The discovery thread!

[Singaravelan]

Just had the EA500LM delivered and from a few mins of listening, I’m not used to this level of brightness it seems Some tracks like RHCP’s “Scar Tissue” sound really different on these. I’ve listened to this track hundreds of times on various headphones and some IEM’s but clearly they’ve all been on the warmer side and now the track just seems … odd.

I can’t quite explain it, it’s almost like some elements of it are … metallic, tinny-sounding. I’m sure it’s just a case of me being used to treble being a lot lower but it’s really surprising how different it sounds. Even vocals sound higher pitched.

Using Azla Xelastec’s, I think I might try the Final Audio E tips too.

Edit: Going back to the OD200’s quickly and the difference is crazy to me. OD200’s sound so much more relaxed, a lot more tamer up top and none of it feels like it’s blasting my ears.

Edit 2: Just remembered there’s different nozzles! Switched to the red nozzle and whew, that’s helped and taken the edge off. Still sounding very clear but not that edgy kick when the treble hits.

That seems to be the Simgot house sound..tinny, metallic, shouty forward with background fading out in details.

Yes yes I clearly love em. Not. If any iem is favorably compared with them I avoid. Of course, it's a much-loved brand here I notice.

 

[theintention]

i accidentally drifted off to sleep listening to music last night and my RU7 got caught under the blankets... won't do that again, it was quite hot when i woke up 15 minutes later!

 

[llysender]

Thanks for your detailed impressions ,

Please can you tell us something more about the mids/vocals quality and positioning in this presentation , thanks ,

(Edit: This is for the ibasso 3T-154 since I just realized I only mentioned it midway though my rambling)

The vocals have this weight to them and are generally pretty forward and center. Generally it has a decently thin image with quick attack and decay. Personally after listening to it more I would say its a unholy union between the general agrassiveness of the fiio FD5 but has the smoothess of the Final A50000. While it cant move air as fast as the the A5000 its one of the faster single DDs on the market that isnt pure Be.

Ok back to vocals the main focus of the vocals is on the body with decent enough extension to sound realistic. Not the best at vocal texture due to its particuar querk of slightly smoothing things over but there is enough texture to enjoy the music. While it has the side effect of being able to blast the music at loud volumes it now reminds me of how the air gap in speakers generally affect the texture and I think that was what they were going for. Vocals form REOL's earlier works like "No Title" I found that the 3T was able to keep up and unlike alot of iems that makes her autotuned voice extra thick and suffocating its able to keep up with her voice.

The only issue with blasting the music is that it showcases badly masted music along with all its glorious unintended sibilance.

Ok back to the good points. It saperates different images/voices with clear precision. Makes chamber and folk music so fun to listen to.

TBH the more I listen to it the more I wonder why they arent charging double the price. My only guess is that it isnt detailed enough.

Oh yeah the sound is gnerally quite enveloping with near 0 dark space unless its true audiophile grade recording like nana accoustic online. This gives quite the live venue feeling which is enhanced by its moderate V tuning.

Well its still the honeymoon phase but I turely believe that this iem will have staying power assuming they market it. Although I can see the biggest issue is that it might be too dry for some even with the smoothness due to the lack off added decay.

One last thing before I end my rambling. The 3T scales nicely and plays well with tubes if you want that extra smooth experience.

 

[lgcubana]

Hahaha I am a pacifist

But to be honest, when I served in the army, I was the best shooter (they called me a sniper).
I had all ten shots (AK-47) in the center from a 100 m distance.

Living in the “Gunshine” state, [edit] I find that proclamation bothersome. The Russian sniper rifle (of that era) is a Dragunov.

Accuracy and a Kalashnikov AK-47 are never in the same sentence.

 

[fidgeraldo]

Final A50000.

Is this their new flagship?

Cheers!

 

[llysender]

Is this their new flagship?

Cheers!

Their Flagship is still the A8000 but A5000 is their latest in the A series. Not sure if they have anything newer wired iem wise. I think final is working on TWS/BT headphone atm.

 

[fidgeraldo]

Accuracy and a Kalashnikov AK-47 are never in the same sentence.

So that makes it even more remarkable if someone shoots Bull Cake with an AK-47!

And not to mention that these we had were particularly bad
...we had three trial shots, and then 10 that counted.

I had to calculate which spot to target to shoot the centre; it was probably half a meter down at 8 o clock as I remembered

Well, you can explain to folks what that means...as I said...I am a pacifist

Cheers!

Their Flagship is still the A8000 but A5000 is their latest in the A series. Not sure if they have anything newer wired iem wise. I think final is working on TWS/BT headphone atm.

You wrote A50000, not A5000...I was just kidding

Cheers!

 

[cqtek]

Hello to all.

Here is my humble opinion about the TinHiFi T2 MKII.

Human correctors are welcome

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/tinhifi-t2-mk-ii.26940/reviews#review-32901

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Depends on the user, we all have different taste.

My take is an allrounder doesn't have to mean correct sounding.

If you have heard flat sounding studio monitors in treated room, that is often not that musical. Some recordings can sound spectacular, but also many can sound outright bad.

Then if I use something like a good set of warm bookshelf speakers that's not overly resolving, I will like most music.

Studio monitors also not always reflect what the artist want you to hear, they are made to help find flaws in music.

This goes back to IEMs also. Some prefer technicalities more than musicality, also wrong to say musicality as for some musical means resolving also.

In the IEM world an allrounder for me need to be om the warmer side of tuning without being to bright any places, where all my music flows without me wanting to turn volume down or change track. Basically a set that can play my library on random.
It will also need a certain degree of technicalities, but not too resolving where I will flinch hearing my older recordings or just not as good produced music.

Yep. I agree. I'd say in my collection, my current "all arounders" would be the Aure and the OD200, because they both bring musicality and bass, so they can play off the bass heavy music, but also have enough technical chops to handle fast passage metal or jazz, with excellent timbre for accuracy. On the budget side, the Lings could fall under that as well as the Cadenza (I'd even throw the NX7 IV in there as well)?

 

[gadgetgod]

Hello Friends, A friend has sent me the all-new Penon Quattro for a short listen. Having spent the entire evening with them, I want to share with you what i think of them.

Penon Quattro is a strange IEM, when I got these earlier today my first impressions were not positive at all. The pair sounded veiled and muffled in the beginning, but it kind of grew on me. And that in a good manner, the bass is the star of the show here, the midrange is a little laid back and so is the treble. It's not in proper balance for the three frequencies, but it just comes together in a beautiful manner. It also has strong imaging and accurate instrument detailing. it is certainly not the most balanced sound that you can get, it is coloured as well, and sounds too laid back for my personal preferences, but in the end if pure musical pleasure is something that you crave for, Penon Quattro will serve you well. It's an IEM that I want to recommend to everyone despite its flaws because it feels like its flaws even work in its favour to deliver an immersive and captivating sound.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Just had the EA500LM delivered and from a few mins of listening, I’m not used to this level of brightness it seems Some tracks like RHCP’s “Scar Tissue” sound really different on these. I’ve listened to this track hundreds of times on various headphones and some IEM’s but clearly they’ve all been on the warmer side and now the track just seems … odd.

I can’t quite explain it, it’s almost like some elements of it are … metallic, tinny-sounding. I’m sure it’s just a case of me being used to treble being a lot lower but it’s really surprising how different it sounds. Even vocals sound higher pitched.

Using Azla Xelastec’s, I think I might try the Final Audio E tips too.

Edit: Going back to the OD200’s quickly and the difference is crazy to me. OD200’s sound so much more relaxed, a lot more tamer up top and none of it feels like it’s blasting my ears.

Edit 2: Just remembered there’s different nozzles! Switched to the red nozzle and whew, that’s helped and taken the edge off. Still sounding very clear but not that edgy kick when the treble hits.

Broheim, using a notoriously compressed and noise war track like Scar Tissue and RHCP's Rick Rubin era production to test track new IEM's is like trying to use a rooster to test relaxating tones. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the song and the album, but that is not a track you start off with to test any IEM. Try something with more dynamic range and better production values?

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Hello Friends, A friend has sent me the all-new Penon Quattro for a short listen. Having spent the entire evening with them, I want to share with you what i think of them.

Penon Quattro is a strange IEM, when I got these earlier today my first impressions were not positive at all. The pair sounded veiled and muffled in the beginning, but it kind of grew on me. And that in a good manner, the bass is the star of the show here, the midrange is a little laid back and so is the treble. It's not in proper balance for the three frequencies, but it just comes together in a beautiful manner. It also has strong imaging and accurate instrument detailing. it is certainly not the most balanced sound that you can get, it is coloured as well, and sounds too laid back for my personal preferences, but in the end if pure musical pleasure is something that you crave for, Penon Quattro will serve you well. It's an IEM that I want to recommend to everyone despite its flaws because it feels like its flaws even work in its favour to deliver an immersive and captivating sound.

This right here is why so many of the multi-DD sets seem to fall flat as far as sound sig. Now what are DD truly known for? BASS. Right? That's been the key characteristic of the DD since day one. It can bring the bass. Now, there's a few multi-DD that lay huge eggs when it comes to bass (T2 and Star River come to mind), but for the most part, DD = big bass. Now at least for me, the whole concept of a multi DD set up would be to bring out the treble and mid range in a way, that a single DD might struggle to truly deliver with full range layering? So excellent timbre, air, sparkle up top, and bite in the mids. The bass would be the afterthought, because that's inherent. But it seems that these attempts at multi DD seem to be BIG BASS, relaxed highs, and slightly recessed mids. Dark tunings. What?! You can get that sound by buying a single DD set from a never ending multitude of brands. Legato anyone?! So to introduce a 4 DD set that almost every reviewer starts off as dark and bassy is sheer stupidity IMHO. Unleash that treble driver! Unleash the mids with those middle drivers?! Have full range balance from bass thru treble?! So glad I passed on this thing.

 

[DagsJT]

Following on from @FreeWheelinAudioLuv2 ‘s post above, does anyone have a Tidal playlist of recommended test tracks?

 

[gadgetgod]

This right here is why so many of the multi-DD sets seem to fall flat as far as sound sig. Now what are DD truly known for? BASS. Right? That's been the key characteristic of the DD since day one. It can bring the bass. Now, there's a few multi-DD that lay huge eggs when it comes to bass (T2 and Star River come to mind), but for the most part, DD = big bass. Now at least for me, the whole concept of a multi DD set up would be to bring out the treble and mid range in a way, that a single DD might struggle to truly deliver with full range layering? So excellent timbre, air, sparkle up top, and bite in the mids. The bass would be the afterthought, because that's inherent. But it seems that these attempts at multi DD seem to be BIG BASS, relaxed highs, and slightly recessed mids. Dark tunings. What?! You can get that sound by buying a single DD set from a never ending multitude of brands. Legato anyone?! So to introduce a 4 DD set that almost every reviewer starts off as dark and bassy is sheer stupidity IMHO. Unleash that treble driver! Unleash the mids with those middle drivers?! Have full range balance from bass thru treble?! So glad I passed on this thing.

Haha i get what you are saying and would completely agree with that as well. The treble could be better, I have no complaints with the recessed midrange as it gives me a smooth and laid-back feel.

 

[o0genesis0o]

Unrelated to above, but curious -- why do planars have a bigger soundstage? You mention that about hidizsmp145. I experience a massive lovely stage on Sivga Nightingale planar.

More likely because MP145 is physically massive rather than because of the planar driver. Personally, most planar I tried beside the F1 Pro has a flat but wide stage. Flat might be justice else where but I wanna my stage to have curve depth

Aful Magic One is just outside of the last 3 months but still worth mentioning.

Still one of my #1 recs for “all rounder”. Such a well tuned IEM.

Just had the EA500LM delivered and from a few mins of listening, I’m not used to this level of brightness it seems Some tracks like RHCP’s “Scar Tissue” sound really different on these. I’ve listened to this track hundreds of times on various headphones and some IEM’s but clearly they’ve all been on the warmer side and now the track just seems … odd.

I can’t quite explain it, it’s almost like some elements of it are … metallic, tinny-sounding. I’m sure it’s just a case of me being used to treble being a lot lower but it’s really surprising how different it sounds. Even vocals sound higher pitched.

Using Azla Xelastec’s, I think I might try the Final Audio E tips too.

Edit: Going back to the OD200’s quickly and the difference is crazy to me. OD200’s sound so much more relaxed, a lot more tamer up top and none of it feels like it’s blasting my ears.

Edit 2: Just remembered there’s different nozzles! Switched to the red nozzle and whew, that’s helped and taken the edge off. Still sounding very clear but not that edgy kick when the treble hits.

Have you tried wearing it deeper?

Is this their new flagship?

Cheers!

A5000 is between A4000 and A8000. I heard that it is good, but people were scared by the A4000 and never return to final A series. These IEMs have quite good staging (due to tuning) and resolution (due to treble extension). In fact, I used to use A4000 rather than Blessing 2 when hunting for my first kilobuck.