

My well travelled AKG N5005 finally arrived. Thanks to @FreeWheelinAudioLuv2 who had to post it twice.

They sound quality is excellent, love the quality of the bass, which leans more to the sub-bass than the mid-bass. The entire frequency spectrum is delivered beautifully with melodic presentation. Detail retrival is great, but the highlight for me is the sound-stage, it is outstanding! A steal at $199, in my view. Thanks for the recommendation @AmericanSpirit.

The fit is not the best which affects the seal but with foam tips (not my favourite tips) they now have a good seal and sit comfortably in my ears.



I got myself the Dethonray Pegasus SG1 bluetooth only DAC/Amp.

It has exceptional sound quality. In my view this device puts bluetooth on par with wired audio.

Yes I have a serious fit issue with N5005 and found SpinFit W1 is somehow the optimum solution in both fit and 5khz peak (or the metallic timbre)

Also thanks to remind us there is always foamies around! I’ve rediscovered Foam ear tips’s dryness treatment as well as shallow fit optimization, I’m going to try with N5005 with foam tips too! The 5khz timbre shall have more rounded edge as well.

 

[ToneDeafMonk]

IMR RAH 2023 Dynamic Driver + 10mm Planar Magnetic Hybrid 2Pin 0.78mm HiFi Audiophile IEM with Tuning Nozzles& Dampers

$675.00



https://penonaudio.com/imr-rah-2023.html

That's alot of cake for so little cheese better sound 3x as good as the other Planer + DD fair competition this year.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Just confirmed Droplet works perfectly fine with PC:

▶︎PC recognizes DSP chip as “Water Drop”
▶︎Nanoseconds hiccups - Play/Pause causing sudden surge of volume not present on PC
▶︎Volume up/down trims volume by 2 units per click, by keep pressing it repeats the click at around
n^2 (n=seconds kept pressed )clicks / second rate.
▶︎Noise floor very subtle, not noticeable in office environment
▶︎Confirmed Droplet is only equipped with foam stock ear tips, and the whole signature is designed with this tip. It has great noise isolation which you can hardly expect from regular ear tip with a light insertion type

▶︎The open air BA + Acoustic resonance chamber is indeed a brilliant idea. Hope to see more of these.

 

[Redcarmoose]

That's alot of cake for so little cheese better sound 3x as good as the other Planer + DD fair competition this year.

Well, if you listen to where he gets to the part about value, he says no, it’s not worth it. But he says if you can enjoy that last 10-20% then maybe? He uses the fact that they have sold so many, but that also a section of the public could be 1/2 of the people do understand and get fit.......therefore truly get the sound appreciation. The others may be people that just want to spend money, or get insurance that they have it?

I myself find the IER-Z1R the greatest IEM in my lifetime. The small extra details and the way it’s natural makes the music real, therefore I’m using it for reference as to what is truly possible. But that’s me.

These new IEMs probably they need to be of personal value? That’s subjective, be it wine, whiskey, cars, women or cheese......I guess it just depends what your taste is and how much money you want to throw into the game?

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Well, if you listen to where he gets to the part about value, he says no, it’s not worth it. But he says if you can enjoy that last 10-20% then maybe? He uses the fact that they have sold so many, but that also a section of the public could be 1/2 of the people do understand and get fit.......therefore truly get the sound appreciation. The others may be people that just want to spend money, or get insurance that they have it?

I myself find the IER-Z1R the greatest IEM in my lifetime. The small extra details and the way it’s natural makes the music real, therefore I’m using it for reference as to what is truly possible. But that’s me.

These new IEMs probably they need to be of personal value? That’s subjective, be it wine, whiskey, cars, women or cheese......I guess it just depends what your taste is and how much money you want to throw into the game?

Lol Crin’s face. The youtube video specialist he hired certainly knows youtube thumbnail marketing 101, put a big eye-catching facial expression with easy to read and short keywords/hand signs.

 

[RikudouGoku]