[lgcubana]

Well these things are quite subjective, but I've flipped the switch to bass enhanced and on my set it really is enhanced. I reckon I'm a bass head, I was reared on big speakers at venues and gigs, and have even got the so called, alleged bass killer, the Smabat Black Bat bass monster IEM on order. I am not a neutral person. I feel sure that on the bass setting on this Starsea it is genuinely bass enhanced. Time will tell and people will give their views. Opinions even out over time so it will be interesting to see how people feel about the Starsea. I do hear bass strongly and I have big ear canals and need large eartips. I'm trying to get to grips with the Timbre and the Upper Mids at the moment.

Are you using MSEB on your Hiby R5 ?

If so, what settings ?

 

[dharmasteve]

Are you using MSEB on your Hiby R5 ?

If so, what settings ?

No. MSEB and equaliser are off. I am aware though that the R5 is a little bass forward though.

 

[dharmasteve]

So the Starsea. Early doors as they say, but Timbre is not in the DD league. Not the magical timbre of the Blon 03 or iBasso it00 or TRi Starlight, but that can't be expected of predominantly BA IEMs, although the technicalities that BA's bring are here, but not in any fatiguing or discomforting way. The soundstage is not particularly wide...more average. The DD gives good rhythm to songs and listening is enjoyable. I have heard the adjective thin used on the Starsea sound. I can't hear that so others will be the judge. 'Early doors' I like the sound.

 

[dharmasteve]

So the Starsea. Early doors as they say, but Timbre is not in the DD league. Not the magical timbre of the Blon 03 or iBasso it00 or TRi Starlight, but that can't be expected of predominantly BA IEMs, although the technicalities that BA's bring are here, but not in any fatiguing or discomforting way. The soundstage is not particularly wide...more average. The DD gives good rhythm to songs and listening is enjoyable. I have heard the adjective thin used on the Starsea sound. I can't hear that so others will be the judge. 'Early doors' I like the sound.

Listened to the album 'Rhyadun - An Odyssey of Rhythm', lots of drums, tablas and clay pots. On the track 'Ear toThere' by 'Rajat Dholakia & Taufiq Quershi' the Starsea has much more power, better timbre, rhythm and accuracy than the TRi i3. The sound and timbre of skins of drums and other percussion instruments are much more realistic on the Starsea than the TRi i3.

 

[zachmal]

Is anyone having a similar behavior that one side of the TRI I3 after several hours (or 30-60 minutes) of usage is more silent than the other ?

Didn't have much chance to use the I3 extensively since I got them but this is the second time today (a few days ago also could use them again) that this occurs ...

I get strong nightmares remembering me of the first batch of the TRN V90 where one side either went completely silent or there's a significant volume difference

Will switch the ear tips (currently Tennmark Whirlwind) and see if anything changes

*edit*:

additional potential issues:

Xonar drivers - sometimes one side is completely dead

windows sound system in general - detto (one side dead)

however one side being less loud is suspicious

 

[unifutomaki]

Starsea has much more power, better timbre, rhythm and accuracy than the TRi i3. The sound and timbre of skins of drums and other percussion instruments are

Alright you've got my attention right there with that statement. Time to switch up my 11/11 cart

 

[slex]

Listened to the album 'Rhyadun - An Odyssey of Rhythm', lots of drums, tablas and clay pots. On the track 'Ear toThere' by 'Rajat Dholakia & Taufiq Quershi' the Starsea has much more power, better timbre, rhythm and accuracy than the TRi i3. The sound and timbre of skins of drums and other percussion instruments are much more realistic on the Starsea than the TRi i3.

Are the mids on starsea equally compatible to i3?

 

[illumidata]

Is anyone having a similar behavior that one side of the TRI I3 after several hours (or 30-60 minutes) of usage is more silent than the other ?

Didn't have much chance to use the I3 extensively since I got them but this is the second time today (a few days ago also could use them again) that this occurs ...

I get strong nightmares remembering me of the first batch of the TRN V90 where one side either went completely silent or there's a significant volume difference

Will switch the ear tips (currently Tennmark Whirlwind) and see if anything changes

It’s caused by condensation getting trapped between the dust filter and the frequency damping material behind it. It was the bane of my life with the KBear Diamonds (exacerbated by cold winters and the metal shells, which can be freezing on the outside and hot at the nozzle and really help form the condensation).

The only fix beside letting them dry out in a bag of rice is to replace the dampers with foam, Sony style (or micropore, I guess). Use of cloth dampers is an irritating design approach to tuning that I wish manufacturers avoided, as the dampers will clog eventually regardless of short term moisture issues, and only Moondrop and Tanchjim (afaik) supply replacements with their sets (or even sell you replacements).

If you do go the foam route (assuming there’s room, pretty sure the Tri has a BA in the nozzle) there’s a silver lining as you’ll get a noticeable improvement in clarity, especially at the bottom end, but there’s not much chance of getting the exact same tuning you had before. That said I turned my ISN D10s into my favourite set by switching damper materials (the Diamonds I never got to sound as good as their original tuning, clarity improvements aside).

 

[zachmal]

It’s caused by condensation getting trapped between the dust filter and the frequency damping material behind it. It was the bane of my life with the KBear Diamonds (exacerbated by cold winters and the metal shells, which can be freezing on the outside and hot at the nozzle and really help form the condensation).

The only fix beside letting them dry out in a bag of rice is to replace the dampers with foam, Sony style (or micropore, I guess). Use of cloth dampers is an irritating design approach to tuning that I wish manufacturers avoided, as the dampers will clog eventually regardless of short term moisture issues, and only Moondrop and Tanchjim (afaik) supply replacements with their sets (or even sell you replacements).

If you do go the foam route (assuming there’s room, pretty sure the Tri has a BA in the nozzle) there’s a silver lining as you’ll get a noticeable improvement in clarity, especially at the bottom end, but there’s not much chance of getting the exact same tuning you had before. That said I turned my ISN D10s into my favourite set by switching damper materials (the Diamonds I never got to sound as good as their original tuning, clarity improvements aside).

Now that you mention it - condensation pretty well could be the cause, outside temperatures are getting lower and I'll ventilate the room 2-3 times per day during which the temperatures can dive quite a bit.

Perhaps especially babysitting the I3 will help to avoid too strong temperature variations & thus condensation (metal shells -_- ) .

If that doesn't help I might have to go with the mentioned foam route - since I particularly love the laid back tuning but also a little increased clarity and sparkle might not hurt, I'm not entirely against it.

Thanks a lot !

 

[dharmasteve]

OK some more Starsea stuff. Decided to test the, developed inhouse, treble BA, with a really good recording of the Sibelius Violin Concerto, with Adrian Justus, Enrique Batiz. Hard to judge the timbre but really fantastic lots of air and space, separation and defined edges. The midrange Knowles 29689 has slightly inaccurate timbre. Christy Moore....Ride On and John Martyn......Spencer the Rover, the vocal timbre clearly is them singing, but it's a tiny bit off, yet for these folk songs the vocals are close up in a very nice way. The timbre of the bass driver is excellent to me and bass guitars and deeper drums sound very realistic. I remember when I first got the Blon 05 and liked it at first until the upper mid glare became too much eventually. That slightly happened with the ISN D02, but it was simply fixed. Here occasionally the Knowles 29689 rings a forward guitar out, but in general everything is 99% glare free. Very well balanced DD and 2 BA's only limited by the Knowles 29689 timbre. On Ornette Coleman....Tears Inside, the soundstage is not overly wide but the imaging is fantastic. Very 3D. Great track, well done by the Starsea.The mids are in their way as good in clarity as the TRi i3, maybe the timbre is more accurate on the TRi i3. To me quite an exciting listen. Those who want DD timbre may notice the difference in the Knowles 29689, but the Starsea has enough quality to interest quite a lot of IEM collectors. At the moment I like it a LOT! I am using the balanced setting on the Starsea.

 

[dharmasteve]

I think I know why the bass on the Starsea is strong to me. It's fit. We've all had a fit where we have to juggle a bit to get the bass up. Here the shell stays firmy in contact against my ear and the tip makes a good seal. Hence strong bass.

 

[slex]

Is the shell as big as i3? It would be a good comparison against Fiio FH3 given they have the same configuration of drivers.

 

[baskingshark]

I think I know why the bass on the Starsea is strong to me. It's fit. We've all had a fit where we have to juggle a bit to get the bass up. Here the shell stays firmy in contact against my ear and the tip makes a good seal. Hence strong bass.

I think the TRI Starsea needs to be amped or run balanced or at least paired with warm sources to give the bass heft. The bass sounds more punchy and dynamic when amped, but sounds a bit thin in the midbass when using a lower powered source, YMMV.

In addition, maybe copper cables (if you ain't a cable skeptic) and narrower bore tips do increase the bass heft for me too. And as u say, fit is important too, as bass frequencies are lost without a good seal.

I think you are using a Hiby R5, which could possibly be a bit heavier in the bass compared to neutral sources?

I just tried running the TRI Starsea in the "amazing bass" switch on a laptop (no amping) and via a humble smartphone (no amping), sounded pretty meh in the bass. But on amping it via a Topping L30 (neutralish source), the bass heft and quantity is good, north of neutral on "amazing bass" switch, but still not at true basshead levels in terms of subbass extension and midbass punch.

I did read a global internet survey (gotta find the link) a few months back that actually 80ish percent of folks don't use DAC/AMP/DAPs. They just run their music gear via phones or laptops. We here on these forums seem to be the minority that bring amps and dongles and DAPs around. The TRI Starsea is one set that scales with amping or higher powered sources (in note weight and bass heft), but not sure if the majority of others not having these sources may experience the bass heft from say just a humble phone.

 

[dharmasteve]

Is the shell as big as i3? It would be a good comparison against Fiio FH3 given they have the same configuration of drivers.

No, nothing is as big as the TRi ear potato. I'm lucky with the Starsea fit as it pushes against my ear to give good bass. It fits very different to the TRi i3. My take on the Starsea is that it's not for those who want perfect timbre. For many of my genres, it sounds really good. I think it's an IEM that will have it's fans and those who don't quite see it as the cat's whiskers. On the bass setting the bass is a little too much for my ears, I like the balanced setting.

 

[dharmasteve]

I think the TRI Starsea needs to be amped or run balanced or at least paired with warm sources to give the bass heft. The bass sounds more punchy and dynamic when amped, but sounds a bit thin in the midbass when using a lower powered source, YMMV.

In addition, maybe copper cables (if you ain't a cable skeptic) and narrower bore tips do increase the bass heft for me too. And as u say, fit is important too, as bass frequencies are lost without a good seal.

I think you are using a Hiby R5, which could possibly be a bit heavier in the bass compared to neutral sources?

I just tried running the TRI Starsea in the "amazing bass" switch on a laptop (no amping) and via a humble smartphone (no amping), sounded pretty meh in the bass. But on amping it via a Topping L30 (neutralish source), the bass heft and quantity is good, north of neutral on "amazing bass" switch, but still not at true basshead levels in terms of subbass extension and midbass punch.

I did read a global internet survey (gotta find the link) a few months back that actually 80ish percent of folks don't use DAC/AMP/DAPs. They just run their music gear via phones or laptops. We here on these forums seem to be the minority that bring amps and dongles and DAPs around. The TRI Starsea is one set that scales with amping or higher powered sources (in note weight and bass heft), but not sure if the majority of others not having these sources may experience the bass heft from say just a humble phone.

Yep that's right. On my Samsung S9 plus although the Starsea is loud the bass is moderately compromised. I still think it sounds OK on the S9 plus. The HiBy R5 with which I now have the KBear Rhyme 4.4mm balanced cable on, sounds very good indeed. But I do get both a good shell fit and a good tip seal which can make a big difference.