BQEYZ SPRING1 REVIEW :


SOUND: 9.5/10
CONSTRUCTION: 9/10
DESIGN: 8.5/10
ACCESSORIES: 9/10
VALUE: 10/10

It’s rare that I find some ‘’chi-fi’’ company to be underated, because lot of them like KZ and TRN are in fact overhyped.

BQEYZ is the exception and its a shame they do not get as much attention as other bigger chinese companies because they really stand appart in term of quality of sound AND construction. This company really take their time to design and tune the iem they make and unlike other mass production company like KZ, they do not use conterfeit housing design or cheap balanced armature make by other. Nope, they create they own audio drivers wich explain why the creation of SPRING1 take more than a year to achieve.

Apart from the Spring1, I own the 2DD+3BA’s hybrid BQ3 (68$) and the 2DD+1BA hybrid KB100 (50$) wich sound both excellent for the price and have unique personalities. With both of them, I did not encounter serious tuning problem like peaky upper mids or highs, or sloppy bass, or grainy artificial timbre, in fact, for once I can say it was professionally tuned and offer balanced musicality. As well, the superb construction stand appart from the sub-100$ iem market. This admiration for their previous models put the bar very high for the expectation I have about their flagship model that sell for 140$.




BQEYZ patent their own special driver for the Spring1, its a unibody dynamic drivers with a 7 layers piezo, all put in one piece so the transient response sound natural. That alone is a little audio revolution, and offer way better audio performance than the cheap piezoelectric drivers used independantly for treble response. Yes, its fromanother league than the NiceHCK NX7 or **** **** in term of cohesive tuning and treble richness. If you were afraid that the Spring1 sound metallic, artificial or trebly, you can be reassure that they offer an high definition natural sound. As well, the customize balanced armature created by BQEYZ have nothing to envy to great BA like the Knowles, in fact, the region it cover is splendid to listen and way better than bellsin or sonion BA’s.

Yes, BQEYZ deserve more respect and recognition, they are serious audiophile earphones company with talented audio engineer that have a refined unique vision about sound rendering. With the Spring1, I think they try to make the sound as much revealing as comfortable to listen to, wich is a very hard task. How can we make an earphones sound lively, exciting, very revealing and offer a lush musicality that will not sound too agressive or unbalanced?? Let’s see in this review if its possible to achieve such a fascinating musicality.

You can buy the Spring1 directly from BQEYZ Ali express store HERE

DISCLAIMER: Some audio company sincerly fascinate me, BQEYZ is one of them, so I follow closely the creation of the Spring1 since the first day. I ask so much question that I finally got the chance to have a review sample wich I accept with humility. I wanna thanks BQEYZ to not put pressure on reviewing and letting my objectivity being intact of any expectation. This review is as honnest as it can be.



INFO&SPECS :

1. Item：Spring 1

2. Dynamic Driver: 13mm

3. Impedance: 43Ω

4. Sensitivity: 108dB

5. Frequency: 7-40KHz

6. Cable Length: 1.2m

7. Pin Type: 0.78mm-2 Pin

8. Plug Type: 3.5mm

9. Driver units: 13mm Coaxial dynamic driver+7 Layers piezo electric+Balanced armature

9. Mic: Without

10. Color: Black / Blue (Optional)




ACCESSORIES, CONSTRUCTION & DESIGN :



ACCESSORIES included are well presented in a very enjoyable unboxing experience, wich is the more serious presentation of BQEYZ line up. Yes, we are in flagship territory, and one thing that proof it is the excellent 8 cores Silver plated cable that is included. Its thick, super sturdy and very beautifull. This type of cable alone should be priced between 30-50$ and is a very welcome addition to the excellently built 2pin earphones. As well, we have a generous amount of eartips, wich include 6pairs of silicone eartips and a pair of memory foam tips. If it wasn’t enough, we have too a nice sturdy protective case. Can we ask for more? Nope, not at this price.



CONSTRUCTION is excellent, metal used is so light yet thick and well polished that some will think its half plastic with back metal plate. Nope, just hit the housing togheter, the noise will reassure you : this is all metal housing. As well, the nozzle is metal too, and quite long. All in all, the SPRING1 promise long durability and have excellent craftmanship with great attention to details.



The 8cores silver plated cable is sumptuous too, and extremely sturdy. After 2 months of use i did not encounter any quality check issue like i do with IKKO or Tinaudio T3 cable were the 2pin or mmcx metal cover unglue suddenly. This cable is a keeper and I use it with multiple earphones including the Spring1.



DESIGN of housing is quite chunky, with an oval near triangular shape and a thick long nozzle similar to the KZ ZS10PRO. I did struggle a little to find the right fit because if I use too long eartips even medium size became too big to be push enough deep in my ears. I finally use wide bore eartips included with the Spring1. Even if i can wear these very long, i don’t consider them as the most comfortable iem I own due to quite chunky body.

ISOLATION is excellent and do great work for passive noise cancelation, as well, due tothe venting hole being in front of housing, the noise leakage is very minimal and will not be a problem in silent environment.



DRIVEABILITY isn’t the most easy at 43ohm impendance and 108db sensitivity, very powerfull DAP like the Ibasso DX90 will drive them properly, but other loess powerfull one like Xduoo X3 will lack power and affect soundstage and dynamic attack. I suggest using either a seriously powerfull DAP or portable AMP with the Spring1, otherwise you will not hear their full potential.



SOUND :



SUBJECTIVE SOUND APPRECIATION is sincerly overwhelmingly positive and that, since the very first day -once I find the right fit- with Spring1. This is grand sounding iem that can’t let indifferent anybody. It have a unique W shape soundsignature thats polished on top. The mid range blow my mind with its thick textured timbre and superb imaging. Bass is fast, thick and very authoritative. Treble never sound artificial. Whatever I throw to the Spring1 gain in lushness and attack, as if it can ressurect musicality of lifeless track by extracting extra textured and presence from 1khz to 10khz. This iem is extremely versatile because it have it all : bass, mids, highs. If I crave my head for a music style that will sound not as much spectacular than other it will be trap rap where sub kick need more rumble and transparency….but I don’t really listen to this style. For me, the Spring1 is surely the very best sub-150$ iem money can buy in term of versatility, definition and rich musicality.

SOUNDSTAGE is sincerly something special with the Spring1, extremely wide and quite tall and deep until bass stole some deepness to it. It have an intense outof your head spaciality, with holographic feel I rarely if ever encounter with any other iem. This really is the type of earphones that have the magic of a full size headphones.

IMAGING is incredibly accurate and sharp, space between instrument is wide and clear, again, only big bass line can stole some spot on definition because it will cover the black background. With well mastered music with lot of spacial acoustic phenomenon, the Spring1 give me spectacular accuracy in disposition of sounds layers I rarely if ever live, this was extremely immersive presentation with panoramic 3D like feel. This type of grand magnificated imaging isn’t expected in sub-200$ price range.

CLARITY is from another league here, and have sharp emphasis in midrange and treble, delivering effortless details up to upper highs. Bass being less transparent than mid and highs, it can stole some lower mids attack definition, but never to the point we feel its completely veiled, in fact, this type of thick opaque bass stay in the back of all this super clear mids and highs, so, it only stole some space and air to natural instrument decay. We aren’t in cold analytical or metallic clarity here, more so in lush hyper realist one.

TIMBRE is thick, textured, and well rounded. It sound at the same time natural and super colorfull, and have a mix of opaque bass, transparent mid range and crisp treble. Slightly bright, but carefully polished.

LOWER BASS is quite thick and opaque, slightly dry and very weighty. To my ears, its the only part of audio spectrum that do not sound natural and effortless. Its very present and benifit from extra clarity in music with lot of instruments ,so we can hear sub bass line perfectly, but the extra energy in 50-100hz section make it roaring instead of rumbling, as if it struggle to move air but compensate it with extra thickness in timbre and attack. Still, as said, its tigh and controled and very clear, just that the natural extension up to 20hz isn’t feel and lack transparence.

MID BASS is fast, weighty, natural and well textured, the punch is full and juicy with good impact that do not feel too fowarded or forced. Unlike lower bass, transient response is more accurate and let the soundwaves move naturally. Transition to lower mid range is organic and add extra thickness to overall timbre. Cello sound marvellously bodied and lower piano note have good weight and impact.

MID RANGE is something precious with the Spring1, its so revealing and fully covered with high level of subtle details one would think its overly bright, analytical or cold, but no, its lushly natural sounding too and exempt from any harsh peaks or sibilance. Whatever the type of music I play, it will show me all instrument textures with magnified singularities, no instrument will fight against each other for presence but instead they will have their own lush presence in wide accurate imaging and play togheter in rich harmony. Vocal are as thick and detailed as violin or piano, keeping their natural presence. It’s among the best vocal I heard even if they aren’t pushed foward, the timbre is so well rendered I ‘’believe’’ their life like rendition, most of all, male and female vocal will sound as good and full bodied. Electric guitar too will be gently crunchy and textured, never thin or artificial sounding even if they keep a minimal amount of transparency like all other instruments.

TREBLE is another miracle with the Spring1 and could only be achieve with this special dual piezo dynamic driver patented by BQEYZ. Unlike other piezo electric iem I try, their no metallic highs, grainy texture or trebly peak with those, its near organic in fact, but lush and ultra detailed in lower-mid treble too. This type of treble remind me the one of Final Audio E serie, but to a next level in term of clarity and texture. Acoustic guitar sound incredible with the Spring1, it have extra brilliance and rich sharpness but not alot of decay, just enough so the attack can be fast and accurate to permit other instrument sounding clear as well. Percussions stay in the back, wich is how I like it if they are super clear and realist, wich is exactly what the Spring1 deliver.


SUB BASS : 7.5/10
MID BASS : 8.5/10
MID RANGE : 9/10
TREBLE : 9/10
TIMBRE : 8.5/10
CLARITY : 9/10
SOUNDSTAGE : 9.5/10
IMAGING : 9/10


RANDOM TRACKS TESTING :


DOMINIC MILLER ‘’Absinthe’’


The languid accordeon solo in the begining have very appealing clarity that emphase nicely the texture, tonal accuracy is outstanding and micro details of finger pressing the keys is delicately rendered. After, the acoustic guitar came, again with high level of clarity, beautifull crispness and control decay, until all instruments come togheter naturally, effortlessly, in a super wide coherent spaciality that take full advantage of crystal clear mid range imaging. Bass line are perfectly articulate, thick and opaque in the back, while accordeon keep a beautifull floating transparency and guitar in the center play its line sharply. Kick drum and percussions are well separeted like all other instrument, kick staying at your left while percussions move from left to right corner. Texture of brush drumming is superbly rendered, sweetly textured, again very natural and life like. Now, a synth line is add to this fourtet, its light, transparent, as if a new wooly layers was insert between guitar and drum. The guitar have as much presence than accordeon and do not sound too metallic or decayed, level of balance in sound is extremely refined and tend to benifit from clarity as anything mix togheter. Attack of all instrument is energic yet never shouty or artificial, it give push to liveliness and presence in a flat way.

MACHINEFABRIEK ‘’III (with Peter broderick)


Wow, what an audio experience! The soundstage is just gigantic and ultra holographic with this track, background is perfectly black too, big sub kick hit very hard, thick, opaque, super weighty and thigh with fast rumble. Layers of female and males voices have extremely accurate spacial placement and this is quite a psychadelic experience! Clarity of imaging is jaw dropping, we have a mix of layers transparency and specific spaciality that never fail to sound as if you wear very big full-size open headphones (but with closed back bass when it occur). Even at the end of the track when we have an overwhelming amount of very textured male and female voices line, the Spring1 keep its layerings definition detailed and transparent.

COMPARAISONS :

VS IKKO OH1 (140$) :



The OH1 is an excellent 1DD+1 knowles BA hybrid earphones and the audiophile do not overhype them because they deserve the praise they have. Construction is more eye appealing than the Spring1, but both share thick metal housing. OH1 is notably larger while Spring1 is thicker, offering about both same level of comfort, but as the nozzle is less long and tichk than Spring1, i can use long silicone eartips with the OH1.
SOUNDSTAGE is wider, taller and more holographic with the Spring1 while the OH1 have a little more deepnest to it.
IMAGING is more intimate and minimalist with the OH1, as if the bass and highs are better separated and mid range is opaque and lack space between instrument, here the Spring1 have near the opposite imaging approach, where whole mid range is extremely well articulated and separeted and the bass and highs stay layered in the back.
BASS is more emphased with the OH1 and have better separated sub bass wich is thick, clear and very well define but make the mid bass punch a little shadowed and can warm lower mid range, the Spring1 have less rumble in sub bass, wich is thick, dry and opaque but quite fast, the mid bass have more weight and better definition.
MID RANGE is brighter, thinner and less textured with the OH1, this is really where the sword hit, because Spring1 mid range is richer and more accurate, it cover full 1khz-8khz range without notable dip and offer better instrument separation too. OH1 can be hot in upper mids, wich the Spring1 do not encounter, but the biggest difference is in timbre and weight, as we can hear with piano.
TREBLE is similar with those too, but again, i find the Spring1 more natural and fuller sounding, percussions have more weight while the OH1 is more about cripsness but struggle to dig as much details than Spring1.
All in all, the OH1 is like a more bassy Spring1 with more agressive mids and less rich timbre.


VS BRAINWAVZ B400 (150$) :


Now, let’s see how a 4 balanced armature can compare to the Spring1.
Construction of B400 is ridiculous and quite fragile, but as its smaller and lighter it is more comfortable than Spring1.
SOUNDSTAGE is way wider with the Spring1, and about the same deep. IMAGING is from another league with the Spring1, while the B400 have an intimate layerings that feel stock in your head the Spring1 have wide holographic spaciality with clearer separation.
BASS is notably rolled off after 50hz with the B400, its warm, soft in slam and rapid in mid bass attack that lack weight and body, Spring1 have more thumping bass, wich dig lower and have more texture to it.
MID RANGE is warmer, thiner and lack in attack and weight compared to more textured, detailed and energic one of Spring1. Even if B400 are mid centric, it sound dark compared to Spring1 here, the vocal have perhaps more emphasis but they lack texture in timbre.
TREBLE is again more rolled off with B400, with all its emphasis in lower treble, wich can make the sound feel unbalanced compared to more linear frequency response of Spring1 that offer crisper and more controled highs.
All in all, B400 sound less balanced, darker, lifeless and less refined than the excellent Spring1.

CONCLUSION :



BQEYZ Spring1 is an exceptional earphones with a grand musicality that never stop to impress me with its versatile accuracy. The richness of timbre is mesmerizing for its price as well as high level of details up to 12khz. To produce a sound with such weight in attack that keep its layering clean of congestion is really a tuning miracle wich is surely due to the incredible piezo-dynamic driver used with the balanced armature.



I can’t find any fault with this iem, should it be in construction, design or sound, it really make alive whole frequencies range without making it feel forced or sound artificial.



If you only listen to electronic with lot of sub bass rumble, perhaps this will impress you in a less overwhelming way than me, but for all other music style like jazz, classical, pop, rock, IDM, R&B, folk, metal etc, the Spring1 will make your ears see in the dark.



I can’t recommend those iem enough, and consider them the very best sub-200$ iem I ever try.

-NF AUDIO NM2+ No Gimmick review--

TONALITY: 8/10
TECHNICALITIES:7/10
CONSTRUCTION&DESIGN: 9.5/10
VALUE: 7/10

About me: I'm into chifi discoveries since its early beginning 8 years ago.I don't have single preference in terms of tuning, but wtv bright or warm, it needs to have cohesive tonal balance and good timbre (realist or romantic). I don't like my mids recessed and rarely listen to male vocal even if i listen to a wide variety of genre including classical, jazz, experimental rock, complex electronic, immature rap, soul, r&b, worldmusic you name it. I can listen to crazy aggressive jazz rock but apart some math-rock that are borderline metal I don't listen to metal. I like my IEM dynamic even when laid back sounding like Starfield. My main used gear is IBASSO DX90 (portable) and SMSL SH-9+SU-9 (deskop) and Tempotec HD PRO+LG V30 (for streaming).

THE GOOD: Balanced lively tonality, sumptuously forwarded vocal rich in texture-details, energic slam, wide soundstage, great for acoustic music especially piano and guitar, bright without being sibilant or harsh, exemplary construction and design, nice cable

THE BAD: Average technicalities like lack of attack snap, closed up imaging, undeep soundstage, rolled off sub-bass that lead to muddy sub-kick separation, sometime vocal take all the place sometime it get crumble under pile of instrument (very strange driver behavior), instrument like violin or cello sound artificial, cymbals get splashy easily, sound layers get messy with busy track, attack lead is not edgy enough, male vocal arent very bodied

THE UGLY: Not a Monitor unless your acoustic or female solo singer, slow transient response that can't deal with busy track, colored treble that lack air, poor sound value

The NM2+ get hyped to the sky due to an army of wannabe-influencer and the fact Linsoul, Penon and other big distributor (but more honest) like SHenzenaudio and Hifigo promote the product release. This is why I feel anti-hype review is urgently needed.


Firstly, the NM2+ is stated as Monitor IEM but isn't competent enough in terms of technicalities to be useful for this purpose unless your music production is very minimal in instrumentation and slow in attack. I think this is thought for vocalist, but you will be hard-pressed to clearly enjoy your vocal if its surrounded by a lot of instrument because imaging is very bad and timbre lack transparency (even if stated the opposite in product description). STILL, I do enjoy the tonality of this IEM because of one simple reason: I'm a sucker for Female vocal and if the NM2+ do something great its delivering rich forwards female vocal with very inviting presence. Its all about this in fact, not other mids instrument apart Piano and acoustic guitar to some extend.

What impresses me the most is all about construction, design and whole packaging. Yes, this only can justify the 170$ price tag to some extend. Housing feel invincible, hard to scratch and is the perfect mix of beauty and practicality.

''The NF Audio NM2+ earpieces are made with ultimate precision using the latest 5-axis CNC technology. The 5-axis CNC technology is much advanced than the traditional die-cast holding method and provides a rich texture and quality to the product. They are made up of high-quality aeronautical grade aluminium material which is usually used in aerospace, aviation, and other high precision industries.''

Yep, this part of the product description (unlike the sound) isn't gimmick. CNC tech is sincerely mind blowing! I love the numerous engraving on housing too. Fit is good, isolation too. As well, we got for once a very good quality cable that suffers from a too-thigh earhook i have to get rid off. But who give a single F about construction if sound is bad? Well, the sound isn't bad, just average.

This time we got a real balanced W shape sound, slightly bright with emphasis on mid-bass, energetically forwarded mids, and vivid treble. Sound signature remind me of Grado SR60 with rounder bass.

BASS is thick, saturated with (grainy) texture, boosted in mid bass for extra slam. Extension isn't natural and sub-bass is rolled off. Don't try to monitor bass line with these cause layering is very poor. Definition and articulation isn't good neither, so we can say its a bit muddy. Sub is far away in the back and kick is juiced up and warm in definition.

MIDS are surely the best part or at least the center of the show. It jump at you eager to seduce you with boosted presence that strangely avoid upper mids sibilance. Imaging and separation is poor apart to extract vocal. I would say they are gently bright and just a hint shouty. The issue begin when you have busy music, I was enjoying Susanna Wallumrod voice and piano playing until drummer come in and suddenly make vocal very distant and drowned in sound layers, when crash cymbals begin everything go out of control making it unlistenable.

TREBLE, like BASS, is a mixed bag showing limit of driver transient response, it boost the presence of some texture and make instrument like violin sound off, dry and thin, lacking both attack edge and snap. Extension isn't natural in decay which stop fast, stoling precious sparkles and air. Still, its well balanced enough with rest of tonality but only offer false dirty clarity lacking clean silence. Snare and most percussions sound realist and full but this is far from being a refined treble response and can easily get hot and fussy when challenged.

COMPARISONS:

VS HZsound MIrror (50$): HZ have notably better technicalities, attack is faster-snappier, imaging cleaner more precise, better transparency, tighter cleaner lighter more extended bass, more realist sparkly airy treble, more details, thinner vocal, it can easily deal with busy tracks. Soundstage is less wide but deeper. HZ is more neutral too.

VS Vsonic VS7 (140$): Soundstage is wider, taller deeper. Vocal are dryier more recessed-thin. Bass is flatter dryier less chunky. Layering is more transparent. VS7 is colder less lush in musicality.

CONCLUSION:
The NFaudio NM2+ is a well balanced gently bright IEM that will please female singer lover but have sub-par technicalities for its price range. Not recommended for budget-minded audiophiles. Not a great all rounder.

PS: Thanks to Shenzhenaudio for the discounted review sample. As always I hold on my No gimmick unbiased independent subjectivity.

TONALITY: 8.5/10
TECHNICALITIES: 8.2/10
SOUNDSTAGE: 8.2/10
IMAGING: 7.5/10
TIMBRE: 9/10
CONSTRUCTION: 9/10
ACCESSORIES: 10/10
SOUND VALUE: 8.2/10

Penon don’t need lenghty introduction, they are the oldest and more experienced ‘’chifi’’ seller, but not only since they even sale western brand like IMR Acoustic.
Let just say Penon are different and truly passionate about audio product to the point of tuning and manufacturing their own IEMs under Penon and ISN companies.

Ive review tremendous amount of their IEMs, loving about 90% of them. Musicality is their aim first and foremost, whatever number of drivers or tech they use. In that regard: they are big Winner to me.

But I’m already too lenghty, today I will review their latest hybrid offering call the Penon Globe.

Priced 350$, the Dome is an hybrid IEM using 1x 10mm PET diaphragm for low, 2 Sonion balanced armature for mids and 1 knowles BA for highs.

I do think it’s purpose is to replace or upgrade the well received Penon Globe.

Let see in this review if Penon hit the ‘’sweet spot of musicality and tonal balance’’ with good enough technical performance again and if it should be put on your buy list for christmass!


CONSTRUCTION&ACCESSORIES

The Dome construction is quite good and similar to the Globe apart different face plate and a metal nozzle.
The material for housing is medical grade resin which is smoother and slippy, thick and durable. One of my fav material for IEM and whole iem feel molded in one piece, not with a cheaply sticken back plate waiting to pop out.
2Pin connector aren’t recessed and placed on slightly curved top of Dome, which can make the connection a bit anxiogenic in the sens the pin can bent if you aren’t accurate enough in alignment of the pins.
Housing size is average, a bit chunky but not very big overall and ergonomic ‘’ear print like’’ shape is very comfy and versatile for both shallow and deep fit.



As always with Penon IEMs it come in minimalist package with maximalist accessories.
As I like.
We have the excellent Penon carrying case which is big enough for 3 cable and 4-5iems, yet more compact that other offering I own. This is my fav carrying case.
Then a very nice cable, 8 strand silver plated that feel very sturdy and benefit the warm tonality of Dome. You can choose it in 3.5mm singled ended or 2.5mm -4.4mm balanced.
Then you have the leather cable pouch and cable holder.
9 pairs of well choosen silicon eartips in 3 models.
And a cleaning too and cable clip.
As always, quite irreprochable accessories wise.

SOUND IMPRESSIONS


If you have heard IEM like ISN H50, Neo5 or even Penon Globe, you will be in familiar cozzy ground with the lush balanced V shape tonality of the Dome.
The Dome is very bassy, gently warm and near mid centric since mid range is lush, thick and fullied bodied due to good amount of lower mid range warmth and density.
Yet, it’s too balanced to be called basshead and the hybrid configuration bypass mudyness of such tonal balance, thanks to the 3 balanced armature that permit good layering articulation and separation.
The Dome are all sweetness, smooth and round as a whole, organic in cohesion, as natural in timbre as it can get with BAs and very lively in macro dynamic without going into fatiguing or spiky brightness territory.

This isn’t a technical or analytical sounding set that blow your mind with boosted clarity and crazy amount of micro details. And while not very airy or sparkly on top, the soundstage is impressively wide and tall avoiding unidimensional spatiality that lack instruments definition and tactility and instead offer immersive holographic musical readibility.

Like I often say with Penon IEMs, bass and vocal lover are spoil as well as those audiophile that can’t find their musical pleasure and emotional response reach in Harman target tuned earphones that invade nowadays Chifi market.

The bass seem to be the most boosted part of spectrum here and do dominate audio spectrum without mixing in a messy way. Instead it act like a dense bass shelf for mids to built on, which densify timbre by adding lower harmonic fullness and warmth to vocal and instrument. Instead of muddying them, it darken the edgyness of definition and stretch the instrument presence in hazy 3D wideness.
Yes the Dome offer a colored sound that we can call buttery, velvety since both texture of dynamicdriver and balanced armature mix togheter organicaly, adding colorful richness to the mids and bass instead of texture micro details and grain.
The sub bass is thick, with an elastic rumble sustain that don’t create unwanted resonance, it extract meaty bass line in body more than forced presence brighness. Synth bass will be lush and roundly layered above the kick drum, while cello will be lush and vibrant and double bass will gain extra weight instead of long airy clean extension.
The slam isn’t loose here, and even offer hard warm thumping, it hit big and loud with great sens of tactility. It especially do well with R&B, funk, soul, rap and electronic. Artist like Kaytranada or Ravyn Lenae shine with the Dome.
While well layered, the bass separation isn’t clean nor edgy, we don’t have lower mid range scoop that widen separation with mids here so the warm do embrace and darken mid range.
Are we in guilty pleasure territory? Well I guess we are, but for those that hate thin dry bass, this is a big plus and I’m one of those people. As well, I find the bass performance quite versatile since double bass in jazz band don’t sound boomy, it underline the eleasticity of attack and release.

The mid range is lush, thick and hint dark. We don’t have intense upper mids boost that foward presence agressively and can fatigue the listener with shoutyness, yet it’s far from lean in dynamic so upper mids are dynamic too and well rounded within mids package.
With the Dome you are near the instrument, so it’s not recessed mids and center stage don’t feel lifeless and far away, but this mean it’s not crisp open mids too, nor very transparent and higly resolve.
If you seek monitor IEM, the Dome is the opposite of that since it favor tone fullness before presence brightness and imaging readibility isn’t sharpen.
Woodwind instrument and vocal sound better and more fully restitute than piano and violin which are more affected in definition edge polishing than saxophone wich don’t need as much lead attack bite and accuracy.
The saxophone sound marvelously lush, dense and rich in presence, the air is tactile and delimitate the sirupy presence, it never feel compressed or thin, nor can distract the listener with over boosted texture details that make the woodwind blowing lipsy and wetty.
As for piano, it’s far from bad since the balanced armature permit fast rendering of every note which have good impact weight but warmed definition edge and short and colored resonance release, I do struggle to know if pianist press the sustain pedal.
I don’t think I would suggest the Dome for symphony or classical music, apart if solo cello which sound highly musical and full. Definition of each instrument isn’t sharp and clean enough to properly discernate them in soundscape and violin attack is softed in mids and lower treble, which make it even harder to grab.
But this doesn’t mean it sound bad at all, in fact, violin are sweet and lush sounding, free of sibilance or harsh metallic bowing, yet, unless in very high pitch the presence will be hard to delimitate as said.
When it come to timbre, don’t be afraid about balanced armature infamous ‘’metallic sheen’’ since their none here and unless you listen at max volume to the point of making BA struggle with vibration, you will not heard micro distortion grain. I’ve try multiple source and only thing I can pick up is slight brightness in vocal breath release but it might be due to slight treble boost around 8khz.

All in all, I love the mid range colorful flavor of the Dome which isn’t too salted with upper mids, yet got lot of lower mids sweetness.


And now the understated treble. Firstly, the Dome are certainly not aim for treble head as well as those brilliance and sparkle lover. While I don’t like unbalanced highs that force you to put in front stage the high pitch instrument and bombard you with percussions fowardness, I do enjoy crisp airy one as well as refined sparkle resonance that blossom in the air.
Here, highs are a bit dark, they are anti-trebly and rolled off pass 10khz, yet it’s not plain dull and we have a bit of spice for extra snap with certain instrument like acoustic guitar don’t feel too scooped in attack lead and have enough metallic bite, but the release will not be long nor very clean or sparkly.
This kind of darkish treble avoid the lack of energy with this extra snap to some percussions and instrument, like wood block, snare and high pitch cymbal.
Splash cymbal aren’t splashy nor shrill, but the release is thicken and a bit hazy.
Since I don’t graph my IEM, I can’t say which exact treble section I feel have a slight sudden bump, but as noted, some instrument range will feel louder in highest harmonic, this include piano too and violin as say before, so this peculiar mid treble boost add energy to macro dynamic and barely make me consider the Dome as W shape in balance.
What I mean with that is piano feel leaner in mid range and 7th octave note jump more in my face.
Apart this the treble feel linear in balance, full and not thin nor lacking in fullness of instrument restitution.
The level of micro details isn’t plenty so don’t expect a statement like ‘’I heard things ive never heard before’’ with the Dome.
It’s organic as a whole in balance with rest of spectrum, highs don’t boost texture noise and is permissive of bad recording since it damp background hissing of old blues recording like Skip James or Billie Holidays which I can focus on their voice better and don’t get annoy with extra background hiss and noise,
Overall this is a safe treble here that is well balanced and complemented beautifully the tonality sweetness.

The soundstage is quite impressive and quite an improvement from the Globe in the sens its very wide and tall with right ear tips and when their no big bass occuring the depth is good too. You’r in the middle of spatiality surrounded by instrument that aren’t too far yet have good multi layering.

But the warm tonality don’t favor imaging precision and bassy music will get bass opacity in background that stole proper separation definition of instrument by adding sound particule in the clean air between them. In that regard, Dome isn’t impressive and lack sharp definition of each instrument positioning as well as proper clean space between sound layers.

SIDE NOTE

At 19ohm of impedance and 107db of sensitivity, the Dome aren’t exactly what I would call neither hard to drive or very sensitive to source impedance gain.
Yet ill suggest a source with at least 100mw@32ohm of power and an impedance output lower than 2ohm to be sure it will not excited or unbalance drivers.
These benefit from clean crisp source due to there warm nature, so not a good bet for super warm or euphonic dongle or source ill say.
Ear tips wise the one included are good enough and offer open and dynamic sound.
Cable too is good enough, I will never use an all copper cable with Dome for ex.

COMPARISONS

VS Kinera Freya 2.0 (DD+3BA-270$)

The Dome is warmer, lusher, smoother, more balanced and clean sounding as well as just slightly bassier, with notably greater bass performance.
It’s evident all drivers used are superior here, both in attack control and timbre micro distortion. The 2 sonion BA dealing with mid range deliver lusher and more natural mids, with more realistic and less rough tone and wider better rounded presence of each instrument. Upper mids are more butter and liquid in edge, it melt like honey in the ears and offer way more musical female vocal as well as fuller bodied male vocal.
The DD too is next level compared to Freya, it extend deeper with greater headroom slam free of problematic resonance so sub is thicker as well as kick drum and mid bass more rounded and bodied, attack speed is faster and more controled and layered is cleaner, so the bass is more separate with mids. Freya sound quite boomy and muddy compared to Dome even if it doesn’t rumble as much and offer as fun and muscular impact.
The treble of both these IEM is a bit dark, but again, Dome is more refined and better balanced though it lack air too as well as sparkle we don’t have texture or tone imbalance and the snare isn’t jumpin at you as much. It follow more evenlyn the tuning target it aim, which is notably more versatile.
The soundstage is notably wider and taller but about same depth.
Imaging is a bit cleaner and while resolution is less bright and can feel smoother, transparency is superior and layering separation don’t mix their energy togheter as much, so with some effort the listener can find more instrument positioning than with Freya that will go too messy in busy music.

All in all I think it’s evident whoe the winner is here. Tonality is more natural and balanced as well as smoother and more immersive with Dome and technical performance even if not magnify with treble boost are superior in attack control, macro dynamic rendering, bass extension and sound layering articulation and readibility.

VS HIDIZS MS5 (1DD+4BA-400$)

The MS5 are brighter and more U shape.
The timbre is thinner and less natural.
The bass is cleaner, less dynamic, thinner and feel detached and less cohesive with whole spectrum. Dome have rounder and rumblier slam, chunkier warmer timbre, more bass bleed and strangely, it feel positive here since it thicken mids.
Mids are more recessed, shouty, thin and dry with the MS5, vocal sound wonky and I tend to lower volume to endure or bypass them. Transparency, sens of openess is higher with MS5.
So treble is more boosted, instrument presence more edgy, percussions more forwards, again all in a more artificial, dry and thin way.
Soundstage is wider and taller with the Dome, deeper with the MS5 due to more recessed center stage to magnify sens of holography.
Imaging is sharper with the MS5, instrument don’t mix togheter in sirupy macro rendering….but accuracy of this imaging is questionnable since percussions dance all around in a distracting way and bass lack tactile low end so….yes, more techical sounding still is the MS5.

All in all, tonaly wise MS5 is quite a disaster compared to lusher, more cohesive tuning of Dome. Technicalities are on par but boosted to the bone with MS5 so Dome which is darker overall sound less impressive in clarity and imaging.

CONCLUSION



The Penon Dome is all about lush and bassy musicality, it’s not a technical sounding set nor a monitoring one.

It’s purpose is to make musicality alive, engaging and fun, dynamic weighty and full, natural and dense in timbre and it use hybrid configuration to avoid it being plain guilty pleasure.

The Dome is the answer to those that find mids either too bright-shouty, thin or recessed and favor tone sweetness above presence of instrument with boosted fake clarity.

You can get lost in these easily, immerse for long listening laid back tonality with proper bass slam and vibrant rumble, it’s near basshead yet too well balanced to be called so. If you know what you buying. Which I hope my review help a bit to do so!

To my ears, it’s highly recommended even if no end game in term of technical performance.

---------------------------------

PS: I want to thanks Penon forr sending me this review sample. As always, I have no direct affiliation nor any self-interest bias in my subjective audio impressions.

You can order the Dome from official Penon store, they are on Black Friday sale right now for 314.10$ instead of 350$ normal price:
https://penon-official.com/product/penon-dome/

TONALITY: 8.2/10
TECHNICALITIES: 8.8/10
CONSTRUCTION: 8/10
SOUND VALUE: Cannot apply


INTRO
Aroma Audio is an high end earphones company based in China. They create high end IEM since 2015 and have a solid fan base here on Headfi. They seem to specialize in hybrid and tribrid IEM. I didn't find much info about their story so I can't share anything more.
Today I will review their Thunder high-end IEM, which is an hybrid with 1 dynamic driver and 10 balanced armature.

Having tested about 20 pairs of earphones priced between 1000 and 4000$, let see in this review if the Thunder worth the big investment or is just a niche product for those audio enthusiast with too much money to spent.

CONSTRUCTION

Since these are loaner unit from a gentle canadian friend, I don't have all packaging and accessories so I will only comment on the IEM and cable.
The IEM construction is OK, nothing mind blowing, it use medical grade resin plastic and have a rather uninspired design.The housing is big and chunky with very thick nozzle, so, for people with small ear hole it might be too much. They are light and have a recessed tuning switch that need a tool or nail to be able to use.
I do encounter driver flex issue, but it's perhaps due to my ears.
At this price, the construction is underwhelming.But the cheap cable is even more underwhelming and quite an insult for serious consumers. As seen in the pic above, its similar quality level as the BQEYZ KC2 cable, which is a 35$ IEM. So, this cable cost less than 5$. This is unnaceptable for a 2500$ IEM and sure have a marketing strategy of making you invest in a cable upgrade. I find this approach quite cynical. The owner of these IEM underline me how bad and disapointing is the cable, and let say i feel very empathic for him so come on Aroma, you can do better! PM me, i can suggest you lot of great cable company with 10-30$ cables that will feel like TOTL compared to this joke.


SOUND IMPRESSIONS


The Aroma Thunder is all about smooth near neutral immersive balance, it wanna cuddle you in it's fully resolved tonality and intimate surrounding. It's not here to impress you with vivid treble or big bass boom, it's not an IEM using easy wow effect tricks to entertain the listener and tend instead to favor the fullness of presence over other part of frequency. Well, in fact, since it have 2 tuning choice, you do have the choice between a warmer bassier balance (Focus mode) or crisper more neutral and transparent musicality (Harmony mode).
The tonal balance can go from warm and thick L shape tonality to smooth, clean and airy (near neutral) U shape depending of tuning switch choice. You can decide if you want bass warmth to embrace tonality and boost lower mid range or go for a more lean and gently analytical tonality.

One thing that merit applause, its how cohesive the 10 balanced armature are tuned in a liquid organic way without any spike or harshness. The dynamic driver doesn't feel detached but to my ears do have a slightly warmer and denser timbre that can be perceive, in Focus mode the DD inflict warmth that thicken mids and tend to make overall listen more laid back.

In this review i will mostly describe the Harmony mode, because it's easy to imagine Focus mode: just add warmth that thicken timbre but affect transparency and resolution. Focus mode tend to affect negatively the technical precision and accuracy, but can be perceive as offering a more natural timbre, which is mostly positive for vocal that gain in lower mids harmonic.

So, in Harmony mode, the Thunder is far from being a fun or basshead tuning, it's not a treble head tuning either, but what we can call mature neutral that doesn't go analytical or cold sounding and have just enough bass boost to offer proper dynamic and note weight.

The bass is more about (colored) quality than quantity here, and it's safely tuned to avoid any fatigue induce by too loud punch. Tone and weight is favor above texture and proper definition and separation. We have more su bass boost with just enough mid bass boost to offer proper slam. I might not be for basshead, but the punch is there and well felt, with a warm transition to mid range, not a clean separation. The extension is deep with vibrant and thick rumble, not a lean and clean extension so for contrabass it will lack texture and extension stability making the string feel a bit mor hit than plucked. The bass is thick and well layered, it's not very resonant in impact, so toms instrument will lack a bit of fidelity in their acoustic propagation. It's not the fastest bass not the tightest. It's well rounded and offer juicy grunt that permit electric bass line to be well extracted (more so than acoustic). When you go Focus mode, the slam is warmer, thicker and a bit more impactfull, and the rumble have more headroom which stole spatial deepnest of Harmony mode.
I find the bass performance average for the price, and would say the same if the Thunder was selling for 1500$ less. It's too safe in proper punch definition and energy to be truely engaging and the dynamic feel tamed too, kick drum isn't very easy to perceive in presence and separation between bass and kick is dark, both instrument feeling at same amplitude level.

The mid range is the highlight of the Thunder, and more you listen to it, more you are rewarded with it's understated and cohesive richness. In Harmony mode it's transparent with realist timbre free of harsh grain or overly boosted texture. Thunder doesn't struggle to present each instrument in its full singularity, each of team being carved in 3D rendering with smoothed definition edge that can make the mids feel darker than they truely are in fact. That's the marvel here, it's smooth yet highly detailed mid.While a bit thin with Harmony mode,the Focus mode go notably warmer and thicker, but to the cost of resolution and transparency. So, you have both choice between lush or lean mid range.
Harmony mode offer excellent imaging capacity, it feel open and deep in spatiality and near analytical in presentation. The attack is fast and thighs, more so than bass DD driver. Unlike lower end hybrid or multi-BA, the piano note attack have natural and clean resonance, it's refined and don't feel noisy in sustain-release.
These are the kind of mids that favor male vocal over female vocal. Male vocal are fuller bodied while female vocal are more about presence and have thinner body. We can say the same for bassoon against saxophone or piano against clavichord.

Now, the treble is quite detailed and snappy, but not very agressive nor very sparkly or airy. It does have minimum of openess to it as well as enough brilliance edge to permit acoustic guitar attack being well define, but whatever how much balanced you add, you will never get the sparkle with natural decay of a dynamic driver or EST. But this can mean half cooked treble too, which isn't the case at all for the Thunder wich is full and gently crunchy enough with rich treble texture that will extract every details of percussions in a very elegant and delicate way. With the Thunder, you will not miss any percussions info, which are presented in fast and accurate way, very clean and well timed, if the kick drum was as well resolve, i would suggest those to drummer for pristine monitoring of their playing.
Nonetheless, these are near master of jazz trio, for blues too it might offer tremendous immersive and accurate experience, while for classical it's hit or miss, due to thin violin presentation that have fast and abrasive attack but not the most pleasant timbre. Electric guitar too sound a bit thin and tamed in dynamic, but the presence is textured and detailed enough.

Spatiality is rather intimate, in the sens its average wide and tall but have rich deepness to it. This is due to center stage being a bit more recessed too, which explain some part of mid range being thinner than other. But we can dig in transparent sound layer in all freedom, which is a sign of high fidelity rendering.

Imaging is excellent, very accurate and precise even if not the most spacious in instrument separation when it come to bass and mids. Treble have more space, for ex, percussions doesn't feel compressed at all and add slight sens of stereo openess.

SIDE NOTE:

The Aroma Thunder don't benefit big amping but clean stable audio source with low impedance. They sound better at low gain with both the Hiby RS6 and Moondrop Dawn 4.4 which was mostly used for this review. RS6 pairing tend to make mids a bit more upfront, bodied and natural sounding, while Dawn 4.4 add a bit of spatial openess and deepness.
I struggle alot to find proper ear tips with those, and finaly go for short wide bore ear tips that open up headroom a bit and improve imaging and layering of bass, mids and treble. With those tips, i encounter driver flex which is certainly worrysome for an IEM of this price, but this might be due to my ears.
The stock cable is very underwhelming and justify fast upgrade, i get cleaner more dynamic and open sound with Tri Grace S cable.
The tuning switch is a little annoying since it's recessed and you need a tool or nail to push it, so, it's not very practical if on the go you want some vocal euphony while your on Harmony mode.

Construction and design is a bit underwhelming for this price bracket, in fact, back design motif are very same as Kiwi Ear Cadenza, plastic quality too, medical grade. The fact 2pin connector are flush on a curved body make cable connection not very well secure, so be cautious to not wear those under the rain since on water drop under 2pin connector can equal in dramatic damage.

Now, this is the part where i want to get philosopher about sound benefit we get with this very IEM. We can begin by saying those IEM are aimed for rich people and not true audiophile from middle or lower class. I would not say this for the Final A8000, GSaudio SE12, nor the UM Mext, and to a less extend, not even for the pricer Fir Audio Xenon 6.
Why? Because we get (long term) WoW effect with all of those, but no truely exciting one with the Thunder unless you haven't listen to alot of IEM in different price range like I do, which is very possible.
Sure, treble speed, details and snap did impress, but it doesn't stand apart in term of quality, spatiality and especially extension. These IEM doesn't age well due to fast tech evolution and especially electro static drivers that are implemented in tribrid to permit proper sparkle, air and brilliance BA just can't achieve.
So, the benefit return here is near 0. Because the Thunder are a ''Jack of all trades, Master of none'' earphones at a price range that should promise something different, engaging and highly impressive in musical experience. Simply put, if i was rich I would be a kilobucks high end IEM collector and these will most likely take dust, while Sony Z1R and even bass light Shure KSE1500 (i'm not that afound off) will not take dust.
Thats my personal opinion based on real money value. IEM priced above 1000$ should deliver a sound experience we want to go back into eagerly, that trigger emotionality and wow effect, in a well balanced but very engaging way. This can be achieve in all tonal balance possible.


COMPARISONS



VS MANGIRD XENN UP (1DD+4BA+2EST-700$)

The Up are more of a crisp smoothly balanced W shape which make the Thunder feel mid centric and warmer, yet not lacking in layering capabilities.
Bass of the Thunder is warmer, looser and less punchy than more define and texture bass of the UP which seem faster and more controlled. Mids are thicker, darker, less transparent with more smoothed upper mids, so attack is less edgy and define, more foggy, layering while decent is more muddy and less clean in separation than UP. Up have thinner but more textured timbre, it have greater sens of openess too and imaging for mids range is notably superior, less dark and warmly saturated.
Treble is notably more extended, crisper and sparklier with the Up, again ,Thunder have a thick presentation, smoother and fuller sounding treble but less sharp in resolution, less define in attack, less generous in micro details. Sens of air is very present with the UP while lacking with the Thunder. The EST of the UP certainly add more brilliance and well felt attack timing, which is lacking with the Thunder.
Spatiality is notably more open, wider, taller and deeper with the UP, while more intimate with the Tunder, so with the Up you feel in front of stage and with the Thunder in middle of the band.
Imaging is superior in all department with the UP, both in proper spacing for separation and proper transparency for sound layering articulation.

All in all, The UP is superior in technical performance byt quite a big margin, yet for tonality it will depend since its very different, but personally i prefer more mature and refined harman target inspire tuning for the UP over smooth mid centric to bassy neutral balance of the Thunder.

VS GSaudio SE12 (8BA+4EST-950$)

Now we have a dynamic driver less hybrid that is notably more vivid, sharp and bright, as well as thinner sounding, more airy, detailed and technical.
The SE12 is all about speed, resolution and snap, it offer spikier W shape balance with faster more define but less extended bass. What hit first is how fuller sounding and more cohesive the Thunder sound, how timbre is more warm and natural but resolution a notch darker on top, again, we have more mids presence and body which make both male and female vocal more enjoyable and wider in presence than S12. Here, we feel S12 is more V shape, then the treble extend furter, open up spatiality in deepness with more recessed center stage. So, overall treble is more thick and organic, smoother and less fatiguing with the Thunder so you can enjoy your music in a laid back way free of fatigue.
Let say if you seek wow effect, the 4 est of the SE12 sure deliver that more than the more understated (and balanced) highs of Thunder. Treble is notably faster, snappier and better separated and define that the Thunder, level of micro details offering is way higher too.
Spatiality is similar in wideness, but taller and deeper with the S12. Imaging is sharper, more accurate, precise and analytical.

There no doubt that technical performance wise, the S12 is from another league, but tonal balance is more cohesive and smoother with the Thunder, yet you most force yourself to be engage within it's niche, safe and wannabe natural tonality.



VS Fir Audio Xenon 6 (1 kinetic DD+4BA+1EST-3900$)

Ok, we are into big boi battle here and well, only thing these 2 have in common is the overall natural and laiback musicality, presented in a very different manner and tonal balance.
The Thunder is more neutral to mid centric with sub bass boost while Xe6 is more bassy L shape to warm W shape. What hit first is how more closed and intimate sound the Thunder compared to wider more open and holographic sounding Xe6.
Then it's the bass, which is more boosted in punch, deeper in rumble and extension and more physical with the Xe6 (especially with bass tuning module), the rumble is more sustain thich and vibrant, it feel better layered too, the kinetic DD make us think their 2DD in there, bypassing limit of lower end acoustic law. With Thunder, kick and sub bass line can feel on same level and lack proper articulation difference in dynamism, while the Xe6 can offer both full bodied bass line and kick punch without canceling each other dynamism.
The mids are notably fuller sounding and more natural, vocal blossom in a wide way and feel more compressed and artificial with the Thunder. Timbre is denser and better in timbral balance fullness. Its not as detailed and transparent, yet, sound layer have more space for proper articulation.We can say Focus mode is slightly more similar in tonality, but suddenly darker, so again, its Harmonic mode i compare too here. Treble is the part we technical performance is superior with the Thunder, yet, less open and musical as well as less sparkly. EST offer sharper brilliance and more decay to sparkle. When it come to lower treble, it's smoother too but fuller, so violin sound more natural and bodied, lusher than Thunder. Overall treble is thinner and colder with the Thunder too.
Spatiality is night and day difference here, the Xenon 6 is way way wider and taller, more holographic and center stage isn't as recessed so it's a bit less deep than Thunder that have a ''tunnel vision'' spatiality.
Imaging is more realist with the Xe6 but your even more in middle of music, it's more 3D and holographic, while it feel more static with extra highs positioning for the Thunder.

All in all, the Fir Xe6 sound more musical and less technical than the Thunder, offer more mids body and lush presence as well as more physical and punchy bass experience and smoother but sparklier treble. Their no doubt the musicality is way more engaging and emotional with Xe6 and could justify an impulsive car selling to enjoy this sound experience, while for the Thunder I will not even sale my rusted old bike.

CONCLUSION



The Aroma Thunder are ''Jack of all trades, Master of None'' IEM, and being so at very high asking price is not really a good news.
If you are seeking for wow effect or intensely engaging or emotional musicality, look somewhere else.
If your seeking for a safe tuning that can go from clean transparent U shape to warm gently bassy L shape, this might be an interesting buy, but at this price the sound benefit is very low or inexistant.
My biggest qualm about these is small soundstage, poor bass separation and thin mid range (especially in Harmony mode)
And well, the price, if i can omit thinking about sound value even in term of musicality my subjective enjoyment isn't met, it lack dynamic heft, mids presence and fullness and spatial wideness.
All in all, it's not an IEM I would suggest to anybody caring about their hard earned money.

The Mangird Xenn Up can be found for 5 times less money (550$ on Ali) and is superior in all department to the Thunder.

Out of the Blue CAT EAR MIA Mini-review:

TONALITY: 7.5/10
TECHNICALITIES: 7/10
CONSTRUCTION&DESIGN: 8.5/10
VALUE: 7.5/10

The Plus: Warm thick immersive sound, balanced yet fun tuning, cohesive tonality-musicality, mostly pleasant mellow mid-bass slam, interesting construction and design, lush timbre, wide soundstage with right eartips, price drop from 100$ to 70$, cool package and case and OK cable

The SO-SO: Subpar technicalities, no silence to be found anywhere, poor imaging, darkish treble with slight micro-details boost that feel unbalanced, muddy layering, slightly recessed dry female vocal, bad bass articulation-control, poor clarity-definition, price value

I do like the thick-bassy-sounding MIA, it's what I call a guilty pleasure because it isn't a mature-sounding IEM neither a very talented one in terms of technicalities like attack snap and speed, clarity, imaging and natural decay. But at least tonality holds up together naturally and have a dynamic laid back sound that entertains you and doesn't agress you with harsh treble or overly boomy-bleedy bass.

Construction is refreshingly great and quite unique for bullet shape IEM. It feel extremely solid and has a well-embeded metal MMXC connector. It feel quite premium for the price. Cable is good too, and even greater if you believe in the miracle of -196℃ Cryogenic treatment, cause yes it seem everything got this luxury treatment. Anyway, cable do sound clean! Packaging have generous accessories of good quality including beautiful carrying case.



TONALITY is mellow V to W shape, with hefty mid bass, gentle mids and mid treble texture emphasis, upper treble being roll off rather fast. It's thick and well mixed as dark sirup, not maple sirup neither honey cause it isnt transparent sounding. Layers are dense and a hint grainy-unbalanced in texture. Timbre is still above average in terms of naturalness and the sound is fully bodied as a whole.

TECHNICALITIES are very average. Imaging lack clarity and space and air to be well articulated. Attack lack bite and definition. Layering can add up until saturation point. Bass is a bit boomy and extension is restraint but the slam is thick and weighty, well rounded and well balanced with the rest of the spectrum. Mids are lush, rich in texture and thick in body but a hint recessed and mixed up. Treble is crunchy and again quite natural in body density, though it lack sparkle and attack decay which can make some percussion splashy.

COMPARISONS:

VS Ibasso IT00 (80$): IT00 is warmer and more organic in timbre, have better transparency and layering, its even darker in treble section but have better macro-resolution, its better balanced and less V shape, vocal sound fuller and wider, soundstage is taller deeper about same wide, timbre is more natural especially in lower-mid treble, bass is warmer-darker,

VS KZ EDX (7$): KZ is brighter more vivid and detailed, bass is better separated and controlled but less full and weighty and less boosted (so less rumble too), more W shape vs V shape for MIA, timbre is more textured-nuanced but a bit more clinical too, vocal are more intimate and centered, imaging is notably better, soundstage is deeper but less wide, attack is snappier, tonality is rougher and less permissive of harsh recording.

NO GIMMICK CONCLUSION:
Cat Ear trigger my attention with a cohesive dynamic tuning that merits further refinement. The construction is refreshing too as well as whole product presentation. Timbre and tonality is impressive for a chifi, though everything else doesnt compete with sub-100$ single DD like HZsound Mirror which is from another league and cost 20$ less.




PS: thanks to HiFi Go for the review unit.

This is a detailed video review, so please give a look and subscribe, i feel video format is infortmative for showing user interface of DAPs, their will be more DAP reviews on this channel, upcoming one being Questyle QP2R and Hidizs AP80 PRO X!

Disclaimer: This RS2 was loan to me by a friend, so i have zero incentitive, obligation or self interest to do a review, which would have been as honest even if it was a review sample.
You can order the Hiby RS2 for 480$ directly from official store here:https://hiby.com/products/hiby-rs2CONSTRUCTION is good enough, all metal with the back covered with tempered glass. The jacks are of good quality, gold plated and not plastic which is more fragile. Buttons are lacking proper click pressure and can be hard to press properly with the case for blind control. Touch screen is too small for my big thumbs but work properly. Overall interface is intuitive enough but the switch to unlock screen isn't really practical, you can press2 times the screen, but a button would be better...it lack buttons in fact, its that simple.
TONALITY
I can't quality this DAP as neutral sounding since it have a warm W shape balance to it were mid bass feel boosted in body and presence, mids are lush and focus and treble is smooth and rolled off on top. This is surely due to amping section since in DAC mode it sound more crisp airy neutral. Yet, musicality have a sens of openess and free layering, with natural dense timbre, euphonic edge to definition that can tame loudness peak in upper mids, which seem softed.
Its a laid back analog like musicality, with slightly dark resolution in DAP mode but a sens of richness still, very pleasant and immersive, due to an holographic spatiality that is all about lush layering. This is refreshing sound from a DAP, since most of them sound overly digital. Non over sampling mode sound slightly more natural too, unforced in definition and more articulate in dynamic rendering.
Smooth, euphonic and fully bodied in bass and mids, warm way, is how i would describe the tonality, which is all about musical magnification.

TECHNICAL PERFORMANCE
Here, its good but not mind blowing, this isn't a technical sounding DAP, its not the cleanest sound and background noise floor isn't the blackest. Imaging feel hint blurry, attack lack sharp accuracy and precision in timing, sustain-release is thicken and doesnt deliver clean resonance. As say, layering is great, dynamic too, note weight and openess of instruments presence is there.

AMPING
We have good power and not too high impedance output, so balanced way you can drive about anything but ultra hungry headphones. 320mw is plenty. Single ended can drive sensitive IEM like Audiosense T800 without distortion and hiss, T800 are 9ohm and impedance output of SE is 0.5ohm, which is versatile enough.
OK, you can give a look to my video for more detailed sound impressions and comparisons with Questyle RS2 and Tempotec V6.

CONCLUSION is: I love the RS2 and tend to favor musicality over overly technical sounding DAP, since we can boost technical performance bypassing the DAP amplification with Line out, we have best of both world with RS2. Battery life is excellent too, yet interface isn't as intuitive as i wish and sound tweaking with digital filters and even NOS OS mode isn't having biggest incidence on sound, so in that regard, a DAP with multiple soundsignature is still something to dream off.
Hiby RS2 is one of most natural sound DAP I ever head and let say that we need more of non-android DAP like this!

-SUPERLUX HD381 REVIEW-

 
 
After 2 weeks of use, I already feel Necessary to review the SUPERLUX HD381. Why? Because they are simply mind blowing for a sub-30$ earphones!!
In the last 2 month I have listen to about 20 pairs of different chinese brands earphones and it was a revolution for me that is use to spend way more money to find good sounding earphones. I was already a owner of Vsonic GR06, but do not feel this earphones was really a bang for the buck at 60$ compared to more popular brands like Sony, Yamaha, Sennheiser, Westone, Shure etc. My real surprise happen with the Xiaomi V2 that was less than 20$ at the time and deliver a very impressive and addictive V-Shaped sound that drive me to use them more than way pricier earphones I have in my collection. Before the HD381 I try the HD381B and was madly deceive, I wasn't able to want to listen at them because the sound was so badly tweaked it was like taking off musicality of your favorite tracks, who want that? Now, with the Superlux HD381 we are in another league....at a cheaper price (depending where you buy them), this earphones have enormous airy soundstage, big bass that doesn't drown the mids, impressive texture and details, and just the right sound signature spot between brigthness and warmness. Really, can't be more enthusiast about an earphones (even if I don't think about the price tag)!
 
CONSTRUCTION and DESIGN:
Superlux isn't know for fancy construction, they sell cheap headphones and earphones that have the goal of being enough serious looking and sounding to be used by professionnal and musicians and yes serious Audiophile on budget. This earphones have and average all plastic construction, the cable is cheap and easily brokable but you get and extension L cable that is very usefull. They aren't beautifull neither ugly, and the earshell have an interesting form with somekind of hole and damping material in the front wich inflict on the soundstage performance I guess. Their no Left right marking, just a red spot to know wich earphones is the left one. The HD381 are very comfortable and the cable tangling do not produce microphonic sound. The earshell go out of your ears a little, so it isn't really advice to sleep with them as they are too big (long). The eartips include with them do a good job, but as always, I use my favorite memory foam tips that do better for noise cancelation and long listening comfort.
 

 
 
 
 
SOUND IMPRESSIONS :
 
First time I put the HD381 in my ears and press play buttom on my Xduoo X3 I barely fall of my chair, I really but really wasn't thinking it would sound that good and precious. I don't say the sound is 300$ worth, it's only one dynamic driver in a particular earshell afterall, but the whole sound experience is so well articulate and wide, it's like having monitor earphones with extra bass and a fun soundsignature. The presentation is airy and authoritative at the same time, with excellent instruments separation and sound imaging, good texture and details but not in an analytical micro details focused way. It's all about musicality here and a very versatile one.
 
LOWS:
I think that even if the lows aren't extremely bumped, bass head with various music taste will adore the bass performance. It is round, punchy, with good decay and texture, and can deal with acoustic and digital bass. The bass sound as good with jazz than with rap, perhaps basshead will like more sub-bass, anyway, we got the sub bass too with these but they do not corrupt the sound and drown other frequencies like with other excellenet earphones as the LETV Reverse. This mean it's a little brighter too, but very very little, it's because the treble is extended and permit this texture we have with cello or slap bass that give realism to the sound presentation. Compared to the Tennmak Dulcimer, bass is less boomy but permit a more neutral sound that give a better instruments separation and details retreival. We don't fell the bass stole the show, but is a vital part of the show.
 
MIDS:
The HD381 excell in low and mid frequencies range. The vocals are over average fowards and did not have the drawback of V shaped sound signature. It is very present and textured, did not feel harsh and is more warm than bright, even if the treble is well extended and can reveal background noise of bad recording. The sound is wide and envelopping, and as I listen to Agnes Obel right now (with Fiio E7), I feel overwhelmed by beauty, it is like being in a big room with her and having the chance to taste all the subtility of her magnificent voice. No strange mids bump here, it is like an amplified neutrality (hum, yes). The soundsignature is not clinical at all, and when I talk about neutrality I talk about a musical one, not a dead serious monitoring one. Now I listen to Linda Perhacs on my Ibasso Dx80, this is a very good album to test mids and whole frequencies capacity because it have lots of instruments, texture and micro details...not alot of earphones can deal with this recording but another time the Superlux HD381 excell! All background voices layers are well rendered and separate, with front signers in the front seat, cymbal, guitars, textures, energy, I really can hear EVERYTHING and to be honnest, i'm not even sure it never happen with any earphones I use, here, we have zero congestion even if we throw hundreds of different sound in this little earshells...sound imagery is magnificent and wide...okay, enough.
 
HIGHS:
Not because other frequencies range are the stars that the highs are rolled off here, nope, the treble is full of sparkle and super extended, wich can lean thinking this is bright earphones. I can't say they are bright cause I find them warm sometime, can't say I find them warm cause I find them bright other time, so, what term to use? I don't know, musical with good warmnest and brightish treble? We can find micro details here, easily, and nothing sound metallic or hissy like the cymbals extension can sound with bright analitycal earphones. The highs are simply not overly focused but can be easily heard as they participate naturally in the whole spectrum of sound presentation. I listen now to Cartography by Arve Henriksen, a complexe ambient jazz album that mix acoustic and electronic instruments, have lot of textural sound and different frequencies in it, a very difficult album to enjoy with earphones because of the envelopping experience we search with this kind of music, if it was too bright it will sound distracting and spoil the whole experience. The HD381, another time, don't deceive at all, saxophone is wide and go up to the top, micro detials are good but not extremely sparkly and more neutral so we can heard much more different details in fact and the sound live in a wide well rendered sound imagery. If the highs are suppose to be agressive it will be too, some snare hit was like this in the album and perfectly rendered. Yes, the HD381 got it ALL!!!
 
CONCLUSION:
I think you already know it: I ADORE this earphones and since I have them I obssessively listen to them even if I have earphones that cost 50-100 and even 500$. Not that the HD381 beat them in all category, it's the musicality and versatility of the sound that I like, I can choose any music style with them and it will sound good or excellent. I say this without thinking the supremely absurb price I paid for them...if I think about this too, I will became insane trying to understand how they could acheive this kind of masterpeice that beat most of sub-100$ earphones I ever heard.
 
!!!!!!!!MORE THAN HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!!!!!
 

 

TONALITY: 7.5/10
TECHNICALITIES: 9.5/10
CONSTRUCTION: 8.5/10
ACCESSORIES: 8.5/10
SOUND VALUE: 9/10

INTRO

Geekwold is a chinese audio company that specialize in hybrid and tribrid earphones, cabled and TWS way. They aren't well known in western world, but have good success in China.
The only IEM I have try from them is the entry level tribrid Geek Wold GK10 which is a 2DD+1BA+2piezoelectric IEM that encounter lot of quality check issue and receive mixed opinion. My pair work well but doesn't offer a well balanced tonality, still i've find it's technical performance impressive for the price.

The GK100 I will review today is aimed to solve all issue of the GK10, begining with the quality check and built quality, which is greatly improved.
Priced 200$, it's a tribrid 9 drivers IEM with 2DD for bass, 1DD for mids, 2BA for lower and mid treble, and 4 piezo electric for upper highs and ultra highs.

''High resolution composite 2 balanced armature (high frequency)

Composite 2 high performance 8mm piezoelectric ceramics (high frequency)

Composite 2 high-performance 8mm piezoelectric ceramics (ultra-high frequency)

8mm DLC driver (middle frequency)

2 8mm dual cavity 2-way crossover coaxial dynamic, LCP diaphragm dynamic (low frequency) + composite titanium diaphragm dynamic (ultra-low frequency)''

This type of tribrid IEM in sub-200$ price range is exceptionaly rare, but this mean it's harder to tune in a cohesive way too, so let see in this review if both technical and musical performance is competitive enough and worth to be excited about.


CONSTRUCTION&ACCESSORIES




The construction os GK100 is quite good. It's made of thick resin plastic and have a metal nozzle. The 2pin connector feel solid but isn't perfectly flush with the shell, it's not a big deal because it does permit better fit than polised curvy connector.
The shell is big and chunky, but light and very smooth, this design isn't thinked for deep fit since nozzle is short and better fitted for shallow fit. The back plate is very beautifull and eye catching, giving a sens of artsy luxury to it.


All in all, the construction and design is impressive for the price and feel sturdy and durable.



And this isn't all, the included cable is just incredible. It's an Hakugei modular cable with 8 strands 6N single crystal copper silver-plated wire. Their 3 plug included: 2 balanced (2.5 and 4.4) and one 3.5mm single ended. This cable scream quality and durability, it's thick, flexible and smooth and don't create microphonic. It's eye catching and even feel like a bargain at it's 50$ MSRP. This is quite ironic to find a modular cable of this high quality after having review Hifiman Svanar that I praise sound wise, but rant intensely about it's basic cable.





But the GK100 is all about the IEM and cable, as well as maximizing price value. So, don't expect a fancy box and luxurious packaging. This is basic. The carrying case is basic, but big enough. And you have 6 pair of silicone ear tips. I don't use them, but they are similar to wide bore KBear KB07 ear tips I use. You have a cable clamp too, of nice quality, if your the kind of person to use this.
All in All. We have few accessories, but they are of very high quality and value.

SOUND IMPRESSIONS

To say the GK100 is overpacked with exotic drivers is an understatement. We have 2 different type of DD for low frequency, a DLC DD that cover full mid range, 2 composite BA for low and mid treble, 2 piezoelectric for highs and 2 other piezo for ultra highs.
This mean we have 6 driver for the treble only too. So, don't be surprise these IEM might be extremely appealing for treble head because main tonal focus of the GK100 is all about highs, texture and details!

This is why to my ears the GK100 offer a treble centric W shape balance, which i'm not afraid to call vividly analytical. It's bright, it's energic, it have a thumpy bass with impressive speed and sub and mid bass layering, full yet understated mid range and speedy snappy highs with sharp note definition and x-ray like resolution.

Those aren't bass head, but bass lover will be impress by the quality of low end, yet, it's evident that these will please people seeking very high technical performance and boosted resolution only multi driver tribrid can achieve. I would never suggest the GK100 for audio enthusiast favoring warm, mid centric, smooth, dark or laid back musicality, nor for those sensitive to naturalness of timbre or vocal.

But if you are like me when I begin my audiophile passion and discovery and was all about finding those IEM that can pick up the most micro details possible, the wow effect is guarantee here.

Now, even if logically I should begin with the treble section because it's the one that dominate the attention, I will describe how I hear the dynamic, punchy yet slightly distant sounding bass part.
Firstly, the 2 drivers permit a fluid layering between sub and mid bass, so you are able to discern the bass line and kick drum which have both full bodied presentation but are a bit close to each other, mixing their impact vibrancy. The rumble is fast in sustain and don't have amplify resonance, it's round and rich with vibrancy and air density. The slam can be quite heavy at high volume. Its not the cleanest and most transparent sub bass, but the speed of bass line is impressive with good definition and fundamental texture.
The mid bass is a hint warmer, strangely...their a mix of brightisth lower end with warmer punch sticken above it...oh, well, it might be due to titanium diaphragm of sub bass DD, which add a bit of grain to air vibration. So yes, bass line have sharper resolution than kick drum, yet, i would never say kick is too dark or not well rounded. We are really into a great bass quality territory here and in fact i would have love a bit more sub boost, or perhaps more spacious separation from mid range because while well layered it can feel a bit condensed with the mids which are leaner.
Yet this timbral imbalance between 2 DDs can affect the presentation of contrabass, where the fundamental will lack a bit of texture and bite, mix that with the slight sub bass roll off in linear extension around 50hz and you have a boomy contrabass.
This is less problematic for electric bass, which sound quite good in fact, abrasive, thick enough and lively in presence, but it will tend to swallow kick drum presence with it's more texture and bright and dynamic rendering.
Nonetheless, this is fascinating thumpy bass, tight and fast, where the presence is more focus than roundness density of body, yet, it's not bass light or bass less and offer lively punch with bass line with fast sustain-decay.

Keywords: textured sub bass and bass line, punch but not edgy mid bass, fast resonance-decay, not basshead nor bass light

The mid range is bright and boosted in presence, yet doesn't sound thin or dead flat too. We have good amount of lower mids and good sens of fullness but the upper mids are the most boosted part of the mids, this and treble texture of mids instrument will tend to affect tone and timbre naturalness negatively by over focusing on presence grain. But this isn't what I would call a disastrous mid range at all since both male and female vocal are fowards and clear, but in a bright way that boost the texture. At least, this isn't balanced armature mids, yet, the lower treble is deal with BA, this is the issue here, i would throw off those BA or at least damp them since they are in front nozzle (yep, I check) and add fuzzyness to texture, loudness to female vocal and texture spike to some instrument like contrabass, saxophone and woodwinds instruments.
But the GK100 surprisingly do well with piano, a sign that we have a full mid range without scooped fundamental for proper note weight. Yep, we have both the texture sharp definition of note stroke and the weight of it, not ultra heavy not warm, but we feel the hit of each piano note and this is wonderfull for a sub-200$ IEM. So the mids are highly resolved, have great imaging and layering capacity, a speedy attack with great bite and enough transparency, it's a monitor like mid range we can say, not a melodious, lush or highly musical. The GK100 are technical sounding but not plain clinical due to the bass boost and slight mid bass warmth that embrace lower mids.
Instrument and vocal are edgy in definition, full in tone, hyper realist and magnify in texturing and fast in decay without being shouty like alot of DD+BAs hybrid (anything KZ for ex). It's not the most open and clean sounding presentation since their too much sound info going on, silence have ''texture'' too with the GK100.

Keywords: bright and very detailed, edgy definition and weighty note weight, excellent layering and presence clarity, nice but very fowards and loud female vocal or violin

And the treble, the bright star of the show, the pumped up details maestro! It's logical that the highs range need more drivers since it cover from 5khz to 20khz, yet most of IEM will concentrate treble effort up to 10khz. So, the question here is: did the piezo driver can replace EST, which with supreme quality DD are only drivers able to properly produce sparkle and natural decay?
The answer is no. The ceramic piezo have a rougher attack, less flexible in snap for proper sparkle resonance sustain-release. Piezo are similar to magnetostatic in timbre and attack release,its more crunchy and less crisp than an EST. At least, based on my subjective empirism. Speed wise, all of these are crazy fast and in fact the piezo seem to be fastest driver of them all in the GK100.
But we have those 2 BAs too, for lower and mid treble and they are quite excited too, in a different way, more about grain, texture, loudness of presence edge.…
Ok, enough disgression: the highs are bright and crunchy in lower treble, abrasive and detailed in mid treble and snappy, brilliant, ultra speedy and energic and in your face un upper section.
These are extremely revealing highs, that boost the whole resolution big time and and extra spatial dynamism and attack edge to the lively, immediate musicality we are rushed into.
The percussions are crazy detailed, thight and fast in timing, well define in each stroke, and in your face too, they can be overwhelming sometime and stole the show to anything else in music, with some piano jazz trio it was very problematic since the drummer seem 5m in front of pianist.…
As it pick up lotta sound info and micro details, listening to some track can become a psychadelic experience with the GK100. I mean, their infinity of it and again, this can distract you from main singer sometime, but for instrumental music it can magnify immersivity and richness of it's one-of-a-kind analytical musicality.

I listen to wide range of music style and the GK100 tend to impress me with acoustic music using guitar (not electric or distorted), violin, clavichord and to a less extend harp. It have this bright snappy bite in lead attack that is very engaging and excting, violin or guitar plucking is highly resolve and dynamic, doesn't sound thin or dry, have hint of appealing brilliance and sens of texture fullness that certainly impress.

Keywords: Vividly detailed and analytical, high amount of micro details, excellent separation and attack speed, hint fuzzy crash cymbals, non forgiving of bad recording or background hiss

The Soundstage isn't the highlight of the GK100. It's quite tall and deep but lack wideness and proper sens of openess. It feel like your in a small studio with 3 monitor speaker, center one being 2meter away, while stereo one being 1 meter away. To some extend, we can say GK100 can sound in your head too.

But this doesn't mean the imaging is bad, since now were into one of main highlight of the GK100. If I praise crisp and ultra detailed resolution as being analytical, it does mean instrument placement is clear and well define. Even with fast complex busy track ,the excellent layering of instrument will be preserve, but space between instrument in X axis will not be very wide and clean. This doesn't mean accuracy is bad at all, I don't struggle to pin point instrument position with the GK100 even if it feel it's stock in a tunnel and a hint compressed in stereo channel separation.

COMPARISONS



VS MAEAOS EAGLE (2DD+2BA-150$)

Simply put, the Eagle is like supreme downgrade version of the GK100, its a bright wonky W shape that put all details in your face, but in a unbalanced and uneven way.
Bass is less punchy, have inferior separation between sub and mid bass, less texture too, sub bass bleed way more on mid bass and lower mids and is less fast in attack. Mids are horrifious with the Eagle, they are more shouty, thin and fatiguing, timbre is off and tone too, and it feel more recessed, its all about upper mids here but shouty way. Treble is dryer, less extended more shouty and less generous in micro details as well as more fuzzy in definition edge, GK100 treble is cleaner, more extended, snappy and sparkly and more resolved in a effortless way.
Soundstage is wider, taller and deeper with the GK100 and feel compressed with the Eagle. Imaging is notably superior too, without a mid range scoop and it's crisper, more accurate in positioning.

All in all, their zero doubt that for 50$ more the GK100 feel like a TOTL IEM compared to the technicaly and tonaly inferior Eagle.

VS KINERA IDUN GOLDEN 2.0 (1DD+2BAs-190$)

The Golden is more neutral and mid centric, smoother and warmer too. The bass is less boosted, warmer in punch, less well define and notably more rolled off in sub bass. Mids are more fowards, lusher, smoother and fuller with a more natural timbre and wider less compressed presence. Vocal are way better with the Golden. GK100 mids is brighter and more detailed and transparent, have superior imaging but more agressive upper mids, dryer thinner timbre and more distant presence. The treble is way more vivid, snappy and detailed with the GK100, it make the Golden feel not very extended, lacking brilliance and airy openess, level of micro details is higher with Gk100 too, but overall dynamic is louder and can induce more fatigue than more buttery highs of the Golden.
Soundstage is notably wider with the Golden, but less tall and deep. Imaging is sharper and more accurate and crisp with the GK100.

All in all, GK100 is superior technicaly but not as cohesive and musical in balance than the Kinera which have fuller and more natural and fowards mids but darker and less detailed treble and bass.


CONCLUSION



The GeekWold GK100 is one-of-a-kind IEM that certainly will leave nobody indifferent by pushing the bundaries of sound resolution to a level i've never heard under 200$ and in fact perhaps in all price range of 300 IEMs i've try. The only IEM that come to my mind offering a level of resolution that WoW me that much is the Unique Melody Mext.

While the tonality will please more the treble head, and while i would not suggest those to treble sensitive people, it's not out of wack violently bright IEM and in fact tonal balance is well done with such high number of different drivers.

I mean, these aren't for mid centric or timbre lover because they will perceive slight timbral imbalance or texture boost that can affect their sens of musical enjoyment, but it's really cohesive in its vividly analytical musicality and hard to fault in the main goal this IEM try to achieve which is: magnify resolution, note definition and analytical imaging.

The GK100 push the limit of technical performance to it's breaking point and achieve something inimaginable at this price range. Unlike the cheaper GK10 that receive mixed impressions due to bad quality check (look at graphs on the net) and questionnable tonal balance, the GK100 is a way more serious IEM with better outside and inside built quality and good channel matching.

The sound value in term of technicalities is sky high with the GK100 and for this very reason, they are highly recommended from me.





-------------------
PS: I want to thank Penon Audio for sending me this review sample, after I manifest my sincere curiosity of this 9 drivers tribrid GK100. As always, i'm not affiliated, nor officialy sponsored, nor pay, nor influenced by the price value of this free sample since I've review so much more expensive IEMs....those are my honest subjective sound impressions.


You can order the Geek Wold GK100 for 200$ here: https://penonaudio.com/geek-wold-gk100.html

-BQEYZ AUTUMN REVIEW-



If you hoped one day to be able to support two big speakers on your shoulders, immediately stop your bodybuilding sessions and opt instead for a unique earphones that offer a similar experience: The BQEYZ AUTUMN!

But what can this B-Q-E-Y-Z gibberish mean? Um, this is actually an epiphany, a message that a Chinese audio entrepreneur heard in a dream, even though he didn't understand English, this phrase '' Best-Quality-Earphones-for -You '' strike his mind. The appearance of the Z still remains a mystery. The other theory is that a team of entrepreneurs was playing scrabble to find their audio company name and that they were not very talented at the game.

Still, this company has experience behind the audio tie and has been in the industry for over 7 years. BQEYZ has won the respect of tight budget audiophiles thanks to their hybrid IEMs offering crazy sound benefits. The KC2, K2 and KB100 are all hybrids selling under the $ 50 mark, delivering detailed, balanced, and surprisingly refined sound for a ridiculous price. While everyone throws themselves on overexcited KZs in the low-medium-high peaks, the BQEYZs remain in the shadows but pass the test of time.

I could talk about this company for a long time, because it has fascinated me for years, why? Because it is INNOVATIVE! Yes, and creative! For example, they uses a sophisticated acoustic chamber for their IEM (yes, I opened them out of curiosity, and that confirmed my admiration while unsettling my understanding of the possibility of profit at such a low price). It modifies their balanced driver using filters to soften their projection, and this well ahead of other chifi companies including the giant FIIO. But above all, they designed unique (and patented) technologies such as a dynamic + piezo electric transducer duo which was used for their SPRING 1 and 2 and Summer IEM.

Today, I am going to do a little review of their latest IEM, the AUTUMN, which continues to incorporate more than interesting acoustic innovations, this time thanks to magnetic modules allowing to change the low frequency response in a turn of hand. But that's not all, as the Autumn uses a large dynamic driver, i.e. 13mm, and this has a huge influence on the type of sound presentation.

SCORE:

TONE: 8.5 / 10
TECHNICITY: 8/10
CONSTRUCTION-DESIGN: 9.5 / 10
SOUND BENEFIT: 8.5/10



Characteristics:-
> Large dynamic driver of 13 mm.
> Double cavity acoustic structure.
> Replaceable adjustment vents with a magnetic structure.
> Professional pairing offering pure sound with a wide soundstage.
CNC machined metal ear cavities> 5 axes. > Ergonomic and comfortable.
> High quality silver and copper hybrid cable.

Technical specifications:-
> Impedance: 46Ω.
> Sensitivity: 110dB.
> Frequency response range: 7Hz-40kHz.
> 0.78 mm 2-pin dividers.
> Available in three different plug options: 2.5mm / 4.4mm / 3.5mm.

CONSTRUCTION-DESIGN

Well, I'm not going to dwell on this subject, but here it is.
The build quality is excellent, a very solid metal shell, not easy to scratch-scratch, beautifully sculpted, a midnight blue with sumptuous play of reflections.
Neither too big nor too heavy, similar in size to the FIIO FH3, they have a comfortable ergonomic shape, with no sharp or unpleasant angles.
The 2pin connectors are securely indented in the shell, promising good durability.
The SPC cables is of excellent quality as well.



What distinguishes them from other intras are the replaceable vent modules, small metal washers with filter that we change with a magnetic stick, no more screw filter changes, now you can calibrate the bass level in a few seconds. And be addictive!

You have the choice between 3 filters:
Bass = the warmest and bassy sound
Normal = the roundest and most balanced sound
Treble = the cleanest sound in the highs and flat (but not anemic) in the bass

For this review, I'll focus on the NORMAL filter.

GENERAL SOUND IMPRESSIONS

What struck me most about the Autumns was the enormous spatial presentation, very tall and wide, open and out of my head. The instruments sound larger than life, extended in presence, a real 'sonorous niagara'. The spatial field surrounds us from all sides, in a circular manner, even behind our heads. Then, as I was used to the sonic timbres delivered by a mix of dynamic, balanced and piezo transducers from their older models, I was pleasantly surprised by the naturalness and density of the Autumn's timbre.
The tonal balance also impressed me with its organic cohesion, fleshy roundness and heavy dynamism.

SOUND SIGNATURE between V and W shape, with emphasis on mid-bass, midrange and the whole high range up to 10khz. Very well balanced and with the ability to adjust the bass but not make the highs suddenly bright and resonant. This kind of signature is on the edge of the target Harman and Dunu. The amplitude of the presences tends to extract the vocals and blown type instrument, to give weight to the piano note (good presence of low-midrange therefore).

The BASSES are quite warm, but nuanced and quite vibrant so versatile for both jazz, pop and classical. The strike is fleshy, heavy, and does not descend in all linearity, although it can move air in a unique way due to this 13mm driver, the relief is very round and the density very full, which benefits the cello as much. that a digital sub-bass type synthesizer. There's a lot of physicality to the impact, even if it's a bit loose and not super fast.

The MEDIUMS are central and have a broad frontal presence, they take the front and line the stage. The texture is polished, the timbre densified in body by the low harmonics and just transparent enough. The vocals are anything but thin, there is breath in them, a full body in relief, an open presentation. No disturbing sibilance or abrasiveness, soft and felted contours. The resolution is good without being incisive or analytical, the Autumn pushes forward the presence of the mediums in packet rather than in individual articulation, this favors a homogeneous musicality and rich in large sound layers. I would say that the attacks lack a bit of precision even if its physical articulation is excellent its cut lacks air and cleanliness in the "silence" between the instruments.

The HIGHs are full, have a 3D relief, a soft but controlled grip, the crash cymbals are fast and cut short without shouting but without great nuances in their clarity too. These highs don't extract a lot of micro-detail, don't have great sparkle and resonance, or extensive extension. They are a little aggressive around 8khz and the articulation lacks precision. Les Autumn delivers a huge wall of sound that is cohesive in its acoustic macroscopy, but which loses in holographic articulation when there are many excited instruments.

COMPARISONS

VS TRI I3pro (1DD + 1planar + 1BA- $ 170)

The I3Pro have a warmer, sloppier bass with a softer impact. Mids with higher resolution, faster and more defined attack, better transparency and less grainy texture. The highs are slimmer and brighter and deliver more micro-detail and yet faster attack. Tonally, it is a little more heterogeneous and colorful, less aggressive. Technically, it is more efficient but tonally less well balanced due to these bass that can blow on the rest of the spectrum.

VS MOONDROP KATO (1DD-190 $)

The Kato are more neutral, analytical and balanced, have a fuller and more abrasive trimbre. The bass is less up front, more textured and quick-controlled in their impact. The instrumental separation, resolution, transparency and attack are superior. The timbre is thinner in body. The treble more airy, resonant, brilliant. The more intimate and closed spatialization. Tonally and technically they are superior to Autumn but colder, drier and clinical in their presentation.


CONCLUSION

Although the Autumns are not masters of technicality, nor of resolution, the unique sound experience they deliver is highly addicting due to the vastness of spatial presentation which acts like a high, long wall of sound that surrounds it. the listener in a circular manner at 360 degrees.
A warm, autoritative and meaty bass tone that can have a basshead impact level with the 'Bass' filter, or highly cohesive and balanced with thick and present mids and highs just enough rough and energetic.
Easy to love except for those who are sensitive to instrumental separation or high section around 8khz, the Autumn are not easy to forget.

-----
PS: I would like to thank BQEYZ for the donation of these IEMs for the purpose of criticism. Never worry that the free or a big discount for an audio product positively affects my opinion, it has been so long that I criticize it that I am shielded from this kind of affect. I will continue to preserve my independent integrity, as well as my outspokenness, otherwise I will feel unworthy and dirty.

You can get these headphones for $200 through this official distributor:https://hifigo.com/products/bqeyz-autumn

PPS: A video review is coming very soon, so follow my youtube channel here:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv4rfIhJhTZzOxlZNrJaM2Q

KZxCRN (ZEX PRO CRINNACLE) REVIEW

TONE: 8.5/10
TECHNICALITIES: 7.5/10
BUILD: 8.5/10
SOUND BENEFIT: 8.8/10


Well, let's start this review by pointing out that I'm far, very far from being a fan of both KZ and the golden-eared pseudo-polemicist Crinnacle. But I'm curious and when I see a sound response graph that looks quite promising, I have to test these IEMs. As well, when it come to audio i’m unbiased and would never smear a product because it’s created or tuned by somebody i’m not afound off.

The fact that these KZ ZEX PRO CRNs had a very positive reception does not influence me in any way, let's say that this phenomenon of disproportionate euphoria is quite common with low budget intras, and rarely valid because in the end it is the tone that is appreciated. And this tone, making it beautifully cohesive is not easy for hybrid type intras, especially in low prices where the compromise is mainly in terms of technicality, but also often sound timbres and durability of the product.

SOUND IMPRESSIONS

So how is this TONE?

Well balanced, organic, natural, warm overall. We are almost in neutral territory (not flat), almost because the balance is curved in a U with a deep bass boost. Crin is a fanatic of the Harman curve and here he draws inspiration from it again and again. Already the Harman invasion is obvious in Moondrop and Tanchjim, I still fear that the Chifi will jump right into this tonal standard. Still, for KZ, it's an amazing sound paradigm shift, first their IEMs usually sound sharp and aggressive, often in a sharp sawtooth W signature with overboosted bass and highs.
Here with the CRN, we are in warm, soft, comfortable and this is the first time that I use the term "natural" to describe a KZ signature. For a tribrid includkng an exotic est transducter, the CRN are very cohesive as a whole even if critical hearing can find some slight timbre difference, especially in highs vs low and mids region.

But, and this is a big BUT, the technicalities leave something to be desired and reflect their price range. The resolution is OK in its macrodefinition, but less so in its micro definition. The dynamics are not very nuanced and realistic in amplitude difference and therefore can seem muffled on impact, also lacking natural resonance and cleanliness between notes. The control of the attack, without being disastrous, is not very agile and fast.

The BASS has a heavy hit, a meaty slam focused on deep bass weight, it's quite slow and slobbery with abstract definition. Physicality is put forward and benefits from pop, R&B, soul, Rap music styles that do not use acoustic drums. Yeah, the kick drum seems a bit out of the way, lacks texture and room to resonate naturally, the toms sound digital too. The basslines will swallow the kick drum at times, the extension isn't linear, again, it's a fluffy impact that commands attention. It sounds a bit like a car subwoofer, only warmer and more organic. Oomph. Not recommended for rock, metal, fast jazz, but it passes for the classic.

The MIDS are very good, surprisingly natural in their tone. Soft with a forward presence, not super chunky but not too thin either. Piano, violin and especially vocals sound realistic while being softened in defining contours. So, no invasive sibilance for a KZ! There is something to celebrate! I really appreciate the female vocals, they are round and fuller than the male ones, there is warmth and the presence is wide open and therefore very enveloping. Even if the bass slips a little on the lower midrange, it's done in a romantic way, it embraces instead of veiling the front, in fact, it's the bottom that it affects, it lacks darkness, air and cleanliness. In any case, mediums of this quality for $25 is a big plus even if it's not super sophisticated in terms of overall resolution when there are a lot of instruments and speed.

The TREBLE is well calibrated with the rest of spectrum, there is a little boost in the 8khz region which helps to extract some detail and also a bit of abrasiveness for the acoustic guitar attack. It's nothing extraordinary, and not very revealing of micro-details, nor richness of textures. It's not airy or shiny highs and it lacks post-impact resonance. We easily forget these highs to focus on the bass and midrange. But are we listening to a KZ intras? It doesn't bite! It's docile! Far from being brutal...oh, but yes, this lack of precision, clear definition, space in separation...it's really KZ here. In short, muffled highs, smoothed with a filter to hide its imperfections and risks of sibilance, which as I said are not invasive but not creamy for all that. Hum, but the low end of the treble spectrum is subdued, the grip of the attack lacks incision for more energetic instruments like the electric guitar and viola, the harpsichord also sounds too flat and dry. SPATIALITY is all in breadth, and sorely lacking in depth. It's a wall of sound curved around the head, there's worse in this price. The instrumental separation is more problematic, it's messy and homogeneous, good luck getting a good idea of the positioning of the instruments...with ultra simplistic music it's ok, for everything else it breaks and can become chaotically indefinite.

CONSTRUCTION:

Very potable for the price. Thick but basic plastic shell, with an organic shape that slides well in the ear. Metal plate on the back, quite aesthetic….but we hope that will not take off on the first day of humid heat. AND the cable….arg. We always complain about the cables chifi why? I mean, it doesn't include basic $300 IEMs like the Final B2s. But looks don't mean anything. Looking closely at the silver plated cable, it appears to have very few wires in its single gauge. In short, it's crap and negatively affects the rendering by drying out the timbre and attenuating the impact and presence of the bass, which opens up the sound a little artificially.

COMPARISONS

VS KZ ZS10 PRO

Wow effect or sound shock is up to you, but the ZS10PRO are really more muscular, energetic and analytical, especially in the lows and highs. The mediums being further back than the CRIN. The basses are bouffier and runnier, the sub basses are less fleshy and defined and hollow less deep. The cohesion of the tone is less natural, the sound timbre drier and grainier, the highs more shrill and unbalanced. The CRINs are clearly more refined, less artificial in their rendering, rounder and fuller in the mids, offering vocals without sibilance unlike the ZS10PRO. On the other hand, the sound imagery is more vivid and revealing with the ZS10PRO, apart from the bass which is less well separated. There is more sound information with the PROs but it saturates the soundstage, sometimes overwhelming the mids, and the energy concentrating in the high sound spectrum sometimes reaches the limit of sustainability. In the end, even if the CRIN do not put forward their technicalities in a brutal way like the ZS10PRO, their softer and balanced tone is highly more coherent, organic and musical than the PRO.


VS TANCHJIM TANYA

Now, the tone follows a Harman target type balance very similar to the CRIN, but without a boost in the sub bass, so less L shape in the final rendering. The sound timbre is richer in texture nuances, more natural and less organic. The basses descend less deeply, but have a more defined and assertive strike, less soft than the CRIN. The mediums are clearer and put forward with the CRIN, the presence of the vocals is wider and more transparent. The Tanya are more V shaped, less neutral and more fleshy overall. The falling of notes has more weight, for example for the piano. Note that the Tanya are much more difficult to amplify correctly, which can affect the rendering of their dynamics. This is not the case for CRINs which are easy to feed. As for the highs, the Tanya are better balanced, flatter, rounder in their rendering and less colored, the CRIN having a boost allowing to extract the details, especially the percussions, this boost is not overrated but remains noticeable and sometimes affects the instrumental harmony, which remains more natural with the Tanya. In the end, the CRIN seems to offer a higher sound benefit than the Tanya due to a nice balance between technicality and tonality, the Tanya certainly having a more pleasant, full and natural sound timbre, but a more clumsy and dark rendering.

CONCLUSION

The KZxCRN represents an exception in the KZ line in terms of tuning refinement, but remains mediocre in terms of what appeals to their technicalities, which are comparable or even lower than other KZ IEMs under the $50 mark. Still, their balanced sound without aggressiveness in the treble is candy for the ears. It's soft and sweet as you wish, with a particular talent for beautifully extracting female and male vocals. For a Hybrid earphones, the cohesion of the transducers is almost perfect, which is a tour de force in itself.
Easy to love, but less easy to forget as a KZ product, the CRNs have a very accessible sound for lovers of pop music focused on bass and vocals of all genres, for fast or scholarly music, it will be necessary to climb in the price brackets to benefit from more talented technical skills.

If your out of money and wonder how a cheaper Seeaudio Yume might sound, this is your chance to try the first Harman tuned KZ earphones, and to be fully honnest, it worth it since I consider these IEM as the best KZ offering yet.



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For more honnest, unbiased and critical audio review give a read (and subscribe?) here:
https://nobsaudiophile.com/

Well, I read alot of enthusiast reviews about Pistons 2.0 before going for a purchase, and to be honnest, I was of the sceptikal kind.
I was wrong.
This earphphones are something specials and this time everybody is going crazy about them for a good reason.
First time I plug them in my Ibasso Dx90 player I was blown away by their energic rendering and elegant bassy sound, I was listening to the electronic artist Ametsub and this very detailed IDM music sound fabulous. In fact, the Pistons are very well suited for electronic and beat driven music, the punchy bass is well rounded and high and treble make details sparkle. Mids frequencies are less recessed than lot of other V shaped earphones, it is surely due to the distortion free rendering of all frequencies range (sub bass included).
I have listen to jazz, classical, electro, folk and rock with this earphones and nothing sound bad, for some type of music I will prefer the vocal-mids to be more foward but I think the same thing about some earphones that cost more than 100$ while this miraculous Pistons only cost me 15 boxes!
 
The construction is solid, earphones are made of brushed metal and chord made of a type of kevlar. Must note that because of my coat that have velcro pocket the chord got worn badly as it stick on it, it's just esthetical tough.
 
After more than One year of use, this trusty Pistons 2.0 still are my in-ear of choice.
I have now made a simple mod to them and use the Shure foam tips wich make the sound shine even more.
 
In all honnesty, this earphones are a must for any music lover or earphones enthusiast, they are one of the best purchase I made in a budget audiophile perspective.

--NICEHCK NX7mk3 No Gimmick review--

TONALITY:6/10
TECHNICALITIES: 7.5/10
CONSTRUCTION&DESIGN:8.5/10
VALUE: 6.5/10

The good: Nice construction and cable. Might please masochist people.
The bad: Everything connected to sound.
The ugly: The 120$ price for a masochist experience.

Okay....I'm REALLY grumpy about sharing impressions of this disastrous IEM...it's like going in the middle of rush hour traffic to enjoy urban cacophony with critical ears...I'm not the kind to enjoy being ears rape but there you go NX7mk3 masochism just for the sake of NBBA and Headfi!

SO the only single positive thing I can say about NX7MK3 is that the construction is great and it's the most beautiful design of NX7 serie due to metal backplate. Fact we can change the plate is a welcome addition but quite limited in choice (blue, black, red). The cable too is of great quality as well as the case. Everything is full of eye-appealing promise!

But for the sound, it's sure less charming.

The NX7mk3 is a shouty fest with artificial tonality, boomy bass and a heterogeneous mix of drivers timbre. It isn't cohesive apart the fact everything mix together like a rotten chili. The balanced armature used are again cheap bellsing and their a cheap untalented dynamic driver to try to deal with bass and a piezo to put some micro-details that sound out of place.

Everything sound bright and thin with the NX7mk3. This isn't the type of iem that try to charm your ears with musicality but one that try to be spectacular like a bodybuilder flexing its muscles the difference being that instead of hurting your eyes, it hurt your ears.

Well, when we think spectacular wow effect, we might think impressive technicalities but again, NX7 mk3 surprise us here by using drivers ''potential'' as mass destruction weapon. Its too energize and in a hurry to shoot at you everything it got without taking acoustic laws in account. Imaging is ultra fuzzy and confusing, mixing random layers of mids, sharp highs out of place and bass that bleed on everything without embracing it (like it do with single DD for example). The soundstage is average wide and thats about it: no tallness nor deepness.

Tonality is off. Timbre is thin- cold-hissy. Attack is shouty, no snap no weight (apart mid bass and upper treble). Oh, to note you have 3 filters, so tonality go from V to W. Red Filter is the ''best one''.

Bass hit hard sloppy way with weak resonance, transistor-like sub-bass, grainy thin timbre, poor definition and control. Its plain disgusting and will never extend naturally...making acoustic bass sounding like amped tom.

Mids are forwards, thin, dry and shouty. Both male-female vocal sound like if it was filtered by defective auto-tune. You will be sometimes distracted by lips sound. Their zero body or warmth to the vocal...again, utterly disgusting to listen at. Sibilance: check. Unbalance: check. Lack of separation: check.

Treble is the most aggressive part of the sound, which includes...damn do I need to keep on ? I just throw those IEM insanities away and will never touch them again. Aaaaargh. OK, so both ba and piezo highs are unbearable, one is grainy shouty (ba) and the other is metallic spiky (piezo). Micro details can take the first seat like if a retard percussionist decides to sit in front of the singer....

CONCLUSION:
There was a time where audio enthusiast can get hooked by exotic drivers combination and got placebo effect about it which make them forgive lot of tonal and timbre unbalance due to new drivers technical euphoria, but it's the third version of a disaster that never finds its way to tune the 3 type of drivers properly so we forget...it's a heterogeneous mix. BQEYZ Spring2 is the perfect example of a well-balanced, tuned and damped piezo-dd-ba hybrid and put to shame the NX7 MK3 even more as an immaturely tuned IEM on steroid. If your an intense treble head with suicidal thoughts, perhaps NX7 will be music to your ears, for anybody with sane hearing it isn't suggested to put this in.

Utterly NOT RECOMMENDED (and please NiceHCK don't launch an MK4 version)



Thanks to Hifigo for this review sample...and sorry for collateral damage this honnest impressions can do.

TINHIFI T3+ REVIEW

Tinhifi seems to be searching for its identity since its dazzling success with the always excellent T2, an IEM with double dynamic drivers with an energic, textured, punchy and midrange centric signature. Since then, it seems to alternate between successes (T2 +, P1 +) and disasters (T2pro, T2 Evo, T5).

With the release of the T3 +, using an LCP (liquid crystal polymer) driver from the same family as the Moondrop Aria, will Tinhifi restore its glory?

If we go by the reception of popular reviewers like BGGA and other "hypes" news hunter swarms, the answer would be a saving and admiring YES.

Even if I am here to calm the enthusiasm of the hysterical promoters-hypers, I will try not to fall into the counter-attack, except when the amateurism goes too far as for example by affirming that the technicalities of T3 + are superior to those of Hzsound Mirror. This is objectively uber-false.

SCORE:
TONE: 7.8 / 10
TECHNICITY: 7.5 / 10
CONSTRUCTION-DESIGN: 8/10
SOUND BENEFIT: 7.5 / 10

PROS :
-Tonality well balanced and energetic
-Basses with authoritative strike
-Mids not too recessed for this type of signature V
-No need for amplification to make them "sing"

CONS :
-Resolution just passable
-lack of deep bass extension
-vocals not very pleasant and thin for male singers
- Confined, draft and compressed space
-saturated and non nuanced texture
-high a little shouty
-dry upper treble that cuts short

For this review, I used the cable included in the box. But the tips, I chose the ones that delivered the most open and balanced sound, the KZ Starlines and BQEYZ gray silicone tip for my ears.

My used sound sources are: TRI TK2 (bad pairing), Xduoo X20 (adequate), FIIO KA3 (a little too dry). As well as the Xduoo XD-05 + as an amplifier.

My conclusion is that the Tinhifi T3 + does not benefit from more amplification force, but rather from a clear, clean and neutral source without extra low or attenuated resolution. If you read anything else, it's hogwash or confusing DAC and AMP. The only thing amplification can affect is spatial opening in a very, very subtle way.

CONSTRUCTION-DESIGN



Medical grade plastic shell with attractive decorative back plate. Lightweight and comfortable. Metal tube which could be quick to peel or break. Solid 2pin connector. Basic but passable cable, which does not negatively affect timbre or tonality. Minimal accessories, small carrying pocket, 5 pairs of silicone tips and 1 pair of memory foam tips.




GENERAL SOUND IMPRESSIONS

The Tinhifi T3plus neither impressed nor disappointed me on first hearing, what I felt was indifference. The bass sounded a bit rough to me, the vocals lacked a bit of naturalness and the treble sounded a bit too dry for my taste. The cohesion was well balanced, the signature quite versatile, but the resolution lacked transparency. In fact, pairing with the TRI TK2, one of my favorite portable DAC-AMPs, didn't really do them justice due to a little emphasis in a bass section similar to the T3 + (mid-bass) which thickened the tone and rendered all very thick and messy in the resolution suddenly too condensed and slobbery in the bass. With a more neutral, clinical and analytical Xduoo X20, the T3plus gained in bass and midrange control and separation as well as in (much needed) air and instrumental separation.



TONALITY

A fairly well balanced V signature, not too bassy nor too aggressive, although a little abrasive in the mid-highs. A sound that has body, impact, mids not too set back and highs a little dry but rarely howling, and which cuts short. A tone that has more boom than extension, excited in its dynamics and rough in its highs.

TECHNICITIES

The resolution is average , not very incisive or precise, a little veiled in the low midrange and hazy in the high ones, the silence is rare there and not very clean.
Attack is average too, not super fast or complex in its rendering, with minimal impact and resonance, the timing is awkward and lacking in agility when the speed goes up.
Dynamics don't have a lot of amplitude chromaticism, so the articulation feels like a bundle despite an attempt to amplify a high section to give those attacks more bite.

BASS has good impact weight and a good separation of kick drum and bassline that doesn't go too low, sometimes some of the texture seems too emphasized in the high harmonics and some distorted bass synths will lack body if they are located in the sub-basses. Although the bass is meaty it does sound a bit dry, likewise it cuts the extension short and doesn't go down to 20hz, so it lacks a sub-woofer in there to have resonant, transparent and flexible vibrance. For rock its going better than for jazz, because the counter-bass will sound a bit like a tom, or over-amplified and thickened in its mid-bass.

The MID frequencies are full, a little opaque but well rounded and without significant aggressiveness or sibilance. They are minimally set back, but this is the flattest spectrum. The bass swallows and thickens the middle bass. The female vocals have a little plastic-rough accent, like an emphasis on the breath of the voice, for meticulous listeners this can get on the nerves. So yes, the amplitude in the high mids might displease more than one, but we're not in KZ or TRN territory either! It’s not a criminal offense of physical assault here, just some extra energy that can benefit the violins and electric guitar. Otherwise, the male vocals are more seriously receding and appear slim in body and stuck between low and high. The singers "Timbre Timbre" and "Hayden Thorpes" (tenor version) do not pass the test and seem belittled, again with some hooks in the vocable articulation. Anyway, tonally, it's a bit awkward and off-balance here. It lacks warmth, organicity, transparency and openness. The clarity is condensed and lacks depth, transparency and accuracy.

The treble is quite dry and lacks extension, there is a peak that extracts and highlights some instruments like snare drum and part of percussion but the rest can feel diffuse and messy. The level of detail and the resolution are not completely bad, especially it lacks refinement and precision delineating well in the attack and the timing. Air and shine are sorely lacking at the high end of the spectrum, so the rendering sounds muffled. The treble bass also itches a bit, affecting the tonal accuracy. The outline of the individual sounds is not very well sculpted. Pass if you like acoustic guitar, harpsichord or harp because the sparkle, resonance and attack effect of pulled or struck strings is not there. The T3plus show their performance limit with complex music, fast and numerous and varied in instruments, it will be acoustic chaos, rough, uncertain and diffuse. Seriously, I can't think of anything very positive to say about the high spectrum, but it's less of a problem with slow or simplistic music, pop, soul, rap.

COMPARISONS

VS IBASSO IT00 (1DD-70 $)

Darker in tone with more emphasis on the extreme low end, more present and warm mids, the T3plus sounds more energetic and signature V, is less open and has more bite in the highs. The timbre is more natural and smooth with the IT00, which makes the vocals much more pleasant in roundness. The IT00's spatialization is wider and open with a better feeling of depth but a more subtle and softer level of detail. The separation of the sound layers is more transparent and well organized with the IT00 and seems too saturated and walled up with the T3plus. All in all, the IT00 offers a much more addictive musicality, albeit more relaxed in the mid-bass impact and less textured-detailed. Tonally, despite extreme bass too high, the IT00s are better balanced, technical side the two are mediocre despite the IT00 seems to offer better instrumental separation. For lovers of female or male voice, the choice is simple here: IT00. For rock, I would go T3plus. Note: the construction of the IT00 is junk. MMCX connectors break super easily (bad internal soldering..that I redid ... but they broke again during this comparison!)

VS MOONDROP ARIA (1DD (LCP) -80 $)
Getting sophisticated tuning to the Harman target isn't easy, and that may explain why Moondrop has been perfecting this tonal curve for years ... the Aria being perhaps the most accomplished result. Which makes the T3plus look good amateurish and primitive in overall rendering, drier, energetic and rowdy in the frontal impact of the bass.
The Aria have some flaw too, the lack of presence in the impact section that the T3plus overemphasizes, so yes, the down extension is superior but the punch not as bossy and defined. Still, it's cleaner, the toms are not cut into natural resonance, the double bass sounds adequate. The resolution is highly superior even if less brutal than the T3plus, it is fuller and holographic, has more depth, transparent sound layers well open, this opening is more closed-compartmentalized-compressed with the T3plus and less linear. The vocals are more forward with the Aria, more natural, full, open, the saxophone-like blown instruments are tonally fair compared to an old transistor radio rendering with the T3plus. With the Aria, we breathe, with the T3plus we choke. The refinement is incomparable here .... the Aria being more airy in the highs, more sparkling and balanced. Here, the technicalities and the balance of the tonality are clearly superior and subject to a long immersive listening.

CONCLUSION

The Tinhifi T3plus have a nested V tone for simple, bassy music, in short, for young people who like to stamp their feet. This is not a targeted IEM for seasoned audiophiles favoring high resolution and realist reproduction of sound spatiality. They're sure to be popular with many, though even rap needs more sub-bass for the boom to vibrate in resonance.
Still, this effort by Tinhifi to think outside the box deserves some respect, in the sense that it varies their sound signature and remains competitive in their price bracket, albeit not exceptional.


-----
PS: I would like to thank LINSOUL (!!) for sending me these IEMs for free .... hoping that they accept the honesty of my criticism, which in the end is subjective, independent, and integrates in its search for what offers a exceptional sound benefit.
You can get the Tinhifi T3plus for $ 69 usd here:
https://www.linsoul.com/collections/all ... fi-t3-plus

It make just 3 days I have the ISK HF-2010 in hands and my excitation about them make me so hysterical that I feel I must write something FAST, very FAST!

SPECS:
Technical Parameters:
How it works: Semi-open
Wearing styles: wearing ear style package
Transducer means: Dynamic
Speaker diameter: 53mm
Impedance: 60ohm
Sensitivity: 93dB ± 3dB
Frequency response: 15Hz-28kHz
Maximum power: 600mW
Power Rating: 200mW
Cable length: about 3 meters (straight line)
Plug: 3.5mm + 6.3mm
Net weight: about 337 grams (including cable)

I buy it here:https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Ori...32799731302.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.Rts44m

and it arrive very fast and was the lowest price, good seller I think, no affiliation here, spend my little money in something GREAT for once! Cause even if Superlux Headphone aren't bad at all (got 4 models) they do not compete with the BIG sophisticated dynamic drive hide in the ISK. Yep, it feel from another league in every aspect (sound, sound, sound and construction).

So, construction is great with ISK, they look classy headphone, more pricier, elegant and if you are not too sensible of public aspect, quite portable! They are not enormous but quite big, made of metal, plastic and with very comfy soft headpad. Have a black metal mesh and metal ISK logo on it. They do not look 40$ headphone at all.

SOUND:

LOW:
These have great punch for open headphone, it decay alot tough but do not bloat other frequencies, it's a warm punchy bass, not a thick agressive and heavy one, but it is very dynamic and dig low. Proof is that it's one of rare open headphone I have wich sound good with electronic music.

MID:
Vocal are brighter than rest of soundsignature and have good presence, separation of this frequencies range as the rest is exceptional, even if in some recording they do not sound mid centered, wide soundstage make the mid very audible and textured.

HIGH:
The ISK is detailed and musical headphone, not really serious monitor, way more fun than this! Treble extension is smooth and wide, microdetails can pop up in 3D feel wich make a plus for the incredible fun factor they got.

CONCLUSION:
A must have. Sound quality for this price range is out of this world and very very mature and serious for a musical soundsignature with little bass push, soundstage is super wide airy and immersive, instrument separation feel natural, nothing sound harsh or too much, even with this level of details wich is a tour-de-force for real! Sincerly, it's a small fast review but I just want here to help these ultimate gem get more love, still, if you dig here on headfi you will find other people going crazy about these value, this type of driver isnt suppose to cost so low, period (this sentence is not intended for ISK team, please, keep the price THAT LOW!!!).


WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!

ALPHA & DELTA D2W REVIEW:

SOUND:7/10
CONSTRUCTION: 7.5/10
DESIGN: 8.5/10
VALUE: 7.5/10

INTRO:

After the great success of their budget minded D2 sport earphones, Alpha & Delta logicaly decided to make a bluetooth version of this fun sounding single drivers earphones. Using latest 5.0 Bluetooth connection, it promise excellent stable connectivity, sleek versatile water proof design and a warm bassy and rich soundsignature.

Called the D2W, this bluetooth earphones are priced around 50$, wich make them very affordable. Now let’s see if it worth the buy in term of features and mosty importantly sound quality.

You can find all Alpha & Delta products from official distributor LEND ME UR EARS


DISCLAIMER: I wanna thanks Lend Me Ur Ears for sending me this review sample. I’m not affiliated with this audio product distributor and all my toughs are my own.

INFO SPECS:

Bluetooth Chipset: Bluetooth 5.0

• Driver: 10 mm Dynamic Drive
  
  
• Battery capacity: 60 mah
  
  
• Music playback time: 4 hours
  
  
• Talking time: 5 hours
  
  
• Charging port: Micro USB Type B
  
  
• Sensitivity: 97 +/- 3dB
  
  
• Charging Volt: 5.0 V
  
  
• Working Volt: 3.7V
  
  
• Microphone sensitivity: 42 +/- 3dB
  
  
• Build in microphone: Yes
  
  
• Supports Multipoint: Yes
  
  

ACCESSORIES, CONSTRUCTION & DESIGN:




UNBOXING is minimalist and not particularly glorious in its presentation, but still, it have everything we need wich is 3 pairs of silicone eartips, a pair of nice Memory Foam eartips, a carrying pouch, a cable clip and micro usb charging cable.



CONSTRUCTION is all plastic with a black mate finish that promess good grip in hands. It neither feel cheap or greatly built and reflect its price value in the choice of economical material. Still, the type of plastic used with mate rubber look enough robust to be able to trow it on the ground without caring about potential breaking. The D2W are light and kinda sturdy.



DESIGN is quite interesting and most of all VERY comfortable due to small universal custom housing shape. Even if not true wireless, the D2W over ear wearing design make it extremely portable and practical as the cable can be wear back or front of your head.



When the cable isn’t extended, it fit perfectly at the back of your head in a natural comfy way due to very light material used. This sure is a big plus for people doing jogging or exercise with the D2W because it will never fall from you ears, its water resistance, have good isolation and will not create ear fatigue due to inexistant discomfort in long use. Sometime, simplicity is the best approach for design, and here Alpha & Delta create a very practical bluetooth earphones that understand human body for real.

INTERFACE is well thinked too and cover every need. You have 3 buttons that do control everything but fast foward and rewind. It can pause-play, skip or back tracks and control volume. The features work even with my Xduoo X20 wich is indeed impressive.

BATTERY LIFE is average and similar to what we can find since 5 years with bluetooth iem. Its stated as 5 hour, but as I listen to max volume it can hold 4 hours. This is one of the biggest drawback with near any bluetooth earphones.

CONNECTIVITY is excellent and very stable, unlike other bluetooth headphones or earphones I try, I do not encounter sound cutting with the bluetooth source near by. Distance can go up to 15 meter, but as with any bluetooth signal, it cannot pass trough all type of walls.



SOUND:



First impressions was rather positive without being spectacular or particularly impressive. I feel easily at home with such a warm permissive and innoffensive soundsignature, the D2W are bassy and balanced sounding with slight U shape soundsignature and hint of darkness in treble. For some, they will be overly warm and lack details, for other it will be a blessing to be able to enjoy this type of bass and smooth clarity that have a laid back approach.

SOUNDSTAGE is wide and have a stereo like approach, it isn’t very tall and lack a little deepnest.

IMAGING isn’t particularly impressive due to average level of clarity, we are far from analytical earphones with sharp instrument separation.

BASS dig very low and sub have good thickness and control, timbre is very warm and opposite of bright or grainy with a buttery, thick and opaque presentation. Mid bass is smooth and bleed on the mid range without drowning vocals. Punch is weighty with a round smoothed attack, again, its thick and innofensive, wich is surprising due to amount of energy bass can deliver.

MID RANGE is slightly recessed but well rounded up with its slight upper mids gain, vocal do not feel far away from you and have good wide that avoid a too intimate or centered approach. Body is quite thick but keep enough tranparency to offer enough richnest in whole range. Instrument have good weight and male vocal benifit from bass emphasis. Instrument like cello, violin and piano do sound nice, but acoustic guitar lack details in timbre and grip in attack.

TREBLE is rolled off in upper highs and have all its emphasis in lower region wich make the mid range lusher than all other frequencies. The D2W aren’t very detailed and you will not find alot of micro details as well as sparkle or decay. This make the D2W very permissive to bad recording and this can be a plus to have a laid back earphones in your collection, to me, its a break from bright or very energic earphones.

SUB BASS: 7.5
MID BASS : 7/10
MID RANGE : 7/10
TREBLE : 6.5/10
SOUNDSTAGE : 7/10
IMAGING : 7/10
ATTACK-DECAY : 6.5/10


COMPARAISONS :



VS MACAW T60 Bluetooth earphones (around 20$) :



These T60 are on the market since about 2 years now and they still can compete with pricier BT iem due to great sound performance. When it come to connectivity, they show their age as it’s way less trustable than the D2W with its 5.0 bluetooth, the T60 is 4.0 and not a good one, connectivity is unstable and will cut sound time to time even with the sound source in my pocket.

SOUNDSTAGE have a little more out of your head feel with T60 due to taller presentation, as well, there a little more deepnest, but widnest is the same as D2W.

IMAGING is a littlle clearer with T60 due to brighter soundsignature, but both earphones aren’t particularly talented in this department.

BASS of the D2W is weightier and more impactfull and make the T60 feel thin and dry and lacking thickness in body. Mid bass punch is faster and more emphased with T60.

MID RANGE is warmer with D2W, male vocal sound more full bodied while T60 have more details in female vocal. Instrument separation in mid range is clearer with the T60.

TREBLE is slightly more extended with T60 and feel brighter as well. Without being a details beast, percussion and micro details are more fowards than more laid back D2W. T60 have higher resolution and a more mature tuning.

COMFORT is an issue with the T60 strange housing shape and a very very big drawback as it can affect the sound quality. D2W is extremely comfortable and will not tend to fall or hurt the ears like the T60.

All in all, in term of sound quality alone, the T60 offer a more detailed and balanced sound but the bad connectivity, low battery life and comfort issue make it an overall inferior value than D2W.



VS QCY Q29 True Wireless BT earphones (40$) :


With a promising design, the Q29 trigger my expectation too high and I was disapointed by sound performance and even more by maximum volume level. The connectivity being kind of ackward as well, it will not suit any BT device.

Battery life is superior to the 5 hours one of D2W as it can go up to about 10H with the type of use I make. That’s about it for positive aspect.

BASS can cause distortion is sound strangely dry and lifeless compared to full bodied and impactfull D2W bass.

MID RANGE is dark, dry, thin and congested in a small soundstage that affect instrument separation negatively. D2W vocal are fuller and wider sounding and have more presence even if slightly warmed by lower end.

TREBLE is unbalanced with strange peak in mid highs that make percussion shrilling. The D2W without being a treble beast have a way more smooth and natural high range and the timbre of instrument is fuller and richer.

All in all, the D2W sound from another league, is more comfortable and feel more sturdy (aka Stay away from the QCY Q29).



CONCLUSION :

This is hard to not love the Alpha&Delta D2W due to its gentle treble and laid back bassy soundsignature, but it’s hard to adore them too for die hard audiophile as they aren’t spectacular in term of clarity and imaging.

Anyway, it would be dumb to think that a Sport earphones stated has having a fun sound will impress audiophile that search for balanced and analytical sound, it isn’t tuned (and priced) as serious earphones and the lack of maturity in tuning refinement do not make the D2W sound unbalanced or not musical, quite the opposite in fact because the overall frequencies curve is smooth wihtout harsh peaks in treble.

With its great stable connectivity, very comfortable waterproof design and an enjoyable laid back, bassy and slightly dark sound, the Alpha&Delta D2W are the perfect all arounder bluetooth earphones for youngsters, joggers or treble sensitive music lovers.



For more audio reviews, please give a look at my BLOG

VSONIC VS9 REVIEW:

SOUND: 8.5/10
CONSTRUCTION: 8.5/10
DESIGN: 8.5/10
ACCESSORIES: 7/10
VALUE: 8/10

VSONIC are in the audio industry since 1980, they are one of the first serious Chinese earphones company to produce great sounding budget earphones and they always follow their own path, without compromise, with a unique vision for housing design as well as an obsessive passion about the potential of dynamic drivers.

The legendary Vsonic GR07 put this company on audiophile radar since at least 5 years now and they are now a well respected brand that inspire trust when it come to sound quality.

After a rather long hiatus where they mostly launch different style of their best selling GR07, Vsonic finally come with an all new earphones serie call the VS.

From what I know, this series have 3 models coming in different housing material which is the VS3 and VS7 I review before and the flagship VS9 I will review here.



Priced at 300$, the Vsonic VS9 is the more expensive Vsonic earphones ever made. Still, the information about type of driver are rather elusive. They even call it themselves ‘’new mysterious driver’’. Other info about it is rather similar to the VS7, which have a 11mm composite diaphragm dynamic driver as well. As we can see trough the front housing of both VS7 and VS9, I can confirm they aren’t the same looking, VS9 having a different type of metal grill above the diaphragm.

As well, Vsonic stated to burn-in for 100H the VS9, wich I do. Now let’s see in this review if it’s a worthy upgrade from the nice VS7.

You can buy the Vsonic VS9 directly from Vsonic Aliexpress STORE or Lend Me Ur Ears STORE

DISCLAIMER: I wanna thanks LEND ME UR EARS for giving me the chance of reviewing whole Vsonic VS serie by sending me free reviews sample. I'm neither affiliated or paid by them to promote their product. As an independant reviewer, I only share my unbiased subjective hearing impressions here. As always, price value is objectively reviewed too.

INFO & SPECS:

Feature:

VS9 Iceberg Series -- flagship IEM.
New Mysterious Diaphragm.
Aluminum-magnesium alloy, Built by pure CNC technology.
24Ω ,Better representation of tone quality.
99.99% sterling silver cable
with 2 Pin 0.78mm Connector Detachable Cable
Humanized Auricle Structure Design
Conforms to principle of ergonomics to make each earphone more fitting to ears and have more comfortable enjoyment of music.

* After 100 hours burn-in, VS9 (with dynamic driver, composite diaphragm) will have better sound quality.


Parameter:

Driver: 11mm (CCAW High dynamic Drive units)
Rated impedance: 24Ω ± 10% ( at 1000Hz )
Diaphragm:Internal number "DBL "
Sensitivity: 109 ±3 dB /mW (at 500 Hz, 1mW 20μpa )
Frequency range: 10Hz-28,000Hz
Distortion: ≤ 2% ( at500Hz 1/3oct 94dB 20μpa )
Rated input Power: 10mW
Maximum input power:30mW
Plug size: 3.5mm Gold plating dual-track plug
Cable :1.3m


ACCESSORIES, CONSTRUCTION & DESIGN:



UNBOXING from the nice and unique cylinder box is a very pleasant one. And an handy one too as you will not struggle to open the package like with some other (too) boxed product. Its like a Pringles box, you pop it up open and enjoy the audiophile snack! What you have with all VS model is the same whole package that include 3 pairs of silicone ear tips, a basic earphones pouch and good quality 4 cores silver plated cable. Just enough, but one or two pair of foam ear tips would have been welcome as well as a more serious carrying case. Unlike VS7 or VS3, I admit I feel a little underwhelmed by both packaging and included accessories for a flagship earphones selling at 300$.



CONSTRUCTION is a mix of the two VS7 version, one was all thick translucent plastic while the other was all thick anodize alloy, so with the VS9 we have half plastic half metal construction. I think Vsonic choose this type of construction to show the very big fancy dynamic driver that differ from the VS7 version, which is sure impressive to contemplate. As well, the weight is rather light for an earphones with big housing. At this price range, it’s neither impressive or underwhelming construction, but i feel an all metal body would perhaps be more appropriate as it feel more robust and resistant. The cable too is the same than VS7, and as stated before, I’m not a big fan of this cable.



CABLE isn’t the best one, and this is due to multiple reasons. Firstly the ear-hook is intensely thigh which can create long term discomfort. The solution to this issue is to get rid of ear-hook. 2Pin connection is thigher than with VS3 model, so its more secure, but it still feel a little loose. As well, the cable separation is wide and do not have cable slider, this is very annoying. Honestly: I just don’t use the stock cable at all.



DESIGN look like a polished comet or a precious rock from other space. For a single dynamic driver, housing is on the big side but the universal custom organic shape is really well done and offer high level of fitting comfort. Nozzle is quite long with an angle that make it easier to stay still in ear. As said, the ear hook being quite thigh can be problematic for big ears but its easy to solve by taking off rubber around cable hook. If you search for ultra small iem that you can sleep on, the VS serie isn’t for you, otherwise the housing design is well done.

ISOLATION is above average, higher than plastic VS7 but inferior to the all metal version. When I listen music in subway, i do not hear anything else than music. Sound leakage is near inexistant due to back metal plate as well as venting hole being in front part of housing.

DRIVEABILITY is quite easy, with 24ohm of impedance and rather high 109db sensitivity, the VS9 will be drive at full potential with about anything.

SOUND:



Overall appreciation is a love at first sight (from my ears not my eyes) even if at first I find the VS9 sound quite similar to VS7: the sound stage was very wide, the bass was well extended and punchy, the mids was clear and treble sound both natural and enough detailed. More I listen to it, more i discover the difference wasn’t minimal, sure we talk about nuance, but their plenty of them that are different not just timbre for example. Bass is very weighty, super bodied with great control that gently embrace lower mids, biggest difference is in term of vocal, wich are thick, forwards, with enlighten presence, these lush vocal is most likely what hook me first. While the lush thick sound of VS9 is on the warm side, it still deliver a revealing listen with it’s organic layering and natural transient response. The tuning is very well done, very smooth yet muscular and lively, no harsh peak anywhere, no artificial flavor, its superbly balanced and soft in musicality with extra highs sparkle.



SOUNDSTAGE is very wide, tall, airy and out of your head. Not particularly 3D like because of a little lack of deepness, so your in front of your music band, not in the middle of it.

IMAGING is enough okay and natural, thanks to thick timbre that isn’t too opaque or grainy, the good level of transparency permit an appealing mix of fluid layering and stereo spaciality.

CLARITY is good, not mind blowing at all, it isn’t the goal of VS9 to offer clinical clarity. Sometime we have high definition and resolution that impress at first but tend to be less musical or more artificial. VS9 do not give you bat ears, but romantic music lover one.

TIMBRE explain why we don’t have highly detailed and resolve sound with VS9. It’s thick, smooth, natural, rightly textured enough to permit an appealing transparency. It make sound flow in a syrupy fluidity.

BASS is a luscious pleasure, it’s more elevated in lower mid bass and upper sub region, impact of slam is thick and weighty, rather lazy and it gently warm higher bass so the punch feel beefier that it really is. Even if a little slow, it do not veil the mid range, and bass bleed is keeped minimal surely due to a little dip in lower mid range. Texture and definition is soft and polished, not very detailed, for slap bass or acoustic bass this can be an issue but for synth bass, sub bass, cello and toms it's quite enjoyable. As said, their serious bump from around 50-200hz region (i have no graph and their no graph anywhere of VS9 so this isn’t factual, it’s my hearing telling this), this do make the bass slightly boomy, but in a refined way, in a near bass-head kinda of way. Warm is the sound of VS9 until upper mid range where it begin to get sharper.

MID RANGE is lush and very present, while it’s forwarded, it do not sound aggressive or forced, the bass do caress lower mids in a sensual way. Clarity of mid range is average at best, you will not have ultra clear imaging with the VS9, but as timbre is enough transparent you have good layering that permit a natural sound flow. Piano sound weighty but the attack is softer in lower and mid mids than upper mids where it’s more snappy. Transient response is above average for a single DD, but still show it’s limit in very busy track, while it will not sound overly congested it will lack accuracy in instrument separation and attack. Now, the Vocal, those are excellent and among the best in sub-300$ to my ears. Female singer like Hope Sandoval have full bodied presence, no harshness, the presentation is wide and enveloping and take first stage unlike more centered intimate vocal presentation of more neutral iem. It’s not the type of super analytical vocal where you will hear lips moving and other micro details, its warm, lush, with rather thick transparency and soft edge to definition. Acoustic guitar sound better than electric guitar, Violin sound fuller than piano, Saxophone and wind instrument do very well too.

TREBLE isn’t flat tough it can feel it is until you hear the percussion brilliance and sparkle that sound very natural and full. We have smooth bump in lower treble and perhaps a more serious curvy peak in higher after a dip in mid treble (again, no graph here). So, the VS9 have this very addictive sound we can describe as W shape, the highs are crisp and sparkly but in a smooth way, still, it’s never splashy or too crunchy, and to me this is how good musical treble should sound. Not forced but enough revealing and lively. Cymbals extension is natural and quite long, while it’s stay in the back of music as it should, its very clear and easy to hear. One way to know if treble is well extended is playing solo Harpsichord music, and let me tell you Pierre Hantai ‘’Bach Goldberg Variation’’ sound great with those, it just have the perfect balance of crispness and fullness with good natural decay. Unlike too treble iem, it do not sound metallic or too aggressive, this is how i discover the VS9 treble.

SUB BASS: 8/10
MID BASS: 7.5/10
MID RANGE: 9/10
TREBLE: 8.5/10
CLARITY: 7.5/10
IMAGING: 7.5/10
SOUNDSTAGE: 8.5/10
ATTACK-DECAY: 8/10
TIMBRE: 9/10


COMPARISONS:



VS VSONIC VS7 (130$):

Let’s begin by saying the VS7 cost less than half the price of VS9 and biggest difference in term of sound is about sub bass, lower mid range and timbre. The upgrade in sound do exist but is very subtle and do not really justify that much of a price jump.

But let’s say too that i personally prefer lusher, fuller and slightly warmer sound of VS9.

SOUNDSTAGE is wider with VS9 while it have more deepness with VS7, which is evident when bass occur in music and give more airiness to VS7. IMAGING have better resolution with the VS7, but it’s mostly because of thicker timbre of VS9. BASS is fuller, beefier with VS9, it have more rumble and weight and better control, here VS7 feel a little sloppier as well as more tamed. The bass of VS9 is very addictive and even if little more juicy than flatter VS7, it sound more natural. MID RANGE is where the VS9 excel as it sound more forwards but have fuller vocal presence too, timbre is lusher, thicker, but keep good layering while the VS7 is very clear, transparent but with rather thin sounding vocal that do not caught your attention like the VS9 do. TREBLE is crisper in upper region with VS7, which offer more sparkly decay to percussion but make it sound a little more unbalanced than VS9. Highs of VS9 are more crunchy and textured and on line with rest of audio spectrum (aka not push forwards), while VS7 is more flat in nature until this treble emphasis that offer higher level of clarity and enlighten highs definition over mid range definition.

All in all, VS7 is more neutral sounding, airy and detailed while the VS9 have more sub bass and lusher mids with mesmerizing vocal performance.



VS UFOEARS UFO-112 (360$):

SOUNDSTAGE is wider and taller with the VS9, while the more intimate UFO have extra deepnest to it. IMAGING is sharper with UFO, but have a more intimate presentation which make instrument sound nearer to each other than VS9. TONALITY of VS9 is warmer and more natural, while UFO is a little dry and cold. TIMBRE is thicker and more opaque with the VS9, UFO is more textured, transparent and thinner. BASS have more rumble and slam, its weightier and thicker with VS9, we have more sub bass quantity too while the UFO is flatter, dryer, more textured and less weighty. MID RANGE is fuller sounding with VS9, vocal have great wide presence while they are very centered and intimate with the UFO which permit clearer separation but in a sometime unbalanced way that give a clinical and sometime artificial musicality. TREBLE have more emphasis in lower highs with the UFO, while the VS9 extend further in a smooth way, highs have more sparkle-decay with VS9 and dig more micro details, without making it feel unbalanced or too forwards. UFO in other end have thin highs that lack decay, making acoustic guitar sounding dull.
ALL in all, VS9 is slightly more U shape with lusher mids and highs and a more balanced tuning, giving a natural musicality compared to colder, thinner and more unbalanced UFO.



VS AUDIOSENSE T800 (300$):

Here, let’s see how a great single 11mm dynamic driver from Vsonic can compete against 8 great balanced armature. The result might be surprising cause VS9 sound incredibly revealing and balanced.
Now, for construction, I give the hand to T800 with is invincible resin body, but in term of comfort the VS9 is smaller and fit perfectly my ears, which isn’t the case with big chunky T800.

SOUNDSTAGE is slightly wider with the VS9 but lack the holographic spaciality of T800 as well as its deepness and tallness. IMAGING is more precise and dynamic with the T800, instrument separation have more space between them. BASS is weightier and more chunky-thicker with the T800, while the VS9 have better control and more balanced lower end with better transparency but less thumping impact, i think T800 bass is more boomier as well. MID RANGE is more detailed and richer with the T800 but have more recessed vocal especially when big bass occur, which do not happen with the VS9 that have some upper mids emphasis that can sometime create near audible sibilance but tend to make female vocal lusher than T800, still, mid range is more rich in layers with T800 which make him more revealing with multiple instrument playing at same time, compared to the VS9 that will mix them together, T800 will keep them all alive in their singularities. TREBLE is more extended with T800, giving more highs sparkle, more micro details, clearer percussion that can sometime can feel to forwards whileVS9 have a touch more natural cohesion but darker treble compared to vivid T800.

All in all, this was rather a fair fight, both advantage and disadvantage of dynamic vs BA being shown, still, the VS9 sound less spectacular and immersive than T800.


CONCLUSION:



It’s a sincere pleasure to see the comeback of Vsonic, and with all the experience in audio tuning in their sleeve they sure do a great job with whole VS series. All models have slight difference in tonality and timbre but offer enormous soundstage.

While I consider that the best price value go to the VS7 model which offer tremendous sound performance as well as same accessories as VS9, I can’t lie about the fact my favorite model in term of sound alone is the flagship model.

But do this worth to pay more than 2 times the price of VS7? Simple answer would be: No. As well, who know, perhaps you would prefer clearer, deeper more airy and V shape sound of VS7. Still, if money isn’t an issue for you and you want to buy the more natural sounding and balanced Vsonic iem, the lush VS9 might be the one to choose.

Again, there so much offering in sub-300$ price range nowadays that the VS9 do not feel very competitive in term of price value, the lack of extra accessories, the rather unserious box presentation as well as the average imaging and clarity make it less interesting for people that search a budget end game or reference iem.

Still, if you are an audiophile that search for natural sound with lush vocal, warm weighty bass and enormous immersive soundstage, the VS9 will sure be your guilty pleasure with its smooth revealing musicality. For me, it’s the best Vsonic earphones I test yet and among the best single dynamic driver I heard.




For more audio reviews, please give a look at my BLOG

EARSTUDIO HUD100 REVIEW

SOUND: 8/10
CONSTRUCTION&DESIGN: 8/10
PACKAGING&ACCESSORIES: 8.5/10
VALUE: 7.5/10

Click to expand...

RADSONE (aka Radical Sound) is a Korean audio company specializing in portable audio solutions like audio IP for smartphones, digital audio decoding and audio hardware implementation. They are as well the creator of EARSTUDIO company which got good recognition worldwide for their excellent portable Bluetooth DAC-AMP, the legendary Earstudio ES100.

As a big fan of the ES100 myself, which I still use very often due to its excellent sound and powerful balanced output, I’ve been waiting for a higher-end successor that would deliver an even more powerful and beautiful sound. After a year of waiting, Radsone do launch the ES100 MK2, but it was the very same DAC-AMP with a minimal upgrade in construction material.

The waiting still continues, and Radsone surprise us by launching their first earphones, the HE100, while it was good and quite maturely tuned, this isn’t what we were asking to Radsone. The fans dream about a flagship Bluetooth DAC-AMP from you guys, are you working on it, are you?

And then, the EARSTUDIO HU100 comes in the game. A super powerful and super small portable DAC-AMP, especially thought for laptop and tablet….great….but why too? Is it what we were waiting for? Hum, not really, not me at least. Well, apart that if the sound is fabulously clean and powerful and the device is very versatile and do not drown phone battery life and and…even then, I’m not sure I do really need this. Because well, it’s 160$ and I just review a lot of excellent DAC-AMP dongle at way cheaper price like the Tempotec HD PRO.

But wait, it’s now priced 135.99$ and it has an unbalanced power output of 3.2V and it’s so small so so tiny small and the device look invincible. It might be interesting for some audiophiles that aim for minimalist DAC-AMP solution, isn’t it?

Let’s see in this review if the HUD100 can have a valuable purpose in your audiophile setup.


You can buy the Earstudio HUD100 directly from the official Earstudio website HERE.


SPECS




INTERN

The HUD100 might be small, but the intern is a complex micro-environment of 8 layers circuit design that uses the latest technologies to take full advantage of DAC implementation. At the core, we have an AKM AK4377 DAC that supports PCM stream up to 32bit/768khz and DSD256, but the HUD100 is limited to 32bit/384khz and DSD128. This DAC is the first to adopt an ARM cortex processor, which permits to implement Radsone proprietary digital audio algorithm for fast and precise sound decoding. As well, the HUD100 uses a MEMS oscillator as the master audio clock, this oscillator is more advanced than the crystal oscillator used with most DAC and delivers extremely low jitter so the signal conversion from digital to analog is free of any distortion.

PACKAGING&ACCESSORIES







I was very underwhelmed by both the product presentation and accessories of the EARSTUDIO ES100 and I most admit it did improve a lot with the HUD100. It comes in a solid box and when you open it you see the HUD100 inside a cute little leather carrying case. In terms of accessories, you have 2 USB to USB-C cable of great quality, but no USB-C to USB-C cable to hook the HUD100 to your phone, neither a USB to USB-C converter. I can see this as a problem for those who haven’t already proper cable to connect the HUD100 to their phone.

CONSTRUCTION&DESIGN







The HUD100 is as big as a matchbox, it’s really small at only 4.5cmx3.2cm of size. Construction is all metal and the finish looks quite scratch resistant. In hands, this feels very solid, with no loose part. The switch is made of metal too, but the 3 steps lack a bit of proper click. On the front, we have everything: two 3.5mm output with the sound filter switch in the middle. Audio jacks are made of plastic but feel sturdy and of good quality. For its miniature size, the device has a good reassuring weight.


DESIGN is simple, you have the USB-C connection in back side and connection in front. Unlike other DAC-AMP that need high gain to be selected either by a switch or option, the HUD100 permit you to directly connect your headphones into low or high gain output. Depending of your need, you will then choose Bypass mode or a sound filter that will suit you. Their no volume control, no possibilities to change tracks or play-pause, which is quite a bummer and make you fully dependant of your laptop or phone for music control. I guess the small size obsession does not permit for such control, but I find this cumbersome.





In terms of interface, you have only the filter switch to play with. An interesting feature is a little led light that changes color with the music sample rate. It does work properly and I discover I have a lot of 48khz album as must of the time it’s a dark blue light that comes up.

CONNECTIVITY



After having installed the window driver, the HUD100 gets automatically recognize from my SurfacePro and works perfectly without any clicking, jitter or sound cutting. Using a good USB-C to USB-C cable, it gets recognize automatically by my phone and I was surprised to see it do not drown phone battery a lot, as after one hour of use my LG G6 battery lower by 10%. I don’t know if it’s me, but I feel the sound is slightly less loud with my phone comparing to my laptop. Unlike ES100, you do not have a dedicated app so you can use and custom every feature of HUD100, to me this is a serious drawback because ES100 app is a game-changer in whole users’ experience.

AMPING




We have 2 types of power output with the HUD100, the low gain deliver a max of 1.29 volt per channel while the High Power mode (HP) deliver up to 3.2 volts per channel. This is what Radsone stated. Audioscience measurement show 23mW @ 33ohm for low gain and 138mW @ 33ohm for high gain. This is about the same power output than ES100 when used balanced. Though this is impressive amping power for unbalanced output, it’s still not enough to drive anything above 300ohm or capricious low sensitivity headphones. For earphones, it will drive mostly anything properly. The low gain mode is very useful for sensitive earphones prompt to hiss, and the low output impedance of 0.31ohm promises good clarity free of any hiss. Still, this impedance isn’t top of the line as I tend to be more confident with an impedance 0.1ohm or lower. To my ears, the amping stability is just above average for its price range, but not particularly stable in low frequencies which demand a lot of currents, this means that the HUD100 can act weakly with too hard to drive headphones or earphones. This does happen too with its ES100 predecessor but to a less extent.

SOUND




The overall sound of the HUD100 is flatter than flat, with lean bass, slightly dry timbre, good transparency and not the cleanest black background. It has an intimate feel to it with good wideness but average tallness and deepness. Imaging is rather average too, and to my ears overall tonality has a ”digital” feel to it, slightly cold especially when used in BYPASS mode. It’s not what I would call an analytical sounding DAC-AMP, because they’re a hint of warmth in resolution, which perhaps is there to mimic naturalness. So, why do I find it cold sounding? Perhaps because timbre tends to be dry and thin as well as dynamic impact slightly tamed. It’s hard to explain and the IEM or Headphones your using will react differently to this. Simply put, it tends to ”discolor” the overall sound rendering of your pairing, as well as sometimes improving (taming?) bass and treble control. As said, Flatter than flat.


CLARITY does not blow my mind, it isn’t very sharp and does not ”add silence” that will improve instrument separation. With sensitive IEM, higher is the volume lower would be the clarity and at high gain, if you try to drive demanding headphones it will perhaps create distortion in the lower bass region as it struggles to deliver stable current. Macro-resolution is quite good, but micro-resolution isn’t very crisp and revealing.

BASS is slightly recessed in sub-region, it has a slightly brightish-dryish timbre and extra texture that help delimitating bass notes. Midbass has a good impact with extra control to it, this tends to improve the presence of mid-range by keeping it clean. Lean is the bass and smooth is the impact, it’s not the kind of DAC-AMP that adds extra energy to bass, and in fact, it will render your basshead IEM more docile and polite.

MID-RANGE is impressively clear, smooth and transparent. It’s not very thick, timbre isn’t very textured, giving extra softness to vocal resolution and perhaps lacking a little bit of grain for extra nuance. Presentation is rather intimate and centered, it’s not very open and holographic. Again macro-resolution is better than micro-resolution, as the music is decoded in a flat way, not in a vivid super-articulated way. The impact of the piano notes does not gain extra weight and the violin strike sound more organic than abrasive. The highlight of mid-range it’s his transparency and cohesive fluidity, it sound tonally right tough not injected with extra life or energy.

TREBLE is quite natural, perhaps the less ”digital sounding” frequencies range of HUD100. Highs are crisp with good brilliance, decay is fast and you do have extra bite in upper highs so some micro-details became more sparkly. Anyway, it’s not highly rich, textured or detailed treble and even has laid back feel to it apart from extra upper highs that tend to add a little bit of air. Highs are on the thin side, and lower treble isn’t extracting a lot of sound info that will add nuance and texture to the instruments.

DCT Filter SOUND is slightly warmer and thicker, but it’s extremely subtle. Bass became a little loose and give some extra meat to mids and vocal. Treble is less sharp and sparkly. Soundstage feels wider but less deep.

DYNAMIC Filter SOUND a little more vivid and punchy, especially in the mid-bass and mid-range. It tends to offer a more rounded up sound with a weightier attack for piano and drums. The overall dynamic is more lively, but this is extremely subtle and it take some time for your brain to discover this change. All in all, Bypass mode is the cleanness and more digital-sounding mode and as it’s not the most revealing already, I don’t see why I would make it warmer by using other filters. In fact, I would have preferred a bass boost switch instead of these 2 very minimal sound coloring.

PAIRING




WITH HIFIMAN SUNDARA (hard to drive Planar)

The HUD100 can drive the SUNDARA, but I need to use High Power mode at full volume. I’m quite impressed by the clean sound it delivers because it does not make any distortion with bass this time and the whole sound is very well balanced. The soundstage is impressively open for such minimal amping, it’s very deep and imaging is extremely precise. Mid-range tend to jump even more at you while the bass keeps its punch and lose somebody and thickness. Timbre is smooth and transparent, even more, polished and liquid than amped with more powerful (but less clean?) DAC-AMP. TREBLE keep it’s revealing micro-details and feel rightly balanced. The SUNDARA is driven at about 90% of there full potential, which is a little miracle in its own right. Nice pairing!

WITH AUDIOSENSE T800 (sensitive iem)

These are very capricious IEM that need a VERY low impedance output of at least 0.1ohm, the HUD100 being 0.32ohm it, unfortunately, makes the T800 act strangely. What happens is that sound became unbalance and more V shape and bass create distortion even at rather a low volume. The mids became more recessed and dry. Treble is more forward and grainy. Not a good pairing even using Low Gain.

WITH FINAL AUDIO E5000 (low sensitivity)

The HUD100 barely drive them at full potential, the bass did dig very low and sound is full with good dynamic but not completely open even using High Power mode. If I push at full volume, the sound will become less clean and bass can distort. Overall imaging isn’t improved, and mids feel slightly more recessed. Bass isn’t particularly well controlled and struggle to offer a natural extension. Treble feels a little more forward but affect tonal balance too. This is a decent pairing, nothing more.

WITH DUNU DK2001 (easy to drive and versatile)

This is a good pairing wich is fully driven at Low gain. The background isn’t the blackest one. Soundstage gain in deepness and imaging is very precise and even improved because of higher bass. DK2001 lows tend to warmth overall mid-range with a lot of sources but not so much with the HUD100 wich tame its sub-bass boost and make overall bass more controlled and balanced. MID RANGE is clean, detailed and improved in layering. TREBLE gains some extra snap and brilliance. This pairing is excellent.

COMPARISONS




VS EARSTUDIO ES100 (100$)

Priced 100$, the ES100 can be used as Bluetooth DAC-AMP and USB DAC but is limited to 24bit/48khz, so no DSD or hi res codec. The APP that comes with it permits to select 4 sound filters, use a great EQ, select dual gain mode which delivers double of power output than HUD100 when using balanced output (6.4vpp vs 3.2vpp). The construction is a little rubbish as its all plastic apart from the shirt clip. It does have button control for everything, unlike the HUD100.

In terms of sound, as it’s more powerful it can drive the SUNDARA at a higher volume in balanced mode, the overall sound is more textured and detailed but not as deep as HUD100. SOUNDSTAGE feels wider with ES100 and the bass is slightly more present due to better texture and dynamic. IMAGING is sharper, more analytical and holographic with ES100. CLARITY is higher with the ES100, tonality sound a little brighter too with more grain in timbre. The whole sound is more vivid and lively with the ES100, making the HUD100 sound flat and laid back with some extra highs presence. Timbre is a little thicker but transparency is better with HUD100.

All in all, while the HUD100 can play higher bitrate music, I still prefer how sound 16bit/44khz flac files fromES100 than 24bit/96khz files from HUD100. ES100 is more aggressive and energic, while HUD100 is more liquid and transparent.

VS FIIO BTR5 (140$)

Again, this is a Bluetooth DAC-AMP, this time it use dual ES9218P DAC and delivers 240mW @ 32ohm which is more powerful than HUD100. Construction is excellent, but about 2 times bigger than the HUD100. The unbalanced output of BTR5 is near 2 times less powerful than the High Power mode of HUD100 (80mW vs 140mW).

In term of sound, the HUD100 is more flat and transparent with deeper soundstage, the BTR5 has a wider and taller sound with a more holographic around your head spatiality. BASS is notably more present in sub-region with the BTR5, it’s thicker and has more punch and rumble and texture. This makes the tonality slightly warmer too even if the overall resolution is on par with HUD100. Mid-range sound fuller and more forward with the BTR5, attack have extra weight and timbre extra thickness the HUD100 cruelly lack. TREBLE sound more balanced with BTR5 and dig more sound info in lower-mid treble region which permit to offer a more natural and nuanced sound. The HUD100 is a little airier and has more air between instruments, the upper highs are more sparkly too.

All in all, BTR5 sound more natural and neutral to W shape while the HUD100 sound colder and more neutral to V shape. I think HUD100 has a blacker background noise floor too, but only when with headphones or earphones it can drive properly.

CONCLUSION



The EARSTUDIO HUD100 is a very capable DAC-AMP for its size and delivers a very neutral sound with impressive unbalanced power output which can be useful for those searching a small DAC-AMP that will drive properly most of their headphones and IEM. It’s ultra-small size makes it extremely portable and can be great for transforming your phone into a good audio source, still, the amping isn’t the most stable one and can create distortion in the bass region, as well, output impedance isn’t the lowest too.

I would be lying saying that I prefer the HUD100 over ES100, which is still a way better value even if it cannot play DSD. The HUD100 feel a little anachronical in today ultra-affordable DAC-AMP dongle world and the sound does not stand apart either in term of details retrieval, low THD or cleanness.

If you really need to play high res music and do not want to use balanced IEM or Headphones, the HUD100 is a decent audio solution, but it’s not an audio revolution like the ES100.

TONALITY: 8.8/10
TECHNICALITIES: 8.8/10
CONSTRUCTION: 8.8/10
SOUND VALUE: 8.8/10

INTRO

Raptgo is a Chinese earphone company that is mostly known for its best-selling Hook X hybrid IEM, but they have other IEMs with different drivers configuration which include single DD, hybrid DD+BA, and Multi-BAs.

Today I will review their latest offering, the Hook X HBB which was released in 2022. This is supposed to be an improved version of the original Hook X, the main difference being a slight tuning balance change, the use of an upgraded 12-layer double-sided piezoelectric driver, and an improved open back cavity for ''less hearing fatigue and better sound performance''.

Priced 260$, the Hook X HBB is 20$ more expensive than the first version, since I haven't tested the original Hook X, I can't comment on potential sound upgrades and will judge these based on their price range to performance ratio as I always do.

So let's see in this review what they are worth to my very ears and if they will be a keeper or just another chifi IEM to forget about.



CONSTRUCTION&ACCESSORIES

The overall construction of the Hook is quite nice, it's all metal made by a high-precision 5-axis CNC machine with an open-back design. The back is made of 2 metal part, one with a big venting hole plus a mate black metal mesh, this permit to keep sound leakage minimal while offering a wide venting property that will avoid unwanted resonance or distortion often found with a fully closed shell.
The size is a bit chunky but not too big, part of the shell that enters your ears has an organic shape and isn't thought for deep insertion unless you use super long triple-flanged ear tips (but why?). These aren't too heavy and I find them super comfortable for long-time listening.

Design look-wise is a matter of taste. I find them OK but would not call them eye candy.


The modular cable included is of very good quality. It has 2 thick nylon-covered cores which result in great smoothness and flexibility. Those cores are made of OCC silver-plated strands with coaxial shielding. Durability seems very promising. It does include 3 modular plugs to cover all your needs too (2.5mm and 4.4mm bal, 3.5mm single-ended).


The packaging comes in a small black box with an urban look to it. Accessories included the modular cable, a basic carrying case, and 6 pairs of silicone ear tips in a plastic case. It's minimalist, and I would have expected more ear tips choice as well as a better quality carrying case at this price range. Yet, since we have a good modular cable included, I feel already content to not feel the need to upgrade it.

SOUND IMPRESSIONS



Best of both world: when musicality embrace technicalities

The TONALITY of the Hook X HBB can be summarized as a balanced W shape with a lively and weighty dynamic. It's this kind of IEM that magnifies the best part of bass, mids, and highs and can offer a versatile performance that is never boring, unlike safer tuning that over-tamed energy of our beloved music.
It's slightly bright, without problematic peaks, harshness, or sibilance, so smoothly bright we can say where lushness meets brightness with appealing bass warmth basis.

This results in an open holographic musicality with a great sense of speed in attack, which is masterfully balanced with the piezo driver. This is the miracle of the Hook X, to achieve the first cohesive tuning for a Planar Hybrid, which put to shame both Dunu Talos and the infamous Obravo Cupid.

The term ''fun sounding'' often implies a lack of balance and maturity in sound rendering, it mostly inspires hard V shape ultra bassy tonality, so I prefer calling it engaging musicality for the Hook X HBB since the mid-range isn't recessed, timbre isn't thin and while treble is energic and near analytical it never feels overly in your face, it just adds an extra sense of openness and extra talent to attack speed and control.

Sure, the BASS hit hard enough with the Hook, it's round, punchy, chunky, and rumbly, but depending on the source used, we are in quantity meet quality here and speed and control are very impressive as well as deep extension can deliver clean vibrant rumble that is very well layered with the kick drum, vocal, and instruments. It's not a dirty boomy warmish bass often delivered from planar IEM like Letshuoer S12 or even Tangzu Zetian, it's not what I would call a pathological-based guilty pleasure due to its flexible presentation and balanced loudness.
The contrabass sound is wonderfully textured with a linear enough extension, it doesn't feel hard-slapped and boomy like an over-excited mid-bass boost can offer. One of the advantages of planar bass is its fast transient in layering and the Hook take full advantage of this, while just adding a hint of warmth to the lower mid-range that favor male vocal and permit low harmonic to be properly presented.
I would not say this is all perfect since the definition is a hint warm and the kick drum lack well-textured presence and can be more felt than perceive in some track, yet, this never goes too dark or muddy and the dynamic is hefty, well articulated, and layered. Leaner bass would have an effect versatility of its performance in fact since these can deliver engaging listening with anything from beat-driven electronic like IDM, EDM, Drun&Bass to rock to jazz to world music, name it, Hook X will take care to magnify its musical energy.

I like my mid-range between vivid lushness and warmth with a good note weight dynamic and this is near exactly what the Hook delivers in a very open way. What I dislike is mids that lack versatility, are thin in timbre, and doesn't have a natural tone for a high variety of instruments, and Hook X doesn't deliver that.
These are a rare mid-range that feels gently bright with a hint of extra low harmonic warmth that thickens the timbre. No instrument sound wonky or out of phase and the definition is not too edgy nor too dark. What stand apart is the holographic sense of layering that put forward mids in the center stage without being too compressed. Both male and female vocals have a bodied presence that is well extracted for the rest of the instrument. This isn't ultra clean or detailed mid-range, yet it's very rich and immersive, just not crisp-analytical.
The attack is quite fast with a soft sustain, so while the piano is well-bodied, has a realistic tone, and has good definition enough, it doesn't deliver natural decay. I would not call the mid-range crisp sounding even if it the above average in resolution, it does lack a bit of liquid transparency to permit proper high-fidelity listening.
Nonetheless, the balance between low and upper mids is very well rounded here and permits a highly addictive mix of smoothness of attack edge while keeping an energic sense of dynamic. Nothing sound boring with the Hook, yet, nothing sound overly offensive too, this is one of its multiple talents.

The treble is another highlight of the Hook, this piezoelectric is like no other I Iave listen to and mis ore on par with ttop-of-the-lin magnetostatic drivers, but it seems even cleaner and less noisy-grainy-fuzzy than that. The transient speed matches perfectly the one of the planar used, its dense timbre too, so timbral balance is excellent here and we don't feel it's a hybrid with 2 very different drivers type. Yet, this piezo driver permits to deliver a way more open spatiality as well as adding much-needed treble snap authority that all single planar is lacking to my ears. Single planar often sound overly condensed in layering, which affects separation space between instrument as well as attack definition that can feel blunted or foggy, with the Hook X this problem is solved gloriously.
Not only violin sound marvelous, well resolve, and full-bodied but even the harp is properly presented, sure to achieve perfection I would have added a hint of brilliance and perhaps more boost past 10kz, but the notes well define, and pulling of strings have this clean snap and sense of openness permit long resonance enough, it's a realist and very musical, without overly boosted texture that would ruin the listen by adding an unwanted patch of string rubbing or vibration noise artifacts.
Again, we are into a ''king of versatility'' approach here, where the treble is crunchy, dense in timbre, energic in attack decay, and never saturated or compressed even with a busy track.
While detailed, I would not call the treble analytical, it's even softened in texture presence, yet, not to the point of making electric guitar sound plain dull or lacking in abrasiveness. If I can nitpick something, I would say cymbals crash can feel tamed and blurred. As well, their something about background noise being a bit overly extracted with the Hook, so bad recording can be hit or miss, and sense of clarity lacks a bit of ''perfectly crystalline silence''.

The soundstage is another highlight of Hook X, it's very open wide, and tall with more than decent deepness even if slightly opaque timbre interferes with psychoacoustic traveling of this depth. Most of all, it's very holographic, so hey, VR-approved too? Why not!

This huge spatiality sure favors the sense of imaging, because we have a mix of great layering capacity with the planar and great static positioning with the piezo driver. Yet, the warm bass stole a bit of positioning precision, so it's not above average in its price range in terms of instrument placement precision and accuracy, lack of transparency is again to be pointed out.

In terms of technical performance, attack speed and transient are excellent





COMPARISONS

VS BQEYZ WINTER (1DD+1BC)

Ok, these are 2 very different hybrid techs, but 2 very capable contenders too. The bone conduction driver of Winter sure tends to focus our attention on the treble more so than the Hook, and this is not the only difference. Winter is more neutral and smooth when it comes to bass and mids, while the overall presentation is more of an energic W shape with the Hook. Dynamic is leaner with Winter too, and less bassy, the bass being leaner and warmer, less hefty and weighty in impact than the Hook which has a faster attack too that permits better layering with mid-range. This mid-range is a hint warmer with the Hook, not as clean as the Winter, and not as transparent too, it has a thicker presentation as well as lower mids so male vocals are more bodied and forwards, while female vocals just a hint less upfront than the Winter. Treble is more bright and crunchy with the Hook, it sounds thicker and fuller too, while the Winter offers a cleaner and crisper presentation that has more brilliance and sparkle, it's sharper yet less prompt to fatigue at high volume. Spatiality too is very different, the Hook sound taller and wider but not as deep as the Winter. Imaging feels notably better for bass and mid-range with the Hook, layering being better separated and more accurate in positioning while Winter feels a bit compressed in layers and lacks wide spacing between instruments, only percussions will be easier to pinpoint with the Winter, but it's not very realist in rendering.

All in all, I enjoy the Hook X HBB both tonally and technically, it's more energic and more balanced in its muscular dynamic. The bass hit harder and add more fun to an engaging mature enough sound signature. Winter is cleaner, crisper, and leaner sounding and will please those seeking near analytical neutrality.

VS DUNU TALOS (1planar+2BA)

Ok, for this comparison, I will focus on the hybrid mode of the Talos. In Balanced armature mode, the Talos offers a brighter hard W shape signature with thinner and more distant bass and mids and more shouty treble. The hook sound fuller and more balanced as well as smoother as a whole, treble isn't as detached and in your face as the Talos too. Bass is more about slight mid-bass punch with the Talos, it cut short in the rumble and lacks any proper sense of slam and weight the Hook offer in plenties. Mids are intensely more sibilance with the Talos, pina gain is high and fatiguing too and vocals are thinner, more compressed, and less dense and open. And now this treble disaster...hum, even 2 BA can achieve proper definition, which seems dirty in sustain lacking proper edge, aka it's a shouty fest. As well, the piezo of the Hook is faster and more controlled and snappy in attack, it offers more natural brilliance too so acoustic guitar and clavichord will sound both fuller and crisper. The hook treble is more open, airy, crisp, and detailed, it doesn't struggle to render the harp properly, which can go up past 20khz, Talos harp sound is boxier, suffer from timbral imbalanced that over boost texture of slapping and lack natural resonance as well as low harmonic when it comes to a lower range. The soundstage is way more open wide and tall and holographic with the Hook. Imaging is better layered and less prompt to saturation in busy tracks.

I think it's evident that the Dunu Talos is a joke compared to the Hook X HBB. No more comments apart that planar mode is good and offers a smoother leaner and more neutral tonality than HBB, with inferior technicalities and less dynamic and engaging musicality.

VS TANGZU ZETIAN HEYDAY X HBB (1planar)

Ok, another HBB collab, and this time it goes for a smooth neutral signature. So, the Heyday sound is leaner and more organic, less energic and W shape, and less bassy too. Hook is just a hint brighter and crunchier. Bass is notably less bodied and impactful with the Heyday, it's less well defined in roundness too, and doesn't move a lot of air compared to Hook's deep rumble. Mids are leaner, smoother, and more transparent with the Heyday, timbre is less bright and more liquid too, its more refined mid-range yet less energic and lively too and male vocals are more thin and recessed. Treble is leaner with the Heyday, it feels more compressed and less open too, we have a hint of more texture and overall cleaner more organic cohesion, but the attack is less snappy, more softed in impact yet more resonant, and the violin lack bite and energy too compared to more energic highs of the Hook. Spatiality is notably more intimate with the Heyday, less wide, tall, and open, similar in depth. Imaging is a hint better with Heyday due to superior transparency.

All in all, today act like a good student her, but lacks persona . It's more maturely tuned and neutral but has a rather lifeless dynamic and the attack feels overly softened in impact in all frequency ranges. Not only the Hook X HBB is more engaging, but it's more musical and has a superior treble performance and a more dynamic presentation.

CONCLUSION



2022 wasn't the most exciting year in terms of the Chifi IEMs release, and safe tuning begin to ruin the listening fun we are seeking too. As if dynamic rendering always implies bad tonal loudness balance.

The Raptgo Hook X HBB is a fresh breath of air in this IEM world invade with Harman and DF neutral tuning and offers a muscular musicality that doesn't bet on one specific frequency range and delivers full-bodied dynamic for bass, mids, and treble.

These are among my fav 2022 IEMs and deliver a very versatile tonality with impressive technical performance. Their holographic spatiality is sure to immerse you for long listening pleasure.

Yes, its possible to mix fun with mature musicality, and this alternative to bassy V shape is certainly more needed than ever.

The Hook X HBB nail both musical balance and wow effect technical performance and merit to be applause for that.

Highly recommended!

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PS: I want to thanks Linsoul for sending me this review sample which i personally requested . I'm not affiliated nor compensate in $ by this audio distributor and my opinion are 100% honest as always.

You can buy the Raptgo Hook X HBB exclusively at Linsoul for 260$ here (non-affiliated link):https://www.linsoul.com/products/raptgo-x-hbb-hook-x


This IEM was part of my Top 10 IEMs of 2022, you can give a look to the youtube video HERE

TONALITY: 8.2/10
TECHNICALITIES: 8/10
CONSTRUCTION: 8.2/10
ACCESSORIES: 8.5/10
SOUND VALUE: 8.2/10

INTRO

Letshuoer don't need long introduction. It's an earphones maker company from China that exist since 2016 and release diversify IEMs model including hybrid, tribrid, single DD and planar. Their best seller is the S12 which is a very good planar earphones offering a energic and fun musicality.

Today I will review their newest release, the DZ4.

Price 90$, the DZ4 is one of a kind IEM using 3x6mm dynamic driver and 1x passiave radiator.

Let see in this review if the DZ4 offer a special musicality and technical performance that will stand above the crowd


CONSTRUCTION&ACCESSORIES



The DZ4 have a good looking design made of half mate plastic and metal built with semi vented open back which isn't decorative. It's light and comfortable but the nozzle is a bit short but I don't think DZ4 is designed for deep fit anyway.
As seen, their 3 hole in nozzle instead of full open one with mesh, this is a sign of serious acoustic engineering and justify the use of wide bore eartips to avoid blocking any of these holes.
Overall construction doesn't feel cheap but I can't say for durability.



The cable is quite nice, especially for a sub-100$ IEM, its a good 4 strands silver plated cable that feel sturdy but I would have love to be able to choose a 4.4mm balanced cable too.



The package experience was nice too, with an interesting design that share same esthetic as the IEM back plate design. It's quite generous in good quality accessories too, i love the carrying case with screwable top. The ear tips choice are mostly valuable, especially the wide bore. Cable is great too as noted above. All in all, packaging and accessories is very good here.


SOUND IMPRESSIONS


Did anybody is familiar with this ''analog sound'' rendering? I am but I know we don't all have common ground about it, since their the solid state and tube amp vintage memories approach as well as the DAC of ol'time that tend to boost more the musicality than technical plain cold high fidelity approach…

So, we could say it's about ol'memories of an audio era where musicality was main focus, and the fun and immersive experience it deliver.

In that regard, the DZ4 nail it for me since even if the use of 3 dynamic driver with 1 passive radiator can seem like an acoustic perfectionism for better technical performance, it's not exactly that, it's about delivering a musical experience a single DD can't...but does it mean it's in a big wow effect way?

Here it will depend where your psychoacoustic sensitivity tend to focus. If it's timbre, dynamic and vocal, you'll sure be in for alot of joy and wow effet, smooth cozzy way. If it's about highest definition and attack speed and control, you'll be underwhelmed.

The DZ4 tonality is a warm W shape to me, with rolled off upper treble pass 10khz, which mean it's a sticky meaty musicality, that surround you in a close and intimate way, suck you in music closely and with good tactility of main instrument or voice presence. Warm way, which doesn't mean plain dark, dull or muddy way at all.

It's a one of a kind dynamic and sound layering within a familiar tonal balance, like a warmer thicker and boomier (in a good way) harman target. Their no thin mids to my ears, nor there overly agressive peak. If it's anything Harman, it's the most euphonic and beefy in slam approach i've ever heard within this target whatever the source I use.

But this mean there something imperfect with the bass too, even if the punch is chunky we have a peculiar sub bass dominance here. It's not a clean and boring sub bass like Moondrop Aria, which have pros and cons about this maturity and control, it's a chunky boom with fast rumble and extension sustain, this sustain have slight euphonic warmth in it which make the mid bass heavier and better rounded but not very resolved for kick drum, and strangely not very well separated too. I mean, it's not clean sounding.
We don't have lot of texture bite too, so the pulling of bass line will be softed but it's density boosted.
So it's mostly about slam here, meaty one, fast enough and well layered enough.
DZ4 are 2 way crossover, i do think 2DD work for bass and mids in tandem since it's what dominate the tonality here, then the treble try to pop out but is too well balance for that. We will go back to treble section soon.
The tone of the bass is very nice, timbre is rich and tick and tactile, if i use the word boomy, it's in a mostly positive way here since i dont feel it lack alot of mid bass, just a bit of separation between bass line and kick drum and then mids. Cello sound good and can even produce vibrant grunt, but in a warm way, while conterbass is where the word boomy come to mind, yet, electric bass will sound very focus. But in rock track i struggle alot to ''see'' the kick drum density while its presence is well rendered enough.
Euphonic impactful bass don't fit all music genre and I was expecting better technical performance due to passive radiator, which in fact seem to add this extra density to rumble, for the better and the worst.

Mid range is very appealing to my ears, dark and lush way where tone color is magnify and presence of instrument have a creamy blurry edge. It's not an open sounding and crisp mid range, nor recessed and thin, and vocal lover are in for alot of joy since it's the main focus.
Female vocal are fowards, full bodied and offer a thick natural timbre in phase with macro resolution, is loud but smoothed in edge so no sibilance nor problematic shoutyness. This type of mids favor woodwinds and vocal, saxophone sound very natural and tonaly right, dense with textured air and well layered enough with other instrument. Piano in the other hand will lack a bit of attack definition, so each note aren't fully carved in presence and can feel foggy in resolution and prompt to get lost in the mix with busy jazz track, for example with Adam Baldych and Helge Lien Trio, the violin dominate center stage and piano seem more distant, even when goin solo the dynamic amplitude is restrain.
Then for male vocal, they are warmer in resolution but full bodied and sweet, without upper mids spike that can affect their tonal balance, Califone singer feel a bit mixed in the music in an overly homegenous way unlike female vocal that will pop out better this one is a bit darker than other instruments surrounding him.

Then the treble, this is where i'm a bit underwhelmed since I do think their a whole 6mm DD cover this section, yet it's roll off after 10khz and lack sparkle, brilliance, decay and air on top.
It doesn't sound thin, nor very edgy, it's a safe treble we can say and this explain the lack of excitment it trigger in me. This isn't a very technical treble either, the attack control is average and foggy in sustain-release, it's not snappy nor speedy but not completely dark or dull. We do have minimal crunch and bite, which explain violin attack is abrasive and well define though it will not release natural resonance after stroke due to lack of clean black background to achieve proper macro resolution crispness.
The highs are full and tactile, not half cook in term of micro rendition it's bodied, the percussions are round but....again this word....euphonic, a bit contoured with harmonic distortion blur, buttery way.
It's part of this holographic rendering where all sound seem rounded but not perfectly delimited in presence contour, nor very transparent.
It's hard to find something to hold on in the treble section, it's cozzy, darkish, but dynamic and dense with texture naturalize with romantic sustain distortion. I try to explain this treble with a mix of esoteric and scientific repair, so don't take the word distortion in first degree here, it's micro blur that color the texture with peculiar warmth in fact.

Now, the soundstage is perhaps the most esoteric part of this unique sound experience the DZ4 deliver. It's like puting your head in a ''holographic bubble'' , not a gigantic one but not one that asphixiate you either. Its immersive and fascinating, with a 3D rendering. Wide and tall, but not deep.

Imaging isn't the highligt of DZ4 due to thick sound layering, which are perceivable and possible to pull apart but not with alot of space in Y axis, while for instrument separation in X axis, it lack clean air and wideness between them as well as proper definition edge for positioning precision.



COMPARISONS



VS PENON SERIAL (3DDs-300$)


Let's begin by saying the Penon Serial is at least 3x the price of DZ4 and it's evident they are superior earphones both tonaly and technicaly. In fact, it represent the logical upgrade to DZ4, which is more compressed in layering and grainy in timbre, not as open, transparent and smoothly balanced as the Serial.
Fact is that I was a bit sad to know DZ4 use 3x6mm titanium DD instead of 3 different model that can permit a richer and more capable sound performance. The Serial use 3 superior DDs, all different (10mm-8mm-6mm) and this permit a more transparent, clean, well layered, technical and detailed musicality.
The DZ4 feel more V shape and punchy, thicker but noiser in timbre, with more fowards upper mids but less open and well resolve mid range, the texture isn't as detailed as Serial too and have sign of harmonic distortion going on.
The bass doesn't extend as deep, isn't as well layered and transparent in rumble, bass line are more clean, articulate and resolved with the Serial, but not as thick and energic in punch.
Mids are a hint leaner with Serial and can keep up with fast busy track without going muddy like the DZ4 wich have more compressed center stage, less wide vocal and instrument presence, more euphonic timbre and more fowards female vocal in a less smooth and organic way than Serial.
Treble is really where the Serial put to shame the DZ4. Its more open, airy and sparkly, we have way more micro details, cymbal crass decay naturally while it fell splashy with DZ4, attack is more controlled and definition notably cleaner and airier.
The Soundstage is way wider and deeper with Serial, while a bit taller but notably more closed and boxed with DZ4 that have near zero depth and an intimate holographic presentation.
This mean Imaging is sharper, cleaner, more precise and accurate with greater spacing between instrument with the Serial.

All in all, i wasn't expecting the DZ4 to beat one of my fav sub-500$ IEM, so i'm not surprise by the fact tonal balance is smoother, cleaner and less V shape, nor that imaging, resolution, attack speed-control and soundstage are all superior. Yet, to some extend, some people might find the DZ4 more fun due to more punchy and energic dynamic, thats to be noted.

VS TRI Star river (2DDs-60$)

This is a 2 dynamic driver IEM which sound more technical and W shape than warmer more V shape DZ4.
Bass is cleaner, more mellow in impact and lean in extention, sub bass line are less muddy and more transparent. DZ4 offer better rounded punch, chunkier sub bass but less textured low end.
Mids are more open, thinner and more agressive in upper mids so more shouty, presence is less euphonic and thick but more textured than DZ4.
Treble is superior and sharper here, more emphasized too, it dig more micro details, sound more open and airyand attack is more speedy and less distorted in sustain release, but it's more spiky and fatiguing than DZ4 too.
Soundstage is notably wider, taller and deeper, less congested and filled with thick sound layers.
This mean center stage is more recessed too, but imaging have cleaner resolution and clinical separation, it's not as holographic and realist sounding as DZ4, but more precise in separation and cue.

All in all, i'm surprise to conclude the TRI offer superior soundstage, imaging and resolution since the balance is a bit wonky and displeasant, in term of cohesive tonal balance and most of all musicality their no doubt i prefer DZ4 more dynamic rendering, and thicker less artificial timbre.

VS UM 3DT (3DDs-400$)

3DT is notably brighter and more W shape. Resolution is more boosted and sound layers more define.
The bass is similar in punch but less chunky and muddy in sub and mid bass layering, it's faster and more controlled too, more textured and sub bass is leaner in rumble.
The mids are less warm, more vivid and agressively bright, they are better layered too and definition is more edgy and abrasive. DZ4 mids feel more intimate and natural, with concentrated presence thickness that isn't as open as 3DT but not as prompt to sibilance and harshness in upper mids.
Treble is crunchier and again more agressive with 3DT, its more snappy and attack speed and control is superior, it dig more micro details and texture info without going imbalance or wonky.
Soundstage is similar in wideness, but taller and deeper.
Imaging is superior, we have more transparency and definition of each instrument layers, it's accurate and near monitor like, bright way, while DZ4 is too euphonic for proper instrument placement and separation.

All in all, technical performance are superior with 3Dt, which was previsible at this big price difference and well, better dynamic drivers quality and diversity that permit more heterogeneous macro-resolution that still keep it's coherence. DZ4 feel more laid back and smooth though, it's not as vivid and captivating, but it's more fun and cozzy. So, tonaly wise it will be the winner for me due to thicker smoother timbre mostly.



VS TEMPOTEC IM05 (1DD+4BAs-160$)

DZ4 is warmer, more balance V shape and main difference is thicker, more natural timbre that offer fuller mids and bass.
Treble is darker though, and spatiality is less open and airy.
IM05 sound more technical, W shape with sub bass resonance boost, recessed in mids which are notably thinner and more artificial (colder)timbre wise
Upper mids are more upfront with IM05, treble is more focus with sharper definition and attack speed which make the DZ4 sound darker, bit rolled off pass 10khz, so less sparkle, brilliance,decay.
Note weight is heavier, bass is warmer less well separated but better rounded, chunkier, punchier, more textured too.
Soundstage is notably more open, wide and deep with IM05. Imaging too is next level compared to thicker more blurry, thick in layering DZ4 which doesnt offer same level of transparency.

All in all, technical peformance is notably superior with the IM05, but tonality is more clinical and timbre lover might prer the DZ4 which feel more mid centric and less spiky, less prompt to hear fatigue than IM05.


CONCLUSION



I really enjoy to listen to the Letshuoer DZ4 warm holographic musicality, which offer among the most beautifull female vocal in sub-100$ price range. In that regard, they are very close and perhaps even better than my beloved Raptgo Hook X HBB (logical upgrade to DZ4 in fact).

With DZ4, I listen to music first and foremost with great emotional response and a cozzy immersivity where I can get lost for hours. Its not a technical nor clinical sounding IEM, and timbre naturalness is one of it's highlight which benefit vocal, and instrument like saxophone and piano.

While I find them versatile due to the safe tuning nature, it excell with female singer and music like Soul and R&B.

The DZ4 offer one of a kind musical experience that is impossible to mimic with other driver configuration, it's rich colorfull tonality with dense sound layers is something to be enjoy, laid back way.

Recommended!

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PS: I want to thanks Letshuoer for sending me this review sample after I try to get more info about how it sound. As always, I think it's evident i can't be bias for anything I review and these are my 100% true subjective sound impressions.


The DZ4 will be available for order July 15th for 90$ here:
https://letshuoer.net/products/lets...ngle-passive-radiator-edc-hifi-in-ear-monitor

TONALITY: 8/10
TECHNICALITIES: 9.2/10
TIMBRE: 7.5/10
SOUNDSTAGE: 8.2/10
IMAGING: 9/10
CONSTRUCTION: 9/10
ACCESSORIES: 9/10
SOUND VALUE: 8.5/10

INTRO

BGVP has been around for a long time, they are a China based IEMs company specializing in hybrid and tribrid. Back then, their dual DD+4BAs tribrid get a solid fan base, then the DM8 solidify their reputation but since then, BGVP rather stay in shadow.
Today I will review their latest flagship Tribrid, the BGVP DM9.
Priced 629$, the DM9 use 1 silicone DD for bass, 2 Knowles BAs for mids, 2 sonion BA for treble and 4 EST for upper and ultra highs.

BGVP promise high clarity and details as well as clean and accurate sound reproduction for the DM9.

Let see in this review if they achieve that as well as a sound performance that is on par with its mid tier price range.

CONSTRUCTION-PACKAGING-ACCESSORIES



The DM9 are real lookers and really comfortable too. The housing is made of high grade resin plasticthat feel very durable and underneat it have stabilized wood with very appealing aesthetic.
My pair have a mix of purple and blue woodden color with intricating texture and pattern.

For a tribrid with 9 drivers, the housing is quite small. It's very soft and smooth to the hands as well as light. The shape is organic and ergonomic with enough long nozzle for deep inserting which will provide excellent isolation if you use provided memory foams ear tips.

Personally, I prefer high quality UIEM with medical grade resin plastic for smoother fit and near 100% scratch free durability (unless you use a knife, good luck to scratch those).

The connector used is MMCX, this is a change from more common 2pin, but in this case it permit greater fit freedom, in the sens the housing can swivel for better positioning of housing with the ear hook. I don't encounter any loose connection or sound cutting and the MMCX connector is solidly embeded in housing, it's high grade quality and it seem it's gold plated to avoid oxydation.



The included cable is a very nice surprise and perhaps among the best modular cable I own now. It's a high-purity 4-strand 6N OCC Silver-Plated Graphene mixed hybrid. The strands are thick and sturdy, the plug are a bit big but heavy and again extremely sturdy. It include 3.5mm and 4.4mm plug, so if I can nitpicksomething it would be: why not adding 2.5mm balanced plug too?



Then the packaging is very well done and quite genrous in accessories. Begining with nice cable I just tell about. Then you have great variety of ear tips model, 10 pairs which is compose of 3 different silicone eartips model in 3 sizes and one pair of memory foams eartips. The carrying case is elegant and of very good quality too.

All in all, the quality of accessories is great, built is great and packaging is great.



SOUND IMPRESSIONS



The BGVP DM9 is a pumped up technical tribrid beast with it's 1DD, 4BAs and 4EST. It's in fact the most vivid and detailed sounding tribrid i've heard after the GSaudio SE12.

First and foremost, the DM9 is an analitycal sounding earphone, it's near vividly neutral if it wasn't this mid bass boost, so we can call them bright analytical W shape with very extended and full treble.

Treble head rejoice because DM9 main focus is whole highs frequency range up to 20khz. These arent mid centric, nor lush or warm sounding even if there slight bass warmth going into lower mid range.

Then it's the pounding bass, and as expected mid range is leaner here, with boosted presence and open stage.

The BGVP DM9 might be bright, but it's dynamic too, mid bass, upper mids and upper treble are sharp and lively, they want to extract details with there fast layering capacity. The 4 EST driver aren't understated or over tamed like some other tribrid have try, which include Penon 10th and Kinera Urd, both using 2EST and not 4, but even the Letshuoer EJ07M using 4EST isnt as snappy and brilliant on top, it's less spiky pass 10khz than DM9.

As noted, those are the brightest EST tribrid i have heard after the GSaudio SE12, think about a Kinera Norn with 4 extra EST and your not far from exact tonality these deliver. But it's not screamy, it's no treble mess here, yet, i would be hard pressed to suggest those to treble sensitive people too.
It's a musicality that suck you in with immediacy, sens of attack speed is magnify, imaging is jumping at you, bass hit hard and fast so it feel part of same time space and not detached, which is a big plus for coherency, then the timbre might be an issue for some, we have some BA timbre going on, some definition edge damping too, but nothing that goes plain wonky.

The DM9 aren't for:
people that like warm, dark or lush tone, nor for those seeking thick and smooth timbre, nor for those that need big basshead rumble and slam, nor for those seeking smooth organic one color balance, nor for mid range lover unless all about presence like all Moondrop fans, so in that regard it might be my subjective appreciation of mid range fullness that influence this.

The DM9 are made for :
treble lover, for people that like lively energic musicality, for high resolution seeker, for fast snappy attack from low to high lover, for clean sparkle and brilliance lover, for those seeking a monitor meet bass punch, for people that listen at low volume and want boosted resolution and vivid dynamic, for those that tend to favor technical performance over round tonality balance.



The Bass surprise me in a very positive way, I wasn't expecting much in that department and was wrong because it's among best tribrid with EST bass quality, speed and well rounded thight punch I've heard yet.
I can't say it will be enough boost for pure basshead, but bass quality and quantity is there, it's just not tunderhous or dominating whole frequencies range.
It's more about fast thumping that wide slam with boosted rumble and sub bass, in fact, it offer clean punch with lean extension, and bass line presence is brighten enough for proper layered sitting under the kick drum, we don't have warmed mid bass here, in fact, presence of kick drum is highlight even more than bass line and this is a unique mature meet enough minimal punch take of bass tuning.
For testing purpose, i try both low and high volume listening, and kick punch was never anemic, its texture in defintion, it doesn't rumble or induce headbanging yet it's hard hitting in a non excited way, it's not a mellow lifeless boom or pillowy punch, the attack edge is here and physical separation is well felt.
Simply put, the bass isn't really colored with warmth or vibrant boost, some might find it a bit dry, but i'm not one of them. I find it clean, realist, well resolved and punchy enough, in fact, i'm the kind of audiophile considering sligth bass boost as needed for proper neutrality where nothing is left in oblivion and this is what we get. The speed and control is there, kick drum definition is perfect, cello tone is monitor like in it's rendering but not lacking air density of it's instrument which don't mix with kick or double bass line. This double bass is very well controled with lean and clean extension and proper attack articulation so we can follow each note without warmth that will makeit sound one pitch tuned.

The mids have a technical rendering, it's gently bright and open, very transparent and highly resolved but light in note weight, centered in presence and uncolored with lower harmonic that stay in the back.
Piano is my main instrument toi judge mid range fullness and here the presentation is light but fast and precise in attack, timbre is very realist but a bit thin, we have this natural piano resonance so we know when the decay pedal is press by pianist, lead attack while light is still felt with proper sustain stop and release, transparency is there and i don't struggle to follow fast playing even if softed in attack hit edge. Did it mean i enjoy what I here? No, i find it distant, and it feel like monitoring the pianist, it's not very fowards, a bit recessed in fact even when listening to solo piano track.
This underline that most of timbre meat and tone presence are to be found in upper mids region.
Female vocal are more fowards than male vocal, but both are boosted in presence and never lacking in definition clarity. Yet they lack lower harmonic fundamental for prroper fullness and female vocal can enter boderline shouty zone especially at hight volume. We have extra breathy brrightness going on as well, which is inherent to BA timbre. I really don't think the DM9 is for vocal lover, yet intelligibility is good enough.
Saxophone and woodinw have similar rendering, it feel compressed in presence energy and not freely open and dense with air as it should naturally be.
Then violin has an edgy and speedy rendering, which benefit fast player but do not favor naturalness and fullness of tone.
Simply put: the mid range is analytical sounding and offer high end monitor level of resolution and accuracy.
The treble is center of the show here, and in fact can stole it with percussions heavy track often find in jazz trio, here it will be a pro or con depending of how vividly engaging you want your music. Sure, the audio source will inflict on final result, but a clean sharp DAP like Xduoo X20 or Tempotec V6 will certainly blown your mind with infinite sound info and snappy sharp highs.
The DM9 doesn't use shy ESTs, and this permit to achieve urgent micro details rendering in a clean open top, with tremendous amount of ultra realistic brilliance and fully blossom sparkle.
I do think DM9 can even be consider as niche drummer monitor IEM since whole drum section is sharply resolved with edgy definition and ultra fast and controlled attac. Kick drum is round, well textured and present as noted in bass section, then snare is crunchy and loud and percussions is even more upfront, not half cook, each section is clean in micro dynamic and cymbals has among most realist, transparent and extended crash rendering without any splashyness, it's in fact delicate in sustain-release with air vibrancy texture so highly resolve it feel like you listening with a microscope.
In fact, percussions are even more upfront than acoustic guitar, which underline that hitted instrument sound more dynamic than pulled or stroked one in term of attack lead, sice acoustic guitar has sligth scoop in string pulled resolution and attack-release. This is some next level nit picking here but it made acoustic guitar sound more recessed and lean than percussions in ''System One'' album from Sebastian Noelle.
The treble here favor micro dynamic crispness over extra highs texture density, and this permit a multi layering in upper register sounds. As well, it tend to extract clicking noise in a super speedy snappy way, for ex with electronic music using lot of sharp micro details that are part of rythm, like Alva Noto or Beatrice Dillon tracks, the highs can deliver mesmerizing performance, clean in layering, insanely fast and controlled in attack, with hyper realist clarity and limpid readibility of it's macro dynamic lively rendering.
If you love snap and click, you'll sure be in for a fest!

When it come to acoustic to clavichord and harp, we have fully resolved instrument with excellent micro details of texture subtilities, natural decay of instrument, all in slightly limited presence openess, centered and accurately positioned in center stage, with a delicate dynamic heft.

All in all, the treble is fabulously crisp and the star of the show is the 4 EST, level of fine details is excellent, the speed is snappy and catchy and we don't lack air on top.


The soundstage is average wide and tall but has great deeptness as well as an holographic and intimate presentation.

The imaging is one of highlight of the DM9, it's sharp, precise and accurate with excellent sound layering in Y axis as well as crisply define separation in X axis.




SIDE NOTES

With an impedance of 30ohmand sensitivity of 112db, the DM9 don't need crazy amount of power but still merit at least 100mW@32ohm to deliver a lively dynamic as well as waken up it's EST for proper treble response. This is the thing with EST in general, they need power but clean one, so the DM9 will scale up with high end source that has black noise floor and low impedance output, the Questyle QP2R is a good example.

Another aspect to achieve best sound quality is the ear tips, the nozzle have 4 holes in it that shouldn't be blocked or too compressed with ear tips, if so, the soundstage will sound in your head. I suggest wide bore eartips included or short wide bore with larger nozzle hole (best result for me).


COMPARISONS



VS PENON 10th Anniversaty (2DD+2BA+2EST-500$)

The DM9 is notably brighter and more technical sounding, while 10th is warmer, bassier and more mid centric, with darker but a hint crunchier yet less crisp treble.
By crunchier, it's about the acoustic guitar, they feel more upfront, but not as brilliant with metallic strings. Nor as clean and transparent.
The bass is notably more hefty and wide in slam, it's chunkier and rumblier, sub extension is more vibrant and full but mid bass and kick drum is warmer, yet, thicker and we have more lower mids embracement that will make male vocal sound more bodied and natural, while more monitor like and brighten in presence with DM9.
Mids are notably thicker, warmer and lusher with 10th, both male and female vocal are smoother yet fuller and wider in presence, making DM9 instrument feel a bit compressed though the mids are more open and crisp and level of details is higher with DM9. Let say DM9 favor presence and clarity while 10th favor tone color and fullness.
Treble is notably brighter, more spiky and analytical with DM9, it's cleaner and more airy too in the sens the air let brilliance flow more clearly in soundscape. The EST are less understated with DM9 which make ultra highs more extended and more generous in micro details and sound info but to the cost of a less organic and natural balance, i'm not concern about treble sensitive people for 10th, while I am for DM9.
Then the soundstage is slightly wider, but notably taller and deeper with 10th.
Imaging is superior with DM9 due to better transparency, sharper instrument separation definition and cleaner air betwen those instrument in both X and Y axis. 10th is more holographic and 3D sounding but in an hazy way.

All in all, tonality is better balanced and more musical with the 10th but it's evident technical performance are superior with DM9.

VS LETSHUOER EJ07M (1DD+4BA+4EST-640$)

Ok, here the tuning is a bit more similar but the EJ07M is more U shape to neutral, and smoother in balance as well as slightly fuller and more fowards in mid range.
The Bass is less punchy but have deeper rumble and extension with EJ07M, kick isn't as well define and textured but lower mids are cleaner-thinner.
The mids are smoother with EJ07, even more open and clean, vocal are less prompt to shoutyness or sibilance than brighter DM9, presence of instrument is wider too and timbre a notch thinner but more transparent and organic, less grainy in texture than DM9.
The treble ios both more crunchy and sparkly with the edgier brighter DM9, percussions are more fowards and brilliance is more boosted. We have a pinch more micro details but overall cohesion isn't as balanced and non spiky as EJ07M. Treble is a bit thinner with DM9, more amplify on presence details so it can go overwhelming more easily with condensation of sound info.
Soundstage is very similar but a notch wider and taller with DM9, while about same depth.
Imaging is slightly superior with the EJ07M, especially for mid range and center stage instrument positioning accuracy, this solidify the monitor purpose of these IEM.

All in all, i find more exciting the listening of DM9 but not as smoothless balanced and coherent as the EJ07M, I wish EJ have the mid bass and ultra high of DM9, while the DM9 has the upper mids and mid treble of EJ07M. Can't choose a clear winner here. Technical performance are on par.


CONCLUSION




The BGVP DM9 are mid-tier tribrid that offer excellent technical performance as wel as an engaging and highly resolved musicality.

The sens of speed immediacy is magnify with those and you will not miss any percussions snap in the mix with their precise and vivid attack.


If you like your bass punchy, your mids clean and crisp and most of all, your treble effortlessly analytical and snappy, the DM9 will certainly impress you.


Highly Recommended.


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PS: I want to thank BGVP for sending me this review sample. As always, those are my independant minded subjective impressions and opinions.


You can order the DM9 for 629$ directly from official store here:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/1005005187039475.html