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

[thatonenoob]

Good talk.

 

[cfc7]

Also, the Sony IER-Z1R is an awful IEM.

Can you give a little bit more details?

 

[BananaOoyoo]

Can you give a little bit more details?

Sarcasm.

 

[cocolinho]

As a matter of fact, I believe that source is more important than the IEM itself.

I cannot disagree more.... If you need a very specific equipement to get good results with a specific IEM then i'm sorry but they are wrongly designed. IEMs meant to be very portable isn't it ?
That's why I like IEMs which are running like they should with almost every source.

 

[BananaOoyoo]

I cannot disagree more.... If you need a very specific equipement to get good results with a specific IEM then i'm sorry but they are wrongly designed. IEMs meant to be very portable isn't it ?
That's why I like IEMs which are running like they should with almost every source.

 

[MrDelicious]

I don't understand why you guys are wasting all this money on IEM's to begin with, I still got my KZ ATE connected to a Ultrasound Otello and wipes the floor with all these multikilobuck IEM's. I think, I actually went deaf a while a go.

 

[Zenith Street]

Could we please stop **** up toranku's thread with memes? It's time to stop. Let's get back to conducive discussion about iems

 

[toranku]

Could we please stop ****ting up toranku's thread with memes? It's time to stop. Let's get back to conducive discussion about iems

THANK YOU.

 

[Zenith Street]

Back to iems... I demo'd Faudio's Prototype Y at an event at e-e Umeda back in June. It's a tribrid featuring a DD woofer, 2 BAs for mids and an electrostatic tweeter and will retail for 300,000 yen.

Proto Y is a u-shaped IEM with a subbass focus. Narrower staging than z1r but not congested. Full sound. Actual good dd basslines, satisfying midbass slam and subbass extension and rumble. Good detail retrieval and accurate imaging. Vocals are on the thin side but not overly thin, has an airy quality to them. However, Proto Y struggles to convey the power of vocals of female high notes. They sound stifled and lack power in delivery. No coherency issues of note. At its price, I can't recommend it. Still, an interesting listen and one of the better tribrids out there. My top pick still goes to the gen2 tuning of FiR M5.

 

[toranku]

Explained: Keeping up with the FiRdashians (Explanation on FiR Retunes)

In this post I will, to the best of my knowledge, explain the history and timeline of FiR retunes on their Universals. FiR came under the radar when they first attended a show in CanJam SG 2019. You may remember that I wrote really nasty things about their IEMs back then. We shall address the CanJam tunings as Gen 0. FiR has seriously took it upon themselves since then to retune the Universals to the best of their abilities. The Gen 0 Universals had the 3D printed grey shells.

The first ever retune was done very quickly after feedback from CanJam. The Gen 1 Universals was then created. They still had the 3D printed grey shells but they saw sonic changes. To my memory of the Gen 1 Universals I tried, they were already decent but I did not document impressions down since I was under the knowledge that they are going to retune it again.

The Gen 2 Universals have more distinct aesthetics. The FiRs are now an aesthetically complete product. No more cheap looking printed shells. They now use a bit of metal on their faceplates. The Gen 2 unis have the FiR Audio company logo (NOT the bunny ears) as well as the model number (e.g M4) on each side of the faceplate. The gen 2 Universals have a pretty solid tuning. I really agree with FiR's target curve here. Their 1-4kHz on the gen 2 fit my neutral target very very closely. The M3gen2 is on the bassier side of things with a darker treble. The M4gen2 had slightly lesser bass than M3gen2, but sported better upper treble extension, albeit both still lacking lower treble for my curve. The M5gen2 was highly praised and added to my personal lists of favourites. It was essentially a slight v-shape tuning of my target curve.

FiR retuned the Universals again. This is now the "Final" tuning. The Gen 3 FiRs have a shiny metal faceplate accompanied by the model number (e.g M4) and the FiR Bunny Logo on each of the faceplates. I've documented all of the Final FiR tunings except for the M4. Waiting on the M4 to try. This time, the M3gen3 made it into my list of favourites and the M5gen3 criticised since it had a hollow sound (please, please make it the M5gen2!!).

In summary...

Gen 0: CanJam tuning. 3D Printed grey shells.

Gen 1: Same 3D printed grey shells but with much better tuning

Gen 2: Metal faceplates with FiR company logo and model number.

Gen 3 (supposed Final tuning): Metal faceplates with FiR Bunny logo and model number. Shiiiiny.

 

[DGS1991]

SHIIIINY!!!

 

[toranku]

First Impressions: Audiosense T800

V-shaped but not a super intense listen. Bass boost has bloated bass transients. Midrange is decently tuned - much recession in the lower mids but vocals still cut through rather easily with plenty 2-4k. Extra bass and warmth gives vocals enough body. Treble has a small spike in the midtreble (8kHz onwards) which gives it sparkle like the Andro. Extension on the upper end is average. In some poorly mastered tracks with forward cymbals, the T800 can be a rather intense listen due to the treble elevation coupled with the low mid recession. If not I wouldnt say its bright. Only in some tracks the harshness can show.

Overall decent but also shows smearing with its transient response especially at the bass region. Decent layering/separation capabilities. But for something similar, I think the FIBAE7 is a more polished product, offering much lesser bass bloat and greater treble extension capabilities.

 

[1Q84]

First Impressions: Audiosense T800

V-shaped but not a super intense listen. Bass boost has bloated bass transients. Midrange is decently tuned - much recession in the lower mids but vocals still cut through rather easily with plenty 2-4k. Extra bass and warmth gives vocals enough body. Treble has a small spike in the midtreble (8kHz onwards) which gives it sparkle like the Andro. Extension on the upper end is average. In some poorly mastered tracks with forward cymbals, the T800 can be a rather intense listen due to the treble elevation coupled with the low mid recession. If not I wouldnt say its bright. Only in some tracks the harshness can show.

Overall decent but also shows smearing with its transient response especially at the bass region. Decent layering/separation capabilities. But for something similar, I think the FIBAE7 is a more polished product, offering much lesser bass bloat and greater treble extension capabilities.

Thanks for the impressions! The slight bass bleed and treble harshness can be easily fixed with some eartips. I think it really is an achievement that the T800, a 300$ iem is being compared with a TOTL priced iem.

 

[toranku]

A new challenger is approaching...

Funny how I sold SH3 in pursuit of a better reference monitor. One year+ later and I end up with the same thing but now in CIEM form

 

[Bitsir]

Dope thread.

If you ever have the opportunity to grab an Obravo Cupid at $249

10mm Planar and 6mm Dynamic Hybrid.

There's no crossover so they run parallell if I have understood correctly, with the DD tuned towards lows and the planar tuned to towards the treble.

This apparently causes some weird echo in the sound that is pleasurable.

Would be interesting to hear more impressions on it!