[o0genesis0o]

Sound Rhyme SR5 benchmark underway… will update tomorrow

Against Top Performing rivals:

Left to Right
AKG N5005 (4BA+1DD) : Gain-Compensated Neutral-U
Moondrop Blessing 2 (4BA+1DD) : VDSF-Harman-Neutral
DUNU SA6 ( 6BA) : Mid-flat Neutral U (qdc)
Sound Rhyme SR5 (4BA+1DD) : Mid-focused Neutral U
AFUL Performer 5 (4BA+1DD): Monitor-style neutral with Sub bass boost
Truthear HEXA (3BA+1DD) : Diffusion-Neutral
Moondrop Variations (2EST+2BA+1DD): VDSF harman with sub-bass boost
See Audio Bravery (4BA) : Mid-focused Neutral U

-Fletcher Munson considered, I tried to level sound volume of each IEM at the same level based on personal listening
=============================
️Note (Dry - Thin < Rich - Fat)
Bravery < N5005 < B2 < SR5 <Variation< P5 < SA6 (off)

=============================
️Neutral Tonal Balance overall (Uncolored > Colored)
SA6 (Off) > B2 > P5 > Variations > N5005 > SR5 > Bravery

=============================
️Bass Presence : overall bass range mass x transient speed (if too quick, no perceived presence)
https://tidal.com/track/272909903
Modern Drum N’ Bass with Piano and spatial spices added, Bass presence is a must.
Variations > Bravery > SR5 > SA6 (on) > P5 > N5005 > HEXA > B2

=============================
️Bass Slam (Heavy > Light) Transient Speed x Sub Bass Mass x Carrying Energy
https://tidal.com/track/91580143
From the Intro, the bass drum slams hard with deep deep reaching Floor Tom, easy pick for Bass Slam test.

Variations> P5 > SR5 > Bravery > N5005 > SA6(On) > B2 > HEXA

=============================
️Bass Organic Textures Quality (Organic > Artificial) Yes I care about bass a lot. This is not quantity, it’s imaging texture x impulse response.
https://tidal.com/track/222971111
Yo-Yo-Ma Cello x New York Phil x MQA, Bass texture doesn’t lie for this track.


=============================
️Mid-Bass level (Scooped vs Bleed)

=============================
️Mid-focus

=============================
️Upper Mid (Female Vocal) forwardness

=============================
️6khz Sibilance

=============================
️Treble detail articulation
https://tidal.com/track/77611296
This Karajan x Berlin Phil x MQA x Mussorgsky is a very good test track for treble detail articulation. This will reveal IEM’s true spec when A-B tested. No excuses because 10BA and EST drivers do outperform with 2BA or Single BA, DDs. Result is shocking…

Variations>SR5>SA6(Off)>N5005>Bravery>P5>B2>HEXA

=============================
️Sense of Air /Finesse

=============================
️Imaging Focus


=============================
️(Artificial /Colored) Diffusion Field -Size

=============================
️(Artificial /Colored ) Diffusion Field -Position Conformity


=============================
️Overall Resolving Capabilities


=============================
️Personal Pick (2023)


Some extra face place shot

Question: Variations is coloured and “rich-fat”? How come? It has the (in)famous Harman 250Hz dip

Edit: great choice of test track, btw

 

[Barndoor]

Tangzu Audio has a new upcoming IEM they showed at the Guangzhou expo (similar to Canjam in China).

Name, price and driver config TBC. Bullet shaped and non-detachable. Probably a budget pair in view of the non-detachable cables. But the housing engravings look quite wicked.




https://www.facebook.com/tangzuaudi...kT6tcybGjumBRkQvALkbkJuricZ2uRyGii5XUCHvesWCl










There's more info (and graph) on the upcoming Geekwold GK100




https://www.facebook.com/siyuan.che...RPj4nr9wJYWf7HKRUtcVnMXeK16sNVyXNUWJkkudB5kAl

Geekwold Down from the previously mentioned 3DD to 2 DD now,
Wonder how many more drivers will fall out before they get to market?

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Question: Variations is coloured and “rich-fat”? How come? It has the (in)famous Harman 250Hz dip

Edit: great choice of test track, btw

Variation is very sub-bass heavy, it’s not only FR thing, the LCP driver of Variations delivers a serious heavy blow in bass range, and it is that heavy heavy. It is heavily sub-bass oriented coloration that almost eliminate upper mid focus and give a L-shape feeling. Tonal balance is shifted toward bass range and will give listeners bass-rolled impression. I actually still in love of this sub-basshead set. Just played Yo-yo-ma with NY Phil and the cello blow my head all the way to the moon from my room.
Haha good tracks right?

 

[baskingshark]

Geekwold Down from the previously mentioned 3DD to 2 DD now,
Wonder how many more drivers will fall out before they get to market?

Well, my 2 cents is that the driver count/brand/type is not as important as the tuning/implementation. Most important is that it sounds good to us, be it 100 DDs or 1 DD!

In fact more drivers may be a major headache for the engineers to implement proper crossovers and not mess with the coherency. Must have been a reason for them to drop the 3DD -> 2DD?

 

[Barndoor]

My point was about highlighting that the information coming from Geekwold can't be trusted, not that 3DD is better than 2DD.
Will 4 piezo turn into 2 per side. I suspect so.

 

[o0genesis0o]

Variation is very sub-bass heavy, it’s not only FR thing, the LCP driver of Variations delivers a serious heavy blow in bass range, and it is that heavy heavy. It is heavily sub-bass oriented coloration that almost eliminate upper mid focus and give a L-shape feeling. Tonal balance is shifted toward bass range and will give listeners bass-rolled impression. I actually still in love of this sub-basshead set. Just played Yo-yo-ma with NY Phil and the cello blow my head all the way to the moon from my room.
Haha good tracks right?

Sounds like fun IEM. I always thought it is a very thin sounding IEM.

Hopefully my local hifi store would stock Moondrop one day. I’m always curious about Variations but don’t trust Moondrop enough about the soundstage depth and layering to blind buy one.

That reminds me, I kept forgetting to buy the CDs of Yo-Yo Ma’s Bach Cello Suites.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Sounds like fun IEM. I always thought it is a very thin sounding IEM.

Hopefully my local hifi store would stock Moondrop one day. I’m always curious about Variations but don’t trust Moondrop enough about the soundstage depth and layering to blind buy one.

That reminds me, I kept forgetting to buy the CDs of his Bach Cello Suites.

Yea with only weakness in lack of layering, Variations conqured two major weakness of B2 that I kept tagging Moondrop reps to equip EST and LCP to B2 shell, with Dusk style sub-bass roll. They really did it

Since B2 fits to my ear like custom, Variations is an endgame for me in fitting. fitting if actually very important especially for long term relationship…it’s like personality match with your partner, more than their outlook or talents.

Hope you get an opportunity in auditioning Variations someday! It’s my 90/100 S- set.

 

[o0genesis0o]

Yea with only weakness in lack of layering, Variations conqured two major weakness of B2 that I kept tagging Moondrop reps to equip EST and LCP to B2 shell, with Dusk style sub-bass roll. They really did it

Since B2 fits to my ear like custom, Variations is an endgame for me in fitting. fitting if actually very important especially for long term relationship…it’s like personality match with your partner, more than their outlook or talents.

Hope you get an opportunity in auditioning Variations someday! It’s my 90/100 S- set.

I recall that the DD in Variations is different from the one in B2. That might explain the good bass response.

Interesting that B2 fits your ears. The nozzles of B2 is too large and sit at such an awkward angle for my ears. They work, but not quite comfortable. I have better luck with Monarch II, and the P5 with HS18 tips.

Speaking of B2, whilst it is not something I enjoy, it’s interesting to see how formidable it still is nowadays. Many times I think to myself “hey, these are as detailed as B2”. And then I compare them against B2 and realised how wrong I was

Still, if I have to listen to B2 only, I’ll be very sad.

 

[Tzennn]

What sound card, coupler and eartips are you using for your measurements? And has it been updated with a calibration file? All these can affect how the graph appears as a final product.

I use taobao iec711 with their soundcard, it's a bundle actually

I use foam tips, i get inconsistent result with widebore so i use foam tips to measure

 

[Tzennn]

I recall that the DD in Variations is different from the one in B2. That might explain the good bass response.

Interesting that B2 fits your ears. The nozzles of B2 is too large and sit at such an awkward angle for my ears. They work, but not quite comfortable. I have better luck with Monarch II, and the P5 with HS18 tips.

Speaking of B2, whilst it is not something I enjoy, it’s interesting to see how formidable it still is nowadays. Many times I think to myself “hey, these are as detailed as B2”. And then I compare them against B2 and realised how wrong I was

Still, if I have to listen to B2 only, I’ll be very sad.

B2 also fits my ears like a custom. Funny that these little toy can't even fit my ears properly

 

[baskingshark]

GK100, thats qdc tuning with less air presence Like it!

Speaking about QDC, they have 3 hybrids released recently, called the Folk S, Folk C and Folk Xiaojuan.

Prices range from 2380 RMB, which is about $346 USD to 3180 RMB ($463 USD).

QDC gear is never cheap, but they can be considered as one of the CHIFI TOTL companies, some of their gear can compete with boutique/western brand TOTL IEMs.

http://shop.qdc.com/product/#/MixedCellSeries?productindex=135

I use taobao iec711 with their soundcard, it's a bundle actually

I use foam tips, i get inconsistent result with widebore so i use foam tips to measure

Hmm, hope you have installed the individualized calibration file. On the IEC711 coupler, measurements for the upper treble above the coupler resonance peak (usually at 8 kHz) is inaccurate for comparison, so don't worry about it.

 

[r31ya]

Paul Wasabi review of KZ Ling Long
(1DD, bullet style, $15)

The KZ Ling Long is a pleasant surprise for me. For anyone who tried a few of the microdynamics from last year, they were different but had some similarities, I give credit to KZ for taking a new path through the bass shelf and delivering a solid, great value microdynamic. I have no doubt we will see this 6mm XUN evolve during the year and hopefully re-appear paired with a big brother or two.
-Paul Wasabi-

 

[gadgetgod]

Speaking about QDC, they have 3 hybrids released recently, called the Folk S, Folk C and Folk Xiaojuan.

Prices range from 2380 RMB, which is about $346 USD to 3180 RMB ($463 USD).

QDC gear is never cheap, but they can be considered as one of the CHIFI TOTL companies, some of their gear can compete with boutique/western brand TOTL IEMs.









http://shop.qdc.com/product/#/MixedCellSeries?productindex=135



Hmm, hope you have installed the individualized calibration file. On the IEC711 coupler, measurements for the upper treble above the coupler resonance peak (usually at 8 kHz) is inaccurate for comparison, so don't worry about it.

S and C models are the same earphones but one is universal(S) and the other is Custom(C).

 

[saldsald]

Pretty confusing to release the MT4 and then the TA3 at almost the same time.

 

[o0genesis0o]

Speaking about QDC, they have 3 hybrids released recently, called the Folk S, Folk C and Folk Xiaojuan.

Prices range from 2380 RMB, which is about $346 USD to 3180 RMB ($463 USD).

QDC gear is never cheap, but they can be considered as one of the CHIFI TOTL companies, some of their gear can compete with boutique/western brand TOTL IEMs.









http://shop.qdc.com/product/#/MixedCellSeries?productindex=135

Have they ever produced any hit beside Anole VX? I can’t recall any decent budget offering from them. The neptune or something like that did not fly, afaik