The discovery thread!

[Redcarmoose]

This is how I store some IEMs.

TRN BAX for the win!

 

[Tsukimi]

TGX gets lots of good hype and response. I'm not a headphone guy or earbud guy, but if I was, I'd certainly pick up the Serratus.

Can definitely add another recommend for the Serratus, mine arrived the other day and so far has been really impressive on the Fiio K7.

Got it at the same time as the Audeze lcd i4 and it's been hard to put one down to listen to the other!

They are both really great, but the Serratus is all the more astounding for its performance at $200.

 

[Leonarfd]

Did show the Serratus to the the wife, probably going to buy one then. She highly prefer headphones or earbuds to IEMs.
Don't wanna derail it here so I'll ask some stuff and do some reading in the TGX thread.

Cheers for the recommendation

 

[Guipnox]

Can definitely add another recommend for the Serratus, mine arrived the other day and so far has been really impressive on the Fiio K7.

Got it at the same time as the Audeze lcd i4 and it's been hard to put one down to listen to the other!

They are both really great, but the Serratus is all the more astounding for its performance at $200.

Do they scale with power?
I have a HP setup that got tons of it.
Maybe an earbud like that would be a nice addition to synergize with it.
Definitely intrigued.

 

[Jmop]

Taken from the headphone show youtube video about the ie200

Thanks, response looks great, super smooth.

 

[schom]

An old iem but a brand new discovery for me. I'm a fan of Single DD iems one of the things I love is the variety of different sound signatures. THE NICEHCK TOPGUY is one such iem a very mids forward set with Titanium/Magnesium DD superb build quality and fab cable. I picked it brand new sealed off ebay for £100 a real bargain only ever found 1 YT review and a couple of headfi reviews. Thing is I enjoy more than a few Hype trains I've been suckered into buying.

As a layman, I don't know my way around, but the iem is similar, isn't it? https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/ecci-yst-02.25759/

 

[W0lrince]

I can give you one.

Geek Wold GK10:

I read a "review" somewhere here from one of these Penon "reviewers". There were mentions of all the usual budget buzz phrases, "punches well above its price point", "way more resolving than you would expect for the price point", "competes with xx set at six times the price", and probably "competes with TOTL sets", which in a $50usd iem i should have been more dubious of.

Despite the love hearts, i blind bought (as you know we don't have much choice in this here in NZ) mostly based on this review, and was massively annoyed to find the GK10 to be an incoherent mess in ugly shells.

Terrible iem and i feel bad for the chump i sold them on to :/

Then again maybe they liked them. The subjectivity in this hobby is both a blessing and a cursed shield that "reviewers" can hide behind when they come out shilling.

Yea i was jump to the hype train back then, i can't believe how bad it sound (first impression), but right now it still bad but better. To be honest it still match perfectly with all of these description, just expectation is a little bit too high. That's why for edm i only trust @Redcarmoose now seems like he care about timbre and balanced sound too (I bought the blon bl01 after reading his reviews, match perfectly with how he describe)

 

[schom]

It would be the next pair of headphones I get.
At the moment I'm between ECCI YST-02 and Alpha & Delta KS3.
Both are very similar in price.
I would really appreciate any other suggestions regarding similar headphones.

2)
This one should be rated very well: Tripowin TC-01 Unfortunately, my collection of in ears has increased too much. I'm considering moving up the price range in the future: one pair of headphones for €150 to €200 instead of three for €100. I would like to hear the opinion of experts on this forum. That leads me to my question, is there too much hype about so-called budget iem. Can brands like KZ, CCA, etc. really compete with headphones from €150 - €300 in the low-price segment? or is it all just hype? I was planning to buy the kz ast 24, but there aren't enough reports and after the concentration camp scandal i wanted to ask if it's still worth buying headphones like the kz ast 24 for €120?

 

[Tsukimi]

Do they scale with power?
I have a HP setup that got tons of it.
Maybe an earbud like that would be a nice addition to synergize with it.
Definitely intrigued.

Yes, they have 300 ohm impedance so you definitely need a good amount of juice for them to sound their best

 

[PeacockObscura]

As a layman, I don't know my way around, but the iem is similar, isn't it? https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/ecci-yst-02.25759/

Looks aesthetically the same but the driver configuration is different

 

[Leonarfd]

High ohm isn't always a factor when seeing how hard something is to drive, the sensitivity number is what to look after. Not sure what that is with the Serratus since its not described in the sales page.

A good thing with higher ohm is that they can more easy sound good on almost all the amps and sources out there. The Serratus will probably work wonders with a good tube amp, while the same amp will change to much of the sound with a low impedance earphone/IEM.

Yes, they have 300 ohm impedance so you definitely need a good amount of juice for them to sound their best

For example my T1 Gen2 is 600ohm with a sensitivity of 102dB, and then the Koss Porta Pro is 32ohm and sensitivity of 101dB. Out from the A90 I have to go from 50% to 52% to get the same amount of volume. The ohm does affect it to some degree but its not that important if the sensitivity is high.

 

[gooberbm]

Can brands like KZ, CCA, etc. really compete with headphones from €150 - €300 in the low-price segment? or is it all just hype? I was planning to buy the kz ast 24, but there aren't enough reports and after the concentration camp scandal i wanted to ask if it's still worth buying headphones like the kz ast 24 for €120?

Context matters in those statements. Can budget sets compete with “bad” expensive sets? Yup, definitely. Do they compete with the actually good $80-100-300+ sets? No.

There is a ceiling on what you’re going to get from even the best $20 set because they are gateways to draw you in and buy a companies’ better gear.

 

[4ceratops]

It would be the next pair of headphones I get.
At the moment I'm between ECCI YST-02 and Alpha & Delta KS3.
Both are very similar in price.
I would really appreciate any other suggestions regarding similar headphones.

2)
This one should be rated very well: Tripowin TC-01 Unfortunately, my collection of in ears has increased too much. I'm considering moving up the price range in the future: one pair of headphones for €150 to €200 instead of three for €100. I would like to hear the opinion of experts on this forum. That leads me to my question, is there too much hype about so-called budget iem. Can brands like KZ, CCA, etc. really compete with headphones from €150 - €300 in the low-price segment? or is it all just hype? I was planning to buy the kz ast 24, but there aren't enough reports and after the concentration camp scandal i wanted to ask if it's still worth buying headphones like the kz ast 24 for €120?

Based on my own experience, I wouldn't recommend buying a KZ AST to even the worst enemy. I used to buy them for 80€ and I consider their current price a very bad joke. I consider them to be some of the worst tuned KZ iems I have encountered. They lack any sparkle and detail, all that remains is a monotonous overbassed blob of sound that is unsuitable for reproducing almost any musical genre. I guess this is how I would briefly describe my experience.

 

[InvisibleInk]

i wanted to ask if it's still worth buying headphones like the kz ast 24 for €120?

I don't think KZ or TRN have really demonstrated convincingly that their higher-priced sets are worth the extra dough as of yet. The AST certainly hasn't worked out for me, and I much prefer the older AS10 and BA10. I'm still waiting for them to break through to the higher bracket, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[cqtek]

As a layman, I don't know my way around, but the iem is similar, isn't it? https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/ecci-yst-02.25759/

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/nicehck-topguy.25456/

https://cqtek.squig.link/?share=NiceHCK_Topguy,ECCI_YST-02

In my opinion, in order to buy the ECCI YST-02 you have to be clear about its graphics. If some time ago the NF Audio NA2+ was criticised for its elevation in high-mids, the ECCI has the same problem but with a BA driver that is less natural than the NA2+. At the moment, I find both tunings comfortable for a short period of time. As time goes by, my preferred profile changes, but that doesn't mean that I have to agree with the rest of the fans.
The NiceHCK TopGuy still sounds good, even though it is a 2021 model, but I still think what I wrote then, but with more linearity: "- Although the tuning of the set is smooth and appropriate for the final result, I would have liked a model with more emphasised extremes (sub-bass and treble), but without losing the balance. I think the driver has room for improvement in this respect."

TopGuy's are still expensive and I would now choose other models that have come out during this time. Although it is certain that the TopGuy will have entered some lucky bag. My current bet would be on the NiceHCK F1, compared to that older model. The tuning of the TopGuy falls a little short of the current planar extension. There are even many more complete DDs in the €200 range (BQEYZ Autumn). And I still think that the TopGuy sound good, but the passage of time and the improvements in the quality/price ratio, even within the same brand (as I say, the F1s themselves), are their worst rivals.

And as for the ECCI YST-02, I'd spend less money and buy the Reecho OVA SG-01. Although, if I must be honest, I prefer the profile of the initial Reecho SG-01s.

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/reecho-ova-sg-01.25823/

https://cqtek.squig.link/?share=ECCI_YST-02,Reecho_SG-01_OVA,Reecho_SG-01