Not just your opinion, it's fact. FIR use bone conduction for bass only, hence 'Kinetic Bass'. They do this by projecting the sound waves of the inverted 10mm dynamic driver not through the nozzle, but through an open port that sits against your outer ear. You still 'hear' some of the bass from this driver, but mostly the sound is felt and transmitted through the ear cartilage, since it's not firing directly into your eardrum.
In this way, the FIRs use bone conduction, but not with a dedicated bone conduction driver like EE or UM use in their IEMs. Those drivers are full range, and transmit sound via shell resonance (UM) or via the nozzle (EE). Completely different designs, but still based on the principle of 'bone conduction'.
Curious how many of you have searched and found your 'one and done' iem. Including selling off all the rest of your gear and never looking back. (with respect to those of you who don't believe in the 'one and done' approach to this hobby)
UM's first mentor is my one and done over ten years ago stopping my buying spree back then, today i'm back in the game and I've been trying out too many excellent performing midfi, tribrids, quadbrids they seem to come out non-stop. Hopefully my upcoming rn6 will be my one and done for this decade, help me end this never-ending spree of trying out new stuff. Back then was much easier, everything was either BA based or a single DD. Now we kinda needed to own a bunch of TOTL with all kinds of driver configurations before we could grasp which sound presentation we actually prefer.
One and done? Noble Ronin with stock cable. Always just puts me "there," every time I pick them up. No nit-picking, no fiddling or adjusting the source or the cable or the tips. Just instant immersion in the sound field.
One thing I’ve learned though is that IEMs with electrostatic drivers especially benefit from amping. You’d be surprised by how much better the Ragnar sounds through a Mass Kobo 475 or Tsuranagi. (I can say that for all my IEMs, but probably the Ragnar especially)
I got a chance to try out the Butastur today. Tried out with various sources (combinations) - Lotoo Paw Gold Touch, Aroma A100TB, Earmen Angel, and Shanling M7. I must say that the IEMS really impressed me a lot. And for the price, it's too good. I think the iem has great potential.
Impressions:
1. The fit is quite good. The shells are small and light.
2. The cable is good enough. The SpinFit W1 tips paired well with the IEMs.
3. I preferred the 10 tuning. I don't think the default treble needs adjustment.
4. The bass is really good for an all-BA IEM. Bass is clean and fast. I do not find I am missing a DD bass much
5. The mids are sweet. The staging is decent. The overall cohesion of different frequencies is done really well. I don't find the frequencies poking each other.
6. I don't find the IEMs to be thin sounding. In fact, with the LPGT, the notes have enough weight and sound quite well-bodied.
Overall, I think, if you give the Butastur a good source, it shines a lot. I really liked the tuning. It’s not one of the iems where the maker has just thrown multiple drivers. The good tuning is the real deal. With the LPGT and Aroma amp, it really blew my mind. It’s an iem that delivers way above it's price range. MidFi champion, may be??
Curious how many of you have searched and found your 'one and done' iem. Including selling off all the rest of your gear and never looking back. (with respect to those of you who don't believe in the 'one and done' approach to this hobby)
Curious how many of you have searched and found your 'one and done' iem. Including selling off all the rest of your gear and never looking back. (with respect to those of you who don't believe in the 'one and done' approach to this hobby)
When I first joined Head Fi the thought was that I'd just find a nice IEM and then "walk"...little did I know. At first my ideal was to find a "one and done" but I discovered with all the IEMs I tried that there were just too many different flavors to enjoy-- how could I be satisfied with only one? Conversely, in practice I found that having too many IEMs on hand at once was a little overwhelming...what to choose on a given day? Now that I've been at this for a while and have a better sense of my temperament and tastes I like to have a modest collection (~3-4 IEMs + a portable source and a more heavy duty source) for the sake of a little variety. Even still, at any given time no matter how many IEMs I have on hand there is always one among them that draws the lion's share of my listening time. Right now it's the Trifecta which, while not perfect, is the closest thing to a total home run for my tastes that I've heard. In the past I've been in "exclusive relationships" for extended periods of time with a number of different IEMs-- Annihilator, Solaris, Zen Pro, Elysium, Supermoon, Dorado etc. etc. If I had to walk with one and not look back Trifecta would be it however I know I could probably also be totally satisfied with any of those IEMs just listed plus the likes of Rn6 and a few others. I don't plan on "walking" any time soon though and will not write off the possiblity that sooner or later a new IEM will hit the market that will assume the role of "bae" for me for a time. The IEM that has most captivated me this year has been VE's pink prototype and on that account I'm counting down days until SoCal where I'll get to hear the VE10 and Aura.
Edit: I just realized that SoCal 2022 was a year ago this weekend-- on this day last year I met @HiFiHawaii808 (and others) for the first time and experienced my first CanJam. Time flies!
Are you using external amps with the N30? I’m thinking the powerful $5000 N30 would be so perfect that an external amp would only degrade the sound of it? I’m tempted getting N30 but will an external amp improve or degrade the sound?
Are you using external amps with the N30? I’m thinking the powerful $5000 N30 would be so perfect that an external amp would only degrade the sound of it? I’m tempted getting N30 but will an external amp improve or degrade the sound?
It'll depend on your headphones / IEMs and properties like their sensivity.
Am quite sure all IEMs should run just fine but looking at the discussions about external mobile amps like 475 driving the likes of Anni better I wouldn't even be sure about that
Certainly demanding Overears like Planars will profit from better amping imho though that's just my bold statement as I don't own N30
Are you using external amps with the N30? I’m thinking the powerful $5000 N30 would be so perfect that an external amp would only degrade the sound of it? I’m tempted getting N30 but will an external amp improve or degrade the sound?
I don’t think there’s an answer to this. I prefer the N30 by itself more than the R6 Pro 2 + 475, but prefer =\= better.
For IEM alone the amp section in N30 is more than enough, but this is a hobby where an extra 2% (possibly from an external amp) can go a long way for some of us.
You’d have to let your ears be the judge. For me a lot of the value in these big boy DAPs like N30 and 320Max is that they don’t need external amplification.
Are you using external amps with the N30? I’m thinking the powerful $5000 N30 would be so perfect that an external amp would only degrade the sound of it? I’m tempted getting N30 but will an external amp improve or degrade the sound?
Are you using external amps with the N30? I’m thinking the powerful $5000 N30 would be so perfect that an external amp would only degrade the sound of it? I’m tempted getting N30 but will an external amp improve or degrade the sound?
For me N30 don't need any external amp. The hyper mode with high gain and P+ mode is enough for a skull shattering bass with my RN6 even with red atom module. But if you want to use it with a full size headphone then maybe the extra oomph is okay. As for will it improve or degrade the sounds is a matter of synergy between the source and the amp IMO.
Are you using external amps with the N30? I’m thinking the powerful $5000 N30 would be so perfect that an external amp would only degrade the sound of it? I’m tempted getting N30 but will an external amp improve or degrade the sound?
I don’t think there’s an answer to this. I prefer the N30 by itself more than the R6 Pro 2 + 475, but prefer =\= better.
For IEM alone the amp section in N30 is more than enough, but this is a hobby where an extra 2% (possibly from an external amp) can go a long way for some of us.
You’d have to let your ears be the judge. For me a lot of the value in these big boy DAPs like N30 and 320Max is that they don’t need external amplification.
I agree with @aaf evo. For IEMs, N30LE's amp is more than enough on its own especially in P / P+ / Hyper modes.
Easy to drive FiRs, M or H gain with P / P+ are more than adequate – Hyper is overkill but oh so enjoyable where I've had to drop volume down to 8-12. My VE EXT enjoys a bit more power like P+ with H gain or Hyper.
.
If I require more power to drive headphones, I'd only consider an amp in Pre mode as to not color or shift N30LE's intoxication timbres especially Tube Classic.
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