Soranik MEMS-3S 2025 – Standing out from the crowd
Pros:
- Unique drivers setup in this world of clones
- Crystal-clear non-fatiguing highs
- Forward vocal prominent mids
- Fast and textured bass with phenomenal sub-bass
- Exceptional layering, coherent with beautiful separation
- Holographic spatial soundstage
- Soranik’s customer services
- Very fast CIEM production
Cons:
- Require dedicated energizer
- Revealing on poor source
- Limited CIEM customization options
With the many options flooded the market nowadays, many of them are variants rather than innovations, nonetheless each of them still offers different sound signature and, price range. I was not particularly searching for any new purchase while I saw the MEMS-3S, but my attention was immediately caught by its look. The silverish-gold open-back mesh against the shiny black shells lured me to click on the link to explore further, and Soranik came out, which I never heard of. I was intrigued once I learned that they are equipped with 2 variations of MEMS driver, plus a dynamic driver, and require a dedicated energizer to drive it. To cut the long story short, I contacted Soranik after a few days reading about them.
I am not a professional reviewer, just an enthusiast enjoying music and have a GearAcquisitionSydrome. Therefore my views are purely personal, based on my personal preferences and experiences.
Before I share my views on the iem, I MUST compliment on Soranik’s customer services, it is THE BEST I ever encountered, period. I decided to go for the Custom Version MEMS-3S, I contacted Hieu from Soranik in Mid September, and I got my CIEM by the 3rd week of October! Hieu sent me two sets of test shells within a week after I sent my ear impressions, and this was the best experience I had for CIEM! And more importantly, Hieu had been very responsive and patient, in answering all queries, showing lots of passion. Thank you, Hieu.
Now it comes to the CIEM, the package was made of a compact environmentally friendly material, the unboxing experience is ordinary, for an iem at this price point, I think it should consist of more design elements, giving the customer a more ceremonial unboxing experience. Many less pricey iems put a lot of effort into the packaging, not necessary with prestige materials, but the design provides a sense of attention to details. I feel that Soranik can improve on this part. The package contains the usual CIEM and cable, plus the Energizer with charger and a 4.4.>4.4 interconnect cable. I requested a black mesh instead of the standard silverish gold, and to me, they look stunning! And the fit perfect, thanks to the test shells procedure.
It is also important to note that my version is the MEMS-3S 2025, the latest version which in comparison to the previous version (2 MEMS + 1DD), Hieu informed me that they consist of:
1x 10mm dynamic driver for sub bass
1x 6mm dynamic driver for mid bass (additional)
1x 5mm full ranged USound MEMS speaker (new version)
1x sextuple xMEMS MEMS speaker (with 6 smaller speakers inside the xMEMS)
Charged up the energizer overnight, and kicked start the burn-in. During the burn-in, I did cable-rolling and switching between portable and desktop setups. The first listening session left me marveled at how beautiful the treble and mids sounded, the holographic quality is second to none; however, while the sub-bass is equally mesmerizing, the mid bass seemed a bit light and tight; The next session with desktop setup sounded better, and I thought it might be a power hungry iem.
Everyday I carried out burn-in, and the sound changed slight each day, the mid bass starting to become more prominent and punchy, the overall sound became more coherent. At the same time I also noticed the source setups had minor impact to the sound, not better or worse, but different. The energizer took care of the power fine. Everything changed to the better, except one thing remained the same – poor mastering sounded really bad, MEMS-3S 2025 is very revealing and unforgiving.
After a week, the sound signature seemed settled to me, and I paired the MEMS-3S 2025 with my favorite cable – the Crystal Cable Piccolo Diamond 2, same for the interconnect, and the sound coming out is simply perfect.
Treble:
Never had I had an iem with this sparkling, clean, and detailed treble; some of my other iems’ EST achieved similar signature, but the MEMS-3S 2025’s treble reveals the lightest note like star dust sprinkling, enhancing the holographic spatial quality; it is also very smooth and non-fatiguing, the tinkling decay is mesmerizing. Definitely the best treble I had heard.
Mids:
The mids, again, the best I heard! Vocal is forward, full, with the right balance between density and clarity. I have read articles and commenting the MEMS-3S being U or V-shaped, but to me it is more like W-shaped, the vocal is expressed with a weight, not overpowering, but I can hear every note so coherent with the treble and bass, very musical. While I listen to almost all types of music except classical, female vocal is still my favorite, and the MEMS-3S 2025 translates their voices with such engaging emotions, it is addictive!
Bass:
I was initially slightly disappointed, as I felt the mid bass was a bit on the light side, the tightness made it sounded as there was a gap between the beautiful mids and the rumbling sub-bass. Many talked about the sub-bass-centric characteristics, I felt the same, especially at first. However, with the burn-in, the mid bass had changed a lot, almost as if it gradually elevated its presence and catching up on other frequencies. The result? The bass still leans toward the fast type, decay from the mid bass in particularly, but the mid to sub-bass transition made the overall bass frequencies smooth and very textured. Certainly not a basshead type, but the quality and quantity allow the MEMS-3S 2025 to play every type of music. I don’t feel an overpowering, heart thumping bass when listening to pop and rock, and the bass is punchy enough in other less-bassy tracks; all in all, the bass sits very well with the overall sound.
Soundstage:
The soundstage is where the MEMS-3S 2025 shines most! Some iems provide really nice soundstage but the overall may sound a bit hollow. The MEMS-3S 2025 soundstage is special, it is very wide, holographic, and airy, yet it doesn’t sound hollow, layering is exceptional, the separation is very well tuned, coherent and accurate; the overall presentation is textured, and emotional. Some compared it to full-sized headphone, which I can understand the resemblance; the soundstage reminds me of full-sized headphone, but perhaps mine is a CIEM version, it feels to me more intimate, while my headphones such as the LCD-3 sounds more relax, and denser. But one thing I still prefer my headphones over MEMS-3S 2025, is the sound “hitting” on my outer ears, the fine hair on my ears can feel the sound vibration, which give an additional layer to the sensation.
Overall:
Though I lack audio vocabularies to better describe the MEMS-3S 2025, it is not hard to realize how much I love the MEMS-3S 2025; the sound, the look, and the fit, perfect. I don’t listen on the go, so the AP1 Energizer does not bother me, the battery life is long enough for any session. I have zero negative view on the MEMS-3S 2025 and Soranik, even the primitive packaging, if that is what it takes to have all resources for the sound, I do not mind Hieu sending me the MEMS-3S 2025 in a plastic bag.
Thank you for your time reading.