Hello, great review! I have been waiting patiently for this! I couldn’t agree with you more. This truly is a top notch Streamer!

Hello, thank you for a great review of the Element S.

The first thing that catches your eye is that the cable is already connected to the headphones, only without the tips. The cable is simpler with a G plug. In terms of sound, it is more V-shaped than R2, the vocals sound a little worse, but not critical, the smallest black ones suited me, with harder white ones there was great discomfort. They sound good from the 3.5 (Meizu x8) jack of the phone, on the Zishan dsds the sound is sharper for some reason. R3 probably have less resistance because they sound louder. The sound is quite dynamic, the HF is enough, although the player seemed to produce less highs at first. Although it is still necessary to test, I remember that with r2 I listened to album after album, and here after each song you are looking for something else to switch to listen to a familiar track. Replacing the cable with the r's doesn't change the sound much perceptibly, it isa little sharp.

Where did you get the info that R2 and R3 use the same drivers? Did you open the shells and had a look? The specs are different.

@sfrsfr It's my quess to i have 100% no i don't. That true but it feel earli similar between the R2 and R3, Just a "cheaper" shell stucture with also keeping in to count that the asserories are also less. for +-35 to 25 ish well it easy to chafe of 10 usd one way or the other it seems like they they kept the driver specs are almost the same to be honest.

tried to add this above but ran into the character limit...

*edit*. came back to share something interesting I found. Check out the graph of the Canon 2 in DD configuration (with about +2db of EQ at 32Hz), against the 7th Acoustics Supernova, and the Thieaudio Prestige LTD.... almost like they were the same IEM tuned by the same person. Of course they're not, there are no EST in the Canon 2, but they still graph identically.

PS. I do hear things in the treble region once every few songs I haven't heard with other IEM... I was wondering if there isn't a slight buzz or ring on certain piano harmonics.. in certain treble frequencies... very subtle, very faint... but when I checked against my Senn HD600, those same harmonics were there also, just less noticeable, less revealed. I think this IEM reveals detail in recording that most IEMs don't, and I'm wondering if that is what you meant when you said the treble can be "rough" when the toggles are in the DD position.

I agree that technically they are way above their price. They sound rich of microdetails, and generally handle everything quite well. They don't really sound exciting at the first listen but actually they secretly are very good iems haha, maybe among the best for the price

Only big problem is that the headstage is very small. But if that is not what you care for then they are just perfect for the price.

Great pictures!

They are fantastic pictures...

What other iem woul you recommend over chopin at a similar price point ? Thank you

Oh sh.t sorry dude I didn't get the notification.
I'm waiting for Kiwi ears quintet to arrive and on frequency response graph it looks similar to Chopin but quintet has a bass tilt rather than a shelf.
Tilted bass won't be as anemic as the bass shelf; it's kinda opposite of the Chopin.
You can look for that but I still don't want to fully recommend based on graph.
There's also Aful Acustics performer 5, it also has a tilted bass.
In lower prices you can check out the pula pa02 and myer audio ckvlx(wtfever its name change this coding sh.t guys)

Oh and there's also the new release from letshuoer: cadenza 4, it might be a good bet. But I'd wait for a review before deciding; its graph looks kinda like the softears studio 4 and that one is vocal forward

a promo type review close to useless

@littlexx26 thanks for having a time on reading my review

@littlexx26 having the full introduction of all features of the device like an extension of the hiby product page does not mean he did not also review the unit in full. I did suggest he have links within the table of contents to take readers directly to the relevant parts they are after but it was technically unfeasible on head-fi

Do you think the aune s17 pro is more detailed and dynamic than the cayin iha-6? and which one of these 2 amps have better sound stage and imaging?

@RotundCatto As there isn't any clear measure for the amount of detail, I cannot really say anything for sure. However, the more energetic high frequencies of iHA-6 makes it sound somewhat more transparent and maybe more detailed at first. On the other hand, Cayin amp has a flatter and less holographic soundstage, so S17 Pro in the 100 mA mode reveals more spatial detail and might be a bit better after all. I would additionally call its soundstage better for my taste because of that, but let's not forget that the unbalanced headphone outputs of iHA-6 suit 300 ohm headphones very well making them wider sounding. iHA-6 has more options for different headphone types, but it never quite sounds as 3D-like and immersive as S17 Pro in the 100 mA. The 50 mA is more similar with iHA-6.

@RotundCatto Dynamics are harder to compare, as S17 Pro sounds fuller that way more weighty when called for. iHA-6 on the other hand has faster and sharper attack, which I usually find more dynamic sounding. Overall, both styles have their own advantage, so I let you decide, which you might prefer. Thanks for the good questions, as many times it is easier to describe something when somebody asks something specific.

Great review! Thanks for capturing the unique character of the DZ4!

@kmmbd You are right but the review unit was preproduction so there is a chance that have fixed it in the actual batch.

Thanks for the detailed review. I ordered it.

Thank you very much for reading.

@sofastreamer,
Thank-you, it was a labor of love. I hope I turn some folks on to this one, especially if this is the way they want to go?

Interesting if you heard 7hz timeless as i think it is one of the best and first really good planar (with minor shortcoming) but others you have i havent heard and still use timeless so perhaps p20 worth to try also. First planar i want to try as i think it will be worth to have after timeless. Thank you for good review as always.

Thank-you for the kind words @MariusAB. Well, yes unfortunately I haven’t heard the 7Hz Timeless MK1. But I’m glad to hear you’re so involved with it. From what I read about the Timeless you may gain an alternative tune with the P20? The two may even be complementary living under the same roof? Cheers!