[Redcarmoose]

They jump directly from W2 to W4?

I remember these have new in-house chips. Someone (customers) gotta pay for the R&D. I don’t know. I used to believe that L&P stuffs is just some overhyped esoteric products, until I listen a loaner DAP and have to collect my jaw from the floor. Now, I will keep my mind and my ears open.

Well, I’m not even into Dongles, but I like the single one I have. But I have a slight working knowledge of how search engines work, and nope no W3. Lol

That’s probably true that they make some of the R & D money back then put out the lesser model? It’s a great marketing strategy as if the W4 goes epic then there will always be the folks that want it, but simply can’t afford it. Yet look what happens sometimes........where the W3 could actually be way superior and half the price of this Gucci cigarette lighter!

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

It totally is a premium product. I’ve only ever got one source product (free) in all my years of reviewing, the humble Shanling UA3. The other two (if you want me to include those) were the TWS IEMs that were also subjected to review. I have personally paid for all my source gear with my own money. I don’t want to disclose the amount because my Wife may read this! Lol

The W4 is expensive, I’m not saying it’s not. Just that there is a place for $$ creativity and often it leads to better value products by way of trickledown. Is there a W3, maybe that’s next?

You must have a partient wife like I do? Only recently did she try and curb my obsessions. Incredibly patient woman.

 

[Redcarmoose]

You must have a partient wife like I do? Only recently did she try and curb my obsessions. Incredibly patient woman.

Truly, they deserve Wife of the year for putting up with all the/our BS. Or better yet, best Wife of all time! My first Wife used to throw stuff!

 

[InvisibleInk]

You must have a partient wife like I do? Only recently did she try and curb my obsessions. Incredibly patient woman.

Bless her heart

 

[Redcarmoose]

Bless her heart

X2

 

[Carpet]

Truly, they deserve Wife of the year for putting up with all the/our BS. Or better yet, best Wife of all time! My first Wife used to throw stuff!

The mental image of an expensive set of IEMs being whirled around someone's head like a bola, and then hurled across the room. is a frightening and disturbing one. She appears to have been unaware that some audio products are out of production and hence irreplaceable. Hopefully your current model is better balanced and not as shouty or prone to hiss.

Here was me thinking sibilance was a reference to Sybil in Fawltey Towers?

 

[AmericanSpirit]

So….here we come.

*Knock* *Knock*

—Who?

Rinkos:“Planar and Dynamic delivery service”

Me: ”Ok, come in.”

Chapter 0.
See Audio Rinko controversy —the background
—About SeeAudio
Most of us would have already known who SeeAudio is, a relatively young IEM brand that initially caught public attention by Yume, Bravery, with their highend Neo, Kaguya being flagship and over the years the company has established itself firmly in the international audiophile community.

—qdc, is that you?
There is a rumor that SeeAudio was started by ex-qdc engineers and I personally get that rumor because their tuning is in qdc’s blood.

... I should also clarify that I am an avid fan of qdc tuning and rate the SeeAudio Bravery (with aftermarket re-cabling and ear tip changes) as one of the endgame IEMs for female vocals. 10BA, 14BA, EST, all couldn’t produce what I refer “fragile and translucent“ timbre that Bravery is capable of. Its tone resonates in your brain as pleasantly as the light sound made when you lightly tap your finger on a wine glass.


Anyway! My personal recommendation aside.

Chapter 1.
See Audio Rinko controversy —the Driver speculations

By now many of us may know there was a series of dramas surrounding Rinko‘s driver.

The driver of Rinko didn’t look like conventional Planar Magnetic Driver that we see on, say, 7Hz Timeless or Tangzu Wu Zetian.

It is referred as “6mm Micro Planar Magnetic Driver (MPMD hereunder)” and this specific driver brought a series of discussions over the internet about whether 6mm MPMD is a legitimate Planar or not.

Amidst the buzz on the Internet, Rinko seems to have attracted more attention than expected.

As we all know there's no denying that internet flame wars have an intriguing and entertaining aspect to them.

As it stands, HiFiGo's disclosure of the MPMD patent information obtained from SeeAudio's design, as well as the release of new disassembled images of several Rinko drivers, seems to have put the confusion to rest and put the situation to rest.


My understanding is that the "Micro Planar Magnetic Driver" is a new type of Planar Driver that "specializes in a specific frequency band" and I actually realized how good it is when Rinko's sound was tested.

So here comes Rinko.

Chapter 2.
See Audio Rinko sound, is it a dynamic or planar sound?

Before we step into the sound, I guess it is noteworthy to show this carrying case.


Wow! Looks like an engagement ring case, that’s quite a good job selecting case from various candidates, I value carrying case with significant weight in decision making because it ultimately comes to “if carrying case is bad looking it’s not worth as gift candidates especially if you are gifting to your wife or girlfriend”.

Anyway, back to sound.


—Tuning
Frequency Response Chart


Both Rinko and Tangzu x SeeAudio Encounter shares very similar take on basic tuning philosophy.

Both IEMs are tuned for the following characteristics
▶︎ Wide staging feel
▶︎ Extremely careful sibilance dip
▶︎ Emphasis on upper mids for forward projection of vocals and sound image.
▶︎12kHz and 16kHz diffusion field border articulation and air generation.

Encounter maintains a relatively neutral bass range and improves tonal balance on acoustics, while Rinko emphasizes the lower midrange and creates musical excitement in digital genres.

—A million dollar question and my main reason to be called in auditioning Rinko

️Is it Planar or Dynamic?


To my ear, Rinko’s timbre is a hybrid of Dynamic and Planar with following structure:
Bass : Dynamic
Mid : Dynamic
Treble : Planar

Certainly there is a hint of planar in Rinko's upper register, but compared to a full planar like 7Hz Timeless, I would say that 70% of the timbre is derived by dynamic and 30% by planar.

7:3 dynamic : planar

Immediately after unboxing, there was a rough texture like that of piezoelectric, but after about 8 hours of aging, the roughness was smoothed out.

As a result, compared to the piezoelectric, the sound image localization is significantly more recognizable as Planar, with a unique sound pressure and resolution.

For the tonality per se, Rinko has a strong dynamic impression overall, and the planar is effective only in articulating details and expressing a sense of air and finesse.

Thus, Rinko in a sense is “dynamic-like sounding” yet “has traits of Planar timbre in upper registers”.

This is why I mentioned above that Rinko’s "Micro Planar Magnetic Driver" is a new type of Planar Driver that "specializes in a specific frequency band". It is treble only Planar, a micro planar expression actually makes sense to me now.

Now, I think I have fulfilled my role as an inspector with the above comments.

I would like to continue with the review as usual.


—Timbre Impression : Sound Tasting
Following the manner of expression in perfumery and wine tasting, the components of the sound are described below
Top Notes: Clarity, rounded, soft contours.
Heart Note: Densely textured, with a solid presence in the upper register
Bottom Note: Overall thickness of sound, authoritative sub-bass

—Final impression score (based on my HRTF)
Overall | B+
Tonality | B+
Resolution | A
Overall Coherence | B

1. Diffusion Field coherence | B
2. Image coordinate positioning coherence | B
3. Image Focusing Coherence | C+
4. Sound wave momentum & Sound Image vectoring coherence | A-

My other A-rated IEMs:
Audiosense DTE200 (A-) | Audiosense AQ4 (A-) | DUNU Titan S (A-) | JUZEAR A41T (A-) | | Truthear HEXA (85/100: A) l AFUL P5 (A) | Blessing 2 (84/100: A) | Blessing 2 Dusk (85/100: A) | Mangird Tea (84/100: A) | AKG N5005 (A-) | See Audio Bravery (A) | Audio Lokahi (A)

My higher than A-rated:
Blessing 3 (A+) | Sound Rhyme SR5 (A+) | Westone W80 (A+) | Tangzu Wu Zetian (A+) | 7Hz Timeless (A+) | DUNU SA6 (S-) | Moondrop Variations (S-) | Softears RSV (S-) | Thieaudio Monarch (S-) | SoundRhyme DTE500 (S) | Aur Audio Neon Pro (S) | UM MEST MKII (S) | qdc Anole VX (S+) | SoundRhyme SR8 (S+)

Back from dinner and I just completed Rinko’s assessment

 

[baskingshark]

They jump directly from W2 to W4?

I remember these have new in-house chips. Someone (customers) gotta pay for the R&D. I don’t know. I used to believe that L&P stuffs is just some overhyped esoteric products, until I listen a loaner DAP and have to collect my jaw from the floor. Now, I will keep my mind and my ears open.

I am quite surprised that they used the digit 4 in their naming convention.

Chinese companies usually avoid the no. 4 as it sounds like "shi" or death in chinese, and they are quite susperstitous about these kinds of things.

My dream would be for KZ to create an IEM that utilizes the Ling long driver and tuning, but place it in a more traditional shell. But it would have to sound just like the Ling long, with maybe minor improvements in note weight, and this would be a budget king for sure. As is, this is KZ's best sounding dynamic driver all-arounder. You into metal music? WHAT THE **** ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!

Their recent KZ D-Fi is one the most un-KZs I have tried. No more old school V shaped banshee tuning, but something netural with sub-bass boost.

The 16 switches are a bit scammish, but I gotta say KZ is becoming more refined in their tuning lately.

You must have a partient wife like I do? Only recently did she try and curb my obsessions. Incredibly patient woman.

That's a keeper. My wife secretly throws away my unattended audio stuff like cables and iem boxes.

The stare of death comes everytime a new audio package arrives in the mail.

 

[o0genesis0o]

Back from dinner and I just completed Rinko’s assessment

Good job, mate!

 

[Redcarmoose]

The mental image of an expensive set of IEMs being whirled around someone's head like a bola, and then hurled across the room. is a frightening and disturbing one. She appears to have been unaware that some audio products are out of production and hence irreplaceable. Hopefully your current model is better balanced and not as shouty or prone to hiss.

Here was me thinking sibilance was a reference to Sybil in Fawltey Towers?

The worst thing I ever did was about 14-15 years ago, I sold a car and took the money and ordered a Woo Audio 5 LE. It was already being built when somehow my Wife found out about it. I told her that I had (suspected) health problems and wanted to fulfill my audiophile dreams while I was still alive. It actually worked, the crying helped too. What I learned was it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. Still I have not done anything (stupid) like that since. My Wife is supportive now, so far......fingers crossed?

 

[dharmasteve]

I have extra large ear holes. Have YOU tried these? Because I have. And the L size, while only measuring 11.5, fits more like a 13mm. So, again, I’d suggest that these fit larger than the diameter suggests due to their unique shape. Therefore I expect the new XL to be sized correctly even though the diameter appears small.

Sleep intervened.
If they come my way I will try them. I find for my left ear a 14mm Spiral Dot is OK, but for my right ear too small. Sitting or standing I put up with it but have to keep tampering with right ear. Asla Xelastecs 14mm are reasonable. Penon sent me some giant 15mm some years ago (around the time of Penon Fan OG), which really solved my problem but had 'hard' Silicone. The new Orange 15.5mm's are a good textured type of silicone and do the job in both ears. If the XL Dunu's ever come my way I will give them good go. No point me ordering though.

 

[o0genesis0o]

Dunu SA6 MkII is here. It’s glorious.

Packaging and accessories can shame some kilobucks, but that’s old news. Dunu and FiiO are always good at this. The fit and the sound though. Stage is here. Air is here. Midrange is here. High quality BA bass is here. Resolution is here.

I have only three questions left to evaluate:

• Can the imaging match the Andromeda 2020
• Can the dynamic get even close to the U12T
• How good is the resolution amongst kilobucks

But yeah, what a time to be in this hobby. Jeez.

 

[Redcarmoose]

Dunu SA6 MkII is here. It’s glorious.

Packaging and accessories can shame some kilobucks, but that’s old news. Dunu and FiiO are always good at this. The fit and the sound though. Stage is here. Air is here. Midrange is here. High quality BA bass is here. Resolution is here.

I have only three questions left to evaluate:

• Can the imaging match the Andromeda 2020
• Can the dynamic get even close to the U12T
• How good is the resolution amongst kilobucks

But yeah, what a time to be in this hobby. Jeez.

Congratulations!

Sorry, but I have one thing I’m interested about. How’s the shape, I know you mentioned that the original SA6 fit you fine, but I’m just curious does the MK2 seem to have a hair deeper insertion?

 

[Jmop]

I am quite surprised that they used the digit 4 in their naming convention.

Chinese companies usually avoid the no. 4 as it sounds like "shi" or death in chinese, and they are quite susperstitous about these kinds of things.



Their recent KZ D-Fi is one the most un-KZs I have tried. No more old school V shaped banshee tuning, but something netural with sub-bass boost.

The 16 switches are a bit scammish, but I gotta say KZ is becoming more refined in their tuning lately.





That's a keeper. My wife secretly throws away my unattended audio stuff like cables and iem boxes.

The stare of death comes everytime a new audio package arrives in the mail.

Agreed, better look here with the tuning. Definitely feeling the purple/grey for the lower bass shelf, and flatline more or less at 400Hz will do. 8k peak (if not from coupler) is similar in level to 5k so won’t stick out like a sore thumb, 10k drop not at Grand Canyon levels and upper treble energy is also relatively tame and even. Good response.

 

[gadgetgod]

Well, my 900th post on Head-Fi and I want to share my current gaming setup with you guys hehe. This right here helps me beat the competition in Valorant(casual player so please don't judge my gaming abilities lol), SMSL D300+Aune S7 Pro+Moondrop Venus!! I just love how crisp and expansive the sound feels with this setup!!

I am planning to get some UAC 1.0 DAC so that I can use the amp and headphones with my PS5 as well lol.