[PhonoPhi]

If higher impedance is a requirement, a solution/workaround for lower impedance earphones might be the iFi IEM Match

Only if there is a too powerful but good amp to match with too sensitive IEMs - that is rare for portable gear.

 

[audio123]

While the next discoveries are waiting for their time, will you let me ask a question?
I usually choose my headphones slowly and thoughtfully as my budget is limited. Can you tell me where to look? I cannot say that I will immediately run to buy, but I always want better than what is. Well, as a last resort, there will be something to dream about
The bottom line is this. I would like to look at the tonal balance similar to spring2. But with some tangible improvements:
1. Better resolution and detail. Not pseudo detail due to the peak of high mid frequencies, but real due to the greater speed and quality of the drivers. Preference for hybrid models with high quality dynamic and armature drivers.
2. Slightly greater length of high ones. Not so fast decay after 10kHz. Quite a bit, but more and better, especially in the 10-20 kHz section. I miss it in the spring.
3. Of course, I would like to save the budget, but not at the expense of the build quality and drivers. From my point of view, spring2 is a champion in terms of the price of sound, but I would like to move to a higher league. But according to the principle, every extra dollar is for a real improvement, and not for a beautiful appearance and rhinestones on the panel. It is unlikely that I will be able to collect more than 350-450 bucks. Unless, a higher price will mean a real leap in quality.
4. And the last thing. The impedance must not be lower than 32Ω. You may consider this a prejudice, but none of my experiences with low impedance headphones have been satisfactory. I do not want to delve into this, so as not to excite supporters of certain low-impedance models. Simply - not less than 32Ω. Never.
Does anyone have any ideas? Maybe someone saw something? It is advisable that you have an idea of how the spring2 sounds in terms of the balance of frequencies.
Thanks.
( while looking at "DUNU EST 112" during Black Friday sales on Ali. But maybe there is something else that is worth your attention?)

Most important thing is what is your budget? Cheers.

 

[KutuzovGambit]

Only if there is a too powerful but good amp to match with too sensitive IEMs - that is rare for portable gear.

Impedance adapters come with SQ compromises too IIRC.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

GS Audio ST10, Moondrop Quarks, KBEAR Robin arrived.

OOTB for ST10: solid technicalities with “bass too heavy, treble too rolled off dark” tuning, if retuned, wow! This IEM rocks.

OOTB for Robin: after market retuning no needed. Just plug and play, it’s hard to hate solid all rounder, no burn-in, nothing, right out of the box, it already sounds good.

OOTB for Quarks: reserved

Following up with GS Audio ST10, obtained detail driver composition:
Here is ST10’s detailed driver composition:
Sub-woofer: Sonion 38 AcuPass (2BA)
Bass-Mid: Sonion 37 (2BA)
Mid-Treble: Sonion 2389D (2BA)
Super Tweeter: Knowles SWFK (4BA)

Sonion monster with extremely resolving 4BA super tweeter ST10 is

No wonder it matches with SA6 cable, the bass driver seemed using the same Sonion AcuPass sub woofer.

 

[TWidXugA]

Impedance adapters come with SQ compromises too IIRC.

I don't think the iFi IEM match is an impedance adapter. It seems to be some clever attenuator. I've seen measurements of it (can't remember where, some review) and it doesn't seem to change frequency response significantly.

[EDIT] Here is the review I mentioned.

Btw, I suggested having a look at that product since I am aware it exists and have seen reviews, but I don't have one. The use case for it seems to be generally noise or hiss reduction from lower end daps or phones. I imagine that might be the most common use case for which you would require a higher impedance headphone to start with, or, like @PhonoPhi suggested, you might have an amp with higher output impedance, in which case this should work too.

 

[Strifeff7]

While the next discoveries are waiting for their time, will you let me ask a question?
I usually choose my headphones slowly and thoughtfully as my budget is limited. Can you tell me where to look? I cannot say that I will immediately run to buy, but I always want better than what is. Well, as a last resort, there will be something to dream about
The bottom line is this. I would like to look at the tonal balance similar to spring2. But with some tangible improvements:
1. Better resolution and detail. Not pseudo detail due to the peak of high mid frequencies, but real due to the greater speed and quality of the drivers. Preference for hybrid models with high quality dynamic and armature drivers.
2. Slightly greater length of high ones. Not so fast decay after 10kHz. Quite a bit, but more and better, especially in the 10-20 kHz section. I miss it in the spring.
3. Of course, I would like to save the budget, but not at the expense of the build quality and drivers. From my point of view, spring2 is a champion in terms of the price of sound, but I would like to move to a higher league. But according to the principle, every extra dollar is for a real improvement, and not for a beautiful appearance and rhinestones on the panel. It is unlikely that I will be able to collect more than 350-450 bucks. Unless, a higher price will mean a real leap in quality.
4. And the last thing. The impedance must not be lower than 32Ω. You may consider this a prejudice, but none of my experiences with low impedance headphones have been satisfactory. I do not want to delve into this, so as not to excite supporters of certain low-impedance models. Simply - not less than 32Ω. Never.
Does anyone have any ideas? Maybe someone saw something? It is advisable that you have an idea of how the spring2 sounds in terms of the balance of frequencies.
Thanks.
( while looking at "DUNU EST 112" during Black Friday sales on Ali. But maybe there is something else that is worth your attention?)

Tansio Mirai LAND.

 

[tkddans]

Ok, got my impressions out. Trying to keep these out of box impressions videos to 5 minutes or less. People aint got time for longer.

Enjoy me repeating what I've already said here! hah!

 

[mndless]

Just a warning that HiFiGo's Amazon marketplace team is being shady about returns. My set of GK10 were apparently defective, since their sound differs so far from what people keep saying I should have been getting and I tried to get them to refund me, but they tried to deny the refund, even when I had an Amazon rep reach out to them for it. Amazon's A-Z guarantee forced matters in the end, but that's still some rather unscrupulous behavior on HiFiGo's part. Maybe they aren't always like this about returns and refunds, but I'll be avoiding them going forward.

 

[jmwant]

Tanchjim released it's latest flagship IEM, Prism.
https://hifigo.com/blogs/news/tanchjim-prism-latest-flagship-triple-driver-hybrid-iems

 

[mndless]

Does anyone have experience with the DIY SE846 sets for AliExpress? I'm considering the 10BA one, since it has an interesting combination of single BA drivers. They're counting the total number of drivers in both sides, so it's 5 per side with the loadout being 26845+31264+26784+31142+30095. They're all Knowles part numbers, but my guess is that they're Bellsing driver versions of each. Based just on the graphs of the drivers, I'm definitely intrigued, but trying to get a graph out of these people is proving challenging. Maybe it's the language difference, since I'm utterly incompetent at learning Chinese.

 

[LikeHolborn]

So you guys wouldn't know a 'phone that's relatively midrange forward with no treble sibilance but still a little sparkly..

TL;DR: Amazing slightly V sounding headphone that have a better balance, more detail and sound better than the pistons (Oh no he didn't!). Just the highs are to prominent for my liking. 450 Taiwan Dollar = 12 euro.

Yesterday I sneaked away from my internship here in Taiwan and went headphone shopping again.
Because every headphone is just hanging there to demo, I listened to the ones I didn't hear before. I've heard around 30 pair in these past week.
The majority of the cheap ones were bass booming crap. Until I stumbled upon the "Intopic Jazz i57" for 450 NTD (12 euro).
I was just amazed, the sound quality of these thing were nothing like the other crap that I've heard.
So I bought them and wanted to share them with you (as this is the discovery thread.)


(I can't read that)


(First time that I've seen budget headphones talk about a balanced form of frequency spectrum instead of just bass)


(the rear)

(Nothing else in the box, just S & L tips, that are not in the picture. The clip is 360 degrees spinnable on its foot, nice detail.)


(I'll compare them to the Piston 2.0 with Sony MH1 tips, since everybody seems to have them)


Build quality:
Great as far as I can judge, the headphones are made of some kind of metal, apparently Zinc Alloy, and feel really sturdy.
The mic and one button remote work fine, the cable is made of soft flat rubber, non tangling, but not made for running since you can hear it when they move (microphonics?)
Y cord with the mic/remote in the left cable, its not heavy. The stock tips have a good seal.

Sound: (burn in just 24 hours, sorry, too excited.)

Bass:
Nothing short of amazing, deep, tight and fast. Faster and more detailed than the Pistons, just not that prominent. Still a bass heavy sound.
I love the subbass on these things. Listening to An Audience With The Pope - Elbow resonates your ears with the bass from the bigdrum (something that was absent with the ATH-CK500M).
Phoenix - Lasso offer nice deep details to the bass, similar to the piston, but less prominent and not that warm(bloated?).

Mids:
The Jazz i57 have a slight V-sounding signature vs the more U-shaped Pistons. Due to my personal preference towards the midrange, I greatly favour the Jazz i57 in this round. The song I use to test the midrange is Radiohead - Reckoner in which the first few notes in your left ear reveal a lot about the headphones. The notes are more recessed compared to the cymbals in the Pistons.In the Jazz i57, the notes on different strings of the guitar sound more separated. Overall, more clarity and detail in the song with the Jazz I57.
Voices sound equally impressive on both, can't pick a winner here.


The Highs:
The Pistons take the crown here. Staying with the same song. The highs sound more natural and true to source with the Piston. I love accuracy and reverb of which the piston reproduce the highs. After owning the Xears XPA2Pro, sibilance is my worst feared enemy, the pistons comfort me on this matter. The Jazz i57 however has a very similar VSD1 sound. More prominent, more coloured highs (like the VSD1(S)), which at high volumes, busy drums, may be at the edge of sibiliant. Especially Miles Kane brings out my fear for sibliance. And at high volume they sound harsher than the Pistons, luckily not sibilant. At normal volumes, they sound very well, just a tad to prominent for my liking.
Soundstage is very small on the Jazz i57, comparable to a basketball a few inches in front of your head. The sound doesn't leave that area, while the Piston sound much wider.


Conclusion:
These headphones astonished me when I heard them. For their price (around 12 euro) there isn't any better around. Balanced sound, the perfect bass, nice midrange, only too prominent highs. I'm not trying to hype anything, nor do I work at Intopic. Just trying to share them with you. I hope more experienced people could review this headphone.

Cool, would you know something that's treble recessed and non sibilant but still sparkly (not dull) i find a forward midrange brings more detail to the sound and engaging, character or soul to the songs too.

Btw i don't care for soundstage and listen at higher volumes, that's why i need something even, not the kind that still "ch" or "s"', "t"'s at medium to low volume.

 

[Xinlisupreme]

Tanchjim released it's latest flagship IEM, Prism.
https://hifigo.com/blogs/news/tanchjim-prism-latest-flagship-triple-driver-hybrid-iems

Looks Stunning!

 

[baskingshark]

Looks Stunning!

The Tanchjim Prism price is stunning too hahaha ($599.99 USD).

I liked that they took off 1 cent from the price to not let it hit the $600 psychological barrier!

 

[nymz]

The Tanchjim Prism price is stunning too hahaha ($599.99 USD).

I liked that they took off 1 cent from the price to not let it hit the $600 psychological barrier!

Yeah, the price is a turn-off, not gonna lie.

At 600usd you better give me ests or single DDs

 

[davidcotton]

Just a warning that HiFiGo's Amazon marketplace team is being shady about returns. My set of GK10 were apparently defective, since their sound differs so far from what people keep saying I should have been getting and I tried to get them to refund me, but they tried to deny the refund, even when I had an Amazon rep reach out to them for it. Amazon's A-Z guarantee forced matters in the end, but that's still some rather unscrupulous behavior on HiFiGo's part. Maybe they aren't always like this about returns and refunds, but I'll be avoiding them going forward.

Might have had some people taking advantage of the returns system lately which made them antsy a bit. At least you got it sorted.