Toranku's Thoughts and Reviews (and target EQ filters!)

[papa_mia]

Tips are important, but this is like saying a tire change will magically transform your PT Cruiser into a 911 GT3.

With the right tires choice, a Toro Rosso can beat a Mercedes bruh.

 

[echineko]

I second that. Typically, I don't have a separate section dedicated to eartips in my reviews, but in this case I had to because many of the tips I tried with Cupid ruined the sound Coincidentally, I ended up with whirlwinds as well, but of course, it will vary from user to user since we all have a different ear anatomy.

If an iem sounds garbage with everything except 1 specific obscure type of tips, maybe it's just bad, or at least a failed design. Not that I buy that it's even possible to change that much, but I haven't heard it myself.

 

[twister6]

Tips are important, but this is like saying a tire change will magically transform your PT Cruiser into a 911 GT3.

Of course not, just like a cable will not polish a turd And I would never generalize that eartip A vs B will make any IEM sound better. But in this particular case with a set of particular eartips, for some reason I'm hearing with my own ears a noticeable difference. I can't explain why outside of the seal change, just describing what I'm hearing.

And like I said before, it's good that we can have a civilized discussion in this forum based on our personal opinions, measurements, actual reviews, and impressions from users who purchased the product. And I appreciate @toranku , @crinacle , and @aminus taking their time to share their critical opinions. And no, @aminus , I wasn't angry with you about your 64audio impressions from CanJam SH (don't know why you thought I was, since you just brought it up in Crin's discord group ).

 

[twister6]

If an iem sounds garbage with everything except 1 specific obscure type of tips, maybe it's just bad, or at least a failed design. Not that I buy that it's even possible to change that much, but I haven't heard it myself.

Please, read what I wrote in there I didn't say it will make it sound like garbage. I just like a more natural and less sparkly harsh treble, that's where most of the difference came from. Also, we are talking about two different problems, where there is a handful of Cupids with poor QC circulating around (per Crin's measurements), but that's a different issue.

 

[CANiSLAYu]

Hearing is subjective, just like taste. I love avocados, but my wife hates them. In our own minds, we’re both right. I tend to take that view rather than I’m right and she’s wrong (and she thinks the opposite). Different strokes for different folks. We can like different things and that is perfectly fine. I don’t know why people can‘t accept that with headphones. It’s not a zero sum game where someone has to be right and someone be wrong.

 

[Raketen]

Thanks man, appreciate the honest assessment of the Cupid. I'd read a lot on it, and at one point was pretty close to pulling the trigger to try out a pair. Glad I didn't.

I do too much blind jumping in on things- think a good rule of thumb is to wait a year and see what happens to the "enthusiast marketing". Good sounding gear tends to have a long shelf life, and new tech almost always takes a while to catch up (at which point it is usually cheaper too).

 

[BananaOoyoo]

Hearing is subjective, just like taste. I love avocados, but my wife hates them. In our own minds, we’re both right. I tend to take that view rather than I’m right and she’s wrong (and she thinks the opposite). Different strokes for different folks. We can like different things and that is perfectly fine. I don’t know why people can‘t accept that with headphones. It’s not a zero sum game where someone has to be right and someone be wrong.

There’s no problem with anyone liking or disliking a product. If you like the Cupid, for example, then you should like it whether or not Toranku or Crinacle or Animus or my dog does.

However, the status quo here seems to be that owners will get overly defensive in response to a less-than-stellar review, instead of just thinking “oh, X doesn’t like the Cupid” and moving on.

 

[CANiSLAYu]

There’s no problem with anyone liking or disliking a product. If you like the Cupid, for example, then you should like it whether or not Toranku or Crinacle or Animus or my dog does.

However, the status quo here seems to be that owners will get overly defensive in response to a less-than-stellar review, instead of just thinking “oh, X doesn’t like the Cupid” and moving on.

I agree with you. If you like something, who gives a crap what some guy/gal on the internet says about it, but I think that knife cuts both ways. There are people here who will bash something without having even heard it. Between the two I think that’s worse. At least owners defending their purchase (ill advised or otherwise) are speaking from firsthand knowledge.

 

[BananaOoyoo]

I agree with you. If you like something, who gives a crap what some guy/gal on the internet says about it, but I think that knife cuts both ways. There are people here who will bash something without having even heard it. Between the two I think that’s worse. At least owners defending their purchase (ill advised or otherwise) are speaking from firsthand knowledge.

I think that’s a whole different conversation entirely, and one that isn’t really relevant to the current situation. (Those negative reviews were prompted by actual firsthand experiences with the product.)

That said, I doubt anyone is in favor of uninformed bashing or shilling.

 

[twiceboss]

I get your point, but I think it's fair to say that this is definitely the most tip dependent IEM I've personally listened to, and that the insertion, seal (and lack of vacuum seal) and tip really does affect the end sound. Not sure if it's to do with the driver setup of something else, but the Cupid is able to find both really enjoyable and downright odd depending on how it sits in the ear, and whether the drivers can "breathe" or not (best way I can think of describing it). Just relaying my personal experience - as always, YMMV.

What tips are u using to let iem breath? I need something like that to reduce the vacuum feeling of m9

 

[buonassi]

What tips are u using to let iem breath? I need something like that to reduce the vacuum feeling of m9

Foams.... or poke a small hole in silicone. The latter worked for my m7 as I had the same vacuum issue. Bass actually increased.

There's a specific place to poke the hole(s) and instructions can be found in the 'new Sony iem' thread. M7 and m9 are in the title of the thread. That much I can remember.

 

[Bitsir]

Tips are important, but this is like saying a tire change will magically transform your PT Cruiser into a 911 GT3.

That's kinda how the Cupid is. If you don't get the right fit it sounds okay at best.

 

[Evoke]

That's kinda how the Cupid is. If you don't get the right fit it sounds okay at best.

I wish Cupid will sound okay at best with the wrong fit. But unfortunately it isnt.

 

[toranku]

Let's all just move on from this. Getting to nowhere. I used the whirlwind tips and achieved a good seal. I know what occlusion is and I always equalise the pressure every time with any iem. Unless the suggestion is to use Cupid but create an intentionally looser fit with ill fitted tips, then I think the claims about the sound suddenly going from "meh" to "excellent" are odd.

Keep in mind that there are multiple squiggles from crinacle out there in the open. The Cupid has some bad unit variance. Who knows if you got a better sounding than the one I heard (Sample 3 from crinacle). If so, the reputation of the company is at stake because they can't manage to make their products sound identical from one unit to another. It might as well be a gamble.

This was an issue I had with FiR. I put them on blast nowadays because of their practices. There is just no respect shown for both their customers and dealers when their products a few months back had many revisions in sound that completely changed their sonic performance every time. If I as a customer chooses to purchase a product that I have heard, I want the EXACT same sounding unit that I tried.

This whole situation reminds me of the experience I had with CL2. When I said I didn't like it, suggestions to change cable, change tips and change source were thrown at me. I tried everything. At that point I might as well change IEM.

 

[OverlordRush]

Finally put the foot down I guess... Tho entertaining, I dont see the resaon for so many people here to circlejerk on fit/tip/cable/source. The opinin is his own and thats all it is. You can say your piece, but no need to go on and on about it in the thread.