The discovery thread!

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Hello Friends,

I just dropped my review on the all-new Cadmus 8-Wire cable. It's an amazing cable with a superb build and excellent sound characteristics. It pairs nicely with the Noble Audio Viking Rangar and with the Kinera Nanna 2.1 as well!! Check out my complete review here:-
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/effect-audio-cadmus-8w.26217/reviews#review-30467

Some eye-candy!!

Did you sell your Sony DAP?

One of my important purchases was the Tansio Mirai Sands. Because of this IEM I learned how to use eq properly. Then it teached me that I don't need even more resolution and even more clarity but a more musical sound instead.

The Sands was spicy and yet so wide and deep and technical, but I had to part with mine to build up my nest egg for my trip next week.

These arrived today. Thanks @Burnt Luck. Now these are pretty much new as you can get used. They aren't even burned in. Sound Rhyme SR5.

Been listening to them out of the Sony A306, A17, iBasso DX170, and old iPod for now.

So my brief negatives : Resolution is only OK. This might actually be correlated to the fact the treble is rolled off. The Orchestra Lite has more extension than the SR%. WHAT?! Yes. True. Now is it dark or lacking energy? Not really, because there's still air, but the overall perception of top shelf resolution is missing. As a comparison, the Ling Long feels like it has more bite and resolution at $15 than the SR5 at $150. That's the end of the negatives (So if you are a treblehead or love ultimate extension and top end presence, stay away).

The good so far? OH DAT BASS!!!! Immediately these leap frog all other IEM's in my collection when it comes to bass presence, quality + quantity, and speed and thump. These act like a super high quality old school desktop sub woofer. WHOOMP WHOOMP WHOOMP WHOOMP there it is!!! But let's get this out of the way as well...There is very little bleed into the mids, but just enough presence to give the mids some heft and weight (some might call it veil, but for an IEM with this much bass/sub bass, this is acceptable and actually welcomed). Fugees - Killing Me Softly, you can FEEL the bass floor reached and the vibration and hit. The AKG N5005, Shangri-La's, and the KEF200 originally had that deep hard hitting but equally fast bass response, but the SR5 eclipse them all. Bassheads need apply, and then put them to the test against the Fatfreq's and Legatos. I'm sure you will find they can hang. These are good equally with heavy metal and hip hop, and will leave you bassatisfied.

The mids are prominent, along with the bass. These are great for high pitched vocals, female and male vocals, and it does pick up details in the mids. It's no slouch in the mids. Since the treble stay in back and let the mids and bass shine, guitars have a place to shine, along with pianos and horns. Nothing is ever harsh or sibilant. EVER.

Next...the strength of these is soundstage and imaging. The stage is wide and deep, but not tall. But there's enough holographic 3D staging and instrument placement, that it feels like you are in the middle of a concert hall, next to speakers that rattle your brain, but positioned so that instruments come at you left, right, back front. Just not too much up and down, but that's a quibble. @AmericanSpirit discovered a gem for someone who wants to listen to bass heavy genres like rap and hip hop, or bass and guitar driven music like rock and metal. Kudos and cheers. More impressions to come as I cable roll, tip roll, and DAP roll. PEACE!!

https://a.aliexpress.com/_EwCj2wn

I ordered two sets of these from Ma. They got sent out, and should be here in the next two days?

 

[AmericanSpirit]

These arrived today. Thanks @Burnt Luck. Now these are pretty much new as you can get used. They aren't even burned in. Sound Rhyme SR5.

Been listening to them out of the Sony A306, A17, iBasso DX170, and old iPod for now.

So my brief negatives : Resolution is only OK. This might actually be correlated to the fact the treble is rolled off. The Orchestra Lite has more extension than the SR%. WHAT?! Yes. True. Now is it dark or lacking energy? Not really, because there's still air, but the overall perception of top shelf resolution is missing. As a comparison, the Ling Long feels like it has more bite and resolution at $15 than the SR5 at $150. That's the end of the negatives (So if you are a treblehead or love ultimate extension and top end presence, stay away).

The good so far? OH DAT BASS!!!! Immediately these leap frog all other IEM's in my collection when it comes to bass presence, quality + quantity, and speed and thump. These act like a super high quality old school desktop sub woofer. WHOOMP WHOOMP WHOOMP WHOOMP there it is!!! But let's get this out of the way as well...There is very little bleed into the mids, but just enough presence to give the mids some heft and weight (some might call it veil, but for an IEM with this much bass/sub bass, this is acceptable and actually welcomed). Fugees - Killing Me Softly, you can FEEL the bass floor reached and the vibration and hit. The AKG N5005, Shangri-La's, and the KEF200 originally had that deep hard hitting but equally fast bass response, but the SR5 eclipse them all. Bassheads need apply, and then put them to the test against the Fatfreq's and Legatos. I'm sure you will find they can hang. These are good equally with heavy metal and hip hop, and will leave you bassatisfied.

The mids are prominent, along with the bass. These are great for high pitched vocals, female and male vocals, and it does pick up details in the mids. It's no slouch in the mids. Since the treble stay in back and let the mids and bass shine, guitars have a place to shine, along with pianos and horns. Nothing is ever harsh or sibilant. EVER.

Next...the strength of these is soundstage and imaging. The stage is wide and deep, but not tall. But there's enough holographic 3D staging and instrument placement, that it feels like you are in the middle of a concert hall, next to speakers that rattle your brain, but positioned so that instruments come at you left, right, back front. Just not too much up and down, but that's a quibble. @AmericanSpirit discovered a gem for someone who wants to listen to bass heavy genres like rap and hip hop, or bass and guitar driven music like rock and metal. Kudos and cheers. More impressions to come as I cable roll, tip roll, and DAP roll. PEACE!!

Great review

” top shelf resolution is missing” yea, it’s tamed around 10kh-13khz to have softer timbre, pretty much agreed

Pretty good tuning overall right?

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

A bit late to the party, I thought I'd check out some Truthear gear, and the Zero and Hola arrived this morning. Early impressions and likely final verdict is that I like the Hola a lot and dislike the Zero quite a bit.

On the EA500 front, I have removed the bolts next to the back vents and perhaps it increases the bass quantity a bit, by very little however if it's not placebo.

I had another £100 to burn left for this month and so I bought a Jade/FiiO JD7 and a Reecho SG03s just before Ali sale ended, I have no self-control...

My friend, I said I was done after the Aure and the VS3, and well.....that lead to the SR5 and IE600 lol But i'm actually out of the Buying Game, because my spouse got involved LOL

Btw, how are finding the FLO Lily so far? I’m really liking the overall tonality (good, present midrange; adequate bass - no bass bleed into mids; wide enough headstage)with these KB Ear small bore, long nozzle ear tips inserted deep in my ears. Seem to bring out more sparkle to my ears. The fizzy treble is never harsh and sibilant, and as an added benefit isolation is pretty good. On another note they seem to measure closely to the Audiosense DT100, which apparently has a Knowles BA if I’m not mistaken. The Lily is supposed be a custom BA?

Why would I buy the floaudio Lily, when I can get the Ultimate Ears 600, a single top fired knowles BA tuned by Jerry Harvey, for $25.00? These things are a decade old, and yet sound incredibly awesome for a single BA, with quick punchy bass (Jerry Harvey specialty) and beautiful highs.

1. I get that music is emotional, that it means a lot to people, that personal audio is pretty personal in that people carry devices around with them, and stick little things on and in their body to enjoy it, but I do think people are getting carried away and are identifying too much with the inanimate physical objects which are neither their body nor their mind nor who they really are and when someone criticizes those objects they are not criticizing the person. Someone dislikes an opinion, they are not disliking the person. No reason to get bent out of shape, and no faces are getting punched, literally or figuratively. (Not saying people aren't experiencing emotions that make them feel like their faces are getting punched, but I recommend they take some time to do some self-examination and figure out why they might be feeling that, the answer to that question tends to be unique to each individual.)
2. If people are arguing facts, then great, you are arguing facts, sides can bring out evidence, they can compare notes, explain how they reproduced things and reached their respective conclusions, and collaboratively triangulate on the objective truth together. This can be a very good thing.
3. A for-profit company's job is to make money. They have to obey some laws, but outside of that, they are not your friend, no matter what they tell you or whatever you think. They tend to spend money to pretend to be your friend when they think they'll be rewarded with more sales and profit.
4. This forum is a for-profit enterprise. The owners monetize the information we post, track our links and clicks (which is why we have to strip off all the other tracking stuff from links we post, so the forum's link tracking can work properly). Facts might happen, but it's not the focus of those who run the forums, they care most about making it a conducive place for their sponsors, and they will optimize for that (including posts getting deleted).
5. Large language Models (Bard, ChatGPT, AI powered Bing, etc.) operate in lexical space doing stochastic parroting of their training text. It is extremely vague what is being accomplished by having an LLM generate a response to someone's post and then posting that LLM response, implying that it has some meaningful significance or weight when at best one could say that it is a stochastic parroted output of the training text when additionally prompted by someone's posts (keep in mind there is no evidence that an LLM possesses a theory of mind). It is a significant stretch to imply there is real wisdom in that output. I appreciate attempts to encourage civility, but I don't think that's a good way to go about it.

This isn't the place for these types of posts or for your attempt at placating or rationalizing the arguments. This is NOT a thread for caustic discussions or arguments or debates or drama. This is a thread for sharing discoveries, reviews, and spotlighting audio technologies both new and old. So please try and refrain from long winded diatribes as an apologist. Want to do these things? I'm sure there's plenty of watercooler type threads here where you can get your debate and argument kicks and feel refreshed about it afterwards?

Great review

” top shelf resolution is missing” yea, it’s tamed around 10kh-13khz to have softer timbre, pretty much agreed

Pretty good tuning overall right?

These are tuned excellently, and will be my go-to when I want to listen to rap, hip hop, industrial, and hard rock. Absolutely a pleasure, and I've only had them a few hours.

If you want a similar treble profile for the SR5, it would be the Kiwi Ears Cadenza. They share very similar treble qualities in tonality and extension. SR5 blitzes the Cadenza in bass quantity and quality though.

 

[r31ya]

KZ DF-I (1DD with Tuning switch) official graph
Rather interesting Bass level switch.

 

[lushmelody]

KZ DF-I (1DD with Tuning switch) official graph
Rather interesting Bass level switch.

Why they do such a horrible render of the graph

Curious of what is better than ZVX besides switches

 

[r31ya]

Why they do such a horrible render of the graph

Curious of what is better than ZVX besides switches

the graph scaling is... yeah.
apparently details will be revealed today, chances are this is the same ZVX DD

 

[lushmelody]

Great review

” top shelf resolution is missing” yea, it’s tamed around 10kh-13khz to have softer timbre, pretty much agreed

Pretty good tuning overall right?

Just a treble shelf fix that lack of perceived top resolution

SR5 seems to pack quality drivers for a reasonable price... But now there is Juzear with even more aggressive price

 

[lushmelody]

the graph scaling is... yeah.
apparently details will be revealed today, chances are this is the same ZVX DD

My guess is the same. The shells are definetely more aesthetic pleasing and premium looking, by the way. Looks TOTL

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

KZ DF-I (1DD with Tuning switch) official graph
Rather interesting Bass level switch.

Donald?

 

[o0genesis0o]

Why would they have to burn it in for you?

Well, manufacturers would be foolish if burn-in exists to that degree, and they don’t do that before shipping, especially for an ultra expensive product. One 2/5 review and they are done for. If they are sold in physical store, they can’t afford to have their product unprepared out of the box, since customers can A/B test right there.

Speaking of burning in, Final Audio makes a strong case that your mind needs time to adjust to the new sound, so they ask you to be patient before making judgments. That’s fair enough.

I vaguely remember that Dunu runs their IEMs through before packing for shipping. I can’t recall burn in instructions in the package of any Dunu product I have tested.

I did notice that my second impressions tend to be more positive than first impressions with most recent products. But I don’t leave them burning or something like that. Just put away and come back the next day with fresh ears.

 

[baskingshark]

Not too bad from very very vague inquiry

I guess I made right choice buying MS stocks when they announced $10B investments into OpenAI.

Haha let's ask Chat GP what the AI colossus thinks about cables changing sound and burn in? Haha joking joking, no flame wars in this thread!

KZ DF-I (1DD with Tuning switch) official graph
Rather interesting Bass level switch.

10 dB pinna gain on most of the tunings will likely be a shout fest in all honesty. Well, let's wait for a Pro version of this to come out next week!

 

[o0genesis0o]

KZ DF-I (1DD with Tuning switch) official graph
Rather interesting Bass level switch.

The graph actually looks solid. Round of applause to KZ for making the 10dB scale easy to recognise.

12dB ear gain and fat lower mid. It is going to be a upper mid focused (“female poison”) set, given the balance between ear gain and bass. This is definitely not for me, but the whole tuning looks sane. No doubt it’s going to be decent.

 

[s2kphile]

Cross posting from Sound Rhyme Thread

So Im finding that a 3.5 single ended is better than a 4.4 balanced cable; furthermore, since I havent found information on the sensitivity (dB/mW), this is what the volumes look like with impedance adapters. Base is 16 Ohms.

The SR05 is an efficiency IEM. I noticed a noise floor when I'm plugging into an amp and with a 25 ohm adapter, it completely disappears.
Why a higher impedance adapter? Because it increases the signal to noise ratio; even though, it requires more volume to get the same loudness, I'm finding there is more subass and less brightness in the treble with better details.

Right now I'm find the 50 ohm adapter is the best of both worlds. YMMV, so try it out yourself to find what your ears prefer.

Source
Samsung Note 20 Ultra
Venture Electronics Megatron
Venture Electronics 50 Ohm Impedance Adapter
3.5mm Yongse Palladium/Gold/Silver/Copper Mix Cable

 

[o0genesis0o]

Cross posting from Sound Rhyme Thread

So Im finding that a 3.5 single ended is better than a 4.4 balanced cable; furthermore, since I havent found information on the sensitivity (dB/mW), this is what the volumes look like with impedance adapters. Base is 16 Ohms.

The SR05 is an efficiency IEM. I noticed a noise floor when I'm plugging into an amp and with a 25 ohm adapter, it completely disappears.
Why a higher impedance adapter? Because it increases the signal to noise ratio; even though, it requires more volume to get the same loudness, I'm finding there is more subass and less brightness in the treble with better details.

Right now I'm find the 50 ohm adapter is the best of both worlds. YMMV, so try it out yourself to find what your ears prefer.

Source
Samsung Note 20 Ultra
Venture Electronics Megatron
Venture Electronics 50 Ohm Impedance Adapter
3.5mm Yongse Palladium/Gold/Silver/Copper Mix Cable

Wouldn’t you change the FR by adding impedance adapter?

 

[s2kphile]

Wouldn’t you change the FR by adding impedance adapter?

Correct, it changes the impedance curve, resulting in more bass quanity.