Reviews by elnineteenth
The presentation is quite nice you get what Fatfreq call a “Fat red box” with the red silver cable or black.
My first unit came with a huge Channel imbalance so I had to send my unit back for repair. However, I was really not happy because I just got the Scarlet after waiting more than two months but Fatfreq assured me that they will be sending an immediate replacement along with gifts to compensate for the situation. So I received a metal case along with an released red cable.
The sound:
The Scarlet sounds really good for price just what you would expect from a bassy iem. So when my replacement unit arrived I kept testing the Scarlet with different sources to reach the perfect sound.
Although I tried dongles like Ibasso DC04 pro, Shanling UA5, Questyle M15 or The RU7 but none of those really could drive the Scarlet to it’s potential, and I found the best synergy with Hiby R6PROii, and Hiby R8ii with maximum performance settings enabled.
One thing to note that The scarlet is a sub-Bass oriented so you will get more deep rumple rather than mid-bass slam, and this could be a deal breaker for people as it was for me in the beginning but the the Scarlet made me appreciate sub-bass even more than mid-bass as Fatfreq was able to achieve such deep sub-bass with little bleed to the mids.
The mid-bass will still slam but it’s more polite comparing to the sub-bass. At least for me as I know that I needed more mid-bass with the Scarlet mini but could they really have delivered more mid-bass without bleeding into the mids even more? Honestly I don’t know and only Fatfreq could answer this question.
To make it simple the everything sound correct in the Scarlet but feels more pushed back comparing to the sub-bass that present its self with extreme confidence. Most people getting this set for the fun bass so don’t be expecting top tier resolution, and clarity while you could reach better technical performance with more power feeding into the Scarlet it will still not be an all rounder but it improve the overall performance.
The Hiby R6PROii:
the Scarlet could be driven and it sounds good to my ears. Although the R6PROii has only total 383 power via the balanced output. It still features a decent DAC/AMP that could drive the Scarlet to an acceptable level that will actually sound good and it’s my favorite source to use with the Scarlet currently. For settings I use high gain with Class A and I use the DRX10K Dynamics filter.
The Hiby R8ii:
Could absolutely drive the Scarlet to its potential thanks to its 710mW power output and much more advanced DAC\AMP configuration and High gain and Turbo mode despite all of the capabilities that the R8ii has to drive the Scarlet I still think they have a bad synergy slightly as the R8ii is very organic and natural source that tames most aggressive iems or at least roll of a little bit their aggressive toning at least to my ears. I use high gain with Class AB and engage the Turbo mode for the Scarlet and I use the Sound field filter to push the stage a little bit back for an illusion of deeper soundstage.
Comparisons:
Comparing the Scarlet to the Mangird Xenns UP. The UP is way better as an all rounder in my opinion as it has better drivers set, and EST drivers handling ultra high frequencies to provide overall better details, and more treble extension for an amazing detail retrieval. The UP is a very warm iem that will slam very hard via Mid-bass but it’s has good vocals, treble and sub-bass comparing to the Scarlet which I think lacks a little bit more treble extension and needed more detail retrieval.
Genres
The scarlet is very satisfying with genres like hip hop, reggae, EDM.
reggae
1-Daddy Yanke RUMBATÓN
2-PANTIES Y BRASIERES
3-La Llevo Al Cielo
Hip-hop
1-Butterfly effect by Travis Scott
2-Dive by kid cudi
3-ILL what I bleed by kid cudi
EDM
1-Long time by John De Sohn
2- Bromance by Tim berg
3-Theateum Antony Waldhorn
To sum up:
The scarlet mini is definitely worthy of the hype that it’s been getting lately. Although it’s slightly overpriced for a specialist set.The Scarlet provides the best quality and quantity sub-bass boost that I have ever experienced for an iem but its very hard to use as all rounder given all that bass distracting other frequencies. If you got the money, and you are a basshead go for it you will not be disappointed unless if you are a mid-bass lover then the Xenns UP will be a better set for mid-bass, and a better set overall.
Please check my video review I made for the Scarlet mini below.
My first unit came with a huge Channel imbalance so I had to send my unit back for repair. However, I was really not happy because I just got the Scarlet after waiting more than two months but Fatfreq assured me that they will be sending an immediate replacement along with gifts to compensate for the situation. So I received a metal case along with an released red cable.
The sound:
The Scarlet sounds really good for price just what you would expect from a bassy iem. So when my replacement unit arrived I kept testing the Scarlet with different sources to reach the perfect sound.
Although I tried dongles like Ibasso DC04 pro, Shanling UA5, Questyle M15 or The RU7 but none of those really could drive the Scarlet to it’s potential, and I found the best synergy with Hiby R6PROii, and Hiby R8ii with maximum performance settings enabled.
One thing to note that The scarlet is a sub-Bass oriented so you will get more deep rumple rather than mid-bass slam, and this could be a deal breaker for people as it was for me in the beginning but the the Scarlet made me appreciate sub-bass even more than mid-bass as Fatfreq was able to achieve such deep sub-bass with little bleed to the mids.
The mid-bass will still slam but it’s more polite comparing to the sub-bass. At least for me as I know that I needed more mid-bass with the Scarlet mini but could they really have delivered more mid-bass without bleeding into the mids even more? Honestly I don’t know and only Fatfreq could answer this question.
To make it simple the everything sound correct in the Scarlet but feels more pushed back comparing to the sub-bass that present its self with extreme confidence. Most people getting this set for the fun bass so don’t be expecting top tier resolution, and clarity while you could reach better technical performance with more power feeding into the Scarlet it will still not be an all rounder but it improve the overall performance.
The Hiby R6PROii:
the Scarlet could be driven and it sounds good to my ears. Although the R6PROii has only total 383 power via the balanced output. It still features a decent DAC/AMP that could drive the Scarlet to an acceptable level that will actually sound good and it’s my favorite source to use with the Scarlet currently. For settings I use high gain with Class A and I use the DRX10K Dynamics filter.
The Hiby R8ii:
Could absolutely drive the Scarlet to its potential thanks to its 710mW power output and much more advanced DAC\AMP configuration and High gain and Turbo mode despite all of the capabilities that the R8ii has to drive the Scarlet I still think they have a bad synergy slightly as the R8ii is very organic and natural source that tames most aggressive iems or at least roll of a little bit their aggressive toning at least to my ears. I use high gain with Class AB and engage the Turbo mode for the Scarlet and I use the Sound field filter to push the stage a little bit back for an illusion of deeper soundstage.
Comparisons:
Comparing the Scarlet to the Mangird Xenns UP. The UP is way better as an all rounder in my opinion as it has better drivers set, and EST drivers handling ultra high frequencies to provide overall better details, and more treble extension for an amazing detail retrieval. The UP is a very warm iem that will slam very hard via Mid-bass but it’s has good vocals, treble and sub-bass comparing to the Scarlet which I think lacks a little bit more treble extension and needed more detail retrieval.
Genres
The scarlet is very satisfying with genres like hip hop, reggae, EDM.
reggae
1-Daddy Yanke RUMBATÓN
2-PANTIES Y BRASIERES
3-La Llevo Al Cielo
Hip-hop
1-Butterfly effect by Travis Scott
2-Dive by kid cudi
3-ILL what I bleed by kid cudi
EDM
1-Long time by John De Sohn
2- Bromance by Tim berg
3-Theateum Antony Waldhorn
To sum up:
The scarlet mini is definitely worthy of the hype that it’s been getting lately. Although it’s slightly overpriced for a specialist set.The Scarlet provides the best quality and quantity sub-bass boost that I have ever experienced for an iem but its very hard to use as all rounder given all that bass distracting other frequencies. If you got the money, and you are a basshead go for it you will not be disappointed unless if you are a mid-bass lover then the Xenns UP will be a better set for mid-bass, and a better set overall.
Please check my video review I made for the Scarlet mini below.
elnineteenth
Yea I have heard good things about the Monarch MK3, also I’m interested in symphoniumaudio’s titan as someone told me it has more bass than the UP and the same level of technicalities. Definitely gonna demo the MK3 & titan this coming CanJam London.
As a Xenns Up owner I'm not that intrigued haha. I also think that the sub bass is already pretty good. The only set I owned that beat it was the Monarch Mk3.