[peter123]

Yeah I've been daily driving Fidelio X2s for aprox. 4 years. I haven't directly compared them to each other yet but I'd say they do sound quite similar. Soundstage is comparable, both can pack a fair amount of bass, separation is solid and the treble is crystal clear but not too sharp. Will try to get a more direct comparison for the review.

Thanks! I've had the X2s for many years myself so that's a very relevant comparison for me.

 

[ChrisOc]

Well, they arrived today, the Kennerton Ikiz.

The Kennerton Ikiz have been out for a good while, but they sound exceptionally good on all frequencies before burn-in even against competition of today.

2 DD, 10mm and 6mm. No BA, no piezo, no EST, but the highs are incredible! Is this what the Dunu Luna sounds like? I ask myself! Mids are very good and as to be expected on DD only units, great bass.

This cannot be an "idle burn-in", no, it will be a "working burn-in", I cannot resist listening through burn-in.

 

[Apputty]

The OPENHEART OH2000 (On-Ear headphones) finally got here yesterday.

Initial impressions are very good. All metal build; inner headband, gimbals, rod blocks, cups, driver grill, etc. Feel really solid. The headband has some padding which is really soft and comfortable. Comes with a set of S-cush Pads (80mm) and G-Cush pads (110mm), cable pouch, removable 8 strands 1.4m cable (3.5mm ends), 6.5mm adapter, cable tie and a rugged bag.

Sound quality is impressive for the price. Everything sounds tight and well balanced. After a few hours of listening they sound better with the G-Cush pads imo. The soundstage opens up, the bass gets deeper and overall the mid-range and treble clarity improves since the centre is open. Although they still sound good with the S-Cush Pads I feel like they muffle the sound a little.

I'll play around with them for a few more days and write up a full review. So far at the £38 I paid I think they are a steal.

I made a blind buy of these last week. They are still in transit. Really glad to see positive impressions. Waiting for your full review.

 

[ChrisOc]

Well, yeeeaaa, waiting for it. Semper doesn't count in this cycle, since funds were allocated long time ago. I'm a big fun of IMR boutique house sound. Bob from IMR manages to squeeze ton of Fun, soundstage & resolution in most impossible driver configurations, and Semper is an Apex Frankenstein of them all: 15mm Beryllium DD+Planar+Ceramic+2EST in a new shell with better fit hopefully.
I was going to get Kinera Baldr. But Kinera house sound is inconsistent and I couldn't pull the trigger without at least a Graph, forget about a review. Ended up getting 2 IEMs for this price.
_____I don't expect Miracle to do well duking it out with Opus Mia mainly in the bass department. Trio however is very competent.
I'm looking forward tuning OM to reference and then a-b it with Trio. I get very good soundstage with Trio. It exceeded my expectations.
_____Miracle has a bigger 11mm Japanese driver(vs Trio 10mm). I'm burning it in non-stop and hope that potential will materialize.
I looked at Ikiz IEMs. They imply some crazy soundstage and bass performance. Another boutique brand to compete with IMR? Please tell about it when it arrives!
Also, could you compare Tri Starlight isolation with H40?
I live in the noisiest city and always concerned(euphemism for "obsessed") with isolation. Trio has isolation that from my memory is on par with Legend X, better than H40, and EDP is not even comparable.
Rose miracle isolation is a total fail, barely better than FD1, and gives me wind noise when I walk indoors. Isolates well when I tape single vent, but sub-buss suffers, and unlike H40, - with Miracle there isn't too much to spare.
Measurable difference probably no.(subject to quality/resolution of instruments). And I agree, it's mostly marketing gimmicks.
I'm a thorough practitioner of cable swapping, but most of my cables are cheap(and often make Head-fi snobs cringe when I post them connected to $2K iem), because the principle is different. It's not worth it for me to chase barely noticeable difference in the Cost Diminishing-Returns land.

I don't expect cable to change FR dramatically. But very often there is minor peak or notch that's getting in the way of my brain decoding the soundstage, - that can be reduced, shifted or masked, by different cable properties, including imperfections, - thus creating synergy. Bi-metal cables are most interesting to play with.
Most recent example is when I discovered for myself gold-plated cables. People are naturally skeptical of the quality of that gold and the plating process, when it's too cheap to be true.
But for the method I'm trying to describe, - quality is not important, especially for gold, since gold is inferior conductor, and the purpose of gold-plating is to reduce treble, and it does it better than just cheap thin copper. So if gold quality is low, it'll still do the job, maybe even better if more roll off required for synergy.
I'm using $20 Gold plated cable with Blessing2 to tune it closer to my preference. Same with FH7, Miracle, Trio, ASG2. For H40 I use $8 4core copper and it works sufficiently well too.
For Noble M3 it wasn't enough, so I added a little foam in the tip. The list goes on...
What happens if you dunk LITZ cable in liquid nitrogen. I suspect nothing good. Same with plated cables as expansion/shrinking ratio is different. I imagine horror image of the thread surface covered with millions of microscopic cracks. Well, that should change FR.

"Well, yeeeaaa, waiting for it. Semper."

I am even more jealous of you now that you are getting the Semper. I think Bob has certainly got something right, I also like the IMR house sound...

Anyway, I think we shall leave IMR discussions to another place, the dedicated threads, simply because "IMR" denotes profanity for some and it is on a valid point of principle so we have to respect that.

"Also, could you compare Tri Starlight isolation with H40?"

I have not been entirely kind to the bass on the H40, so it deserves some love. Truthfully and honestly, the H40 is a monster of an IEM. The ease with which you can drive them to the volume to which they scale is amazing, quite apart from the other frequencies which are very well implemented. So apart from my criticism of the quantity of the mid-bass, I have no issues with them.

Specially to your point, I put the Starlights' isolation at 60% and the H40 easily at 75%, nothing scientific, merely my perception. I strongly recommend them for commuting because that bass will shine in a noisy environment, London Underground, NY subway, or on a plane. In addition you have the volume to which they scale with ease, that alone will obliterate many noisy background intrusion, if that noise is not muted by the highly effective pseudo custom IEM shape. The Starlights are no match for the H40 in this scenario.

"I looked at Ikiz IEMs. They imply some crazy soundstage and bass performance. Another boutique brand to compete with IMR?"

I don't believe they are churning out as many products as IMR, also they may not have as dedicated a following as IMR, but judging by what I have heard on receiving the Ikiz today, there is something to be said about the sound quality of their products. Although I will give it a bit more time to burn-in before making any more definitive statements on the Ikiz.

 

[Damikiller37]

I made a blind buy of these last week. They are still in transit. Really glad to see positive impressions. Waiting for your full review.

Will be good to hear what you think of them. I doubt you'll be disappointed

 

[pr0b3r]

The OPENHEART OH2000 (On-Ear headphones) finally got here yesterday.

Initial impressions are very good. All metal build; inner headband, gimbals, rod blocks, cups, driver grill, etc. Feel really solid. The headband has some padding which is really soft and comfortable. Comes with a set of S-cush Pads (80mm) and G-Cush pads (110mm), cable pouch, removable 8 strands 1.4m cable (3.5mm ends), 6.5mm adapter, cable tie and a rugged bag.

Sound quality is impressive for the price. Everything sounds tight and well balanced. After a few hours of listening they sound better with the G-Cush pads imo. The soundstage opens up, the bass gets deeper and overall the mid-range and treble clarity improves since the centre is open. Although they still sound good with the S-Cush Pads I feel like they muffle the sound a little.

I'll play around with them for a few more days and write up a full review. So far at the £38 I paid I think they are a steal.

That looks nice. I just sold my ATH K7XX and might need a replacement in the future. OpenHeart is also way cheaper but looks more sturdy. Only thing is that the store won't ship to my country. Sucks.

 

[courierdriver]

Aww c’mon, who wouldn’t want to be seen walking down the street in these?

Second one! Jooollery baby! Lol!

 

[FutureLegend70]

So woodgrain Famate monitors, I've just started using the mmcx cable that came with my F1, which I sadly can't get on with fit despite me liking the sound very much.
Anyway after using this cable these have have gone from a bassy stage monitor to a Shure like 535, with slightly less forward mids.
Impressed I am.

 

[RikudouGoku]

Does anyone know if there is a maximum word limit for reviews here?

 

[RikudouGoku]

Mangird Performer MT4

https://www.linsoul.com/blogs/announcements/coming-soon-mangird-performer-mt4


I totally missed this, no info on it though. Any guesses on the driver config? I think I can see a DD in it and judging from the name...maybe dd + 3 ba?

 

[ErkH]

Mangird Performer MT4

https://www.linsoul.com/blogs/announcements/coming-soon-mangird-performer-mt4


I totally missed this, no info on it though. Any guesses on the driver config? I think I can see a DD in it and judging from the name...maybe dd + 3 ba?

biocellulose dd+ sonion 23series X2 + knowles 33518

https://world.taobao.com/item/626929550077.htm

 

[RikudouGoku]

biocellulose dd+ sonion 23series X2 + knowles 33518

https://world.taobao.com/item/626929550077.htm

Seems to be around 130 usd.

 

[jant71]

Seems to be around 130 usd.

Hey maybe an FH3 beater that doesn't need juice to shine. Or will it???

 

[RikudouGoku]

Hey maybe an FH3 beater that doesn't need juice to shine. Or will it???

Well that beryllium in the FH3 works wonders. So not sure, although I actually dont have any iems with sonion BA´s so maybe I got an excuse to get it

 

[superuser1]

Well that beryllium in the FH3 works wonders. So not sure, although I actually dont have any iems with sonion BA´s so maybe I got an excuse to get it

go for it and take one for the team!