Beauties arrived.
Ibasso 3t-154 is here and I'll share my quick impressions.
First thing first, the biggest size ever! Ever i had in my collection. Very strange shaped body. I'll share it along with mp145(considered to have a huge body) to give you an idea.
These are not for everyone from the size perspective and I mean it!
Due to having slightly short nozzle, you'll end up with fit issues considering that your ear is already big enough to fit that huge shells.
Here's the Berilium plated big 15.4mm DD looking at you.
Paying attention to the shell, I was sure that I won't have issues like driver flex seeing that three holes jn front of the driver. There are also two other behind if you look closely.
Seeing big sized DDs is sth rare recently and ibasso does sth unique. I won't share the box and accessories as I'm on a business trip and I had to select a few IEMs to use them on the go.
I love single DDs and I love their capabilities. I used to think that they can do the magic if a very rigid material and good magnets being used.
However, time to adjust my observations again. Because out of the box they're just okay soundwise. Considering the price range they target, there's a tough competition. Seeing the size of them, considering the tuning and technicalities, ibasso might struggle.
When I was unboxing, I was impressed by the presentation, included tips(at least 4 different sets of tips), and cable. I ended up using my favorite wide bore bqeyz blue tips anyways but good to have additional.
The cable is good. But! Just like the size of the shells, what a big plugs they have! Feels like ibasso wanted to go big! They're very rigid also when I plugged them into my m11 plus ess. I have the case ony dap and the perimeter of the plugs is so big that they're pushing on the edges the leather case of dap. Force is required to plug and unplug so I wanted to go safe before I loosen the female ports.
Finally the sound. 3t-154 lacks presence, air, and depth. The rest is good including the bass which doesn't dominate much considering the huge size, the strength/size of the DDs.
Lack of presence and air is a big downside for me as I die for soundstage, pinpoint imaging. Due to the lack of presence, it's not clear where the instruments are. How far behind for example. There's a little bit of similarity to the Timeless OGs shallow depth. They're close to you and intimate.
When a youtuber reviewing (if I'm not mistaken Akros), he said that he likes that intimate presentation as he doesn't want his attention to divert during long sessions. I'm opposite of this. When the stage is intimate, the listening experience is not fun for me. Having a bigger stage means there'll be more space to put different instruments, effects without being too crowded, congested. It makes you not understand/appreciate what has been done with that particular sound you hear. Knowing that the bass is usually dominating the area in the middle right behind the solist, intimate soundstage is a PITA with crowded tracks.
Lacking extention/air leads to that intimate presentation most of the time. 3t-154 has a very strong roll off after 9khz. That affects the tallness and depth mostly. When you don't hear the extension of a sound, the brain has difficulty with calculating how far is that. When this situation occurs, you hear it like there's a wall behind you and instruments are located all in the same distance.
There's that problem with 3t-154. Bass is good, mids are good but treble and air makes it harder to justify the purchase. Adding the size of the shells, short nozzle with fit issues, I'd say be careful before buying it.
I honestly had great experiences with big DDs but almost all of them had an issue with somewhere usually a peak or roll off happening in the tuning.
Audio-Technica ckm1000 had a terrible sibilance causing by the peak around 6/7khz region making everything metallic, unbearable so I had to use EQ.
Sony Ex1000 had that 6khz peak again and also a roll off in the high end region so I had to to use EQ as well.
And now I use EQ again for 3t-154. But I had to give a really strong boost especially after 13khz regions that adds extension/resolution and air. It's not wow comparing it to the two mentioned above but I'll give time to my brain to adjust.
Thanks for reading.
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