So, they don't ask you how you want the tuning to be done, but they let you choose the parts/components/materials which in turn affects the tuning? So everyone ends up with different tunings?
Last edited:
The Watercooler -- Impressions, philosophical discussion and general banter. Index on first page. All welcome.
- Thread starter Rockwell75
- Start date
Scubadevils
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2011
- Posts
- 7,953
- Likes
- 47,726
Forza is awesome. Imagine if top-quality IEM cables were priced like this...
Yes the craftsmanship is fantastic - I also have the TOTL (€250ish) Noir Hybrid which I use with the Denon D9200.
When I first got into the headphone game the Noir was my aspirational cable for the HD800. I couldn't believe how "expensive" it was. Little did I know then the path I was destined to follow... And I still rate the Noir as one of the best cables you can buy.Yes the craftsmanship is fantastic - I also have the TOTL (€250ish) Noir Hybrid which I use with the Denon D9200.
huuchuc
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2014
- Posts
- 57
- Likes
- 196
The answer is yes and no.
Changing the components( internal wire, capacitors, driver, etc) will change the final result definitely.
In fact, they have their own reference tuning and spend huge effort for researching, so it is the only thing they prefer customer to follow their curve. In my case i'm living abroad, so I could only choose their reference. But it's not impossible, since they mainly make ciem for singer, audio engineer, tuning to customer's liking is common thing.
Last edited:
Not so fat head
1000+ Head-Fier
NiceI woke up early today to catch my flight to Bangkok. I packed my
A funny thing about me is that if I am underslept from the night before, I become far more sensitive to minor differences between sources, IEMs, cables and the like. I think it makes me a more perceptive reviewer. Not sure if any of you can relate?
I remember that I often intentionally slept a couple of hours less the night before I would go to my dealer’s to compare various speaker amps for my Hifiman Susvara, during my early days with the Sus.
Today, the N8ii sounded more different to me than the WM1ZM2. I tend to run the N8ii on the P / Class AB / Solid state mode which is neither its coldest profile nor its warmest.
Pros of the N8ii over the WM1ZM2:
- Airier treble. Very smooth but can get bright on certain configurations (P+ / solid state / class AB)
- Quicker transients compared to the WM1ZM2
- Deeper stage (front to back)
- More micro dynamics in upper mids and treble
Pros of the WM1ZM2 over the N8ii:
- Far more persuasive note weight. Just the right amount of flesh on the bones (who doesn’t like flesh on the bonus)
- Better balanced bass (good sub and midbass balance)
- Despite the airier treble, I perceive more clarity with the WM1ZM2 on many tracks
- Images are very distinct and corporeal
I am a sucker for note weight so the WM1ZM2 cements its position as my favorite streaming DAP.
I also experimented with the N8ii line-out to the Brise Audio Tsuranagi and needless to say, I was floored.
The flipside of the Cayin N8ii airy treble is that it can sound a tad digital compared to the Sony, and the overall presentation can sound a bit too “delta sigma” sometimes, but off the Tsuranagi, the Cayin N8ii improves dramatically in realism. Sounds a lot more natural, a lot less colored, and just a lot less distracting. The presentation becomes a lot more persuasive and addicting, from bass to treble.
The Tsuranagi continues to impress!
Meanwhile, Bangkok is quite a lot of fun at this time of the year, albeit hot and humid.
Just a few random photos I took today of Bangkok sights and delights for your viewing pleasure (more forthcoming).
(I adore these cookies)
And last but not least, I finally caught the new Flash movie, and having been a long-term DC fan, I have to say I enjoyed it a fair bit.
Has anyone heard and already know the values of Elysian Acoustic Labs Dio?
main character
100+ Head-Fier
I'm currently listening to the Custom Art Fibae 7 Unlimited and Fibae 5 tour kit, and they sound really good. It seems like an underrated unit/company. If it had come from a more well-known company, it would have been very popular IMHO.
The stock cable for the Fibae 7U is the Null Audio Arete MKV, and even though it's 3.5mm, it sounds amazing. It seems to bring out the potential of the IEMs very well. Maybe it's because I matched DX 300 Max Ti which has very good amping power?
The Fibae 5 tries to excel in many aspects, so it's hard to say exactly what it does best. I need more time to find its good match.
The Fibae 7U is really good, and it would be great to compare it with the Vision Ears VE7 later on. It's very good for female vocals and all-around use. The tonal balance is just right, not overly done, and it has a slight warmth to it-adding very slight density/body to lower mid and avoids thinness/hollow feeling.
It's a pair like the 64 audio U4s-U12t(Not exactly, but most similar IEM pair if I have to pick one in this IEM world). The Fibae 7U has more neutral bass response, while the Fibae 5 has a V-shaped fun sound with a stronger bass, and the mid to high FR is less detailed I feel.
Custom Art UIEM’s nozzle is slightly long. I choosed slightly smaller eartips and it fits well. Trying out Pentaconn CoreIR, Acoustune AEX07, Spinfit W1, etc.
Attachments
Last edited:
Hi guys,
So as planned, today I managed to go to the release day demo of the new flagship single planar magnetic IEM from Simphonio called P-Zero.
The shop was quite packed but they had several demo units, so everything went smoothly.
I could get a good 2 hours to A/B with my other IEMs and chat a bit with the folks around.
Here are my rough first impressions listening though LP6 Gold with Pentaconn Coreir tips and stock cable.
Versus Ragnar, KK and Traillii :
Apparently, P-0 needs a lot of power for the same listening volume than the other 3. Hard to say how much more on LP6, because there’s no feedback on the volume knob. But I’d say it needs 2/3rd to 3/4th more turn of the knob compared to the 3 others.
Fit is very comfortable with custom like shells.
Size is somewhat large but not as large as EE Odyssey. Thickness is average as is weight.
Here are pictures compared to Traillii and Ragnar :
Isolation isn’t great. It’s not cutting ambiant sound as much as the 3 others. It’s not as open as something like Turii Ti, but not as isolating as many other monitors.
Build quality feels very good. Full metal. No wax guard net though.
But the Simphonio representative who was present in the shop told me they chose not to put protection net on the nozzle because they judged it altered the sound too much. He also told me the sound unit is fully protected and if ever needed they provide free cleaning and free pin connector exchange.
The sound :
P-0 sounds closer to KK in terms of tuning but with a bit smoother overall presentation. Kind of in between KK and Traillii. It’s smooth and detailed at the same time, with no harshness in the upper mids lower treble area.
Bass is excellent, with good balance between speed weight and texture. With its planar magnetic driver, it delivers faster bass than KK but slightly less perceived air impact. That’s still excellent in this area and surely better than Traillii’s BA.
Bass isn’t as dry as Ragnar’s and provides richness while keeping that great speed and texture.
For the quantity, it’s a bit less than KK in the sub bass but more than Ragnar and therefore Traillii.
In the mid bass it’s a bit more than KK and Traillii but not bleeding as much into the mids as Traillii.
From memory, I’d say it’s probably close to Mentor in this area.
Mids were superb! Very detailed and clear yet bringing some lushness from Traillii’s. Not as warm as Traillii’s, less bass bleed. Warmer than KK’s though and obviously Ragnar.
Upper mids never got harsh during my demo time.
Trebles were great as well, extended, detailed and harshness / sibilance free. They’re more present than Traillii’s but backed down a bit compared to KK and Ragnar, making detail perception a bit more obvious with Ragnar, but really not by much.
Very nice performance!
The sound had excellent coherence overall! I guess single driver designs still have an edge on that aspect.
Soundstage feels very similar to Traillii’s in its size and presentation. Very big stage. But it feels a bit more precise and holographic.
On “La Luna” from the binaural album “Up Close” by Ottmar Liebert, P-0 felt the most natural and biggest of the 4. It feels a little more like an open back in its presentation, maybe due to the fact that’s the one that isolate the least of the bunch… In some ways it reminds me of my LCD i4 in the way it rendered this track.
Anyways, needless to say I left quite impressed by the performance of this little guy… to the point of putting an order on one of them before leaving!!
I guess after the talk about the $4000 monitors heresy from yesterday, some forum friends are gonna hate me for feeding the trend, but oh well… I can’t help it if I like the set and that it brings smile on my face while using it!! So please forgive me! 
Also, the P-0 is limited to 66 units and they sold 10 today in the shop!!
A lot of crazy folks I guess…
All the guys I chatted with today really liked it.
I’ll receive mine it in 2 days and it’ll be the number 12 unit.
I could make a longer term impression if you guys are interested!
Here is the IEM leather pouch, interesting design :
On another note, some guys in the shop had pretty sweet cables they let me try :
The famous Orpheus!! First time I try this one! I’m usually not much of a cable guy, I mean I can hear differences but I generally don’t think it’s very obvious, but here with Orpheus I must say the difference is quite obvious!! On Ragnar it brought significantly more body, bass and a bigger sensation of staging! Quite impressed!! I’ll never spend that much for a cable though, but I can understand why some would!!
Here is another crazy cable!! The new Beat Audio flagship (I don’t know the name) which costs a whooping $7000
Yeah… it’s a beautiful cable…
I hope it won’t give you too much nightmares!!
Have a nice one!
Cheers guys,
Julien
So as planned, today I managed to go to the release day demo of the new flagship single planar magnetic IEM from Simphonio called P-Zero.
The shop was quite packed but they had several demo units, so everything went smoothly.
I could get a good 2 hours to A/B with my other IEMs and chat a bit with the folks around.
Here are my rough first impressions listening though LP6 Gold with Pentaconn Coreir tips and stock cable.
Versus Ragnar, KK and Traillii :
Apparently, P-0 needs a lot of power for the same listening volume than the other 3. Hard to say how much more on LP6, because there’s no feedback on the volume knob. But I’d say it needs 2/3rd to 3/4th more turn of the knob compared to the 3 others.
Fit is very comfortable with custom like shells.
Size is somewhat large but not as large as EE Odyssey. Thickness is average as is weight.
Here are pictures compared to Traillii and Ragnar :
Isolation isn’t great. It’s not cutting ambiant sound as much as the 3 others. It’s not as open as something like Turii Ti, but not as isolating as many other monitors.
Build quality feels very good. Full metal. No wax guard net though.
But the Simphonio representative who was present in the shop told me they chose not to put protection net on the nozzle because they judged it altered the sound too much. He also told me the sound unit is fully protected and if ever needed they provide free cleaning and free pin connector exchange.
The sound :
P-0 sounds closer to KK in terms of tuning but with a bit smoother overall presentation. Kind of in between KK and Traillii. It’s smooth and detailed at the same time, with no harshness in the upper mids lower treble area.
Bass is excellent, with good balance between speed weight and texture. With its planar magnetic driver, it delivers faster bass than KK but slightly less perceived air impact. That’s still excellent in this area and surely better than Traillii’s BA.
Bass isn’t as dry as Ragnar’s and provides richness while keeping that great speed and texture.
For the quantity, it’s a bit less than KK in the sub bass but more than Ragnar and therefore Traillii.
In the mid bass it’s a bit more than KK and Traillii but not bleeding as much into the mids as Traillii.
From memory, I’d say it’s probably close to Mentor in this area.
Mids were superb! Very detailed and clear yet bringing some lushness from Traillii’s. Not as warm as Traillii’s, less bass bleed. Warmer than KK’s though and obviously Ragnar.
Upper mids never got harsh during my demo time.
Trebles were great as well, extended, detailed and harshness / sibilance free. They’re more present than Traillii’s but backed down a bit compared to KK and Ragnar, making detail perception a bit more obvious with Ragnar, but really not by much.
Very nice performance!
The sound had excellent coherence overall! I guess single driver designs still have an edge on that aspect.
Soundstage feels very similar to Traillii’s in its size and presentation. Very big stage. But it feels a bit more precise and holographic.
On “La Luna” from the binaural album “Up Close” by Ottmar Liebert, P-0 felt the most natural and biggest of the 4. It feels a little more like an open back in its presentation, maybe due to the fact that’s the one that isolate the least of the bunch… In some ways it reminds me of my LCD i4 in the way it rendered this track.
Anyways, needless to say I left quite impressed by the performance of this little guy… to the point of putting an order on one of them before leaving!!
I guess after the talk about the $4000 monitors heresy from yesterday, some forum friends are gonna hate me for feeding the trend, but oh well… I can’t help it if I like the set and that it brings smile on my face while using it!!
So please forgive me! Also, the P-0 is limited to 66 units and they sold 10 today in the shop!!
A lot of crazy folks I guess… All the guys I chatted with today really liked it.
I’ll receive mine it in 2 days and it’ll be the number 12 unit.
I could make a longer term impression if you guys are interested!
Here is the IEM leather pouch, interesting design :
On another note, some guys in the shop had pretty sweet cables they let me try :
The famous Orpheus!! First time I try this one! I’m usually not much of a cable guy, I mean I can hear differences but I generally don’t think it’s very obvious, but here with Orpheus I must say the difference is quite obvious!! On Ragnar it brought significantly more body, bass and a bigger sensation of staging! Quite impressed!! I’ll never spend that much for a cable though, but I can understand why some would!!
Here is another crazy cable!! The new Beat Audio flagship (I don’t know the name) which costs a whooping $7000
Yeah… it’s a beautiful cable…
I hope it won’t give you too much nightmares!!
Have a nice one!
Cheers guys,
Julien
Hi guys,
So as planned, today I managed to go to the release day demo of the new flagship single planar magnetic IEM from Simphonio called P-Zero.
The shop was quite packed but they had several demo units, so everything went smoothly.
I could get a good 2 hours to A/B with my other IEMs and chat a bit with the folks around.
Here are my rough first impressions listening though LP6 Gold with Pentaconn Coreir tips and stock cable.
Versus Ragnar, KK and Traillii :
Apparently, P-0 needs a lot of power for the same listening volume than the other 3. Hard to say how much more on LP6, because there’s no feedback on the volume knob. But I’d say it needs 2/3rd to 3/4th more turn of the knob compared to the 3 others.
Fit is very comfortable with custom like shells.
Size is somewhat large but not as large as EE Odyssey. Thickness is average as is weight.
Here are pictures compared to Traillii and Ragnar :
Isolation isn’t great. It’s not cutting ambiant sound as much as the 3 others. It’s not as open as something like Turii Ti, but not as isolating as many other monitors.
Build quality feels very good. Full metal. No wax guard net though.
But the Simphonio representative who was present in the shop told me they chose not to put protection net on the nozzle because they judged it altered the sound too much. He also told me the sound unit is fully protected and if ever needed they provide free cleaning and free pin connector exchange.
The sound :
P-0 sounds closer to KK in terms of tuning but with a bit smoother overall presentation. Kind of in between KK and Traillii. It’s smooth and detailed at the same time, with no harshness in the upper mids lower treble area.
Bass is excellent, with good balance between speed weight and texture. With its planar magnetic driver, it delivers faster bass than KK but slightly less perceived air impact. That’s still excellent in this area and surely better than Traillii’s BA.
Bass isn’t as dry as Ragnar’s and provides richness while keeping that great speed and texture.
For the quantity, it’s a bit less than KK in the sub bass but more than Ragnar and therefore Traillii.
In the mid bass it’s a bit more than KK and Traillii but not bleeding as much into the mids as Traillii.
From memory, I’d say it’s probably close to Mentor in this area.
Mids were superb! Very detailed and clear yet bringing some lushness from Traillii’s. Not as warm as Traillii’s, less bass bleed. Warmer than KK’s though and obviously Ragnar.
Upper mids never got harsh during my demo time.
Trebles were great as well, extended, detailed and harshness / sibilance free. They’re more present than Traillii’s but backed down a bit compared to KK and Ragnar, making detail perception a bit more obvious with Ragnar, but really not by much.
Very nice performance!
The sound had excellent coherence overall! I guess single driver designs still have an edge on that aspect.
Soundstage feels very similar to Traillii’s in its size and presentation. Very big stage. But it feels a bit more precise and holographic.
On “La Luna” from the binaural album “Up Close” by Ottmar Liebert, P-0 felt the most natural and biggest of the 4. It feels a little more like an open back in its presentation, maybe due to the fact that’s the one that isolate the least of the bunch… In some ways it reminds me of my LCD i4 in the way it rendered this track.
Anyways, needless to say I left quite impressed by the performance of this little guy… to the point of putting an order on one of them before leaving!!
I guess after the talk about the $4000 monitors heresy from yesterday, some forum friends are gonna hate me for feeding the trend, but oh well… I can’t help it if I like the set and that it brings smile on my face while using it!!
Also, the P-0 is limited to 66 units and they sold 10 today in the shop!!
All the guys I chatted with today really liked it.
I’ll receive mine it in 2 days and it’ll be the number 12 unit.
I could make a longer term impression if you guys are interested!
Here is the IEM leather pouch, interesting design :
On another note, some guys in the shop had pretty sweet cables they let me try :
The famous Orpheus!! First time I try this one! I’m usually not much of a cable guy, I mean I can hear differences but I generally don’t think it’s very obvious, but here with Orpheus I must say the difference is quite obvious!! On Ragnar it brought significantly more body, bass and a bigger sensation of staging! Quite impressed!! I’ll never spend that much for a cable though, but I can understand why some would!!
Here is another crazy cable!! The new Beat Audio flagship (I don’t know the name) which costs a whooping $7000
Yeah… it’s a beautiful cable…
I hope it won’t give you too much nightmares!!
Have a nice one!
Cheers guys,
Julien
@Junmoe62,
Thanks for your informative and well written review about the Simphonio P-Zero. I enjoyed to read the comparison with Trailli and Ragnar.I had already started developing interest in the P-0.
Appreciate your reviews.
RemedyMusic
100+ Head-Fier
Late night listening with smooth jazz George Benson with Dunu sa6 mkii. This is a loaner unit but I have a chance to keep this after the tour. Just some initial impressions.
• Vocals are very engaging
• midrange is its strength
• separation is good but not the best I've heard
• clean and close to neutral sound profile
• treble could benefit more sparkle. Sensitive folks will feel right at home with sa6 mkii.
• for a pure BA, timbre is very natural and analog
• bass quantity might be anemic for those who are accustomed to colored bass presentation. Turning on the bass boost switch portrays a more fun experience
• soundstage depth is commendable
• imaging is above average
• very comfortable wear and disappears when worn
• bass thump is not very aggressive hence portraying a more natural punch
Will be publishing a full in depth review in a week or so.
Happy listening mates!!
Last edited:
GiullianSN
Headphoneus Supremus
For this price I hope those hardware are Pure Gold 24k.Hi guys,
So as planned, today I managed to go to the release day demo of the new flagship single planar magnetic IEM from Simphonio called P-Zero.
The shop was quite packed but they had several demo units, so everything went smoothly.
I could get a good 2 hours to A/B with my other IEMs and chat a bit with the folks around.
Here are my rough first impressions listening though LP6 Gold with Pentaconn Coreir tips and stock cable.
Versus Ragnar, KK and Traillii :
Apparently, P-0 needs a lot of power for the same listening volume than the other 3. Hard to say how much more on LP6, because there’s no feedback on the volume knob. But I’d say it needs 2/3rd to 3/4th more turn of the knob compared to the 3 others.
Fit is very comfortable with custom like shells.
Size is somewhat large but not as large as EE Odyssey. Thickness is average as is weight.
Here are pictures compared to Traillii and Ragnar :
Isolation isn’t great. It’s not cutting ambiant sound as much as the 3 others. It’s not as open as something like Turii Ti, but not as isolating as many other monitors.
Build quality feels very good. Full metal. No wax guard net though.
But the Simphonio representative who was present in the shop told me they chose not to put protection net on the nozzle because they judged it altered the sound too much. He also told me the sound unit is fully protected and if ever needed they provide free cleaning and free pin connector exchange.
The sound :
P-0 sounds closer to KK in terms of tuning but with a bit smoother overall presentation. Kind of in between KK and Traillii. It’s smooth and detailed at the same time, with no harshness in the upper mids lower treble area.
Bass is excellent, with good balance between speed weight and texture. With its planar magnetic driver, it delivers faster bass than KK but slightly less perceived air impact. That’s still excellent in this area and surely better than Traillii’s BA.
Bass isn’t as dry as Ragnar’s and provides richness while keeping that great speed and texture.
For the quantity, it’s a bit less than KK in the sub bass but more than Ragnar and therefore Traillii.
In the mid bass it’s a bit more than KK and Traillii but not bleeding as much into the mids as Traillii.
From memory, I’d say it’s probably close to Mentor in this area.
Mids were superb! Very detailed and clear yet bringing some lushness from Traillii’s. Not as warm as Traillii’s, less bass bleed. Warmer than KK’s though and obviously Ragnar.
Upper mids never got harsh during my demo time.
Trebles were great as well, extended, detailed and harshness / sibilance free. They’re more present than Traillii’s but backed down a bit compared to KK and Ragnar, making detail perception a bit more obvious with Ragnar, but really not by much.
Very nice performance!
The sound had excellent coherence overall! I guess single driver designs still have an edge on that aspect.
Soundstage feels very similar to Traillii’s in its size and presentation. Very big stage. But it feels a bit more precise and holographic.
On “La Luna” from the binaural album “Up Close” by Ottmar Liebert, P-0 felt the most natural and biggest of the 4. It feels a little more like an open back in its presentation, maybe due to the fact that’s the one that isolate the least of the bunch… In some ways it reminds me of my LCD i4 in the way it rendered this track.
Anyways, needless to say I left quite impressed by the performance of this little guy… to the point of putting an order on one of them before leaving!!
I guess after the talk about the $4000 monitors heresy from yesterday, some forum friends are gonna hate me for feeding the trend, but oh well… I can’t help it if I like the set and that it brings smile on my face while using it!!
Also, the P-0 is limited to 66 units and they sold 10 today in the shop!!
All the guys I chatted with today really liked it.
I’ll receive mine it in 2 days and it’ll be the number 12 unit.
I could make a longer term impression if you guys are interested!
Here is the IEM leather pouch, interesting design :
On another note, some guys in the shop had pretty sweet cables they let me try :
The famous Orpheus!! First time I try this one! I’m usually not much of a cable guy, I mean I can hear differences but I generally don’t think it’s very obvious, but here with Orpheus I must say the difference is quite obvious!! On Ragnar it brought significantly more body, bass and a bigger sensation of staging! Quite impressed!! I’ll never spend that much for a cable though, but I can understand why some would!!
Here is another crazy cable!! The new Beat Audio flagship (I don’t know the name) which costs a whooping $7000
Yeah… it’s a beautiful cable…
I hope it won’t give you too much nightmares!!
Have a nice one!
Cheers guys,
Julien
Forza actually have a top notch 8 wire hybrid IEM cable. It's not listed on their site but you can request it from @Matez. Competes with Brise STR7-REF (which I used prior to this) IMO - and without any ergonomic issuesForza is awesome. Imagine if top-quality IEM cables were priced like this...
I believe they'll also make you a Noir IEM cable on request.Forza actually have a top notch 8 wire hybrid IEM cable. It's not listed on their site but you can request it from @Matez. Competes with Brise STR7-REF (which I used prior to this) IMO - and without any ergonomic issues
Beautiful!!!
I'm currently listening to the Custom Art Fibae 7 Unlimited and Fibae 5 tour kit, and they sound really good. It seems like an underrated unit/company. If it had come from a more well-known company, it would have been very popular IMHO.
The stock cable for the Fibae 7U is the Null Audio Arete MKV, and even though it's 3.5mm, it sounds amazing. It seems to bring out the potential of the IEMs very well. Maybe it's because I matched DX 300 Max Ti which has very good amping power?
The Fibae 5 tries to excel in many aspects, so it's hard to say exactly what it does best. I need more time to find its good match.
The Fibae 7U is really good, and it would be great to compare it with the Vision Ears VE7 later on. It's very good for female vocals and all-around use. The tonal balance is just right, not overly done, and it has a slight warmth to it.
It's a pair like the 64 audio U4s-U12t(Not exactly, but most similar IEM pair if I have to pick one in this IEM world). The Fibae 7U has more neutral bass response, while the Fibae 5 has a V-shaped fun sound with a stronger bass, and the mid to high FR is less detailed I feel.
Custom Art UIEM’s nozzle is slightly long. I choosed slightly smaller eartips and it fits well. Trying out Pentaconn ConIR, Acoustune AEX07, Spinfit W1, etc.
Thanks!!!
Late night listening with smooth jazz George Benson with Dunu sa6 mkii. This is a loaner unit but I have a chance to keep this after the tour. Just some initial impressions.
• Vocals are very engaging
• midrange is its strength
• separation is good but not the best I've heard
• clean and close to neutral sound profile
• treble could benefit more sparkle. Sensitive folks will feel right at home with sa6 mkii.
• for a pure BA, timbre is very natural and analog
• bass quantity might be anemic for those who are accustomed to colored bass presentation. Turning on the bass boost switch portrays a more fun experience
• soundstage depth is commendable
• imaging is above average
• very comfortable wear and disappears when worn
• bass thump is not very aggressive hence portraying a more natural punch
Will be publishing a full in depth review in a week or so.
Happy listening mates!!
is that Orbit Saga? How about the sound impressions?Hi guys,
So as planned, today I managed to go to the release day demo of the new flagship single planar magnetic IEM from Simphonio called P-Zero.
The shop was quite packed but they had several demo units, so everything went smoothly.
I could get a good 2 hours to A/B with my other IEMs and chat a bit with the folks around.
Here are my rough first impressions listening though LP6 Gold with Pentaconn Coreir tips and stock cable.
Versus Ragnar, KK and Traillii :
Apparently, P-0 needs a lot of power for the same listening volume than the other 3. Hard to say how much more on LP6, because there’s no feedback on the volume knob. But I’d say it needs 2/3rd to 3/4th more turn of the knob compared to the 3 others.
Fit is very comfortable with custom like shells.
Size is somewhat large but not as large as EE Odyssey. Thickness is average as is weight.
Here are pictures compared to Traillii and Ragnar :
Isolation isn’t great. It’s not cutting ambiant sound as much as the 3 others. It’s not as open as something like Turii Ti, but not as isolating as many other monitors.
Build quality feels very good. Full metal. No wax guard net though.
But the Simphonio representative who was present in the shop told me they chose not to put protection net on the nozzle because they judged it altered the sound too much. He also told me the sound unit is fully protected and if ever needed they provide free cleaning and free pin connector exchange.
The sound :
P-0 sounds closer to KK in terms of tuning but with a bit smoother overall presentation. Kind of in between KK and Traillii. It’s smooth and detailed at the same time, with no harshness in the upper mids lower treble area.
Bass is excellent, with good balance between speed weight and texture. With its planar magnetic driver, it delivers faster bass than KK but slightly less perceived air impact. That’s still excellent in this area and surely better than Traillii’s BA.
Bass isn’t as dry as Ragnar’s and provides richness while keeping that great speed and texture.
For the quantity, it’s a bit less than KK in the sub bass but more than Ragnar and therefore Traillii.
In the mid bass it’s a bit more than KK and Traillii but not bleeding as much into the mids as Traillii.
From memory, I’d say it’s probably close to Mentor in this area.
Mids were superb! Very detailed and clear yet bringing some lushness from Traillii’s. Not as warm as Traillii’s, less bass bleed. Warmer than KK’s though and obviously Ragnar.
Upper mids never got harsh during my demo time.
Trebles were great as well, extended, detailed and harshness / sibilance free. They’re more present than Traillii’s but backed down a bit compared to KK and Ragnar, making detail perception a bit more obvious with Ragnar, but really not by much.
Very nice performance!
The sound had excellent coherence overall! I guess single driver designs still have an edge on that aspect.
Soundstage feels very similar to Traillii’s in its size and presentation. Very big stage. But it feels a bit more precise and holographic.
On “La Luna” from the binaural album “Up Close” by Ottmar Liebert, P-0 felt the most natural and biggest of the 4. It feels a little more like an open back in its presentation, maybe due to the fact that’s the one that isolate the least of the bunch… In some ways it reminds me of my LCD i4 in the way it rendered this track.
Anyways, needless to say I left quite impressed by the performance of this little guy… to the point of putting an order on one of them before leaving!!
I guess after the talk about the $4000 monitors heresy from yesterday, some forum friends are gonna hate me for feeding the trend, but oh well… I can’t help it if I like the set and that it brings smile on my face while using it!!
Also, the P-0 is limited to 66 units and they sold 10 today in the shop!!
All the guys I chatted with today really liked it.
I’ll receive mine it in 2 days and it’ll be the number 12 unit.
I could make a longer term impression if you guys are interested!
Here is the IEM leather pouch, interesting design :
On another note, some guys in the shop had pretty sweet cables they let me try :
The famous Orpheus!! First time I try this one! I’m usually not much of a cable guy, I mean I can hear differences but I generally don’t think it’s very obvious, but here with Orpheus I must say the difference is quite obvious!! On Ragnar it brought significantly more body, bass and a bigger sensation of staging! Quite impressed!! I’ll never spend that much for a cable though, but I can understand why some would!!
Here is another crazy cable!! The new Beat Audio flagship (I don’t know the name) which costs a whooping $7000
Yeah… it’s a beautiful cable…
I hope it won’t give you too much nightmares!!
Have a nice one!
Cheers guys,
Julien
claud W
Headphoneus Supremus
Things here are slowing down for the Summer. I was able to order a ISN Neo 5 based on members posts. Thanks Guys!!
