Disclaimer: I received the EPZ Q1 Pro as a loaner unit for review purpose from a friend, and this is not a review unit. I did not receive any discounts for writing this review. If you decide to buy this IEM based on my review and find that you disagree with the sound or assessment, that responsibility lies with you. I strongly discourage relying solely on a single review for purchasing decisions in the realm of audio quality, as preferences vary. You should conduct thorough research by exploring platforms such as YouTube, head-fi forums, and various Facebook audiophile groups before making a purchase decision.

Gears Used: I have used Cayin RU7 & Hiby R6 Gen III DAP as my sources for this review. And I have used a 3rd party cable, Moondrop LINE T 6N Single Crystal Copper cable and DIVINUS Velvet Silicone Eartips. I must emphasize that my choice of accessories and source might lead to a different sound experience than with stock accessories. As the copper cable relaxes the treble and extends the lower end. Cayin RU7 on Upscale to DSD 64 mode brings a good amount of warmth to the mix, while adding note weight and making the vocals thicker and forward. It also adds more mid-bass extension/punch which in general is missing from the Q1 Pro.



Accessories:

EPZ Q1 Pro

Soft carrying pouch

Standard selection of ear tip, 3 pairs of generic silicone ear tips (S, M, L)

3 pairs of generic silicone ear tips (S, M, L)

4-core Single Crystal Copper Wire

I found the accessories included in the box are somewhat generic and sub-par. I would have preferred an option to choose between 4.4/2.5/3.5 mm termination cable even if including a modular cable in the box was not possible. The included ear tips & pouch feels very cheap, sems like they provided these just for the sake of it, no effort to include better quality accessories was made from EPZ side, even the overall packaging quality felt cheap as well.



Sound Evaluation

Tuning: The EPZ Q1 Pro has a Harman inspired tunning and sounds neutral-bright overall. It’s a mid-centric sound profile but not sounding too thin or dry but rather more musical. As typical of the Harman tuning there is more of an emphasis on sub-bass and upper-treble.

Highs (3.5/5): The lower treble is well extended with the Q1 Pro while the brilliance part of the upper treble is somewhat lacking. Don’t expect too much air or sparkle in the brilliance region but overall treble is energetic and this is not a laid-back set. The treble is non-fatiguing and retains a smooth characteristic, this set is a safe choice for the treble sensitive folk.

Mids (4.0/5): The mids are definitely the high-light of the show, it has a clean presentation and maintains good resolution. The upper-mids takes precedence over the lower-mids. This is a very vocal forward set, but doesn’t get sibilant or shouty at any point. Paired with my Hiby R6 Gen III DAP, which is a neutral-bright source the Q1 Po did lack note weight and vocals sounded slightly thinner & harsher. But pairing the Q1 Pro with my Cayin RU7 using DSD 64 up-sampling mode, the note weight sounded denser, mids sounded thick and lush. Like most Harman tuned sets the Q1 Pro does female vocals masterfully while male vocals do lack body. Overall, a very enjoyable presentation while maintaining a natural timbre for instruments.

Bass (3.5/5): The EPZ Q1 Pro definitely isn’t a bass shy set but it neither is for bass-heads. Sub-bass has good extension and you can feel the rumble when it’s called for in the more bass heavy tracks. Mid-bass rolls off early and definitely lacks punch, but this again can be mitigated using a source like Cayin RU7 which adds to the mid-bass extension making it more pronounced in the mix. Overall, the bass has good texture and its speedy so bass quality is satisfactory for the asking price.

Technicalities (3/5): The Q1 Pro isn’t a very resolving set or it isn’t a master of detail retrieval but the good news is that EPZ hasn’t artificially boosted the treble to create an illusion of more resolution when really it isn’t there. Layering and imaging is just about average, soundstage gives more of an in your head impression rather than a wide holographic feeling. But using RU7 does boots the width of the soundstage compared to other sources. There aren’t a lot of micro-details or nuances being highlighted by the Q1 Pro, the tuning clearly leaning to a more musical aspect rather than the technical one.


Comparisons:

Moondrop Kato: I have tested this set in the past quite extensively so this comparison is solely based off of memory as I do not own the Kato right now. Given my personal preference I definitely prefer the Q1 Pro over the tuning of the Moondrop Kato, the Kato sounded more artificially boosted in the upper-treble, vocals sounding more shouty. Bass on the Kato is more rolled off, it felt the mids were overshadowing the bass and the treble. Note weight sounded thinner and dryer on the Kato and the overall tuning was noticeably brighter compared to the Q1 Pro. The saving grace of the Kato is its better upper treble extension with more air and sparkle in the brilliance region without sounding too harsh or fatiguing, also offering much better resolving capability and picking up more micro details compared to the Q1 Pro. Imaging and layering is also superior on the Kato. Given their price difference its no surprise that Moondrop Kato is pulling ahead in some aspects but overall, I prefer the fun and more musical sound of the Q1 Pro rather than the more analytical nature of the Kato.

Simgot EA1000: This again is not a fair comparison given the price difference, but as both are Harman tuned/inspired I wanted to a short comparison between these two sets. The EA1000 is significantly brighter and boosted in the upper-mids region, leading to more shouty vocals. Between the 3 sets, EA1000 has the shoutiest vocals which needs to be tamed with a warm source. Just like the Kato, EA1000 sounds more brighter, analytical and has a thinner note weight compared to the Q1 Pro. But the EA1000 absolutely destroys the Q1 pro when it comes to resolution, micro-detailing imaging, layering etc. It’s the technicalities champ although the upper treble region of the EA1000 sounds more artificially boosted to me and instruments do have a more natural timbre on the Q1 Po. Bass on the EA1000 is definitely better compared to the Q1 pro, mid bass has better extension while sub-bass rumble feels a bit rolled off, but the texture, the speed and resolution of the bass is clearly superior.



Conclusion: For $37 the EPZ Q1 Pro is a fun and musical sounding Harman set, which is definitely rare. If paired with the right source it scales quite nicely and if you are willing to invest in a good aftermarket cable & tips this can really bring out the potential of this IEM. However, those looking for a more analytical and more technical listen should look elsewhere. Q1 Pro provides excellent price to performance ratio and I wouldn’t mind recommending this one to the more budget oriented audiophiles.

Disclaimer: I purchased the Hiby R6 Gen III DAP with my own funds, and this is not a review unit. I did not receive any discounts for writing this review. If you decide to buy this DAP based on my review and find that you disagree with my assessment, that responsibility lies with you. I strongly discourage relying solely on a single review for purchasing decisions in the realm of audio gears, as preferences vary. You should conduct thorough research by exploring platforms such as YouTube, head-fi forums, and various Facebook audiophile groups before making a purchase decision.

I will not dive too much into product specifications in this review, so before proceeding any further those who are unaware of the Hiby R6 Gen III specifications should check them out here:

https://store.hiby.com/products/hiby-r6-gen-iii



Gear used: While testing this DAP I have paired it with Kinera Imperial URD, Simgot EA1000 “EA1000, 7Hertz Timeless, iKKO Obsidian OH10, Tri i3 Pro.


Build Quality (4.5/5): During my used I have observed that the Hiby R6 Gen III DAP feels quite sturdy and well-made thanks to the aluminum chassis. Although a bit on the chunky side its still very ergonomic and easy to use with a single hand. Buttons are responsive and clicky, although a better-quality volume knob could have been used with better feedback to the user while adjusting the volume of the device. Hiby should have included a dust plug for the Micro SD card slot so that it would feel less exposed. Design wise the R6 Gen III follows the same design language of its predecessor Hiby R6 2020.

Accessories (3/5): The box and bundled accessories are as usual, a clear TPU case, USB-C cable, x3 screen protector’s (1 already pre-applied on to the device), instruction manuals etc. The included TPU case is very flimsy and doesn’t fit the device properly, there isn’t even a cut out present to access the volume wheel. In fact, there are no cut-outs altogether for any of the buttons. The included TPU case is just horrible, and Hiby has made it mandatory to buy the official leather cases, a green and a brown one can be bought separately for $15 & $30 respectively. Only good thing I can say about the included TPU case is that its dark smoke color as it can avoid yellowing over long-term use. Hiby has included plenty of screen protector’s which is good as these screen protectors are not good quality and get scratched pretty easily.

Software (5/5): This is definitely Hiby’s best and out-standing feature and why can many people buy Hiby DAP’s over the competition. Android 12 at this price was unheard of when the Hiby R6 Gen III released back in February 2023, and yet still in April 2024 brands like Shanling, Fiio and iBasso are struggling to provide Android 12 with their mid-tier to flagship DAP’s. Hiby R6 Gen III feels pretty smooth and fluid to use I haven’t noticed any UI lags or crashes. With Android 12 you get the latest bells and whistles such as Dark Mode and system-wide gestures. Hiby has provided DTA Systemwide bitperfect audio support, MQA 16X and DSD512, PCM768 support with the OS. They are continuing to provide updates for the device regularly even after a year of release. And the updates, for me, at least have been very stable. Very recently, they have added a 10-band PEQ support for the R6 Gen III DAP along with their existing proprietary solutions like system-wide MSEB and plugins.

Connectivity (4.5/5): The Hiby R6 gen III DAP supports 2.4G / 5GHz dual band WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0 and USB 3.1 (type-C port). The Wi-Fi support is very good, I didn’t face any issues while streaming from the tidal app like buffering or connection drops. Previously I have used a Hiby R5 Saber DAP and it had some very significant Wi-Fi and Bluetooth issues when compared to the R6 Gen III. Although compared to latest flagship phones the Bluetooth speeds is a bit on the slower side, its not totally unusable. The device can be used to stream from your phone using Bluetooth and it performs similarly to any Bluetooth dongle like Fiio BTR 7 or ifi Go Blu. R6 also supports Bluetooth audio codecs including UAT, LDAC, aptX, aptX HD, AAC, SBC.

Sound (3.5/5): The Hiby R6 Gen III stock sound is pretty neutral, transparent, airy, with an average soundstage and very good resolution. It won’t affect the natural curve of your IEM’s/headphones by introducing too much coloration. Class A sounds 99% similar to class A/B now whether that’s due to an excellent class A/B implementation or a poor Class A implementation, I will leave that to your interpretation. The best part about Hiby’s sound is how versatile it is, you feel the sound stage is too congested? Make it wide and airier by using the Soundfield plugin. Think the mids and low end needs more meat and extension? You can simply use MSEB or PEQ filters to modify the sound to your liking. MSEB will be more easily accessible for the beginners whereas PEQ is targeted more towards the advanced users. But here is the catch, software can only take you so far, and that’s where the ES9038Q2M DAC’s and amp section of the DAP comes into play. Unfortunately, Hiby cheaped out here and the competition does indeed sound better, I will explain more in the comparison section.

Battery (3.5/5): The R6 Gen III offers acceptable battery life with the class A/B mode, lasting anywhere between 10/12 hours of playback. Do note I like to listen to my music at loud volumes usually 70% using 4.4 mm balanced mode, so my reported numbers are based on this usage. With class A mode I got between 7 to 8 hours of playback time more than the 6 hours advertised on Hiby’s website. Luckily, Class A/B mode sound very similar to class A mode which maybe a saving grace for R6 Gen III when it comes to battery life.

Comparisons:

iBasso DX170


The ibasso DX170 has a much sharper and better resolution display (1080p) than the hiby R6 Gen III, its more bright and vivid as well. R6 has much better performance on the other hand with Snapdragon 665, 4 GB RAM (more than double of iBasso) and Android 12. If streaming is your main priority and using 3rd party apps like USB player, then clearly R6 Gen III should be your go to device, as iBasso struggles with these apps with its Rockchip SOC (equivalent to snapdragon 425) and only 2 GB of RAM. DX170 is more ergonomic for 1 hand use, its less chunky and the volume knob used on the DX170 feels much more responsive compared to the one used in Hiby R6 Gen III, which feels cheap.

DX170 has the upper hand when it comes to output power and sound quality. It outputs 6.4Vrms (4.4 balanced) and 3.2Vrms (Single-Ended) respectively, this means, that the balanced output should be rated at about 800-1000mW. Hiby R6 Gen III on the other hand outputs 2Vrms (Single-Ended) & 3.6 Vrms from the balanced port, leading to a maximum output of 405mW from form the 4.4mm balanced port. So, as you can guess listening to the same volume, DX170 sounds punchier and more dynamic in comparison. If we avoid power and talk solely about sound quality, in low frequencies the DX 170 have a lot of punch and depth, adds rumble and great dynamics, Hiby R6 Gen III being neutral in character doesn’t add any additional punch or bass quantity. Mids sound emotional, very texturized, thick with just a hit of warmth on the DX170, R6 again goes for neutrality and transparency in the mids lacking any emotion or depth to the vocals. R6 has better extension in the highs and sounds more detailed, it offers slightly better technicalities with better resolution and more airy and transparent sound overall, soundstage I felt was wider of the DX 170 while deeper with the R6 Gen III. A lot of the superiority with the DX 170 sound I think comes down to the better DAC chips, dual CS43131 DAC’s and of course the different philosophy in tuning. The issue with bass and mids can be rectified to a degree with MSEB/PEQ but software can truly never replicate the performance of good DAC chips and superior tuning.

Now whether you want a more dynamic, thicker and colored sound or a more technical, dry and neutral sound I will leave that for you to decide. I know which one sounds more fun to me. Overall, I feel the DX170 offer the better sound quality but poor performance so it should be more ideal for those looking for an offline playback DAP. Those who want superior streaming & OS performance should obviously pic the R6 Gen III dap.

Cayin RU7

These are two different class of devices so I won’t got into too much details except for the sound differences. Cayin RU7 has a much more natural timbre compared to the R6 Gen III which sounds very digital in comparison. Even at its most neutral setting (DSD oversampling set to 256) the RU7 has much warmer sound compared to the R6 DAP. It has wetter, thicker more texturized mids and forward vocals, the low end is significantly punchier with a focus on the mid-bass elevation. High’s sound similar on both, technicalities wise R6 Gen III offers slightly better resolution but RU7 has a much more airer and wider soundstage. Simply put the performance of the RU7 is significantly better and you can’t replicate this level of performance with EQ or MSEB.


Conclusion: The Hiby R6 Gen III DAP is an excellent bang for buck mid-range DAP and its going strong even in 2024. For those who want the complete package and are willing to sacrifice a bit of sound quality in exchange for flagship DAP like level UI performance need not look any further. My only note to Hiby’s team would be to maybe focus on implementing a better DAC & AMP section and maybe cut corners in some other department in the next release of the R6 Lineup. I have always been a fan of Hiby’s excellent software support and how they focus on value compared to the rest of the competition. It makes me want to pick them over other brands. I hope this review and comparison will help future buyers to make up their minds easily. Till next time.

Disclaimer: I purchased the Kinera Imperial URD with my own funds, and this is not a review unit. I did not receive any discounts for writing this review. If you decide to buy this IEM based on my review and find that you disagree with the sound or assessment, that responsibility lies with you. I strongly discourage relying solely on a single review for purchasing decisions in the realm of audio quality, as preferences vary. You should conduct thorough research by exploring platforms such as YouTube, head-fi forums, and various Facebook audiophile groups before making a purchase decision.




My evaluation of the Kinera Imperial URD is based on the modular stock cable provided in the box & Final E-series ear tips also included in the box. Kinera as gone out of their way to provide a generous amount of accessories with the URD, I did not feel the need to purchase any third party cables or tips immediately.

Throughout the review, I utilized the Hiby R6 Gen III DAP as my source, with class A amplification mode turned on. I found the URD to have a good synergy with the neutral tuning of the R6 DAP, while with my Ifi Go Blu (a warm sounding source) it sounded a bit too laid back and bass sounded bloated and muddy.


Sound Evaluation

Tuning: The Kinera Imperial URD has warm-neutral sound signature with a bass boost. Clearly there is more of an emphasis on the bass and mids in its tuning compared to the treble. But you won’t be sacrificing too much technicalities in exchange for this warm and neutral tuning approach. And the URD is extremely musical, it’s designed for a good time rather than analytical precision.

Highs (3.5/5): The treble rolls off early with the URD, it’s not very well extended and leans towards the dark side of the spectrum. There is lack of air and sparkle in the treble region due to the dark tuning, although certain micro details are better extracted in the upper-treble register due to the presence of the EST drivers. But due to the lack of energy, excitement sounds missing in the treble region overall, which makes me wonder the benefit of implementing EST’s in the first place.

Mids (4.5/5): The mids handled by the custom BA driver of the URD present realistic tone and timbre of the instruments. Bass guitars, acoustic and electric guitars, snare drums, violins all sound clear and crisp and can be easily identified in the mix. Female vocals sound particularly euphonic & emotional, while male vocals sound rich from the added warmth coming out of the low end. There is a clear balance between the upper and lower mid-range which many harman-target IEM’s fail to achieve, you won’t be subjected to any artificially boosted upper-mid peaks or shoutyness.

Lows (4.5/5): The low end is managed by dual-diaphragm dynamic drivers so the bass of the URD is generously well extended and very authoritative. Kinera nailed both the quality and the quantity of the bass, the sub bass reaches low to create a nice, deep reverting rumble. The mid bass slams hard with excellent punch and weight. Kickdrums sound fast and punchy, instruments such as bass guitars, bass drum kicks, bass clarinet all sound full-bodied and textured. Both the sub & mid bass have an equally dominating presence and can handle busy tracks really well. Bass performance of the Urd should easily please the more “mature” bass-head.

Technicalities (4/5): Urd has very good technicalities, the resolution is above average with a good amount of detail retrieval. Layering and instrument separation is very good too, I was able to locate the instruments & vocals but not with extreme precession like in some other sub $500 all BA sets. The soundstage can be perceived as 3D & holographic, a very wide and spacious presentation. Overall, for a warm tuned set the URD presents very good technicalities but it isn’t a technical monster and a bit more performance can be expected at this price point.



Comparisons

KINERA URD vs DUNU SA6 MK II:

Treble: Dunu SA6 MK II treble is more well extended and has more air and sparkle at the top end. Even without EST drivers SA6 MK II does a better job highlighting the treble and sound much more energetic without it being too fatiguing or harsh, whereas URD goes for a darker and smoother approach.

Mids: Midrange on the SA6 MKII offers better clarity, is more textured and does highlights the instruments better than the URD. Vocals sound very close, however SA6 MK II sounds a bit more forward, female vocals sound expressive and emotional in both but I will give the edge of male vocals to the URD due to the added warmth which adds more weight and male vocals sound meatier.

Bass: Although SA6 MK II brings the fight to URD with good quantity of bass which is fast and thumping. But it simply can’t compete with the dual dynamic driver of the URD which has more slam, hits harder and has more physicality to it. Bass heads should get the URD and call it a day, it’s that simple.

Technicalities: SA6 MK II offers better resolution and clarity compared to URD, better imaging and layering too. In terms of soundstage width URD takes the win in terms of micro detail retrieval SA6 MK II takes it. I found the timbre of instruments to be more natural and realistic on the URD while the SA6 MKII displayed slight BA timbre.



Conclusion

I would like to keep it simple & short, if you want a fun dynamic sounding IEM without sacrificing too much of technicalities, then Kinera URD will be your cup of tea. It's all about enjoying your music, URD isn't about offering the highest resolution or highlighting micro details and nuances. I think the Kinera URD is an excellent all rounder and can be a potential end-game for many folks. Is it work the asking price? Absolutely, given that Kinera has presented URD as complete package to its customers, you don’t need to go looking for third party cables and tips which I find really refreshing.

Disclaimer: I purchased the Simgot EA1000 Fermat with my own funds, and this is not a review unit. I did not receive any discounts for writing this review. If you decide to buy this IEM based on my review and find that you disagree with the sound or assessment, that responsibility lies with you. I strongly discourage relying solely on a single review for purchasing decisions in the realm of audio quality, as preferences vary. You should conduct thorough research by exploring platforms such as YouTube, head-fi forums, and various Facebook audiophile groups before making a purchase decision.

My evaluation of the Simgot EA1000 Fermat is based on the Red Nozzle, paired with a custom 8-core 7N LITZ crystal copper cable and Divinus Velvet tips. Out of the box, using the default cable and tips, I observed the EA1000 to exhibit aggressive and fatiguing treble, along with a noticeable upper-mids peak. Being sensitive to treble and averse to shouty vocals, I discovered that the combination of the pure copper cable and Divinus tips significantly tamed the treble and upper-mids peak, although the latter persisted at higher volumes.

Throughout the review, I utilized the Hiby R6 Gen III DAP as my source, experimenting with both the default class A mode for a neutral sound and my custom MSEB settings for a warmer tone with enhanced bass extension. My preference leaned toward the warmer sound profile while listening to the Simgot EA1000 Fermat.

Regarding the nozzles, I found the black nozzle to have the brightest tuning, the Gold Nozzle to feature more relaxed treble but highly boosted upper-mids (resulting in shouty female vocals), and the Red Nozzle to offer good treble extension with more balanced upper-mids, aligning with my preference.

Concerning accessories, both the tips and stock cable included in the package were deemed subpar for an IEM priced at $220. I advocate for manufacturers to provide modular cables or the option to choose between 3.5/2.5/4.4 mm termination for IEMs above the $150 mark. The included tips were deemed cheap, prompting the use of third-party tips for an improved sound experience.



Sound Evaluation:

Tuning: The EA1000 follows the Harman curve, featuring elevated highs and upper-mids as part of Simgot's house tuning. Despite not being a Harman fan, I found the EA1000 to deliver a fun and engaging listening experience.

Highs (4/5): The treble is bright, vibrant, detailed and well extended. Although it can feel sharp and fatiguing at higher volumes with the stock cable and tips. A smoother treble is achieved with my setup, enhancing air and sparkle without sacrificing details.

Mids (3.5/5): The upper-mids peak may verge on shouty territory, with vocals neither forward nor too recessed. Instruments are more highlighted while the vocals are lagging behind. Lower-mids are depressed and lack body, favoring female vocals over male vocals. My personal preference leans toward more forward, thicker vocals and an improved male voice presentation.

Lows (3.5/5): Bass is very interesting in this one, the 6mm passive radiator does make a difference and it is clearly audible. While it may be moderate in quantity, the bass delves deeply with a commendable tactile rumble when necessary and boasts an exceptional textured quality. The bass is nimble, swift, tight and undeniably satisfactory. The sub-bass extension rolls-off prematurely, yet the mid-bass presence takes center stage, offering a more pronounced and satisfying punch when required. Although the bass has excellent quality and good quantity it may leave bass enthusiasts wanting more in certain tracks.

Technicalities (4/5): The Fermat excels in resolution, rivaling planars with superior, authentic timbre. Imaging is accurate, allowing precise instrument localization. The soundstage is more intimate, my preference is for a more spacious sound at this price point.



In conclusion: Despite my critical assessments, the Simgot EA1000 Fermat has become my daily driver, impressing me with its fun, engaging, musical sound, high resolution, and pleasing mids. While analytically inclined, it maintains musicality without sounding too thin or dry, making it a commendable IEM at $220, though falling short of a bang-for-buck deal that could have been achieved at the $150 price range.

Sources used during review: Shanling M3X, Hiby R5 Saber

Cables used during review: **** 16 Core High Purity Copper Cable, FAAEAL Hibiscus High Purity Copper Cable

Tips used during review: Final E-Tips. CP-145

Disclaimer: I originally borrowed the Oh10’s from a friend to review on, later on I ended up liking it so much that I got a pair for myself as well. Needless to say, all the views expressed in this review are my own and not influenced by anyone. It is always my goal to provide a bias free and honest review.

Executive Summary: Ikko Oh10 Obsidian is a near 2 years old IEM which has stood the test of time quite successfully. It is a hybrid IEM consisting of a 10mm dynamic driver made of a polymer composite and a Knowles 33518 balance armature driver. Ikko has redesigned the dynamic driver in house so that it can deliver superior performance. When people in various Facebook audio enthusiast groups recommended me to try out the Ikko Oh10, I was a bit skeptical as it was an older IEM with a dual driver configuration and a hefty price tag of $159. But boy was I wrong, newer always doesn’t mean better.



Hits:

• Nice airy well extended treble with a lot of sparkle and energy. Treble is quite nice and engaging making instruments like high hats, cymbals, violins sound crisp.
• Excellent detail retrieval ability compared to some of the warm & smoother IEM’s in this price range.
• Brilliant resolution and technicalities. A wide soundstage with precise imaging performance.
• Natural timbre for instruments, midrange instruments like cello, electric guitar, drums sound very pleasing.
• Both male & female vocals sound nice. Vocals are positioned nicely in the mix, they don’t sound too thin or overly recessed like some typical V-shaped IEM’s.
• One of the best low-end performance’s I have experienced so far, the bass is textured tight and punchy. Complimented with true bass-head level quantity, the sub-bass has massive rumble and the mid-bass punch is clearly distinguishable as well. And regardless of the bass quantity there is no bleed into other frequencies.
• The bass is fast and tight enough to keep up with busy tracks effortlessly. Genres like Rock & Metal sound wicked on the Oh10’s.
• The shells are made out of thick metal and the honeycomb design pattern makes the Ikko Oh10’s look stunning. Although my personal unit came with some scratches and dents out of the box but Ikko has graciously agreed to replace it for me.
• The build and fit are a perfect match for me personally. I can wear the Oh10 for long listening sessions without feeling fatigue. But I have some noticed other reviewers complaining about the metal shells being too heavy, causing discomfort for them.
• Easy to drive, given 18 ohm impedance of the Ikko Oh10 any mid range dongle like the Shanling UA2 for example should be enough to drive it to its full potential.

Misses:

• Rubbish stock cable, at $159 asking price this type of garbage stock cable is totally unacceptable form a well-established company like Ikko.
• Rubbish ear tips and other accessories in the box like that carrying pouch, even if we can call it that.
• Slightly thicker and a bit more forward vocals could have really made the Oh10’s iconic. It’s more like wishful thinking rather than a complaint.



Conclusion: The Ikko Oh10 really managed to surprise me with how they sound. Apart from the awful packaging and stock accessories there isn’t really much else you can fault it with. If you plan on buying the Oh10’s please add a good upgradable cable and some nice tips to your budget as well and you will be good to go. Those with smaller ears might be better off skipping this one. If you want a pair of IEM that can do most genres justice and really satisfy that bass-head beast inside of you that the Ikko Oh10 should definitely be on the top of you list.



Comparisons: I will be including the Ikko Oh10 in my Sub $200 IEM’S: A Battle Royale Style Comparison thread soon, where it will compete against 8 other IEM’s in same price range. Follow my page to see how it performs, stay tuned!
https://www.facebook.com/TheAudioBloke

Sources used during review: Hiby R5 Saber, Fiio BTR5, Shanling M3X
Tips Used During Review: Final E Tips, Stock Blue Tips
Cables Used During Review: Stock SPC Cable, FAAEAL Hibiscus High Purity Copper Cable

Disclaimer: Aurora was sent to me Kbear for review purpose, I would like to thank them for proving me with this opportunity. However, all the views expressed in this review are my own and not influenced by anyone. It is always my goal to provide a bias free and honest review. Kbear Aurora can be purchased from here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003109134536.html



Executive Summary: Kbear Aurroa is a single 10mm titanium plated nano magnetic diaphragm dynamic driver IEM. This one is a follow up to Kbear’s popular Believe which came with a pure beryllium dynamic driver and was a big hit. Aurora has a warm-ish Harman tuning with excellent timbre and thick note weight. Aurora comes in at a price tag of $170, that is by no means is cheap, so let’s see what it brings to the table!



Hits:

• Warm, Harman-ish V-shaped tuning with thick & meaty note weight. Overall, very pleasant tonality with excellent timbral accuracy. This is a pretty elegant V shaped tuning.
• Aurora is Mid-Bass focused; it packs quite a good punch and has decent amount of quantity. The bass is well textured, detailed reasonably speedy. There is a Sub-Bass presence as well but it has moderate extension compared to the Mid-Bass.
• Mids are thick and lush, imagine Blon 03 mids but not as recessed in the mix. Unlike traditional V-shaped IEM’s Aurora mids sound quite forward, not as forward as vocals/mids centric IEM but it gets the balance right.
• There is no bass bleed into the mids section, generally both male and female vocals sound great with an adequate amount of warmth.
• Nice, smooth treble with good transparency and clarity. No weird peaks present here.
• Good imaging & sound separation performance as I could pin point individual instruments in tracks like Ayreon- Into the Electric Castle.
• Aurora does not sound congested in busy tracks, the titanium plated single dynamic driver displays very good speed.
• Excellent, eye catchy build quality with a mirror finish shell, the chrome blue accents on the face-plate really makes them stand out from the rest of the competition. The shells are lightweight and are comfortable to wear for long listening sessions without any fatigue.
• Aurora comes with an eye catchy packaging as well with some holographic designs. There are a good number of accessories packed with the retail box: A 6-strand silver-plated copper cable, a faux leather pouch, a selection of ear tips, a cleaning cloth & a cleaning brush.
• Easy to drive, don’t need excessive levels of power to open up the performance. Aurora doesn’t even scale that much even if you do feed it lots of power.

Misses:

• Slightly rolled-off treble that lacks air and sparkle.
• Soundstage isn't very deep nor wide.
• Average details retrieval performance as expected from a single dynamic driver IEM compared to other multi-driver IEM’s available in the same price range.
• Although there is a good amount of Mid-Bass presence it still lacks that strong thumpy punch to satisfy the Bass-Heads out there. You do get your Sub-Bass rumble in specific tracks & genres but you will have to go out of your way looking for it.
• The chrome blue accents painted on the face plate comes off easily. Or at least it did so on my unit within a few weeks of usage.

Conclusion: Alright I will come right off and say it, the Kbear Aurora is basically an upgraded version of the Blon 03 with better technicities, resolution and offers a more balanced sound. This should have been the Blon 04, or how Blon 04 should have sounded if it did exist in an alternate universe. Kbear Aurora is an excellent set with a lot of things going for it, but is it worth the $170 asking price? I don’t think so, a more appropriate price for it would be $120 to $130 max. At the $170 mark there are definitely better options out there, more on that later. Luckily K-bear has some regular sales going on in its official Ali Express store which might make the Aurora a more attractive deal to consumers.



Comparisons: I will be including the Kbear Aurora in my Sub $200 IEM’S: A Battle Royale Style Comparison thread soon, where it will compete against 7 other IEM’s in same price range. Follow my page to see how it performs, stay tuned!
https://www.facebook.com/TheAudioBloke

Tips Used During Review: Mix of stock Balanced, Bass & Vocal tips
Cables Used During Review: Stock FD3/FD3 Pro Cables
Sources Used During Review: Hiby R5 Saber, Fiio BTR5 (Wired)



Executive Summary: Fiio FD3/FD3 Pro are the smaller siblings of the FD5, which has been a hit or a miss since the release depending on who you ask. Jading by the specs, price & especially the accessories list the FD3 series was surely meant to be a hit? But we rarely see any reviews on it, I wonder why? Surely many people have bought them. Anyways as for the tech inside both the FD3 & FD3 Pro features a newly engineered 12mm single DLC dynamic driver and a semi-open design. The 12mm dynamic driver that is driven by a magnetic circuit with a 1.5 Tesla magnetic flux density paired with an ultra-fine copper-clad aluminum Japanese Daikoku voice coil. Similar to the FD5, the FD3/Pro is also equipped with an acoustic prism that will eliminate high frequency standing waves, while enhancing overall sound wave diffusion. These are all the fancy marketing terms used by Fiio to describe their new “flagship level” dynamic drive & tech inside the FD3 series. The FD3 is priced at $109, while the FD3 Pro is priced at $149. The only major difference between the pro & non-pro model being that FD3 comes bundled with a 4-strand 120-core high-purity single-crystal copper cable with a fixed 3.5mm termination plug. While the FD3 Pro comes with a heavier, 8-strand 152-core Litz structure silver-plated monocrystalline copper cable with interchangeable termination plugs. It includes 3.5mm SE, 2.5mm Bal, and 4.4mm Bal plugs in the package.

Disclaimer: The Fiio FD3 is own my personal unit, while I borrowed my friend’s FD3 Pro for comparison purpose in this review. All thoughts & opinions shared here will be my own, 100% honest and bias-free. This review of course is completely subjective.





Hits:

• Excellent set of accessories provided in the box for the asking price, the vanilla FD3 comes with 2 tuning nozzles, one for bass (red) & another for treble (black). An acrylic carry case, a tool for MMCX cable replacement, 6 bass eartips, 6 balanced eartips, 6 vocal eartips, 2 foam tips, a cleaning brush. As already mentioned earlier in my review the pro version comes with an upgraded 8-stand cable with interchangeable termination plugs.
• Good build quality for the price, very ergonomic and is comfortable to wear during longer listening sessions.
• A pretty balanced V-shaped tuning, with slightly warm tonality. Definitely more musical than analytical. Works particularly great with genres like Pop, EDM, Hip-Hop etc.
• FD3/Pro has a wide soundstage due to the semi-open back design; it sounds quite spacious.
• Pretty easy to drive, in most cases a cheap dongle like CX Pro, Avani or Odyssey HD should suffice. It can also be driven off the 3.5 mm jack of your smartphone with a very minimal hit to overall performance.

Misses:

• Sounds pretty dull overall, FD3/Pro has a very narrow dynamic range compared to some similar priced IEM’s for example Moondrop Aria. Highs roll off pretty early with the red nozzle. Treble extension does improve with the black nozzle but treble sounds peaky and unnatural to my ears.
• Details retrieval is on the poor side as well, as there is too much emphasis on the smoothness & fun factor in the tuning.
• Mids sound way to recessed and barely has any presence in the mix, male & female vocals sounds pretty much on par. They have a hint of warmth and that’s the only positive thing I can say about the mids performance of the FD3/Pro.
• The imaging & sound separation sounds quite average, nothing out of the ordinary. I wasn’t sure if to include this point in the hits or misses section, but considering the price of the IEM I had to list it in the misses.
• While the Soundstage is wide, it doesn’t have very good depth or height.
• Low end is supposed to be highlight of the FD3 Pro but it is not. No matter what tuning nozzle, cable or tips I used the end result was always disappointing. There are tons of mid bass quantity, but the bass just sounds boomy. The bass isn’t textured or well controlled, I would have preferred less quantity and more quality. For example, the bass on the Bqeyz Summer sounds crisp, tight & has better punch in comparison.
  
  

Conclusion: Some of you or many of you might be thinking that I am being unnecessarily harsh towards the Fiio FD3/Pro after checking out the hits & misses list. That the problem might be with tips/cable/my source or even the tuning nozzles I used during this review. Well to put your mind at ease, I have tried a wide variety of tips, both the FD3 and FD3 Pro stock cables, both of the tuning nozzles and even different sources as mentioned at the beginning part of this review. But nothing could save this IEM for me or give it a big enough push in performance for me to rate it any better than I have here. I personally feel Fiio has focused too much on the accessories rather than the sound & tuning of the IEM, which I think is the first priority for us, consumers. The FH3 sounded a lot better to my ears compared to the FD3/Pro. I will be including the FD3/Pro in my Sub $200 IEM’S: A Battle Royale Style Comparison thread to check out how it did against the rest of the IEM’s I have tested out so far. The thread will be updated pretty soon on my blog.
Keep any eye out here: https://www.facebook.com/TheAudioBloke

Sources used during review: Hiby R5 Saber DAP, Shanling UA1 Dongle
Cables used during review: FAAEAL Hibiscus Cable High Purity Copper Cable (4.4 mm), Tri Grace- S Cable (4.4mm)
Tips used during review: Spinfit CP-145

Into: Tri i3 Pro is the upgraded version of the original Tri i3, which came out last year with a very interesting driver combo, a 10mm Planar Magnetic, an 8mm dynamic driver & a balanced armature driver. The original i3 is a classic earphone, ever since its release Tri i3 has grabbed a lot of positive feedback for the brand especially for its well-finished ergonomics, smooth sound, and attractive price. The i3 Pro comes with basically the same tri-brid setup but with an upgraded 10 mm dynamic driver for better bass response. Tri has also focused on the ergonomics this time, reducing the shell size by 26%, one of the major complaints with the original Tri i3 was its big shell size which was uncomfortable for many users. Tri has also worked on the tuning this time around promising smoother vocals & a sweeter treble frequency response. We will explore these claims further in the “Sound” section of the review. The original i3 was launched at $150 while the i3 Pro has been launched at an increased price of $189.





















Packaging & Accessories: Compared to the original i3, the i3 Pro come in a much more attractive packaging adding to that premium unboxing experience. The original i3 came in simple black box with the TRI logo, the i3 Pro comes in a funky cosmic designed box with circular silver patterns that has a light diffraction surface, allowing rainbow colors to shine in certain angles. Inside the box you find the following accessories:

- The Tri i3 Po
- 1 Tri branded leather carrying pouch
- 3 pairs of white stock silicone tips
- 5 pairs of KBEAR 07 silicone ear tips
- 1 Tri branded high-purity 8-core 5N OFC cable with a 3.5mm termination plug
- Warranty Papers

For the price Tri has provided a generous amount of accessories, however I don’t think the 3.5mm termination plug cable makes any sense, given the planar driver inside which requires a decent amount of power to show its full potential. These days most portable dac/amp, dap setups have moved to a 2.5/4.5mm balanced port, so I think Tri should have at least added an option to choose what kind of cable the customer wants while placing an order. Another thing that bothered me is the size of the leather carrying pouch included in the retail box, its to small for the IEM to fit properly inside it. I literally had to wrestle the i3 pro’s to get them to fit inside that pouch each night.





Build & Fit (4.0/5): The shell of the i3 pro is crafted with 7000 series aviation-grade aluminum alloy material. The end result is a gorgeous & super shiny mirror-like aluminum alloy surface on the housing. Even though they look gorgeous, still they are a fingerprint magnet, you will find yourself using the included cleaning cloth quite frequently. Even with the 26% reduction in size, the i3 Pro’s still quite big compared to some of the other IEM’s offered in this price bracket. It’s not uncomfortable or anything, its just that due to its large shell size sleeping with the i3 po’s is out of the question. And during some longer listening sessions it might get a bit uncomfortable wearing these.

Source/Drivability (4.3/5): Tri i3 Pro has an impedance of: 15±2Ω and Sensitivity: 103±3dB. This is the first time I am using an IEM with a Planar driver inside it, so I was pretty sure I will have to crank volume all the way up, even on the 4.4 mm balanced port of my Hiby R5 Saber. Considering the fact that Planar driver IEM’s are infamous for requiring huge amounts of power for them to perform to their full potential. While my Shanling UA1 was able to drive the i3 Pro to loud volumes I could still tell that dynamics were missing. Using the balanced 4.4 mm port of my Hiby R5 Saber I did not have to go above 70% listening volume for most of the songs (I am a loudness junky). So, I don’t reckon the tri i3 Pro is really that hard to drive. Experienced reviewers like @RikudouGoku on head-fi forums have reported being able to drive the i3 Pro’s from LG G7 Quad DAC phone. Based on my own experience & what other users/reviewers are saying the new i3 Pro seems to be much easier to drive compared to the original i3.







Sound

Tonality: The i3 Pro has a U-shaped tuning, leaning towards a warm-ish neutral sound signature. The tonality is very different to what you hear from regular sub $200 IEM’s. They are usually Harman target, focus on either mids or bass & have an above average soundstage and imaging performance. Tri i3 Pro distinguishes itself from the rest of the herd with a very balanced performance across the frequency range while still retaining that liveliness & fun signature.

Highs (3.9/5): The highs on the i3 Pro are smooth, safe & non-fatiguing. The trumpet chorus in Nick Jonas’s “This is Heaven,” starting from 2:52 sounds detailed and clean. The lower treble dip from the graph might suggest otherwise, but this was not the case in real life scenario. Not everything can be judged from graphs alone. Detail retrieval here is very good but not excellent due to the smoother nature of the highs, micro details can be picked up as well when you are listening for them. The treble extension is pretty good overall, with an ample amount of airiness present but lacks sparkle.

Soundstage, Imaging & Separation (4.8/5): I am extremely impressed by the soundstage performance of the Tri i3 Pro, it sounds wide, has good depth & height. Combined with its excellent imaging performance the i3 pro is now reaching nearly a 3D-holographic presentation. While listening to the Beatles “A Day In The Life,” a record which is unique because the orchestral part at the end was not composed, arranged or written out. Each player created their own part on the fly, here I could easily tell each individual instrument apart with ease while listening with the i3 Pro.

Mids (4.8/5): Tri i3 Pro just trails the rest of the competition here with its amazing Planar mids, the mids here are transparent, with a smooth velvety & rice texture, not to mention the amazing level of clarity with the planar driver presents us with. Listening to Damien Rice’s Cannonball (Live Version) literally gave me goosebumps on the i3 Pro, the acoustic guitars used in track just sounds so soothing. The planar driver gives Damien’s voice in this track a thick & lush texture which is simply not possible for a dynamic or balanced armature driver to pull off. Female vocals sound just as sweet, there is no upper mids peak or harshness present at louder volumes. The timbre accuracy for instruments sounds very natural and on point, nothing sounds artificial or has a glossy/metal sheen.

Lows (4.3/5): Lets get something clear right off the bat, the i3 Pro’s are not a bass-head’s wet dream. The sub-bass takes priority in the tuning over mid-bass. The mid-bass is still audible, its not totally drowned out by the quantity of the sub-bass. Talking about the quantity of the sub-bass to me it felt like an “above average” performance, its enough to be noticeable and satisfy the needs of the average user who are looking for a balanced yet fun signature. Listening to Astronauts in The Ocean by Masked Wolf, you can feel that sub-bass rumble and slam. The bass is well textured, fast & tight, perfect example to showcase the i3 Pro’s bass would be listening to Metallica - For Whom the Bell Tolls (Live in Mexico City). It is pretty clear the new upgraded dynamic driver is doing its job. To summarize while there is an early mid-bass roll off, the sub-bass extension here is great.







Conclusion: Kudos to Tri for executing a brilliant tuning with the Tri i3 Pro, its easy to come up with a balanced tuning, but its not easy to do so while retaining a lively & fun presentation which the i3 manages to do. Sure, there are compromises, the treble could have been more exciting, there could have been more focus on the details retrieval aspect, there could have been more balance between the mid & sub bass performance. But we can’t have it all at the sub $200 range, that’s what the upper bracket is for. The Tri i3 pro comes pretty darn close to being the perfect all-rounder but loses out to the competition in some aspects by a very minimal margin.

Comparisons: Please check out my Sub $200 IEM’S: A Battle Royale Style Comparison thread to check out how the Tri i3 Pro did against the rest of the IEM’s I have tested out so far. The thread will be updated pretty soon with the i3 Pro’s data. You can find this thread on my page The Audio Bloke (https://www.facebook.com/TheAudioBloke)

Tips Used During Review: Final E Tips, BGVP W01, Stock Atmosphere Tips
Sources Used During Review: Hiby R5 Saber DAP, Shanling UA1 Dongle
Cables Used During Review: Stock Spring 2 Cable, Faaeal Hibiscus 4.4 mm Cable

Disclaimer: I was provided with a review unit by Gears For Ears, which will be returned to the, upon the compilation of this review. it is always my goal to provide a completely neutral & bias free review for the readers. This review is of course fully subjective. Although I have tried to my best to test a wide range of genres during the review period but our opinions on this IEM may vary due to the difference of our taste in music.

Introduction: Spring 2 is Bqeyz’s sequel to their well-received IEM Spring 1, which also I have reviewed previously. Just like its predecessor before it, Spring 2 utilizes a tr-brid setup, a revised 9-layer piezoelectric driver for the highs, a balanced armature (BA) driver for the mids & a 13mm dynamic driver for the lows. Spring 2 has an impedance of 32Ω & sensitivity of 110dB±3dB which means it requires some power to shine. It has an MRP of $169, but is it worth the extra money compared to Spring 1? Let’s find out!




Packaging & Accessories

Spring 2’s standard retail box contains the following:
- Spring 2
- Hard zipper carrying case
- Cleaning brush
- 4 Core Single Crystal Copper cable with 224 strands (you can choose the plug when ordering, 3.5/2.5/4.4mm)
- 1x pair foam ear-tips (inside of a plastic box)
- 1x S/M/L Reference ear-tips
- 1x S/M/L Atmosphere ear-tips
Overall standard packaging & accessories as per the asking price, the only standout feature here is the ability to choose between a 3.5/2.5/4.4mm cable. IEM’s from other brands generally offers us a 3.5mm jack cable by default in this price bracket, with no other options to choose from.



Build & Fit (4.5/5): Like the BQEYZ Spring 1 which I have reviewed before, the Spring 2’s come in that same unique a three-part, metallic shell. However, the nozzle on the shells has been improved so they don’t stick out as Spring 1. Comfort is almost the same as Spring 1. It means they’re comfortable & lightweight enough to sleep with. You can choose form two color options when buying the Spring 2, Black or Olive Green. My review unit came in Black & my personal unit which I bought later is the Olive-Green color. Both feature a chrome finish on the edges of the face plate, personally I found the Olive-Green color simply stunning it definitely captures that Spring time vibe. While the black color not bad looking can be a bit boring for those who are looking for an eye catchy color. These 3D CNC shells with metal nozzles give a premium feel while retaining a good level of comfort. The Spring 2 housing comes with a standard 2-pin connector.



Sound

Tuning: The Spring 2 has a W-Shaped profile just like the Spring 1, but this time Bqeyz has managed to add some well needed warmth to the successor, discarding that cold & analytical nature of the Spring 1. The sub-bass quantity has been slightly reduced making the Spring 2 more of a balanced performer with a fun sound. Some might even consider it to have a light V-shaped tuning upon initial impressions.

Highs (4.5/5): The highs are the highlight of the Bqeyz Spring 2, they are quite airy, vivid and has a decent amount of sparkle at the top. The highs are also well extended, revealing plenty of macro & micro details. While being energetic the treble is not sibilant or fatiguing during longer listening sessions. The extension & brilliance of the piezo high’s is source dependent though, using my Shanling UA1 dongle I wasn’t able to get that 9-layer piezo drive to sing, like my Hiby R5s DAP could.

Soundstage & Separation (4/5): The soundstage of the Spring 2 is more wide than deep, at first, I found the stage of the Spring 2 to be above average, but using the BGVP W01 tips the stage became more spacious & holographic. I got an out of head experience using these tips. The separation of instruments is quite good as they don’t overlap each other, but there is a lack of open air between them.

Mids (4.5/5): Mids is another strong point of the Spring 2, vocals are very forward in the mix. They sound thick & lush, I found both male & female vocals to be equally enjoyable on the Spring 2. There is balance between the upper & lower midrange extension, which most IEM’s in this price bracket fail to achieve, usually putting too much emphasis on the upper midrange extension which can lead to shoutyness.

Lows (4/5): The Spring 2 is neither bass heavy or bass light, that’s the best way I could describe its low end. I felt the presence of sub-bass rumble more in bass heavy rather than mid-bass punch. Bass is slightly amp dependent, although not as much as the highs. As I mentioned earlier in the review the sub-bass extension has been slightly cut off compared to the spring 1, probably to achieve a more balanced tuning. The bass doesn’t reach very deep and the slow speed of the driver in noticeable in busier tracks. The low-end performance of the Spring 2 while still impressive keeps it being from being an all rounder & makes it more genre specific.

Drivability: Driving the Spring 2 is easier than the Spring 1. But still if you want to make that 9-layer piezo driver sing you will need a source with plenty of power. Driving the Spring 2 from a 3.5mm jack of your phone or a low-powered dongle simply doesn’t open up its true potential. I would recommend a source with minimum 250mW @32Ω output power for the Spring 2. I found the my Hiby R5 Saber Dap to be able to truly open up the highs & the low end of the Spring 2 on 4.4 mm balanced port, which the shanling UA1 failed to do with from its SE output.



Conclusion: The Spring 2 has a lot of things going for it, the mesmerizing highs, the vivid mids, slightly warm W shaped tuning, all of which makes it an easy recommendation. I bought my personal unit (almost new) at a much lower price than the retail price, but the main question is would I buy it at the full retail asking price of $169? The answer is yes, for me at least. If I did not get that great used deal, I would definitely pay full amount for it & get a new one. It might not be an all rounder performance but the Spring 2 manages to offer most of what I am looking for in an IEM while still providing a great comfort factor.
Comparisons: ??? Right now, I am in the middle of reviewing BQEYZ Spring 1, Summer, Tri Starsea along with Fiio FH3, so I felt it appropriate to review them individually first and then do a massive $100 to $150 range IEM battle, to see who takes the lead! So please stay tuned, like & follow my page The Audio Bloke (https://www.facebook.com/TheAudioBloke) for future updates if you liked this review. Thanks!

Sources used during review: Hiby R5 Saber, Shanling UA1, Fiio BTR 5
Tips used during review: Stock Atmosphere Tips, Spinfit CP 145
Cable used during review: Stock Cable & Bqeyz Spring 2 Stock Cable (Copper)



Introduction: Summer is the latest tri-bird offering from BQEYZ following their naming scheme using various seasons, first came Spring 1, 2 & now Summer is here! Summer sports 3 drivers to cover the various frequency ranges, a revised 13mm dynamic driver with a liquid crystal polymer and PU diaphragm covering the bass frequencies, a second-generation balanced armature for the midrange and a new 5-layer piezoelectric driver handling the high frequencies. Bqeyz manages to offer quite a unique combination of drivers at a very competitive price of $130.



Packaging & Accessories: For its asking price the Bqeyz Summer comes with quite a standard set of accessories, the retail box contains:
- 6 pairs of silicone ear tips
- 3 pairs for “Atmosphere”: With smaller bore to enhance the bass performance
- 3 pairs for “Reference”: With wider bore to produce a more neutral sound signature
- Cleaning brush
- 8 core single crystal SPC cable
- A black semi-hard carrying case

The included cable feels extremely soft & light weight, it’s really comfortable to use for long listening sessions. The cable doesn’t get easily tangled up either. The included silicone tips are comfortable to use and don’t feel cheap, you can use these for a while before thinking about getting any 3rd party tips.

Build & Fit (4.2/5): The Summer is using an all clear strong but lightweight plastic transparent housing, there are two colors available: black & blue. Although my review unit came in the black color, the blue one looks simply stunning, especially in direct sunlight. I’ve seen a lot of reviewers complain about the imported resin finish, which might feel a bit plasticky but I personally don’t have any issues with it. The shell feels sturdy enough to survive a few drops, but a metallic finish on the housing would definitely give it more of a premium feel. Typical of the Bqeyz signature the shell has a very unique leaf like shape, which makes it extremely comfortable & light weight to wear for long listening sessions. On the side of the of the housing there is a standard 2-pin connector for the cable, you can choose between a 3.5/2.5/4.4 mm balanced cable while purchasing the Bqeyz Summer. A unique trait/offering of Bqeyz which other manufacturers can learn from.

Sound Profile/Tuning: The Bqeyz Summer is on of the liveliest IEM’s I have come across so far, especially when amped properly. It has a mild V-shaped tuning, with an emphasis on mid bass, sparkly energetic treble & clear natural mids. The best way to describe this tuning is a “fun & lively.” In fact, when amped through the 4.4 mm balanced port of a powerful source, I felt as if I was right there in the studio while the music is being recorded by the artist! Truly a transcendental experience.



Highs: (4/5)
The highs of the Summer are vivid, sparkly & very energetic. The highs demonstrate a good amount of extension with very good detail retrieval ability. Where most warm IEM’s chooses to smoothen out the treble which frankly, I find boing! The new 5-layer piezoelectric driver seems to be doing its job here brilliantly. The treble also demonstrated a fair bit of airiness at the top end.

Soundstage, Imaging & Separation: (4.2/5)
The soundstage of the Summer felt more wider than deep, but still not a “out of your head” kind of experience. I reckon the best part of the soundstage is its height, which is excellent for the price. The imaging is above average and executed quite nicely, where the listener is able to pin point individual instruments across the frequency range. The separation of instruments is also pretty good, they show good layering and detail.

Mids: (3.8/5)
Balance wise the mids are very slightly recessed of the Summer, highs & lows have more of a presence in the mix compared to the mids. Vocals don’t sound thick or lush but not particularly thin either, using a pure copper cable, like the stock Spring 2 one certainly gives the mids more a thicker presentation here. So, cable rolling is advisable with the Summer particularly for those users who are after thicker vocals. Female vocals sound sweeter on the Summer then male vocals do. The Summer also manages to retain a natural and clean timbre for the instruments, overall a good if not great performance in this segment.

Lows: (4.5/5)
Bass on the Summer is certainly one of its highlights, mid bass has a punchy and textured presence, with a good amount of extension. Sub bass extension rolls of early in comparison but can be saved with some decent amping, it has more rumble present at louder volumes. The bass on the Summer is tight, fast & accurate. It shines in some of the busier tracks and genres like Metal with plenty of bass guitars & drums. I did not notice any bleed into the mid-range or mid bass bloat.



Drivability: Regardless of any spec talk, the Summer is definitely a power-hungry beast! It scales quite a bit when fed with adequate amping, especially through a balanced port. That “right in the studio feel” I mentioned earlier or the better sub-bass rumble can’t be achieved with the Summer through your phone’s headphone jack or even through a mid-tier dongle you will need a portable dac/amp device or a very powerful Dap/dongle.

Conclusion: The best way to summarize Bqeyz Summer is with the title of the “People’s IEM.” As in its most likely to satisfy the majority of listeners who are after a fun & energetic listen and don’t care much for technicalities. The Summer is also an ideal choice and an easy recommendation for beginners who are looking to get into this hobby with a $100 budget. Considering the overall performance and the accessories provided, I think the asking price from Bqeyz is pretty easily justified.
Comparisons: ??? Right now, I am in the middle of reviewing Tri Starsea, BQEYZ Spring 1, 2 & Summer along with Fiio FH3, so I felt it appropriate to review them individually first and then do a massive $100 to $150 range IEM battle, to see who takes the lead! So please stay tuned, like & follow my page The Audio Bloke (https://www.facebook.com/TheAudioBloke) for future updates if you liked this review. Thanks!

Source Used During Review: Hiby R5 Saber, ShanlingUA1
Tips Used During Review: Stock Atmosphere Tips, Final E-Tips
Cable Used During Review: Stock Spring 1 Cable

Disclaimer: Although this review unit has been loaned to me by Gears for Ears, it will be returned to them upon the completion of this review. All thoughts & opinions shared here will be my own, 100% honest and bias-free. This review of course is completely subjective.



Introduction: Let me start off by saying that I know I am little bit late to the party in reviewing this IEM, Spring 1 has been out for a while & there are already plenty of reviews out on it already. But since I was given the opportunity to review this IEM by Gears For Ears BD, I did not want to pass on this opportunity. This is my 1st review of a BQEYZ product so let me give some background info abut the company, quoted by Miss Elle Zhou herself: “Our factory has over 20 years of experience in the earphone and headphone industry. We can offer OEM and ODM. From 2018, we released our first brand BQEYZ, it means Best Quality for You! We want to offer audio products that are cost-effective. The design is simple and fashionable, sound is neutral, no biased, no inclined. “

Now that you have some idea about who BQEYZ is & what they stand for, let’s talk a bit about the specs & price of the Spring 1. BQEYZ spring 1 is tri-brid IEM with a 7-layer piezoelectric driver for the highs, a balanced armature (BA) driver for the mids & a 13mm dynamic driver for the lows. It has an impedance of 43Ω & sensitivity of 108dB which means it requires some power to shine. For such an intriguing setup, Spring 1 is price quite reasonably well at $139.



Packaging & Accessories: Looking at the price & specs of the product one would assume it’s only natural for the manufacturer to skimp out on the accessories, but that is not the case here at all. The standard retail box contains:

- 6 pairs of silicone ear tips

- 3 pairs for “Atmosphere”: With smaller bore to enhance the bass performance

- 3 pairs for “Reference”: With wider bore to produce a more neutral sound signature

- A pair of foam ear tips

- 8 core 0.78mm 2-pin 3.5mm unbalanced silver-plated copper (SPC) cable

- A black semi-hard carrying case

I would like to use this part of the review to appreciate how nice the stock cable of the Spring 1 is! It’s not only soft & extremely comfortable to use, but the black & gunmetal color scheme really makes it stand out from the rest of the crowd.



Build & Fit (4.3/5): Unlike other brands from China who more or less use the same design pattern for their shells, BQEYZ is going for something bold & unique. The shell of the Spring 1 is fully made out of an aluminum frame, although I wouldn’t say its light weight but it has a very ergonomic design. The nozzle is made of aluminum too & there are three vents on the inner side of the shell to reduce driver flex. I am happy to report than unlike the TRI Starsea, BQEYZ Spring 1 does not suffer from any driver flex or BA pressure build up issues. Luckily there is also a 2-pin connector on top of the shell, which makes using any 3rd party cables hassle-free.



Drivability: As mentioned earlier in the review the Spring 1 requires quite a bit of power to shine properly. Playing it from a phone’s 3.5 jack is out of the question, even using a mid-level dongle like Shanling UA1 or Fiio BTR5 (connected via desktop PC) fails to make that piezo driver sing & bass has barely any presence. I was able to get optimal results only with my Hiby R5 Saber DAP, highs were bright, vibrant & there was a good quantity of sub & mid bass.

Sound

Tonality: The Spring 1 has a W-Shaped tuning, which means its identical to a V-shaped sound with dips in the mid bass and upper mids. The sound of the Spring 1 is more on the analytical & bright side rather than warm & smooth. But there is still a good quantity of bass present, keeping things fun rather than boring. The BA timbre for instruments is pretty natural and sounds accurate.

Highs (4.5/5): The highs are the highlight of the Spring 1, they are airy, crisp, have a quite a bit of sparkle to them & pretty well extended. The detail retrieval is class leading at this price point, the quantity of micro details is abundant due to the more analytical nature of the sound. Highs are pretty energetic and I did not notice any sibilance or fatigue during long listening sessions.

Soundstage, Imaging & Separation (4/5): The soundstage of the Spring 1 is above average, with a good width and It extends in depth, height. Overall soundstage is good but not attention grabbing worthy. Imaging on the Spring 1 is top-class, it manages to pinpoint most interments & vocal cues with excellent precession. Resolution is pretty great too, which means the Spring 1 is more forgiving of the poorly recorded/mastered tracks.

Mids (4.2/5): The BA driver handles the midrange like a champ, with plenty a warm tonality & plenty of details. Vocals sounds thick & forward with a boost in the upper-midrange. Even with that peak in the upper midrange vocals maintain a good amount of transparency & no shouty-ness can be detected even at louder volumes. Both male & female vocals sound excellent and really grabs your attention in acoustic tracks. Mids are definitely a strong point of the Spring 1’s after Highs.

Lows (4.1/5): When amped properly I found the Spring 1 to have plenty of sub-bass rumble, while mid-bass punch is missing. Bass has a good texture but it lacks in speed which is especially noticeable in faster paced songs & genres like metal. Still not a bad performance at all, it’s just that bass heads will have to look elsewhere. On a more positive note, IEM’s with great mids usually come with under-whelming bass, which is not the case here. While the bass of the Spring 1 might lack some punch & speed, you will definitely notice & feel its presence in genres like Pop & Hip-hop.

Conclusion: Due to its more analytical & less fun sound nature not everyone will appreciate what Spring 1 brings to the table. While those looking for a bright sound with plenty of details will be pleasantly surprised. Personally, I think Spring 1 hits the sweet spot between a warm, rounded & bright, analytical sound, due its emphasis on the upper mids and sub-bass quantity. Is the Spring 1 an all-rounder? Not really, but its pretty close to being one.



Comparisons: ??? Right now, I am in the middle of reviewing BQEYZ Spring 1, 2 & Summer along with Fiio FH3, Tri Starsea so I felt it appropriate to review them individually first and then do a massive $100 to $150 range IEM battle, to see who takes the lead! So please stay tuned, like & follow my page The Audio Bloke for future updates if you liked this review. Thanks!

Sources used during review: Hiby R5 Saber, Shanling UA1.
Tips used during review: BGVP A07 & Spinfit CP 145.
Cable used during review: Stock Fiio Cable.

Disclaimer: Thanks to Gears For Ears for providing me with a Fiio FH3 with a review unit, which will be returned to them upon completion of this review. Although I haven’t bought the FH3 with my own money, it is always my goal to provide a completely neutral & bias free review for the readers. This review is of course fully subjective.





Introduction: The FiiO FH3 is a triple driver hybrid IEM, featuring a single beryllium coated dynamic driver and 2 balanced armature drivers. FH3 uses 2 balanced armature drivers for the mids and highs & the lows are handled by a 10mm beryllium-coated dynamic driver. In addition to the dynamic driver Fiio has implemented their patented “S.Turbo” acoustic design technology. Basically, what this does is, it rids of any unwanted high-frequency harmonics that may be inadvertently produced by the dynamic driver. This should result in the FH3 having a smoother & cleaner bass response that doesn’t interfere with the other frequencies. The Fiio FH3 is priced roughly at $130.



Packaging & Accessories: I am going to mostly skip over this section as my review unit came on its own without any packaging. A standard retail unit box should contain:
- FiiO LC-3.5B cable
- Hard plastic storage case
- Soft storage pouch
- 9 pairs of various silicone eartips
- 2 pairs of foam eartips
- Nozzle cleaning tool

I am not going to comment on the stock tips since I did not get the opportunity to use them. The FiiO’s LC-3.5B high-purity monocrystalline silver-plated copper cable on the other hand was not to my liking. Its quite stiff & thick which makes it unpleasant to use while in bed. While those who listen to their music mostly on hard surfaces will probably end up liking the stock cable it wasn’t really my cup of tea. The FH3 also comes with a MCMX connector which is a pain the arse to use, you have to apply quite a bit of force to remove the stock cable from the IEM connectors, and also all of my other IEM’s are 2 pins so I do not like the idea buying a cable which will specifically work with FH3, if I ever do buy one.

Fit (4/5): Initially after watching Youtube review videos & various photos of the FH3 I was quite skeptic about its fit & weight. Well, I am happy to report that only is FH3 very light weight but it has a great fit in my ears as well, I can wear it for hours without any significant discomfort. That aluminum housing might look heavy but it certainly doesn’t feel that way.



Sound

Tuning: I am pretty sure a lot of you have seen my first impressions of the Fiio FH3, well I am sticking to my first impressions mostly in that it has a deep V-Shaped tuning, the only opinion which has changed is regarding the mids. I initially stated that the FH3 has “recessed mids” which is not the case the at well. After listening to it critically for almost 3 weeks I can confidently say that while the tuning of the FH3 might be heavily V-shaped, but it’s done right. The mids are not recessed as I initially stated & the level of detail revival is pretty high, which is not at all the case with your typical chi-fi V-shape tuned IEM’s. Overall, the sound signature if pretty fun & lively while still retaining some balance in the frequencies, definitely a crowd pleaser kinda sound.

Highs (3.7/5): The Highs of the FH3 are well extended, there is mild hint of sparkle & air to it. It delivers an ample amount of detail & micro details even though it’s a warm tuned IEM. The treble is smooth and non-fatiguing but those with a preference for brighter sounding IEM’s will have to look elsewhere.
Soundstage & Imaging: The imaging & layering of the FH3 is just brilliant along with its resolution, all of these are class leading in this price range. FH3 is pretty forgiving of the poorly mastered/recorded tracks, making them sound as great as possible. The soundstage is wide & deep enough but not to the point where it will create that spacious “out of your head” feeling.

Mids (4/5): I think the mids are the secret weapon of the Fiio FH3 with deep V-shape tuning it’s easy to hold some prejudice against it, writing it off as recessed or not as highlighted in the mix, which is usually the case. But here the FH3 manages to go against the grain & proves all those prejudices wrong. While the mids might not be forward in the mix, the are certainly not recessed either, having great balance, detail & clarity. I wouldn’t categorize the FH3 to have thick & lush mids but they aren’t on the thinner side either. The only downside to this experience might be the metallic sheen present in the BA timbre of the FH3, this is especially noticeable in instruments such as acoustic guitars.

Lows (4.7/5): Quite easily the star of the show, the Fiio FH3 can only described as having “earth shattering” sub-bass rumble & a punchy mid-bass. The bass extension is very good, as is tightness, speed, and texture. While the bass might be boosted it doesn’t suffer from bloat and never sounds too thumpy. Fiio is clearly not messing about with its beryllium bass game & the best part is: even being the highlight of the mix, the bass does not overshadow or bleeds into any of the other frequencies. There is bloat present either. The excellent speed of the beryllium driver also means that the bass has great slam which translates to great performance is genres such as metal.

Drivability: The Fiio FH3 is fairly easy to drive, which is another one of its plus points. You can drive it easily form your 3.5mm headphone jack off your phone, although amping is always advisable, a fairly inexpensive dongle like VE Odyssey HD or CX-Pro Audio CX31993 should do the trick. You will notice small amount of scaling while moving from phone to a dedicated dongle but moving from a dedicated dongle to a fairly expensive portable dac or dap there is definitely an absence of scaling.

Conclusion: So, what have we learned so far? The Fiio FH3 seems to be doing pretty well with highs, mids and especially lows, mids don’t seem to be recessed or thin in typical V-shaped manner, bass doesn’t overpower other frequencies, level of detail retrieval is pretty great, seems to be the perfect all-rounder at this price point. What’s the catch? Well, there is no catch per say, but I would like to point out two things: One, the metallic sheen present in the BA timbre can feel unnatural to some especially those who prefer a smooth & natural timbre for the instruments. Two, while a well-tuned V shaped IEM might seem fun & lively at first but you will soon get tired or bored if it especially if you listen to vast genres of music. Being that as it may, the Fiio FH3 is still the nearest you will get to owning an all-rounder IEM at the $130 dollar price point, while it is definitely a crowd pleaser it won’t please those who are after a more mature & analytical sound.



Comparisons: ??? Right now, I am in the middle of reviewing BQEYZ Spring 1, 2 & Summer, Tri Starsea along with Fiio FH3, so I felt it appropriate to review them individually first and then do a massive $100 to $150 range IEM battle, to see who takes the lead! So please stay tuned, like & follow my page The Audio Bloke for future updates if you liked this review. Thanks!

Link to Page: https://www.facebook.com/TheAudioBloke

**For some weird reason my original pictures for this review refuse to upload properly on head-fi forums, to check out this review along with my main pics please visit my page The Audio Bloke, link provided at the end of the review, thanks**

Tips Used During Review: Mostly Fiio FH3 stock Foam Tips.
Sources Used During Review: Fiio BTR5, DDTC 35, Hiby R5 Pro Saber, Redmi K30 Pro.
Cables Used During Review: Stock Cable.

Introduction: So, I had been using the Final E3000 for a while & wanted to try out a tuning which was opposite, not smooth, not warm & definitely more detail retrieval oriented. I was pretty set on the BQEYZ Summer at first but then I read a few reviews about it online and summer was definitely not the tuning I was looking for, if anything it would have been more an extension to my Final E3000’s not something different. So, I conducted a poll on many Facebook audio enthusiast groups highlighting the tuning I was looking for & also my budget and the TRI Starsea name kept popping up. A $130-ish dollar IEM with 3 tuning switches & not your typical in your face V-Shaped tuning? Yes please, Starsea definitely piqued my interest form the get go, from its gorgeous shell to its luxurious packaging, TRI had done an excellent job separating Starsea from the rest of the $100 IEM herd. For those of you not aware, TRI is a more premium sister concern of KBear, Tri Starsea has 2 Balanced Armature drivers, 1 Knowles ED-29689 for mids & 1 custom designed BA for highs & a single 8mm Dynamic Driver for the low end.






Packaging & Accessories: The retail box & the packaging of the Starsea is quite large with a star pattern which makes it look quite premium & sticks to its theme as well. The accessories are quite generous here, you get a 8-core silver platted copper cable, which is quite soft & extremely comfortable to use. It’s a 3.5mm cable (I would love the option to choose between a 3.5mm cable & balanced 2.5/4.4 mm one just like BQEYZ offers), it’s a 2-pin connector with an aluminum chin slider. The box also includes:
- Cleaning cloth
- Carrying case
- 3 pairs of silicone Ear-tips in 3 types (9 pairs in total)
- 2 pairs of foam Ear-tips
- Sim Ejector Tool
- Documentation/warranty





Design: TRI Starsea comes with a 3D printed, German imported resin shell, its mainly purple in color with hues of black & white glittered patterns. The faceplate looks absolutely gorgeous & is extremely lightweight. There are 3 tuning switches on the side of the shell, unfortunately these are too small to be operated via finger tips, you will need a tooth pick or sim ejector tool (provided in the box), to operate these tuning switches. My advice would be to use a toothpick as sometimes you need a bit of force to move these tuning switches & a sim ejector tool has a greater chance of scratching the surface or breaking the switches. The Starsea also offers a 2-pin connector, I am glad they decided to offer a 2-pin connection rather than mcmx. In the middle of the faceplate, there is a big TRI audio logo which looks quite attractive. There is long gold-plated aluminum nozzle meant for deep inserting & it has metal mesh included for protection.

Build & Fit (2.5/5): I wasn’t planning to include this section in my review but I was forced to do due to running into some issues with the fit of the Starsea. For me this is the biggest flaw in the Stasea’s design. There is a driver flex issue when using silicone tips of any kind, weird clicking noises happen when I try to fit it inside my ear. And also, after inserting there is a very weird air tight pressure feeling which leaves you uncomfortable & you won’t be able to enjoy the Starsea for long listening sessions (BA pressure build up). Although the driver flex issue does go away after a couple of minutes but the air tight pressure remains with silicone tips. I have tried a variety of silicone tips to remedy this issue, for example, BGVP A07, Final E Tips, Spinfit CP 145, stock Starsea silicone tips, stock BQEYZ Summer Spring 1 & 2 silicone tips but none of them could fix the driver flex or the air tight feeling issue. These issues were only fixed with Fiio FH3 stock foam tips, both driver flex & air tight pressure feeling were gone but I don’t like the fact that I am limited to using only a particular brand of foam tips to fix these problems. Note: Not even the stock foam tips provided inside the Starsea retail box could fix these issues. I let a few of my friends try out the Starsea with silicone tips & they all reported the same issues, there was one more user who ordered & bought from the same source I did & he reported the same problems as well. So bizarrely, it looks like I am not the only user facing these driver flex & BA pressure build up issues with the Starsea!

Drivability: Tri Starsea is a pretty sensitive IEM with its low impedance of 9.5 ohms, blasting it with huge amounts of power will result in messing up the frequency curve of the starsea. For best results it’s better to user gear with a low output impedance, the lower the better! And due to its bright nature Starsea pair very well with a warm source. For example, paring it with DDTC 35 opened up the bass extension a bit more. But at the same time details & and that spacious soundstage were missing which the BTR5 & my Hiby R5s easily accomplished. Driving Starsea from a K30 Pro made it sound tinny & lifeless, the notes were light & bass was all but gone, so its not like amping is not necessary with the Starsea. The maximum output impedance acceptable form a source for the TRI Starsea is 1.1875 ohm. I would like to give credit to @baskingshark for this part of the review, as he guided & advised me when I myself was confused regarding what would be the best source to drive the Tri Starsea.

Sound

Tuning: Ok so the Starsea has 3 different tuning switches which provides 3 different types of sound, although this definitely is not a gimmick but there are some similarities overall in the sound, I am going to cover the general tuning & sound of the Starsea fist. And then talk in details about the 3 tuning profiles & what differences they bring to the table.

Highs (4.3/5): TRI Starsea has very impressive Treble, it has very good extension & decent amount of air with the occasional hint of sparkle. Highs are crisp & very detailed but not so forward in the mix that it will cause fatigue, I myself am treble sensitive but the Starsea high’s felt smoother rather than fatiguing. There is no Sibilance present thankfully, instruments like cymbals, violin, high hats & electric guitars sound natural with a hint of sparkle as I had mentioned earlier.

Soundstage, Imaging & Separation (4.7/5): Starsea creates a very spacious sound with all 3 of its tunings, giving a headphone like feeling even though it’s an IEM with only 1 vent hole. Instrument separation is above average but nothing to write home about at the same time, the same goes for layering & imaging. Clarity & Resolution is definitely excellent for this price point & one of the highlights for the Starsea. I didn’t find any metallic sheen, the timbre was bit on the bright side but enjoyable none the less.

Mids (4.8/5): The Midrange is the star of the show! Its very forward in the mix, very thick & lush. Although there is an emphasis on upper midrange which lead to shouty-ness very occasionally with bright sources, pairing starsea with a warm source tames the aggressive nature of the upper midrange. It also balances out when using the “Beautiful Vocals” tuning profile regardless if you are using a bright or warm source. Lower mids are slightly recessed but not to the point of a deep V-shaped tuning. There is no bass bleed from the lower end, keep things clean.

Lows (3.2/5): If midrange is star of the show, then low end is its Achilles' heel, well that sounds a bit dramatic, it’s not like there’s a total absence of bass on the starsea but even with the “Amazing Bass” setting you will be left wanting more. Compared to other dynamic driver IEM’s which handle their low end, here the sub-bass extension is not the deepest, there is definitely no sub-bass rumble. Even though sub-bass is more in quantity compared to mid-bass it’s still not enough to satisfy the bass heads. Due to slow nature of bass listening to metal tracks on Starsea is just not ideal, even that amazing bass setting couldn’t save starsea in this genre, although it did marginally improve things.



Tuning Switches:

“Exquisite Pure Tone” (Both Switches Down): To me this was the brightest tuning of the starsea and second most favorite one. Treble, Mid’s & Low’s all had decent extension giving it a more rounded feeling, Detail retrieval was on point, background vocals & instruments were highlighted brilliantly. There was airiness in the treble but more sparkle would have been appreciated.

“Balanced Tuning” (Both Switches Up): Just as the name suggests TRI does an awesome job keeping all 3 frequencies as balanced as possible, still upper mids take more of a center stage but that’s to be expected given how the base tuning of Starsea is. Important thing to the point our that this tuning has the thickest lower mids out of three tunings. Sub bass has decent extension here but still more in quantity than mid-bass. Overall bass takes a back seat here & you can barely feel its presence.

“Amazing Bass” (Switch 1 Up & Switch 2 Down): This is my favorite tuning profile for the Starsea, it has a mild V-Shape tuning, the mids are still very thick & forward. Sub-bass rises more in quantity & still take priority over mid-bass. Bass has decent texture but even with this profile enabled you don’t get that fast, thumping bass that you do get from other similar IEM’s utilizing a DD for its low’s.

“Beautiful Vocals” (Switch 1 down & Switch 2 Up): Well, you might be wondering I have already pointed out that mids are forward in the mix with the other tuning profiles, especially there is an emphasis in the Upper mids, so what does this “Beautiful Vocals” profile actually do? Well to put in bluntly unlike the other profiles it takes the midrange and puts it more forward in the mix than any other frequency. Vocals are clearer, you are inclined to notice the high-quality resolution & details, which is more in your face & as a result this tuning may lead to fatigue for some during long listening sessions.

Conclusion: Wow, this is the longest review I have every written but my intention is not to bore the readers. What can I say? TRI Starsea is an interesting IEM & it does deserve your time & attention. Is it an all-rounder? No. Is it going to satisfy the bass junkies? No. Is it worth the price? Most certainly yes. Despite its weaknesses Starsea has one of the smoothest & interesting tunings I have heard so far. Sure, there are certain things which it can’t do or accomplish, but there are other things the Starsea does so well that no other IEM in this price bracket can do. If it weren’t for the driver flex & air tight pressure feeling I would give the Starsea a 4.5/5 easily, but alas for now ma rating is 4/5.



Comparisons: ??? Right now, I am in the middle of reviewing BQEYZ Spring 1, 2 & Summer along with Fiio FH3, so I felt it appropriate to review them individually first and then do a massive $100 to $150 range IEM battle, to see who takes the lead! So please stay tuned, like & follow my page The Audio Bloke for future updates if you liked this review. Thanks! Here is a link to my page for those of you who are interested: https://www.facebook.com/TheAudioBloke

Introduction: I think the biggest reason behind this write up is that I myself have spent countless hours on various Facebook audio enthusiast groups, online forums, YouTube channels & even Reddit trying to find out if the Shanling UP4 or Fiio BTR5 will be better for me. Thanks to many users who owned both sharing their opinions I came to the conclusion that UP4 would be ideal for my type of usage, which was mostly budget or mid-range IEM’s not hard to drive headphones or even very expensive IEM’s.
But some of my queries went unanswered like the difference between single ended (3.5mm jack) & also what kind of muddiness was caused when pairing UP4 which is a warm tuned source with another warm tuned IEM? Well, I am hoping to answer these queries for you here, as I have had the chance to test out both UP4 & BTR5 for a whole day.
Let’s get some of the basic facts out of the way, Shanling UP4 costs about $80 whereas Fiio BTR5 costs about $100 to $110 depending on the market. I am not going to dive into a specs comparison, as both of these devices have been out in the market for quite a while & even if you are not aware of the specs, google is your friend, finding a comparison between the two is pretty darn easy. I would like to point out something which is not in the specs though, which will highlight Shanling’s dodgy marketing strategies right from the very beginning. They have put two high-res stickers on the back of the UP4 indicating that this device supports high-res audio output both wired & wirelessly. Well one of them is false as admitted by Shanling themselves on head-fi forums, the UP4 only supports 16-bit/48 kHz audio file playback when connected as a wired DAC either to your phone, laptop or PC. And in order to qualify as high-res audio output the minimum requirement is usually 24bit/96 kHz audio file playback support. BTR5 on the other hand supports both 32bit/384kHz & DSD file playback, UP4 also does not have support for DSD playback in USB DAC mode. Neither has support for MQA rendering/decoding.



Connectivity: Nothing much to talk about here both has support for the range of standard Bluetooth codes: AAC/SBC/aptX/aptX LL/ aptX HD/LDAC, LDAC being the star of the show. Both use the same QUALCOMM’s CSR8675 chip for their connectivity features & both claim 10-meter range for their Bluetooth connection range.
Ergonomics: UP4 wins in this department hands down being the smaller & more lightweight device. It’s simply easier to handle being only 37 grams. Although credit where credit is due, I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the Fiio BTR5 compared to the pics & videos it felt much smaller in the hand, in real life. The BTR5 weighs about 43.7 grams.

Battery Life: When used on LDAC codec with full volume on the single ended port I would get about 4 to 5 days’ worth of battery life form the shanling UP4, used for about 4 hours each day. Using LDAC codec with the volume on about to 95 to 100%, using the device for about roughly 3 hours each day the owner of Fiio BTR5 reported he is getting 3 to 4 days’ worth of battery life. In both cases we charged our respective devices to 100% and depleted the battery all the way to 0%. Specs wise the UP4 & BTR5 has a 550 mah battery but I reckon the reason UP4 is doing better in term of battery life is cause BTR5 has that extra mini-OLED display to power. We did not get a chance to observe the battery life using the balanced port on both of these, but an educated guess would be that UP4 will do better here as well has it has a lower output power compared to the BTR5.

Build Quality: Both uses a mixture of plastic & glass in their body. Both feel premium to the touch & comes with a plastic cover in their respective boxes to protect these devices from falls, scratches etc. Although I would like to point out that the build quality of the Fiio BTR5 is noticeably better than Shanling’s, as the UP4 has some cosmetic defects in most of their units, the finishing between the glass & plastic is improper.



Sound/Tuning: The UP4 is a warm sounding source with a slight boost in the low end, the mids are thick & even though the sound is a bit colored it doesn’t sacrifice details. Meanwhile BTR5 is a neutral source with very good amount of detail retrieval & excellent sound stage. I have seen many reviewers say that the BTR5 can be a bit boring to some folks cause of its neutral presentation compared to the more lively UP4, but I could not disagree more with this statement. I have tested both UP4 & BTR5 with various IEM’s like Final E3000, BQEYZ Spring 2, Moondrop SSR etc & only with SSR the warm signature of UP4 helped tame its shoutyness in the vocals, other than that in all instances the BTR5 sounder much cleaner & more detailed to me.
Performance/Power:

Single Ended (3.5mm Jack): The BTR5 is quoted to provide 80mW (32Ω loaded) & Shanling UP4 is quoted to provide 91 mW@32Ohm Single-Ended. So naturally me or anyone else would be inclined to think that the UP4 is the clear winner based on specs. Wrong! In both Bluetooth & USB DAC mode the Fiio BTR5 consistently outputs louder volume levels compared to the UP4, testing a wide variety of IEM’s. So again, that Dual DAC boasting mode is just for show it seems as BTR5 is able to output more power in its single DAC mode compared to the Dual DAC mode of the UP4. Although I would like to point the difference in volume level/output isn’t much, BTR5 is at best 20% louder in the single ended mode compared to UP4, but the difference is definitely noticeable.

Balanced (2.5mm Jack): Although I personally don’t own any IEM’s with a balanced cable yet, I did have the chance to try out the BQEYZ Spring 2 on both the UP4 & BTR5 using the balanced port at a local retail shop & the difference in power output is quite huge. You need to drive the volume of the UP4 all the way up to 100% to catch up with 60% volume of the BTR5. Although usually with budget & mid-level IEM’s you generally don’t need that kind of power but using the balanced port does improve the soundstage, detail retrieval, mids etc on both of these DAC’s. Specs wise UP4 provides 160mW (32Ω loaded) & BTR5 provides 240mW (32Ω loaded).

Software: The Fiio app wins hands down in this department, as the Shanling app feels very bare bones with some very basic functions available to the user. Fiio on the other hand has some fancy features like Car Mode, DAC clock driver, output & sensitivity controls etc. Although I didn’t notice any differences when playing around with the output & sensitivity controls in the app, but that might be cause the IEM’s which I have tested so far aren’t that sensitive to begin with. Both UP4 & BTR5 don’t support Equalizer when using LDAC codec, this a major bummer for the BTR5 especially given its price point.



Conclusion: Well, I have tried to make this comparison review as detailed as possible in hopes that future buyers won’t have to go through the same hassle I had to go through when making a decision between these 2. I might have sounded a bit harsh on Shanling regarding the whole high-res business, I can tell you right now that in real life the difference between 16 bit & 32 bit playback isn’t that noticeable. But its not a matter of performance but a matter of principle, Shnaling seems like a brand to me who are more interested in fake marketing than actually making a product with awesome performance. Fiio BTR5 beats UP4 in both single ended & balanced mode, it has a much cleaner sound with greater details & a wider soundstage. Overall, this is an easy win for the Fiio BTR5 at least in my books, that extra $20 to $30 dollar price difference is totally worth it.

Intro:
The Super Spaceship Reference (SSR) is a roughly $35 offering from Moondrop, it has a single Beryllium-coated dome + polyurethane suspension ring & a 16Ω output impedance. I specifically got this pair as an alternative to my Final E3000’s as I was using a warm source at the time (Shanling UP4) which led to some muddiness at times with certain tracks on my E3k’s. Auditioning the SSR at a local retail store I observed that this had less muddiness & paired better with my warm source due to its diffuse-field (DF) neutral signature. I was also very curious how a mid-centric device would perform, the SSR has a twin brother the Super Spaceship Pulse (SSP) which has an emphasis on the low end, I didn’t bother auditioning this because I knew what I wanted & SSP wasn’t it.



Sources used during review: Shanling UP4 & Fiio BTR5

Tips used during review: Final E Tips

Pro’s:

• Forwards mids with emphasis on upper mids, really makes you pay attention to the lyrics in a song. On my first listen I realized I was just enjoying music all this time, without really paying attention to most of the lyrics. So, I really appreciate the SSR teaching me something new.
• I think detail retrieval is best in class at this price point, I could notice those small instruments & vocals in the background which other IEM’s at this price point failed to highlight.
• It has an above average sound stage both is terms of width & depth. Acoustic Instrument timbre is surprisingly good!
• Treble is bright & has good extension achieving a good amount of clarity & separation with a feeling of airiness to it
• The sharpness of treble actually makes the SSR sound more detailed and gives cymbals a nice splash. There is no harshness or fatiguing peaks present here.
• The bass is fast & tight here without bleeding into other frequencies but there is definitely a lack of quantity compared to other more V shaped competitors in this price range. Using a warm source like Shanling UP4 & Final E Tips, certainly gives the sub bass more of a presence & rumble.
• The heart shaped enclosure/housing of the SSR is extremely light weight which makes it a joy to use for longer listening sessions. I hope Moondrop seriously considers making more IEM’s with similar design, comfort being a main priority.
• The 2 pin 0.78mm sliver plated cable is a nice addition, it’s soft, doesn’t get tangled up easily & I didn’t notice any microphonics with it. The cable isn’t too stiff and has a rubbery feel, although the addition of a chin slider would have been appreciated.

Con’s:

• Due to the emphasis on upper mids the SSR can sound quite shouty at time specially at higher volumes & during high pitched notes.
• As a result of this shouty-ness the SSR will not please those loudness junkies, although I too like to listen to my music loud, I found in most cases I was able to listen to the SSR loud enough without it getting too shouty.
• Since SSR has a diffuse-field (DF) neutral tuning & analytical nature notes can sound cold & thin. SSR won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, especially those looking for a musical & fun listen.
• The lack of bass quantity doesn’t make the SSR ideal for bass forward genre’s like EDM & Hip Hop. Due to its neutral tuning & analytical nature The SSR will sound dull & lifeless when compared to more V or U shaped IEM’s.
• The SSR is very source picky & does require amping. Testing it directly from a 3.5mm jack of the Xiaomi K30 Pro there was definitely a lack of volume & the sound felt hollow. Using a mid-tier dongle like DD TC35B or Bluetooth dongle like Shanling UP4/Fiio BTR 5 certainly fixes the issue.
• The tips provided in the box are not that great & I could get a decent fit but didn’t like how they sounded & felt. Tip rolling is advisable in this case, for me personally the Final E tips worked great.

Comparisons:

Blon Mini: I guess these two are polar opposites, while the blon mini is big on sub bass rumble. Has recessed mids & dark sounding, the Moondrop SSR sounds neutral with a boost in upper mids & and has good treble extension. Bass-heads will definitely be impressed with the Mini, while personally I liked the analytical nature & detail retrieval of the SSR better.

Final E3000: Final E3000 has very different tuning than that of the Moondrop SSR, its extremely smooth, fun sounding, with a good amount of mid bass & the mids are thick & lush. While SSR has more of a cold & analytical nature with thinner notes & very forward yet thinner upper mids. Again, polar opposites in terms if tuning, although the E3k’s are a power-hungry beast, the more power you feed the more they shine!



Conclusion:
As I mentioned in my con’s list the SSR won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but in a sea of V shaped & bass heavy tunings the SSR is indeed a gem. Usually, these V shaped IEM’s lack in departments like mids & details retrieval & treble extension, this is where the SSR excels. If you are planning on getting a pair of SSR’s I would definitely giving them an audition before buying a pair. And if you are already familiar with how diffuse-field (DF) neutral tuning sounds, you know what you’re getting into! Kudos to Moondrop for providing more variety in the $30 to $40 range.

Intro:

Final E3000 $45 dollar bullet shaped IEM. What makes the E3000 unique is their bullet shaped style housing, while most ChiFi IEM's choose to opt for that over the ear candy shaped shell design, Final keeps it classy by going with this unique bullet shell design which is not only extremely light weight but very comfortable to wear as well! But comfort isn't the only thing that the Final E3000 has going for it, the sound is pretty mesmerizing for it's price range.

Source used during review: Shanling UP4

Pro's:
- Smooth Velvety Warm Sound
- Great Mid Bass & good amount of sub bass
- Thick & Lush Vocals (Mids)
- Mild V Shape Tuning
- Very lively sound
- Extremely Comfortable, you can wear them for hours without noticing
- Super high quality stainless steel enclosure, why above the price range
- Very good layering & Instrument separation
- Great comfortable quality tips provided in the box

Con's:
- A very thin non-detachable cable, making this one a more of a one off investment rather than a long term one
- High's are average for the price, they do roll off & nothing to write home about
- Smoothness takes priority over details in the tuning, so detail retrieval is not that great
- Soundstage is good but not as wide as I would have liked it to be
- Very power hungry, need a powerful & expensive source to deliver its best performance
- Some tracks will appear muddy if paired with a warm and bassy source. Works best with neutral bright sources.




Conclusion:

Overall Final E3000 is a very fun listen, its got a very nice addictive tuning which can make you fall in love with music. I think its a no brainer for an audio enthusiast who is looking for his first pair of IEM's or someone who is looking for a break from the world of ChiFi. E3000 will always be one of my favorite picks due to its bullet style housing, level of comfort & that extremely smooth tuning. I would have compared these to some of the popular ChiFi models like Blon 03 or even 5s but tuning wise honestly these aren't in the same league with the E3000. Although some of the more recent stuff like Moondrop Aria 2021 or HZ Heart mirror can match or exceed the Final E3000 in some aspects.

Source Used During Review: Shanling UP4

Tips Used During Review: Final E Tips

Cable Used During Review: Stock Cable




Introduction: Blon became extremely popular in the Chi-Fi audio world with their BL 03 model. People loved it cause after changing the stock cables & tips it could compete with much more expensive IEM's while being a fraction of the cost. Many wondered if the new comer Blon was going to be a one hit wonder or was it going to come up with some more brilliant gear? Well their follow up the BL 05 was more of a miss than a hit, the good part is Blon realized their mistake & their follow up model the 05s was quite an upgrade over the 05 in terms of sound but they were still lacking in the stock cable & tips department.

This was always one of the main reasons why I never got the BL 03, I did not want to invest in an IEM which had bad accessories & needed to be upgraded immediately in order to reach its full potential. Upgrading tips & cables felt like such a hassle to me, I wanted to do it on when I felt like it rather than being pressured in to it. During the start of 2021 images started leaking of the BL Mini, people affectionately named it the Blon Macaroni cause of its unique shape, many even trolled it. But as soon as I laid my eyes on it I knew I had to get it cause I always felt uncomfortable with the traditional shaped over the ear IEM's, they always felt a bit too heavy.

Build & Comfort: The Solid Zinc Alloy housing feels nice to hold, although there was dent in my first unit, it seemed to me like a production (factory) defect, my local retailer replaced it immediately once I pointed out this fault. The following unit was perfect & did not have any build quality issues. Though the BL Mini might look weird & awkward to some I found it to be really comfortable & light weight. I was able to use it for long listening sessions without any discomfort. I think Blon has hit a home run with the size & shape of the Mini's & would like to see similar shape & design adopted in to their future models especially the more expensive one's.

Accessories: Another major upgrade the BL Mini has over its siblings is the stock cable, it feels really nice & smooth in the hand & sounds really good as well. I didn't feel the need to upgrade the stock cable anytime soon, perfectly happy with it. What's still bad are those god awful stock tips. There are 3 pairs of silicone tips (S/M/L). 2 pairs of “Blonfits” (M/L) & all of the them are pretty bad, I couldn't even get a decent fit with them, & had to switch to my Final E Tips immediately.



Ok now coming to the main event of the evening, the "pièce de résistance," Sound:

Highs (Details): I found the high's of the BL Mini to be pretty average, no sparkle or airiness about them. Micro details also pretty average, I didn't find them to be too revealing of any background vocals or instruments. Due to the lack of air BL Mini sounds a bit dark & kinda reminds me of the tuning of TFZ My Love edition. The clarity & resolution seems to be very good considering the price point.

Mids (Vocals): The mids are warm & a bit recessed but sound very good in the mix. This will get the job done easily for genres such as pop, hip hop, Indie etc. For genres like acoustics & orchestra you might need to play around with EQ a bit to get better results.

Bass (Low's): I think the sub bass is more pronounced here than mid bass, it has that boomy effect but not to the point where the bass sounds cheap or unbearable. The BL Mini is definitely a bass head IEM, bass quality is very punchy & controlled. Although there is a slight bleed in to the mids.

Soundstage, Instrument Separation & Imaging: I think the sound stage is pretty average, its not wide or anything. Instrument separation is good enough, you can hear each individual instrument while listening to a track. Although sometimes instruments like the guitar & metal plate hits don't sound as revealing as I would like them to be.

Drivability: Its pretty easy to drive the Mini, although I did notice distortion at higher volumes while playing music directly through the 3.5 jack of K30 Pro & Galaxy S10+. While using my Shanling UP4 distortion was non existent at higher volumes, bass was tighter & the sound stage felt a bit more wider. But I wouldn't recommend getting a dedicated source for this minimal level of scaling.

Comparisons:

Blon BL 03: Although I don't own a Bl 03 I was fortunate enough to test it out from a friend. I think the Mini & 03 has very similar sound signatures, the major difference being that the 03 has a very slight V shape tuning compared to the aggressive V Shape tuning of the Mini. The mids sound a bit more forward with the BL 03 & a bit recessed with the Mini. The Mini is also more darker sounding.

Final E3000: The devil is in the details! Although during an initial listen these two might sound very similar bit giving them a side by side listen you can instantly tell the Final E3000 sounds much more smoother, The Mini sounds a bit harsh & coarse comparatively. E3k has a wider sound stage with better instrument separation. Detail retrieval is also better on the Final E3k. Mini wins in the Sub Bass department while E3k does better in mid bass.

Conclusion: Overall I think for the price of $20 the Blon BL Mini is a no brainer especially if you like a warm & bass boosted sound signature. I wouldn't call the Mini an all rounder but it certainly has the potential to give some of the big boy's with a similar sound signature a run for their money.