[bschnell9]

I have received my second pair of AS24 today.

After a couple of hours of testing - I report that these two pairs are absolutely identical in everything to the best of my discerning ability (It would be more interesting/fun for me if they were different, like earlier and late AS12, but they are not).
AS24 are an amazing IEM for me, fitting all my preferences. At the moment, I enjoy the most all switches OFF - a sound profile on a leaner side. My only "complaint" is that the switches are really tiny, but they do look nicer (gold or TiN plated) than other switches (KZ, BGVP, etc).

If KZ will make any other iteration of AS24 - I will be into it.

I am quite sure if, as some prank, AS24 will be pompously introduced to the reviewers as a prototype of the "totally TOTL Campfire Tetrasupralecta" (no any writings on the AS24 shells) - it will be so much raved upon, especially with the properly "perfectly matching" kilobuck cables enthusiastically promoted by those chaps

With all the shady crap that has surrounded KZ I just can not get excited about or on board with any of there stuff any longer. And if I’m being totally honest the fact you can’t hear any difference in any cables, or just choose not to, makes me question your recs and/or posts . And I do say that in the nicest way possible

 

[szore]

Alright. Oriolous Szalayi and Cayin RU7. (Not pictured - Eletech Baroque tips size L)

Simple unboxing for both. The Sza box is very small, and somewhat content light. The included ear tips are fine, the cable is REALLY nice, thin and not microphonic. I kind of expected more, maybe an included carrying case, but I have enough anyway.

The aesthetics are MUCH nicer in person than on the product pages, or images. I was worried I wasn’t going to like the blue, but it’s a nice transparent shell and the faceplates are gorgeous. I especially like the bird on the left side.



The specs - the Szalayi is a tribrid. It has a BA for the treble, a 14mm Planar magnetic driver for the mids, and a 10mm DD for the bass. It comes with a 4.4mm balanced 2-pin cable, that is recessed on the shell. It retails for around $900 dollars, but can be found cheaper.

The shells are quite large, but the comfort would tell you otherwise. I usually have a hard with IEMs and my left ear, but these have given me no issues once I found a few tips I like (the baroque, divinus velvet and CORIER Brass tips are my current test subjects on sound).

The sound -
These were praised for their bass capabilities, and it delivers. The bass is beautiful. It’s full, it slams when the music calls for it, the sub bass rumble is HUGE and the most incredible part is, I have yet to find a genre where that bass is sacrificing the mids. The over all timbre leans quite warm. Vocals sound excellent, male more so than female but given the bass here, female vocals are no slouch either. The treble is maybe the only “it’s okay” things I have noticed so far, but it has gotten significantly better after tip rolling. I imagine that a lot of the treble power was sacrificed to empower EVERYTHING ELSE because the only group I cannot imagine enjoying this IEM are treble heads.

I really, really cannot stress how good the bass is on this set. Every note is crystal clear, the mid bass hits when it needs but lets the sub emphasize when it’s supposed to, which I felt was a very big issue for my Neo 5.

The RU7 is very nice. Small, a tad longer than my Q5K. The included case is quality, I’m glad I don’t have to worry about it as much. The OLED screen is bright, the modes are incredibly simple. I need to order some line out cables to test on my desktop amp. I can’t speak to sound as I haven’t tested it on not new IEMs yet, but it powers the Sza well, currently on high gain for some extra oomph.


Other thoughts -
I will be doing a review for the Sza. Once I’m done, I’m going to revisit each of my IEMs and do full write ups/reviews on each, comparing the sets I have in my collection. They are all under the kilo buck range. At SoCal CanJam, I plan on making my first kilobuck purchase (show me those CJ discounts!), so this year will serve as a chance to start putting my audio thoughts into words. @domq422 is doing something similar, and I was waiting for this IEM to begin doing it so hopefully my thoughts assist others in their purchases. My pics will never be as incredible as his tho.

Final initial (?) Szalayi thoughts -
I love the lush bass, the vocals are incredible which seems to be an Oriolus special, it’s non-fatiguing to the point I have to remind myself to take them out. Incredibly musical IEM, which may seem like a cop out term but it truly applies here. I can see myself selling some of my other gear if I continue to feel this way about them.


I ordered both of these from @MusicTeck. Incredible service, I spent the last few weeks anguishing over what to upgrade to and they were nothing but incredible answering my insane questions. The items were shipped out within 3 hours of me ordering them. Just amazing.

I’ll answer whatever questions you have.

That's a new shell on the SZA, different than when I had it, not transparent and no bird and a diffrent color too...

 

[theintention]

interesting, it does look different from the pictures i saw online.

 

[ToneDeafMonk]

Saying it's technically better than the EA1000 is a bold statement.

I would agree it sounds better than the EA1000

 

[o0genesis0o]

With all the shady crap that has surrounded KZ I just can not get excited about or on board with any of there stuff any longer. And if I’m being totally honest the fact you can’t hear any difference in any cables, or just choose not to, makes me question your recs and/or posts . And I do say that in the nicest way possible

The graph does look sane for a 12 BA set. @baskingshark review was brutal though. I trust his ears.

I had the greatest hype for kz driver war sets when i got started, but never had an opportunity to buy one. I remember following kz thread about ASX or SAX something, but the impressions were quite poor. Maybe one day I would grab a KZ multi BA flagship.

 

[saldsald]

Around $90 more expensive than the OG.

 

[Kenyon]

Joe Blogg’s DRX10K is quite interesting. Think of it as a dynamic EQ that turns on only to transient (volume spikes / note attacks) and leave the rest of the music alone. It means you can make the thump of the bass attacks harder without impacting the rest of the non-transient bass content, meaning you can avoid that dreaded “bass bleed.” Internally, the transient is detected based on the variation of volume at any point in time to activate. You can choose whether to boost (multiply) bass, mid, or treble of the transients. This DSP brings a new level of dynamic to my Andromeda 2020 without making it too muffled or too thin like when I apply an EQ. The downside is that the DSP is quite processing heavy, so battery drained faster, more audio delay, and weaker DAPs like R3II simply can’t handle it. Though I really hope that Hiby finds a way to put that DSP into the HiBy app and future generation of non-Android dap. It’s such a game changer.

This plugin is a very simplified form of a standard DynamicEQ plugin using presets. More advanced /granular varients are heavily used in modern mastering. You can also run some of these through software on any android/ desktop device if your not on a Hiby DAP. Great to see an audiophile manufacturer incorporating pro audio tools into their products.

I have attached an article if anyone is interested in how DynamicEQ works, how it can be made even more customisable as a compliment/ replacement for PEQ and how for certain audiophile use cases - ie listeners with defined sensitivitives - it could be game-changing. There are more advanced AI versions that allow for predictive EQ, varying multiple instances or scenarios & automated/ detailed profiling in addition to the general responsive nature of the user defined FR limits set in DynamicEQ.

https://blog.landr.com/dynamic-eq/

Personally, there are some risks to using this type of EQ:
1) if using poorly mastered music then lack of proper audio leveling within the mix may cause some weirdness in certain situations involving the presentation of instruments with overlapping frequencies.
2) A degree of granular control is required to really get the best effect and that involves extensive FR understanding by the user and multiple scenario based dynamic EQs being applied.
3) Since the results should be subtle but also overarching to the mix there is a large risk of placebo effect.
4) I have always supposed that this type of audio manipulation may be divisive to many audiophiles as you are essentially setting FR boundaries, where if exceeded, compression or expansion of the audio for small segments occurs to create artificial dynamics. So falls squarely away from the "artist intended" arguement or the "highest fidelity as possible is key" arguement.

 

[Jaytiss]

Around $90 more expensive than the OG.

No. Not more.

 

[Leonarfd]

That the new EA500LM is better tuned is one thing, but stating that it's better?

I don't doubt it's good, more or less every release Simgot have been stellar. And its small differences making one prefer one over another, for me the EA1000 been the best. But I have not heard the EA500LM yet, should maybe be here next week. If it's as good as claimed it will just take a direct hit against their own higher end product EA1000

 

[dharmasteve]

No. Not more.

Do you know where it is available. I can't find it anywhere.

 

[nikbr]

Alright. Oriolous Szalayi and Cayin RU7. (Not pictured - Eletech Baroque tips size L)

Simple unboxing for both. The Sza box is very small, and somewhat content light. The included ear tips are fine, the cable is REALLY nice, thin and not microphonic. I kind of expected more, maybe an included carrying case, but I have enough anyway.

The aesthetics are MUCH nicer in person than on the product pages, or images. I was worried I wasn’t going to like the blue, but it’s a nice transparent shell and the faceplates are gorgeous. I especially like the bird on the left side.



The specs - the Szalayi is a tribrid. It has a BA for the treble, a 14mm Planar magnetic driver for the mids, and a 10mm DD for the bass. It comes with a 4.4mm balanced 2-pin cable, that is recessed on the shell. It retails for around $900 dollars, but can be found cheaper.

The shells are quite large, but the comfort would tell you otherwise. I usually have a hard with IEMs and my left ear, but these have given me no issues once I found a few tips I like (the baroque, divinus velvet and CORIER Brass tips are my current test subjects on sound).

The sound -
These were praised for their bass capabilities, and it delivers. The bass is beautiful. It’s full, it slams when the music calls for it, the sub bass rumble is HUGE and the most incredible part is, I have yet to find a genre where that bass is sacrificing the mids. The over all timbre leans quite warm. Vocals sound excellent, male more so than female but given the bass here, female vocals are no slouch either. The treble is maybe the only “it’s okay” things I have noticed so far, but it has gotten significantly better after tip rolling. I imagine that a lot of the treble power was sacrificed to empower EVERYTHING ELSE because the only group I cannot imagine enjoying this IEM are treble heads.

I really, really cannot stress how good the bass is on this set. Every note is crystal clear, the mid bass hits when it needs but lets the sub emphasize when it’s supposed to, which I felt was a very big issue for my Neo 5.

The RU7 is very nice. Small, a tad longer than my Q5K. The included case is quality, I’m glad I don’t have to worry about it as much. The OLED screen is bright, the modes are incredibly simple. I need to order some line out cables to test on my desktop amp. I can’t speak to sound as I haven’t tested it on not new IEMs yet, but it powers the Sza well, currently on high gain for some extra oomph.


Other thoughts -
I will be doing a review for the Sza. Once I’m done, I’m going to revisit each of my IEMs and do full write ups/reviews on each, comparing the sets I have in my collection. They are all under the kilo buck range. At SoCal CanJam, I plan on making my first kilobuck purchase (show me those CJ discounts!), so this year will serve as a chance to start putting my audio thoughts into words. @domq422 is doing something similar, and I was waiting for this IEM to begin doing it so hopefully my thoughts assist others in their purchases. My pics will never be as incredible as his tho.

Final initial (?) Szalayi thoughts -
I love the lush bass, the vocals are incredible which seems to be an Oriolus special, it’s non-fatiguing to the point I have to remind myself to take them out. Incredibly musical IEM, which may seem like a cop out term but it truly applies here. I can see myself selling some of my other gear if I continue to feel this way about them.


I ordered both of these from @MusicTeck. Incredible service, I spent the last few weeks anguishing over what to upgrade to and they were nothing but incredible answering my insane questions. The items were shipped out within 3 hours of me ordering them. Just amazing.

I’ll answer whatever questions you have.

Great little teaser and a proper step up from the Neo 5, I'm sure! Enjoy your new companions.

I might have to join the bandwagon of revisiting all my gear, but in a different fashion, since I have written quite a bit about them already. A table of sorts.

"answering my insane questions" ...
but did you ask them the hardest question of them all, How Does It Compare to FX15??

 

[Danx3k]

Great little teaser and a proper step up from the Neo 5, I'm sure! Enjoy your new companions.

I might have to join the bandwagon of revisiting all my gear, but in a different fashion, since I have written quite a bit about them already. A table of sorts.

"answering my insane questions" ...
but did you ask them the hardest question of them all, How Does It Compare to FX15??

We need to start a petition to free this guy.

He wasn’t afraid to ask the hardest questions, that we all wanted answers to.

The hero we needed, but not the one we deserved.

The legend lives on.

 

[ddlo]

Dita project m likely is the best buy of 2024 (at least so far )! The design and built are so attractive that i can't believe it is selling for less than us$400. And its beauty is not skin deep. The cable is also very nicely made (with cardas conductors) .

Listening project m throughout this week going to and from office, I found the sound very expansive with deep bass though bass quantity is not that much, especially when comparing with ue premier I received a week earlier.

 

[nikbr]

We need to start a petition to free this guy.

He wasn’t afraid to ask the hardest questions, that we all wanted answers to.

The hero we needed, but not the one we deserved.

The legend lives on.

The silence is deafening! Bring poskus back!

Poskus means an attempt, or a try, or a go in my language and he really attempted quite hard to make us all lose our minds.

 

[Danx3k]

The silence is deafening! Bring poskus back!

Poskus means an attempt, or a try, or a go in my language and he really attempted quite hard to make us all lose our minds.

Oh and to answer your question, nothing touches the fx15, period.

It’s unrivalled and unmatched in every department, and I have a reliable and credible source to vouch for this- the legend himself!

#freeleo #justiceforleo #notallheroeswearcapes #theheroweneed #thelegendliveson