[AmericanSpirit]

Updated incoming items: personal purchase
TRN X7 (1-2weeks)
TRN Xuanwu (2weeks)
QoA Vesper (2 weeks)
Flo Audio Lily (3weeks)
DUNU Titan S (3weeks)
Sound Rhyme 5 (4 weeks)
KZ ESX (4-6weeks)
PW Audio Titan Ignis Cable ( 4 weeks)

Since PW Audio‘a Copper 28 V2 ($89USD) is one of a very good all rounder cable, I decided to go to Ignis one $159 Probably highest price I’d pay for a cable alone, looking forward to compare with PWA Copper 28 V2, PWA Legend II, PWA Copper M2.

 

[zachmal]

A good bit of my collection is at 50 or above, so I guess that gives me a sense of how I like the Harman Target?

could be that the Harman Target just does well with the music you're listening to - and you're fine with the tuning.

For me particularly the bass emphasis can be really a tad bit too much at times and uncomfortable.

If it's around 50 - I wouldn't really consider it Harman Target or similar to it - more like "Harman Neutral" or something else.

A few IEMs I got that seem to have that emphasized bass and typical Harman tuning are more around 70 and above rating from the AutoEQ rating list,

they're pretty fun and engaging and nice but with bass-heavy tracks they're close to unbearable - too much

 

[zachmal]

FH7 is absolutely a Jack of all trades, it has no weakness across the frequency spectrum other than slight brightness to some people which is easily controlled by tip selection.

awesome !

so glad I found the Unicorn then

 

[zachmal]

Haha wow congrats on the nice line-up. Look forward to your impressions!

Surprised you didn't bite on any of the JVC Massdrop firesale IEMs!




It is kinda hard to find 1 IEM that can do everything well. You might wanna consider an IEM with tunable switches/nozzles in that case, something that can be tuned on the fly to give various sound signatures?

The LZ A7 for example, has 10 tuning options, from V shaped to neutralish, so it can fit a lot of music genres. Quite good technically, nice fit. Though it has piezos, so the higher frequency timbre is not the most authentic for acoustic instruments.

thanks for the suggestion !

While the tuning switches option looks attractive - I'm concerned that I would use the switches quite regularly and .. like .. a lot

Pretty certain that they wouldn't survive it that long then.

So it's better to avoid that temptation .. as paradoxical as that might sound

 

[Tsukimi]

Not sure it is terrible. I have it and it has been previously discussed on this thread. Links below. It is the 2020 version that was previously discussed. The new version from last year's production is an updated design. Its sensitivity has increased from 101 db to 110 db and its treble peak at 2.2 k is now higher than the 4.2 k peak ( as shown on AliE graph). Treble dominated around 4k in earlier version.

I haven't heard the 2022 version but in the 2020 version, I thought the crossover had been done well and that bass was well-defined and better than other IEMs at the price. As Tzennn said, the treble is relaxed and laid back. I actually felt that it needed a BA to cover the treble better, but that's my taste, The DDs are LCP.

​

Yeah I was a fan of the 2020 version. Glad BFB are on AliExpress now as ordering through Taobao agent was a bit of a hassle. Surprised they haven't added their newest iem on there yet though, hopefully soon!

 

[Carpet]

thanks for the suggestion !

While the tuning switches option looks attractive - I'm concerned that I would use the switches quite regularly and .. like .. a lot

Pretty certain that they wouldn't survive it that long then.

So it's better to avoid that temptation .. as paradoxical as that might sound

TRI Starsea also has tuning switches, and I had the same thought. In the end I just tried a couple of settings and left it at the one I liked best. The temptation to take out your IEMs and play with a sim tool to reset them between tracks disappears pretty quickly. Unless of course, you usually tip and cable roll between albums?

 

[F700]

How does that Hyperion 10x sound? It is not too common to do an asymmetrical 10x as well as 4x and 8x and I only had one 10x cable.

It’s a smooth « sounding » cable. It rounds some raw edges in v-shaped tuned IEMs out.

 

[Ultrainferno]

Today we review the ThieAudio Oracle MKII on Headfonia! An article by @Aerosphere

https://www.headfonia.com/thieaudio-oracle-mkii-review/

 

[saldsald]

It’s a smooth « sounding » cable. It rounds some raw edges in v-shaped tuned IEMs.

Have you compared say the 8x and the 10x?

 

[F700]

Have you compared say the 8x and the 10x?

No, just the 4x.

 

[saldsald]

No, just the 4x.

Nice, so how do they compare?

 

[F700]

Nice, so how do they compare?

The 10x « sounds » fuller, as expected

 

[FranQL]

That sure is going out of your way to miss my point. I am also very bored with the state of where the budget market is at, and I'm advocating for companies trying to be less safe. It's not about defending any company at all. You may not think it's important to advocate in this budget area because you're over it and don't want/need to buy from it anymore and that's absolutely valid. I don't want to buy the fifth (or tenth) Harman-neutral clone either. But I would love for a company to be bold enough to release a diffuse-field style tuning (and whether anyone else enjoys KBear Storm or not, I do enjoy it for that). I would love to see someone pull a warmer-neutral tuning like the Dark Magician or Fan 2 further down into the budget range, which is why I'm trying out the Simgot EA500 (which while not in the $20 budget mark is not really something you see in this range either). Considering how seriously companies took finding and exploiting a tuning that did work this past year, I don't see why they can't do that again in a less played-out target. If you somehow get "white knight" from that, you do you.

It's much more frustrating to find yourself with a budget 4k that sounds the same as a budget of €50, and even more frustrating to read wonderful reviews of that 4k and condescending reviews of €50.... but that's the hobby, everyone has their own ears and their own tastes.....

 

[Fat Larry]

For Vesna conflicting reports are very understandable, Vesna acts totally different depending on amp’s drivability



Here is the details


I suspect it reacts similar way to Flo Audio Lily

So they need power to have any bass which is why they come with a dsp dongle to use with a phone?

As good as the Vesna sounds, i'm starting to lean towards the Kbear Little Q, or the Tanchijim Tanya for simplicity.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

So they need power to have any bass which is why they come with a dsp dongle to use with a phone?

As good as the Vesna sounds, i'm starting to lean towards the Kbear Little Q, or the Tanchijim Tanya for simplicity.

Actually the opposite, without high power it returns elevated bass, with high power it becomes more flat just what manufacturer’s FR claims.

I have Tanchijim Tanya, Moondrop Quarks both OG/DSP model, and may recommend Vesna over those. Not sure about little Q of KBEar if it uses 6mm LCP I’m sure that’s as good as Vesna