The discovery thread!

[InvisibleInk]

but... how does that even fit?

Deep, brother, deep

 

[Surf Monkey]

MUSE HiFi continues to expand their offerings. This time it’s a litz structure modular cable. Looks like it has pretty nice hardware:

US $49.68 28％ Off | NEW MUSEHIFI Color Cow Litz Structure High Purity 6N Alloy Copper 3.5/2.5/4.4 Triple

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mO8JHDw

 

[nymz]

Tripowin Cencibel

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TANGZU WU ZETIAN

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Tripowin Rhombus

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TRN ST5

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[InvisibleInk]

Apparently Akoustyx released a reference-tuned planar iem, in ety bullet form factor:
https://akoustyx.com/products/s6

(listed in the Bullet/Cable-Down IEM Database thread: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-bullet-cable-down-iem-database-140-update.964041)

I've been hoping for a reference-tuned planar and I like the ety form factor, so I'm intrigued, but... how does that even fit?

Seriously, though, maybe something like this...

 

[Redcarmoose]

TRN ST5 left
TRN BAX right

 

[Redcarmoose]

 

[counterclockwise]

Deep, brother, deep

lol, my mains are er4sr so consider me unfazed. ^^

what I was getting at is that these shells look as slim as etys (which are about 7mm across), whereas the smallest planar driver I'm aware of (P1) has a diameter of 10mm. they either cut that in half or applied some non-euclidean engineering here.

the internet seems to know basically nothing about these yet... all I find is a report that they demoed a prototype DD/planar hybrid at CanJam 3 years ago, which I suppose evolved into the S-6: https://audio-head.com/akoustyx-in-ears-the-ms4-canjam-socal-2019/amp/

 

[Jmop]

Looking forward to seeing the new Olina graph, please calm that upper treble peak.

 

[BCool]

lol, my mains are er4sr so consider me unfazed. ^^

what I was getting at is that these shells look as slim as etys (which are about 7mm across), whereas the smallest planar driver I'm aware of (P1) has a diameter of 10mm. they either cut that in half or applied some non-euclidean engineering here.

the internet seems to know basically nothing about these yet... all I find is a report that they demoed a prototype DD/planar hybrid at CanJam 3 years ago, which I suppose evolved into the S-6: https://audio-head.com/akoustyx-in-ears-the-ms4-canjam-socal-2019/amp/

It's possible that they developed their own driver. There's nothing inherent about the design of planar drivers that mean they have to be much larger than dynamics.

Curious that there's not more discussion about them though, with all the planar hype this year you'd think there would be a bigger marketing push.

 

[kmmbd]

The TempoTec V6 is one of the, if not the best Android-powered DAPs under USD$500, and that's something I did not see coming at all.

I mostly associated TempoTec with budget dongles and sources, but they really did their homework before coming up with the V6. It's on kickstarter, which is usually something I avoid, but the hardware is already finalized and I suspect the Kickstarter campaign is mostly to gauge public interest rather than fund hardware development (funding goal is rather low for that anyway).

The TempoTec V6 receives my recommendation, with the only caveat that long-term software support is something that remains to be seen, and an outdated Android version and SoC makes the device less-than-ideal in terms of raw performance. But for the early-bird price of $270? Bonkers value.

Full review: https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/tempotec-v6.26011/review/29177/

 

[unifutomaki]

Treated my Porta Pros to a spiffy new pair of Yaxis

 

[Poganin]

I've been out of the loop with releases for a bit. What are the current best bang for your buck single driver IEMs in the 400-500 USD bracket? Both planar and dynamic.
I guess planar would be the Wu Zetian?

 

[Hustler]

HZSound Heart Mirror Pro are available for 75$. Black version looks nice.
https://keephifi.com/products/hzsound-heart-mirror-pro

 

[jant71]

https://www-aiuto--jp-co-jp.transla...48.php?_x_tr_sl=ja&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US
https://www-aiuto--jp-co-jp.transla...92.php?_x_tr_sl=ja&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US

Looks pretty cool. I know some will gufaw at a fixed cable in 2022 but it is around $100 and stills looks like a nice concept.

Good exchange rate right now so I pre-ordered these for ~$85 shipped from Amazon Japan. They don't actually drop till next week on the 16th.

 

[baskingshark]

I've been out of the loop with releases for a bit. What are the current best bang for your buck single driver IEMs in the 400-500 USD bracket? Both planar and dynamic.
I guess planar would be the Wu Zetian?

The $400 - 500 USD range is sort of the orphan child for single DDs.

Like $100 - $300 gets you some pretty good bang for buck midFI single DD in the Tanchjim Oxygen, Moondrop KATO, BQEYZ Autumn and Tanchjim Hana 2021. Going to $1Kish gets you some TOTL models (though with mega diminishing returns - ie pay 10x more for 20% or so improvement).

So the $400 - 500 bracket is kind of neither here nor there, as just topping up a bit from that $500ish bracket may land you a TOTL model. In addition, it seems compared to budget fare, there are not many models released at that awkward $400 - 500 range, so it is a very niche bracket.