[Nimweth]

Hope is the green buds of spring, the flowers of summer, the fruits of autumn, the frost and snow of winter.

"A star shines at the hour of our meeting" J. R. R. Tolkien

 

[speedfiend]

That would be interesting to find out, my guess is, not many have tried both the Ety ER4SR and the TRI Starseas.

I am sure I not alone in saying, I have not been brave enough to attempt the Etymotic deep insertion. I believe it was referred to as "ear rape".

I have both the ER4XR and just received the Starsea.

I never enjoyed inserting the ER4XR into my ears in order to extract that reference sound out of them, thus I use them only when ABing other IEMs.

Currently I am listening/burning-in the Starsea in bass setting. In this setting, the Starsea is much more of a V shape sound with a larger stage than the ER4XR.

 

[Jitu13]

I have both the ER4XR and just received the Starsea.

I never enjoyed inserting the ER4XR into my ears in order to extract that reference sound out of them, thus I use them only when ABing other IEMs.

Currently I am listening/burning-in the Starsea in bass setting. In this setting, the Starsea is much more of a V shape sound with a larger stage than the ER4XR.

Great, which one do you think retrieves more details? Would love to hear your impressions of the two.

*Edit* BTW how did you get it for $90? Was it this low in the anniversary sale of ali, or somewhere else?

 

[ChrisOc]

Great, which one do you think retrieves more details? Would love to hear your impressions of the two.

Yes, I agree with @Jitu13, I would also love to hear your impressions, @speedfiend .

 

[speedfiend]

Great, which one do you think retrieves more details? Would love to hear your impressions of the two.

*Edit* BTW how did you get it for $90? Was it this low in the anniversary sale of ali, or somewhere else?

We can usually find pretty good deals on HiFi equiptment on shopee here in Taiwan, as there is a very large audiophile scene here, and we're super close to ShenZhen.

As far as detail retrieval, once you've inserted the ER4XR deep enough, it does provide better detail compared to the Starsea. But this is at the expense of almost no soundstage, even when I have the ER4XR on Ety's 2.5mm balanced cable + T100 tips. Listening to the ER4XR for me is like staring at a blank wall at 4K.

I've just threw some Han Sound Mavis cables w/ 2.5mm balanced on the Starsea w/ stock medium clear/green tips, and WOW, that tiny treble peak that creeps up on certain tracks is now gone, and the sub/low-bass impact is much more evident. I really like this paring over the stock cables. Mind you this could be from the higher gain of the 2.5mm balanced out on my Qudelix 5K

 

[WendyLi]

obsessed by this female vocal

 

[Cyberthingy]

Been listening to the Tri Starlight quite a bit lately and it truly is a gem. The details are incredible. I do apply a little EQ to them to suit my tastes and I love them. I had previously been against using EQ because I had a habit of switching between players and IEMs but now that I have a potential end game option I'm cool with making a great set sound even better for my tastes. The Kinera Nanna 2.0 are not quite as detailed but are very smooth and enjoyable nonetheless. They are a bit more forgiving of tracks that are poorly mastered and come across really bright or harsh. They are both keepers as far as I am concerned. I have a pair of Starsea on the way so I'm looking forward to hearing how they compare for a fraction of the price.

 

[ChrisOc]

Been listening to the Tri Starlight quite a bit lately and it truly is a gem. The details are incredible. I do apply a little EQ to them to suit my tastes and I love them. I had previously been against using EQ because I had a habit of switching between players and IEMs but now that I have a potential end game option I'm cool with making a great set sound even better for my tastes. The Kinera Nanna 2.0 are not quite as detailed but are very smooth and enjoyable nonetheless. They are a bit more forgiving of tracks that are poorly mastered and come across really bright or harsh. They are both keepers as far as I am concerned. I have a pair of Starsea on the way so I'm looking forward to hearing how they compare for a fraction of the price.

You and I are on the same page not only on the Starlights, but also on EQ. Although I avoid EQ before I have reviewed an IEM, I have my EQ settings for the Starlights, which I use to get the exact tuning I want, when I want it.

In addition, I also see the Starlights as TOTL. Yes, there are variations on the theme: Highly detailed and revealing IEMs", so differences like those you described in your comparison of the Starlights with the Nannas, but I cannot imagine an objectively better set irrespective of price.

The subjective or preferences will exist regardless of the IEMs, in my view, we cannot all like exactly the same sound signature, add to that even an individual has variations in their preferences depending on mood, type of music and sometimes, simply choice, to hear something different.

I have not heard the Kinera Nanna 2.0 but given your take on the Starlights, I am confident we might agree on the Nanna as well.

I eagerly await your take on the Starseas.

I have to say, it helps that KBEAR/TRI have such competitive prices. I hope TRI keep their prices reasonable for such fantastic tuning, which makes them more accessible than others.

 

[LoryWiv]

Been listening to the Tri Starlight quite a bit lately and it truly is a gem. The details are incredible. I do apply a little EQ to them to suit my tastes and I love them. I had previously been against using EQ because I had a habit of switching between players and IEMs but now that I have a potential end game option I'm cool with making a great set sound even better for my tastes. The Kinera Nanna 2.0 are not quite as detailed but are very smooth and enjoyable nonetheless. They are a bit more forgiving of tracks that are poorly mastered and come across really bright or harsh. They are both keepers as far as I am concerned. I have a pair of Starsea on the way so I'm looking forward to hearing how they compare for a fraction of the price.

I have the 1st version of Nanna, listening to them right now and wouldn't call them smooth at all. I do like them very much. Does anyone know of a comparison or description of what changed between Nanna V, 1 to nanna V.2?

 

[IEMusic]

You and I are on the same page not only on the Starlights, but also on EQ. Although I avoid EQ before I have reviewed an IEM, I have my EQ settings for the Starlights, which I use to get the exact tuning I want, when I want it.

In addition, I also see the Starlights as TOTL. Yes, there are variations on the theme: Highly detailed and revealing IEMs", so differences like those you described in your comparison of the Starlights with the Nannas, but I cannot imagine an objectively better set irrespective of price.

The subjective or preferences will exist regardless of the IEMs, in my view, we cannot all like exactly the same sound signature, add to that even an individual has variations in their preferences depending on mood, type of music and sometimes, simply choice, to hear something different.

I have not heard the Kinera Nanna 2.0 but given your take on the Starlights, I am confident we might agree on the Nanna as well.

I eagerly await your take on the Starseas.

I have to say, it helps that KBEAR/TRI have such competitive prices. I hope TRI keep their prices reasonable for such fantastic tuning, which makes them more accessible than others.

I really think the base IEM design for the EJ07, ST7, Starlight, and Volt truly is a TOTL design. The technical capabilities are excellent, and the sound is just so smooth, yet detailed. Gotta love those Sonion drivers. There are, of course, some differences in actual drivers used (perhaps only the DD though), and the tunings seem to have a good amount of differences, but I’m impressed how well the design seems to be able to handle EQ adjustments, giving us the ability to tune the sound to personal taste. Unfortunately, very few people have heard 2 of the 4 iterations. I only know of one person who listened to the Volt and EJ07. The Starlight really was a steal during 11/11/2020, and I’m quite sure I would probably like all of the 4 variants.

 

[ChrisOc]

I really think the base IEM design for the EJ07, ST7, Starlight, and Volt truly is a TOTL design. The technical capabilities are excellent, and the sound is just so smooth, yet detailed. Gotta love those Sonion drivers. There are, of course, some differences in actual drivers used (perhaps only the DD though), and the tunings seem to have a good amount of differences, but I’m impressed how well the design seems to be able to handle EQ adjustments, giving us the ability to tune the sound to personal taste. Unfortunately, very few people have heard 2 of the 4 iterations. I only know of one person who listened to the Volt and EJ07. The Starlight really was a steal during 11/11/2020, and I’m quite sure I would probably like all of the 4 variants.

I agree entirely that the Sonion drivers have proved quite capable of delivering good quality sound. Generally they are not tuned for bassheads. However, your point about EQ tuning is made here, they are easily bass capable for individual preference, just by using EQ.

BGGAR says he will do a full review on the Starlights and he had the EJ07 as one of his favourite IEMs, so let's wait and see how he compares those two.

Out of interest, what was the view of the person who compared the Volt and EJ07, given they share similar drivers?

 

[IEMusic]

I agree entirely that the Sonion drivers have proved quite capable of delivering good quality sound. Generally they are not tuned for bassheads. However, your point about EQ tuning is made here, they are easily bass capable for individual preference, just by using EQ.

BGGAR says he will do a full review on the Starlights and he had the EJ07 as one of his favourite IEMs, so let's wait and see how he compares those two.

Out of interest, what was the view of the person who compared the Volt and EJ07, given they share similar drivers?

That person preferred the tuning of the Volt, and felt that it sounded more coherent, but I think that it comes down to personal taste, as the Volt vs the EJ07 is perhaps similar to the Clairvoyance vs the Monarch. I would love to hear the EJ07 and Starlight especially, and the ST7 as well.

 

[Cyberthingy]

I have the 1st version of Nanna, listening to them right now and wouldn't call them smooth at all. I do like them very much. Does anyone know of a comparison or description of what changed between Nanna V, 1 to nanna V.2?

As far as I know based on what I have seen presented by Kinera there is no technical differences but only cosmetic. I can't say for sure because I have not heard the original. When I used the term smooth I mean that the treble is present and articulate but definitely rolled off. It's not offensive, harsh are sibilant. Maybe safe is a better way to describe it. I do enjoy them very much. Listening to them right now. There are so many examples of BA sets that come across as harsh to me. One example was the Kinera IDUN. After some run time they did seem to settle down and sound better to me but the EST treble just seems more natural. My first exposure to EST was a review sample of the Moondrop Solis I had for about a week and I loved the EST sound but those lacked bass.

 

[slex]

obsessed by this female vocal

Harder( 56 ohm, 98db/mW), better ( sound quality) and faster ( Transient) seems like a good description for Starshine?

 

[WendyLi]

Harder( 56 ohm, 98db/mW), better ( sound quality) and faster ( Transient) seems like a good description for Starshine?

Haha, yeah, really good description!