The discovery thread!

[Leonarfd]

the first days were a bit overrated, at the moment not many people are talking. do you think there is a problem with the tuning?

There will always be much talk immediately when a new set is out, there was quite much hype beforehand. The Quartet deliver a sound okay for its value, if you are after this sound signature. Mid bass heavy sound that also affect instruments and vocal to be thick. Mids and treble is okay, but not the level of some of the more expensive hybrids having better refinement.

But if its coherency of drivers with more refinement it's better to buy DD IEMs in this price range. Example for similar sound in DD being VE SiE, but better sub bass and treble, but similar mid bass weight.

 

[GBCabral]

Shanling H5 arrived

 

[Laleo]

Ya its not the most resolving sound but when your out and about why would you not want that immense stage that airy quality. Its a crazy sounding wireless product. I actually like it more so than Fiios FW5. If I want detail I can use one of my tribrids wired. But for out and about doing yard work or walking. FW3 is such an awesome product.

Nice. @Dsnuts How's calls quality and controls?

 

[kazinova]

the first days were a bit overrated, at the moment not many people are talking. do you think there is a problem with the tuning?

I ended up enjoying the tuning for the most part, I went way too lean based on the reviews I saw online. Most of the reviewers you end up landing on seem to have an affinity for female vocals and light pop stuff. So I thought that gear tuned towards that preference was "better". But it's not a lot of fun to listen to drum and bass on the Diokos as it turns out. So the "bloat" of the Quartets is a benefit to that kind of music.

There will always be much talk immediately when a new set is out, there was quite much hype beforehand. The Quartet deliver a sound okay for its value, if you ar after this sound signature. Mid bass heavy sound also that also affect instruments and vocal to be thick. Mids and treble is okay, but not the level of some of the more expensive hybrids having better refinement.

But if its coherency of drivers with more refinement it's better to buy DD IEMs in this price range. Example for similar sound in DD being VE SiE, but better sub bass and treble, but similar mid bass weight.

I've landed on the Quartet feeling worth it for the price, the fact is that the $100 price point is kind of a no man's land between the budget stuff and legitimately better sets. I think everyone would be better served listening to some $25-$35 options and then jumping in on a $250-$500 set that matches their preference and library.

The Quartets are nicer than the budget things I have, and they're cheap enough that I won't cry if they walk away from my desk at the office. But I'm not sure I would immediately replace them if they were lost? I guess that's a bit of a condemnation of them but that's where I'm at.

Oh, and any set that people are interested in will get a lot of chat in here and then disappear on release. Because the people waiting for their set that are excited have them. Once I post impressions I don't need to talk about them in here, I can listen to them. I don't want to constantly talk about the same set over and over in the discovery thread, it doesn't seem to fit the convo to me.

 

[PROblemdetected]

You compare apples and oranges.

Tidal is a streaming service.
UAPP is not.

Cheers.

Im talking about the app, Newton.

 

[Leonarfd]

SeeAudio Neko
6 Balanced Armature Drivers
With Effect Audio Cadmus Cable

Probably expensive, but can hope that they price it similar to SA6, and maybe this will be bravery upgraded?


https://hifigo.com/products/seeaudi...Wx7fG-m_NRbYXuLsLkOvWWJuYxxwTpXzKcLMjfJuBXSCs

SeeAudio are attending here to show something new, maybe Neko?

 

[Ishcabible]

I received a Quintet today thanks to Linsoul!

I also have a Quartet (feel meh about it, favorite setting is Off-On) and Orchestra Lite (big fan) from KiwiEars.

Quick first impressions using a Fiio Q7:

When I saw the driver configuration, I was worried about potential coherency issues and unfortunately, I do notice bass timing occasionally is a bit slower than midrange and treble, but I do feel like I noticed more crossover incoherency in the Monarch Mk2, so it’s possible that it won’t be incredibly audible for those not seeking out for it.

Bass is elevated and isn’t the most defined. But it’s cleaner, or at least less overwhelming than the Quartet. Orchestra Lite bass sounds cleaner to me but is less elevated as well.

Midrange has too much pinna gain for me, it verges on shouty with aggressive vocals but it’s much less sibilant than the Quartet. Female vocals are on the verge of being nasal but don’t quite cross that threshold. Deeper male vocals have a bit of chestiness. Timbre in general doesn’t seem to be the Quintet’s strength but frankly, it’s better than I would have expected considering it uses four different driver types.

Treble, as stated in the last paragraph, is more controlled than the Quartet and rarely gets sibilant to me. I wish there was a bit more air as they’re a bit dark up top.

At first listen, it sounds like a definite upgrade from the Quartet, but it does still seem to go for an “exciting” sound. The pinna gain is a bit much for me but as a first commercial attempt for such a complicated IEM, I legitimately expected more coherency issues. The gap in performance between the Quartet and the Quintet is larger than the price difference would suggest to me.

Also, my unit measures with incredibly good channel matching:

 

[Dsnuts]

Nice. @Dsnuts How's calls quality and controls?

The dual mic design helps focus on your voice when calling. I had no issue carrying on a conversation for over 30 minutes using them. It taxes the battery more when making calls but thats normal. Its not a fancy TWS product as there is no ANC but has surprising solid passive isolation. About as good as any all resin type IEMs. Controls are ok but once again not the best. It has two physical buttons on each side. Operation is easy once you know what button does what. I wished the buttons were more toward the back of the IEM vs being on top as I end up pushing the buttons when taking the ear pieces out of the cradle. Minor nit pick otherwise the sound quality is something when you consider it uses its own AK4332 DAC processor in each ear.

 

[PhonoPhi]

I have a question here:

Do you guys think having multiple counts of the same driver, in most cases, BAs, actually increase the resolution?

Multiple copies of the same driver are implemented for smoother, more coherent sound. Think of the sound of a single violin vs. a violin section in an orchestra. Individual higher-frequency peaks are partially cancelled out (mostly unwanted odd peaks, especially pecularities of specific driver copies).
It works best and easiest with BAs: they are small, can be easily packed compactly together for spacial coherence, and their high-frequency peaks (BA timbre, "steeliness") are smoothened out. That is why implementations of dual and quadruple BAs are commonly seen.

No.
See: KZ and TRN.


Tuning and implementation trumps driver count any day.

The physics work even for KZ and TRN - they can easily defy some good common sense with their endeavors, but not the laws of Nature

AST have a smooth sound of BA arrays, even too smooth, but the underpowered treble dtivers are there and can be engaged to sound nicely.

In BA15, TRN achieved good smoothness, then they likely felt that something is wrong and missing, and shoved back two 30095 in each nozzle to make a luxury version of their favourite spicy V implementation (I did grow to like it as a part of my "imperfect all-BA collection" to listen to strings).

 

[lgcubana]

Sweet spot pricing
Almost every driver known
Bone Conduction
Each unit individually tested and matched

In all honesty, I will be paying close attention to the reviews. I want the Quintet to at least get 90% of it correct. As to promise so much and not deliver, would be a serious blow, to a market that has seen so many mehs & exaggerated claims of late.

Kiwi Ears Quintet
1DD + 2BA + 1 Planar + 1 PZT In-Ear Monitor
$219.00 USA

Kiwi ears is thrilled to announce that the new Kiwi Ears Quintet is available for purchase at Linsoul Audio!

MSRP: $219 USD

1 DD + 2 BA + 1 Planar + 1 PZT In-Ear Monitor

4 Driver Types, 5 Drivers per Side

The Kiwi Ears Quintet utilizes 4 different types of drivers, consisting of 1 Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) dynamic driver, 2 balanced armature (BA) drivers, 1 planar magnetic driver, and 1 piezoelectric (PZT) bone conductor. With a total of 5 drivers per each ear, the Quintet delivers extremely high-resolution audio comparable to professional studio monitors. A large 10mm DLC driver was selected as the sub-woofer due to DLC’s high responsiveness and tensile strength, which pumps out impactful bass slams, but with fast decay speeds. 2 Knowles balanced armature drivers deliver natural and resolving mids, a classic example of why balanced armatures are beloved in the industry.

Hand Crafted
Each Quintet unit is hand crafted, tested, and paired. This is an essential step in making sure your left and right units provide the same sound for a perfect listening session.

 

[jazzzy]

Do you recognize what brand/model/graph are these ? I got them as a gift with no information whatsoever

 

[nibe90]

SeeAudio Neko
6 Balanced Armature Drivers
With Effect Audio Cadmus Cable

Probably expensive, but can hope that they price it similar to SA6, and maybe this will be bravery upgraded?


https://hifigo.com/products/seeaudi...Wx7fG-m_NRbYXuLsLkOvWWJuYxxwTpXzKcLMjfJuBXSCs




SeeAudio are attending here to show something new, maybe Neko?

Well if the Seeaudio Neko has a WAIFU, that is already equal to apple symbol xDDDD

jokes aside: I hope it will be about the softears studio 4.

 

[nibe90]

A quick update for those interested, and for those still remembering

got the quarks 3.5mm and tanchjim zero 3.5mm. Gonna get a quarks dsp for free soon , amazon messed up labeling the package correctly and got a quarks 3.5mm instead.
Anyways. Quarks is at least for me more isolating than the Zero. otherwise they are about equal. And I am glad I got them for <20EUR instead of 100EUR sony linkbud S or the 320EUR WF-1000XM5...

 

[Leonarfd]

Do you recognize what brand/model/graph are these ? I got them as a gift with no information whatsoever

https://penonaudio.com/earphones/in-ear-earphones/penon-iem.html?sort=p.price&order=ASC&limit=100

Look like this, got it as free gift a while back from Penon.

 

[awacs7n]

There will always be much talk immediately when a new set is out, there was quite much hype beforehand. The Quartet deliver a sound okay for its value, if you are after this sound signature. Mid bass heavy sound that also affect instruments and vocal to be thick. Mids and treble is okay, but not the level of some of the more expensive hybrids having better refinement.

But if its coherency of drivers with more refinement it's better to buy DD IEMs in this price range. Example for similar sound in DD being VE SiE, but better sub bass and treble, but similar mid bass weight.

yes, most things look at the signature. If I'm listening to entertaining music, I prefer an average dynamic driver headset to a balanced driver that costs several times more. because the signature is important here, the same seems to be valid for the quartet. It is wrong to seriously expect details from quartet instead of entertainment.