[Barndoor]

Today is a good day, got this as a part of the review leg in India.

Nice.
I received a purple cable today, so might need to get one and Kiwi Ears Quartet to match it!

 

[gadgetgod]

Nice.
I received a purple cable today, so might need to get one and Kiwi Ears Quartet to match it!

Niceee, Quartet surely seems interesting!!

 

[Carpet]

A little off topic(maybe or maybe not), but I need some advice. I have a PP8 and the left shell has a few cracks. Doesn't affect the sound in anyway and I plan on getting re-shelling done by InEar sometime at a later date when I'm less busy. But till then can I put some kind of adhesive over the cracks to stop anything bad happening to them?
Attaching a pic of the cracked ear piece.
Please advice.
Note: I take proper care of my gear. The shell was cracked before I bought it.

You could use a thin cyanoacrylate. That would wick into crack and stabilize shell from further cracking. Obviously don't apply it by the bucketful, you sure as hell don't want it wicking into the switches or drivers! It polymerizes to an acrylic resin very similar to what's used in 3D printed shells. Use a non-blooming one if you don't want to risk blooming disfiguring the outside of the shell. You can also get black CA glues which might produce a better cosmetic result. Apply a very small drop with a wire or nylon filament (broom or brush bristle). Breathing onto the surface to provide a little moisture will help catalyze it . Let it cure and scrape any excess off with a sharp blade. That's safer than wiping excess away. All at your own risk, of course. Good luck!

 

[Click]

Global is on mayday 5 days holiday till today (5th)
and the sales rep noted that its a presale sales, so it wont be immediately sent.

I ordered the PR2 from KZ Global on April 26. It's already been sent and cleared customs. Whoever told you it's a presale was wrong.

 

[Click]

Nice.
I received a purple cable today, so might need to get one and Kiwi Ears Quartet to match it!

I just got my NiceHCK PurpleSE cable 2 days ago, preparing for the Quartet release too.

Pretty good cable for $16-$19. I normally don't like purple but since Quartet only comes in that color, I figured I'd pair it with the PurpleSE.

 

[r31ya]

I ordered the PR2 from KZ Global on April 26. It's already been sent and cleared customs. Whoever told you it's a presale was wrong.

it was their own aliexpress sales rep, the ba*stard~
But mine is the free chinese mail shipping so yeah, kinda second class citizen.

 

[Neithan]

I just got my NiceHCK PurpleSE cable 2 days ago, preparing for the Quartet release too.

Pretty good cable for $16-$19. I normally don't like purple but since Quartet only comes in that color, I figured I'd pair it with the PurpleSE.

I have that cable and I also like it allot, specially considering I paid 13€ for mine

 

[Grimros]

I try not to listen to IEM for background music when doing housework or reading, thus making listening with my gears a deliberate activity. IMHO, no matter how fancy the gears are, if you listen as background, they all sound more or less the same, especially in the current homogeneous tonality market.

Another fun thing is mix and match gear and see how the sound change. My interest now is finding the cheapest combination that can somewhat mimic the sound of a $3900 DAP.

That's some solid advice, thanks!

I did use them during housework or work, instead of just enjoying them as is.

 

[Grimros]

IEMs are just the tip of the iceberg.

You have speakers, headphones, earbuds, and wireless gear rabbitholes to dive into.

And I think speakers are an even more expensive proposition if one has to treat the room acoustically, engineer the panels/walls and even carpeting/curtains etc to get the optimal sound. IEMs are like child's play in comparison.

What an expensive rabbithole I've gotten myself into.

But as any collector's hobby. It is worth how much you want to put into the hobby. I did think of getting a speaker set-up, but that is out of the budget for now considering the things I have to do to get optimal sound in my room.

 

[JEHL]

It is expensive, I won’t ague that fact. Also I’m not going to compare it to all the cables I haven’t heard, because I haven’t heard all the cables in the world, you either. But......in regards to a certain sound quality, I notice a difference here, I really do? Does that make it worth $299, it just depends where you find value. Remember in comparison to $1999 cables, it’s actually low cost for what it does.

This seems like the cable equivalent of using the Sennheiser HE-1 as a scapegoat to argue that the DCA Stealth is a good value. While the former is a much greater offender than the later. Both are wallet busters to me.

 

[Redcarmoose]

This seems like the cable equivalent of using the Sennheiser HE-1 as a scapegoat to argue that the DCA Stealth is a good value. While the former is a much greater offender than the later. Both are wallet busters to me.

Well, I’m Penon OSG intensive at the moment. Meaning I’m just getting to know what it offers. If it is a value to someone, that would be subjective. I haven’t yet explored all it uses, but have a baseline idea of what the cable is a what it can do. It’s offering blacker backgrounds and wider stages but there is something else, call it character but it’s subtle as it leaves everything still fully natural and complete sounding. It’s just there is this slight character to the midrange, while farther out, there is also a warm and distinct sound that is endearing. Also the bass is just slightly brought into cleaner focus yet substantiated and tight, tighter than many cables. I may have slightly different ideas later, but that is where I am, and the ergonomics, nothing to ever make excuses about!

 

[gooberbm]

So I shared my personal unit and now we have the first squig graph of 41t. First, I'm shocked by the volume matching of the set. Better than the Elysian Diva in the same database. But also, the comparisons with sets like U4s ($1100), the Softears Cerberus that it was initially compared to ($2100 Cerberus is Red in that graph), or with the 1DD killer, Seinheiser IE600 ($700).

Do what you will with the graphs + impressions out there. These are real, though, if you're up for the lottery game of ChiFi build quality.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

From the prototype version of the Kara that I tried at Singapore CanJam 2023, it is midcentric, thick in note weight. Very smooth and non fatiguing, good timbre.

Technicalities wise, it is average for the price (think it will be $200 - 300USD ish), think there are a lot of other hybrids at the same price that can beat the Kara in this department. Having tried B2 and Dusk, I think those will beat the Kara in technical chops (I haven't tried B3 though).


The Kara final tuning ain't finalized yet, so maybe things might change though.

Thx!

 

[AmericanSpirit]

KZ PR2 early review units have been appearing here and there.

unlike abit more elusive recent KZ iems that have a bit of a gap from announcement to the third party reviews.
at least reviewer other than KZ go to reviewers like IanFann. Recently KZ is a bit stingy with review units, so reviewers have to buy and wait for delivery like us.
Hell, i just finally found impression on the nontunable DFI.
It seems plenty review units for PR2 as per HBB state, they are trying to push sales volume and it seems more review units is part of the strategy.

anyhow, regarding PR2, it seems "clean and smooth" is the often repeated word in these early impressions.
still gonna wait for actual reviews from reviewer that i follows.

What’s funny that I recently learnt is that one reviewer disclosed:

“I was offered a KZ IEM review, with restrictions -I can’t express my honest opinion on it, and I have to at least describe it in positive way, so I respectfully denied the review request”

Wow, first time I heard any brand requesting a hype review Not sure if it’s a third party distributor’s request of KZ official’s request but that’s not a smart idea…

PR2 is showing up, funny thing as usual, people tend to be very careful in noting anything about the sound.

I’ve seen 5 of PR2 (it’s Japan, so it’s the commercial production units arriving earlier than international folks) and all info I’ve got it

”PR2 arrived! listening to it!“ x 5
Is there any local rule that you can’t comment on OOTB?

 

[JEHL]

Well, I’m Penon OSG intensive at the moment. Meaning I’m just getting to know what it offers. If it is a value to someone, that would be subjective. I haven’t yet explored all it uses, but have a baseline idea of what the cable is a what it can do. It’s offering blacker backgrounds and wider stages but there is something else, call it character but it’s subtle as it leaves everything still fully natural and complete sounding. It’s just there is this slight character to the midrange, while farther out, there is also a warm and distinct sound that is endearing. Also the bass is just slightly brought into cleaner focus yet substantiated and tight, tighter than many cables. I may have slightly different ideas later, but that is where I am, and the ergonomics, nothing to ever make excuses about!

I hope you realize you're telling this to a man who couldn't tell the difference between the BL-03 stock cable and the Tripowin Zonie. And this is despite measuring. 0.8Ω average resistance on stock cable and 0.19Ω on the Tripowin Zonie using the Aneng AN8008, lead resistances already accounted for.

I think there's no way around not hearing the headgear. However, if I hear the amplifier, it's bad news. If I hear the DAC, it's a disaster. If I hear the cable, it's an apocalypse.

I CAN recommend the Zonie as a fix for the atrocious fit of the stock cable and I'm gonna just leave it at that.

So I shared my personal unit and now we have the first squig graph of 41t. First, I'm shocked by the volume matching of the set. Better than the Elysian Diva in the same database. But also, the comparisons with sets like U4s ($1100), the Softears Cerberus that it was initially compared to ($2100 Cerberus is Red in that graph), or with the 1DD killer, Seinheiser IE600 ($700).

Do what you will with the graphs + impressions out there. These are real, though, if you're up for the lottery game of ChiFi build quality.

Could use some extra bass myself. But seems great regardless. Wonder if you can compare it to both tunings of Blessing 2.