[Nas Volokin]

completely in love with the Neo 5. Has not left my ears since it arrived yesterday, the sound is as glorious as the shells. The best fit I have ever had on an IEM, the stock accessories are just great, the BASS. If you are needing an 11.11 recommendation, you should try to add this to your collection.

They're quite engaging set! Put to shame all my other sets even ISN's own H50 which is also 4BA+1DD but more mid focused

 

[theintention]

They're quite engaging set! Put to shame all my other sets even ISN's own H50 which is also 4BA+1DD but more mid focused

agreed, now it’s time to save for the next big upgrade… while I manifest a Neo sequel with some EST drivers

 

[WAON303]

I recently talked about iems under 299 dollars. I am going to include the Simgot EA1000, Timmy's collab, the Chopin, the Dunu Falcon Ultra, which is on sale right now for 199 plus 10 percent more off, and the Hodur. Anyone familiar with any of these please advocate for one or all of these. I am open to any sound signature done well. Can't buy all of them, but could get 2. Thanks

For my tastes, I'd pick the Chopin.

Falcon Ultra is probably the least interesting IEM tuning wise, but it comes with the best accessory kit out of everything mentioned and also has swappable nozzles that affect the sound by a noticeable amount.

EA1000 for dat driver tech and hype factor

Wouldn't bother with the Hodur, no one like this set and it doesn't graph well.

 

[Uprox]

It's interesting how Neo5 would be compared to SR7?

 

[vafler86]

11.11 is approaching and i havent made my mind which iem to buy. That made me wondering, what is in your cart and waiting for 11.11?

 

[WAON303]

Finally bought a Questyle M15 @ audio46, can finally replace my old Fiio KA3 soon.

For 11.11, I'm looking at the Moondrop S8 or Performer 8, everything else I could maybe get like a u12t or IE600 is not chi-fi.

Seems like the Moondrop S8 is being discontinued, Linsoul and Hifigo don't have any stock left.

I've heard the Aful Performer 8 is very detailed, like not that far from the Moondrop S8 which is often touted as the most detailed IEM under $1,000.

I can see why people are saying it's not worth spending more than $500 on IEMs anymore.

 

[H T T]

11.11 is approaching and i havent made my mind which iem to buy. That made me wondering, what is in your cart and waiting for 11.11?

I might buy a backup Kato or maybe I will wait for a Blessing 3/Crinnacle colab. But, my shortlist is the Moonriver 2 Ti and a Hakugei cable or 2.

 

[Jaytiss]

I might buy a backup Kato or maybe I will wait for a Blessing 3/Crinnacle colab. But, my shortlist is the Moonriver 2 Ti and a Hakugei cable or 2.

New Gizaudio Chopin is solid and only 200. That's my favorite iem at that price atm.

 

[Vonbuddy]

It is a shame you can’t get Chopin or Crinacle collaborations at Linsoul but I understand why.

 

[baskingshark]

I recently talked about iems under 299 dollars. I am going to include the Simgot EA1000, Timmy's collab, the Chopin, the Dunu Falcon Ultra, which is on sale right now for 199 plus 10 percent more off, and the Hodur. Anyone familiar with any of these please advocate for one or all of these. I am open to any sound signature done well. Can't buy all of them, but could get 2. Thanks

Haven’t heard much about the Falcon Ultra. Is it good? I was considering picking one up to go with my Vernus.

I've not tried the Hodur.





The Simgot EA1000 is one of the most resolving DD sets (well it has a purported "passive radiator" tech too, so it ain't a pure DD). Very technical and even on the analytical side. Decent timbre. There are 3 tuning filters to play with but across most of them, it still may be a bit fatiguing if you are treble/upper mids sensitive (this is the Simgot house sound after all).

8 kHz is a coupler peak.






The Chopin is a hybrid with above average technicalities, very transparent sounding.

The contentious area in the tuning is the mid-bass scoop out. This is a double-edged sword, as it furnishes a very clean and fast bass, with zero mid-bass bleed. But the lower mids/mid-bass is anemic and it sounds sterile as a result. If you want a bit more heft in notes or listen to mid-bass focused genres like hip hop and EDM, the Chopin falls flat here. For music genres that it shines with eg Kpop, vocals, acoustic, OST etc it is excellent.

This is quite subjective, some consumers like sub-bass > mid-bass and vice versa, so YMMV.

Upper treble rolls off early, and one thing to note - the 12 ohm low impedance may not synergize well with sources with high output impedance. Anything higher than 1.5 ohms in the source output impedance might skew the frequency response. So do look into what source you are using.

I would call the Chopin a baby Moondrop Variations, so perhaps if someone wants a similar signature for cheaper, that is the way to go.







The Falcon Ultra is one of my favourite single DDs. It has 2 tuning nozzles to change the frequency response slightly, and is one of the most well accessorized IEMs I've come across. Look at the goodies:

Well of course accessories maketh an IEM not, so for the sound:
On blue filter: we have a very pleasant Harmanish balanced tonality, quite all-rounded signature
On the gold filter: we have a smooth and laid back bassy sound

For a single DD at midFI range, the technicalities are good, and it beats my previous daily driver, the Tanchjim Oxygen in this area. The blue filter is more resolving than the gold one. Timbre is very natural and the Falcon Ultra is easy to drive. In fact, I think cause of the highish sensitivity, it hisses a bit with sources with poor noise floor control.

This IEM is not for trebleheads, and the soundstage is a bit intimate, but otherwise, it has a very pleasant sound that allows one to use it for hours on end.

The blue mirror like finish is a scratch and finger print magnet though. I've babied it for months and always stored it in velvet lined cases when not in use, but somehow, I found micro-scratches on it one day!

 

[Vonbuddy]

I can get the Falcon Ultra for 180 at Dunu.

 

[baskingshark]

I can get the Falcon Ultra for 180 at Dunu.

Yeah with the 30% + 10% discount code, I think it is a good deal if you are a single DD lover that favours coherence and timbre over planar/hybrid technicalities.

 

[Vonbuddy]

If there were a significant discount on Chopin I might consider but don’t expect it. I targeted the EA1000 with Linsoul. The OH10 is of some interest to me. If I were spending bigger money the Maestro Mini might be a target. However the caveat could be a cd player. MoonDrop DiscDream or something else coming. Don’t know enough about the MoonDrop.

 

[gadgetgod]

For my Fellow Audiophiles Who love exploring new Things, This was an experience for me. Cable Rolling for my USB and XLR Cables, and my experience with the same.

I have been a person who uses both portable as well as desktop audio chains. While my most usage and most investments are in portable scene only as my longest listening sessions are usually on the go. But I always keep a decent enough mid-fi level desktop setup for gaming, watching movies, or simply enjoying short sessions while working on my PC. I have explored the realm of cable rolling with decent enough cables in the Portable scene, but I never thought to invest much into cables for my desktop chains. Although my friend Mr Sajid Amit gifted me his Audioquest Carbon USB cable a few months back that widened my views and pushed me to use a premium quality USB cable for best performance. During his last visit, he gave me two cables to try now. One is a USB Cable and the other is an XLR Connector cable for DAC and AMP. These cables are very well-built and are from Arctand, a premium cable manufacturing brand from Singapore. Today I am going to share my impressions on both these cables. Let’s get to know Arctand first.

Introduction to Arctand:-

Arctand is a boutique custom cable brand based in Singapore. The brand makes custom cables on order as well and there are some pre-built cables available that you can purchase from their website. The two cables that I have belong to two different series, one is KYAN Series XLR connector cables, and the other is their Obsidian series USB cable. As an introduction to the brand Arctand, the founder(Mr. Darren Chan) says that, "I started freelancing audio production for emerging artists at the age of 15; having found myself being obsessed with sound quality, and started playing around with acoustics and even cables. I was a huge sceptic for the audiophile cable ‘snake oil’ but being involved in making my own cables and hearing first-hand any perceived differences changed the way I mixed and mastered music. The audiophile market was sharing similar obsessions, so I decided to start my own business selling audio cables." You can go and check out more info about Arctand on their website from the link below(It’s a non-affiliated link).

https://arctand.com/

His craft is impeccable, and both these cables are very well-built. They feel super premium imo. I have bought some other cables from other vendors in my country, and honestly, they don’t stand a chance in front of these amazing cables by Arctand. Let me share more information about the two cables and my experience with them.

Arctand KYAN XLR Cable:

Superb and outstanding would be an understatement to explain the build quality of the KYAN XLR cable. The cable has high-quality Neutrik connectors and a Vivid blue-coloured outer sheathing. From the Arctand website, I got to know that the KYAN cable is made up of high-performance OCC copper wire cores. These are about 0.5m in length which is neither too long nor too short. In fact, this is the perfect length of the cable for me as I mostly put my DAC and AMP together one on top of the other. I put these replacing my custom-made XLR cables that I got made by a friend in India. He also used Copper material as the core for these cables, but the KYAN XLR definitely brought noticeable improvements in the sound department for me.

So far I have used these XLR cables on two to three different setups including Topping E70 Velvet, SMSL D300 as DACs and Gustard H16, Aune S7 Pro as amplifiers. The upgrade in sound performance is highly noticeable, basic thing that came to my mind is how the Background is cleaner with these cables in my setup. With a cleaner background, I notice the details are finer and they have a well-roundedness to them.

While in the beginning, I was very sceptical about spending money on XLR cables, I found Arctand KYAN cables to change that for me. I notice finer details being better pronounced. TBH at first I thought of this to be a placebo or a new honeymoon kinda thing, but I am noticing these things even after 1-2 months of usage now. So I am pretty sure that I am going to put high-quality cables on my setup only now lol. Oh, and I forgot to mention these cables are like 120$ for the set.

Arctand Obsidian USB Cable:

Now on to the second cable, before this cable, I had the Audioquest Carbon which was a gift for me by Mr. Sajid Amit. That cable brought me to tears because previously I was using a generic USB cable and honestly, I would have never spent money on getting a higher quality USB cable for myself if I had never heard the Carbon. Carbon was like a very well-built cable with a very short length (like 0.75m which is pretty small for a USB cable imo). Obviously, we can buy longer lengths but all that is super costly and While I find the Carbon to be quite an improvement I also find it costly. Why did I discuss so much about the Carbon here? you guys will find out shortly.

So coming to the Arctand Obsidian, this cable is very, like very very nicely built. We have a 1m length, poly material outer sheathing(which feels and looks superior to that of Carbon’s cloth sleeve). This cable starts at 90$, according to Mr. Darren Chan, It is crafted to bring noticeable improvements in the overall performance of your chain. Obviously, with better grounding, a USB cable improves the source signal transmission that imo instantly improves the output quality. This cable is a premier high-end series cable made using high-quality Copper OCC materials.

Talking about sound improvements, I find the Arctand Obsidian better than the Carbon in terms of performance. It’s not only noticeably longer, but also provides cleaner signal transmission. I find the Obsidian to sound slightly cleaner, and slightly more refined, the details are just a tad bit better on the same chain. Again, this is not a placebo which I noticed in 20-30 minutes of listening. I have been using the Carbon for like 6-7 months and the Obsidian for like 2 months now. Obsidian definitely has a cleaner sound, the background is noticeably cleaner.

Now coming back to the point where I discussed so much about the Audioquest Carbon, while that cable impressed me in its sound part, I found it to be too pricey. Carbon goes for over 200$ in my country for the basic 0.75m length, but this Arctand Carbon offers better performance for less than half the cost available in 1m length starting at just 90$, a pretty sweet deal if you ask me.

Some Final Words For my Fellow Audiophiles:

After spending a lot of time with these cables, I just want to say that everyone should try different cables. I know this is a very controversial topic, like whether or not cables bring any noticeable difference or not. But in all my experience so far, having used these cables for so many months now, I can say that the difference is instantly noticeable, especially for the Obsidian USB cable. It instantly brought a cleaner background, like I was stunned to see when I switched between generic cable that came with my E70 Velvet. XLR cables will take a bit of time to show their true colors, but yeah, there will be a noticeable difference. Primarily I noticed a cleaner background reproducing better-pronounced details on the same setup when compared to generic cables that come in the box(for USB), and from regular aftermarket cables in the case of XLR ones. Well, that’s all about today’s banter, I hope you guys liked reading this one, if you have any further questions, feel free to ask me below.

 

[kaeswiss]

I've not tried the Hodur.





The Simgot EA1000 is one of the most resolving DD sets (well it has a purported "passive radiator" tech too, so it ain't a pure DD). Very technical and even on the analytical side. Decent timbre. There are 3 tuning filters to play with but across most of them, it still may be a bit fatiguing if you are treble/upper mids sensitive (this is the Simgot house sound after all).


8 kHz is a coupler peak.






The Chopin is a hybrid with above average technicalities, very transparent sounding.

The contentious area in the tuning is the mid-bass scoop out. This is a double-edged sword, as it furnishes a very clean and fast bass, with zero mid-bass bleed. But the lower mids/mid-bass is anemic and it sounds sterile as a result. If you want a bit more heft in notes or listen to mid-bass focused genres like hip hop and EDM, the Chopin falls flat here. For music genres that it shines with eg Kpop, vocals, acoustic, OST etc it is excellent.



This is quite subjective, some consumers like sub-bass > mid-bass and vice versa, so YMMV.

Upper treble rolls off early, and one thing to note - the 12 ohm low impedance may not synergize well with sources with high output impedance. Anything higher than 1.5 ohms in the source output impedance might skew the frequency response. So do look into what source you are using.

I would call the Chopin a baby Moondrop Variations, so perhaps if someone wants a similar signature for cheaper, that is the way to go.







The Falcon Ultra is one of my favourite single DDs. It has 2 tuning nozzles to change the frequency response slightly, and is one of the most well accessorized IEMs I've come across. Look at the goodies:


Well of course accessories maketh an IEM not, so for the sound:
On blue filter: we have a very pleasant Harmanish balanced tonality, quite all-rounded signature
On the gold filter: we have a smooth and laid back bassy sound



For a single DD at midFI range, the technicalities are good, and it beats my previous daily driver, the Tanchjim Oxygen in this area. The blue filter is more resolving than the gold one. Timbre is very natural and the Falcon Ultra is easy to drive. In fact, I think cause of the highish sensitivity, it hisses a bit with sources with poor noise floor control.

This IEM is not for trebleheads, and the soundstage is a bit intimate, but otherwise, it has a very pleasant sound that allows one to use it for hours on end.

The blue mirror like finish is a scratch and finger print magnet though. I've babied it for months and always stored it in velvet lined cases when not in use, but somehow, I found micro-scratches on it one day!

Thanks for the comparisons and the Dunu discount post. I previously owned the Dunu Falcon Ultra and was looking to repurchase it during 11.11 so I'm glad to see Dunu has a nice 25% discount. I was also comparing squigs of these three earlier today since they're similar in price and after seeing your post, it just confirms what I was thinking how the other two would compare.

Another plus of the Dunu Falcon Ultra that I haven't seen many people comment on is how low profile they are since they're single DD. If memory serves me right, they were really comfortable and didn't stick out of my ears at all so I can sleep with them in-ear. (side sleeper here)