[Dsnuts]

ya will try to catch some light when I get home to take some pics of them. They are cold chillin on my burn in station. Supposed to be stabilized wood? No way a $45 earphone gonna use actual stabilized wood, It is plastic.

 

[RikudouGoku]

ya will try to catch some light when I get home to take some pics of them. They are cold chillin on my burn in station. Supposed to be stabilized wood? No way a $45 earphone gonna use actual stabilized wood, It is plastic.

Isnt the CCA CST using wood?

 

[Dsnuts]

I believe stabilized wood is more expensive to make as it requires several processes to essentially make them into plastic. Starts out as wood so that is why you see it in more higher end IEMs. Wood is cheap enough the way it is but stabilized wood become essentially fossilized wood in a long hardening and sometimes coloring process.

"The basic principle of wood stabilizing is to take a piece of soft or punky wood and inject it with resin to create a stable, hardened wood blank that is safe to turn. The resin displaces air pockets throughout the grain structure, creating a dense blank that is nearly impervious to moisture changes and can be polished to a high gloss."

Taken from the net. The shells of the GK10 has a plate that is heart shaped that looks a bit like stabilized wood but you can get essentially a sticker that looks like that and is what I am feeling what it is. I could be wrong though. I will take some pics of it when I get a chance tonight as well as leave some more impressions.

How many times we seen an absolute stunning looking shells only to hear the sound is not all that. The GK10 is the absolute opposite. If these Geek dudes put in these drivers with this tuning in one of them Kinera shells now we are talking.

 

[mndless]

I believe stabilized wood is more expensive to make as it requires several processes to essentially make them into plastic. Starts out as wood so that is why you see it in more higher end IEMs. Wood is cheap enough the way it is but stabilized wood become essentially fossilized wood in a long hardening and sometimes coloring process.

"The basic principle of wood stabilizing is to take a piece of soft or punky wood and inject it with resin to create a stable, hardened wood blank that is safe to turn. The resin displaces air pockets throughout the grain structure, creating a dense blank that is nearly impervious to moisture changes and can be polished to a high gloss."

Taken from the net. The shells of the GK10 has a plate that is heart shaped that looks a bit like stabilized wood but you can get essentially a sticker that looks like that and is what I am feeling what it is. I could be wrong though. I will take some pics of it when I get a chance tonight as well as leave some more impressions.

Stabilizing wood is a surprisingly easy process, but it does require the correct tools. You take your wood, cut into reasonably sized blanks to make it easier for the resin to fully penetrate it, then you place it in a container, place a weight on top to prevent it floating, add in your colored thermal set resin (a popular brand in the US is called Cactus Juice), then place the whole thing in a vacuum chamber and draw a strong vacuum on it before closing the valve and letting it sit for about 12 hours so the air can fully escape the wood fiber matrix. After that time, release the vacuum, which allows the resin to wick into the wood and replace where the air used to be. Remove the wood from the resin, wrap it in foil or parchment paper and bake at the prescribed temperature to set the resin. After all that, you've got your block of stabilized wood that you can slice off little sections of for things like faceplates. If they're doing the stabilization in-house, then the costs for using the stabilized wood can be dramatically cut.

Edit: The funny thing about Kinera's shells is that they're all painted effects, which aren't expensive in terms of parts or equipment, but is quite labor intensive. I would settle for some attractive patterned resin faceplates and a nice clear or translucent colored resin shell body so I can admire the drivers they're using.

 

[mndless]

Damn that is a steep price for changing the shell shape. Although if its an hybrid, changing the shape will very likely have sound changes as well.

That was the reason they gave for why it costs so much for them. They try to retune everything so the enclosure shape and volume change won't detrimentally impact the original tuning, though they did warn that it may not come out exactly the same tuning as the standard shell.

 

[RikudouGoku]

That was the reason they gave for why it costs so much for them. They try to retune everything so the enclosure shape and volume change won't detrimentally impact the original tuning, though they did warn that it may not come out exactly the same tuning as the standard shell.

Yes, that sounds valid. If you really want to change the shell, you should do it on their BA iems, not with their hybrids since DDs are very sensitive to changes like that.

 

[mndless]

Yes, that sounds valid. If you really want to change the shell, you should do it on their BA iems, not with their hybrids since DDs are very sensitive to changes like that.

Definitely, though some of the ported BAs do have some relatively minor reliance on the enclosure size and shape, but it's far less important for them compared to DD, especially in a sealed enclosure.

 

[Ace Bee]

@Dsnuts, between Reecho SG01 and Geek Wold GK10, which one has a more spacious sound and better imaging?

 

[430633]

Never heard those either. Too many IEMS to keep up with now a days. Though I know folks are wondering why I never heard a Blon even when they were going through a big flavor of the month period. Never really needed to hear them. Seen too many sound decriptions and folks having fit issues was enough for me to stay away.

I see! What about the ibasso IT00? Those are quite well known and highly praised as well, and they also utilise a single DD graphene driver

 

[mndless]

If anyone wants to see my journey to some simple mods on my CCA CKX to reduce the treble slightly, boost the bass by about the same amount, and smooth all the spikes in the treble out, check out my post here in the KZ Audio Impressions thread. I even included links to the parts I used for it. I expect that this type of mod would work very well for the TRN VX as well, which could open the doors to yet another low cost, high performance IEM choice for people who don't mind tinkering with it a bit.

Edit because I messed up a letter.

Edit again because holy crap, I can crank these things so, so much louder than I could before and they aren't actively trying to murder my eardrums. This is great.

 

[Dsnuts]

I will break in both the SG-01 and the GK10 here and do a better comparison between them. GK10 is much more advanced in design I mean you just don't expect a full on higher end sound from a tribrid for $45. It actually is using 4 different type of drivers to be more accurate. Titanium plated dynamic for bass+ Graphene dynamic for mids+ Single BA for lower treble+ 2X piezoelectric drivers for ultra highs. And the shells are not big at all. I would even say they are fairly smaller considering all the drivers it has. I am surprised they managed to fit all them drivers in the shells.





Something like the Blessing 2 shells are monsters in size in comparison. Guys on the cheap cable thread will recognize this cable. I am using a SPC XinHS version of the NiceHCK white crane cable on these. .It was the first cable I attached to them and that was that. No need for a better cable for these.

The sound is tighter tonight as I have been burning these in since I got them. I am quite smitten with these things. I have never heard anything that touches these at the price these are going for. You forget your listening to a budget fi offering. There is nothing budget fi about the sound. I just got done doing a longer review for the ISN EST50 and these things pick right up after hearing those things. It don't seem like there is much of a drop off in SQ is my point and those cost 10X more than these Lol. As unique as they look these are extremely comfortable to use due to their relatively smaller shell size and as for the sound. I keep on shaking my head there is no way this sound is coming from a $45 earphone.

It handily puts away just about anything I have heard in the past in the price range and a lot of earphones in the $100 plus range for sonics. I am actually having a hard time trying to figure out $100 earphones that outright sounds better than these. I think I actually prefer this sound vs the Spring 2 as well which is a $170 phone. Shozy 1,4 forgetaboutit. Those dont have the clarity or treble detail of these things and bass is just as good on these if not better than the 1.4.

 

[Barndoor]

Phew, glad you are still enjoying as I ordered a pair about half an hour ago and before your latest post.

 

[InvisibleInk]

Those dont have the clarity or treble detail of these things and bass is just as good on these if not better than the 1.4.

You have my attention

 

[Dsnuts]

Don't let the goofy heart shaped design fool you. These are serious business. I say grab one before they sell out of these. No kidding. These are gonna catch on fire and you guys have the chance to be early adopters for these.

When you get these and they get a proper cable and some nicer tips.. You gotta do the how much you think these are to your friends and family members test.
There is no possible way folks are gonna say $50

 

[G777]

They would've been a lot more popular if they weren't heart-shaped.