Very late to the Simgot party but finally had the opportunity to try the wonderful EA1000, I can completely understand why it is held in such high regard, fantastic IEM and certainly a personal benchmark in the price category and above. Review HERE
I don't get it. But the price is appealing. Mark from Superreview and Rockwell both said it's good. Not to say that I trust anyone, but it's a promising price point. I'm not sure if I'm in the market for one, but it's an interesting release none the less.
If you ever try Elysian Diva, they will be similar tonality, or if not try to imagine something like kilobucks tonality, imagine Monarch MkII or 3 but with better treble extension, clean bass without bleed , non shouty mids
or if you ever try symphonium helios (or perhaps crimson - as I haven't got chance to try crimson but I'm pretty sure with them)
or
on budget class 7hz zero 2 with cleaner bass presentation, with more details on lower trebles and much better treble extension and technicalities for sure, imaging will be great also since they are nicely tuned on past 10khz, its a rarity on this price. Usually the extension past 10khz only can be found on TOTL sets, with only few exception on midfi let alone budget sets
Crin tuning maybe better from years as now he realize the linear bass from his past tuning is lack of punch, should be better on 50-60hz and I see he tuned better on Singolo but still the last stretch on the treble extension always fall off, and the 6-7khz dip that usually too much on some budget-midfi IEMs.
This Pilgrim is almost perfect tuning on half up, I only have concern on linear bass shelf until 150hz, should be already increase from 200hz ish and I would like more punch on 50-60hz, while still have clean non bleed bass on 100-150hz (Pilgrim already checked this, non bleed bass). And the second one I worried is the price, thought it will be close to $1000 seeing Elysian brand and branded BAs they are using, $800 is my logical guess, but turns out a real surprise at $400, Elysian just win the midfi competition.
*edited : wait, letshuoer cadenza 4 is joining the competition with lower price tag and similar great tuning!
The MagicOne incorporates some fancy "Nautilus Acoustic Maze Technology", which in essence is a special rear cavity labyrinth acoustic tube.
This 3D-printed ultra-thin (77 mm x 0.91 mm) acoustic tube is inspired by the nautilus snail shell - thus giving it its namesake - and is deliberately extended in a maze-like design for tuning purposes. Think of it as an acoustic damper via air pressure to down-throttle certain frequencies, and essentially it results in an increased bass resonance, much more than what a standard single BA can execute.
Single BA types are usually very weak in sub-bass extension, but AFUL has managed to overcome this driver limitation with this novel tech.
Yes, it can be argued that why is the company incorporating some pricey exotic tech inside the shell to compensate for a single BA? Why not just use a hybrid or multi-driver setup to get rid of the deficiencies of a 1 BA IEM? But, yeah this proof-of-concept technology can perhaps filter down to a cheaper price point for other driver configurations, and maybe in the future we can get more IEMs for cheaper using this tech?
If we recall, planar IEMs were for a long time thought to be exotic and costly, but in the span of just 1.5 years, we have seen its proliferation evolve to sub-$100 planar IEMs that are very good sounding! So I don't mind new tech coming out, instead of companies resting on laurels by releasing sidegrade Harman spam weekly.
Perfect pitch AKA absolute pitch is where a note is hit on the piano (eg G#), and the musician can identify the G# frequency on the spot, without a prior reference note.
Relative pitch (which is way more common), is when a musician utilizes a reference note and counts (or hears) the next note to identify it. So a reference note is required prior.
In general, absolute pitch is mostly genetically inherited, but it can be trained from young in some individuals (usually before the age of 9): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4951961/. Once the brain is more developed and there is less neuroplasticity, then absolute pitch is much harder to be picked up unfortunately.
I have been playing the piano and guitar for about 30+ years now, but only started learning at 7 years old, which is actually a bit late for a musician. I never managed to obtain absolute pitch, but somehow ended up taking music for Cambridge O Levels. I realized most of the other students in my cohort had absolute pitch LOL, so I was quite disadvantaged for some aspects. But I picked up relative pitch, and now play in a band for some jazzy stuff on weekends for a hobby.
Interestingly, my wife and all her siblings have absolute pitch. Half of them are now music teachers, but the other half (my wife included) never had much musical training, but even today, they can identify notes hit on a piano. So definitely the genetic component of absolute pitch is there.
I realize in a band setting though, absolute pitch is not 100% essential. Relative pitch can help you play in any key, to improvise without scores etc. You can get by with muscle memory and scales without absolute pitch, just with a prior reference note/key. In fact, I have ever played with an absolute pitch pianist who went crazy when she was using an out-of-tune acoustic piano. She couldn't identify the notes as such, cause what she was hearing and what came out of the piano were not synced. Absolute pitch is definitely advantageous for soloists and perhaps in classical/orchestral settings. It is also useful if some singer just hits a particular key or melody singing ad lib, and as a musician you want to back the vocals up without knowing what key she is singing in, then absolute pitch is highly useful then.
I come to this hobby after being a record collector/guitar player and a researcher of obscure music. Mainly reading books about little known musical movements in the 1970s. Plus I learned a lot about a portion of the music on vinyl that never made it over digitally, as we all know it is a business in the end.
I also hung out (a lot) in record stores and had my own simple recording studio, plus was a DJ for a short time. My interests have moved from 1970s Rock in the 1970s to New Wave in the 1980s to Jungle and Trance in the 1990s. Later I became more of a listener and gave up thinking I was going to be a musician or DJ, but had fun doing it. Though I’m totally almost self taught. I did take a few guitar lessens but only a few. But even though I read books on the recoding processes, I never studied relative pitch or absolute pitch. More or less my un-schooled process simply revolved around knowing a synth key and adding tracks which I could hear were in the correct key. Same as DJing it was just beat-matching and imagination with whatever seemed to sound correct. I have played guitar for about 44 years, but ask me to spot what chords I’m playing and I can’t tell you. Mainly I just make stuff up by ear. Plus playing Metal guitar is simply playing rhythm guitar and going along with the drums. I never progressed into understanding music theory or exactly the scales names I was playing. So I ended mainly writing songs and singing by ear, but that was a long time ago. Nowadays I’m simply entertained by other people playing and how well the recording is. Still an album like TDSotM is an album I have hardly used to test headphones, but I really think it would be one of the ultimate ones to use? I have used it a few times. Yet understanding the recording process and hearing the album correctly played back has so many levels of detail and positioning to get it right. You can judge headphones by the bass, the stage position of the instruments etc, etc. so that is maybe where I’m going musically, to learn to judge just how well a headphone plays back that album (as an example) and write about it.
I figure I do use some of my musical experiences in headphone reviews, except there is always a learning curve that we are on. If I read one my headphone reviews from 2011 or 2013, they are different from what I do now, so I changed my writing style. But that’s the thing, there has to be some kind of element that is inspiring to move forward into some style of progress and advancement. Though playing guitar in little bars was fun, having those musical reactions can be rewarding and inspirational, yet that would be the last thing I would want to do nowadays? Knowing you created a piece of music and transferred the message and it was received and understood was and is a cool thing to experience and is a boost to the ego. I mean that’s all it is. At the same time being only somewhat talented (like I am) creates it’s own style of dilemmas as not everyone can be filling stadiums with hungry fans. HaHa........so where does a washed-up musician go for thrills.....maybe headphone reviews? I don’t know?
I come to this hobby after being a record collector/guitar player and a researcher of obscure music. Mainly reading books about little known musical movements in the 1970s. Plus I learned a lot about a portion of the music on vinyl that never made it over digitally, as we all know it is a business in the end.
I also hung out (a lot) in record stores and had my own simple recording studio, plus was a DJ for a short time. My interests have moved from 1970s Rock in the 1970s to New Wave in the 1980s to Jungle and Trance in the 1990s. Later I became more of a listener and gave up thinking I was going to be a musician or DJ, but had fun doing it. Though I’m totally almost self taught. I did take a few guitar lessens but only a few. But even though I read books on the recoding processes, I never studied relative pitch or absolute pitch. More or less my un-schooled process simply revolved around knowing a synth key and adding tracks which I could hear were in the correct key. Same as DJing it was just beat-matching and imagination with whatever seemed to sound correct. I have played guitar for about 44 years, but ask me to spot what chords I’m playing and I can’t tell you. Mainly I just make stuff up by ear. Plus playing Metal guitar is simply playing rhythm guitar and going along with the drums. I never progressed into understanding music theory or exactly the scales names I was playing. So I ended mainly writing songs and singing by ear, but that was a long time ago. Nowadays I’m simply entertained by other people playing and how well the recording is. Still an album like TDSotM is an album I have hardly used to test headphones, but I really think it would be one of the ultimate ones to use? I have used it a few times. Yet understanding the recording process and hearing the album correctly played back has so many levels of detail and positioning to get it right. You can judge headphones by the bass, the stage position of the instruments etc, etc. so that is maybe where I’m going musically, to learn to judge just how well a headphone plays back that album (as an example) and write about it.
I figure I do use some of my musical experiences in headphone reviews, except there is always a learning curve that we are on. If I read one my headphone reviews from 2011 or 2013, they are different from what I do now, so I changed my writing style. But that’s the thing, there has to be some kind of element that is inspiring to move forward into some style of progress and advancement. Though playing guitar in little bars was fun, having those musical reactions can be rewarding and inspirational, yet that would be the last thing I would want to do nowadays? Knowing you created a piece of music and transferred the message and it was received and understood was and is a cool thing to experience and is a boost to the ego. I mean that’s all it is. At the same time being only somewhat talented (like I am) creates it’s own style of dilemmas as not everyone can be filling stadiums with hungry fans. HaHa........so where does a washed-up musician go for thrills.....maybe headphone reviews? I don’t know?
The sad thing now is that 90% of modern day music is no longer played like the old days.
Nowadays for singers, most of them use "auto-tune", even for live performances. So as long as they don't sing too out of tune, computer software helps them hit the high notes correctly, both for live and recorded tracks. They can even do backend remastering to make these singers hit higher keys than what they can actually sing in real life.
Same for musicians, computer software can be used to remaster back-end stuff, such that all the complex riffs are done perfectly. Loops are used routinely nowadays with just a press of a button (in live performances too). As long as the musician plays semi in time or roughly at the correct pitch, software can be used to make everything sound perfect.
Previously, musicians didn't have all these crutches to fall back on. You are given 2 hours in a recording studio to make the recording. If the singer or musician keeps making mistakes and retakes need to be done, they won't hire that musician next time, as studio time costs money.
You are given 2 hours in a recording studio to make the recording. If the singer or musician keeps making mistakes and retakes need to be done, they won't hire that musician next time, as studio time costs money.
I remember almost cried because I kept making mistakes in the recording session That’s when I decided to buy a mic and do it myself. It must have been like 10 years ago
The sad thing now is that 90% of modern day music is no longer played like the old days.
Nowadays for singers, most of them use "auto-tune", even for live performances. So as long as they don't sing too out of tune, computer software helps them hit the high notes correctly, both for live and recorded tracks. They can even do backend remastering to make these singers hit higher keys than what they can actually sing in real life.
Same for musicians, computer software can be used to remaster back-end stuff, such that all the complex riffs are done perfectly. Loops are used routinely nowadays with just a press of a button (in live performances too). As long as the musician plays semi in time or roughly at the correct pitch, software can be used to make everything sound perfect.
Previously, musicians didn't have all these crutches to fall back on. You are given 2 hours in a recording studio to make the recording. If the singer or musician keeps making mistakes and retakes need to be done, they won't hire that musician next time, as studio time costs money.
Yes, most of my studio learning came around 1998 when home recording software was just starting. And sure plug-ins are wild in how they have transformed music recoding. Starting around the 1998 home recoding and professional studios were using software more and more. And right then rack mount delays and reverbs were cool but around 2003 things like Doppler Effects could be asked and received by a computer. Digital synths were starting to take over, but also they never sounded exactly like regular synthesis. There was a slight messiness that was arguably cool about old box sequencers. The people went and created real life synth studios again. But I remember auto-tune when it was introduced around 2001-2003, and yes everyone could then be in-tune. A lot of mistakes with analogue tape are cool. Like when Led Zeppelin plays Whole Lot Of Love....Led Zeppelin II........when the break hits and he sings 'Woman...you need it'.....there is tape bleed over from a part of the tape bleeding through, and you can hear Robert sing faintly 'Woman...you need it' they couldn’t take it out, so it was left there. https://www.audiomasterclass.com/blog/whole-lotta-love-the-mysterious-pre-echo-explained-sort-of
when Led Zeppelin plays Whole Lot Of Love....Led Zeppelin II........when the break hits and he sings 'Woman...you need it'.....there is tape bleed over from a part of the tape bleeding through, and you can hear Robert sing faintly 'Woman...you need it' they couldn’t take it out, so it was left there.
Here is my take on the Craft Ears Aurum. Very flagship like tuning with a different kind of imaging which takes a while to adjust to.
If you had chance to listen to it, let me know about your experience with the Aurum.
HA..........I vaguely remember that is where Zeppelin stole Stairway to Heaven from.........haha. So much of their stuff is not original.......still it is good though.
Here is my latest find: the Tangzu Xuanwu Gate! It's supposed to be a flagship model with a neutral sound, but for me, it was a bit too spicy. The detail retrieval and 3D soundstage are impressive though. If you're curious, I'll drop a link to my video review. Here are a few pics.
Could you please measure the shells so we can decide whether they are too large? The Tangzu ZeTian Wu was a bit too 'fat' in my ear but not the nozzle. This IEM has a different shape but seems to have similar outer ear shape. Length and width of the faceplate, thickness at wide, outer ear part and nozzle to faceplate. Thank you for your review. The graph I saw didn't seem to emphasize treble in any way.
Edit: man, Magic One is great for this genre of music. My new set of velvet tip is an excellent purchase today.
Edit 2: a bit more elaboration on the AFUL dongle pairing with Magic One. I hear a large stage with precise imaging. In an orchestral track, everything is spread out rather than than (slightly) clumping together like how I usually hear from R3II. How much better is something that I need to determine in careful A/B tests. I have been using the dongle continuously for an hour or so but it is not warm at all, which is good. The build quality is much better than I expected. For some reason, I thought it is a flimsy plastic USB stick, but no, it's a solid chunk of metal. It feels thicker and more substantial in the hand than all dongles I have reviewed, except the L&P W4. I haven't tried Questyle M15 or any Cayin, so I can't say whether this dongle is as good as those one, but without comparisons, just from the AFUL Magic One, I'm quite happy with the sound.
Luckily, I have two hard to drive bass cannon here for comparison. Will report back when I try this dongle with the FatFreq pairs.
The Kefine Delci is a 10 mm DLC + PU single DD. I understand this will retail at $59 USD on release (original pricing seems to be $75).
Ergonomics are good, easily driven set. CNC machined aluminum alloy finish, built like a tank. Each earpiece weights a mere 5.3 g! So it is light yet robust.
Sound wise, the Delci has a U-shaped tonality. Sub-bass focused, bass is fast and clean. No smearing in the bass. Midrange is transparent and clear, with no shouty upper midrange. It is resolving in the treble region with rapid transients.
8 kHz is a coupler peak
Timbre is natural as per its single DD roots.
In terms of technicalities, it has above average soundstage, solid imaging and great micro-detailing. Layering and resolution is a highlight.
There is a splash of sibilance and this lies at the brighter side at the lower treble, so perhaps treble sensitive folk might want to play this set at lower to moderate volumes (Fletcher Munson curve) or use narrow-bore eartips.
From brief listening, I would class the Delci as having better technicalities than some other sub $100 USD single DDs. Very promising IEM, for folks who want a clean and technical single DD. Will do some burn in and comparisons against the usual single DD benchmarks such as the Simgot siblings and report back.
I will answer you; I'm not interested ...the reason because I was looking at 15S at the same time as KANN Alpha, and I have decided to get KANN Alpha
And I had an amazing deal for Alpha (brand new, of course) because it was the last they had...$650
So, from my perspective...$700 for a used 15S... not a good deal
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That’s when I decided to buy a mic and do it myself. It must have been like 10 years ago
...the reason because I was looking at 15S at the same time as KANN Alpha, and I have decided to get KANN Alpha 