[kmmbd]

Hmmm $1.1kcable
I’d just get both DUNU SA6 and Moondrop Variations (adds up to like $1.1k) and call it endgame unless I have $5 millions of lottery win

well it will make other $200 cable look reasonable from a consumer psychology stand point if that’s the aim.

The target audience and target market of super-exotic cables are a strange one. They are the people who already own multiple TOTL/Endgame level of IEMs and want to see if they can eke out even better performance by, well, adding another $2K cable. I myself will go for a $150 cable if that looks and feels exotic enough (purely cosmetic reasons).

Either way, the configuration Penon has here is actually cheaper than similar Effect Audio cables (which go for above $2000, I kid you not). Nonetheless, the thread was already derailed by cable debates once and I don't want to reignite that frankly fruitless discussion.

 

[mndless]

The target audience and target market of super-exotic cables are a strange one. They are the people who already own multiple TOTL/Endgame level of IEMs and want to see if they can eke out even better performance by, well, adding another $2K cable. I myself will go for a $150 cable if that looks and feels exotic enough (purely cosmetic reasons).

Either way, the configuration Penon has here is actually cheaper than similar Effect Audio cables (which go for above $2000, I kid you not). Nonetheless, the thread was already derailed by cable debates once and I don't want to reignite that frankly fruitless discussion.

I hope that I have enough disposable income one day to have nothing better to spend it on than chasing the extremely diminishing returns of ultra-premium multi-kilobuck IEM cables. Seems quite unlikely for me, though.

 

[kmmbd]

People looking for a DAP under $200 can look into Hidizs AP80 Pro. Good display, very small form factor, decently powerful balanced output, and quite nice staging. Better than the Hiby R3 Pro Saber to my ears in terms of sound, though I think the Sony NW-A55 (with MrWalkman firmware) is still the "DAP to beat" around $200 mark. Issue is - it's very hard to get the Sony DAP in many markets nowadays, in typical Sony fashion (always discontinuing their best stuff).

 

[rayliam80]

People looking for a DAP under $200 can look into Hidizs AP80 Pro. Good display, very small form factor, decently powerful balanced output, and quite nice staging. Better than the Hiby R3 Pro Saber to my ears in terms of sound, though I think the Sony NW-A55 (with MrWalkman firmware) is still the "DAP to beat" around $200 mark. Issue is - it's very hard to get the Sony DAP in many markets nowadays, in typical Sony fashion (always discontinuing their best stuff).

I really enjoyed my AP80 (non-pro) until it met its demise during the spin cycle of my washing machine. Nowadays, dongle away I go…

 

[r31ya]

I really enjoyed my AP80 (non-pro) until it met its demise during the spin cycle of my washing machine. Nowadays, dongle away I go…

Yeah, Dongle Republic~
--
I didn't use DAP as older dap that i've tried have tendency to lag when used as PC DAC (surely its better now) which is double duty expected from my daily use, so Dongle DAC we go.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

I spent the last two days with my A55 with Mr Walkman MOD, with my Fiio amp, with Shouer Tape Pro with balanced cable, and it's been an absolute aural pleasure. Switching up tonight to the Dunu EST112 to see how it compares (balanced) and the NX7 mk III in balanced mode with the Sony DAP. It's just so hard to beat for that price range with the MOD and an amp with balanced mode.

 

[14christ]

I spent the last two days with my A55 with Mr Walkman MOD, with my Fiio amp, with Shouer Tape Pro with balanced cable, and it's been an absolute aural pleasure. Switching up tonight to the Dunu EST112 to see how it compares (balanced) and the NX7 mk III in balanced mode with the Sony DAP. It's just so hard to beat for that price range with the MOD and an amp with balanced mode.

I hear ya. Don't need much power to get the most from a lot of these iems. Cans, yeah you prolly need an amp but not iems. 1W of power is overkill for most if not all IEMs. Most will show no scaling past 500mW ime

 

[Atek2019]

BGGAR said, New BLON is coming:

 

[mndless]

I hear ya. Don't need much power to get the most from a lot of these iems. Cans, yeah you prolly need an amp but not iems. 1W of power is overkill for most if not all IEMs. Most will show no scaling past 500mW ime

Absolutely. Even the Kinera NanNa 2.0 aren't able to make use of more than a third of the max output of the HiBy R5 Saber. I was able to confirm this with my friend's setup when I visited him last, and those are another EST set that loves power. The R5 S is a DAP capable of outputting just over 1W per channel at 16Ohm. Definitely overkill on the power front for just about every IEM out there. I suspect there may be some high impedance planar magnetic sets out there that I'm unaware of that would need that much power, but it would be these kinds of anomalous sets that break that norm.

 

[mndless]

BGGAR said, New BLON is coming:

They're certainly quite shiny. Looking forward to learning more about them.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Absolutely. Even the Kinera NanNa 2.0 aren't able to make use of more than a third of the max output of the HiBy R5 Saber. I was able to confirm this with my friend's setup when I visited him last, and those are another EST set that loves power. The R5 S is a DAP capable of outputting just over 1W per channel at 16Ohm. Definitely overkill on the power front for just about every IEM out there. I suspect there may be some high impedance planar magnetic sets out there that I'm unaware of that would need that much power, but it would be these kinds of anomalous sets that break that norm.

My Hiby and Fiio X3 handle almost everything with ease. No problem there. The Sony DAPS are notoriously low powered, so though many don't need an amp, for the sake of using balanced out and adding some juice, I'l use the Fiio amp.

 

[nymz]

Seems its a double DD. Interesting..

 

[Dany1]

Shozy Ceres - 1 DD + 1 BA Hybrid Iem

Shozy released their new iem Ceres. IMHO it looks stunning. The color combination of Yellow and deep blue is so intriguing. Has anyone tried this iem yet ? I haven't seen any information or sound impressions on it yet.

 

[14christ]

My Hiby and Fiio X3 handle almost everything with ease. No problem there. The Sony DAPS are notoriously low powered, so though many don't need an amp, for the sake of using balanced out and adding some juice, I'l use the Fiio amp.

How do the pcm dacs sound compared to ess and cirrus? Never heard a pcm dac. Any noticable differences?

 

[mndless]

If anyone was interested in these inexpensive DD set from Amazon, Apparently called the E13S

They do actually end up looking like their product pictures. They're not terrible, but I'd recommend against using the stock eartips. They've tuned these things for the typical mid-bass impact that so many consumer sets have, so the stock eartips make too good of a seal and the midbass crushes everything else. Using Spinfit CP-360 to nuke the bass makes these a relatively acceptable V-shaped tuning with extra bass gain. Unfortunately, I lack a way to graph these, but for, like, $20, I don't think you would be wildly disappointed by their sound after they've had several hours to burn in. This is definitely a set where I have noticed a distinct change in how the driver sounds after being left to burn for a bit. The bass tightens up a bit and the treble becomes a lot more distinct. They're about on par with Sony earbuds at the same price, but they do come with some interesting eartips and MMCX connectors, so they're a little more fun to play around with compared to wired Sony earbuds. Their eartips have proven to be far more useful for my GS Audio GD7B, where they dramatically improve bass impact without losing treble, since they're ridiculously large bore. Like, the bore of these things is 5.5mm at least. They're absolutely massive.

If they keep improving with more run time, I'll post an update.

TL;DR: Not bad for $20, but nothing to write home about. The tips may be more interesting than the IEM itself.