[Singaravelan]

Sounds warmer tilted than Verdandi and way less bright, also less bright than Simgot EA500LM/EA1000 and more bassy also.

It's my favorite single DD, considering buying another one to have an extra. But with copper or brass back for a more energetic sound.

Oh great, thanks. Sounds good to my ears!

 

[Singaravelan]

Hey @Ceeluh7

Just read and enjoyed your rather detailed review of Aful P8 ( https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/aful-performer-8.26413/ )

I have had it for a year now, I think, use it daily and really like it.

You have captured most of what I experience with it,.pros and cons. But just one thing. You say holographic soundstage. Not in my case, boss. Wideish yes, with reasonable depth and wonderfully separated crisp notes even with its detail retrieval, but not holographical.

How do you define your holographic stage, perhaps my confusion stems from that.

And this was your first review that I read. Will look up more as and when. T'was enjoyable read.

Edit: you can look below for couple of to-and-fro posts from o0genesis and me where he tries to clear my illusions about holographic stage before you reply.

 

[o0genesis0o]

AüR Audio Aehta configuration revealed, going for slow teasers this time Still no price been confirmed, only know it will be their flagship IEM. Quite excited for this one, had a lot of fun with Verdandi just know that had BC. So if Abel have a good implementation this can be an awesome quadbrid, due to switches this can go from something warm and bassy to a more bright set.

AuR needs to provide guides on how to pronounce their brand and their most of their IEMs

Hey @Ceeluh7

Just read and enjoyed your rather detailed review of Aful P8 ( https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/aful-performer-8.26413/ )

I have had it for a year now, I think, use it daily and really like it.

You have captured most of what I experience with it,.pros and cons. But just one thing. You say holographic soundstage. Not in my case, boss. Wideish yes and wonderfully separated crisp notes even with its detail retrieval, but not holographical.

How do you define your holographic stage, perhaps my confusion stems from that.

And this was your first review that I read. Will look up more as and when. T'was enjoyable read.

What do you use to drive the P8? Alternatively, how do you define holographic stage?

I think the P8 has enough treble extension to project the background further into, well, the background. It can also localise instruments as 3D element in that space, so I say, not bad. AFUL internal material about P8 did boast about large soundstage. I’m half agree with them. Maybe a bit less than half.

 

[Singaravelan]

AuR needs to provide guides on how to pronounce their brand and their most of their IEMs



What do you use to drive the P8? Alternatively, how do you define holographic stage?

I think the P8 has enough treble extension to project the background further into, well, the background. It can also localise instruments as 3D element in that space, so I say, not bad. AFUL internal material about P8 did boast about large soundstage. I’m half agree with them. Maybe a bit less than half.

I use ibasso DCO4, hibym300, Fc6, Dco3pro and the cheapie from Venture.

And that's the thing with my understanding of holographic: it's just theory, I haven't experienced it. Hence the confusion.

I imagine it to be sounds coming from the environment, all around me, 3d.

P8 does width and depth. But it doesn't pluck from environment and go all-round.

Perhaps, my understanding of this magical holographical is just that : fantasy.

But when I read stuff say about orilius szalayi, it seems to tend towards that all around massive environmental psycho-acoustic illusion to use a Melbourne chap's term.

Unfortunately, the only open-back headphone I have, the venerable Senns HD660S2 doesn't quite go that distance even width wise (rest of the stuff it does is splendid).

Edit: my Sivga Nightingale does width massive, projecting sounds from environment but in that linear line. It also goes behind, But not much depth... Guess am a soundstage whore who lusts after imaginary high.

 

[o0genesis0o]

Perhaps, my understanding of this magical holographical is just that : fantasy.

Indeed.

It’s an illusion triggered by upper treble, kinda matching HRTF, and a good audio mix.

I’m listening to this one from my iPhone (not flexing, it’s the old and dingy XR ) with a cheapest lightning cable I can find that works, connected to AFUL Snowy Night and P8:

I hear the instruments popping up in a decently sized and round in my head. They don’t exactly break the head stage to sound like they come from the room around me, they they are not left-right only. Some pop up at the back of my head, some are higher, some are more front left or front right. Some elements feel far away. Please have a try and see whether this track triggers anything for you.

Tbh, I don’t care about breaking the head stage or sounding like speakers. There are DSP plugins to make that happen (Ask Joe Bloggs). I just want the stage to feel 3D.

 

[Singaravelan]

Indeed.

It’s an illusion triggered by upper treble, kinda matching HRTF, and a good audio mix.

I’m listening to this one from my iPhone (not flexing, it’s the old and dingy XR ) with a cheapest lightning cable I can find that works, connected to AFUL Snowy Night and P8:

I hear the instruments popping up in a decently sized and round in my head. They don’t exactly break the head stage to sound like they come from the room around me, they they are not left-right only. Some pop up at the back of my head, some are higher, some are more front left or front right. Some elements feel far away. Please have a try and see whether this track triggers anything for you.

Tbh, I don’t care about breaking the head stage or sounding like speakers. There are DSP plugins to make that happen (Ask Joe Bloggs). I just want the stage to feel 3D.

Wonderful music, that. Yes yes it isn't left-right, only and that I experience from p8, and a couple more I have. For eg: sivga nightingale.

I guess I have to realign my expectations as I imagine when someone uses holographic in a review/impression along with 3D, I tend to think of magical head-stage breaking thing.
Unnatural but magical - as if one were sitting right in middle of orchestra with musicians around me in varying distances.

P8 does an excellent rendition of row 3 in an auditorium. As a silly soundstage whore I want more!

 

[gadgetgod]

AüR Audio Aehta configuration revealed, going for slow teasers this time Still no price been confirmed, only know it will be their flagship IEM. Quite excited for this one, had a lot of fun with Verdandi just know that had BC. So if Abel have a good implementation this can be an awesome quadbrid, due to switches this can go from something warm and bassy to a more bright set.

I got my Neon Pro yesterday and they are damn good!! The set will definitely get a place in best All-BA IEMs I have heard to date(and i have heard a few including U12t, U18T, Anole VX, etc.).

 

[o0genesis0o]

Unnatural but magical - as if one were sitting right in middle of orchestra with musicians around me in varying distances.

P8 does an excellent rendition of row 3 in an auditorium. As a silly soundstage whore I want more!

That’s as good as it gets if you want more, you run into the risk of messing up the tonal balance to fake it (I’m looking at you, 64 Audio TIA Fourte), and it’s still not convincing by the end.

One trick is to grab a Chord Mojo2 and turn on crossfeed. Or listen to music from a computer and run some DSP. Joe Bloggs once loaded a speaker simulation profile on his RS6 that I borrowed to test the Hiby Zeta. It’s trippy. But gets old fast.

The R8II that made me collect my jaw from the floor also does not break headstage often. It just push everything further away from each other to expand the illusion of the stage. Fun though.

---

@gadgetgod I should buy a neon pro

 

[Singaravelan]

.There are DSP plugins to make that happen (Ask Joe Bloggs). I just want the stage to feel 3D.

Since you bring up the dsp magician, in the jamesrootlessdsp, there is an 'out of head' feature in the section 'crossfeed'.

And it elevates the music above my head, almost above centre of my head, but narrows everything else. So i don't use it, except for a minute now and then to experience that aural trickery.

But since buying hiby M300 and using that as source instead of my Android phone, I have default began to use Joebloggs 's 'realistic virtual surround' - - and I like it.

 

[gadgetgod]

I should buy a neon pro

The guy doesn't ship to India so that's a concern.

Edit:
Oh just checked you are Genesis. Yeah you should get one man it sounds fantastic!!

 

[gadgetgod]

I have been following the Kinera Verdandi ever since it was showcased at an Audio show last year. The pair got the codename “Mini Loki” from many people who heard it at the audio show. Fast forward to 2024 January, Kinera officially released the Verdandi and my excitement just started to rise. This 1300$ IEM boasts some exciting looks and a solid driver setup inside promising a great sound experience. I got the unit 2-3 days ago, and just spent about 15 hours with the set, so it’s a good time to share some initial impressions here. First of all, I would like to thank Kinera for this sample for the Review tour in India!!

Design:-

Kinera knows, Kinera just knows how to please the users. The Verdandi in this Mystic Black looks and feels absolutely amazing. The shells are completely hand-painted. It looks so pretty, although the shells are a bit on the bigger side. I personally have no issues with big shells, but people with small ears might have a little trouble in getting a comfortable fit.

Driveability:-

Verdandi is not very demanding, but it surely loves powerful devices. It works well with the standard 3.5mm output of my Macbook, but shines better with my Questyle CMA18P and iBasso DX260.

Initial Impressions:-

I fell in love with the Verdandi during the first track itself. The pair sounds very musical and clean. The BCD driver works like a charm and provides a fast and slamming bass response. The sub-bass reach is phenomenal and the mid-bass is quick and snappy. The drum kicks are registered precisely and the bass guitar sounds simply phenomenal. Midrange is a little pulled back, slightly recessed we might say. But the clarity and texture for vocals is simply sublime. And the instruments, sound very well separated and accurate. Vocals with low-power sources such as my Macbook standard output had a bit of thinness which goes away as soon as we treat her with a better source. Treble extensions are really good, in fact they sound energetic and lively.

The main attractions for me so far with the Verdandi would be the following,

>The soundstage. It is 3D, it is big, it is immersive. The overall sound presentation is really captivating and massive, giving a huge feel.

>The tonality of Verdandi is mostly musical and pleasurable. It is smooth, inoffensive, and doesn’t sound tiring at all.

>The Bass, yes the solid and hard-hitting bass is everything I love on the Verdandi.

Well, these are just my initial impressions, hope you guys like the write-up and love the images that I have clicked so far. Will soon come up with a final review!!

 

[Marrogwar]

Are there anyone with both Kinera Verdandi and Simgot EA500LM? If so, how is upper mids in comparsion? I read about Verdandi being bright in that region, as well i heard it about ea500lm, but for me there is no problem with that in ea500lm, maybe because i dont like to listen to music very loud.

 

[thaslaya]

AuR needs to provide guides on how to pronounce their brand and their most of their IEMs

They sure do seem to love the letter A

 

[jsmiller58]

Since you bring up the dsp magician, in the jamesrootlessdsp, there is an 'out of head' feature in the section 'crossfeed'.

And it elevates the music above my head, almost above centre of my head, but narrows everything else. So i don't use it, except for a minute now and then to experience that aural trickery.

But since buying hiby M300 and using that as source instead of my Android phone, I have default began to use Joebloggs 's 'realistic virtual surround' - - and I like it.

Where is the “realistic virtual surround” to be found on the HiBy players?

 

[Singaravelan]

Where is the “realistic virtual surround” to be found on the HiBy players?

Depends on which hiby player you have. https://www.head-fi.org/threads/introducing-the-all-new-hiby-drx10k.968627/ might be useful. It's a plugin.

For my HibyM300, I followed steps that i detail (in a couple of posts) starting at https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hib...player-discussion-thread.970428/post-18019196

But for your hiby player, it could be simpler, perhaps?