Xinlisupreme
Headphoneus Supremus
A few weeks ago I posted the question above. Later, I spoke with Andrew/Musicteck who is often approached by different brands for consideration of new products, and Andrew asked me if I'm interested to take a listen. Now, this V44 made its way to me for a week to do a quick listening and to provide the feedback. I was skeptical, yet curious because of 22-driver per side design. I listen/evaluate a lot of new stuff, only write about fraction of it, and actually thought this one deserves a little mini-review. Not even sure if Andrew/MT will consider carrying it, but I wanted to share my impressions anyway. So, here it goes!
Victory Melody VM-V44
Just when you thought drivers war was over years ago, here comes a new flagship IEM from an unknown company, Victory Melody, featuring a whooping 22 drivers per side. The model’s name is VM-V44 which refers to a total of 44 drivers used between both shells. Each shell has 8 Sonion bass BAs, 6 Sonion mids BAs, 4 Sonion highs BAs, and 4 Sonion EST drivers, and 2 switches. That’s a lot of drivers, but, surprisingly, they sound very coherent and continue to maintain their coherency even once you start toggling switches.
Obviously, to fit all these 22 Sonion drivers, voltage converter for ESTs, and a double switch along with crossover components, you need a lot of room. As a result, shells are big and will stick out of your ears, but they are surprisingly lightweight and fit comfortably. Just have to be sure a proper pair of eartips is selected for a secure fit. Also, I assume they didn’t have a spare room to put 2pin socket inside the shell, so they used protruded socket which is outside the shell, but unlike some other IEMs with similar external sockets, its polarity is not reversed and you can use any other regular 2pin 0.78mm cable which I verified. Stock cable is either silver or silver plated, and has connector housing that wraps around the protruded socket.
The tuning is actually very good, surprisingly good, and the switches do an excellent job with different levels of bass boost. By looking at my measurements with 4 different switch positions, you can see how well bass and lower mids scale up while upper mids/treble remain the same. Here, the credit probably goes to a well-executed crossover design which only boosts specific region of frequency response while keeping upper mids and treble unchanged, clear and detailed, without being pushed back as you add more bass.
Sound Analysis.
The overall sound is very natural and detailed. Coherency of tuning is on the level of listening to a pair of full-size headphones. The soundstage is OK, definitely above the average but not on holographic level of expansion, and you do feel like sitting in the front row, closer to the performer. Despite using BA lows, bass sounds very analog, full bodied, typical of DD weight/impact. It scales up well, going from a tastefully boosted impact to a precise and noticeably elevated EQ shelving filter boost in both sub-bass rumble and mid-bass punch.
As bass goes up, more body is added to lower mids, but they don’t become muddy or thick. Mids remain very detailed and still quite natural with a forward presentation thanks to a pinna gain boost around 2k-3k. Upper mids/lower treble also have a precise tuning to avoid common sibilance peaks, and sound very natural, detailed, clear, not too organic or analytical. Treble has its moderate sparkle and natural clarity. Not a very airy extension, just enough to give the sound a perfect upper frequencies definition without being rolled off.
I think for some it could beg the question, what other TOTL iems is the tuning closer to? To my ears, it is closer to Traillii due to their more relaxed analog bass, smoother laidback mids, and natural treble. Traillii does have a bigger, more expanded soundstage and more sparkle/air in treble, but V44 bass adjustment will scratch an itch if you are craving more bass with a deeper impact. Also, V44 shell is bigger, but it still fits comfortably in concha area of my ears.
To me, Victory Melody is an unknown new brand, but the tuning is quite mature and well done considering 22 drivers per side. What impressed me the most is the coherency of tuning with all the drivers working in unison. Then, also a rather well executed crossover design with 2 switches giving you 4 levels of precise bass adjustment which is not a gimmick. And, along with a bass adjustment, I was impressed how upper mids and treble remained forward, still quite detailed and natural, and not overpowered by the bass boost.
Funny how their banner says “More is Better”. While it’s not always true, especially relative to IEM design and driver count, but in this case it actually works
Wow looks promising, do you know the price?
I saw are imported in USA since may.
Definitely a good one!
