The discovery thread!

[o0genesis0o]

campfire ARA and meze rai penta will sounds similar? both have peaks at 1.75khz. so,if want upgrade from penta to better instrument separation ,more microdetails and more neutral sound must look to smt another?

I’m not comfortable recommending Ara to anyone, tbh

But if you like the rai penta, it’s possible that the tonality might work for you. The technical performance of ara is solid, without a doubt.

Edit: first time I see multi-kilobuck discussions on discovery. The world has turned upside down

 

[DynamicEars]

Interesting zero sibilance or pinna glare during my two weeks with this unit. It’s sister unit, the EXT can be sibilant though.

I have conflicting thoughts about the value proposition of phonix. I admire how VE tune this unit because they forced me to reconsider my long-term belief about how the midrange should be tuned. The resolution is top notch as well. I’m not talking about detail retrieval. I’m talking taking a busy section and see how easy it peals apart the layers.

On the other hand, it doesn’t give me the wow that I have with MEST II and III. Seriously, just two songs with Mest II and I already want to buy it (my wallet says otherwise, of course)

There was no pinna glare, just boosted resolution of 4-5khz, like Sony did to Z1R. But the trebles is borderline, prone to sibilances, just like My Mest. Maybe my M17 detailed highs play some part.

Yeah thats why when I compared to My Mest (with copper cable), I prefer Mest overall especially when you put price as a factor too. Mest is like 1 complete package to me, The great bass, the clean resolution, the balance, the detailed highs, the superb imaging and layering.

 

[o0genesis0o]

There was no pinna glare, just boosted resolution of 4-5khz, like Sony did to Z1R. But the trebles is borderline, prone to sibilances, just like My Mest. Maybe my M17 detailed highs play some part.

Yeah thats why when I compared to My Mest (with copper cable), I prefer Mest overall especially when you put price as a factor too. Mest is like 1 complete package to me, The great bass, the clean resolution, the balance, the detailed highs, the superb imaging and layering.

Something is not quite right with your fit or source, since both subjective impression and measurement shows that these IEM have reserved treble from 8kHz up. There was barely a resonance peak on my rig.

Anyhow, let’s move on and return to the discovery

listening and taking notes of these at the moment (W4 and Dunu Alpha 3)

Edit: these come with donut foams. Do yourself a favour and throw them in the bin, unless you want “female poison” tuning.

 

[shez.]

With VE Phonix, my impressions are closer to @o0genesis0o mids are bold and thick, they have linear low end like IER-M9 presentation of lower mids that give warmness to their mids, but you aren't wrong either, as my note with VE Phonix before, they have boosted fake resolution on high mids, so while they are bold and warm, they have boosted resolution that you said "Aggressive" at the same time, made the set having top notch resolution like Odin. With some odd BA timbre. Higher region also prone to sibilance. The soundstage and imaging are great, but nothing special for the price. Again, the price doesn't justify the value for me.

The Odin is another IEM that sounded aggressive on upper mids to me. From all of the Empire Ears line-up, I liked how Odyssey sounded.

can you sent few iems 700-1200eur value with graphs with neutral sound ,good instrument separation and not too bassy. im not like bass too much. more neutral sound with lots details prefer. also want with MMCX imput. somethink from moondrop,fiio,campfire audio,

You should start your journey from the budget IEMs to understand better what you want. Do not jump to a higher segment until you know precisely what you want. Because "not too bassy" is subjective. For example, for most people, VE SIE is a bass-head IEM, and 7hz Zero is neutral bright. But I personally found that Zero is V-shaped, which doesn't lack much bass, and SIE is not much bass-heavy at all.
Also, you should consider that different implementations of the bass sound differently, even if the graph shows that they have the same amount of bass. For example, a BA bass may not hit hard as a DD bass, even if at the graph, IEM with BA graph will have double more amount of bass than DD IEM. I personally like BA for sub-bass and DD for mid and upper-bass, but 90% of people probably won't like such implementation.
What kind of music you listen to also plays a role in your bass preferences. More mid-bass and upper-bass IEM like UE Live may hit with a bass like a hammer to your head with Pop music, but with Live music, the bass just adds weight to the instruments, and you don't feel much of it.
As advised before, do research between Sony M9 and Andromeda, also, you can consider the Dunu SA6 MK1. Look for a full BA-set IEM if you want "not too bassy".
Don't underestimate Sony. Sony has some of the best BA drivers on the market.

 

[poskus]

I’m not comfortable recommending Ara to anyone, tbh

But if you like the rai penta, it’s possible that the tonality might work for you. The technical performance of ara is solid, without a doubt.

Edit: first time I see multi-kilobuck discussions on discovery. The world has turned upside down

im like rai penta sound,but upgrade to camfire ARA is no need,as will get same tone and sound?

 

[o0genesis0o]

im like rai penta sound,but upgrade to camfire ARA is no need,as will get same tone and sound?

I have no idea the technical performance of penta so can’t say whether that would be an improvement with Ara. Penta was/is a high-end IEM. You don’t need to upgrade if there is nothing lacking. It might be more fun to try the strange new budget IEMs popping up on this thread. You might find another interesting sound signature.

 

[poskus]

I have no idea the technical performance of penta so can’t say whether that would be an improvement with Ara. Penta was/is a high-end IEM. You don’t need to upgrade if there is nothing lacking. It might be more fun to try the strange new budget IEMs popping up on this thread. You might find another interesting sound signature.

yes,correct, im see at budget 8-10 drivers BGVP alternatives too. kiwi https://www.linsoul.com/products/kiwi-ears-orchestra?variant=39815327285403

 

[AmericanSpirit]

How about trying new iem from fella here @AmericanSpirit

Not MMCX and not that price range it shall be lower than that.

@poskus

for 700-1200, I’d say safe bet from your current IEM is Thieauduo Monarch MKIII.

Something is not quite right with your fit or source, since both subjective impression and measurement shows that these IEM have reserved treble from 8kHz up. There was barely a resonance peak on my rig.

Anyhow, let’s move on and return to the discovery



listening and taking notes of these at the moment (W4 and Dunu Alpha 3)

Edit: these come with donut foams. Do yourself a favour and throw them in the bin, unless you want “female poison” tuning.

Oh hey how’s W4? Is it W4 lite or W4?

 

[poskus]

Not MMCX and not that price range it shall be lower than that.

@poskus

for 700-1200, I’d say safe bet from your current IEM is Thieauduo Monarch MKIII.

Thieauduo Monarch MKIII is coming with MMCX ?

 

[baskingshark]

Graph of the DUNU KIMA Classic (successor to the original DUNU KIMA), with comparison graph against the original DUNU KIMA.

Listening impressions to follow later.

 

[o0genesis0o]

Oh hey how’s W4? Is it W4 lite or W4?

It’s the normal W4.

It sounds quite nice. After 3 days being stuck with Btr5, I almost opened my wallet immediately for W4. Definitely catching up with nice DAPs with balanced out. No hiss with Andromeda even via balanced out, max gain. The soundstage is properly expanded in all directions. Good detail, good dynamic. I don’t mind doing critical listening with Mest III using W4.

Battery drain is good. 20% for 1.5hour youtube with an old iphone XR.

However, the single ended output might be nerfed badly. The dunu alpha buds (3.5mm) sound kinda flat, until I amp up the output of W4 with my G5.

Another issue is idle battery drain. I lost about 45% leaving the dongle connected over night without any music playing.

 

[gadgetgod]

Graph of the DUNU KIMA Classic (successor to the original DUNU KUMA), with comparison graph against the original DUNU KIMA.





Listening impressions to follow later.

Identical to mine:-
https://gadgetgenerations.squig.link/?share=Kima_Classic

I personally like the Kima Classic, it is quite rich especially in the midrange section.

 

[baskingshark]

CVJ (sister company of TRN) has a new CVJ KUMO coming up.

No it isn't a pirated KIMA; even though they sound close in name, this KUMO is an 8 BA behemoth!!!! I know the marketing materials claim 16 BA, but it looks like they added both sides up to get this number.

CVJ is using a waifu too LOL! And this IEM has 4 tuning options and is a collab with KAEI?

https://hifigo.com/products/cvj-kumo-iems

 

[Ferdinando1968]

It’s the normal W4.

It sounds quite nice. After 3 days being stuck with Btr5, I almost opened my wallet immediately for W4. Definitely catching up with nice DAPs with balanced out. No hiss with Andromeda even via balanced out, max gain. The soundstage is properly expanded in all directions. Good detail, good dynamic. I don’t mind doing critical listening with Mest III using W4.

Battery drain is good. 20% for 1.5hour youtube with an old iphone XR.

However, the single ended output might be nerfed badly. The dunu alpha buds (3.5mm) sound kinda flat, until I amp up the output of W4 with my G5.

Another issue is idle battery drain. I lost about 45% leaving the dongle connected over night without any music playing.

Have you tried to play DSD files from PC ?

 

[poskus]

this worth to see? any seen reviews? https://hifigo.com/products/bgvp-phantom