I received V.E Bonus IE few days back also known as BIE. I was very excited to receive it since it was not something I could easily obtain by simply placing an online order also I was dying to own an IEM made by Venture electronics because I love the V.E Monk Plus and its sound signature. Now I know what some of you all are thinking right now…. “Why the Hell didn’t you buy Biggies and Smalls…?”; Well folks, answer to that question is, it was slightly over my budget. Yep 60$ something is still super expensive for folks like me when it comes to exchanging rates of $ to local currency, Otherwise I would have bought them for sure before BIE.
It came quicker than I expected. The last couple of days I have been doing some serious listening with BIE and now I can do a first impression kind of a review. Please note that I am not an audio professional or an audiophile, I don’t have knowledge nor money to do be one of them but I sure do love some good music and sound and I believe that I have a good enough hearing to tell what’s good and what’s not so here goes. The Mythical V.E BIE!!!
Equipment I used ( and will be using…)
FX Audio DAC-X6 with Jumper mod and 2A Power supply
Little Dot MK 2 full tube amplifier with Russian power tubes and GE Pre tubes. (My mistress lol!)
HP Notebook (Pretty old but love the hot pink color)
V.E Odyssey (Original)
UGREEN micro USB to OTG dongle
Xiaomi Redmi 5 AI Dual cam phone
LEPY headphone / Speaker amplifier (Plugged to my LG tv for Movies, Class – D amp super cheap)
Comparison examples
KZ ZS1, KZ ZS5, KZ ATR, VE. MONK PLUS, (Earbuds and IEMS)
Tracks I used
“My love” by Kovacs (SD FLAC)
“Midnight Blue” by Kenny Burrell (Full album, Flac, SD)
“Stardust” by John Coltrane (Full album, Flac, SD)
“Night lights” by Gerry Mulligan (Full album, Flac, SD)
“Hotel California Live! (1994)” by Eagles ( K2HD FLAC )
“Voodoo Chile” by Jimi Hendrix (Re-mastered & Original Flac)
“Still loving you” by Scorpions (Flac, SD)
“Geek U.S.A” by smashing pumpkins ( Re-mastered HD flac)
“Essentials II – Wicked Game” by Karen Souza (Full album, Flac, SD)
“Come away with me” – Norah Jones (Full album, Flac, SD)
“Women – The Best Jazz Vocals” by Various Artists (Full album, Flac, SD)
· All listening was done with stock tips and stock BIE.
The first session (contains what I think rather than direct comparisons or a review)
I have used my HP Notebook as the source connected to V.E Odyssey and then to BIE. This was my first listening session and I was surprised by the amount of BASS it delivers. It is a completely amazing BASS. I rather call it the “LORD BASS” instead of “BIE”. The low end was simply impressive, the most bass crazy IEM I own is KZ ZS1 (which I call LORD BASS) and BIE is right there with it. The amount of Bass that coming from these IEM’s is unbelievable but unlike in KZ ZS1, it does not blur or overshadow any other frequencies nor lacks detail. I guess this is the best part of “BIE”… The visceral amount of BASS that it provides will sure to satisfy any kind of music. So there goes the BASS department, it is top notch according to my understanding.
Next comes the Mids and Highs, I am not much of a High’s guy so don’t just take my word, listen to others and most of all listen to it by yourself. Here’s how I felt about Mids and Highs. Mids are not super-forward nor backward either, to me it is placed perfectly with a hint of warmth. The female vocals are an intimate and absolute joy to listen to. The highs are very good as well but never harsh at all. That’s what matters to me, it retains the details but excellent for fatigue-free long listening sessions.
Overall the whole sound signature is non-fatiguing and bassy with a hint of warmth and excellent for super long listening sessions.
Comfort wise V.E BIE does an excellent job because even though I loved the Monk PLUS my only downside in it was the pain in the ear after long listening sessions and getting a perfect fit. All those problems goes away with V.E BIE but take my word, V.E BIE is not MONK PLUS, it is close but not the exact MONK PLUS.
The soundstage is something I want to talk about since I clearly noticed a few things with it. V.E Bie doesn’t have a super wide soundstage compared to Monk Plus but then again they are two different earphones. However this is what I felt, V.E BIE has a sound-stage that is intimate just like you’re listening to the musicians in a room. You feel that they are closer to you rather than being far away. There is a one draw-back I noticed clearly with V.E Odyssey + BIE, the sound stage gets even more congested and right inside your head with V.E Odyssey while direct connection to HP Notebook or to the Phone widens the sound-stage placing musicians and instruments further away from you. Maybe this is me… I don’t know how others feel about this, but this is clearly there for me.
V.E Odyssey + BIE = Soundstage gets narrower
Direct connection to Notebook or Phone + BIE = Soundstage gets clearly wider and further away and much airier.
But in every other aspect from lows to highs, V.E Odyssey + BIE out-performs others.
Overall first impression and conclusion
I would like to say that V.E BIE is nothing but an excellent IEM for the price paid. It definitely has the addictive touch of V.E Sound signature. It has the clarity and details of my KZ ZS5 and the bass of KZ ZS1 using just one single brilliantly tuned dynamic driver. I got no complaints about it and it is an absolute steal for 20$ price tag. If you are one of those people who wanted a V.E IEM and had been waiting for one and also worshipped the venerable V.E Monk Plus, look no further, go ahead and buy the mythical V.E BIE.
Next…
I still didn’t had time to do a listening test with FX AUDIO DAC-X6 which is a solid state headphone amplifier and a DAC. Soon I’m planning to do it and I will update about how it is with V.E BIE, and finally I want to try it with my Little Dot MK2 Tube amplifier and see how things goes and see how it differs from my venerated Sennheiser HD-6XX.