The TANSIO MIRARI FEAT



Preamble:
This is probably one of the best turn-arounds found with any IEM I have reviewed this year. Meaning OTB the TSMR FEAT was good, but it wasn’t super-great. What took place after 7 days of burn-in and getting acquainted with the FEAT was nothing short of remarkable! Here are words to document the experience.

TSMR short for TANSIO MIRAI:
So anyway, here we are again smack-dab in the middle of another Redcarmoose Labs adventure. Yep, today we are looking at the TSMR FEAT IEM. Normally I will include a list of all the (other)15 other TSMR IEMs they make and talk a little about TSMR history. But you know at times all that extra stuff is not needed. Yes TSMR has been around since 2016, yes………..they primarily specialize in Hybrid IEMs and all BA IEMs. Every IEM they have ever made has had those DIP-switch tuning adjustment switches……..but this one doesn’t. Also this is a new day in that TSMR are ditching the regular Audiophile Style tune and going for a warmer and more musical adventure. TSMR IEMs normally cost substantially more than the FEAT. Yet while not the end-all end-all in detail………….the tuning works. It works for me anyway.

FEAT
I’m not sure the exact meaning of the name FEAT, but typically it means an an achievement that requires great courage, skill, or strength. So maybe TSMR are actually showing off that they can build such a device and retail it at this low cost of $239.00?

To me the names means For EATing.
FEAT= For EATing and of course drinking


Yep, this little compact and bass laden creature can go on dog walks, or to a restaurant where you would never think of taking expensive gear.

The included cable:
I’m not saying the FEAT with its included cable is bad…….it is just that all of us here……….all of us reading are looking for synergy. And sure Penon just came out with this T-OCC new style of cable, and to be honest the FEAT and T-OCC came to me together in the same envelope. But the ISN T-OCC is miles better than the included cable. Now really there is nothing wrong with the included cable, as TSMR must have ordered two truck loads of this particular cable? Reviewing 5 different TSMR IEMs…..…4 of them came with this exact cable……………and sure I have seen many more inclusions of this cable with TSMR IEMs in reviews.

While polite and proper, the included cable has great balance, only except for this added 5kHz to 7kHz peak. As such this cable kinda makes music a little sterile and almost too correct and thin. With the TSMR Land IEM and the TSMR Sands IEM I had to fully jettison this cable, only because the 5kHz to 7kHz peak was amplifying the already pushed upper midrange and treble.

So both Dsnuts and I agree this included cable is not the very best for many of the TSMR creations, that a warmer/smoother cable seems to help them. Now in a change of pace the two latest IEMs introduced by TSMR actually somewhat work with the included cable. Meaning if you were to buy the TSMR-X or the FEAT, sure use the included cable, but always remember there are better choices even for as little money as the $119.00 ISN T-OCC or the ISN CS02 at $69.90?






The ISN T-OCC:

The ISN T-OCC or ISN CS02 is changing the FEAT’s stage, they broaden it…….they also add harmonic complexity to playback. Funny too, as you would not think the extra bass resulting from the T-OCC wouldn’t jive with the added bass of the FEAT............especially in relation to past TSMR products. See that’s the thing……..the ISN T-OCC adds fullness and image size/density and greater note-weight. I know I sound like a cable maniac……….because a big part of this hobby is cables for me.

The get-to-know-you-period:
On first listen, before 7 days of burn-in ………….the FEAT with the included cable was good but not great. Our relationship was like two ships passing in the night. One ship to go one way, and the other ship (the other way) on a separate journey. I missed that personal connection, where it was just an IEM making sound in my ears?

Now maybe many of you are going to question this burn-in process. And let me tell you the results are not always so dramatic as with the FEAT. But remember the FEAT has two big 8mm DDs for the lows. What that means (in common sense) is burn-in is 2 times more important than a single 8mm Dynamic Driver. So after 7 days of burn-in the magic started to take place, and the additive of the T-OCC combined made the bass a little less technical, but it brought soul and life to the experience.

Oh I almost forgot! A big part of the fun was the Penon Orange Liqueur Ear-tips.



Brand: TANSIO MIRAI
Model: Feat
Driver: 2 Balanced armature + 2 Dynamic driver
2 x 8mm dynamic driver hollow coaxial carbon element diaphragm for low-frequency
2 x Knowles balanced armature for mid & high frequency
Impedance : 10 ohm
Sensitivity: 104dB
Frequency response range: 10 ~ 20kHz.

Sound, soundstage and bass:

Dreamland
Robert Miles
Children
44.1 kHz - 16bit

Soundstage!

The bass is traveling outward between our ears, and making the stage wide, forward and back............and top to bottom.

Here we are experiencing the bass traveling about, and really a wash of bass frequencies, thus panning onto the stage……….though what makes it here is not exactly (just) the stage, there is both both the warm and deep renditions of the basic drop, but that the drop is showcased from many angles (and view-points) inside the stage, and with each angle there lives vibrant with an amazing woody warmth.

Now you may guess that this bass replay is somehow overpowering, or even distracting at least……..but no. That is the magic here……….that the piano notes when they come are still showcased (by the BAs) into their very own place on the stage. At 02:20 when the big major beat hits (it’s a climax early on)………..now we are grooving fully to this number……and truly there is all we need.

Bass and musicality:
Musicality is a funny subject, as many can’t nail-down all the reasons for it. I will try to guess what it means to me personally with the TSMR FEAT. There is an evenness where there is not an off-tone, or sound sticking out to off-smear the overall frequency.

A correctness of balance, that within the constraints of personality and character, instruments and vocals still sound relatively balanced. And finally the resulting tones own pace and note-weight. There needs to be a dance and play to the rhythm, that this music is not an exact science or a distilled formula. But we know some types of songs instantly have this special magic……this dance of pace………and the FEAT IEM is able to grab onto that pace and reveal its character.

Is it that two Isobaric 8mm DDs are better at a rhythm focus and better than a single bass provider? I’m not sure, except the more surface area of 8mm X 2 means we have the surface area of a 16mm DD. Only the 16mm would be lumbered by size and the results much slower.

Here we are greeted with the deep tone of a 16mm, and the stage size and involvement of a 16mm, only we obtain the pace of an 8mm. That is my only answer to what I’m hearing? Why? Well because there is nothing missing in the lows. I mean sure the FEAT is not everything……….it’s a $239.00 IEM, for crying out loud.

Yet if you don’t know it yet, $239.00 buys a lot of IEM sound nowadays…….the big and controlled sound of 2 Isobaric 8mm DDs……..that is what $239.00 buys.

The rhythm and tone-timbre:
Look, a lot has changed in the IEM marketplace. And included with your purchase are two little silver shinny boxes. These boxes contain Knowles BAs, two of them per side……… 4 all together. These mid and high frequency transducers have faster transients than DDs can do. Now normally there is a trade-off of a questionable timbre to become emitted by these little guys. Using tiny reeds of metal, the reeds are surrounded by magnetic energy which pulsates to the incoming signal. As such this allows the reed to vibrate back-and-forth. This movement is faster than DDs, but does not create air-pressure...........and that’s why we rely on DDs.

But in use the Knowles BAs own a specific rhythm to the beat, faster and more agile than DDs……….but also infinitely faster made transient responses. These treble and midrange responses are pushing the imaging and separation into the visibility. As such our stage is created, but it also owns a rhythm and dance. This dance is acceptable because it has not only great timbre, but it’s never hot or strident. If you could only hear my favorite thing that happens when you place all this together, the hidden bass effect.



Dreamland
Robert Miles
Children
44.1kHz - 16bit
One of the joys of IEMs happens with hidden bass, sure loudspeakers have it too. Really this just means fast bass. What hidden bass is comes around only ever so often. Meaning it is one of those found acts that is rare, but it is repeatable. Meaning if you found it with a set-up before, you can always use that exact same set-up, and find the piece of music then replay it to find this hidden bass again. So in a way it is not exactly hidden, you just need to know where to look for it.



Hidden Bass:
Hidden bass is normally a feature of bass Balanced Armatures, As we are dealing with the transient edge, the transient bass-note-edge in a certain low-end replay…………..this has often been described as..........coming out of nowhere.

Basically it's speed of bass response. At 04:04 (in Children) there is a breakdown where no beat is provided. This quiet-zone is needed for hidden bass to emerge………..no drum frequencies to jump into the way………yes, also turning it up adds to the experience. As such this becomes simply another part of the magic of utilized Isobaric 2X 8mm DDs. Now this effect is also at times dependent on stage. Yep, this means the bass needs to be bigger and slightly separated too……….again……..from out of nowhere…….offering a nice surprise when hidden bass pounces.




Kaveh Cohen, Michael Nielsen
Forza Motorsport OST
Brotherhood
44.1 kHz - 24 bit
This is the style of music I never would've guessed I would like. While maybe boring it serves a purpose. This is music for a video racing game to provide a mood of traveling inside an imaginary virtual racing world. We are kind-of pushed along with this music pace provider, and while simply background music………..it can’t be too distracting. I use this song often as there are a few important features to showcase. What is interesting, I can hear a faint disclosure of BA timbre here. This is the price you pay for the style of instantaneous treble and midrange the BA transducers provide. And sure early on in this review I said it was close to perfect, because I heard zero off-timbre. Yet there is a taste in the keys showing up at 00:08 in. Really not a big deal, yet it is there and heard at times, where if you never heard this song before, you may not even recognize it.

A little BA timbre:
This is just a simply fact of life. Yet, Hybrids are still my favorite way to go. Sonion as a BA manufacture may have a leg up over Knowles with this BA timbre thing? And who knows……..as to why they chose Knowles. But in the IEM world there is really Knowles and Sonion as the major providers of BA hardware. But beyond BA timbre, it is really about the overall tune. Meaning you are hearing this onslaught of information, and if only a small section is represented as an off-timbre, and only at certain times, with certain styles of music…….it just is what it is.

What manufacturers are doing now is simply getting a bigger stage footprint with modern IEMs. Newly designed BAs and DDs are allowing a budget IEM to gain the sonic ground previously only reserved for the big-boys of the IEM world. This is why there has been a steady upswing to the popularity of value IEMs in the last few years. Yet, all-of-a-sudden budget DAPs are now making their way into the hobby. Yep, just the right thing to combine with your budget IEM………and our budget cable.

What this means in immersion, immersion into a place never dreamed accessible in 2016. I mean sure nothing is perfect, yet now there is a lot more perfection than you would guess!

Probably (for me) the best part of this song is how the instrumentation is fully sequestered into its own little areas. Sure life is unpredictable, but at least we have music to focus on. Music that has a style of organization, of perfect pace. And…….the songs we remember. Songs like this one never fails to amaze...........with the style of production, especially in the lows. The best way I can describe the FEAT is offering a thickness held inside of the lower midrange and a smoothness held in the midrange and treble areas, that becomes of balance……………while still showcasing a very accessible and fun character.

Where somehow I found the TSMR-X to be incredibly polite, the X showcases more technicalities, and for the price it should go forward to give you those added features, yet I will probably be using the FEAT more? I’m a little stupid that way?

While the two are brothers, they both show as having 2xDDs in action, where the X holds simply more realistic regenerations of past musical events due to two Knowles BAs and the addition of two Sonion BAs. Where we also have a style of 2x8mm DDs, the bass contained in the FEAT is to me bigger, yet not as technical. This bass canister for the FEAT is orange plastic, the X has a metal drum with two 8mm DDs inside.



Cable rolls:
Top-down
1) Penon OSG: $299.00 High purity single crystal copper silver-plated wire mixed with graphene
2) ISN T-OCC: $119.00 2 Shares Triple Copper Hybrid
3) ISN CS02: $69.90 2 Shares Copper Silver Alloy & OFC
4) Penon Vocal: $69.90 4 Shares 60 Cores OCC Silver-plated Plus Gold Foil
5) Included TSMR Cable: $49.90 2 Strands OCC Silver-plated
6) SMGOT LC7: $69.00 732 cores of pure OFC

Laughingly I disclose, I didn’t start out to review all these cables with the FEAT!

Cable introduction:
See the FEAT is wonderful, but not exactly what you would call a perfectly even tune. Where this review started more simple, only using a few cables and sources, then it blossomed into all the words and photos you see. I take a more organic/results oriented schedule to reviewing.

Sometimes a review is more simple, sometimes not! This means that even after a week starting with first impressions, then 7 days of burn-in, then critical listening…….I may come up with new ideas as to a possible final sound. Where cable review examples numbered only two at the start, I found out through experience that more cable examples were needed.

If anything, more cable rolls help us to learn about the TSMR FEAT and its signature. We are looking for new and valuable reactions to new cable change-outs. Reason being you can start out with ideas, then at times more music played will give clues to the total personality to an IEM. So………using cables is a way to get closer to what an IEM ultimately is.

I’m looking deeper and farther for a way in, a way to offer corrections and well-roundedness. Meaning the included cable only goes so far, as it is fine, but didn’t offer the image density of the new ISN T-OCC. So now I’m taking a few hours and rotating in a few more random (cable choices)…………and not so random cable ideas as a way to discover what more is to be found inside the FEAT.

Cable rolls all in 4.4mm balanced:

1) Penon OSG: $299.00
So after a day and a whole night with the T-OCC and TSMR FEAT I started to get curious as to the change-out to the Penon OSG. Sure this is slightly crazy, that the Penon OSG is more money than the TSMR FEAT. But what if, what if it made the FEAT special and subsequently more valuable?

That would be worth a gander right? This instinctual wandering is what makes the audiophile individual play……………………really curiosity is what it is.

End results:
Wait, I’m onto something, my instincts were right. The OSG does the stage expansion of the T-OCC, but it’s cleaner and ultimately more clear. Why? Well…..gone is that woody copper density and replaced with graphene lightness. Where my biggest gripe with the T-OCC was vocal placement and midrange positioning……..the ISN T-OCC enhanced the warmth to almost an overly excessive point. Really at the end of the day the T-OCC is great, and a guilty pleasure, where the OSG is more straight forward and even, more complete while still holding that character that IS the FEAT in the end. Now we are romancing big reverberations and note weight, opening the stage like a new room to walk into……….the vocals now are newly found…………they were both too thin with the TSMR included cable, and too behind the scenes with the T-OCC.

But there is more……..weightlessness hovering outside the sage formations………this is one of the very best results I have had the experience of witnessing with the OSG cable, and the best the FEAT has sounded so far. More well rounded of a performer…….that and just more correct in styles of playback. Now this wouldn’t be such a big deal, except these results are both in tune (frequency response) and technicalities.

Where there is this grey area, where technicalities and tune overlap, and can either promote a better tune, or go against it, the OSG is a total win-win.

I’m using the Sony WM1A and the OSG cable with the FEAT and Penon Orange Liqueur ear-tips.

2) ISN T-OCC: $119.00
In my journey with the FEAT the new ISN T-OCC became a thrill. While really the very idea of a guilty pleasure, the T-OCC was the antithesis of the cable the FEAT came with, yep. Where the included cable was balanced and polite with a 5kHz to 7kHz boost, it was holding back the FEAT note-weight that could be found like gold laying on the ground. Sure, a quick T-OCC change (from stock) and the stage with the T-OCC was bigger and more immersive……more emotional. There is a rhythm and groove that is probably better than the Penon OSG I just gushed over……….and that is why it is a guilty pleasure. The triple copper not only does thickness…….but pace……..and that is where the soul of Rock is found. Only here in the comparisons the vocals were slightly more forward with the OSG……….I mean you get what you pay for here. Really both cables were a blast and made the FEAT that much more special…….I almost can’t choose……..and in reviewing, that is actually a good thing!

I personally believe the difference in sound between these two cables with the FEAT can not ever be approached with simple EQ changes. That in many ways the OSG and the T-OCC have their own value present and work with the FEAT, even having both would end in fabulous playback, with both almost highlighting the opposite?

3) ISN CS02: $69.90
OK, listen, I put this CS02 purposely behind the T-OCC. Why? Well the T-OCC sports an Oxygen Free Solid Copper plug, and OFC 2Pins. As such the modular version of these weigh 7 grams for a 4.4mm plug, opposed to the 4 gram regular plug. But this ISN CS02 is also sporting a Rhodium plug in your choice of 2.5mm, 4.4mm or 3.5mm. Rhodium typically offers a brighter sound than pure copper or the most common, a gold plated plug. I’m rooting for the CS02 underdog!

The CS02 results........
Well this is surprising and took about 3 back and forth side-by-sides to figure out. Where the CS02 and T-OCC are very close to the same. Though when the T-OCC starts to pull away is due to note density. Really both are fine with the FEAT, and even work out better with a mid forward DAP like the SONY WM1A adding to the push-up of mids. But the bottom line is the Rhodium is maybe responsible for making the ISN CS02 just slightly less of a bass heavy cable, where the T-OCC is full-on thickness, and that thickness adding note-weight and stage drama.

When the T-OCC vocals come in they are just more substantial and dense. But really if you just purchased the CS02, I'm not sure unless they were side-by-side............this question of differences would be anything to cry over? Oh and of course I have to say…….this playback with either T-OCC or ISN CS02 was the cat’s meow, I could write another paragraph or two…….but you get the message. The T-OCC solid copper plug and 2Pins is adding density here, and the T-OCC cable is a mix of three Hybrid coppers.

4) Penon Vocal: $69.90
This should be fun. Reason being there is room for the vocals, though what I am worried about is this Vocal cable goes best with IEMs that have a receded vocal positioning. Let’s see? What fun…….I am always reminded why this cable is a phenomena, it is a value for what it does. Just a giant, giant stage……man! Big........and the vocals, well they are more out front and in your face than ever before.

Though there may be a price for this luster of sorts, where all this pushing of tones out and about could be considered color……….but seriously the BA’s didn’t tweek-out on me. Meaning somehow the BAs responded with a purity and composure taking this to the very next level.

Bass is partially set back, as how could perception of it even approach the ISN T-OCC or ISN CS02? But in reality, I would suggest this as a single aftermarket purchase if you like big vocals and want that bigger stage than the included cable…..and value relay of size……like we took a magnifying glass to the whole operation here.

Wow, actually I love this, I have ran through a few songs and this is quite the tone?

What is happening is we have been moved from the outside into this bigger stage with imaging taking place on all sides now! I’m going to stop........stop while I’m ahead. But if you see people joining the Penon Vocal Cable with the FEAT in photos, you will know what they are up to!

5) Included TSMR FEAT Cable: $49.90 or Freeeeeeee!
Well this is a nice match to go right after the Vocal cable. First off, there is nothing wrong with this cable. If you were on a budget you could keep this cable in use and not feel that you were missing that much. But what is wild is the Vocal cable has a rearrangement of the 5kHz to 7kHz tones that is just better. The bass is warmer with the Vocal cable, heck everything is warmer and brighter.........these ultimate Vocal Cable contrasts........if that even makes sense?

6) SMGOT LC7: $69.00
Using the SIMGOT Audio LC7 with the 4.4mm modular plug. In many ways this will be fun as I want to see how this compares to the included cable.

Results:
Bigger bass, more lush. Though not as tight, but better and a bass increase. Smoother not showing those 5kHz to 7kHz boosts. Here we are really fine, though very by the books. Meaning this may be how many want it. A clear transfer of signal with added warmth, yet none of the personality of the Vocal, the T-OCC or CS02? Yet there is nothing wrong with this playback. It makes me want to revisit the OSG. Where the OSG is going to be more vocal forward, more bass sculptured, a clearer stage.......even holding more detail………….and on and on…but there is nothing at all wrong with this style of playback, just a little grainy, but look at the price. The LC7 is a workhorse, and I keep it at arms length daily.



IEM side-by-sides:
Top row left to right: TSMR FEAT and TSMR-X
Bottom row: ISN Neo 5

TSMR FEAT (2DDx1BA) $239.00
TSMR-X 10th Anniversary Edition (2DDx4BAx1CFRD) $399.00
ISN Neo 5 (4BAx1DD) $289.00

The choices:
Here I’m choosing two other recent editions to the audiophile community. As such TSMR-X was just released by TSMR showcasing what a new style of semi-solid 3D printing can do. As well as showcasing the Isobaric X2 8mm DDs in a configuration. The addition of 2 BA Knowles mids and 2 BA Sonion treble providers was rounded off by a Custom Film Retarding Driver. As such this test was performed with the standard setting of DIP-switches at 020. The final test subject is the ISN Neo 5. Kind of a phenomenon, the Neo 5 started to somehow gain preference here at Redcarmoose Labs even more after it was reviewed. The start was a change of cable as the original cable included was the ISN S8, only to be switched to the more controlling and clear ISN S4 cable, newly included from Penon. Yet, with more listening a magic started to form, the vocals started to move forward and the stage became larger with try out of included cables, namely the ISN CS02.

Today's set-up will be……The Sony WM1A with MrWalkman’s firmware. No EQ, and the ISN CS02 cable as a tribute to past uses with the Neo 5. On the Neo 5 I’m using my regular wide-bore silicone ear-tips and on the two TSMR IEMs I’m using longer wide-bore clear silicone ear-tips…….as such it helps with fitment due to the TSMR nozzle length.



DCD
Anastasis
Kiko
44.1 - 24bit
Before we start just be informed when comparing these three IEMs here I have already prepared by using the HiBy R3 II as well as the Sony WM1A, and went through a number of tracks to kind-of look for a middle ground, a song that would showcase the intrinsic qualities and become somewhat fair, while at the same time becoming a tool to let the characteristics of each transducer shine through. What was interesting prior to this final test…………….the TSMR-X had a slight personal re-focus on the 2x8mm DDs, and the subsequent rhythm they produce. This quality is talked about in other reviews, yet it was just a given (additional) focus here due their stunts performed with the X.



The TSMR FEAT v TSMR-X:
Revisiting the X gives me confidence in the ear-tip use and a good feeling of placement. Depending on the angle here the nozzles of the FEAT and X can seem confusing. At certain angles both IEM nozzles look longer than (in) other pictures. Yet regardless of 2D photos……….rest assured (that for me at least) fitment with these wide-bore-longer silicone ear-tips produces consistent results. Wow, the X is really showcasing the fact that it does have a few other tricks up its sleeve. Cleaner, more focused affair, and the vocals………..the vocals are more forward holding a style of both texture and detail..........the FEAT could only dream about.

Part of this cleanliness was due to reduced lower midrange lessening levels, just a faster more 3D pace. A pace built on technicalities and clarity. Where in no way is the FEAT sleepy in pace, it is not lumbering, the FEAT just does not have this reality of midrange pushing through into imaging of items............exposing themselves to make clarity……………….To where this set-up is insanely correct for the X.

The ISN CS02 is adding density to playback, in-fact slightly hindering the FEAT at work. And really I’m OK with that. Taking a Penon $299.00 cable to bring the FEAT a little closer to its 10th Anniversary brother totally makes sense here.

Yet obviously the IEM encounter of the X is always going to be more, because while a cable only does so much………we already knew the X would simply be better in every way. Still they are Apples against Oranges here…….were in 020 DIP-switch setting the X is simply bigger in stage and immersion, finding the small gifts of sound recreation spread out farther and holding a more realistic recreation of life. I could go on………but we are going down a rabbit hole. If we are not already down it, deep inside?



The TSMR FEAT v ISN Neo 5
For the first time, maybe the single DD the Neo 5 is sporting doesn’t sound as clean or consolidated as the 2 DDs of the FEAT. It’s a little less controlled in the bass department, which is surprising, but part of this could be me. I don’t know if you have been reading reports on both the X and FEAT drivers, but you slowly get an improved understanding to their intrinsic bass properties the longer you listen to them, and being this is near the end of the review, I have spent considerable amount of time listening to both the FEAT and the X.

Except?
There is this ISN/Penon midrange………as such this is a both smooth and realistic phenomena that’s hard to fight against. Let me just say that these stage drop-offs had me even choosing the Neo 5 over the X when I heard it. And once again the ISN CS02 actualizes the tone too close to perfection here. Yes the Neo 5 bass is slightly less tight and lumbering, but just like always...........it is the overall tonal balance that means the most in the end. The FEAT is cleaner and tighter..........even more polite, the Neo 5 is the person who was wild in school who you never really saw that much, because they were skipping class and being adults already.





Build:
Do you see that cute little orfi? Yep the tiny hole coming off the nozzle-end? That little tiny (new to the IEM world hole) is a tuned bass port. And the larger opening is equipped with a Knowles filter to tune the BAs. Yep, just like that, only two nozzle openings. As such the faceplate (looking microscopically) close has those 3D striations. Not the fibers, those blue fibers you see from after but somehow around and inside of those fibers is the 3D printing construction? The FEAT is the perfect medium small build size, and as such the FEAT is a traditional build, meaning it is not solid or semi-solid like the X construction. Weighing in at a stealth 4 grams, the air-space inside the FEAT cavity is remarkably large, and surprisingly spacious. This space, vented by a red vent for the left and blue vent for the right, is responsible for the woody full tones we are experiencing in the lower midrange and bass. Only it is clear bass and tighter due to the 2 8mm DDs showing faster cleaner response, yet holding the surface area of a 16mm woofer. That this little chamber is surrounded in orange plastic to only let the major bass frequencies out the top, with the fall-out reverberating from the second DD going through the sides and into the resonant chamber. Lucky for us there are no confusing DIP-switches, a first for TSMR, and at the far end the build are located two unspecified Knowles BAs for midrange and treble. For me to do my due diligence here with construction, I have to reiterate about nozzle positioning and shape. The 2D pictures can have two separate sizes perceived. From one angle the nozzles look short, then from another angle the nozzles look long. Now I do need slightly longer silicone wide-bore ear-tips to get fitment, except the FEAT fits me slightly better than even the X. So if you have “normal” sized ears, whatever that means? With a little moment of tip-rolling you should end-up with a consistent level of fitment……….at least I did. The medium small form-factor and 4 gram weight means the FEAT is perfect for out-and-about.




Cell phone use:
You have gotta be kidding me?

If you have been reading all through this review I don’t want to break your heart, but the FEAT is on the difficult side of the street to drive. Yet, that doesn’t mean exactly what it used to in 2016. Nope, because in the old days IEMs could sound small and thin from a phone. Yep, bass action was held a different way. Nowadays the market is packed with deep bass findings……..only very few are exactly like what we find with the FEAT out of a traditional Samsung phone.

I only have one word for this phone experience PARADISE!

Why? Well many of us don’t want to take a DAP outside, we need the IEM to do all the sonic providing. What that is is harmonic enhancement and stage size. Listen, I spent the good part of time writing this review listening to a phone drive the FEAT. And maybe in some ways TSMR got the idea to name the FEAT due to simple phone use? As it is a feat what the FEAT does with a phone signal! I mean I have not read any review on the FEAT prior, maybe a sentence or two, but if the reviewer didn’t include phone use with this particular IEM, they have left out a big part of the user experience. Why? Remember the hidden bass feature that I was talking about, well it’s not as vibrant from phone use, but the bass quality and dimension into the width inside the stage is still there. Not only that, but the overall tonal balance is just exactly right off your phone. It is this satisfying bass action, mixed with the Hybrid separation (into the stage) of the easy to drive 2X Knowles BAs that clinches this deal. I know this sounds over the top, but this is singularly maybe the best phone sounding IEM I have heard this year………..and I will leave it at that. You don’t need a lot of parts to make a phone sound wonderful, you need correct tuning. The weight, the fitment and the price of the FEAT make it the perfect portable phone IEM in my book, so much better than I have heard TWS sound, ever…….and less complicated than having to charge TWS, have the TWS drop a connection, or fall out (onto the pavement) into infinity………none of those shenanigans here.

Quite simply …………..the FEAT is made for the desktop audiophile experience, the DAP audiophile experience and finally the regular phone audiophile experience.

Due to these phone volume levels being just enough…………….this feature makes the FEAT the perfect choice (to protect hearing)…………..as a gift for your significant other.

Packaging:
The FEAT comes with a full-size box opening experience, same as the up-line TSMR offerings, no skimping here. Included is a new style of zipper (hard-hard) case, 6 pairs of actually usable ear-tips, the included $49.90 TSMR Cable, and a cleaning tool. Interestingly my FEAT came with a full instruction manual with the build date of 03-17-2024 stamped as date of production. I need to mention this new case…….two zippers on either end, a velvet style interior lining, and a top and bottom made of a hard protective plastic…….a far cry from what is normally included at this price-point. This box opening experience is really TSMR’s way of showing you are are dealing with a first rate company, not really leaving out a thing.

Conclusion:
Well there you have it. Another TSMR invention. Really uniquely different from the other 5 TANSIO MIRAI IEMs I have had the opportunity to hear. The difference is the FEAT tune, I can’t help but look into the shell of the FEAT and see how it is constructed……………to be a very different animal. You see this is a mainstream tuning, one that could find the general public arriving in droves to check out. Different from the mainstream audiophile, the general public have been nurtured by car audio and movie houses……this is what they feel is good sound, because it is in a way. For me anyway this construction starts with 2X 8mm drivers. This differs from the TSMR-X in that X is a semi-solid 3D build, and the FEAT is conventional construction. Yep, the X is cleaner because there is less resonant chamber with the DDs and BAs accessing two different height levels inside the X shell……..the BAs in the X are submerged in solid 3D resin, and the DDs vent off the top, under the faceplate. Where the FEAT has regular full-hollow construction, with the 3D printing only making the thin faceplate. Really the TSMR-X and FEAT are complementary, where the X owns the upper hand in technicalities, for the audiophiles in the room. The FEAT goes about its day owning up a more thorough and forward lower midrange…..yes a little more carless…….but that carelessness is where the magic happens……..and the love starts to occur. Sure it’s less technical than the X.

2 less BAs than the X, and one less sound tube out of the FEAT nozzle, that is unless you count the support for the X’s 1 X CFRD (Custom Film Retardation Driver)…………if you even regard that as a driver at all?

Still in the end it is uncanny how much both the FEAT and X’s twin 8mm Isobaric Drivers speak the very same language, how they both offer this hidden bass, that is surprising and simultaneously rewarding! This is one of the single features which separates the FEAT and X from the complete TSMR (TANSIO MIRAI) history. And if you have ever owned or own a TSMR IEM, I can guarantee you the X and the FEAT are completely different sounding than the other past 14 IEMs the company has made. You see this IEM building technology is advancing. Not only is it advancing, it is offering more choices and chances to get involved with the music. Because at the end-of-the-day all we really want is musical involvement. This musical involvement is why I consider the FEAT and the X as equals. Where sure if you want better technicalities the X delivers, but if you were just going out of the house and needed a friend to deliver that low-end that takes your emotion, and makes being outside fun, well for the money this in-fact may be the perfect choice?

$239.00
https://penonaudio.com/TANSIO-MIRAI-FEAT


Disclaimer:
I want to thank Penon Audio for the love and for the TSMR FEAT review sample.

Disclaimer:
These are one person's ideas and concepts, your results may vary.

Equipment Used:
Sony WM1A Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm balanced
Sony WM1Z Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm balanced
Sony TA-ZH1ES DAC/AMP Firmware 1.03 4.4mm balanced
Electra Glide Audio Reference Glide-Reference Standard "Fatboy" Power Cord
Sony Walkman Cradle BCR-NWH10
AudioQuest Carbon USB
HiBy R3 II DAP 4.4mm balanced
ifi GO bar Dongle in 4.4mm balanced
Samsung Phone 3.5mm

LAVRiCABLES
Redcarmoose Labs April 27th, 2024

"Go Into The Light"

Storms and light...................
There were thunderstorms and rain on the Wednesday the LAVRiCABLES sample arrived. In fact at 2PM returning home…………my Wife said “Why is it so dark out?” You know one of those questions married folks make that don’t need an answer. There it was, the slim box from LAVRiCABLES. As such there is not much to the opening experience, simply a felt carrying-case, the cable inside, a business card and a sticker…….you could put on your car window if desired.

LAVRiCABLES:
https://www.lavricables.com/line/master/

As such LAVRiCABLES are quite the worker-bees, putting together an onslaught of over 100 different silver cable products. Made-to-order, in this area you can truly have it your way. Formed back in 2012, LAVRiCABLES is a group of audiophile-wing-nuts just like you and me, I mean how many manufacturers offer either 100 hour or 150 hour burn-in service with your purchase? Based in Latvia they specialize in silver wires only. You can order your cable with a plethora of build options, which we will get to later. LAVRiCABLES make headphone cables, speaker cables, interconnects and USB cables. As you browse their web-site you will first become aware of the hierarchy here. Meaning there are four levels.

The different levels of pure silver cables offered
1) Reference line. A solid silver core using a teflon jacket for (the possibility) of thwarting radio wave interference, and still 5N purity, along with Mundorf 4% fine silver audio solder.

2) Ultimate line. Different geometry and thickness, offering AWG24 in a Litz configuration along with Mundorf 4% fine silver audio solder.

3) Master line. Mundorf 4% fine silver audio solder, along with a thicker, yep a thicker sonic transport device, more wire and different wire geometry.

4) The TOTL Grand line. The purity of 6N along with the Mundorf 4% fine silver audio solder, and of course more wire and a different wire geometry.

Take note:
LAVRiCABLES never slows down, as the Master line is the Master V4 version we are looking at today........and is the fourth increase in model quality.



6N silver is incredibly expensive in comparison to 5N. While 1N is the lowest quality, 7N is the highest quality. The truth of the matter is the rating system is not fully accurate, as it is an approximation, meaning the term N is generally taken as only an estimate of purity, as the “N” means numbers on either side of the decimal point.

The AWG (American Wire Gage, sometimes called the Brown & Sharpe wire gauge) system is designed to rate wire thickness and has been used since 1857.

A LOWER AWG number indicates a THICKER wire.



Materials:
Per Dsnuts

• Silver for its highest transparency and stage enhancing.
• Gold for that rich tone and depth.
• Palladium for that remarkable imaging and detail.
• Copper for body and warmth

Speed:
This being my first foray into the world of pure silver IEM cables I didn’t exactly know what to expect. Yep, I had read prior about the pure silver not actually being too bright, that the cable somehow creates expanded imaging and detail……..that whatever brightness is there is in-truth smooth and desirable. I mean this speed that pure silver brings enhances the transient response. That pure silver brings with it a transparency second almost to none, that the results are profound levels of detail? This is what I read prior to testing the LAVRiCABLES master IEM cable.

So was that true?
Testing the Penon 10th Anniversary IEM (2ESTx2BAx2DD)
Testing the prior co-partner TOTL Noble Audio K-10 Kaiser Encore Universal (10BA)
Testing the Penon prior TOTL Volt Universal IEM (4ESTx2BAx1DD)

My cable testing preparations:
Cables and the resulting tones produced are much like the effects of IEM tonal judgment. Meaning when it comes down to it synergy is basically subjective, yet on the outskirts of perception we all form very objective ideas about tone. Meaning Head-Fi is based on a number of folks finding parallel ideas to be true, therefore valuable……..especially if you are about to buy something on-line (with your hard-earned money) with-out hearing it first. So we all know this tone is a combination of DAP, ear-tips, IEM and cable. Yet truth starts to form when we (as a Head-Fi group) start to form broad conceptual ideas about a particular product. So to kind-of clean the slate (of tonal perception) I actually take a few days off from listening to any IEMs or headphones……….no loud speaker music and the loudest thing may be my wife reminding me of something.

As such there can be sonic memory from the last IEM you reviewed skewing your ideas of what would be middle of the road. The last heavy instance of this occurring happened after reviewing the QKZ X HBB Hades, where the bass stage and bass amount was so large and overpowering that my regular gym TWS sounded thin and scrawny, which is not true in any way, shape or form. Sure there are IEMs which are balanced, which just by their style of tune may in fact recalibrate your ears, but I have found the very best way is to walk away from testing for a few days. Not only do you recalibrate your ears, so you can hear the reality in-front of you, but you also mentally take a break so your enthusiasm sparkles.

Testing:
This will be written like it was only one session, but keep in mind for readability it is the result of a few days. These different sessions were used to come-up with ideas. As such close back-and-forth trials took place, as well as long extended listening events which solidified my options and messages written here. Where I choose my Sony WM1A and Sony WM1Z with MrWalkman’s aftermarket firmware. I chose one of two ear-tips with primarily the silicone wide-bores on the Penon 10th and Volt…….and the wide-bore longer size silicone on the K-10 to increase with fitment.



The Penon 10th Anniversary model:
Look, of course I wanted to find-out just what the results were. The Penon 10th Anniversary and the Volt are my favorite Penon’s to date out of about 16 models I have heard. Yet I'm almost cheating here, as the 10th and Volt are also some of the most well-rounded I have had the opportunity to hear. Where both go with multiple sources and most cables, even allowing this style of connection with alternative resulting tones which still can come-off as acceptable and normal……………and better than acceptable as they are entrancing and provocatively musical..............almost always. So you may be wondering why I chose them in the first place? They are my favorites and I simply was curious as to the new place they would go. Also I know their signatures like the back of my hand. In fact the Noble Encore I have over 3000 hours of ear-time, so you could say I know it personally.

The 10th:


Ahh……this is not work, it is play. How can something this fun be anything but play? And you know the word fun is also the single best description of the Penon 10th. It was designed to be different for Penon, kind-of like a departure into a new land, a land Penon would (maybe) visit more in the future IEM productions. Yet with all this fun the 10th is not perfect. In fact there are a few that think the Penon 10th Anniversary is not a party? So to those few folks out there, I challenge you to try a silver cable, or better yet, this exact LAVRiCABLES Master IEM cable……….and you tell me if the 10th is now something else. Now there are actually quite a few cables that maximize the 10th stage, and in fact that stage is one of the most endearing factors to keep in mind if you were contemplating a 10th purchase in your life.

2x Sonion EST for ultra-high frequency
1x Knowles BA for high frequency
1x Sonion BA for middle frequency
2x 6mm crystalline plated biofilm dynamic driver for low frequency

As such the 10th showcases a Hybrid idea. But more than that it is one of my favorites ever. And you know how favorites go, at times you don’t know why they are your favorite, they just are. But to showcase features the LAVRiCABLES Master brings to the table, again the stage was the first noted thing, secondly the bass was given plastic surgery.

Where the 10th is known for having this slightly lumbering bass, and the silver imaging and tautness goes forward to even add detail in this department. This feature will also be reiterated in the Volt review later, but the only way I can explain it is clarity and separation, that and the edges are slightly cleaner, the bass got a haircut........a trim so to speak. People that have heard pure silver cables before are probably sitting back and laughing as this kind-of stuff is normally par for the course? But since this is my first silver IEM cable, I will carry on regardless of the hecklers. You know who you are! Where before with most cables the 10th bass was a stage foundation, where everything else was added on top, like a Sunday Ice Cream. And there is nothing wrong with loving that style of display, only there are cleaner windows to look through, more stark realities of imaging and pace which is simply an example of the clarity and the transparency of pure 5N silver. Where this enables us to see slightly further down into the stage, to open the drapes to what is taking place in the lower realms, and to gain satisfaction in observation. The end results are a bounce, a groove and a pace that is unarguable and real, real-life. Sure part of this maybe that the 10th is well-rounded, the 10th is not a problem child, no. The 10th acts in a careful respectable way and is friends with many found audio friends in music file form or source form. It’s just the overall demeanor has been both clarified and cleaned-up of any drawbacks to be (one style of) the best it can be.

Where sure, the Sony WM1Z was able to communicate the tiny (possible) box reverberations of a Yangqin hammer dulcimer with flying colors. In actuality both the 1A and 1Z were a treat here, with the Master V4 bringing stage and details never before even guessed could be extracted from the 10th. And not little things either, like big timpani strikes and bright cymbal washes somehow continuing to have reverberations and cymbal fall-off...........due to a forwardness and clarity into stage displacement. I mean let's face it, the longer you live on this earth, the more treble hearing-loss takes place, starting at just 18 years old. The best way I know to combat these effects is to find a set-up that offers clarity without glare, and that is what the 10th and LAVRiCABLES Master V4 brings for the price of a single admission ticket. Sure I have many favorites in the cable field, I’m a cable maniac, but I have never heard anything exactly like what I’m hearing today?

What I have to do is keep picking up the IEMs and trying them out…..as special as this tone is.

Truth to be said:
I have grown to love the 10th more and more since I wrote my review. And as always finding love is a form of mystery, there are parts that can’t be written about, those parts can’t be written about because they can’t be put into words..............you don’t know the words in the first place. So somehow the 10th has continued to amaze me, becoming truly a special affair. The LAVRiCABLES Master brings the 10th into what could only be described as a detail monster. But not detail due to glaring highs, but detail due to musicality and realism. Due to timbre and transients, pace and stage……..but most of all due to this 3D construction into the stage where there is stuff forward, out to the side and up and down……not to mention living on the back-side. Inside of those images live a real breathing existence of recordings long gone. In a way to summarize the LAVRiCABLES Master it could almost be thought of as breath, and air.



The Totem Adapter Cable:
This is crazy but after finding out Dsnuts got the LAVRiCABLES Master with the sold copper plug I was curious. Not that I wasn’t happy with my choices of options. I mean who could ever write the above paragraphs with-out being totally smitten with cable. So for not having a choice of a better word, let’s call this curiosity. And not that I use it all the time, except the Totem 4.4mm to 4.4mm adapter is a way to add authority and density to a mix. Yep, this 2 shares, 334 cores per share cable is like a filter, and it goes between the DAP and the Master V4.

Single crystal copper silver-plated Litz type6 & Palladium-plated pure silver & Single crystal copper plated with pure gold adapter lets you add a taste of pure Totem magic into your playback. And while I have loved the rendition of added thickness to the 10th, what I am really curious about is the Encore.



The Kaiser Encore:
I have a confession to make. When I first heard about the fact that I was getting the LAVRiCABLES Master I knew I had to try it with the WM1Z and Noble Encore. If this silver was truly silky smooth I would know. And sure enough on that rainy afternoon I joined the Encore to the LAVRiCABLES Master and the other end to the Sony WM1Z. And you know what? I could live with it for short amounts of time............but not for long listening runs at a loud volume.

Having over 3000 hours of playback time, I know what the Encore does on a daily basis. And sure, here it was more detailed than I have ever heard it. More detailed than ever and somewhat correct?

The Encore is a double edged sword, where when I first got it I purchased two relatively expensive pure copper cables to try and align the 5kHz to 8kHz peak, or rather shelf. Even if the total energy at 8kHz is a result of coupler resonance, it doesn’t matter…….just look at it. This combined with a relatively flat midrange and neutral bass means the peak is the focus of the tuning outcome. So the LAVRiCABLES Master was simply showing what was there, and because it adds clarity, it was even more there. Kind of like using vodka as a mixer for whiskey, it was too much........for me anyways. Now who knows, a treble head may find a perfect home here, as nothing was out-of-whack, only a little forward, especially at 5kHz. So what was I to do?

You guessed it, the Totem Adapter goes into usage:
Now I have to say I tried it with both the 1Z and 1A, and believe it or not the 1Z was simply more consistent and tuned correctly. Where this additive of midrange boost with the 1A tune, along with the Encore and Master clarity being fed by the Totem adapter made the midrange vocals and instrumentation somehow not natural…….for a lot of music. Though get the combo any electronic music and we were fine.

Using the Totem Adapter and the Sony WM1Z we were really fine all the time. Yet out of roughly possible 110 volume clicks...........I was only 4 clicks back. So yes, volume had to be ever so slightly diminished due to the vividness, but it was honestly a totally working way to go, and did all genres of music. What was cool was the Totem Adaptor cable also being at the very start thickened up the low end and enhanced the spacial qualities and image density. Yet, I am pretty sure, there will not be another IEM in my stable that will make the Totem a necessity?





The Volt:
While the 1Z was great and the ticket probably for many, I came out liking the more mid-centric Sony WM1A better. Where the 1Z is a hard V shape, it going forward to produce a slower more physical bass and a bigger treble stage encircling you head, still something about the WM1A midrange forwardness, combined with the Master Cable Magic, which brought me home? To a place I would love to describe to you if I could? The first thing I noticed was the stage size, same as Dsnuts first reported. Stage is created (we think) by frequency as well as technicalities, and the separation is formed by the imaging, in truth the transient response. As such it is this finite sculpturing of attack-edges that combined with the broad staging makes musical elements that much more fascinating and quick. Now you’re probably asking me (as you are reading) is this on the thin side or is the whole deal too bright? The trick that’s going on here is balance. A balance of all three, held in the DAP, the IEM and the cable. But more than that it is this brisk note weight that has me brushing-off my household duties and responsibilities and acting like a bum……..a happy bum.

Where the wild thing is the bass (while tight also) is broadcasting its due frequencies.

Maybe tad less slowness and drama from some copper added cables......still the Master V4 is in its own way perfect here, and that’s a word I almost never use, ever in reviews.

But wait……..you know where nirvana is……it’s in the vocals. Meaning in my 4 days of trying out the Master Cable, I kept saying to myself…….this is vocal playback. Where just by the fall-out of frequencies there is this itemization where the vocals are both smooth and forward. And the treble? Well, you may be wondering what happens to EST drivers when you feed them right?

I mean for this to work (to perceive this unique spectacle) the sound has to be recorded first, then played back in the DAP, and accentuated by the cable and have the EST working their magic…….to really have this audiophile finite result in your hands……….

Ok, I will quit beating around the bush here. The Volt treble stage takes the cake. Where during my earlier Volt review I seemed to perceive a slight drawback in a place where the mids and treble join. This lower treble diminishment would only take place on certain songs and only with certain instruments. And truly it’s not a big deal, as nothing is perfect. But what is amazing is I can’t seem to find it? And the more songs I put through this DAP IEM configuration, the more I still find a well rounded-ness. This well rounded-ness first comes probably from the Volt, where I have heard a few finite instruments parlayed with slightly more brightness (with other IEMs), but they don’t at the same time offer this grooving midrange pace and bass bump. Meaning even with the LAVRiCABLES Master Cable in place the Volt is well balanced and plays all genres and file types. Just the basic fact of the Volt offering a level of clarity has me smitten.

Why smitten? Well everything is just right, no matter which file of music genre I choose and I don’t have to worry about volume used because there is no glare or stridency........or anything at all off. I mean people rejoice in reporting better timbre? Maybe? I mean timbre is the kinda thing that when it’s correct it can be ignored, and that is what we have. Sure this is a midrange forward tune set-up, the cable in-a-way could be looked at as accentuating the mids, and I have wide-bore tips in use…….but I guess it is the smoothness of the Volt which is pulling-on my heartstrings? It is giving the Volt a bigger presence into imaging and separation, it is quickly cleaning-up pace issues and bringing the music home, home in living color. That means zero coloration. There even seems to found better contrasts, more tones separating the lows and highs?

Summary of Penon Volt and LAVRiCABLES Master Cable V4:
People that know me know I’m a soundstage junky. I can forgive a laundry-list of mediocre results if the IEM just performs soundstage in a big way. Now the thing is there is kind-a a phenomena when you tighten up the low-end details.......and that soundstage is enhanced again. I have to be careful when I write this as some may get the idea that the Volt low-end is compromised by the Master, when in fact it is just another example of clarity here, this fact makes you question why we would ever have anything to do with copper in this specific situation. As such the Volt has and has always had this magical midrange, and the Master makes a new step in a better direction, cleaning up the overall tone and enhancing the already great attributes in separation, imaging, tonal correctness and vocal presence. Personally I feel I have hit the jackpot here, and will be utilizing this exact set-up long after the review is published. I simply can’t walk away from this exact tonality.



Packaging:
I commend LAVRiCABLES for supplying just the bare necessities for shipment. I mean sure it is nice to get a giant box with layers of levels and slowly “find” your cable. Yet all that costs money and normally gets thrown-out. Isn’t the value here construction and sound……maybe looks? And that’s the thing, LAVRiCABLES is busy making sure they have all the parts for every cable imaginable, they are not too worried about the box opening experience. I mean, sure what you get is only a pouch, a business card and a sticker for your car window…….but in a way this is all you need. Also I’m pretty sure the pouch is sized to fit every cable they make. See the thing is if they didn’t deliver in the sonics department then maybe they would need an elaborate box-opening-experience? But they deliver at a lesser cost than many cable brands, plus less shipping costs, as they are not shipping this giant block of useless cardboard to you............. that you’re going to toss the next day.



Build:
Here is the deal, I’m not a total cable expert, but I have tested my fair share of cables. Also over the years I have come to learn what are the most important features that you could possibly have in construction. The way my Master V4 was ordered it comes out to 27 grams in weight. I ordered the regular gold plug in 4.4mm balanced, yet there are 13 other termination choices. As an example Dsnuts ordered a solid copper plug, typically believe it or not that will add another 5 grams or so onto the weight. A solid copper plug goes and warms the signal a tad, taking away (slightly) from the total analytical qualities, giving smoothness. Another example there are Rhodium plated copper plugs on offer too. There is even XLR plug option to name another route to go. There are four different cable lengths you can get……and finally (not finally really) there is a choice of 100hrs burn-in service or 150hrs burn-in service. The very basic cable is $294.09 and all the bells and whistles come out to $390.68. Yet it really depends on what you value as nothing changes with your Master order in regards to the AWG 22 wire, in 5N purity of a Litz design.

Typically I don’t copy and paste too much vender script, as if you are here reading there is a good chance you have already read all that. Plus I don’t need review filler text as my reviews are way too long as it is. Still here is the link to the differences among various cable lines on offer.

https://www.lavricables.com/product-lines-grand-master-ultimate-reference/

Now in usage the Master V4 shows well, as it is really not too big and bulky as some cables are, yet not thin and delicate either. This middleweight and middle-size goes very well with your expected ergonomics. But to take these ergonomics a step farther, the way the cable lays around, and the feel when wearing (and listening) is very, very good. As such the 2Pins you can order flush or recessed, and just the simple paint work on the 2Pins goes to show red for right and black for left. There are also perfect ear-hooks that are not too aggressive or too floppy, but just seem to work-out well. Both the splitter and plug are notated with an L for LAVRiCABLES with a tiny drawing of a cable. The chin-cinch is a style of silicone I’m guessing, which is a first here at Redcarmoose Labs. But to go slightly into more detail the plug end to the cable is furnished with a clear shrink-fit material, but more than that it has been cut perfectly even. It is this very small effort in the details which goes to proclaim that you have in your hand a cable of exceptional build quality.

This is how the cable tested was ordered.





Cable comparisons:
Sorry, this is my one and only first pure IEM silver cable, I don’t even have a $15.00 pure silver (ya-right) example of another brand of silver cable. Yet I still think this comparison section will come of value going forward to showcase the sonic differences between a few cables.



Top-down:
The ASOS+ Cable:
The Penon Vocal Cable:
The SIMGOT LC7 Cable:
The Penon Mix Cable:
The Master Cable V4:

Here I use my Sony WM1A with the Penon Volt IEM to try and generalize about differences. I am using my standard wide-bore silicone ear-tips.

The Penon ASOS+:
Such a cable is one of my all-time favorites. Decked-out with Palladium Purple plug and 2Pins, the ASOS+ is a force to be reckoned with! A regular plug in 4.4mm balanced weighs about 4 grams, yet this Purple Palladium plug weighs 5 grams……in-contrast, amazingly the pure copper (OFC) plug weighs in at 7 grams. It should be noted the regular ASOS has modular plugs. This + has 8 strands, 25 cores alloy copper silver-plated + 99 cores single crystal copper silver-plated wire mixed. The ASOS+ is noticeably more chunky at 53 grams, but I like that feature. Where the Master V4 Cable has less authority in the bass department, the Master V4 Cable projects the vocals way out front. This is interesting as both cables provide an even, correct and complete playback, it is just a slight rearrangement of focus, where neither is better or worse than the other, simply wildly different. If you were slightly sensitive to midrange heat I would choose the ASOS+ as it is delivering more smoothness and warmth, yet if you really want vocals (like in your face) choose the Master V4 Cable.

The Penon Vocal Cable:
Here we have a legendary cable in a way. Where when the Vocal cable came out it was (and still is) a wild market disruption. I know of a few members that leave the Vocal in place on their ISN EST50 IEM, as it is one of the best cables to showcase vocals, the side effect is also bass is a little curtailed and the stage is wonderfully enhanced. The tricky thing though about the Vocal is it is very much a colored cable. Meaning at times it sounds natural and at times not. Now if you are smitten with this off-side-stepping and embrace it, the Vocal is a tremendous value, really it’s a value no matter what. But before my test I’m already kind-of envisioning the left field the Vocal music comes from.

You know and I know, and I know that you know where we will be here. Sure a $69.00 cable against many times more money in cable. Yet we are in this place because really when you get down to brass tacks the Master V4 Cable is a vocal cable……that and of course everything else...........I talked about.

After a few side-by-sides I have to say the vocals emitted by the Vocal Cable are somehow very forward, just like our Master V4 Cable, yet the bass from the Vocal Cable is also bigger. It comes-off like the Vocal Cables is more flashy is the bass department, yet lacking the realness and calmness of the Master V4 Cable. The surprising thing was just how both cables provided a super big stage, and that staging was on equal terms as far as footprint. Though the Master V4 Cable had more inside stage detail and tonal purity.

The SIMGOT LC7 Cable:
Wow, this is a workhouse of a cable. Priced like the Penon Vocal at $69.99 the LC7 is known for tonally a correct and clear balanced transferrer of signals......meaning no off-color. More wire than what is typically included with a $100-$200 IEM cable, the LC7 is wildly easy going with no real issues as far as demeanor. It only goes to provide so much detail and stage, yet what is there is fully appreciated for the money spent. A gift of SPC with 732 cores. It should also be noted this LC7 comes as a modular cable, enacting both 3.5mm and 4.4mm balanced. More bass than what has been viewed so far today. Yet while the vocals are there, there is less dimension into the stage, combined with a small amount of grain that seems to emit a lesser amount of detail. Where the Master V4 cable simply offers a more airy stage filled with more details and faster agility. This agility goes even down to the bass department, offering simply faster Master V4 pace, and a stripped down more in-focus bass response, that while less in quantity, is better in detail, texture and bounce.

The Penon Mix Cable:
Finally the Mix Cable. As this is my only pure silver cable, the pure silver part only makes-up half of the construction, with the addition of pure copper delivering the other half. The other feature about the Mix is it comes with a modular plug. Again more Mix bass action, though very much cleaner than the LC7, and the vocals here? What? I simply wasn’t ready for the Mix to push-on such a great display of vocals……holding both texture and detail……..just gorgeous here…….far from what I remember. Also the Mix is a deal at only $149.00........all day long. Where the Master V4 goes to provide an extended existence of vocals, yep they are far more forward and enveloping. You can touch them and feel the singer's breath almost? The bass is a little more recessed, and not as woody or and standout-ish as the Mix. This bass with the Master V4 is totally adequate and clear, it has just stepped backwards a foot or two. Where what incurs by the Master V4 bass stepping back is the midrange opening up, and allowing the (already) more vibrant little creatures of the forest to be found. Like rabbits crawling out from the woods, only now these little life-forms are in full detail and open for inquisitiveness.



Conclusion:
While the only pure silver cable I ever heard was pure silver interconnects back in 2008. These RCA cables were part of a friend's system which coincidentally was how LAVRiCABLES got their start, making interconnects and speaker cables in 2012. As such these interconnects where part of a bi-amplification system, and the silver cables fed the tweeters. When I put them into use as regular RCA cables the pure silver was too energetic and too busy causing me to think this was just how silver was. Yet I only knew so much back in 2008, and the headphones I was using were the (overly bright) AKG k701 full-size. The interconnects were from a CD player to my full-side headphone amp………and I quickly reverted back to the $15 Monster drugstore cables.

Success:
I have never had a chance to hear well made and sensibly priced quality silver IEM cables before. And if you have read the review I have included my thoughts, but to reiterate a few things, LAVRiCABLES is not trying to make this Hollywood showboat of a product. They don’t have cable names of Greek Gods. They don’t pay top dollar for Hollywood Photography or Hollywood Writers to drum-up a fancy cable review. LAVRiCABLES is simply letting the cables do the talking...........sure, silver cables are expensive, except cables have way more longevity than IEMs do……….Yep, you may think this is an expensive purchase now, but you will be using this cable on other IEMs 5 years from now.........on IEMs that haven’t even been invented yet. There is a timeless quality to resolution, stage and detail…….as such......these values never go out of style…….but what we do know is the price of precious metals is on the rise...........so get yours today.

https://www.lavricables.com/line/master/

Disclaimer:
I would like to thank Konstantin from LAVRiCABLES for the Master Cable V4 review sample.

Disclaimer:
These are one person's ideas and concepts, your results may vary.

Equipment Used:
Sony WM1Z Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm
Sony WM1A Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm
HiBy R3 II 4.4mm output

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

Review encapsulation/summary, so you don’t have to read the whole thing.
LAVRiCABLES Master Cable V4

The different levels of pure silver cables offered
1) Reference line. A solid silver core using a teflon jacket for (the possibility) of thwarting radio wave interference, and still AWG 24 silver with 5N purity, along with Mundorf 4% fine silver audio solder.

2) Ultimate line. Different geometry and thickness, offering AWG24 in a Litz configuration along with Mundorf 4% fine silver audio solder.

3) Master line. Mundorf 4% fine silver audio solder, along with a thicker 5N wire, yep a thicker sonic transport device, more wire at AWG22 and different wire geometry.

4) The TOTL Grand line. The purity of 6N along with the Mundorf 4% fine silver audio solder, and of course more wire and a different wire geometry. There is an enormous difference in cost building with 6N wire in contrast to 5N wire.

The AWG (American Wire Gage, sometimes called the Brown & Sharpe wire gauge) system is designed to rate wire thickness and has been used since 1857.

A LOWER AWG number indicates a THICKER wire.
As in use here the Master Cable V4 with use of 4 cores of 5N purity silver AWG22 multistrand Litz wire finds itself projecting the vocals forward with the ISN EST50 in a way I have never heard before. Combining that with the HiBy R3 II was a literal walk in the park. Big harmonics, you can now hear the sliding fingers on guitar stings, and wonderful full-stage positioning. Though the difference is vocals now are projected into the light. Positioned in the perfect place to gain clarity. Silver also tightened up the bass and went ahead to increase pace. Truly the EST50 is now the best I ever heard it to be. Oh, and if you're wondering how the $179.00 little HiBy R3 II performed, well the M response somehow seems to go with this deeper bass from the EST50? I have roughly 3000 hours on the R3 II as it is one of my burn-in devices. What was surprising was this was all I needed, sure some songs were better than others, yet this style of playback actually due to stage and separation offers a fully involving experience even from poorly recorded music. The reason I’m guessing is not only the stage and separation, but the bass energy and lower midrange going and filling out thinner older recordings. Now the real crazy thing was I liked the Master Cable/EST50 combo better with the HiBy R3 II than the Sony WM1A? Why? I’m not totally sure, except the bass was wonderfully striated and owned-up details such as synth and electric bass combo’s occurring at the same frequency only separated by instrument timbre.



As such we owners of the ISN EST50 have often have had a precarious love/hate relationship with the ISN EST50. And truly it is now a way different IEM than when I reviewed it. Mainly due to cable understanding and ways to fully actualize bass detail. While in use (and a sonic value) was the $69.00 Penon Vocal Cable, the Vocal did many of these same somersaults to focus the bass and extend the vocal positioning, though as many know the Vocal Cable is a colored cable and while lovable in the end, is farther from the encountered reality we are now witnessing with the Master Cable V4.

The Master V4 in this set-up comes in at $346.82, though with inclusion or exclusion of build options prices can range from $293.30 to $389.64. That may sound like a lot, but what if you had only one cable and it fully actualized the EST50? You could leave that particular cable on for life.........that is unless you found another IEM a few years down the road and wanted to do a sonic clean-up.

EST results:
Of the implemented 3 tested EST IEM driver set-ups, each responded with a crispness, clarity and focus rarely encountered, if ever. Especially the Volt 4 ESTs waking-up to dynamic transients due to an increase speed and realism, ending in great imaging. In truth this Volt EST smoothness has been the Achilles heel about the tune in the past. Yet it was simply a different listening experience for all three IEMs. With each showing a vibrant style of contrasts and treble itemizations.

The Penon 10th Anniversary IEM (2ESTx2BAx2DD)
The Penon prior TOTL Volt Universal IEM (4ESTx2BAx1DD)
The ISN EST50 (2ESTx2BAX1DD)

The Kiwi ears Singolo
Redcarmoose Labs April 17th, 2024



A clean tune
What does that mean? It simply means it is an IEM which has been tuned free from nonsense. A stature belonging to both even and correctness……..maybe even completeness. As such this sounds easy, but like riding a bike for the first time, a zig can result in a zag and you can fall-over. As such Kiwi ears has collaborated with the luminary known as Crinacle in order to utilize his tuning ideas and expertise. The results, while not perfect, are a NOOB’s dream. Yep, this Singolo does quite a few things right. This idea of correctness has some leeway in composition, yet this even tailored tune walks a specific line…….where others may fail by not adding enough bass, or thinking they are correct by making a smooth treble, yet still missing something? The masses take and the resulting group opinions can start to become a waterfall of sorts. Yep, everyone has a computer nowadays and they utilize it to voice their take on a specific IEM………where the proof comes out in the wash, so to speak.



Kiwi ears:
I have reviewed a number of Kiwi ear IEMs as of late. My only real off-tune was the Kiwi ears Forteza.

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/kiwi-ears-forteza.26755/reviews#review-32736

Sadly (and this isn’t just my take) the Forteza was tuned to have this wild arraignment of two 10mm DDs and 1BA. In which one DD was lows, one DD was mids and a single BA for the highs. This in fact looks good on paper, yet the end tuning results were a mess, with that single BA shooting out inside the mix to proclaim this wild forwardness and brash steeliness. Released around the first of the year, it was in-fact my very last Kiwi ears review, gaining all of 3 out of 5 stars.

For as much as the Kiwi ears Forteza does wrong, the Singolo does it right. Yep, and you may think this is all subjective, that maybe it’s just me? Well, keep in mind Hybrids are my favorite methodology to make IEMs………and I absolutely loved the Kiwi ears Quintet. Really though you have to hand it to Kiwi ears for thinking out of the box. Yep, they are renowned for never making the same IEM twice, except for the Orchestra and Orchestra Lite. Yet this Singolo is remarkable, simply due to homing in on the cohesiveness of a single DD, and being in many ways the opposite of the Kiwi ears Quintet. Where the Quintet was four different methodologies of drives. And it kind-a did sound complicated like it had a 10mm DD, 2 BAs, 1 Planar and 1 Piezoelectric running…..because it did. Yet they somehow balanced the whole adventure. To me the Quintet is one of the very best values out there, becoming a high-detail-monster, all for the admission price of only $219.00.

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/kiwiears-quintet.26582/reviews#review-31155

And finally I must talk about the Melody. This was Kiwi ear's idea of what a Planar should be. Again another incredible IEM. I mean in many ways you could purchase the Singolo, the Quintet and the Kiwi ears Melody and have a lot of bases covered. Meaning each IEM is well tuned yet has its very own intrinsic sound personality due to driver types. Where each IEM is special, and has personality, yet at the same time offers a slightly different way to experience your music.........while each still being correct.

Just to get this out there, of all the planar IEMs I’ve tried, the Melody goes in the top 4 ever. This being my 218th review, I have heard my fair share of gear, yet the Singolo was still a welcome surprise. In fact at this point I am slightly jaded, where I see I’m getting another collaboration and in the price-point the Singolo lands and I say, well OK.

Yet Crinacle is my favorite collaborator……….it is just you really start to wonder if you have been there already, and done that already. Well, I can say the Singolo was a welcome surprise. More mature than the Zero 2, and more complete than the Zero MK1, better bass (and more note weight) than the 7Hz x Crinacle: Salnotes Dioko. What can I say? Truly this Kiwi ears Singolo is one IEM that even Crinacle has ended-up topping himself.

This is the best I have heard from Crinacle!

$79.00
https://www.linsoul.com/products/kiwi-ears-x-crinacle-singolo



Now you’re probably wondering how it is different from a few IEMs out there, and I will get to comparisons. But first I’m going to talk about ear-tips.

Ear-tips:
The Singolo is one of the most ear-tip dependent IEMs I have ever heard. And I decided early on to not try and figure out why, because the why is irrelevant, it is what it is…….so lets learn about ear-tips.



Left to right:
Top row: The silicone long wide bores, and the TANGZU Divinus Velvet silicone
Second row: My favorite silicone purple wide-bore ear-tips, then the Singolo wide bores



My ear-tip generalizations:
So if you are like me you have long standing (ear-tip) preferences from years of experience. You see, part of this IEM game is to learn about yourself, and which components work-out to provide the very best results.

Learning:
In doing so, you still must try and keep an open mind, as new brands of ear-tips are always emerging. But to simplify stuff here, I have a favorite set of ear-tips. In the pictures they are the ones with purple centers. As such they are very shallow-donut, getting the nozzle-end close to your ear-drum, yet also holding the nozzle end near the edge, so that the dispersion of sonics gets the widest stage, never adding too much bass to mess with the pace. I have used these tips for close to 70 different IEMs in use through-out my reviews. Though they are not perfect. As getting the IEM so close physically to the ear, can have issues with the outside of the ear pushing back, creating a lack of air-tight fitment. I also kind a feel due to the outer length being short, it in itself can at times shorten the amount of outer surface area (material contact) with your ear tissue, which in turn can limit fit freedom of movement while an air-tight fitment is still achieved.

2nd most used:
That is where the wide-bore silicone (longer) ear-tips come in handy. They will have a longer length which will make-up for any shortness of the nozzle. So the results are having the IEM sit farther out from your ear, yet still correct as the length is correct and positioning is perfect, with most shorter nozzle IEMs. Thus you don’t hear the outside fighting with the IEM in position to lose air-tight fitment. This was the ear-tip used almost exclusively with the Kiwi ears Singolo.



TANGZU Divinus Velvet silicone ear tips:
It must be stated that in many ways the Divinus Velvet is special. Contrary to what you may guess, one test is to try the ear-tips with no music playing first. This way you can judge the ambient outside noise coming in around the tip-placement. The Divinus have a strange way of making the treble airy, and the best way to compare is obviously changing mid-song with your standard favorite ear-tips. What can I say, much of this has to do with what kind of bedsheets you’re used to. Get a new style of material and it may take a while before your mind lets you perceive the realities in store. But if you note the Divinus Velvet's back portion sound tube opening, it is the smallest circumference in the group. See the small circle? This actually expends out along the nozzle wall to become of a regular size.

While not quite as long as the (above) silicone long wide-bore, they have a nice sound and are my second most used ear-tips with the Singolo. Second most used as they don’t have the mid-length girth like my preferred wide-bore longer tips do, so they feel slightly less secure. As it turns-out (always) the middle structure and pressure pushing outward is key to liking ear-tips and gaining fitment. If the tip in question (regardless of personal size) doesn’t exert quite enough back-pressure from side-wall material and make-up, the resulting air-tight fitment can be marginal…….as (the problem) found with both pairs of included ear-tips.

Included tips:
Laughably the included tips showed their wall-thinness in the pictures, unexpectedly. This is the reality of how they are. Upon first opening the Singolo box, it was refreshing to find two sets of wide-bore ear-tips, yet with further usage, it was determined the build quality was just not substantial enough. I mean sure they will work for the NOOB, only there is a chance that even that owner can substitute the included tip for a different wide-bore.


Left to right:
Top row: The silicone long wide bores, and the TANGZU Divinus Velvet silicone
Second row: My favorite silicone purple wide-bore ear-tips, then the Singolo wide bores

The affecting components:
Ear-tips, cable choices, DAP character choices and EQ all go to dial-in the desired tone. Obviously IEM DIP-switches also add to the change of tone when included with a design.

As such these concepts are on-going and present repeatable results for the enthusiast. The concept of stage resulting from a wider nozzle (ear-tip) end. The bass curtailment is found with a wider nozzle ear-tip, or the opposite………..of deeper bass response with a narrower stage found from narrow opening bore ear-tip. The cable choices, while often questioned by half of Head-fi, also go to add their distinct personalities of bass pace, or stage displacement. The make-up and design construction of cables can change the stage perception and even imaging, which just by its nature can be accented by the ear-tips.

Such changes start obviously with the source file, of it being an older recording, or new, with new stage broadening effects and resolution. But along with the file we find amplifier technology (which can just be their innate properties) bringing the tonality and stage into different proportions. As such…….my reviews of ear-tips become only my singular experience, along with amplification and cables, bringing about a style of synergy in the end, that combined with individual ear-canal anatomy and neurological preferences, becomes of only a suggestion at best. Yet there is Head-fi. Yep, a place where many subjective ideas become quantified into a style of objective reality by many people singularly finding parallel ideas to take place. That is one important reason Head-Fi is hear, to share success stories.



IEM Comparisons:
Here I do side-by-sides to locate the quality differences between a few similarly priced IEMs.

Left to right
Top row: Kiwi ears Singolo, TANGZU FUDU
Bottom row: The 7Hz SONUS and the SIMGOT EA500 LM Edition


The test subjects:
1) Kiwi ears Singolo: 1DD-11mm LCP: $79.00 (comes in black or blue) 4 grams each:

2) TANGZU FUDU: 1 DD-10mm x 2BA: $89.00 4 grams each:

3) The 7Hz SONUS: 1DD-11.3mm x 1BA: $59.99 (choice of black, red or grey) 5 grams each:

4) Simgot EA500 LM Edition: 1DD-10mm Lithium Magnesium: $89.99 11 grams each:

Before I get started, to reiterate themes from a prior comparison, the FUDU was the odd-man-out.......being it needed an audiophile DAP or Dongle to come alive, yet other than that, each of these four choices was cream-of-the-crop as far as sound per dollar goes………being roughly the same price, each is special at what they offer in comparison to the crowded marketplace.

And really before we even get started (it must be said) that a choice of any of the four would be a win for the purchaser. People may question why I chose these three to compare to todays Singolo........... and the answer to that is they came out recently, and go to show the state of the art of under $100.00 IEM construction.

In fact while at times I will choose a more expensive IEM to try and highlight deficiencies in a product, none of that nonsense is needed here. The Kiwi ears Singolo is a perfect example of how to tune an IEM for broad likability. Yes, the Singolo has its own character, yet that character is likable, especially something to come to if you have been burned by too much treble heat or too much lumbering bass tones.........ruining pace. In fact the Singolo is a style of honesty and during these side-by-sides went one step farther to remind me of the sophisticated, and together, yet soft (polite) inviting tune that was the hallmark of the Zero MK1 and Zero MK2. I will do my very best to differentiate between the four. Using the Sony WM1A, SIMGOT LC7 cable in 4.4mm, and the longer wide-bore ear-tips to reduce any dissimilarities from how they are driven.

The FUDU:
Starting with the FUDU, this is why there is nothing else like doing these side-besides to try and ascertain a style of reality. Right off the FUDU seems easier to drive? That may end up trouble for the Singolo later in the review as typically the FUDU is hard to drive to maximum qualities. Still the FUDU contrasts are of splendor and offer bigger differences between the treble and bass. In fact the FUDU bass is clearer and of more substantial texture…….simply holding that Hybrid separation, especially in contrast to the actual BAs in FUDU action. While sure, I can go forward and say the Singolo is more coherent, that trait means very little at this point in time. I need to do more IEM changes to now concentrate on stage differences. Really the FUDU stage is bigger holding more detail and what comes with that is possible off-timbre, but to tell you the truth at this point I really don’t hear any……making the FUDU simply the better IEM, holding those extra details that comes with owning extra drivers and the separation that comes forth. I mean, sure the FUDU is famous for this style of bass, in that it is big, detailed to a point and separated…….we maybe (some of us) could have already guessed this…..but the difficulty in driving factor of the Singolo……that was a surprise, I will test it with a phone later in this review. In ending this comparison I can’t help but include the extended nozzle length which the FUDU holds, going deeper and more inline with a regular fit, with a larger selection of ear-tips. I mean I feel bad to use the word sleepy for the Singolo, but that is the very best descriptor when comparing the FUDU to it? Later in the music section we will learn of the Singolo’s good points, yet in this trial, the FUDU comes out ahead.

The 7Hz SONUS:
Here is the very definition of doing a lot with a little. I’m a little scared at this point with how our first test went? While the Singolo bass is pretty much even with the SONUS, it is holding longer fall-off and even more note weight up the line. As such the BA the SONUS sports is holding more separation into lesser perceived reverberations, though standing out in the mix, opposed to the singularity presented by the Singolo.

Here it is learned both the SONUS and Singolo have lesser bass thrusters than the FUDU, making them like closer brothers.

I mean it is almost not fair...........the levels of textures put out by the FUDU in action? Where once again another IEM besides the Singolo is also feeling bigger and better in relation to nozzle length. Where literally everything is closer to home with the Singolo. The vocals are not dislocated into any extra relief inside the stage. While sure there may be a hint of off-timbre that becomes the natural outcome with BA use, I can’t help but hear the tones finding more vividness and contrast when born?

While maybe they lack the realness of the Singolo, they are better heard and become slightly more audiophile. Sorry, I regularly like Hybrids the best, anyway…….for these exact reasons found.


Singolo IEM tested by Crinacle himself

Simgot EA500 LM Edition:
Well, this should be a fun one, as now we are back to a DD, in this fiasco. Well the total first thing noted (maybe as expected) is the bass with the EA is lots like the FUDU.

Yet the vocals now are more pushed-out than the Singolo finding a place somewhere between our BA performers, while not quite as vivid as the 7Hz SONUS or FUDU, holding a more natural timbre………of course you knew that was coming.

So the question is which is better, the EA at $10.99 more or the Singolo?
The most different thing the EA does, besides bass, is it adds a 5kHz peak, which the Singolo does alternatively instead offering a smooth large scale rise from 3 to 4Khz.

Where in reality this Singolo slope starts even at 1kHz then smoothly travels up peaking at 3kHz to 4kHz before continuing further into 6kHz. When you combine the Singolo upper mids with the 68dB bass then you can see this easy going nature.

Where the EA is also there is more mid-bass found at 200Hz being 63dB where the Singolo is at 60 dB. Though I feel the most difference comes from the heard at 5kHz with the EA making a noted 72dB peak.

As such the extra energy from the EA500 LM takes notice and helps delineate aspects found in that critical part of the treble. Where these differences besides technicalities, go to make each IEM response very different. The EA 500 is more vivid and contrasty, the Singolo coming off more relaxed and tame.

What this does (combined with the 2.8 kHz peak) it goes to push EA vocals forward giving an almost style of BA separation and contrast to the EA sound.

What the results of all this mean to you my reader is that the Singolo can be found to be more relaxed and maybe even more cohesive in comparison to the EA500 LM.

The Singolo listen ends less fatiguing, and simply allows higher volume levels. Yes the stage is slightly less filled out with the Singolo, holding fewer levels of itemization.

Yet also somehow I was brought into my memories of the two 7Hz Zero’s both MK1 and MK2, going and showcasing a softer, smoother even organic display of Singolo character.

All this to the point I heard the EA500 LM taking on an overall metallic stance, that while proving better in overall technicalities (by far) those technicalities were flashy and almost to a point garish.

Where the Singolo simply was set back, and offered a humble yet even more true rendition of the tones, leaving the sparkles and fanfare to the showboat EA500 LM to do all the time.




Conclusion:
Singolo and EA500 LM conclusion:
Wow, I really didn’t expect this style of altercation. Where sure the EA500 LM is basking in making stuff both more real-life and synthetic both at the same time. Real-life due to simply better imaging and faster transients, yet pushed into existence, where the Singolo was more true to timbre, yet offering a slower and more lazy, yet real rendition of tones. The Singolo was the more mature, older and wiser player, the EA the most brash and hostile provoker of the trebles. As such the treble EA peaks delineate a very different atmosphere, where it is the bar at closing when they have tuned-on every light in the house………..where the Singolo is those few moments after total closing when they energy of the night has died down……..and it is time to go home.

$79.00
https://www.linsoul.com/products/kiwi-ears-x-crinacle-singolo

Kiwi ears Singolo:
Driver: 11mm dynamic driver
Frequency response range: 20Hz-20KHz
Impedance: 32 ohms
Cable Interface: 3.5mm
Plug Type: Detachable 0.78mm 2Pin

Disclaimer:
I would like to thank Kareena from Linsoul for the love and the Kiwi ears Singolo review sample.

Disclaimer:
These are one person's ideas and concepts, your results may vary.

Disclaimer:
The Kiwi ears Singolo has been had burn-in for 168 hours.

Linsoul website: https://www.linsoul.com/
Linsoul Aliexpress Store: https://ddaudio.aliexpress.com/store/2894006
Linsoul USA Amazon Store link: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=merchant-items&me=A267P2DT104U3C

Equipment Used:
Sony WM1Z Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm and 3.5mm
Sony WM1A Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm and 3.5mm
Samsung Phone 3.5mm
HiBy R3 II 3.5mm/4.4mm output and 3.1 USB Type-C output
GO bar Dongle 4.4mm/3.5mm

Wait, you really want to read some more?
OK.




Construction:
What is KARS?
Kiwi Acoustic Resonance System. Basically it's a venting system which allows air into and out of the Singolo also at the same time adding resonances just like the round hole in an acoustic guitar.

As such the 3D printed body utilizes an exact chamber of convoluted tubing which is both connected to the outside and after a number of turns is also connected to the driver membrane area, so that there is no driver flex due to pressure build-up when attached to your ear. The nozzle ends are a metal alloy construction with a lip that holds ear-tips well. I get the impression after studying the Singolo that there is actually a separate chamber which takes up the whole underside of the faceplate. This has not been listed, but the top of the driver sound-tube enters the underside of the faceplate which is hollow. The top of the driver additionally has a sound tube which is a nozzle tube for the IEM sound to travel out of into the nozzle tip. So as of this year we are actually seeing many IEMs which make use of a part resin and resonance chamber combined pressure relief tubing. If you look you can see the start of the KARS system tubing originating from the underside of the driver which is open also to this resonance chamber. As such, what is different from IEMs in the past is very little air-space.



As this is 80% a solid IEM in construction. As such there are good and bad ramifications to an invention, being that in case of a fall, the entire shell can crack with nothing left to repair. The good part is better control of tolerances and more finite control over construction, with less human handywork, being the Singolo is almost entirely 3D printed. In fact what this bass tuning does is offer a smooth and slightly non-paced result. The bass attacks have a rumble, yet inside of that rumble there is a slow swagger of personality, which is not exactly perfect, but lovable. I like to call it a birthmark.



Where my best analogy for this style of bass is Cindy Crawford, that I for all-time will designate this bass as Cindy Crawford bass. Why? It is far from perfect, yet it is its lack of technicalities, which give it a sense of originality. Sure maybe the KARS system is performing this sonic act? Maybe it’s simply the 11mm driver size?

Whatever it is, it is the slight lack of strict detail………….is what we get………..yet full-on musicality are the results here. There is a lumbering of sorts………a twist, which is not holding an edge, it is of a softer and more polite demeanor. This KARS bass tone walks the pace through, and takes it homebound in moving swaying style……….becoming one-of-a-kind in bass tone.

Cable:
While there are no exact specifications as to the cable make-up, the included cable is nice, and a departure from what style of cable that have typically been included with Kiwi ears IEMs. This is noted by the L shaped plug, the 0.78mm 2Pins and the creation of their almost 7Hz design? Actually really strange to find, like 7Hz got in and switched cables on us?




Weighing in at 11 grams the cable is not only ergonomic, it is light-weight. Seemingly going wherever you want, I can almost not imagine a better out and about cable to go with a Dongle or phone output? I hope to see more of this style of cable from other manufacturers in the future, as it is just nice. Note the small L and R demarcations prevalent.



Standard phone use:
One of the biggest changes in IEM design since 2016 has been the basic attitude towards finding bass from a regular phone. I say this because really that has been a contrast to where many IEMs from the 2016 era always had the possibility of sounding thin and sterile from a phone. Well not anymore, and while probably the greatest feature in phone use IS the fact that we can tap into that KARS system bass response. With standard phone use the Singolo doesn’t have that drivability issue of the FUDU in the bass department. Nope, and while yes, the Singolo is hard to drive, we encounter such rebelliousness with having to max out our phone volume, yet are greeted with little or no distortion and a fluid big stage.

I can totally see folks getting the Singolo and being smitten with regular phone use. Second to the bass, it is the lovely midrange separation and textured imaging that make phone use a win-win. Now my testing method here wasn’t just to grab a phone, but I did a cable test with a full-fledged DAP before moving the 3.5mm over to the phone to gain contrast in results.

HiBy R3 II use:
With a blacker background we find enhanced imaging and increased stage from regular phone use. In fact the cost of the HiBy is way less than a regular phone nowadays, which makes it a no-brainer purchase here.

The size, and battery life, and simple user interface…………. combined with a Swiss-army knife of options make the R3 II a must have if you ask me. The M signature response of the HiBy simply explodes the Singolo into musicality………I’m sorry but if you could see me moving my head to this sway and groove, you would understand.

Nowadays the price of equipment is secondary……...in contrast to exactly what you end-up choosing. Meaning its not how much you spend (to a point) it is just how much musicality you luck into with a new purchase.

So much of our little hobby has grown in sound quality for a value price, when the price of everything else in the world has skyrocketed. Just give me my Singolo and the HiBy R3 II and leave me alone……….I’m listening here. Oh, I almost forgot the SIMGOT LC7 is another add that fully actualizes the Singolo......adding a thickness simply from more wires in action. A medium budget cable which has perfect ear-hooks just like the included cable, though what it does besides more wires is has a modular plug enabling the 4.4mm output of the HiBy R3 II!

The HiBy R3 II with the GO bar Dongle:
While the battery drain of the GO bar is not a treat you want to use for super long listening times. The results of playback due to HiBy 3.1 TypeC USB means you have access to laptop and GO bar power level output results while out on the road. When you get to your location, simply ditch the HiBy and simply plug the GO bar into a laptop for (the identical) next level audiophile experience. Yep, this takes the cake with simply more (GO bar) constructed imaging and a slightly smoother style, a more sophisticated level of playback, only second to my WM1A or WM1Z. And if you're wondering if the Singolo scales up, yes it does. I could go on…….but this is not a review of the GO bar.



Music:
All music tests were done with the (4.4mm plug option) LC7 cable, the Sony WM1A with MrWalkman’s firmware, and the slightly longer wide-bore silicone ear-tips.




Ghost
Phantomime
Phantom Of The Opera (Iron Maiden cover)
48 kHz - 24 bit
Here is a song that is well recorded and showcases pace, timbre and stage. I was never a fan of the original song, but this version shows an ample amount of excitement. The opening showcases both guitar and a bass track which mirrors. While sure the guitar finds itself composed of multiple tracks into formation on the far right and stage left, the bass is dialed into where it should be, right in the center. Probably the most important start off is at 00:00 where there is a bass accent fully formed and clear, holding none of any style of lumbering or lack of pace. In fact the very first thing we key into is just how natural and real sounding our bass guitar work played out. Just the fact that the bass is more compressed here at the start and the wide guitar reverberations take precedence. I mean you want that click-clack of the bass to become centered as the tones are in center focus here. At 00:26 we realize that whoever covers this song it will always be Maiden sounding at the core……as that is who wrote it.

At 00:35 there is the introduction of balance, I mean a balance of so many separated and delineated entities taking each section of the stage as its own. In fact just the clarity found here is both a testament to the Singolo’s ability and the recording quality. But dealing with forward chord statements…….power chord statements no less………we are reassured as to the upper midrange tuning finding a welcome home, while still not critically blasting those tones into finite forwardness…….they are our friends……..we have made total peace with the power chords...........both in tone and placement into the stage. At 00:38 we hear the backing chorus basically doing a regular additive, adding dimension and polish.

At 01:03 the main vocals arrive. Tobias Forge has introduced us to an exquisite use of a cover, that while still sounding like Maiden, there seems to be extra creative room for Tobias Forge to make the song his very own. Basically to me a song that is (still questionably) better than the original. Here we find the Progressive Rock elements that were always in the background of NWOHM........only concentrated on in this Phantom OF The Opera Maiden song. Yep, this could be considered Progressive Rock, still walking that line with the added power chords of Metal………perfect. At 01:28 the Hammond B3 keys go into action to almost Jon Lord-ify the number. I mean what would this song be if they left the Deep Purple vibe out? Nothing……….that is where it would sit. Only at this point, just like the backing chorus, the B3 sounding organ is an embellishment and doesn’t come near taking center stage. At 01:54 we arrive at delight taking in the fast studio pan effect (reverb) put onto Tobias’s vocals. And to reiterate on that reverb, the reverbs here, especially with the guitar are natural and nice, holding a realism with fall-off and note weight, better than any Hybrids with BA noise makers, ever thought of doing. The notes of reverberation are simply longer and drawn-out to their conclusion. That is the Singolo in a nut-shell………provocative reverbs. That and believe it or not correctness both of tone and pace.

At 02:58 an epic lead takes place…….and we are given it all, nothing left out, at least in excitement of emotion anyway. Then more layers of guitar lead…..this is Tobias making a song for the concerts he plays………to keep the vibe of Metal alive and be true to it. And at 03:20 we somehow come face to face with the use of a Wah Pedal. Probably the pedal was in effect throughout, but has now identified itself as its very own instrument for the playing. Yep, seemingly walking out-front and taking control of the song. It is in these virtuoso instances that we find the soul of the moment, swept far away from our daily lives into the world of Rock.

At 04:05 we are greeted with a bass note, and actually this instance shows us the bass personality at hand, that while clean and correct, the bass is not in any way overboard, too much or too little. It is humble, yet correct and at this point (even polite)………..I realize I am at terms with the Singolo sound in total.

Finally we are (starting to be) brought to a style of climax, a climax inside a song that sounds almost like a climax all the way though. Just like the start of the song, there are the same instruments. There is a specific use of repeating themes which brings about a familiarity, yet at this point we are in the middle of a style of wind-up……..yep. The pace of the song seems to be brought into a speedier pace. It’s at 04:44 when all the listeners are now in sync, yep everyone knows the song, even if it was the first time they heard it. Eye contact is made with your partner and air-guitars take creation. You know that imaginary string instrument that somehow shows-up out of no-where.

Everyone rides onward into the power of the power chord, with slight smiles just in the corner of their mouth. This is, and will always (forever) be known as Rocking Out. At 05:02 the lead starts again, and because everyone knows it, the fingers go into action, playing each note….imaginary of course. Though at 05:20 a surprise happens……yep the leads are so good we are spellbound to listen…….they get respect and no more tomfoolery takes place. We stop as the real guitars are in the room……they require concentration……..and honor. At 05:29 another guitar approaches from the right…….a second guitar lead to join in……now they are tag teaming one, then another, then another……….it doesn’t ever get better than this. Finally, finally at 06:24 they are in unison, and filling the stage. Still we are not even finished, it is that over-the-top Progressive Rock Over-The-Top-ness. The excessiveness that too much is never too much…..ever.



Hans Zimmer
Inception OST
Old Souls
44.1 kHz - 16 bit
There is delicateness to the beginning piano notes, that at 00:23 they hold an ambiance of reverb and the Singolo nails it. At 00:54 the bass drop occurs. That while even at this exact price point I have heard a bigger stage, more contrast by other IEMs produce a feeling of detail and get the next level of emotional involvement. Yet that is not the goal of the Singolo performance…….no here we are partaking of a purer performance, holding note-weight and timbre……reverberations and fall-offs. Maybe the name of this is organic? Yet there is an honesty which is un-arguable and consistent where it could be said that more stage gets you more immersion, and I will agree…….except this style of playback is also emotional, but not due to overall size, but more sincerity of life? Like if you needed exact background music while at work and didn’t need the flash, but still wanted a purity when that set of chords went and grabbed your thoughts. You in-fact would not question them, not the timbre, not the decays abound, nor the treble would ever creep into your workspace. Because we all know of the music genres that are distracting, that emit an energy that is too much for concentration to occur. Yet with the Ghost song we found enough detail and correctness, a finite pace that rocked-us-out. Yet here is the same, only the song chose the pace, one of a sleepier and romantic idea of a song. And that is two examples of both sides of the coin, a coin that is illustrating the profound easygoing yet well-rounded demeanor the Singolo can’t help but parley 100% of the time.

Package:

Conclusion:
The Singolo walks that line, a line of both moderation and poise, of sophistication and temperament…….to become many different sounds by a changing of tips, yet all the ear-tips sound correct, only changing bass effectiveness and stage, midrange imaging and treble placement. Of course the widest and more shallow spread the stage out the farthest, yet the physicality of the nozzle didn’t allow me such freedom in use. So I chose the longer wide-bore silicones……and life went on. I mean this tuning is so (in a way) careful and soft. Soft due to the upper midrange Pinna Gain always being controlled. Even if you have heard as many IEMs as I, there is a place where you shake your head at just how careful this line is that they walked. That while impressive with bass, this still could be considered a vocal IEM, especially for those out there that are sensitive to forward vocals. And while sure, there are better technical IEMs for the same price, the technicalities take a back seat and are replaced by realism, not from wide-spread imaging but by correctness of tuning, that and timbre and ample reverberations. As such the Singolo plays great off a phone, that while maxed out in phone volume, we still have great bass sculpturing and that slightly bouncy roll and sway that makes the KARS system something we will hear again implemented. That for the NOOB the Singolo is really the ticket, as long as you can still find fitment with aftermarket ear-tips. And for the seasoned veteran in this game of acquisitions, the Kiwi ears Singolo brings an unstoppable character that is neither boring or too garish. To me, I kept getting déjà vu reminding me of the 7Hz Zero MK1 and even more MK2. And if you have read even a few of my reviews here, I hold those IEMs at the top of how to tune an IEM. It is through this midrange imaging that they stole my heart, and the Singolo is continuing that specific legacy into the future.

GO link
This was the easiest review to write so far this year. I mean somehow everything just seemed to flow and come together to actualize this whole write up? Seriously I’m not sure why this was so easy…….accept you know when things go too smoothly you get a little paranoid that something is left out, or that there is a blaring mistake somewhere……..You even end-up double checking yourself to almost add to the work load, or subdue your feelings of “did I just do this whole review….that easy?” Yep, it’s kinda like that at times, when stuff just falls together.

Like when there are old friends in town, yet they didn’t tell you they were on their way over to your house. You know those last minute phone calls that make you rush into a panic. What do we do now, at such a last minute notice? How will we even feed them? Wait, they're old, old friends and they will be happy with anything. Heck, we can even feed them bar-food and they will be ecstatic and all smiles. But wait, do we have any bar-food here? Then you look in the freezer, and low and behold you have a few bags of those nuggets. Beef, Chicken and another bag of Cheese something whatevers. Then you start to get inspired. This is going to be fun, easy going fun. Wait……..what else do we have on offer here? As it turns out we just bought 4 different styles of barbecue sauce? Wait this is totally working-out well, it all must be meant to be……..sure we are meant to have fun here. Then you find a few of those fast-food condiment packages and a case of beer. When they get here the beer will be ice-cold, the trays of this party food are actually going to show well. We will tell them we don’t eat like this every day, of course they know that. So we pop this stuff into the toaster oven (at least the first wave) and away we go to get dressed………..



The ifi GO link
Redcarmoose Labs April 7th, 2024

You see, fun doesn’t have to be too complicated. Fun can even be low cost. This whole gig…..this experience we are living through is about music, and old relationships we have. It’s also about knowing what steps to take, and knowing ourselves. Yet it is also about living in the moment…..this very moment.

Sure there has been an incredible legacy of Dongles. And in contrast to what you might think, the Dongle didn’t start with the Lighting connector in 2016. But in reality Dongles have been around since 1998. Still they didn’t hit the mainstream until the iPhone 7 eliminated the headphone jack. I mean for many this was the start of Dongle Madness only none-of-us knew it yet.



You can make jokes, you can get mad, you can even not give a schiit. The past is gone and it is now what it is. There are Dongles in every shape and size, every price point and every flavor of features. You have a choice. But ifi thinks this ifi GO link offers a very special way to go.

Ifi have been around the block a few times. I have always seen ifi around, you know if you are browsing Head-Fi you really can’t miss them. Belonging to the group AMR (Abbingdon Music Research Group) one of the largest if not the largest audio manufacturer in the UK, ifi has made a notch here at Head-fi. Endlessly imaginative they have created one-of-a-kind products like the xDSD, the Nano iOne, the Nano iDSD Black Label, the ifi Blue and most recently the ifi iDSD Diablo II. Yet this style of GO link Dongle also has a sprinkle of their ideas as to tone. It is also purposely simplified and miniaturized to try and go face-to-face with the Apple Dongle. Sure there are differences and if you are reading this review there may be a good chance that you are curious if there will be a sound improvement from the Apple Dongle you are currently using.

Let me just say there is a difference, but as far as differences go it starts relatively little and just like rabbits crawling out from behind the trees in the woods, you start to totally realize just how different the two are.

I start off most reviews by not reading any other reviews about a product I am focused on. I simply don’t want any opinions to seep in between my ears and pollute my thinking, I have beers for that maneuver. What I do is simply pull whatever device I’m learning about out, and use it just like a regular Head-fi member would do. Also I won’t go hog wild as far as equipment goes, right off. I will start small with a product like this and work my way up. You see I’m curious to find out how the sound is with YouTube videos and $150.00 IEMs first. For one because that may be the exact usage scenario in use for some. Let’s face it, not everyone wants to be out of the house with $400.00 to $1000.00 rigs in their hands. Plus remember my story about the food for my unexpected guests? At times we are looking at functionality combined with sonic qualities. I mean, I never leave my house with my DAPs, they are just too big and bulky, no matter how good they sound, plus out and about at times I can’t even focus all the way on their sound quality.

Later in my testing trajectory I will start to gravitate towards more expensive headphones and IEMs as a way to find-out where the sonic limits are inside of a new device. Or if it is just the (better) IEMs, I will then walk my way up the ladder ending with a reference desk-top scenario. This is to grasp what the limits are and understand the scalability present………plus it’s fun. Yep, being surprised at what lower cost equipment does in relation to sound quality is something I am always curious about.

The very first thing I did was combine the GO link with my iPod Touch, playing regular YouTube videos. This is actually what I always use as a system, only because I’m lazy, and it is incredibly convenient. Where I get the YouTube videos off music review blogs that I’m reading, and (as many of you know) even 30 seconds of a new band playback material will go to somehow show what the whole album and even the whole band is about. Funny how that is. So I’m using this system because it is hand held, plus I can move around and do other stuff I’m doing…….call it ADD/Multi-tasking. Anyway here I have the GO link attached to the Lighting connector plugged into the Touch and have the Thieaudio 3.5mm cable that came with my Hype 2 product. The IEMs I am using is the TINHIFI “Mars” the T5S. Such an IEM is both warm and forgiving of any source. In use here the $129.99 T5S seems to work well, yet I’m on the ground floor of this skyscraper…….yep. I want to find out how I can improve matters. So I go and play the same song again, only I switched to the Noble Audio Encore K-10 universal…………I told you I’m curious here, but I also didn’t disclose that I’m of an impatient nature. Sure the details became unfolded and, sure there was a better experience from the iPod,YouTube, GO link combination. Yet I wanted to see where this would go………so I switched to the MacBook Air. Yep, same YouTube song, only now I’m using the MacBook Air as a digital source to the GO link to the Thieaudio cable, to the Noble Audio Encore K-10 universal. And you know what, there were way different results……….and I don’t have an answer as to why, but it was more clear, and a bigger stage. There was actual polish to the instruments and even a blacker background to view better pace occurring? I simply don’t know why. But then I got the idea to go ahead and play a different band in HiRez, and start with that band's YouTube video. So I played the video and listened, then using the MacBook Air I kicked into 192kHz playback using the software Colibri 2.0.2 (1362). And guess what? Now I was witnessing the full monty. Yep, now this singer-songwriter stuff opened-up to showcase beautiful guitars, forward nice vocals and overall a fully natural sound.

I have come to know the ifi sound recently and if I could I will try and describe it. My descriptions of the ifi tone may change a little from place to place in time, as truly I only started to get to know what sonics ifi was on-to in late February of 2024. So my first introduction was the $329.00 GO bar. And sure the GO bar is more, more of everything sound wise. Bigger stage, a deeper pond to look down into to visualize bass and pace embellishments. A more real midrange that creates denser more vivid vocals with added detail and reverberations……yep the full monty. But……but the three ifi products I have tried have all shown exactly that they were made by the same company. And that makes sense, doesn’t it. A company dials in a house sound, then figures out a way to parley it into a whole bunch of price-points and new products. The thing is the moment I put the ifi GO link to use, the first thing I noticed was this buttery smoothness……and that it reminded me instantly of the GO bar, and the GO blu.

Each device (all three) move forward to proclaim a detail that comes from resolution, not brightness, like some manufactures are into. So in practical use you can join the ifi products with wickedly dark signatures and still pull out details and immersion. This has happened when someone was asking me for advice to try the GO bar with an overly smooth and dark IEM. Normally we try to equalize that IEM by at least finding a mid-forward product to kind-of find synergy. But the ifi products seem to be designed to walk this very particular line, to where they are still smooth, yet hold this fantastic detail, even with darker IEMs somehow? The end results you ask? Musicality and relative neutral (whatever that means) with a warmer deep-end and a smooth non-glaring top-end. As such, this results in a passionate information dense midrange that hold imaging well into the stage up and down, right to left and front to back. Also it was noted that each and every product did share a slightly different sound stage. If I was to rate them……..it would be.


My list of sound quality best to worse, from left to right GO bar, GO blu and GO link.

GO bar $329.00
GO blu Type C USB $199.00
GO link $59.00
GO blu Bluetooth $199.00

So the GO link won out over the $199.00 GO blu in Bluetooth mode, but was bettered by the GO blu in wired mode.



IEM tests:
In this section I simply pull out IEMs I like and go to town. Here I’m using the MacBook Air, the GO link and Thieaudio cable in 3.5mm, plus Hires music.



The TINHIFI Mars T5S Universal IEM:
Here the song is full-on sounding groovy. He he, I sound like this was my very first review to be written. Can’t you come-up with a more sophisticated terminology for us………..OK. Deep, the sound is deep like? What? You need to go back to school and use better words here, you sound like a 5th grader. Ok, sorry……the sound is full. You see these expressions of the experience are singularly what a review is about, we are looking into a pond of imaginative sound………….and that water can be shallow, or it can take on dimension. The dimension is the essence of the experience because we are not affording full-size speakers…….no. This is all an illusion, and in fact the speakers are also an illusion, only often they are a more convincing illusion. Many try to figure out the ingredients for the illusion to start to take place………it is not always instantaneous. No, at times it takes your brain extra time to buy in……to buy in that this is supposed to be a reenactment of a live event, even though any trace of that live event was gone the moment the electro-magnetic energy hit the tape. That there is nothing left but to try and piece together a proximity of what used to be real.



Robert Miles
Dreamland
Children
44.1 kHz - 16bit
So here’s the thing, this song Children totally works with the Mars T5S and GO link. There is a moody and even holistic tone to the combo, to where it has these faint reverberations, that if you know and understand this Robert Miles song, the reverberations are key. Try to imagine it for a second without the decay, without the effects. Different from acoustic instruments, electronic instruments need a body and a soul to give them life. Otherwise we are listening to a video game OST…….no not a new video game OST, one from 1983. The fact is that the T5S is not the most expensive IEM on the block, in fact it is only $129.99. But they named it “Mars” probably because it is supposed to be warm like the planet Mars? Yet also naming an IEM after a planet name connotes size. And sure enough it is the stage size with the ifi GO link that is providing my ears with (added to Mars) that kind-a fills out the imaging with this song. That it is in-fact more spacious than the Apple Dongle, and more real than the $199.00 Go blu in Bluetooth mode. Now the results of this imaging is that we can follow a synthesizer backing lead and it does its own thing. The listening imaginations find an area into the stage positioning, and place that track in the song……….and it never moves as long as the song progresses......itemized into the stage! The simple results of this are a spectacle, an imaginary space, that is not real, but is perceived to be real, therefore exists as real as anything. And this one element is my favorite part of the ifi sound, that there is a warmth that I can add to warm IEMs, and the results are not too warm or boring. In fact they are quite the opposite. For all the cost added up to gain this simple set-up, and for all the results obtained, I think we are not doing too shabby. The fact that I’m even writing this much (nonsense) shows that we have gone somewhere, away from the sterile Apple Dongle choice, away from the factory sound card implemented inside the Apple MacBook Air, too a slightly more cozy venue, a place to call home for long jaunts of time, and a place to call our very own.





The Penon 10th Anniversary Universal IEM:
Oh, man……my favorite Penon to date. Really unless there was something upstream that was drastically wrong, like an out of phase amplifier or cable hook-ups……I would almost never aim to change a thing here with playback. This is one of the super powers that the 10th Anniversary brings to the table, it goes with every style of music and plays that style from any source. And when I wrote my 10th review the 10th was highly regarded as a $499.00 value, yet there were still more people to hop-on the party boat.

Yep……as time went on after my review the followers came and started to get a grip on just what style of tone was going down. Then it happened, actually it snow balled into the limelight with more folks spouting-off just like me, that the 10th ruled. And the rest is (as they say) HISTORY. 2BAs x 2DDs x 2ESTs……..and those ESTs aren’t just for looks. This is an IEM phenomenon, and still hasn’t been topped by the new Penon IEMs in my humble opinion. So because the 10th is such a lay down as far as easy going, do you think it is still good as a test subject today?

Well it is, because a good thing is always a good thing……….

Finding the bass a little more dramatic compared to the $300 more expensive Volt to follow on this page. But it is the mids and the treble that are so rewarding here. That I can listen to this all day long, and while it is not a audio microscope like the Noble K-10 Encore to follow in a few……….that is not what is attempted here…..no this is a musical instrument.

One that parlays the soul of the song, one that opens the door to imagination and intrigue. Are those words too big to use here? I don’t know, I wish you could hear what I’m hearing right now, and see the small tear flow out of my left eye socket.

OK, OK I know I’m too much, but even if you tone down this crazy emotion going on, the playback is dead-on gorgeous………just perfect. And the word perfect is almost never used, you can believe me or not, I don’t care. In audiophile circles they simply call this playback synergy…..for no better word known. And truly if you have a laptop and $499.00 + $59.00 you are in, you can tell me about your experiences later. Sure maybe it is not something magical, that is is something that can be explained, you know, like a dish of food where everything came together, not my bar food, but a real meal, where the ingredients were chosen and came together to create synergy, but I’m guessing, if you will allow me to guess, that is is in fact the bass that is full-scale and romantically creating a swagger to follow…………a bounce and groove……that’s all.



The Penon Volt Universal IEM:
Super easy to drive, where I find myself below 1/4 volume here.I mean sure if you want to blow-out your eardrums the reserves are there, where I took the Volts out of my ears just to kind-a hear just how loud they would get at full-volume. Now of course with the MDR-Z1R I could approach full-volume status…….and lucky such power reserves were there. Anyway………



Robert Miles
Dreamland
Children
44.1 kHz - 16bit
What a beautiful way to spend the afternoon. I mean here we are rewarded with so many of the hallmark features of this number. Showcasing balance and careful tuning of both the Volt and GO link. I could see myself anywhere fascinated by this song. At 00:00 the faux thunder takes the intro…….yet right away the multi tracked synth bass and ambient introductions like the sound of rain, birds chirping, and all are washed in a moving Doppler effect. This was made in 1996 and can almost be guaranteed to be MIDI trigger controlled.



“Four studies illustrate a new auditory illusion associated with the Doppler effect and demonstrate a new influence of dynamic intensity change on perceived pitch. Experiment 1 confirmed the existence of a popular belief that the pitch of a moving sound source rises as the source approaches. Because there is no corresponding rise in frequency, the authors refer to the perceived pitch rise as the Doppler illusion. Experiment 2 confirmed that the effect occurs perceptually, so the belief in a "naive principle" of physics has a perceptual basis. Experiment 3 confirmed the effect does not occur under matched static conditions. Experiment 4 showed that the influence of dynamic intensity change on perceived pitch occurs outside the realm of Doppler stimuli. The findings support a dynamic dimensional interaction of pitch and loudness, with marked differences in the perception of pitch and loudness under static and dynamic conditions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)”

Doppler effect in physics is defined as the increase (or decrease) in the frequency of sound, light, or other waves as the source and observer move towards (or away from) each other. Waves emitted by a source traveling towards an observer get compressed.

They understand about 95% of what the Doppler is. But we can create in the studio and process most anything with this effect. Supposedly the Doppler effect even substantiates the Universe is expanding.

Back to the GO link and Dreamland:
Anyways……the song itself “Children” was the very first mainstream introduction of the EDM sub-genre of “Dream” as such this sub-genre was prevalent in the mid 1990s and was popular holding very specific traits which separated it from the other EDM at the time. Mainly these songs were dreamy or at least held that style of atmosphere. As heard the actual beat doesn’t arrive till 00:21 quite the intro for a total song length of 07:06………but that wasn’t enough intro at the time, having DJs often extend the intro for even up to 30 minutes…….making the music even more dreamy. What concerns us is the tone. At the very start of the keyboards we hear layers, this is because the MIDI channel was replicated and supplied the exact same note trigger to a few different instruments. As such the tracks were made by each synthesizer being given its very own mixing board channel and panned accordingly. In fact hearing this song in 1996 this technique was just as endearing as today. At 00:15 we are able to still become charmed by this, and reason being we are up-close and personal via the Volt replay. It can not be underestimated how the GO link goes along to provide correct and better than correct tone here. This is warm, there are reverberations and beyond that this bass note never really goes away…….meaning it’s not a note and a decay, but like an organ key press, it is on-going and sways in and out of oscillation. This effect of lingering bass notes may be part of the charm. Of course these details are secondary to the main piano theme which starts up at 00:43……..and will carry us almost all the way home. Yet just before that this simple previously mentioned bass sequence is only 3 notes, but that’s the magic of simplicity in music. And while these 3 notes will eventually leave us to be forgotten, or better yet distracted from……..we can’t help but find amusement here. That at the very end of 00:36 there is a faint but forward slight sample that holds a wonderful right-to-left reverberation.

And that’s the magic of Robert Miles that this stuff is a lot like using a faint brush-stroke in art to finalize a reflection. That it is the small stuff that is where the magic happens. And the GO link in all of its diminished form factor..............actually produces an adequate stage filled with images and fall-offs. Yet most importantly the GO link is focused on the ifi tone, just another example of finding a window to look through into your music.

While there is no such thing as the perfect IEM, the Penon Volt goes ahead to narrow any ideas of imperfection. Being very mid-range centric, the Volt goes forward with an easy to access tone, fully accessorized from the 4 Sonion EST drivers, 2 Sonion midrange BAs. As such the 10mm bass kicker supplies a careful and provocative rhythm to a song like this, and for the $799.00 price of admission, it should. In fact this Dreamland is a place I never want to leave………..this whole album is a treat and the very reason we are involved with this hobby.



The Noble Audio K10 Encore Universal IEM:
I should mention this now as somewhere someone wrote that the GO link gets warm, and it does nothing of the sort. I don’t care how many hours it is in service, it only rises just above room temperature. Either people writing such nonsense were powering it (wrong or) different, or simply making stuff up as they go along? Here the Encore in notorious for exploiting information inside the 6kHz to 8kHz region. And sure the Encore is old, but it is also unique to me and my most listened to IEM racking-up over 3000 hours of ear-time. Using the same song “Children” we are viewing excessive yet wonderful (almost hidden) examples of the music production art. The head-stage here is giant, almost like a halo of images. There are the same ambient effects from before, only now we are inside the fishbowl of them. And of hyper focus they swim into and out of view, holding extra levels of detail because we tweaked the treble and made the bass neutral, adding an almost flat midrange to kind-of open the drapes to this new musical experience.

I mean of the birds chirping here, we can now almost identify the name of the bird. Oh and the 00:36 sample, I’m about 80% sure it is also a bird sound, like a crow sound. Scary details here.

Yep, when that intro melody is played after the bass……..you know the piano theme which starts at 00:43, well that single sound pushed into focus, not to mention it is the loudest and most prominent musical factor now………but it is smooth and not strident or too hot, just on the border, but totally acceptable. And that my friends is the ifi tone in action, because I have heard this song played back in a few way since 2018 when I got these Encore IEMs………..and some are slightly too bright, or glaring or something…..but no, not here no, not ever. It simply sounds correct, and the most crazy part of todays testing is I often come to the Encore thinking that I’m going to have to deal with some off timbre, just because when you throw 10 BAs a side into activation, there should be at least a little…………but no, not here, not ever? Great timbre, and I have to wonder if that is from the ifi signature house sound tone?




Simple phone use:
So this photo shows again what the back of the GO link looks like, we will go over build in a few. But here with the size, I can almost figure a person placing the GO link sideways at the bottom of the back of the phone, to not have the band block the front screen. Yep, that is how creative you can be when the form factor is at this size. Though here is a demonstration of phone use and a comparative quality of the GO bar and GO link. Just remember from this description that the GO blu finds itself somewhere in-between the GO Bar and Go link two in wired mode, and the GO blu is the least of the sound quality when in Bluetooth.

Yet compared to a regular Apple Dongle, the results with this GO link are truly incredible. I mean sure, maybe this is going to be the main usage scenario for most? Where they will find themselves maybe outside or in a coffee shop and pull the GO link out and plug it into their phone with headphones or IEMs. What happens here is we review so much stuff, and we judge sonics on looks or price-point. This particular set-up, with the GO link, the phone and the TINHIFI Mars T5S IEM is nothing short of a miracle. Why? Well at times we forget that this set-up is in many ways just like a DAP. And in-use if this combo was all someone had, both for home or mobile……..they would be fine.



Hans Zimmer
Inception OST
Old Souls
44.1 - 16bit
I mean, really this was a surprise, and remember I’m combining a semi-neutral warm IEM, with a semi-neutral Dongle……….but none of that tone talk even matters at this stage in the review. I’m zoning-in on bigness and stage. I’m zoning-in on completeness and simply the top-to-bottom, the left-to-right and forward-and-back…….yep it is all here.


A Mars T5S morning listen:
I mean the crazy thing is this is also the first listen (of anything) for the day. But this sounds like my ears were just cleaned? The deepness, the naturalness, the fall-off to the way outside of the stage. And to be honest, my choice of IEM, the Mars, was somewhat random as I was simply trying to fill a price point here, and had no idea of the synergy I was about to walk into. This one instance is a crazy mile and a half from the Apple Dongle. And I have to stop myself…….because this style of replay gets my narrative fingers going to work, and I could ramble on and on for at least another paragraph, but you get the point, beautifully correct mixing a warm IEM with the ifi house sound……I am smitten here? So what about the GO bar?

The GO bar:
Really changing Dongles is that easy, as 123. I only pushed play after switching the set-up. Yet before I leave this section I want to say this style of playback has me question the TINHIFI naming of Mars for the T5S…….that they named it due to the warmth, or even named it due to the actual 3D imaging size of the playback constituents……the size of the notes and fact that they live in this total realm of front-to-back and side-to-side, right-to left? That combined with the deepness and physicality (and size) of the warm bass tones here, it is just so very good. Though (speaking of warmth) take note the GO bar gets warm and the GO link does not….almost not at all.



GO bar:
Here the notes have more air around them. Yes, the stage is larger, but in no way the results you would think by looking at the price differences here. Yes, stuff is slightly more forward and back. But due to both GOs having a field day parlaying the exact same sound signature, we are in the same location of town, yep much is the same. And the best part is that both are completely correct with these IEMs. The way you feel the physicality of the bass, the stage reach, the size of the avenue we are in…..10/10 in both usage scenarios here.

Though there is this funny thing about “Old Souls” where the instruments somehow breathe and can offer this phenomena when no sound (near) is playing and that zero sound is slightly holding more air with the GO bar.



Full-size:
Here we are placing this section and the end of the GO bar section for a reason. Yes, the bar has more oomph for full-size. Though if this review has inspired you to give the GO link a try (and I don’t see why not?) and you only use full-size 1/2 the time I can still recommend the GO link. What happens here is it is not about loudness. Maximizing the output on the GO link will get you (I'm guessing) plenty of volume, but there is dampening factor that more powerful amps do. As such this dampening will affect both the imaging and (especially) pace found due to low-end tightness. Where in my tests. With the TINHIFI Mars T5S there was none of that dampening needed so in that regard both devices performed the same. But with full-size........it really depends on how much this factor bugs you, and of course your budget. But NOOB’s actually tend to mentally not even notice this, they believe that since the Dongle powered a full-size headphone, well that it is simply the quality of the amp. In fact if you have never heard tight pace from your full-size headphones........you are not even looking for it and accept what you are given. This is (the NOOB) has never being exposed to correct pace and dampening with full-size transducers.

Because control over the diaphragm, and more power engulfing more finite diaphragm movements…………..the start and stop physical character will also allow for better transients to be accomplished. Due to transients being fully dependent on the reaction timing of the driver. As such transients are responsible for imaging. Yep, get faster control over the driver stop and start and find yourself engulfed in clearer imaging with tighter edges. So understanding this, helps a person become informed as to how the two products (GO bar and GO link) vary as to results, and the importance of power. The GO bar Maximum Output Level: 4.4 mm Balanced Headphone: 7.2 V (600-Ohm Load) 3.5 mm Headphone: 3.8 V (600-Ohm Load)The Go link delivers an output power of 70mW into 32 ohms and a maximum output voltage of 2.05V into 600 ohms.

Note the different File decoding from the GO link, GO bar and GO blu:
Go link below with MacBook Air with Colibri 2.0.2 Native Lossless Audio

GO bar below MacBook Air with Colibri 2.0.2 Native Lossless Audio


GO blu below MacBook Air with Colibri 2.0.2 Native Lossless Audio



Go link build:
Normally it would be cause for concern having a non-replaceable cable like the GO link sports. And sure that would be convenient to be able to switch cables if something happened. It is just that the Go link is way smaller than you can imagine, and this size is one of our greatest features. A TypeC receiver built into the GO link would make the GO link an entirely larger size in width, maybe by a third?

So ifi decided (maybe) that this particular device had both audio quality and form factor as its main features.

In fact I normally just leave it connected to the IEMs I use it with, and the size allows the GO link to almost become part of the cable. While weighing only 10 grams, just the IEM cable often weighs more, plus like a section of cable, the GO bar has no buttons to push or sliders to slide, the very embodiment of simplicity. Being formed from 1 single piece of 100% aluminum, really the GO link is a piece of art. Simpler and smarter in design than the GO bar or GO blu, only because they didn’t have to pack so much stuff inside. This results in a more moisture proof and dust proof design…….simpler in the end.



What’s not so simple is how ifi figured out to use silver-plated copper conductors with individual polymer cable insulation to reduce electromagnetic interference picked up from nearby electrical sources.

The single LED changes color to indicate file formats.

• PCM to 32-bit/384kHz
• DSD to 11.2MHz (DSD256)
• MQA

An LED changes color to indicate the incoming audio format – PCM, DSD or MQA – and the PCM/DSD sample rate.

1) Hi-Res True Native® playback of all music formats from MP3 to DSD256, PCM384 and DXD384.

2) GMT (Global Master Timing) femto-precision clock and intelligent memory buffer.

3) Discrete ESS Sabre Hyperstream DAC chipset with time domain jitter eliminator, discrete oscillator and 112dB dynamic range for discerning listeners.

4) iFi’s proprietary technology extends the Dynamic Range by 6 dB or more, for an improved listening experience.

5) iFi’s exclusive S-Balanced® circuit delivers maximum performance from single-ended and balanced headphones alike.

6) TDK C0G (Class 1 ceramic) capacitors offer high stability and low losses for resonant circuit applications.

7) muRata control-type, low-ESR high-Q multi-layer capacitors. The ‘ESR control’ aspect of the Murata is something special.

8) The very center of this sonic pixy dust happens at the core of the unit. Yep, the chip-set. ESS Technology’s Sabre HiFi series – the ES9219MQ/Q – benefiting from 32-bit HyperStream III architecture. As such added is the Quad DAC+ and Time Domain Jitter Eliminator technology with crystal oscillators in the clocking circuitry and DRE (Dynamic Range Enhancement). What comes out the Chip-set's other end is simply better THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) and the ES9219MQ/Q’s control of crosstalk.



Packaging:

The Head-Fi meet:
As such it is both the choice of chip-set and the chip-sets implementation along with the surrounding set-up, which brings about such advanced sonics described in this review. If you were at a Head-Fi meet-up and wanted to have some fun, blind-folding a friend then having him hear your new full-size DAP would end in smiles all around. Yep, just the look on his face after you removed the blind-fold to reveal this miniature device hooked up to your phone, yet using technology to leapfrog previously held attitudes of what a Dongle can do. I mean probably just due to the buttery smoothness and tone, but the ifi GO link jumps ahead of pretty much all my dongles. Maybe I’m a sucker for the ifi sound, maybe the ifi products are simply more my sound? After experiencing this review my only cause-for-concern would be if I saw someone judging the GO link purely on seeing the price, size and simplicity. You really need to hear this to believe it!!




Conclusion:
Well, there you have it, your own Solid-state Amplifier and Digital to Analogue Converter. On my humble kitchen scale it weighs all of 10 grams. I kinda at this point have to do a reality check. That we are in the year 2024, and devices like this are proliferating. Sure there are a lot to choose from, and I will be the very first to say, I’m no expert in the Dongle field. Yet I own a few devices and I know what I like, meaning I know what sound I like, and so far I’m coming to realize every Dongle does sound different. Yet all the ifi products have a total basic familiarity. In fact when I first opened the ifi GO link box and put it into service, right then a faint smile started to surface on my face. It was there because I knew (right at that first moment) that this little Dongle was related and had enough of that sonic pixie dust in it to sound like its brothers, the GO bar and GO blu. When doing these reviews I may sound like I’m exaggerating a lot, but that is just me, I love this style of micro-audio gear. But most importantly I realize during the whole review process that this single $59.00 purchase may be someone's most expensive audio purchase for six months. So with that honor bestowed upon me, I don’t take it lightly to simply bluff my way through a review, I am not joking here. This product is worth every cent as far as my viewpoint goes, it is well built, well designed and well accessorized for what it is. And truly I don’t see how anyone could end-up disappointed in any way from this purchase. You have my word.

$59.00
https://ifi-audio.com/products/go-link/

https://www.amazon.com/iFi-Audio/s?k=iFi+Audio

Disclaimer:
I want to thank Lawrence at ifi for the GO link review sample.

Disclaimer:
These are one person's ideas and concepts, your results may vary.

Equipment Used:
Sony WM1A Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 3.5mm
Sony WM1Z Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 3.5mm
HiBy R3 II DAP in 4.4mm balanced and 3.1 TypeC USB digital output and 3.5mm analogue output
Samsung Phone 3.5mm analogue output, USB TypeC USB digital output
Apple MacBook Air USB TypeA digital output and 3.5mm analogue output
Apple iPod Touch Lighting digital output, and 3.5mm analogue output
Apple Dongle

The TSMR-X
Redcarmoose Labs April 4th, 2024

Who is Tansio Mirai (TSMR)?
Tansio Mirai is a Chinese manufacturer who currently makes a number of specialized IEMs. TSMR or TANSIO MIRAI was registered as an IEM maker in China by the Beijing Tang Song Bouyan Technology Company in 2016.

The TSMR name is actually a play on words originating from the English language translation of “Tang Song era”. The Tang Dynasty and The Song Dynasty was an era of immense social change, scientific, agricultural and artistic progress. The Chinese invented gunpowder during that time as well as the printing press and the magnetic compass. The first paper money was invented in Song Dynasty in China during the 11th century. The name TMSR is in remembrance of such eras, ultimately bringing such values and dynamics into the future.

TANSIO MIRAI production as of today
TANSIO MIRAI ZODIAC - 12BA $1349.00
TANSIO MIRAI TSMR 8 SPACE - 8BA $729.00
TANSIO MIRAI TSMR 6 - 6BA $529.00
TANSIO MIRAI TSMR 5 - 5BA $419.00
TANSIO MIRAI TSMR 4 PRO - 4BA $319.00
TANSIO MIRAI TSMR 3 PRO - 3BA $219.00
TANSIO MIRAI TSMR 2 - 2BA $169.00
TANSIO MIRAI TSMR 10 - 10BA $1029.00
TANSIO MIRAI Spark - 4EST + 7BA Hybrid $1499.00
TANSIO MIRAI Land - 2EST + 3BA + 1DD Hybrid $599.00
TANSIO MIRAI Akiba - 7BA + 4EST Hybrid $1550.00
TANSIO MIRAI Sands - 1DD + 3 BA Hybrid $319.00
TANISO MIRAI FEAT - 2DD + 2BA Hybrid $239.00
TANISO MIRAI X - 2DD + 2BA + 1 Custom Film Retarding Driver Hybrid $399.00
TANISO MIRAI HALO - 8BA + 4EST Hybrid $1,999,00
TANISO MIRAI RGB EST - 9BA + 8EST Hybrid $2,999.00

I only have personal experience with 4 TANSIO MIRAI IEMs. The first was the Sands, then the Land and then the TSMR 5 and now this X or 10th Anniversary as its called. Where in hindsight it seems (from my limited brand exposure) that this X is a slight new focus. Much like Penon did with their 10th Anniversary model, TSMR has aimed at the mainstream with this one. Shrugging-off any of that TSMR elitist (hyper) treble detail, to thrill only a fraction of the listeners out there…………….TSMR with this latest tuning is aimed at bringing the mainstream to their factory doorstep. That means it’s a party of sorts, an Anniversary party. In doing so they have adopted new technology in the form of 3D printing the shell. And brought forth a new style of driver which has that big duct you see on-top. As such it uses passive repetitive vibrations which in turn increases vibration amplitude. To celebrate their tenth anniversary they also reduced the price by 43%. Now whether you go along with the 7th driver being called an actual driver or not is questionable? Questionable too is the sale price (for a limited time) of $300.00 off? So the 10th is a limited Edition……..where that could mean that they will make less of them than regular models. Which in a way has me questioning the logic here. If the 10th sells so well, which it has turned out to do………..why would you only make a limited amount? Unless of course advertising………creating buying motivation through implied scarcity.

So whatever the marketing concepts are the TSMR-X or X as I will refer to it, is a small wonder. The X is a phenomenon here at Head-Fi, so much so that I’m not sure this review is even needed for it?

Word got around early on that the X brought something new to the table. That those 2DDs were put into action for a sonic reason, that those 4 BAs were selected carefully, and this CFRD is implemented correctly. The thing is TSMR maybe didn’t invent the CFDR (Custom Film Retarding Driver), yet they have used the theory here in a successful manner. A little on-line research enlightens us that a structure has in-fact been used before with 64 Audio and their APEX system. But sure, that’s the thing……..utilize every tool at your disposal to reach sonic success, and TSMR did.

There are three DIP-switches that alter the bass. Standard tuning is with the middle 020 switch up, and that’s my favorite, so all the music tests in this review will center around that tuning. Then there is 100, which means the left switch is only up, that produces the most bass. Then the opposite with only 003 up, that is full bass attenuation. Then finally there is a setting of 000, which is no bass at all…..I didn’t try it, nope not even curious about that setting.

The TSMR-X set-up:
Low frequency: 2 x 8mm strong magnet dynamic, hollow coaxial structure, Carbon mixed diaphragm

Mid frequency: 2 x Knowles balanced armature

High frequency: 2 x Sonion balanced armature

Full frequency effect: 1 x custom film retarding driver (this driver is detachable design, frequent disassembly is not recommended)

Model: X
Driver: 2 x dynamic + 4 x balanced armature + 1 x custom film retarding driver
Material: 3D printing high quality resin shells.
Frequency response: 5-30kHz
Impedance: 10Ω
Sensitivity: 103dB
Connector: 2pin 0.78mm
Cable Length: 1.2m

You may be curious if the 64 Audio APEX driver will slip into the port at the top? OK, maybe you’re not curious about such experiments? The APEX M12 module is slightly smaller so it won’t fit. Yet Penon says CFRDs are removable, except “frequent disassembly is not recommended” I guess they need to tell you in case for whatever reason they move? But truthfully I have no burning desire to take the CFRD modules out, especially out of a perfectly working IEM. And I’m pretty sure they don’t move at all………I’m not going to try, except I have done all kinds of bullying around with the X in the few weeks I’ve had it on hand and no, the APEX module, I mean CFRD module doesn’t move one bit.

2 Knowles middle frequency BAs
2 Sonion high frequency BAs
2 8mm Coaxial Carbon Mixed DDs
1 CFRD “Driver”
7 drivers in all



Cable comparisons:
I'm starting-off with cables as they are a great way to introduce an IEM and its sound signature. Sure many are skeptical of those darn (cable) things doing anything, so if you’re one of those types skip this section.

The review in many ways is the same without the cable descriptions. Except for me cables are maybe the most fun, as it is easy to get excited when a certain cable moves forward to enhance a particular sound response? Now I should probably disclose the most important statement of this review so far?

The X is so well balanced that it works with every cable in use today!

Yep, what that means is we are not trying to change the response to put out any fires or start any fires, so to speak. The TSMR-X is fine the way it is and absolutely great with the included cable. I say this as the TSMR Land and TSMR Sands were not the very best with the included cable. And it just so happens…..I’m almost certain this is the same cable that came with the Land and Sands? All this is because the X is incredibly middle-of-the- road as far as playback goes, also this style of easygoingness was also found with the Penon 10th Anniversary as well. And I will let you in on another secret early on here……..both 10th Anniversary models are both some of my very favorite IEMs to come out recently. While the Penon 10th gets me a little closer to my sound, there is a provocative sexiness in what the X does on a regular basis. Such findings have made this review super easy to write……..much like a simple diary of experiences.

And you may wonder how does the X pull this off? I will slowly get to that, but in short it is even, correct and complete in tuning and has very good technicalities to boot.



1)The Penon ASOS+ 8 wire, 24 AWG 99 cores Silver Plated Copper with Litz structure and special Purple Plug (Palladium) $215.00

2)The ISN GC4 Single Crystal Copper Gold Plated 4 stand 16 core $179.00

3) The Penon OSG Graphene infused Silver Plated Copper 4 stand 71 core Litz structure $299.00

4) The ISN S4 4 strand 63 cores totaling 252 cores silver plated copper $55.00

5) The ISN G4 Type 6 Litz configuration Graphene silver plated OCC with Graphene Gold paint, 4 shares 180 cores per share $99.50

Here is the thing, each cable offers a slight personality all to itself, and the charming thing is to find out just how the X displays such character. And I might add, some IEMs are in need of correction, yet the X is a kind where each and every cable property was focused in the purest of ways, gaining insight into the very center of each cable's attribute! Meaning in the regular 020 setting the X was behaved and went with every cable used today.

Probably my curiosity got the best of me to test where the included cable lands in comparison to the $55.00 ISN S4? I mean that would be a starting point just to see both if the ISN S4 was something or if the included cable was just that good?


ISN S4 above

The included cable v the ISN S4:
There is a specific reason why I choose the S4 to try out here. Call it curiosity, or maybe I’m simply too into this hobby, but the S4 is a rare bird. My first introduction was to the MMCX version of the cable included with the ISN D10, back in mid April of 2022. Even then I knew this S4 was a specialist cable, allowing for a style of bass control and clarity through diminishment of the lower midrange, clearing the path for vocals to emerge. The S4 also added stage from many cables, maybe very reason it was a mandatory inclusion with the D10. By its nature the D10 is an L shaped jaunt into ISN's idea of the perfect DD driver, and what came out the other end of the review was a capable IEM that actually had a profound midrange and even treble itemization………and was not foggy or really missing pace with the S4.

My next introduction to the S4 was the 2Pin edition which (all of a sudden) was an included cable with the ISN Neo 5. A week after the Neo 5 was released in the wild with the ISN S8, it was determined that the S8 was too sleepy of a combo with the Neo 5. And sure enough the S4 became a stark (vivid) turnaround due to cleaning up the Neo 5 bass fog and adding a wonderful stage, plus doing this magic with the vocals, making the Neo 5 one of the single best deals of the year. As more and more members contact me for advice on the Neo 5, I interface with it more and more, even after the review, to view the Neo 5 as even better at response qualities.

Even using the Neo 5 as a contender to future IEMs showed how the Neo 5 is not pulling any punches, and basically destroying the competition with realness of vocals, stage and vividness of presentation. When doing side-by-sides such completeness of stature ends up being something to remember. Therefore, look for the Neo 5 again later in this review as a comparison to the TSMR-X!

The included cable v the ISN S4:
I have chosen to compare these two as a question of could you upgrade your included cable by simply getting the ISN S4. I will spill the beans right off at the start to give you a heads-up to where we are going. Money spent on the other cables in this grouping would be money well spent. Still, what do we have as a cable included with the TSMR-X and what is the ISN S4 really like as an option?

The included cable is visually incredible, just like the TSMR IEMs are visually profound, and it is true that the included cable with the X is the same one that came with the Sands and TSMR Land IEMs. What this cable does is boost the 5-7kHz range, and was instantly found to be too bright with the Sands and the Land. So other more pure copper based cables are a way into success with the Sands and Land. Before even laying hands on the TSMR-X word on the street said the included cable works out well. That was my first clue that we may have a new and different sound signature with the X.

A more mainstream success story with the X……..and that is the fairy tale this review is about.

In fact you may not want to read any further……………just buy the X and be done with investigating it, and save yourself some time.


The included cable above

$399.00
https://penonaudio.com/TANSIO-MIRAI-X-10th-Anniversary-Limited-Edition.html

Liberace style gold

Oh, you’re still here….? The included cable is first of all absolutely (physically) beautiful and I have to say the members who stated that the included cable works out are definitely on to something here. It has nice ear-hooks, and this Liberace style gold hardware with the white wire. The included cable means business here. Only still it is too 5-7kHz boosted with the X and will still make the X little thin sounding. Yes, it will work if it is all you have, and it is incredibly resolving, just it is holding back the bass notes.

The ISN S4:
Surprisingly the ISN S4 has even more bass thrusters going on. And while not as dramatic or as vivid as the other cables in this test today, the S4 was an ounce or two better than the included cable. Still I would save your money and not spring for the $55.00 S4, but wait and add a little to the cable fund before partaking of the winner-cables to come. Still this was a great side-by-side test.



Included cable above



The Penon ASOS+:
Look, this has been a cable that is so balanced, it goes with everything. The stage, the pace, the feel of it. The weight of the ASOS+ is 53 grams in 4.4mm, very close to the 44 grams of the 4.4mm TSMR-X included cable.

Ergonomics:
Yet somehow the ASOS+ shows better ergonomics, seemingly heavenly………….going into a more pliable and fluid demeanor all the time, in every direction, and on every day of the week. Sure the price for admission to the ASOS+ movie is $215.00, slightly over half the price of the TSMR-X, yet it actualizes it. Yep, it makes the X all it can be, within reason. I mean you don’t have to read any more of this review, simply buy the X and the ASOS+ and be done with it. Walk your dog maybe (give your cat a small fish maybe) as you don’t have to read any more words (in this review) here?



OH, your back? I guess I need to explain myself. Now we are jumping to the next level. Bigger stage, deeper, thicker and wider……so more involving.........and exciting. The vocals are pushed into farther existence forward, the bass (really the whole low-end) is now coming from a blacker background and more separated, holding bass textures. But really the best part is two fold, dynamic imaging and separation inside the midrange.

There are synth embellishments that are flowing into position into their very own separate stage on the outskirts of the stage. I could go on for a few more paragraphs, but this review is already way to long……….

And this isn’t a matter of sound signature preferences here, no...........the TSMR-X is so middle-of-the-road that most everyone has a chance to find happiness, except maybe the extreme bass heads and the treble heads, you know who you are.

But to put it into one sentence…….the ASOS+ causes the X to blossom into full actuality into what it has potential to become.



The ISN GC4:
Another wildly different cable here, and creating to its very own character. A very thin cable that performs like a thicker cable..............way above anything you would guess. As at rare times looks can be deceiving in the cable world. Weighing in at only 20 grams, the GC4 becomes not only lightweight but super thin. Yet the optical illusion here is reproduced by gold, yep……the GC4 has a Rhodium plated plug. Simply a build with copper and gold, except there is some silver in the solder. Before in the cable tests we were using the mid-centric WM1A with MrWalkman’s firmware.

WM1Z:
Now we are going to jump to the thicker and more bass laden WM1Z. Also I’m doing this to prove a point, that the X goes with pretty much anything I own to parley wonderful results, why? Because it is even, complete and correctly tuned. So here now with the 1Z we are given (besides the bass) a fishbowl of imaging of treble around your head. I mean now we are really reaching a form of involvement. While the imaging is actually more dense in the midrange, the parley of elements sits further outside than maybe even the ASOS+ only because it is of less energy, and of less clutter. Sure maybe most of this is the DAP, as it can be argued that ear-tips and the DAP make more difference than the cable..............I won’t totally disagree with those folks. Yet here there is also the signature bass sculpturing of the GC4, that and a structure of treble and midrange elements. In fact I’m using one of my most treble laden songs, and it is absolutely fantastic.





Theater of Tragedy
Assembly (remastered)
Superdrive
44.1 kHz - 24 bit
Here we are experiencing the GC4 with all of its character intact! Yet that particular character goes to promote a style of listenability and image-density due to gold and copper. This is one of my brightest songs, yet everything is parlayed with style and finesse. And while imagine all the elements being thicker and holding a weight, stuff is still fast moving, and even faster due to the (low-end) tightening effect in the resulting 2X 8mm DD lows.

That in fact we have the bass in the pocket, thumping and yet holding exquisite pace and spacial clues to hear all this stuff.

While no way do we have the treble expansion of the ASOS+, yet this here is a different part of town………you know when you had a shot of the town's best Scotch and took to the streets……..that amber glow and fun makes me want to stop and postpone this review…………and simply listen for the rest of the day. I’m a guitar player and this exact guitar tone is simply great, crunchy and yet not too forward, in places like the bass. This once again cements our ideas of balance and predictability from the X, only there is room for exploration, to where we may never know what we will find with cable rolls, yet it is all good.



The Penon OSG:
Last week I did all these same cable rolls (before) and even wrote about it in the forums. I do this as testing cables on two different days (a week) hands you clarity of results. As we hear IEMs at times, we are not comparing IEMs we think, only subconsciously referencing the last IEM we reviewed, on the day before.

Time is the cleaner of tonal ideas to move and become more objective through spreading your reviews out into longer time-frames. Basically giving your ears and brain a rest.

The OSG was one of my favorites from last round, so let’s see where it lands. Using the WM1Z and the same ear-tips. Remember the Penon Quattro review I did near the last day of January of this year? No? Well that review covered the steps that were needed to be taken to reach audio nirvana. And sure some may be lucky enough to find that happiness on the first Quattro date, yet I found the Quattro had to be courted before she put out.

Here is the opposite really, easy to find access and involvement as the X goes with everything. The OSG once again shows how the X is a cable demonstrator. An IEM that lets the pure character of the cable through. And here with the 1Z the OSG are starting to come-off even more separated than the Sony WM1A from last week. Cleaner and more vibrant. Again less midrange energy than the ASOS+, yet holding its very own special charms to enjoy.

Why:
With Graphene we encounter a full sculpturing of bass, a smoother, more white and delineated midrange than the ASOS+, yet not holding as large of sonic footprint. The ASOS+ has its own ideas about size, and the thickness that the Purple Copper Plug and 2Pin plugs bring to the table. Where really they could be thought of as almost opposite. Where sure the ASOS+ is slightly more dense sounding with midrange itemization than the standard ASOS cable, yet there are other qualities to the OSG that make it a keeper. Sure this review will ramble-on with a comparison of the ISN G4 cable, another Graphene experience. Sure both the OSG and the G4 have this Graphene sound, especially in the bass sculpturing and midrange stage positioning, but the $99.50 you pay for the G4 only gets you in the Graphene doorway. The $299.00 OSG goes to proclaim a clearer pool of water, and looking into that pool we can see the depths of imaging, the further sculpturing of bass, and the fine details brought forth into midrange textures. There is this shiny white polish that really looks like the jacket of the OSG encasing the vocals, and separating them from the background stage.

The Penon OSG:
Where here there is a thickness...........thicker than pure silver that the Graphene proclaims.

It is separating and adding its own more detailed crunch to the guitars. The free-flowing and approaching stage elements show us where your extra hard-earned cash went. In fact it is this treble character that I can’t even describe, except it is a slight tone down from pure silver, but goes ahead and has its own style of transparency and energy. It is in-fact this separation that has me fascinated.............endlessly fascinated going along for the ride.



The ISN G4:
Only after the Penon OSG I had to double check (this G4) to see if the IEMs were not out of phase or something. Here we are experiencing a more linear G4 example of vocal playback, the midrange elements are there and spread-out from the vocals, but hold a lack of luster in comparison to the Penon OSG. Thinner of a more congested manor. And in the end, I have to (once more) try the included cable and the S4, just for schiits and giggles.

The palate cleanser:
Not sure if you have seen food testers at work, but they always have a beverage to equalize their tongue chemistry after trying a food sample. They will often use a mouth-full of Coke (as mouth-wash) to somehow reset their perception for the next food sample. At times these people work for large corporations and will help a company align the food or beverage taste to mainstream likes, or have the food item changed with more or less salt, or more or less sweetener. As trying the ISN G4, and ISN S4 (once again) showed more down to earth examples to where I have made a list of the results.

To rate these cables from best to worse on a scale of 5 being best………

Penon ASOS+ - 5 stars
PENON OSG - 5 stars
ISN GC4 - 4 stars
ISN S4 - 3 stars
ISN G4 - 3.5 stars
Included cable - 2.5 stars



IEM comparisons
Now we include a few IEMs as side-by-side tests
The Neo 5 came out recently and has pushed its presence into the limelight, being many a Head-Fi members favorite IEM as of late.

And maybe you already have the Neo 5 and want to know how the X compares? Or you have the X and have become curious as to the inevitability of a Neo 5 in your life?

I can say right off they are complementary and you could possibly get results owning both. Here I’m bringing out the ASOS+ cable and the Sony WM1A, as really together they offer a slightly mid-centric yet correct way to hear all three IEM tests today. The only other difference is a more donut type ear-tip (on the Penon 10th, and Neo 5) as I don’t need the length of the slightly longer wide-bore X ear-tips.

The ISN Neo 5:
Man this style of playback becomes a bigger stage and a wider illustration of the song.

Really the ASOS+ and Neo 5 are a force to be reckoned with. And truly there is better involvement here…..to me anyway. Just the size of the stage, and the size of how there is a thickness front to back, and even a little top to bottom? Vocals are bigger and more out front, becoming a style of unarguable clarity. Sure there may be a slight timbre tilt to the Neo 5 that travels upwards in comparison to the truly dialed in timbre of the X. But to me with the ASOS+ the Neo 5 is more IEM at a cheaper price. Yet you need the ASOS+ to get here.

The ASOS+:
The Neo 5 is so resolving of cables that you have to spring for the ASOS+ to climb to this particular mountain-top……but the view from the top is real and moving. Yet you can often change to Neo 5 adding a different tone by using the ISN CS02, or the wildly more clear and vivid yet smooth RENATA, really all three give you a window cleaning to delve into the true depths of the Neo 5 experience!



The Penon 10th Anniversary:
The 10th is a literal party between your ears, my favorite Penon ever!

The Neo 5 is now probably my favorite ISN, maybe gaining ground on the ISN EST50? But one thing I know for sure is the Penon 10th is by far the best thing they have ever made. Now keep in mind the 10th is not in any way........ perfect. The 10th is a hybrid and owns a guilty pleasure of not being anywhere near as cohesive as the Quattro, I mean really they are very different. But, but the main thing about the 10th is its well roundedness.

Well-roundedness:
The 10th plays every music genre and goes with every device possible to gain fun. When I say fun, it's probably the most fun you could have legally? Slightly sloppy with the bass, yet even Hybrid dislocated in disbursement of imaging, it is this rolling party!

Here the 10th is even more itemized and clear than the Neo 5. Those EST drivers, they are not for looks here. A little more careful than the Neo 5, and more sophisticated and pure. Actually I take back that trash talk about the sloppy bass, cuz the ASOS+ cleans it almost right up. It’s probably the full lower midrange I was mentally referring to as there is a section where it is more musical than analytical?

This is music playback.............a sway and swagger that pushes through to get you grooving, forgetting about analyzation, or any other of those big words.

Compared to the TSMR-X the Penon 10th is bigger staged, more dramatic, and more fun. Where the X is quieter and more reserved. But to put it clearly, the 10th is the better IEM, simply a bigger and a more involving stage, heck even the vocals are bigger, closer, and holds more detail. What can I say, it is what it is.



Music tests:
Here for the music tests I’m using the SONY WM1Z and X, with the slightly longer wide-bore ear-tips and ASOS+ cable.



Theater of Tragedy
Assembly (remastered)
Episode
44.1 kHz - 24 bit



Time stamps only are reference to the digital file not the YouTube video.

As such this song goes about showcasing both treble items, vocals and bass, not to mention the timbre experienced here. This in-fact is one of the brightest songs I own, so it also is a sink or swim test due to any glare shown or stridence preformed. The opening (lol) is a cymbal crash at 00:00. I mean there is no lead-up or introduction here, this song starts out in full-force throwing everything and the kitchen sink at you. With-in that first two seconds we are transported to exactly where the producers what us, engulfed into the mood, rhythm and tone that is unavoidable here. Probably the coolest feature (right-off) is the interplay of both guitars and the bass. And that is the thing, this X replay has some of the very best timbre out there for a Hybrid. The guitars are correct in tone and timbre............showing a multitrack soundstage. Where inside of that soundstage is the first glimpse is the various multitracks tracks, then at 00:07 a cymbal splash way out to the center and right.

Though here the tone is not exactly played down or exaggerated, but correct. Surprisingly I used this same song with the Quattro replay and described it in the recent review. To where the Quattro was responsible for slightly better timbre, cymbals are made of metal………so that metallic quality is talked about when Head-Fi members say they are embracing the BA timbre, and there are no arguments here on that fact.

Typically Hybrids will dislocate the tone, only because much of the time it really is coming from a different driver and not from a full-range DD. So that driver is a small reed of metal and it is vibrating back and forth, it can start and stop faster than most DDs, therefor gaining transient response milliseconds over the DD brothers. This attack is cutting through both in attack, note-edge and tone….......separating itself inside the mix. The keyboards are almost ringing in effect right at 00:20. This decay with spice is made to cut through the mix, and it does with flying colors. Maybe they are using a slight distortion to give it a kick. Whatever they have done this keyboard section is not at the vary start, but is an introduced melody just as the Raymond Rohonyi’s vocals start around 00:20. The bass is also sounding like keyboards, and is given this distortion treatment, either playing though (something like) a Fender Twin Amplifier or directly to the soundboard.........or both. Then you figure out the melody was introduced at the start as a set-up to the full take-off of the song at 00:39. I mean sure everything is both slightly compressed and processed, yet this is the style of this music…….a departure Gothic Heavy Metal into this strange Euro-pop.

There is even remnants of Kraftwerk here, yet with the female vocals that are about to be introduced bring us fully home and into a groove. Theater of Tragedy became one of the best known Gothic bands upon introduction in 1995, but the year now is 2002. This album isn’t always accepted by fans, as how can you change your style to such an extreme?

A change of style:
You are probably goin to alienate your original fan bass, and take on a whole new crowd………that is if you don’t go down in flames first. This is introduced as a (as previously mentioned) dirty sounding Pop with an add of Industrial, yet is neither. To me it is unique and will always be remembered as an attempt at something different, almost like its very own sub-genre of music.

The melody and choruses are really holding the darkness of gothic music, only the lyrics are Pop. And to tell you the truth I’m not sure why I like this so much, I guess because it’s catchy? The TSMR-X is in the zone, but more careful and in-control than the Penon 10th Anniversary or ISN Neo 5 ever thought of being. Polite and careful, technical and correct, but not taking any chances. Slightly more straight-laced, prim and proper, yet holding that realness that gets us involved. Not as much reverberation as the Neo 5, nor as heavy of a lower midrange. Yep, everything is cookie cutter careful and exact. Interesting too that carefulness travels all the way up into the treble, as nothing is overly bright or even forced, and this song is forceful, if it's anything at all.

Female vocals:
Female vocalist/star of the show Liv Kristine Espenæs was the male vocalist's girlfriend at the time, and you can feel the playfulness in this album, as when it is her time to sing…….well she gets the spotlight. At just 00:54 she makes her entrance! Though the male vocals set-up everything........like building the house for her to thrive in. And while I have heard Liv Kristine Espenæs at times more forward, I have also heard her more (dull) behind the scenes too? But looking into her further, her voice holds a lot of detail, though not as much as the Neo 5. Still the Neo 5 does other things different too. The sung vibratos the character she creates is herself, and that is super important with BAs, to gain realism to where her voice sounds normal with-out the drama of off timbre.




Hans Zimmer
The Dark Knight Rises OST
Mind If I Cut In?
192 kHz - 24 bit
A long time IEM test favorite here. I mean this is a track that I have used for years and years. It is both well performed, well recorded, and never seems to get old. Plus I know this song like the back of my hand.

The heavy bass holdover at 00:00 is exactly that, a holdover from the last previous song. Yet somehow that impulse is a thrill to have at the start……like it is setting up boundaries right off……what nonsense am I spewing, it is simply gorgeous bass, and a great recording of gorgeous bass, even if it lasts for a mere moment in time.

This dark cello work and strings is also how the previous song “Gotham’s Reckoning” starts off too. Where remember this is a soundtrack, so the songs often segue from one to another. Still that initial bass physicality was a hint here of more drama to come, kind of like a sonic guarantee of performance.

Our listening mind:
That just goes to show you how our mind works. If we are provided......even a beginning appetizer, we are in attention, hoping to get more........actually re-assured more is on the way. Because the TSMR-X can do this, it can jump out of nowhere to provide the bass notes, if they are there in the song. At 00:15 we are immersed in cello work, a violin recording, and the space provided to offer separation, so that each constituent has its place in the recording.

I’m in wait for the piano keys, like a dog waiting for his treat…......he knows is coming. Yet at 00:31 I’m sidetracked here, it is the extra texture of that cello, and a hint of the piano to come! I mean the volume changed on us, and I can feel that volume change with the X. As simple emphasis does in recording energy...........which also corresponds to the playback emphasis by the musicians draw of the Cello bow….....…showing conclusion, or better yet transition in the song.

And yes, there is a faint recorded and processed set of metronome key strokes. These backing rhythmic elements are always used by Zimmer, though they come in as many different ways as pieces of his music exist. As this is the backdrop adding tension and propelling the song forward, as this is the first hint of rhythm, at least this style of rhythm. This simple one note over and over............maybe Zimmer learned (this technique) from previous scores (as a student) to use as a tool, as it is both simple and effective here. As at 00:42 the real piano notes take place. Simply out of nowhere they are our lead now, taking our attention. And with the TSMR-X the notes are very very close to perfect timbre……….I mean this is what you are paying for, and the timbre progress that forces older IEMs like the 2018 Fearless brand, to be placed into bedroom dresser. Really the interplay of the metronome sound and the forward piano here make-up 100% of the song.

Bass:
At 02:06 it hits and does it ever accomplish the work at hand………glorious bass…......giant bass. But the deal here is that we can here both inside the bass note and hear the details of the texture, but more than that there is super precise volume changes going on with this note. And it is careful and detailed, not sloppy in any way. In fact I think this is what they call audiophile. A far cry from car-audio. None of that bass bleed into the midrange, just clear and precise, actually far better than I was expecting from the little TSMR-X?

So first and foremost this is Hybrid playback and what is gifted with that is that the DDs sound separate, only the bass is so very controlled and tight, that it become a part of the whole here. All the way past 00:21 that bass rolls and the recedes, and the push forward................ to take new alternate positions inside the stage. Remember I have been hearing this for years, and this is some of the cleanest I have heard this prolonged bass drop.

.............at 02:28 we are still living with that single prolonged note. Only there is of course the piano and what is becoming into focus, dynamic contrasts………just the fact that the low-end bass note is now large in size and (just by contrast) making the piano seem brighter. Here we are rewarded with an IEM that maybe just because it is a Hybrid, or maybe TSMR chose the drivers well........... yet here is the full deal……and.........the technicalities. The technicalities to pull this number off, and not just do it well, but do it justice.



Build:
About 80% solid 3D printing. With looking at it there must be a resonate chamber but it is near the top (guessing 20%) of the structure. I mean there are not just sound tubes (up there) as there is a single vent, that is delineated in a red ring or blue.

The CFRD sound tube:
There is a sound tube for this CFRD, there is a sound tube for the 2X 8mm DDs, and a separate sound tube for the two Sonion 2X tweeters and a sound tube for the 2 midrange Knowles 2X BAs. While the nozzle is slightly short, I was instantly able to remedy the situation with a different ear-tip, and I’m sure you could do the same if it was a slight issue. With the wrong donut ear-tips the X gets in a little to close and the actual ear gets in the way of finding an air-tight fit. The tuning switches are great if you use them, yet even adding the 100 setting for bass simply added more bass and didn’t affect the stage like some DIP-switch set-ups do. The size ends-up finding itself on the smaller side of medium and at only 6 grams a piece in weight they are the very definition of small. Sure the back-side of the X shows a semi-custom curvature, and a-top of that is the only printed nomenclature……the wording “TSMR-X” identical to both sides.

Looking inside with transillumination we can view two sets of crossover circuits on two opposing sides....maybe? Looking down at the nozzle end we can see 4 sound tubes with a small filter set-up on the two bigger tubes. And of course the two woofers are designated to allow for resonance being they are mounted near the top, right under the hollow faceplate area. Where all four of the BA devices are submerged in the solid 3D printed resin section.




Packaging:









Conclusion:
Maybe I’m right that the X is totally well rounded…..no actually I’m sure of it, the X is the very idea of balanced going with many sources and all genres of music. As it turns-out this is TSMR’s entry into the total mainstream tune. The way they did the treble and midrange is much smoother than previous TSMR explorations…….it even allows use of the included cable. This tune could endanger the X into being boring or owning a lack of character which would make it homogenized, sounding like any other run-of-the-mill IEM out there. But no, the X is unique, Jeez, just look at it? Does this look like any IEM you have ever seen before? The X is special and somehow relays the best of every cable attached to it, due to transparency. This transparency allows for your music to come alive, that you are simply closer to the reality of playback, with no off timbre getting in the way. You see when those members say they want to embrace BA timbre, they really don’t mean embrace awful BA timbre, what they mean is they want to use it as a tool to kind-of create dynamics through contrasts……..and that is exactly what the X does. Just the amazing big and spread-out feeling my Batman OST did prove this IEM is more than just six or seven drivers, that they are masterfully placed and each driver, each sound tube being there for a reason. Just like all of us TSMR is still learning and even though this is their 10th Anniversary model, it is also an example of how they are greeting the next 10 years. This is an IEM I hope they springboard off into a new bolder direction, even a chance they will parlay this tune into a TOTL Flagship? Truly there is no reason they can’t pull this off, they are TSMR in the end. There is a level of build imagination here that shows progression in design and IEM ideas……….I mean who ever thought of making an IEM that has the BAs sitting farther down submerged in 3D resin and the woofers X2 8mm sitting on a separate level having access to the venting system? Such arraignments allow TSMR to locate the trim and careful ideas found in playback. This bass is big and full yet the very definition of textured and detailed. It’s way more detailed than the Penon 10th Anniversary and of course more controlled than the Neo 5 puts forth. The TSMR-X is more polite, it is more grounded, it is more even, complete and correct in playback. Call it sanity in replay maybe?

Yet what about the opposite, not everyone can marry a wild exotic dancer like the Neo 5 or Penon 10th claim to be.

$399.00
https://penonaudio.com/TANSIO-MIRAI-X-10th-Anniversary-Limited-Edition.html

$499.00
https://penonaudio.com/penon-audio-10th-anniversary-iem

$289.00
https://penonaudio.com/isn-audio-neo-5.html

Disclaimer:
I want to thank Penon Audio for the love and for the TSMR-X review sample.

Disclaimer:
These are one person's ideas and concepts, your results may vary.

Equipment Used:
Sony WM1A Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm balanced
Sony WM1Z Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm balanced
Sony TA-ZH1ES DAC/AMP Firmware 1.03 4.4mm balanced
Electra Glide Audio Reference Glide-Reference Standard "Fatboy" Power Cord
Sony Walkman Cradle BCR-NWH10
AudioQuest Carbon USB
HiBy R3 II DAP 4.4mm balanced
ifi GO bar Dongle in 4.4mm balanced
Samsung Phone 3.5mm
ifi GO blu in 4.4mm balanced with wired Type-C USB

ifi:
I have always seen ifi around, you know if you are browsing Head-Fi you really can’t miss them. Belonging to the group AMR (Abbingdon Music Research Group) one of the largest if not the largest audio manufacturer in the UK, ifi has made a notch here at Head-fi. Endlessly imaginative they have created one-of-a-kind products like the xDSD, the Nano iOne, the Nano iDSD Black Label, the ifi Blue and most recently the ifi iDSD Diablo II.

https://ifi-audio.com

The GO blu
Now what grabbed my attention here was the multifunction knob. Sure it may be the very first thing you see when you lay eyes on the GO blu. The GO blu is a lot of things, but basically it can be two things. One, a Bluetooth receiver and amplifier, and Two, a stand alone DAC hooked to your computer or phone. To get back to this multifunction knob, spinning it (infinitely) allows you to adjust the volume from phone playback or computer audio playback. Plus there is a button inside of this volume wheel that allows for pause/play of music from your computer or phone, plus it allows control of YouTube videos. So….............



Basic operation on the fly!
Volume controls (turn) mirrored confirmation of volume levels with device you’re using
Play/Pause (a short click)
Skip forward (two short clicks)
Skip backwards (three short clicks)
Voice assistant (long press)

This woman is speaking in this wonderful British accent and tells you the style of Bluetooth you’re using. Truthfully I don’t know her that well and in my use she comes on when waking the device to tell me (it's in) LDAC. And the great part is she is totally polite and at a perfect volume level, then goes away to never be heard again………..charming.

So what I’m saying is I have worked with my fair share of devices, though I don’t consider myself an expert. Yet I have number one, never seen a device quite this small, the GO blu is the size of a 9V battery. Oh, and I forgot to mention due to this size the button placement and functionality is really important for the user experience. The user experience? I use the GO blu two ways. One while in the office it sits next to my computer and acts as the perfect little DAC/AMP. The GO blu can power full size headphones and of course IEMs. The next thing I do with it is place it in my shirt pocket (in the pouch) and listen to quality music being played off my phone as I walk home from work. Historically it is the first and only portable device that allows me to use my favorite IEMs and sits in a shirt pocket while on the go. Really it doesn’t get better than this.




So you may be wondering what the other specifics are?

The GO blu is the first miniature DAC to use the QC5100 chipset which uses 2X the processing power.

The GO blu has a built-in microphone for hands free calls with your smartphone, so really with the battery life, you can use it all day.

Battery:
This battery life lasts really a regular work day, yep all day. You see the GO blu is self powered so it never drains the battery from your phone. Hello, are you starting to get a clue as to how different of a product this is? Battery life averages about 10 hours but can be less even 4 hours with full-size headphones, IEMs can go 10 hours. The GO blu takes only 40 minutes for a full-recharge.



The lights and operation:
First things first you may want to hook your Go blu to an android phone and download the latest firmware. As such the updates are done with the Gaia Application 4.2.2.





Use of effects/filters:
XBass and XSpace are ways of adding audio enhancements to your listening. You can also add them together, yet I seem to like playback with-out. One thing to notice is that the GO blu doesn’t offer iEMatch like the GO bar. There is also a standard mode and minimum digital filter mode. XBass is a bass add to the sub bass and XSpace is a way to add stage imaging, yet the images suffer from slight density.

USB TypeC Mode:
Not just charging, but will allow up to 96kHz - 24bit playback.
Battery status: Green when charging, then out when charged.

Levels:
Green 100% to 60%
Yellow 10%
Red 10%

Microphone:
Take note one side is the factory reset and the other side the microphone. Lucky there is a faint drawing of a microphone so you don't stick anything in there.

Buttons:
The center button turns the GO blu on and off. This button is also used for that woman’s voice to inform you on your BT codec in use. This button also controls the digital filter on or off. Thus 2X press to hear your codec, hold for 3 seconds to power the device on or off.

The smaller button below the knob allows access to the effects and is used to confirm and activate paring with a Bluetooth source.

Now that that’s out of the way let's get to sound:

Comparisons to the GO bar, and GO link:
First off it is safe to say these three devices are related. Meaning at first I only owned the GO bar and after comparing it to various Dongles and DAP felt I understood the sound personality. Same with the GO link and GO blu having a tone that is related. The best way to describe this tone would be various levels of detail arriving at clarity yet not clarity through a bright treble. These devices are magically warm but not dull in any way shape or form.



My list of sound quality best to worse:
GO bar $329.00
GO blu Type C USB $199.00
GO link $59.00
GO blu Bluetooth $199.00

So you see it is really easy. There is a soundstage that was nice and full decorated with details, but details through resolution and not stridence or glare. While there are specific uses for each ifi device as they each have a slightly different function, form factor and price. Yet the one stand out feature here is the GO blu has two different sounds. Yep. I can not tell you how much I enjoyed the blu from my computer. What is fascinating is just how small the GO is in comparison to many Dongles out there. So what we have is a premium device to use in the office and a Bluetooth device to go out and about……yet both exist with-in the GO blu.


No other device works exactly like the GO blu does.

The usage experience:
You will laugh at this usage scenario. I got the GO link and the GO blu together and my iPod Touch. The IEMs I used were the NiceHCK Himalaya with the included cable which is 4.4mm/3.5mm and 2.5mm modular. I first went to the GO link which instantly lit-up showing a signal. I plugged the 3.5mm plug in (as it only offers 3.5mm) and away I went. YouTube videos and volume is controlled by the iPod going to the GO link. Then I switched to the GO blu noticing a fuller and slightly more authorized GO blu wired sound. Then I quickly switched Bluetooth and the British female showed-up again to say AAC. As noted the sound was holding a slight hiss and missing the last octave in bass, yet it was better than any TWS I have ever tried. I have probably heard 7 TWS up to $165.00. The reason it was better was because I was using my own wired IEMs……and not some cheap TWS IEMs. But before I leave this section just realize the use of two different ways to hear the GO blu. Each transition took seconds to establish a sound connection. Literally maybe this isn't a big deal anymore.............but in my uses the GO blu was simple and easy to use?

Now switching to the Computer with Hires files:
Crazy as switching over to wired with the computer took zero button GO blu pushes? I mean you can’t make this stuff up. I simply turned Bluetooth off on my computer. I had both computer volume control and GO blu volume control. I mean I really have to emphasize the tone here. This is a Dongle in a way, and yes it is lesser in overall sound than the GO bar. But…….the GO bar is the most powerful and expensive regular Dongle. Here the special thing was that the GO blu was better than the Go link, but also smoother and had that provocative ifi house sound. To try and describe that, it is open and well spaced, seemingly having all elements in place. Truly the Himalaya and GO blu was all I needed. I mean sure there was an ounce of quality (maybe realness) that the GO bar did better, yet the differences were truly a percentage here. What fun…….at 06:13 the bass drop............it is all you need!





E-Mantra
Cinematica VOL1-“Secluded Trails”
Mysterious Murmur through the trees
44.1 kHz - 24bit
While this song doesn’t show the full gambit of what is possible with the GO blu it is a nice starting point. And really this style of both the NiceHCK Himalaya and the overall tone is a match made in heaven here. I’m using my typical wide-bore ear-tips. Let's try another song.....................

Suldusk
Anthesis
Sphaera
96.0 kHz - 24bit



(Time markers are only for the digital file here)

Here we are washed with a singer songwriter vibe. This beginning could be straight out of 1975. Vocal harmonies, multitracking……the works. What makes this special is both the guitar picking and panning as it is traveling from right to left, yet sounds totally natural? At 02:01 the drums take notice, then right after the strings. I love this song. Probably the 1970s sentimentality, up to this point anyway? The strange part is normally I’m grabbing the Dongle to feel warmth in temperature, yet here it is ice cold. At 04:18 the song kicks-in to another level, any of those fond memories of Judy Collins are long gone. At 04:50 a theme, a chorus plays taking the climax to its ultimate end. All the multitracks, the fruition of the songs prior placements……….and a spoken word takes us away……….and the piano plays and Emily Highfield sings with all the skill and authority of pureness……..and the song ends in reverberations.

Summary:
See here is a balance of ease of use, sound quality and results. While remembering this is all taking place by maximizing the digital file to become both relatively detailed, and have great itemization and authority into the stage. I thought about how this played out and it left me with-out wanting, I didn’t need more, at least in this usage scenario I was fully involved and entertained………as I thought I was maybe experiencing 90% of the songs full potential?

Bluetooth from a computer now?
So here we take the Apple MacBook Air and unplug the wire. I could do this with my phone, and I have already done it, but this is really so simple to set up. I went and unplugged the wire, then clicked on the Bluetooth symbol on the top, pressed the join button below the knob……….you know the gold knob……..how could you forget the gold knob? Anyway, I was greeted with that British accent again and it said AAC. While sure there are slight differences, I mean off my phone I used LDAC and yes, there was a slight difference, but this works. To try and describe the Bluetooth sound, it is carrying slightly less density, call it weight, maybe………except when the strings arrive in this song once more it puts everything and every question to rest. This Bluetooth is simply better than any TWS I have tried, of course I’m using the Himalaya and included cable in 4.4mm to get the great imaging and smooth washes of tone-sound here. To best describe this Bluetooth, it was like a pond of water and with wired I could look into it just slightly farther down into the depths, yet this style of air and rhythm taking place at this point is still nothing to throw rocks at……….If you could hear it……..the quality is actually better (perceived) than my week long preliminary testing before writing this little poem up?


(Go blu above) MacBook Air with Colibri 2.0.2 Native Lossless Audio

(Go bar above) MacBook Air with Colibri 2.0.2 Native Lossless Audio

Full-size headphones:
I mean sure, anything almost can power IEMs, but what are full-size like? Hilariously here I am going again with the same song, only pulling out the Sony flagship TOTL MDR-Z1R full-size headphone. I mean if there are differences now I should hear more between Bluetooth and wired. Let’s start with Bluetooth. I did this before early on in the week, trying to get an idea as to what I will put into this review. Wow, even AAC is dramatically better when you add headphones for almost exactly 7X the price of the NiceHCK Himalaya. Yet the MDR-Z1R is doing something else too……it is adding thickness to the Bluetooth replay…….like filling it in. The stage is bigger and while playback can get super loud……….so loud that the only way to find out how much power is to take the headphones off my head and use them as a room speaker. OK……now for the wired again!

Absolutely beautiful here. There is truly a difference. Where now there is better separation and characterization, really improved textures. Where each element is divided and has an origination point. The MDR-Z1R has never had female vocals be their strongpoint, and here is no different. But truly the rest is just about spot on as far as naturalness…….and that rolling bass in this song…….perfect. Now I have to break out the GO bar.



On a side note:
Looking up at the Bluetooth symbol I just realized that it also gives you the battery level of the GO blu. Cool. I’m at 94% charge……I have never seen a digital read-out of the battery until now.

The GO bar and MDR-Z1R:
Sure this review isn’t even about these two devices, yet it is important to know about if you simply wanted one purchase. And you didn’t want an ease of use going mobile. Because the GO bar is still meant for on the go, it is just noticeable how different the two are.

Where I just weighed them and sure enough the GO blu is 28 grams and the GO bar is 30 grams, yet at this minimal weight, you totally feel the weight difference in your hand, also the GO bar is bigger as seen in the pictures. But to try and differentiate the two, the GO bar has no battery, offers way more flexibility in decoding and offers more filters and iEMatch ability to go with reducing hiss with sensitive IEMs. But as far as sound goes, yes the bass was better actualized and holding separations into the stage, and containing the pace benefits that go along with that, the singing and guitars were slightly more real into the presence they offered. I can’t really quantify the differences but it is probably safe to say the difference from going from Bluetooth to wired with the GO blue......and it is the same extra additive you get going from the wired GO blu to the GO bar. I hold the GO bar as number three in my portables, with the Sony WM1Z DAP number one, Sony WM1A DAP number two, and the ifi GO bar as number three........probably the GO blu goes in forth position?

Other examples of playback:

Really any IEM placed into the GO blu offered great fidelity. It's that middle of the road style where ifi has been producing this same tuning with a number of products, only to now allow that same technology miniaturized into something that you could place into your shirt pocket and enjoy. Both the Penon Audio 10th Anniversary (top) and the TSMR 10th Anniversary (bottom) go to make the GO blu very thick and luscious sounding. They sound good on a number of playback devices, but here especially in Bluetooth mode, they add an added heaviness that is welcome. And........that is not to say other IEM tunings sound bad in anyway, only the extra density seems to add that quality to Bluetooth playback that makes it sound even more enjoyable?

Packaging:

Build:
The GO blu offers a semi-rubber exterior as to accept BT signals. The top-cap and one side offer a brushed aluminum faceplate. Each and every button holds a full confirmation of pressing, with the knob center holding the most physical back-pressure. As such the only thing to worry about would be pushing in the microphone instead of the factory reset. While really the very smallest DAC/Amp I have encountered thus far, I can promise you the pictures make it seem that much larger.

Conclusion:
The GO blu is still just as relevant today as when it was released……..I mean can you think of anything that is like it? While I have not heard every Dongle, in fact I don’t consider myself a Dongle expert at all. Yet I do know what sound I like. The ifi sound is lush and romantic, holding a naturalness far different from all my other gear. This tone may take a moment to identify……as your brain has to make sure it is getting all the info.............yet ifi is not using a boosted treble to get there. You see I understand this because I have used the ifi products to test various IEM replays for folks, and I’m not afraid to join the ifi sound with darker IEMs and headphones. Why? Because ifi has a deal where the tuning offers just the right amount of clarity through resolution, that allows for two things. One the character of smoother IEMs and headphones pushes through, and the brightness of too much forwardness of midrange or treble gets the tone-down polish to work-out just as good. So I am learning more and more about what the ifi sound means.........to me anyways. You are receiving that sound with the GO blu and have the freedom to take it with you, or the substantialness to simply stay at home with it. Finding a captivating sound that you may not want to leave the house over.

The GO blu retails at $199.00 USD.
https://ifi-audio.com/products/go-blu/
https://www.amazon.com/iFi-Audio/s?k=iFi+Audio

Disclaimer:
I want to thank Lawrence at ifi for the GO blu review sample.

Disclaimer:
These are one person's ideas and concepts, your results may vary.

Equipment Used:
Sony WM1A Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm
Sony WM1Z Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm
HiBy R3 II DAP in 4.4mm balanced and 3.1 TypeC USB digital output and Bluetooth LDAC
Samsung Phone 3.5mm analogue output, USB TypeC USB digital output and Bluetooth LDAC
Apple MacBook Air USB TypeA digital output and Bluetooth AAC
Apple iPod Touch Lighting digital output and Bluetooth AAC



A clip case is also offered for $26.00 to $29.00.
https://ifi-audio.com/products/go-blu-case/

Jialai Carat (A sideband of NiceHCK)
Redcarmoose Labs March 27th, 2024

Brand: Jialai
Model: Carat
Product Type: In-ear
Driver Unit: 10mm DD
Diaphragm: Titanium plated DLC
Shell material: 5 Axis CNC Aluminum
Sensitivity: 106dB/mW
Impedance: 32 Ohm
Frequency response 10-28kHz
Cable material: High purity OFC
Connector: 0.78mm 2Pin
Plug type: 3.5mm

Purchase link:
https://vi.aliexpress.com/item/3256806473930702.html?pdp_npi=4@dis!USD!US $125.45!US $63.98!!!125.45!63.98!@2167359c17115963850147034e6645!12000037949091148!sh!US!224701538!&spm=a2g0o.store_pc_allItems_or_groupList.new_all_items_2007598972224.1005006660245454&gatewayAdapt=glo2vnm




History:
This IEM sees itself being brought to market though a side project of NiceHCK. As such companies will offer different brands as a way to incorporate different house sounds. Where upon hearing a few of a new brands this house sound is found to be a new characteristic. Now because we have only the very first introduction, this nonsense about house sounds could be true, or could be not true. I have heard two other NiceHCK IEMs, and can probably say this Carat is a wonderful slight departure into new territory. Why?

Per o0genesis0o
“Jialai claims that Carat has been tuned according to Harman in-ear 2019 target, with flourishes based on the experience of their engineering team. To me, I found that the adjustments push Carat toward a V-shaped even more so than a “full Harman” IEM.”



I agree with o0genesis0o:
If you study the graph really, the 2019 Harman is maybe a starting point, yet everything I love (to a point) about this tune, may be a departure from the regular Harman. Though it comes through as primarily a bump to the lower midrange. As such there is a smoothing out of the pinna gain area and a boost from 40Hz to 500Hz. This low-end boost is much more pronounced due to the balance of the pinna gain being less than the Harman drastically from 2kHz to 5kHz. So the you combine both sides of the graph we are walking in thicker waters. Now what does this totally mean?

First off it would be dull if it wasn’t for 4.5kHz to 7.8kHz treble peak. When you add the peaks present now you can see why o0genesis0o was hearing and seeing by graphs how the Harman departure was going for more of a V response. The important thing to note is that this exact tune may not work out effectively if we did only the 40Hz to 500Hz. Or we also may find trouble with only the 4.5kHz to 7.8kHz treble adds? Yet together is seen balance, and that’s what the whole tune is based on. Of course it is debatable how this (drastic) bass and (drastic) treble is perceived. This thickness may be the exact route as to why NiceHCK decided to bring forth a new branding? The Jialai Carat probably is attractive to the non-purest younger crowd who gravitate towards this low-end energy adding thrust to Rock music and adding weight to even popular OSTs? I mean on the right file playback and with the right cable there is something here?

Can this weight add fog?
I mean that’s really the center of this entire review? That and at times the treble peaks can also add energy to Modern Rock, where there is an unnatural boost which makes the Carat a little less well-rounded than it could be? The only problem with modern Rock is the off tone guitar boost the Carat does? I mean sure this balance of sorts gets the job done, though at times there is a slight bit of unevenness even with Symphonic Metal………where it doesn’t sound totally natural, and this is a DD were talking about.

Yet at the same time the Carat does bring about a wonderful style of its very own musicality.

Unique:
Over a month ago when I first heard the Carat I keyed into this uniqueness of sound and that separated it from many players in this crowded IEM marketplace. And what this finally adds up to is a dramatic and powerful sounding IEM that requires you to maybe pick and choose your music genres or song files. I say this because it’s easy to like what the Carat is doing half the time, though the other half the time it may be easy to find more credible replay at the same money or even less.

Timbre and tone:
Of all the things which are flexible in IEM analysis there is a good chance small changes can be perceived differently as to tone and timbre. What I’m trying to say is this can be a judgment where Monday’s timbre and tone were slightly more off than today. Of course all reviews are understood as subjective, yet we are looking for a style of consistent results about the characteristics that make-up replay. Let’s just say with the Carat there can be days where the tone and timbre sound more off than others. And of course whatever is found upstream can have an effect on such tonality and perception of timbre. This also goes ahead with the styles of music you choose, to see if there is a chance to promote this off-timbre, or find it respectable.

From a phone:
Here we are maybe in the Carat’s element. As I can see many users finding this style of basic playback to be maybe the main implementation of the Jialai Carat, and sure enough the sound is thick and relatively exciting. Where the Carat still parleys the tone talked about previously, but with phone use everything is smaller……..a smaller pond to fish in. Where really I’m talking about reduced clarity inside of the imaging. Where a Dongle or DAP will simply get you a bigger sense of grandeur and playback scale. Where points gets given for still at least promoting that bass that the Carat is known for, that and the lower midrange thickness which goes ahead and adds size to playback, only after listening with a DAP or Dongle such phone playback shows its faraway-ness. Still due to not sounding thin, I can imagine the Carat taking use straight out of a phone……..walking around, especially due to the little physical size they are, that they do well out of the house, staying in place wherever you go.

Comparisons:
This section could offer a style of confusion to some readers. Why? I don’t always pick comparisons which seem like the way to go? Here I’m testing the Carat against the Super TFZ Crown flagship and the NiceHCK F1 Pro Planar. Why? For one because I think the tuning is better with the Crown……yet the Crown is not as memorable as the NiceHCK TOTL Himalaya. Where I’m using the Crown to prove a point about tuning, and the F1 Pro is simply another IEMs that at $99.00 is simply a better buy than the Carat. Now some would say I’m comparing apples to oranges with all three of these side-by-sides……..and I will not argue. It is just that I don't see price as a totally determining factor and that is why I’m not comparing the Carat to other single full-range DDs at the exact same price. Sure some folks have under $100.00 to spend and are in that price bracket, there is no denying that logic. Only when I have been in actual IEM shops I would ask the counter person more about tonality and not really price. Sure price comes up, and they will note the price when pulling out a $1500.00 IEM to demo. Sure there is a range, but I feel the $70.00 dollar buyer could stretch to $200? What we are looking for primarily is sound and an attempt to objectively put a value on that sound. That and to try and describe the sound to the very best of our ability here.

$219.00 TFZ Crown
$99.00 NiceHCK F1 Pro
$70.00 Jialai Carat

I also will do comparisons this way because nothing is perfect, even going up the price scale we are often not greeted with more perfection, only a different sound. Better technicalities? Sometimes where sure there seems to be a common relationship between comparably priced IEMs and their overall sound? And the riddle here is to concentrate on features which enable you the consumer to find the features that are of value. As each IEM does vary in technicalities and tone, where ultimately the Carat has a few great features and some characteristics which are sub-par for the course.

TheTFZ Crown:
Laughably at times I’m not sure why I would what to interface a recent released $219.00 IEM against a $70.00 IEM, but I think beforehand that there are tuning and technical differences which will both delineate the Carat and kind of show what each is about, due to personalities. Also due to me always routing for the underdog, I want to test just where the Carat sits in relationship to the TFZ Crown. The Crown is TFZ’s flagship IEM, the best they know how to make. And the NiceHCK Himalaya at $329.00 is of course the best here today, as NiceHCKs flagship output, yet it will not be compared today.

Let’s find out:
The TFZ Crown:
Using the Sony WM1A and SIMGOT LC7 cable. All tests today will be with the Crown tuning switch in the on-up position which smooths out the tune and ended they only way I could truly enjoy the Crown.





E-Mantra
Cinematica VOL1-“Secluded Trails”
Mysterious Murmur through the trees
44.1kHz - 24 bit
Here we are greeted with wonderful Crown separation and sparkles. Where in side-by-sides the tuning and technicalities went ahead to truly itemize the synthesizer images flowing into and out of the stage. Where the Carat still offered a vibe with this style of music, yet the stage was not as separated, nor was the imaging as vivid. Different than you may guess, I have been comparing these two IEMs off-and-on for a few days now, taking short listens of songs. And while at times during those tests the Crown showed a slightly synthetic character (showing the Crown has its own issues) yet with this style of music the Crown is in its element. Reason being the imaging and separation. When the bass drop hits with a prolonged note from 04:27 to 04:30 both IEMs show promise. And while sure the Crown was definitely more separated and vibrant even seeming louder in the same volume level there was still a remarkable cohesiveness that the Carat did, a simple easy going and more fluid take on this style of music. Now the thing is, neither IEM is right or wrong, yet the Carat was the still entertaining yet easy going example of replay. Also I had to ask myself questions personally……as sure the Crown was more technical, yet this technicality resulted from a more brash and pushed character to the point………I truly asked myself if the Carat was acceptable and while offering less detail and separation, offered a relaxed and still focused idea of playback. I mean sure much of the time the added realism of the Crown would take the cake, yet there was a fully entertaining reality off to the side with what character the Carat brought to the table. Even with more late into the night listening here, this more cohesive and really tonally perfect listen of the Carat may be the preferred choice at that time. Maybe it is just this style of music which pulls out the drama here? Meaning this music seems to be made for both IEMs, even working out with additional IEMs, that the music is both well recorded and lacking any style of off timbre, being it is direct to soundboard, synthetically made? Since no real instruments were used, it’s anyone's guess if the timbre and tone are truly correct.

Ending notes:
In many regards this song was just too easy of a job. With this style of music gaining mainstream acceptance in the early 1970s due to bands like Tangerine Dream going forward to introduce a style of music which was ultimately perfect on early headphones. As such this is a continuation (so to speak) of the same ideas yet expanded further by a new (modern day) artist with his own ideas of just how it should go. In the early 1970s this quiet sonic meditation of experiencing the soundscapes provided with this sub-gene became known as Headphone Music and paved the way to really all styles of music heard on headphones later down the road. And surely it can be remembered that audiophiles early on argued that some (orchestral) styles of music were fully incapable of being reproduced by simple headphones……..being the elitist snobs they normally are at times. Truly this next song will be more of a difficult challenge.



Theatre of Tragedy
Assembly (Remastered)
Episode
44.1 kHz - 24 bit
Here is still the challenge of the Carat against the Crown. Yep dealing out a treble fiasco for the Crown we will determine if by chance the Carat will be preferred? Note this is one of the brightest songs I know, plus it incorporates the standard recording studio ideas for actual singing with effects of both (recorded) room reverbs and obviously rack mount effects in action.

Testing:
I’m now switching to the Sony WM1Z, a more V shaped response holding almost infinitely deep low end of a round and physical character contrast with the V shape of a pushed treble creating a treble halo around your head. Here there is simply more information for the taking produced both forward and back, top-to-bottom and side to side. Plus a lot of imaging projected into the stage creating differences in positioning, yep all from the DAP. The talk on the forums is that the images the WM1Z puts out creates a style of IEM ear-candy with many lower-priced monitor examples. Yet here there could be no more of a definitive difference shown by both the music and DAP chosen. While this here can be thought of as showing the true lack of treble details created with the Carat. It is what it is where yes, the Carat plays a better tonality in replay, though it is also projecting a warmer and less separated form of treble. Where the Crown is borderline off timbre, yet going for it with separated and itemized revelations of detail. Really at this point I see this is not in any way a fair match, though through IEM contrasts found here I do hear the differences between the two. Where the Carat is almost dull showing a vastly less detailed rendition, when it was given every opportunity to soar? Probably the 10kHz dip the Carat is known for.

The F1 Pro v the Carat:

Hans Zimmer
Inception OST
Old Souls
44.1 kHz - 16 bit
Here I’m using the Himalaya stock cable and WM1A. Somehow we are finding the perfect song to use. Really making both IEMs shine here. The Carat is moderately easy to drive, but almost maxes out a phone. Yet here it is once again obvious the F1 Pro is harder to drive than the Carat. There is this thing with the lower midrange that the Carat does that it adds a thickness and romance.........that simply adds to this song. Where the F1 Pro has it beat in technicalities all over the place……….I mean still the bass with the Carat is DD bass which just by its nature is going to have its own individual charm, yet slower and almost lumbering yet relatively detailed and cool with a song like this. The bass with the Carat is softer and holding special positioning and even texture detail, yet when the midrange tries to compete, the midrange in a song like this comes off slightly Carat murky? I mean sure the violins are of great timbre and inside of a great stage, yet not really separated and holding their own as far as imaging…….held down with this lower midrange glue. Where physically in size these two IEMs both share a reduced form factor. Incredibly small yet both metal in construction with the Carat made completely out of aluminum. Both IEMs hold their nozzles right at the almost too small place in life, yet can get correct fitment with a slightly longer length ear-tip and really I find the nozzle on the F1 Pro to fit even slightly better allowing for more ear-tip choices. Though both fit great, I mean how can small not fit good? The F1 Pro shows a more normal tuning offering up treble details into slightly more vivid contrasts. And maybe not surprising both the F1 Pro and the Carat did the piano notes with correct timbre, though there was a phenomenon where the Carat notes were slightly buried and of less entertaining consequences. All and all I would say skip the Carat and get the F1 Pro, simply the F1 Pro is the better IEM and holds a better tune and better technicalities in the end.



DCD
Anastasis
Kiko
44.1 kHz - 24 bit
I have a longstanding confession to make……….here in use with Kiko is some of the very best music to test IEMs within in my history. Why? Actually I’m not totally sure why, except it is well recorded and holds a darn big stage, the instruments and vocals are well illustrated into the file, as well as holding a form of dramatic contrasts……..not with 5 or 6 IEM……..but every IEM I have ever tested. The song is so good I almost feel guilty using it as in this one instance of Kiko we are rewarded with an unusual exciting sound regardless of the IEM tested. So we all have challenges for IEMs, well this song is not one……..it makes every IEM ear-candy. And just as expected the Carat is no exception to this rule at Redcarmoose Labs. In fact the Carat sounds even better than I thought? I mean with this song playing........it keys in on the clarity and bigness brought form from the Carat, and somehow underplays any issues previously spoke about?

The drums are big, when the world guitar comes in at 00:38 it is of totally correct timbre and even positioned into great contrast in the stage. At 01:13 Lisa Gerrard makes here entrance and while it is not the most forward rendition I have heard, it is absolutely fine. The thing that needs to be noted that regardless of the drawbacks to the Carat, the Carat has great reverberations, and just how the Carat follows through with the reverbs here is something of a charm. To sum up the Carat replay here it is totally great and holds both vivid contrasts, correct timbre and seemingly problem free tuning all coming together to promote wild reverberations…….in the end. In contrast to the Carat the F1 Pro was showing a more open and spread out stage……..going forward and while sounding slightly more digital (whatever that means)……..there was simply better imaging and separation into the stage here. Yet I could taste a tinge of Planar timbre which the Carat of course held none. Yet this F1 Pro tuning was better and it held better technicalities throughout. Yet the bass was not as thick or (maybe) even not as emotional here. It is noted that the Carat was really deeper and more illustrative into bass replay. Where the F1 Pro was faster, it didn’t hold whatever magic I heard with the Carat. Strange as I was not expecting this style of outcome. What it does is almost makes the Carat complementary in union with the F1 Pro, offering up a rounded, and smoother, more alive bass, where the F1 Pro is getting in and getting out……as planar IEMs do naturally.

Build:
Gorgeous really……..just look at them? As you might guess this is the ultimate fingerprint magnet. That and the nozzle tip ends do hold tips on surprisingly well, only they are maybe on the borderline of too short? Nothing that an extra long ear-tip can't rectify. There are two vents, with one being near the base of the nozzle the other off to the side right under the faceplate. The interesting thing comes from the black screens, as I have never seen such material, maybe even plastic?


Packaging:
There are a nice set of extras, especially the case included at this price point.



Cable and cables:
I used a number of cables, and primarily due to enjoying the refreshed openness found with 4.4mm.


Sources:
As such the Carat responded well and even transparently with an arrangement of sources.

Sony WW1A
Sony WM1Z
HiBy R3 II
ifi GO bar

The Sony 1A and WM1Z:
Interestingly I used the Sony WM1A for most of this review. As such the 1A has a trim and fast bass, plus an enhanced midrange which just by its nature promotes a wild big stage……….offering a style clarity and romance found with a gambit of IEMs. While the WM1Z you would think could rectify the uneventful (10kHz) treble roll-off at times………it still wasn’t enough to brighten things up?




HiBy R3 II:
Where of special intrigue was the HiBy R3 II results. The M response of the HiBy R3 II seemed to align the Carat and make it simply more than it was with some styles of music, as a new found big stage and romantic in separation?

Lovely strings:
At times bringing the strings up and out of their hole? The further display of treble separation, it could really make you wonder what kind of synergy was present here with the HiBy R3 II? Of course once again your choice of music was important, where all of a sudden the wrong style of tuning could present a notable departure from a known and understood style of playback. Never was this more apparent than with pushed Metal guitars, making them slightly thinner than wanted or needed……where the tone/timbre was found off too.

ifi GO bar:
Here is the thing, the GO bar is slightly different than anything own. And while the smoothness and analogue tone of the whole made this un-even guitar slightly more down to earth, the 4.5kHz to 7.8kHz peaks were still there and you could not avoid noticing them. Luckily the stage of the GO bar was also introduced with the Carat, showing itself to be my third favorite source in use, right behind the WM1A and WM1Z on a regular use basis.



Conclusion:
Discovering what the Carat is and what it is not is fun. While under $100.00 only gets you only so much IEM, that so much has multiplied many times over the last few years. When I started in this IEM hobby buying only budget IEMs, I became smitten with their low cost listenability. This Carat price point is a very competitive arena to jump into……some would even call it a bloodbath. With a new IEM introduction almost every other day we are truly looking to understand where the value lies with something like the Carat? While actually my most favored attributes come from timbre and stage size, there were really good reverberations which took place all time. And while you would think this style of tune would be good with Modern Rock, there were still sonic attributes that were reason for concern, mainly the uneven tuning. Where this style of tune could almost be regarded as experimental, it does two things. One, the Carat doesn’t sound exactly like other IEMs you have heard, and two…….the Carat has both good and bad features. As such there was a romantic bass and reverberations to the bass, also an even texture that allowed me to smile on many tracks. Yet a strange lower treble tune that made tonally of guitars on Symphonic Rock sound off.

So I have to say if you're listening to electronic music late at night and want a totally correct sounding low-cost IEM the Carat is actually a special buy. Just the size of playback allows this style of music to be both dramatic and fun…………it kind of enhances the separation at hand to make the Carat special. The Carat build is great, the fit is superb, and in that specific usage task of electronic music with a smooth top treble, we are fine. Where depending on your source, truly you may find an exquisite home here, regardless of the deficits. But if you were out looking for an IEM that will playback all genres well.......you need to look at other IEM choices. Sure the Carat can sound pretty good from a phone, as if you add the style of thickness here, it almost adds the harmonics required to enjoy simple phone use……..as it is no way thin sounding.



Final conclusion:
It is what it is. What that means is sure the Carat offers-up maybe half your library in correct tonality? And after-all this trash talk you would probably need to try the Carat to be sure how gorgeous it plays the style of music it goes with. Don’t ask me why, but this style of (good) music seems to be whole albums by a particular artist, and even whole catalogues of music found? It’s just if you cross the railroad tracks off into a music genre the Carat doesn’t favor you will be instantly notified as such. And sure if you only listened to specific genres the Carat liked you would be (unbelievably) smitten with the total outcome, regardless of imperfections.....those imperfections sitting just out of hearing range.

Because when the Carat is good it is really good, and I almost want to say perfectly good, but I won’t! It’s surprisingly good at times none-the less. I have had the Carat on-hand for 5 weeks and spent way more time than needed on this review, yet I did because I care about my readers and I sincerely care about the NiceHCK company.

Disclaimer:
I want to thank Vivian at NiceHCK for the love and Jialai Carat review sample.

Disclaimer:
These are one person's ideas and concepts, your results may vary.

Equipment Used:
Sony WM1A Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm
Sony WM1Z Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm
Sony TA-ZH1ES DAC/AMP Firmware 1.03
Electra Glide Audio Reference Glide-Reference Standard "Fatboy" Power Cord
Sony Walkman Cradle BCR-NWH10
AudioQuest Carbon USB
HiBy R3 II DAP in 4.4mm balanced
ifi GO Bar Dongle in 4,4mm balanced
Samsung Phone 3.5mm output

The Penon Solid Copper Modular Cable Plug

Review summery:
"Sure if response is too spicy we can easily change cables, or choose a different DAP to bring about alignment. But what if we wanted to keep everything in place, only because the set-up works 80% of the time? Yet there may be the possibility of the OFC Copper Plug simply smoothing-out that last 20% of usage scenarios, plus being a great add to the extra 80% that already worked out? "

Would such a sonic accomplishment be worth the asking price of $35.00?


Penon Audio and their history:
Penon got its start around the year 2013, and in many ways that time was the start of a couple concepts, all happening at once. IEMs were just then starting to be taken seriously. Sure there were IEMs taken seriously sooner, Jerry Harvey Audio got its start in 2007, after making monitors for rock stars. And of course people were learning of the sound quality of “inner-ear-monitors”.....even then. But the full-size headphone got a head-start being invented in 1910. Still it could be argued that the idea of IEMs was way sooner than 2007; I mean Knowles was first a maker of BA styled hearing-aids in 1954............that in essence is really the start of “inner-ear-monitors”. But it wasn’t until the popularity of the smartphone that IEMs really started to take off. Before that time, only a few mildly eccentric Head-Fi members were really into it. But around 2013 two things happened. One, the internet as a retail force was becoming a reality and Two, there was all of a sudden all these IEMs from China. So Penon was at the right place at the right time. They invented cables to connect the IEMs newly invented to these cell phones now in common use. Penon then expanded their line of products to include Penon IEMs and ISN IEMs/cables. Penon was addressing the needs of the audiophile community. Penon doesn’t just make IEMs & cables. Besides the Penon brand, they are a retail house that currently represents/sells well over 120 different audio brands. Not only a retailer but a renowned cable builder, making over 50 different cables/adaptors right now. Penon also currently manufactures 12 separate earphones and 11 ISN earphones as of late.

With a history going back to 2013, Penon is the logical result of years in the business. With a Penon product there is no middle-man……as this is a factory direct purchase. Penon are simply more grassroots in demeanor. Such focus of intent expands even to their whole IEM line. With the introduction of ISN; a subdivision of Penon Audio...........ISN got their start making cables, then at end of 2019 ISN introduced their first IEM. Today Penon/ISN are responsible for having almost 75 products in production and for sale!

Currently Penon/ISN manufactures and sells.
ISN Audio Cable Products:
1) AG8 Cable
2) C16 Cable
3) C2 Cable
4) C4 Cable
5) CU4 Cable
6) CS02 Cable
7) G4 Cable
8) GC4 Cable
9) GD4 Cable
10) GS4 Cable
11) H16 Cable
12) H2 Cable
13) H8 Cable
14) H8Plus Cable
15) 8 Core Cable
16) S16 Cable
17) S2 Cable
18) S4 Cable
19) S8 Cable
20) SC4 Cable
21) Solar Cable
22) Type C Audio Adapter

ISN Audio IEM Products/Earbud products
23) D02 IEM
24) D10 IEM
25) EST50 IEM
26) H30 IEM
27) H40 IEM
28) H50 IEM
29) Neo 5 IEM
30) Neo 3 IEM
31) Neo 1 IEM
32) Rambo Earbuds
33) Rambo II Earbuds

Penon Audio Cable Products
34) Bass Cable
35) CS819 Cable
36) Fiery Cable
37) Flow Cable
38) GD848 Cable
39) HiFi Balanced Adapter
40) Penon Impact Cable
41) Leo Cable
42) Leo Plus Cable
43) Mix Cable
44) Neo Cable
45) Obsidian Cable
46) Orbit Cable
47) OS133 Cable
48) OS133 Adapter
49) OS849 Cable
50) OSG Cable
51) Space Cable
52) Storm Cable
53) Totem Cable
54) Totem Adapter Cable
55) Totem Adapter Type-C DAC/Amp
56) OS133 Type-C/Lightening DAC/Amp
57) Vocal Cable
58) ASOS Cable
59) RENATA Cable
60) Rhodium Plug
61) Purple Plug
62) OFC Copper Plug

Penon Audio IEM Products
63) Penon IEM
64) Impact IEM
65) Legend IEM
66) Globe IEM
67) Serial IEM
68) Sphere IEM
69) Volt IEM
70) Vortex IEM
71) Turbo IEM
72) DOME IEM
73) Quattro IEM
Possible new TOTL Voltage
75) Penon Tail Dongle

Almost 75 individual personal audio products.

PENON Oxygen-Free Copper Modular Plug
Redcarmoose Labs March 22nd, 2024

Description
CNC cut shell, carbon fiber protective sleeve.
Gold-plated Solid Oxygen-Free Copper

Compatible models:
PENON 3-in-1 cables Penon OBSIDIAN, Penon Mix, Penon Storm, Penon Impact cable, Penon Space, Penon Totem, Penon Leo Plus, Penon RENATA

ISN 3-in-1 cables: ISN Solar, ISN H2, ISN S2, ISN C2

Ok, so to make this really easy to understand most cable plugs are not pure solid OFC Copper! Most cable plugs weight in the vicinity of 4 grams when weighted on a simple kitchen scale. So what right?



Well the material you choose for every pathway of the signal affects the final outcome to your ears. Yep. So if you have tried any pure copper cables you know the tone. Pure copper in many cable construction ideas has a smoother tone than silver plated copper, gaining weight yet also diminishing the treble energy at times.

4.4mm plug weight:
4 grams the Rhodium Plug in weight
5 grams the Purple Copper Plug in weight
7 grams the OFC Copper Plug in weight
4 grams regular 3-in-1 modular plug that came with modular Penon cable

Per Dsnuts

• Silver for its highest transparency and stage enhancing.
• Gold for that rich tone and depth.
• Palladium for that remarkable imaging and detail.
• Copper for body and warmth.

Material choices:
So if you have been collecting and using cables for even a short time you have come to realize that make-up the cable will in-fact sway the overall character into a personality. At times this is small, yet at other times it is large. This is all dealing with perception of tone and stage character. Meaning if you use the same output quality of cable in relation to what you have been using you are still in the same part of town, and any differences will be noted but not drastic. So as an example many silver plated cables will perform close to the same. Meaning there are parallel characteristics to where they get stage placement (results) and the cables convey a nice balance of warmth and detail. This is in-fact why silver and copper are used together throughout the industry.

Yet we all are questionable as to how much silver is used, especially with the off-brand $7.00 cable, as they can’t obviously use a bunch of pure silver. And while this is not a cable review as such I don’t really want to list all the properties of each material used, but today we are looking at a Rhodium plated plug, a Palladium plated a regular gold plated plug and a whole plug made from OFC. You see because this plug is at the front it affects everything downstream eventually getting to the IEM used.

The IEM used:
In my testing often I have found various cables to perform the same until I joined them up with a single new IEM. Imagine that? Well it is not that much of a big deal, as the FR response of this new IEM is somehow able to mysteriously actualize the differences found between cables. Now typically this situation is referring to different cables that I just casually place together into a group of performers. Dealing with large groups of cables, it is natural and expected to pigeon-hole groups of like performers in the end. Only to be surprised at the difference in separation one IEM allows you to distinguish. With that said the OFC Copper Plug performs much like any pure copper wire you have been exposed to. Where just like Dsnuts listed at the top Copper as a transfer material goes ahead and transfers body and warmth.

Yet the kicker here is we have the freedom to exchange the regular provided plug on Penon 3-in-1 modular cables into use of this warming device.

Oh…….and if you are wondering if there is a large or small difference here…….again it is the response of the individual IEM in question, and of course the intrinsic tone of the cable you are using. But, yes, often sometimes dramatic and sometimes subtle...............I have experienced differences.

Why?
Why would we go forward and change-out the plug they gave us with a $35.00 and twice as heavy plug? To start it makes a cable like the Penon Mix way smoother. But remember it still totally depends on the destination IEM in question. Simple really.

Let’s get started with IEM,Cable and the OFC Plug:
Before we start I just want to make something clear. That it gets to a point to where it is endless. Meaning just like cooking and the cables and plugs being spices, there are understood and practiced values at hand. Sure somebody can go crazy and combine chocolate and steak together for success, yet possibly everyone at the diner table isn’t ready for such caloric overload. Also it starts to become almost endless when you contemplate the various mixes of cables, IEMs and DAPs……………not to mention everyone’s own subjective listening signature wants and demands. So to make this review clear and basic I’m only concentrating on a basic list of three IEMs, and six different cable usage scenarios. Why? Well number one because I can, and two because it is fun.

But truly I’m limiting the tests because I feel these IEMs and cables go to truly designate the use profile of the OFC Plug.

So in some ways I’m enhancing character and other ways I’m correcting tone to more of my liking. Remember it is everything involved which goes forward to designate your end tone. Starting next to your ear with the Ear-tip, then the Cable Material and design, then the Plug…….and finally the DAP. The character of each constituent involved goes to add-up to your final sound.

Top to bottom:
Penon Leo Plus Cable $239.00
Penon Mix Cable $149.00
ISN H2 Cable $79.90
Penon ASOS Cable $169.90
ISN Obsidian Cable $149.00
Penon Renada Cable $269.00



The Penon Leo Plus Cable:
8 Shares Gold-Silver-Palladium makes this cable a very stand out player. Being finally landed upon out of many to grace the listening final music tests in my Penon Quattro review a little while back.

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/pe...iver-universal-iem.26959/reviews#review-32822



Why the success?
Probably there is a unique density and fullness that surrounds imaging. Gold alloy adds a deeper tone and depth, the Palladium adds imaging. Here we are trying to add a subtle deeper density to the start of the signal right after it leaves the DAP? For whatever reason here there was not too much of a difference between the regular plug and the OFC plug. Though the more and more I listened, the results came………like small rabbits quietly climbing out from the woods. This was not something drastic and not something totally that much different. Yet there was something there. What I can describe is a subtle separation of notes and an added contrast, though not a crazy new difference found….but none the less. It was as if the background became slightly blacker and notes were in better relief. Vocals were a tad bit forward, yet this was at such a level that it was anyone's guess if it was suggestive (confirmation bias) or real life?

I would like to write that there was in-fact added note density, because I have heard of such results from this Plug, but here maybe just the make-up of the cable made it close to a wash. But after five different back and forth changes, there was noticeable improvement, though it was subtle.

I was using the Sony WM1A and Penon Volt IEM.



The Penon Mix and OFC Plug:
Finally we are getting somewhere here. Yep, the results were real and of a noticeable difference here. Where I should have known prior that the energy of the pure silver wire mixed with the contrasts of pure copper inside the Mix would allow a window into this OFC Plug. Here is in fact maybe the very best definition, I mean really it is everything in the signal chain responsible for noticeability…..and I’m using my favorite Penon, the 10th Anniversary Model to test the cable and plug here. To be truthful the Mix is not something I use all the time with the 10th. The natural fall out of the Mix in place is that it is always using the energy of pure silver to maximize the treble spaciousness inherent to every test IEM. Whereas of late I have been learning to use stuff like the Renada and ISN CS02 to kind of open the stage in a softer yet still profound way. Subtly thicker darker tones of openness and detail. As such when bringing out the Mix it was like…..OH, ya…that is what silver air is like, I almost forgot. Yet this outcome is totally subjective……meaning you may want the extra energy of the Mix with the 10th and not even value the subtle reduction and added note weight of the Penon OFC Plug. Yet typically this understanding of tone is not always instant. It is the prolonged exposure to the brighter side that gives way to a (possible) recoil of wanting a smother darker tone. And while the stage was bigger with the included 3-in-1 plug, the images were not as heavy or warm. I mean this is crazy, coming from the Leo Plus ideas of subtle difference if any, we are now face to face with remarkable change in signal. The silver energy was candidate for remarkable alterations in tone differences to be found.

Is bigger always better?
Normally I will gravitate towards the bigger and more vibrant tone, yet here it is questionable if the standard plug (with its natural vividness) is the way to go in the long run. I mean sure I can go on and on about the added density and possibly inner details arrived by taking out the silver energy of the included plug, but you get the point. The OFC Plug is an alternative route to sound here, and a fun change of events at only $35.00. Here I used the 10th, and Sony WM1A.



ISN H2 and OFC Plug:
The company sister ISN introduced a trio of cables which all looked a little the same. You had the C2, the S2 and the H2. Where the H2 was maybe the most well rounded found, the C2 was copper and the S2 silver mixed with copper. After close inspection (together) each of the three had a distinctive different look from one another, yet apart they looked almost identical. Where this 6N+ OCC, silver plated OCC Hybrid is kinda the best of both C2 and S2 worlds with the right IEM and DAP. Also just to keep things real the original plug is aluminum where the outside barrel of the regular plug is steel, making the included plug weigh just 3 grams opposed to the regular 3-in-1 modular plugs which weigh 4 grams. At only 3 grams you can totally tell the weight difference of the 7 gram OFC Plug in your hand.

The results:
Noticeably more forward and real with the OFC Plug. A simple upgrade to a cable that truly (a cable made by iSN) deserves more love here around Redcarmoose Labs. There was obviously more room for noticeability of change with the Mix as there was more information range in the treble regardless of IEM in place for testing, I think? Where early on in the comparison of these two different plugs I got a clue as to it being bass replay differences. So that is kinda how these investigations go, where at the start side-by-side the differences may start to appear small but after further testing a style of (new) reality is discovered. Sure enough the included ISN H2 cable plug offered a great sound yet it seems there really was a small margin for improvement. First with bass volume and authority then added substance to the whole signal. In fact adding this plug really is a great route to go into continuing to get added life from this midrange cable! I used the H2 with the Penon Volt and Sony WM1A.


Stop and pause for a second.........things are about to get good!

Penon ASOS Cable and OFC Plug:
Laughably I just reviewed the ASOS+ cable and sure enough rolled in the OFC Plug (with the regular ASOS) for a moment just to hear how it differed from the Rhodium Plug and Standard Plug. The ASOS+ is a fixed Palladium plug and 2Pin Palladium pin plug.

In this case there is added soundstage girth offered from both the ASOS and ASOS+.

Yet there is an offered separation and note density apparent in the more expensive ASOS+. Still I don’t care, as the original ASOS and the ASOS Plus both are some of my most favorite cables to ever come out of Penon Cable Works. Yep, they are simply gaining ground from other choices due to almost not coloring the signal at all, but offering a wider fuller soundstage and signal clarity. So the question, which I already know the answer to, is how will the OFC Plug go with the ASOS once more!



OFC Plug and Penon ASOS Cable:
The Penon 10th Anniversary IEM:

You know as far as excitement goes, this is it. Why? Well combining one of my favorite cables ever with the 10th Anniversary is a treat. A treat because the last time I did this it was purely a blast. Only because now we are joining a big stage cable with a big stage IEM…………oh, and the fact that the 10th is my most favorite Penon ever.

Win-win:
Win-win is when you win the high school football game, get your picture in the small town newspaper, and because of what just happened get the girl in class you always wanted. Well...............that might be win-win-win, but you get the message here. And sure it can happen all in one night, in fact with this combo it is instant, the satisfaction and clarity and bigness is instantly happening.

Maybe the stage? Maybe the separation? Maybe the vividness? I mean I’m not alone in loving the 10th. Yet around these parts everyone is using a different cable and DAP. What that means is the 10th is well rounded, and it really is. And cables are funny things as they get respect for the amount of time they have been working-out in place. Call it job stability or kinship, but whatever it is this mental acclamation stuff is real and effective at having you keep a cable dear to heart. Maybe it comes from the trial and error of playing back so many songs from your library? Maybe it has something to do with cable ergonomics..........that you only perceive subconsciously? The results are the only thing that matters…….........that and if you get (the same) results time after time.

The 10th:
A lot of the times when we try to over analyze stuff we go right past the reasons why we like something. I mean the ASOS+ did more note density and was a tad warmer. The ASOS by itself and the OFC Plug is $169.90 + $35.00 = $204.90 and the ASOS+ is $215.00? Yes, the two cables are different in that I would probably choose the ASOS+ if I had to make a choice. Yet both cables are so different that you would be surprised how they were both useful and could almost be looked at as opposite. Yes, the 10th is really better with just the ASOS+ in place, offering thicker imaging and a style of un-cluttered activity that is truly special. It is like there is a forward sculpturing of events holding a warmer tone and a bigger stage still like you are getting the stage size from the silver included............only none of the harsh excitement often included with silver stage size.



Penon 10th and ISN Obsidian Cable:
Here we are utilizing the great Obsidian. Known for its use of gold to add weight as a personality asset, here we are trying to find out if we can make it that much better. Strangely this was actually a fairly big difference, which didn’t totally make sense being normally we would find more noticeability with the upper midrange and treble activities with a brighter cable. I have no answers here, except with the Sony WM1A the differences were truly noticeable and fun……..what was the most fun was just how the 10th was anyways with the Obsidian Cable pushing the low end thickness. More bass heavy than the ASOS and Leo Plus…….......here the drops were having a field day causing ruckus into maybe even how the midrange was interpreted? Still vocals with the OFC Plug were vibrant and forward, so strong that nothing, not even the bass could mess with them. This truly was a cable and IEM combo I should have given more time to. I mean it is heavier and meatier than most styles of playback I choose, yet today and now there is absolutely nothing to throw rocks at. Nothing! This is a winner through and through. Where the included 3-in-1 was great, it didn’t have the extra authority in places which this OFC offered.

Now I know that really the OFC Plug can work with both brighter and darker cables to add the same form of density, as has an IEM ever been too dense………I don’t think so?

Sure there have been times where playback could be too dull with whatever IEM we were trying, but simply note density (even if a small additive) is always welcomed and appreciated.



Noble Audio K-10 Encore Universal and Penon RENATA cable:
First off, if you forget what IEM is in your ears and try to concentrate on the cable at hand, you will be thrown-for-a-loop. Yep this Encore is one strange bird, really doing much against the rules as far as even, correct and complete playback. Even applied darkness...........any style of subduing, can’t keep-up with the brightness at hand.

The Encore is bright
That’s just the way it is. After trying the Sony WM1A with the Encore I found the Encore upper midrange/treble shelf to be that much more heightened by the midrange push of the WM1A…..so much so that while at times the RENATA has quieted that issue.........yet not here today. A quick transfer over to the WM1Z and HiBy R3 II showed that there was a way into enjoyment of the RENATA and Encore. And while shifting plugs back and forth there was a slight realness to the OFC Plug in relation to the provided regular 3-in-1 plug that came with the RENATA, there was only a small difference between the two.

Penon Rhodium 3-in-1 Plug $29.00


Other cables other tones:
Here is a photograph of other Penon choices. The Rhodium Plug by itself really does the opposite of the OFC Copper plug enhancing the upper realm and pushing the treble energy and actualizing the stage into a different position from regular included 3-in-1 plugs. Both the Penon OSG and CS02 come with Rhodium plugs permanently.

Photograph top:
Penon Rhodium 3-in-1 Plug $29.00
ISN CS02 with Rhodium Plug $69.90
Penon OSG with Rhodium Plug $299.00



Bottom:
A few in the 3 in 1 Modular Series:
Penon OBSIDIAN $149.00
Penon Leo Plus $249.00
Penon Mix (with 3-in-1 Palladium "Purple" Plug) $149.00 (Cable by itself)
Penon Space $99.90




Conclusion:
Here's the thing, the OFC Plug does (at times) add more meaningful changes, and at times the perception of change is small, yet still there. Sure the pure silver and pure copper vivid-contrast of the Penon Mix modular cable showed the most change. In some uses there could possibly be Mix Cable heat.............where changing to the Solid Penon OFC Copper Plug adds smoothness and predictability? All of the time there were noticeable changes; those changes were of a smoother tone and thicker density of overall response.

"Sure if response is too spicy we can easily change cables, or choose a different DAP to bring about alignment. But what if we wanted to keep everything in place, only because the set-up works 80% of the time? Yet there may be the possibility of the OFC Copper Plug simply smoothing-out that last 20% of usage scenarios, plus being a great add to the extra 80% that already worked out? "

Where the OFC Plug may not be always the final solution, but a combination of ear-tips and source changes may let you use a cable and IEM combo that you previously were limited in use on. Simply adding the plug can extend listing times, especially if your set-up is bordering on too hot. Or of course enhancing an already great IEM/DAP combo experience by simply going forward and adding the thickness and note weight realities.

$35.00
https://penonaudio.com/PENON-OFC-Plug.html


Disclaimer:
I want to thank Penon Audio for the love and for the Solid OFC Plug review sample.

Disclaimer:
These are one person's ideas and concepts, your results may vary.

Equipment Used:
Sony WM1A Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm
Sony WM1Z Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm
Sony TA-ZH1ES DAC/AMP Firmware 1.03
Electra Glide Audio Reference Glide-Reference Standard "Fatboy" Power Cord
Sony Walkman Cradle BCR-NWH10
AudioQuest Carbon USB
HiBy R3 II DAP 4.4mm
ifi GO bar Dongle

The Lotus Flower designates the Penon Purple Plug

QKZ x HBB Hades Review
Redcarmoose Labs March 19th, 2024
As such we find a collaboration between HBB and QKZ. The YouTube luminary is sporting his tuning abilities and marketing power to use once again. HBB is a Youtube personality continuing to empower his sound ideas, and build an IEM for his personal library. Maybe much like a guy in the backroom at QKZ, only this HBB is more noticeable and exists as a high-profile entity which puts a name and a face onto the IEM tune. And not only the tune but HBB may have a say on how the Hades was named and/or designed to look. After a few HBB collaboration efforts I do regard them to share a common sound profile, regardless of the builder. Really this collaboration stuff I am “OK” with, meaning sure it is maybe overused, but at times the sound designer brings personality to the table, and brings forth a particular sound that is both understandable and unique.



Hades
So here we find something slightly different, as the Hades is put together with X2 9mm LCP diaphragms, only each driver gets a signal passed through by the crossover. As such this crossover splits the signal into 2 parts and gives 1 9MM the lows and one the highs. Now here’s the thing…….normally I get fairly good ideas as to the playback character straight out of the box. And I did a box opening set of photographs and interpretations. Only this time I thought the Hades was good and did some secret sauce tricks that contained a big stage as well as filled that stage with a ton of sonics. Meaning sure the Hades out-of-the-box was good, but I wasn’t sure about the pace it offered? I actually couldn’t exactly recommend it at first. A few weeks later after a couple other reviews and leaving the Hades on the burn-in bench for a week and what do you know…………what ever that pace issue it wasn’t totally gone but improved upon....in fact the Hades was alive………….






Hades
While sure, look at the graph. This is an oddball style of tune none-the-less. But it does two very important things right off…….maybe these are the most important things? The Hades has reverberations and note weight. Yep, these two components when added to the rest of the qualities make an IEM often musical. And that’s what we have. Great timbre too. I mean right off……..studying the graph will alienate 1/2 of Head-Fi. And that’s an accepted part of life. Where many put confidence on reading graphs only and have a set of parameters which delegate where their money gets spent. Even if they have been doing this IEM hobby thing for only 6 months, they think they know themselves and the ropes around here. Sure there is nothing wrong with thinking that way, only you have to realize graphs are only a squiggly line on paper………and don’t make a sound at all. Sure that may be representative of how the Hades graphs out……….but once again I wouldn’t read too much into the graph. Why? Well you may overthink yourself straight out of getting a low-cost and enjoyable IEM. What the Hades is is fun, but more than fun……there is a reason for this fun. Now just so you don’t think I’m part of this conspiracy to talk purely sales talk and somehow make you buy something you are not going to like……………buy something that maybe I don’t even like, but sound like I do......I’m going to list the last five review scores I have done.........

1) 4.5
2) 5.0
3) 3.0
4) 3.0
5) 5.0

Do you see those 3.0 star reviews? That was partially due to lack of note weight and lack of reverberations. And the reason I’m giving the Hades a better score is because I really think burn-in did something…….that or it was just me getting my first impressions off, or incomplete or something? Because in a nutshell the Hades has great timbre, actually fairly OK pace, considering the amount of bass going on. It has an insane stage, with super cool imaging……….and more musicality than two IEMs. Yep, I really like it and think it is a value for the $49.99 asked. In fact this review was one of the easy ones to write. As that is kinda how it goes down when you groove with the style of playback you’re writing about………..the words flow out and onto the paper, and at the end of the day everyone is happy.

Equipment rolls:
Here we investigate how Hades does with different ideas of playback.




The HiBy R3 II in 3.1 TypeC file player mode to the ifi GO bar.
I used four different cables in today's testing yet one I’m not going to talk about the included cable. While not bad if you had to use it, it is one of the most tangly cables I have ever received with an IEM? The other three cables include the 4.4mm NiceHCK Himalaya cable, the SIMGOT AUDIO LC7 in 4.4mm and the Penon ASOS Plus in 4.4mm. To simplify things here is the HiBy R3 II and LC7 hooked up to the Hades out of the GO bar in 4.4mm.

Tested using the Batman v Superman OST:


I’m still learning a lot. As this is not the most treble boosted tone, but gets its definition from pure resolution, opening the stage to glorious imaging and spacial clues. Of course I have the volume pumped as such a relaxed yet authoritative display would get you the personal freedom to do. Yet again the staging is the value here, as I’m not so sure I have ever heard under $50.00 be so grand in size? But while maybe not the most detailed pace, this theme that I’m listening to is fully acceptable and even going the extra mile to proclaim bass details, it is just there is an added furry texture and deep harmonic richness that is really the opposite of what I normally listen to? Yet I’m listening and the highs are still there and separated and playing back representing their desired frequency response though of an amber color and not bright yellow. Still the winning presentation comes from correct timbre and 2 9MM DDs kicking some butt.

The HiBy R3 II by itself:
A fast change out to the HiBy R3 II in less than 0.5 of a second showed slightly less detail yet this style of DAP works. I mean it is not always that you want to walk around with this Frankenstein’s Monster of a set up. At home you are fine, but out and about I would probably take the convenience of just the Hades hooked up to the LC7 in 4.4mm to the HiBy R3 II in great form? Here we are given a slightly less detailed rendition of the events than the GO bar yet still very thick and authoritative. The stage is incredibly eventful and fun, and I truly don’t have a want for more. This M signature HiBy R3 II does just seem to work here?



The WM1A and ASOS Plus Cable with the Hades:
Some may find this set-up ridiculous as the ASOS Plus is $215.00? Yet combined with the mid centric powered WM1A we are now witnessing a grand enhancement of character. Yep, the ASOS Plus is cleaning up the floor and placing everything on shelfs here, there is a faster pace and an all out charm to the music. Even the harmonics of real instruments somehow get closer to real life. This is true, only finally at the end of the tunnel we still capture the deep lower midrange energy the Hades does 24/7………you can’t escape this tone, yet all around it is a cleaner and faster positioning of musical excitement.

Music tests:
Here right off I’m going to get down and dirty into my perception of music playback. No better way to describe an IEM. Also later in the review I’m going to do side-by-side tests against 2 other IEMs, yet don’t you think the music tests should come first? Reason being is you want to get to know the IEM before you start to compare playback character.



Kaveh Cohen, Michael Nielsen
Forza Motorsport OST
Forza Motorsport 2023
44.1 kHz - 24 bit
This song is the opener of this soundtrack. And while I’m more specialized at using other choices in this OST, the song just happened to come-up when I was writing and by chance I thought it would be a different style of song to use here. First off it is the opener, so a song that seems to have a little more pace than some of the more moody pieces. Laughably nothing is really that moody here. As such this is the style of music meant as a backdrop for the gaming experience, a racing game experience. I mean I have never even played this game, yet I can almost feel the cars traveling across the track when this song is played? Of course that could all be simple suggestion too. Where you think a song is a tool for a racing gaming soundtrack and all-of-a-sudden feel like you’re playing a racing game. Here as with all the music tests I’m using the Sony WM1A with MrWalkman’s firmware, the NiceHCK Himalaya cable and my regular wide-bore ear-tips. As such the WM1A is very mid-centric and has ample bass pace, typically sculpturing the bass and making the midrange be the star of the show. The wide-bore ear-tips also add to such style of clarity and add soundstage into presenting itself the widest it can be. I cheated here, yep I skipped ahead to the song I normally use as I just wanted to make sure that I got this character, the Hades character in full clarity of perception.

Brotherhood:
And later I will go back to the opening. But here we have a tremendous amount of bass, it is this room response as I like to call it. What happens is sound energy reflects off the inside walls of the speakers, then travels out to the back walls of the listening room, and reflects off the side walls adding to the tone coming from the front of the speakers. This single phenomenon is one of the major differences from speakers to headphones. This room response is also responsible for adding note-weight and authority to everything it touches. Big fluid bass though what counteracts it is the 2.5 kHz to 4.2 kHz peaks. Yep it is the presence of this form of contrast that allows the clarity to form regardless of the lower realm trying to cloud it up. Though a side reaction is in a way you don’t totally hear into the sonics, there is an amount of detail which gets subdued and replaced with this warm inviting musicality and thick imaging. This imaging is so very big into the stage that even the lower midrange is somehow pushed out into this soft but slowly moving authority that never lets up. Drums where this downbeat is heard makes a quite opposite statement in that with other IEMs it can be a slap, yet here that slap is only the iceberg sticking out of this fully low-end submerged aspect that is there, below the water level. Yet due to this sonic repositioning I can almost hear this as complementary to how I normally hear this song, it showing the darker half, and while truly entertaining, it is not something I have to get used to to enjoy………as it sounds strangely correct right off, only I know there are other playbacks which offer a different window into playback.

Forza Motorsport 2023
Here we are supplied really with the same song theme as “Brotherhood” , my regular test song. Yet here the pace seems a little sped-up and saying hello for the introduction. Where there are the regularly used piano notes, yet here we are provided with a deeper tone, holding the underworld of sonics, still correct, yet very very different from how I normally listen to this. There is less fatigue for this listener, and I don’t seem to ever get bass fatigue either? I’m not sure if this makes sense but I seem to like the Hades more with songs I’ve only known for a week. Yep, the newer styles of files that have less stigma attached to how my mind demands they get heard have better luck. Is this a back-handed compliment, it may be?



E-Mantra
Expedition Frozen Taiga
When Darkness Comes
44.1 kHz- 24 bit
As such this song somehow totally works here…………to about 95% it works. The drums at the start and the echoes they contain adds to the mood. I mean the whole trick here is to somehow start to fool yourself that this is completely and totally correct, when I’m not so sure that it is…….but it is not bad? I mean this exists because the makers of the Hades know they could never make a thrilling IEM that only did upper-end details and bring it to market for under $50.00. So what they can do (and get away with) is introduce a bass heavy IEM that has thrills from the low-end details, then get HBB to sign off on the thing.

As such this seasoned listener can’t be totally fooled into believing this is 100% of playback………it just can’t be? Now maybe people who have less experience, or bass heads will say this is totally perfect, but the Hades gets 1/2 star less, because how can you ever rate anything like this as 5 star? That’s its role in life, to be controversial and different, I mean they understood this when they were making it, I’m sure. In a way it is marketing, because in a way nothing exactly like the Hades ever existed before now. As such……”When Darkness Comes” has a lot of digital reverb in its creation. The opening drums the keys……….really this style of music would be at least 90% different if reverb was not used. With that said The QKZ x HBB Hades grabs hold of the reverberations and doesn’t let go of them. As such they (the reverbs) are drawn out to the ultimate length here. See that’s the thing, DD drives can have many different sounds, maybe even more than applied characters to BA devices or Planar devices? DDs can be bright and with lesser reverbs, or long and extended in reverb performance. I have to guess these reverbs though are also connected to how this IEM is tuned. Make the diaphragm rigid and watch the reverb times get a cut. But no, here we are going for it, all of it. As such if you do take a walk into the town of Hades make sure you get a few days of burn-in going and play with your brighter sources and cables, maybe looking for a little balance, unless you are from the dark side…………….you know the bass head side. Then I don’t know what to tell you, you are obviously in an under $50.00 paradise. Here after the beat and after the bass drops we are greeting a style of echo which takes position way outside the stage. Why didn’t I talk of the obvious here…….you know the bass and the drums…….? I mean surely those are the front and center statements in music like this? It’s just that yes, when the drums hit they bring about an accent until the bass kicks in at 00:54….then you realize the entire groove of the song. And what’s memorable is the extra reverb continuation…….off to the sides, both sides……that sounds like one of those infinity reverbs, like it will never end…….and it is so far gone we can’t find the original sound that started it. When in reality it must be a sampler Hrrrrrrrr. At 01:20 when the brushes hit we find that finally there is a range going on here and it blends as much as the Hades will allow. That in-fact there are many levels of emphasis to the brush strokes. And sure as each element of the song is introduced we are grateful and entertained. As this style of music is dependent on introductions to push the interest forward and to the next part. That it is the variations that are of interest, not the actual sounds themselves, partially. At 01:48 there is a big splash of treble…….well treble for this song anyway. Though with-in a seconds time we realize this was the departure of the beat. Yes, more intros and exits than previously guessed, could or would even take place here. Where even as soon as the 02:02 mark there is the resulting break-down. Then back to full elements as scheduled, only once more a bright and wavy introduction of treble………this travels from side to side and reassures us to the extent of stage width at 02:16. You see they know just how much new information to add……running from any chance of boredom. In music like this from the 1990s at this point they may even add a spoken word snippet? But possibly we are now way farther away from any taking life forms? At 02:44 the keys are once again added, yet they are not too dark or too anything…….just right. At a place like this in a 06:11 song we are satisfied, satisfied that there is a warm groove below us with additives on-top and no fear of (this song) getting stale, as by now it has earned our respect.

Then maybe it comes some talk, but not really of an understandable language, a vocoder saying something that I can’t make out, this vocoder may have been through-out the song so far, as it is these realizations that add mystery and magic.



E-Mantra
Neverending Story
Neverending Story
44.1 kHz - 16 bit
Really slightly more uplifting than the last song, Oh……..those drums? Lucky the mind goes and starts to somehow place those beats into the rear focus, the mental focus. But wait, the use of starting and stopping of the beat keeps it at the forefront. Then we drill into the texture, the message…….the message is there is a heavy, super heavy bass here………I mean this is a bass track. In fact I’m embracing the bass……it’s taking me away. Eventually the song begins to end, but it just started. It is this time machine aspect of good IEMs where you literally lose 4 minutes into the song…….being preoccupied by the pure tone of it all and that’s the value. This phenomenon goes by (and time passes unnoticed) and is therefore pretty much indescribable……..but that is the way of escapism entertainment.

Deep Forrest
Deep Forrest
Sweet Lullaby
44.1 kHz - 16 bit




Here is a song very representative of the new musical culture of the times. A window into musicology and cultural anthropology. Here we can witness a very organic and spellbinding fusion of old dialect from 1970 mixed with samplers of the era. Interwoven we experience the warmness of the Beagu lullaby mixed with a stark vibe of the samplers, drum machines and synthesizers. The bass laden beats push this forward, but more than that the vocal samples make it through……..and while sure I have heard this song played from the opposite end of the spectrum, capturing the airiness and spacial size that comes with a more flagrant midrange……..of course. Yet this still works and better than just work, it is an alternative way to hear the song…….traveling to a different region of emotion and pace. Literally everything is slightly toned down, yet being brought forth due to the 2.5 kHz to 4.2 kHz peaks. I mean sure this take on what is right playback or wrong is truly subjective in the end, yet a song like Sweet Lullaby simply works. At least it works for me with the set-up I’m using currently? This song also uses a plateau of stimulus organization where more and more audio information is added upon each other to introduce a kind of extra effect. Later (after the break) a chorus of singing takes and makes this song go to the next level. It may be simply the texture of the drums and bass in both this song and the last that makes all this work so well. I really don’t think the original samples were stereo……that a background chorus was then recorded to add to the luster of the song. And each sample was panned from right to left to kind of add an amount of energy to such a mix. Though when it comes down to it, it is the warm vibe of the drums and the exquisite deep lower midrange energy (almost analogue) that makes this (somewhat sleepy) song gain the added points to work in replay.



Gdanian
Induction
Sheild Emitter (feat. Tineidae)
44.1 kHz - 24 bit
Well, I can’t do this review and not include this song. In fact this kinda means I have to include a few more test songs than I normally do just to go to the deep place (in bass) that we have on offer. Here we are visiting a deep ambient bass track filled with real depth and deep energy. In fact the bass here is almost effortless and holding a physical and visceral charm……that only a source like this one could possibly provide. Now while going for it and getting it here, there are other headphones which provide a better separation and layering especially at the 01:31 mark. But the Hades is more rudimentary here, more primal and even stupid. Yet at the price of admission and for the entertainment it provides, all is forgiven. Where here the bass is actually physical, it is crossing those boundaries and becoming a force to deal with. While other more balanced IEM players will take this song apart into striations of bass, here we are greeted with a cohesive one, with extra deep attachments that pull on our emotion like a new thrill. I mean I have used this song so much (for review) that I know it……….and there are even up-top elements like breathing and chimes that are not even heard…………so they don’t exist in the music with the Hades. It’s truly funny how one IEM can take apart one level of song aspects and other go the opposite route, and neither are really wrong at what they do, only very different. I mean sure this song is almost like only sound effects………so there are many different ways to hear it. With the extra bass it was fun, but probably my favorite way to hear it is more neutral with treble separations to include those chimes…….yet this was a cool and different experience.



Ghost
Phantomime
Phantom Of The Opera (Iron Maiden cover)
48 kHz - 24 bit
For many readers this will be the only song that holds any value in the group. Reason being it is one that is not based on synthesis. Yep the rest of the songs (except for Sweet Lullaby…..which has vocals) have very little “live” instruments used, and therefore are direct to board recordings, which put a different style of demands and overall sound response in IEMs. And out of necessity I placed this here at the end. And sure many more discoveries resulted, as guessed due to actual real-life timbre and room echoes etc…etc. Also too, this is after spending a full day with the Hades in my ears. So there is a style of acceptability that is brought forth, mainly because it is to the IEM you are reviewing causing listening issues, but the one before and the one before that one. So much of the time it is mental acclimation which decides what is good or bad in reviews. It is the reviewers responsibility not to be sidetracked by such memories. Here really the Hades are the floor standers here. The speakers in the room let the deep harmonics flourish and take form. The opening guitar parts are done with some type of octave multiplier effect that lets the strings play a down-tuned note along with the upper guitar register note. Such an effect is used often in rock to expand the guitar and add harmonics. And here it is to sound like multiple guitars playing and in fact it could be both used? This is called double leads in the music world, and Iron Maiden have made such things their trademark. Note only that but the bass is also going along for the ride here…….mirroring the note events. All I can say is the Hades is somehow unearthing the whole gambit of information here…….every part. The sound is full, harmonically rich……and big……….and we are only 00:10 seconds in!

At 00:20 seconds we are now face to face with these room reverbs and just as guested…….yep, the Hades is going full-tilt to go right along with what is demanded of it. At 00:27 the guitar chords hit and once again we are brought new tones to try and discover if they are correct or not. The best part of the 00:34 segment is the fact that the guitars are dueling it out and taking different images into stage presence. And while an after effect of such density becomes a burden on pace……..you started to expect that. It is this giving up of pace as a trade for excitement that becomes the guilty pleasure in the end. The fact that you can’t have this much bass energy and expect the pace to not be affected, it is just a fact of sonic life. Still I can hear the cymbal crashes and while not in any way forward, they are still separated and doing their thing in the outskirts of the stage. The vocals here……..listen I don’t want to make the Hades be any more or less than it is…….except this is not a vocal centric IEM in any form or fashion. As such Tobias Forge is simply there, not too far back but questionable if this is truly a correct way to interpret him. Yes, of course other IEMs push these vocals are forward……yet we can still hear him, just not all of his expression and luster.

Packaging:

While the cable is nothin to write home about, it works. Though maybe the most tangly I have ever come across?

Build:

While often disregarded as cheaper to make an IEM from 3D printed resin, many may prefer the idea, offering a more comfortable temperature in cold weather. Here we are greeted with a single vent off the bottom with an additive unusual rectangular vent off the back as seen (both) in the above picture. Here the nozzle looks to be shorter than it really is, with no bevel to hold tips on, my favorite ear-tips seemed to work flawlessly, and I don't know why? A inset screen gets out of the way and seems to function without notice.


Side-by-sides:
Here we try the Hades against its contemporaries.

The BLON X HBB Z300 (Middle position)
$39.99
https://www.linsoul.com/products/blon-x-hbb-z300

The TINHIFI C2
$29.00
https://www.linsoul.com/products/tinhifi-c2

Sure, ask me how or why I chose these IEMs to compare and I will tell you. For starters the Z300 had a place in being the very first HBB collaboration I was familiar with. Then the C2 was the odd-man-out, meaning there was a chance here that the TINHIFI C2 could show us the differences by contrast of why we may want something else to use. Yep, I’m not all about just glorifying the Hades experience, yet while it does offer thrills, it is not everything. Word on the street says I like Crins collaborations better, and that may be true? Why, well this Hades is so over the top, it exists as a great departure from your regular listens (in my humble opinion)……….though to be using it all the time………well you could be forced into a style Hades?

The BLON X HBB Z300 v The Hades:
Here we are giving the extra benefit of using the ASOS Plus and WM1A as a way to trim the authority and as revealed right before add an extra ounce of pace to our test subjects. Laughably this Z300 is the Hades off the steroids. Yep less density and power, less stage and faster more nimble pace. A pushed up midrange not lurking in the depths, we are now gifted with a less dramatic and less bass powered example of IEM art. Yet somehow (and don’t ask me how) the Z300 is not as involving…..the stage is not as big and I can see the limits of the Z300’s performance. Where we just came from a huge auditorium and now we are witnessing a smaller club with a slight glare that the Hades does away with 100% of the time. Which would I choose here………the Hades confusingly? Where the Hades was like (all-of-a-sudden) a longed for girl that just got on the bus. Yep, a need for just what the Hades did in absence of its twisted charms.

The TINHIFI C2 v The Hades:
So call me a risk taker………..sure this is budget…..but only 1/4 less money. But in hindsight this was the perfect IEM response to end our side by sides. Why? True there could have been other “perfects” but the C2 offers a very straight forward (while still warm) example of balance. The balance is everything the Hades lacks, and we do get benefits of such even Steven. Yet, it isn’t all sunshine and ice-cream cones for the C2. Nope that while there is a more forward vocal rendition, even stuff like vocal reverbs get more notice as they are near the same vocal frequency in generation……..but? The Hades has a bigger footprint, a more dramatic and cinematic vividness regardless of what gets covered-up in the fallout. While TINHIFI has made a truly great IEM with the C2, it is not really boring, but at the same time it is not doing the sinful excesses of the Hades, it is not walking to the dark side of town, and going to those dark bars where after a few drinks what is wrong becomes right. Yep, in my days of listening the Hades it has slowly enticed me over to the darker realm of life.



$49.99 without microphone
$50.99 with microphone
https://www.linsoul.com/products/qkz-x-hbb-hades

Disclaimer:
I would like to thank Kareena from Linsoul for the love and the QKZ x HBB Hades review sample.

Linsoul website: https://www.linsoul.com/
Linsoul Aliexpress Store: https://ddaudio.aliexpress.com/store/2894006
Linsoul USA Amazon Store link: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=merchant-items&me=A267P2DT104U3C

Equipment Used:
Sony WM1Z Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm and 3.5mm
Sony WM1A Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm and 3.5mm
Samsung Phone 3.5mm
HiBy R3 II 3.5mm/4.4mm output and 3.1 USB Type-C output
GO bar Dongle

Sound Rhyme SR5 "The Underdog"
Redcarmoose Labs March 17th, 2024

Who is Sound Rhyme? Well they are a fairly new manufacture, at least a new one that has come to light in the last few months. You know, the latest big IEM thing..........with many local members getting into the brand and discovering products from the line.

Sound Rhyme as of March 17th offers:
$749.00 Sound Rhyme DTE900 4EST+ 4BA + 1DD Hybrid
$369.00 Sound Rhyme SR7 1DD+6BA Hybrid
$749.00 Sound Rhyme SR8 14BA
$59.00 Sound Rhyme SR1 Bass 9.2mm (single full-range DD)
$459.00 Sound Rhyme DTE500 2EST+ 2BA + 1 Dynamic Driver Hybrid
$149.00 Sound Rhyme SR5 4BA + 1 Dynamic Driver Hybrid
$1,799.00 Sound Rhyme Prado EST 4EST+12BA Hybrid

Sound Rhyme:
So you know the deal, a new manufacturer comes along and gains a following, yet all this just happened, and is happening as we speak. Sound Rhyme is the brand of the moment!

@AmericanSpirit
He started a Head-Fi Sound Rhyme thread back in early February of 2023 beginning with (the one IEM we are reviewing today)……the $149.00 4BA/1DD SR5. He called it an “undiscovered hidden gem”….this business moves fast, as now you can choose from seven Sound Rhyme IEMs. Anyway, this is the second Sound Rhyme I have been introduced to, and I have to say the company is doing a number of things right. AmericanSpirit also introduced the SR5 to the Head-Fi community in this single post.

Feb 19, 2023 at 7:18 AM
Post #72,814 of 97,191

Sound Rhyme SR5 4BA + 1 Dynamic Driver Hybrid
Specification

• Model: SR5
• Driver: 10mm composite diaphragm dynamic + 2 Knowles balanced armature 29689 + Knowles composite dual balanced armature 31736
• Impedance: 26Ω
• Frequency response: 20Hz-20kHz
• Connector: 2pin 0.78mm
• Plug: 3.5mm/4.4mm straight plug
• Cable: silver-plated mixed cable

It’s important to note just how fast Head-Fi moves as this single introduction to Sound Rhyme as a company took place with that single Discovery Thread post back in the middle of February 2023. As such AmericanSpirit was onto something.

To quote AmericanSpirit…….
“TLDR; “Hit!”, Highly Recommendable as extremely high cost performing warm-neutral with U-hint. Has extremely wide range from sub-sub-bass to TOTL styled finesse articulation for 8-9khz, 15khz, and 20khz detail highlight, the reverb generation.

Usually vocalist-IEM doesn’t have diffusion field but this SR5 does have both, vocal richness as well as wide diffusions.”

In retrospect:
Maybe this was the perfect way to introduce the IEM brand…........with this single example?

The SR5:
10mm high polymer DD
Knowles ED29689 x2 (Mid)
Knowles 31736 composite tweeter x2 (Mid- High)
4 way crossover

The SR5:
What we have in many ways can be viewed as the underdog. Meaning sure I’ve only heard one other Sound Rhyme, the SR7. And while to be truthful I actually love the SR7 more. Meaning its playback is bigger and more technical, covering more ground yet of course costing more at $369.00. Plus the SR7 has switches. Later I will do side-by-sides with the SR5 and SR7…..but let's just say the sonic value of diminishing returns are wildly apparent upgrading to the SR7……..no you don’t go up (a huge percentage) in sound value with way over 2X the price.

And really that is the entire point of this review, that the underdog SR5 is quite the performer, that it has a balance in playback, a character of being a vocal IEM yet with the added class upgrade of a bigger more expensive IEM in regards to technicalities.

Package:

Packaging photos Penon Audio

The case:
Normally I don’t talk too much about the added extras. I mean sure they are important here, except just looking at this screw down case……….in no way would you guess it came with an IEM costing just $149.00?

Sure common sense would suggest that you take out the 2 pieces of foam inside the screw down case and use it with the included cable as a water tight and bullet-proof transport device. But take note that this works like a charm as we still gain the benefits of the lower foam insert permanently glued onto the bottom and under the lid!

In such a set-up we can enjoy a water tight, no-rattle..........super compact traveling case.

It you don’t want to go through the trouble of unscrewing the case lid each time, Sound Rhyme has included a second leather magnetically closed case for alternative use.

Adding a cleaning cloth to the inside of the case:
As such an extra cleaning cloth goes one-step-farther to guarantee safe transport against a single inner bevel (which could be harmful in scratching the IEMs) right at the lip. Of course if you feel like changing cables each time, the IEMs can be transported as they came with the screw down case foam inside, leaving room for the IEMs alone.



Faceplate:
As such the stock faceplate is cool in an understated way. If you by chance shine a UV light onto it you will witness a green afterglow that lasts almost 1 second. This style of faceplate has been used by qdc, and EPZ among others. If by chance you want more faceplate choices an extra $45.00 gets you a huge choice of four pages of alternative faceplate ideas.



The Cable:
Normally I don't give the included cables too much emphasis, except here is the exception to the rule. As it turns out the cable is the exact same cable that comes with the SR7. A silver plated copper affair that has great feel in the hands. The ear-hooks are of average pressure and in can come in your choice of 3.5mm or 4.4mm.





Build:
Finding itself rather small compared to the the HiSenior Okavango 6 BA + 1DD, and even smaller in comparison to the Sound Rhyme SR7 6 BA + 1 DD Universal IEM......we are gifted with perfect fitment. The metal nozzle end holds ear-tips on perfectly without movement. Take note of the careful semi-custom shape which allows the IEM to form that much closer to your ears. Really as of a few years ago they have dialed this fitment thing to exact standards, allowing basically this exact style of shape to be almost commonly found, especially since we are not trying to put too many parts inside the SR5.

You will note a single air-vent off the side.

The SR5 parts inside:
High frequency: Knowles 31736 composite dual balanced armature.
Medium frequency: 2 Knowles 29689 balanced armature, improve voice resolution, medium frequency density balance.
Low frequency: use of 10mm composite diaphragm dynamic driver with an impedance 16Ω. Uses a Polymer PU composite diaphragm. And a N52 NdFeB shell, gold-plated magnet.

Response to staging:
Here is the deal. When testing often an attribute of an IEM comes to light which is not totally normal. Meaning I test IEMs every week, actually a couple times a week. But once in a while an ability will surprise me......so much so that I have to ask myself.........in the moment.........does every IEM do this? The ability to relay soundstage correctly is an inherent ability of the SR5. Now I'm not just talking right to left. No, I was able to choose sources which pumped the staging ability into forward and back, top to bottom. It was the SR5's ability to exactly transfer stage size into audible levels of character. As such we can discover what ability your sources have to keep the stage medium, or to go hog wild in stage displacement.


Back-to-backs:

Left to right:
$369.00 Sound Rhyme SR7 6 BA + 1 DD Universal IEM
$149.00 Sound Rhyme SR5 4 BA + 1 DD Universal IEM
$299.00 The HiSenior Okavango 6 BA + 1DD Universal IEM
$239.00 The HiSenior Mega5P 4 BA + 1 DD Universal IEM



The SR7 phenomena:
$369.00 Sound Rhyme SR7 6 BA + 1 DD Universal IEM
One of the later discovered traits of the SR7 was that just by its nature it seemed to add a style of robust authority to whatever DAP I tried it with. Meaning the SR7 would add playback girth and density to whatever was upstream. Use the SR7 with a phone or even an entry level DAP like the HiBy R3 II and find a welcome home owning an ongoing fireplace which seemed to add coziness and even love……….If I can stretch these ideas? This home had the furnishings and full-on comfort of much more expensive IEMs, and as such could be welcomed with open arms.

As such we were immersed in such SR7 character traits which upon first learning became a riddle, a riddle of warmth in question being slightly too much………then later decided upon being exactly right. Yep, the SR7 is like that, especially if you live with it on a daily basis, rotating through as many IEMs as I do. What this means in the end is there is a sizable stage and that stage is filled with lush excesses, though topped off with details, only not all the details……..yet 100% musicality. So that’s the SR7.

Where the SR5 comes off easily more accessible. It is the more strait-laced friend that does not take chances, nor challenge fate with chances with too many ideas of warm wildness. Yep, the SR5 is out to prove that it knows the ropes inside of playback and could in fact be chosen over the more expensive SR7 simply by being more up-front and normal. This normality is simply an attribute I place on sound replay after side-by-sides. This business of comparing IEMs side-by-side is really not that difficult or confusing, especially with two IEMs like the SR7 and SR5 to compare. Where sure there are only 2BAs between the two to make differences……..yet that would be misleading to most. Except of course the differences between the two IEMs is way more than that…….as they are tuned differently and have very different destination ideas from the start. Where sure the SR7 has the tuning switches which offers more ways to go, but I have landed on both switches up getting the biggest stage. And while attempting to create a closer brotherhood by dialing the SR7 switches to the vocal setting or pop music setting further substantiated the fact that one IEM is a cat, and one IEM is a fish. That in-fact going back and forth between the SR7 with switches, and the SR5……one starts to almost hear the SR5 as more filled-in. Yep, even with less drivers, the airiness obtained inside the midrange and treble went to solidify the fact that the SR5 is not messing around here. Even the bass between the two SR7 and SR5 was very close to the same. I mean that is basically what everyone is saying about the SR5…….that its basic demeanor is nice bass, elevated upper midrange/trebles which promotes vocals and a Hybrid separation with added airiness that you never get tired of................or is never too much. You see, this was a hard pill to swallow for this reviewer, only because I love the SR7. Sure I know it is not perfect, but the SR7 baths in personality. It is this personality that becomes endearing. Where we can kind-of make the SR7 become like the SR5…….it never truly is, even with switches changed. The bass always stayed the same but after each flick of a switch the midrange and treble were altered to be closer to the SR5, except at times there was more contrast in the treble and at other times it actually seemed less filled in from midrange/treble character. There are more BAs for the playback, and switches to work wonders, this can’t be a correct summarization? But it is, and that’s the magic the SR5 brings to the table. A switchless model that is dialed in just right, being able and capable to playback many genres and many DAP upstream characters, all with-in acceptable levels. Where is the SR5 missing stuff? Well………it is the harmonics inside those correct tones which (as an example) get found and broadcast by the SR7 better. Fuller, of more detail, and of more realistic tone. There is simply more information combining to create a slightly softer but more filled out stance tonally in the end. And it is partially that stance that goes along to provide the SR7’s total personality, regardless of switch positioning.

None of this should undermine the exotic (rare) yet truthful and mainstream playback performed by the SR5…....as it is doing a lot with a little. Getting just the right amount of bass to go that step forward to make you realize that you are listening to a Hybrid in action. Boom!

The bass playback is wonderfully separated into the stage, a place all its own, yet owning a smooth and pleasant tone holding details and correct pace. The bass has the frequency range, only it is naturally fast and doesn’t interfere with the midrange. As such the midrange and treble also go the extra mile to guarantee you that Hybrid separation sensation into the stage. There is this character the BAs do that is the very reason why we purchase Hybrids in the first place. Yet the treble and midrange (while holding contrast) are still very blended with the total character of playback, showing an upper-end sophistication far above the SR5’s humble price point. The SR5 has a style where you start to guess the vocals both male and female are better than the SR7, that while sure the stage is larger with what the SR7 does (especially on the stage switch settings). But the SR5 is going forward to proclaim a cleaner and less nonsense form of IEM playback, it is simply not messing around here. I hate to say it but the vocals really are special here and would be perceived as better in most cases, than the SR7. Only while vocals are sitting slightly back farther the SR7 is offering a more filled-in and finer detail of sound design…….....only showing-up less vivid than the SR5?




$299.00 The HiSenior Okavango 6 BA + 1DD Universal IEM
Probably what shows up first is how good but still different the Okavango is. Really surprisingly the bass is heavier (than the SR5) and that is almost the last thing I was expecting? There are more BAs here, and in small ways you can extract such clues. There is finite small extra extensions of treble drum elements out into the stage, only somehow I’m finding the SR5 both slightly less detailed due to less drivers actualized, but the Okavango tuning here is a tad less forward in the upper midrange/treble, that like the SR7 we are simply getting a slightly toned down level of replay in the upper midrange and treble with more bass. Now you would think that would get the Okavango into dark water……..when nothing could be farther from the truth.

Dark water for the Okavango?
That this is all very small differences enabling both IEMs to ride out almost (in-a-way) the same basic tune profile. It is just that the Okavango somehow comes off a more filled out example in stage, with a more robust bass but a softer treble, yet only ever so soft in comparison to the SR5. I mean sure you can hear the extra money and where it went with the Okavango, only this slight brightness could almost be looked at as more resolving as far as the SR5 goes. There is a slight element of more smoothness with the Okavango, but after spending as much time as I have with the SR5……..at this point that Okavango smoothness is hard to grasp onto……it would take a few hours to maybe say it was correct. Where yes, more energy into stage realization becomes the SR5’s theme and road to success.



$239.00 The HiSenior Mega5P 4 BA + 1 DD Universal IEM
Just so you know the Mega5P is the closest to our SR5 in size. And while close to the same price with the Mega5P being more money………the sound in many ways has the SR5 gaining ground, as I gave it a half star more in review score.

This Mega5P smoothness this could be a bad thing or a good thing……….but it's a tad warmer/smoother. Yep not holding that forward SR5 energy into both the upper midrange or treble. The next thing is the Mega5P bass is probably at the same level as the SR5, but comes off not as controlled or as precise. Not that it is bad in any way, just that is what it is, slower and not as clean of attack or let-go. When you combine that with the tailored back midrange and treble energy……..the vividness and separation get lessened. I say all this and it may give you the idea that the Mega5P has something wrong with it, and it doesn’t, it’s just one is vanilla ice-cream and the other is vanilla with sparkles on-top.

Do you know which one has the sparkles?

But besides that, the part here that I don’t want to get misinterpreted is the fact that the Mega5P is of a more cohesive demeanor, that it is almost less having the Hybrid effect. And of course when the treble details emerge out of this sleepier night, those gorgeous Mega5P treble details are still separated and dislocated into view, they just are not as contrasty or vivid………..and if you are susceptible to such extra heat, the Mega5P may be more your cup of tea.




Musical experiences:
Here is the thing, I simply choose my music tests by intuition. Same as the IEMs used for side-by-sides. Sure I think about the IEMs to compare in a logical fashion, only at times I don't exactly know (or I am not conscious) of the total reasons for an IEM comparisons or musical genre choice test subjects? More often than not this results in a great learning thing. Sure the side-by-sides were/are of more expensive IEMs in comparison, yet those exact IEMs turned-out to be the perfect examples of IEMs to use as they delineated (by example) both the strong points and the weak points of the SR5......plus they were close enough to enlighten (us to) the true character of the SR5.

While in the forums the SR5 gets chosen a lot for Orchestral Music, this review can't be written to leave that out.

Reason being is the SR5's true cleanliness of stature and profound airiness. This air should be noted as probably the single thing that separates the SR5 from its contemporaries. Being normally you have to pay a little more, or a lot more for these treble details. Yet they have been done in a sophisticated way where they just push the frequencies to that zone without going farther. In fact when I study my musical choices below I have found some great examples of both opportunity to express what the SR5 does well, and have examples of slight challenges for this little guy. Yet the very last song Episode has an introduction of the brightest treble in my musical collection. Not only that........ but the song is played back with one of the brightest sources I own, or should I say one of the most V sources I own. Typically this would be a recipe for disaster as we are combining a bright song file with a bright source, then combining that with wide-bore ear-tips........providing the clearest replay with the biggest stage.

Ear-tips:
Still the wide-bore ear-tips get us the fastest bass. The results were reassuring in that (for me anyway) the SR5 performed at the detailed max. What that means is the SR5 had the ability to both show an involved and intricate treble ability......full of cymbals and very separated treble effects.....yet it walks that line of not being too fiery or unpleasant. As such as a listener I have my own treble threshold just like everyone else, yet still I think it is average, as I can at times find IEMs to be too glaring or too pushed out into a forward upper midrange. That’s also realizing that as listeners we will often reduce playback volume at times (just slightly) to compensate for treble energy. In comparison to the SR5 there are examples of the IEM art that allow for vast increases in volume to hear the music, yet the personality of the SR5 we are never finding the need to push the volume for clarity, as clarity is always found at many different volume levels.

Clarity at multiple volume levels:
As such you can still add volume to a treble pushed song and enjoy a balance while still activating the spacial clues and imaging that simply goes along with such (increased) levels of playback. Once more the air here is our friend, and one of the special additives which is typically not found at this price level. Sure there are more IEMs at this price point that do this kind of bass, yet here the details and cleanness of the bass texture goes forward as another introduction to further the overall value in the end.

E-Mantra
Expedition Frozen Taiga
When Darkness Comes
44.1 kHz- 24 bit
Here I’m utilizing the Sony WM1A with MrWalkaman’s Firmware, the SR5 of course hooked to the Penon ASOS Plus cable. 80% of the time I use my regular clear wide-bore silicone ear-tips. Here is the thing……..I use this source most all the time. Meaning pretty much all the other Dongles and DAPs don’t get used as much. This creates a relationship with tone that is almost misleading. Why? Well you are so used to the DAP that you may even overlook an IEM character in places. Where there are many ways we are nourishing the midrange attitudes of the SR5 and allowing the bass to become slightly more controlled, offering up an even faster approximation of low-end.

Also the WM1A stage is crazy wide anyways then amplified by the aftermarket software into a kind of palace of sonics.

Due to trying to gain a better well rounded idea as to playback, this set-up will be my first and last time to put such DAP into use. Here we are both bathing in slightly chillier water than what is to follow source/tonal wise. The bass with its extra low-weight gives the feeling of carefully walking that magic line……..being just right, but at the same time we don’t want any less. With this style of music being dependent on bass quality for emphasis of the message it parlays………still all is well. As such the tone is once again a clue as to the balance we have found. Why? Not like this song would ever have any stridence of off-recording tone to it……….except there are bigger fish to fry……we simply never want to get bored. Yep, boredom is a quality of playback that has maybe something to do with what you are used to……..as far as sonic stimulus? I have tried to understand the smallest aspects of how and why boredom can happen? But to study a piece of music………..new, slightly new additives are used to combat this (at times) uncontrollable off-effect. It can be the very reason you push fast forward to the next song……..looking, searching for satisfaction. It may be resulting from the music, it may be resulting from the quality of tone playback……..it could be a combination of both?

Yet just like a well vacuumed house, you know it, you can feel it.........and bask in the knowledge that (this) is the best you can do. You have worked and now is time to relax, to get recharged.

Satisfaction:
You see the opposite of the word boredom could be satisfaction. You are satisfied and are not hungry for any more than what is on your plate at the time. This is the set-up at the moment. Simply the song, the cable, the DAP and the IEM. Why…….? Truly I don’t know. I can put some guesses to work here, but I don’t have all the answers. There is a dose of even and complete playback. There is an amount of correctness……..there is the approximation of tones to where the message was transferred to the listener with the desired amount of stimulus, yet nothing is wrong or out of place. Many “experts” might say no, you can’t have that, because the WM1A is not bass heavy enough to proclaim success with this style of bass heavy music? Well……the proof is in the reception and the validation of completeness here. But with the SR5 (maybe nowhere yet in my testing) am I finding the stage so special……..the fact that the music information is not only thick but wide right to left, it is going down and up……….there is nothing more to ask for. And because the SR5 is slightly more clean than your run-of-the-mill bass provider, it is intrinsically faster. Stuff is getting out-of-the-way right before the next transient takes place. It’s that with a mellow song like this.........there starts to become a timeless feeling, a feeling of euphoria……….and more euphoria. I have to move on to more music tests, yet this playback has me smitten here…………and like that perfect place, I don’t want to move on, I don’t want to move forward in this review…………but more (music) ideas are to be found and maybe more realizations as to the SR5 quality lay uncovered?

Still this is kinda the apex of the review……..as at times you simply through experience of listening, or by just chance, you have fully sold your (reviewer) self on the IEM in question.

This may be by chance fully mentally acclimated into the sonic character, that or you just found an album you like and relate to? We all do this, sometimes more often, sometimes less often but it is the magic we are all searching for……..it is simply musical involvement. Forgetting the little things in life, and grabbing hold and living in the moment.



E-Mantra
Neverending Story
Neverending Story
44.1 kHz - 16 bit
Here we are using the HiBy R3 II and a file player (TypeC USB 3.1) to the GO bar as the source hooked up to the Penon ASOS Plus cable with my regular wide-bore ear-tips. This is grand in that really one of the fortes here is how well the SR5 introduces purely electronic soundscapes. This style of chill-out smoothness takes a totally adequate position into staging, and imaging parleys…….even though this doesn’t go the very widest in my source collection. Still the images are brisk and warm, clear and showing a kind of unarguable coherency? The bass in this set-up is not too much at all, but holds that charm when everything is just right. Probably best of all the SR5 does reverberations and holds note weight here………I mean if that is missing from IEM replay the score may drop by two stars here at Redcarmoose Labs? You see everything can be correct, but if note-weight and reverberations are not there 90% of the time we are in trouble.

And the wild thing is normally note-weight and reverberations go hand in hand……..as you normally don’t get one without the other.



Deep Forrest
Deep Forrest
Sweet Lullaby
44.1 kHz - 16 bit
Here we are challenging playback with a different set-up. A stage not as big as the next device to be used, the Sony WM1Z………..yet this set-up holds its own fabulous benefits. Here we are using the HiBy R3 II as only a file server to the ifi GO bar as the Dongle. Due to the HiBy doing USB 3.1 we are able to access 100% of the power potential of the GO bar. Still with the ASOS Plus we are accessing a smooth yet relatively brisk sonic attitude. Here the GO bar actually comes off slightly more rolled-off than the Sony WM1Z……..though this is truly special. And not just special, it is somehow very coherent….maybe due to the Dongle, or just synergy? Such spacial juxtapositions go to showcase a nice but not gigantic stage……….you see the SR5 is going to go along with whatever signal you feed it. Show the SR5 a giant stage like the WM1Z does and reap the rewards, but showcase a cohesive and purely still exciting and natural GO bar style of playback and that is what you get. Rolling through about 5 other recordings……..the proof is in the testing. So it is not the song here, but the playback stream. The SR5 produces the stage it is given to play with.

Theater of Tragedy
Assembly (Remastered)
Episode
44.1 kHz - 24 bit
I didn’t go into this (too much) yet, but now it is as good a time as any. Due to the resolve we are able to fully understand the demeanor of our source. Here for this song I used the Penon ASOS Plus cable and the WM1Z DAP. Resulting in a kind of treble test, but the ASOS Plus offers a wide stage and a smoothness of sorts, not the smoothness of a pure Copper cable, but a nice middle ground where we are getting the wide-band effervescence of the silver (additive) and the staging...............but joined with a totally correct smoothness which just works-out in the end. The song Episode turns out to be the brightest song I know of. And while bright it is because of the extra adds of treble and upper midrange elements are used to propel a kind of sonic thrill to the song. Big imaging and itemization of every little thing in the upper ranges. Yet here you would think we would get too much emphasis with the 1Z doing its thing. Yep the 1Z can be spicy being it has more treble emphasis than the mid-centric WM1A, adding a fishbowl effect of treble imaging spacial in size, and spread out forward and back, right and left outside of your head.

I mean this was slightly different than what I have been listening to with the SR5………but so good I had to pull the SR5 out of my ears to make sure there was no testing confusion going on. Yep, it was just that good, reason being (maybe ) natural staging, correct instrument tone and fun inner textures. Everything worked here…….and better than worked.......it was one of the single best examples of music today. This goes one step further to justify that the overall treble and upper midrange tonal choices (with the SR5) are both correct and forgiving.

Conclusion:
So there you have it, my take on the SR5. And it can be your choice too if you think getting a low-cost IEM with a big attitude is what you are after? Sure there are bigger stages for the finding, except maybe not at $149.00…….you see that’s what Hybrids do best. They go about their own fashion ideas of stage size........normally the biggest in IEM land. 2nd to that are the contrasts.........yep there for the finding are tone differences found between the bass and the top-end here. Mainly that single treble detail and sculpturing is what set the SR5 apart from similarly priced offerings. What is on offer is a mild U shape affair with clarity in both the vocal department and bass playbacks…….a structuring of these imaging elements........that through contrasts make-up the overall character. Even if you have purchased above the SR5 price point before, or if this is the most expensive IEM you have taken a chance on, I can promise you the SR5 is very even, complete and correct, yet still holding those charms that makes you want to listen to it all the time.

$149.00
https://penonaudio.com/sound-rhyme-sr5.html

Disclaimer:
I want to thank Penon/ISN Audio for the love and for the Sound Rhyme SR5 Universal IEM review sample.

Disclaimer:
These are one person's ideas and concepts, your results may vary.

Equipment Used:
Sony WM1Z Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm
Sony WM1A Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm
Sony TA-ZH1ES DAC/AMP Firmware 1.03
Electra Glide Audio Reference Glide-Reference Standard "Fatboy" Power Cord
Sony Walkman Cradle BCR-NWH10
AudioQuest Carbon USB
Samsung Phone 3.5mm
ifi GO bar Dongle
HiBy R3 II DAP

The entering of the ASOS Plus Era:
Redcarmoose Labs March 14th, 2024

So when I found out Penon was planning to make a + version of the original ASOS cable I was surprised. At least I was surprised a little, because the best part of winning is to run-with-it. That’s right when you get a window to success, why not find an opportunity to make it one step better? Meaning the groundwork has already been set-up to go to that next level. Now the ASOS and ASOS+ cables look very much the same, but I can promise you the two are very different. I mean first off the sound of the ASOS+ is noticeably thicker and changes how imaging and tone is presented, especially in the midrange. Sure you may think they simply took an ASOS cable and added the different Palladium Purple Plug (on one end) and Palladium 2Pins (on the other) and called it a day. But nope, there was more footwork than that. I know because I received a ASOS+ prototype cable, and I didn’t really spend too much time with it as I was told it was an example of a product not yet finished. In truth Penon changed actual cable material inside the wires into a different make-up for each model: the original ASOS, this ASOS prototype and the final version of the ASOS+. You can physically see that they look of different thickness and color, clearly a different material build process.

One of the differences is the permanent 4.4mm or 3.5mm ASOS Plus plug, in contrast to the regularly offered 3-in-1 modular plug of the regular ASOS Cable.


The other difference from the original ASOS chrome 2Pins is the actual ASOS+ Purple Plug 2Pins to the right here.


The Palladium Purple Plugs and 2Pins:
While you could simply put a Purple Plug onto the end of the original ASOS and arrive at the direction of the ASOS+, yet there are differences. I will go into the differences from the Purple Plug (added) ASOS to the ASOS+.

Basically there was room for this new tonal expansion to take place from the original ASOS. First-off the original ASOS cable was the watershed cable event of 2023. The ASOS cable I have heard bettered an entire collection of 80 (another members) previously purchased cables in the end. Now I would not go quite that far, except the results have started a love affair here at Redcarmoose Labs. So much that the ASOS moved into the reference spot, going with pretty much every IEM that showed-up on the door-step. Why? Well, clarity my friends, the original ASOS had this see-through character which pushed-up imaging and resolve into clearly realized items of focus. Now both the midrange and treble got this slightly airy boost like a smooth style of silver energy which promoted both separation and an airy tone. That was combined with this blackness of background which somehow made a separate window to view the bass tones, they were textured and not blurry, but also itemized and in relief against this black background. As such the original ASOS didn’t really color the sound but politely offered a boost in all those things we always want from our IEMs in the first place.

Yet there was room, there was room for a ASOS 2 to come along and add imaging density and realness. A further separation of the midrange into its own 3D images out into the stage. There is no denying that these images hold a simply darker position in relation to the original ASOS, except remember there was much room to go this direction and still remain evenly balanced in the end. Yep, both cables are what I would call even balanced with an ounce of character, but not a total coloring character. The best part maybe is that both the ASOS+ and the ASOS own this midrange girth that adds stage. Yep, and I don’t want to over emphasize this, except it is one of the star attributes going on here. The ASOS…….a clearer slightly more energetic midrange girth and the ASOS+ a slightly denser and heavier touchable character, touchable and holdable because it is more real.

The thing is though both cables end-up complementary. They are almost opposite in some regards here. What that means is having both ends a true way to cover all your bases. Yep, put the original ASOS with your darker IEMs and place the ASOS+ with your brighter IEMs. Still remember there is so much balance (and non-color) going on here that strangely you can also put the ASOS+ with your darker IEMs and the ASOS original with you brighter IEMs and still reach a perfect level of satisfaction. What I just wrote may in fact be the most important sentence in this review, only because it totally explains the usage scenario here. Possibly suggesting the changes described here........resulting from the swift movement roll of the tone knob? Meaning the midrange knob roll back of the ASOS+ and the midrange forwardness (knob turn) of the original ASOS……..yet that only goes to explain a segment of the two cables sonic character. There is an actual presence of formations from tone that take on a definable but difficult to describe new character in your tracks with the ASOS+……………a denser image, holding thicker tonal ideas of reality perceived and heard, yet still with-in moderate boundaries in the end.



The Purple Plug and the ASOS+ cable material change-outs:
I don’t want to make this review longer than it needs to be except with Penon and ISN 3-in-1 modular cables you have a complete choice of different plugs to use with the Purple only offering one example of tone.



The Rhodium Plated Plug in 3.5mm Plug or 4.4mm Plug
The Palladium Purple Plug in 3.5mm Plug or 4.4mm Plug
The Oxygen Free Copper Plug in 3.5mm Plug or 4.4mm Plug
The Totem Adaptor Plug in 3.5mm Plug or 4.4mm Plug
The OS133 Adapter Cable in 3.5 mm Plug or 4.4mm Plug

Each (prior cable material choice) example drives your desired tone signature into a different part of town. At times small and at times a more noticeable improvement or change. Obviously the IEMs used, Ear-tips, Cable and Source personality can affect the end result, being which-way or the other. Because this review is about the ASOS+ and the ASOS differences we will concentrate on what the Purple Plug does to the original ASOS. Remember the included 2Pin connectors are not Purple Palladium when trying the Purple Plug with the original ASOS.



The new Penon Pure Oxygen-Free Copper Plug. Pictures from a soon to be published Penon OFC Solid Oxygen-Free Copper Plug review here at Redcarmoose Labs. At 7 grams a piece this is our heaviest plug to date, as well as holding its very own unique sound signature when placed onto the front of a Penon 3-in-1 modular cable system.

The Penon Purple Copper Plug:


The Penon Purple Copper Plug:
$29.00
https://penonaudio.com/penon-purple-copper-plug.html

Plug verification:
I just want to emphasize that while slightly confusing, it is easy to join the correct different plug and identify it from the plug grouping. As you can see the base of the Purple Plug has a small lotus flower engraved. The OFC Copper Plug has a small zig-zag line, and the Rhodium is Rhodium silver color. But beyond that……

4.4mm plug weight:
4 grams the Rhodium Plug in weight
5 grams the Purple Copper Plug in weight
7 grams the OFC Copper Plug in weight

I mean sure the weight discovery is only representative of the material used, but yes ...it is amazing that the Rhodium Plug is almost twice less the weight of the OFC Copper Plug. And there gets to a place that I’m not privy to the Penon build process. Maybe due to the Rhodium Plating that the regular plug material is the correct way to go underneath? I’m lucky as I just get the living results with-out the confusion of the build process. As the regular 3-in-1 modular plug in 4.4 weighs 4 grams. I mean I’m obsessed with this plug stuff, but I’m not totally insane……….as I haven’t weighed every plug I own. Yet the important difference is the plugs are of a very different make-up and design here.


The Purple Plug and original ASOS Cable in comparison to the ASOS+
This is simply a chance to see if we could cut costs if the ASOS was all you had, or if you wanted to beat the system and simply get the ASOS Cable and Purple Plug and call it a day, with the chance you could reach the ASOS+ levels of changes:

So remember beforehand, the ASOS+ has the Purple Plug also the Purple 2Pins and the different cable wire make-up.


Top the ASOS+ and bottom the regular ASOS cable material:

Penon Volt past flagship:
In my tests we are using the Walkman 1A and Penon Volt past flagship IEM. Changing back and forth between cables at the same volume and using the same piece of music there was a question of added darkness but beyond that it really wasn’t darkness………..more to be described as a slight down-tone……….yet only a feather of such. Maybe like using EQ, I don’t know as I don’t use EQ. But as an example the Walkman 1A uses MrWalkman’s firmware which makes it smoother than stock programing. As such it is still mid-centric with a prominent midrange resulting sound stage. As such the WM1A music gets a push in those same frequencies as the stock ASOS, and the stock ASOS and Purple Plug. Yet resulting in the Purple Plug/ASOS having the frequencies be slightly diminished, but not to the extra luxury profoundness of the ASOS+.

So brightness is top to bottom:
1) Most bright the standard ASOS with Penon 3-in-1 modular plug
2) Second brightness with the Palladium Purple Plug ASOS
3) Warmest with the ASOS+

Meaning the ASOS+ had a smoother sound and was not quite as bright in the end.

This really depends on so many things……as your source may be darker and you want the added clarity of the stock ASOS with regular Penon 3-in-1 Plug. The thing is in use with the WM1A and Volt IEM there was an ongoing connection where sure I could have changed sources, but in that case again it would be adding again a different (whole) personality to playback. What I’m trying to say is I’m getting the very best of all worlds here. Why? I’m simply getting the faster bass response of the 1A with the Volt, plus I’m getting a smoother, more accessible and richer ASOS+ playback in the end. Sure I could have written many more paragraphs on the ASOS+ Cable, the WM1A DAP and the VOLT IEM………..except it may have deluded the point. This is really not that complicated once you get down to it.

And remember too……..all this is subjective and depends on user preferences as to the tone of the DAP, the Ear-tips used, and ultimately the final character of the IEM you are using. Oh……and the character of the cable and plug you are using too. While just for for schiits and giggles I tried the Rhodium plug and found it thinner and brighter in this use with the original ASOS. It would maybe be a wanted effect if you were trying to dial in a sleepy playback or simply had a preference for more treble. Still you all know how these preferences are…….that normally they do align with common thoughts about playback. Some like warm bathwater, and some like only slightly warm bathwater, but only a few take cold baths……and only a select few take insanely hot baths……you know of the few and it is not normal. Here we are basking in the middle ground. I already explained how the ASOS+ is not too warm or too bright, in that it lives in the comfort zone, the place we all go for relaxation. Sure I used the Purple Plug to try and rearrange the tonal output of the Penon Mix Cable. See that’s the thing……..there is nothing like the Penon Mix Cable going on here with either ASOS or ASOS+.

Meaning the Penon Mix is a volatile mixture of pure silver wires and pure copper wires, which go to add vivid contrasts to whatever DAP and IEM you use. Still obviously we all have a sleepy IEM in need of a boost in treble details and air.

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/penon-mix.25122/reviews#review-30153

Remember every cable has its place and tone, yet it could be said that the Mix Cable is not as well rounded and the ASOS or ASOS+. Sure some are going to gravitate to that enhanced treble push……….where with both the ASOS and ASOS+ we are receiving a smoother yet still well (stage) expanded tone. It is these workable character additives which makes the ASOS and ASOS+ go with pretty much all IEMs and sources…………that that is what this review is about.

The Penon ASOS Plus with music and different IEMs:

Test results:
Here we simply walk through a few interfaces of the ASOS Plus in use. Yep, here is the fun part, all the dirty work we have already gone through. This is simple and easy to do. First off what happens when you take off the testing hat....... what in the musical world becomes anew? Yep, 1/2 of Head-Fi is testing 98% of the time and forgot the real reason we are here. Simply we are here to find out just how close we can get to old favorites or new music. For the music to become real (even though it is an illusion from a time long gone). An emotional experience walking into the light and mind of another’s or a whole group's musical imagination. The producers, the recording room staff, the musicians…….everyone is involved and doing something they enjoy. Getting yourself closer to the music simply means finding a tone that you relate with, finding a stage which has an enjoyable set of music characteristics to befriend.



The Penon 10th Anniversary:
My gosh, as everyone knows this is my favorite product by Penon. And to realize that the ASOS+ takes those final steps as you walk closer into illumination. Illumination bathing in the creativity of the performers. How, why………..really? You ask if I believe what I’m writing? I do and so much so this is not work but fun. The 10th goes and grabs onto the energy of the ASOS Plus stage, finding other cables maybe a tad smoother, but no way am I going to argue with the perfect quality this combination performs. It is like the question of really…………….really………….really is this THAT good? Because it is and it is almost unbelievable. Why? Synergy was the word that came up for this spectacle of performance. To try and climb down from my mountain here……….the reality is a mixture of it all. The bass is trim but holding correct detail, there is a place inside the stage where it has grabbed hold of life, life that is moving us, sometimes gently, sometimes with authority……..but always in balance.

Come-on:
This is my favorite Penon. I can talk this way……..right?

The mids with the 10th are not always the IEMs strongpoint, yet here there is only a memory of such talk. Reminder we are emphasizing midrange girth and stature and this style just blends with the 10th to bring about slightly smoother and thicker vocals enabling us to find s style of well roundedness and clarity. Clarity because playback is vivid yet well roundedness because of no heat or temper………….the 10th is going along for the ride like this particular cable was made for it. Just simply totally correct……….you get the message. It is everything I wrote about in the 10th review, only everything is a hair better……closer, bigger, more width, faster and more fun………most importantly fun!

The ISN Neo 5:
Slightly darker than the 10th, but offering just the same amount of involvement. Sure the ESTs have been changed out and that results in a portion of less electricity…………..and of course we are not basking in candle light here? In fact the two IEMs are from the same company and offer a huge amount of the same magic……….really both are exceptional for what they do. And this review is about the ASOS Plus so what do we have here? Again a bigger stage and from memory a more even balanced style of tone…………though do you know where that comes from? From control over the imaging through separation and pace. Yep, I know this sounds like a sales pitch, and it is in a way, only I am 100% honest in relaying this is some of the best I have ever heard the Neo 5 become. We have been on a journey to the Neo 5 mountain top. It came with the ISN S8 which was changed to the ISN S4 which brought up the pace and imaging, clarifying the signal to the Neo 5. And guess what just happened again………..yep taking no prisoners, the ASOS Plus is now taking the Neo 5 home to a place it truly belongs to a place where the priceless live………………….. a place of giving you the listener satisfaction that you are with-out want or desire. Need I say more?

No? Yes? No?

Ok, there is this thing with the Neo 5. Where separation moves the vocals out and forward, into this movement into the stage. These artifacts of expression are encountered just that much more connected yet bigger and without question bigger? GIANT. All the while the bass is controlled and paced into the end…….an IEM that is without a doubt fully actualized.



The Penon DOME:
I’m not so sure everyone writes DOME when describing the DOME? But I am now…..anyway. And there is a big reason for me putting this test last in the order of appearance. You see, I have already tested all these IEMs beforehand. And that I feel added quality to the review, in that multiple times we have the same playback. Of course many things affect how we perceive an IEM. What you ate for breakfast, how many cups of coffee you had. Even what IEMs you have been listening to the week before. The mind is a funny thing……..It remembers by contrast the IEM in your ear compared to one (in your ear) the day before yesterday……..this I believe. Now there is another change too. Every time we hear an IEM it is a new experience, a new chance to hear it for what it is and (what) the IEM it is not. Meaning nothing is perfect, only sunsets and beautiful women are perfect………….at times. So we have a DOME review done here at Redcarmoose Labs, and it came with opinions about the DOME. Are those opinions set in stone? Nope, they were momentary opinions taking place at the time of the review. Everyone is human and has a right to re-hear the IEM and make additional ideas known. That is a process occurring that I really want to reiterate here. That reviews are accurate at the time of review but are always subject to slight changes in perception. And while I reviewed the DOME as having an in-your-face midrange, it became even more in-your-face as the days passed after the review was written. None of this is bad, and just goes to prove that we know our equipment, except at times an IEMs character can be perceived as just slightly different. Probably the very most change has occurred for me with the ISN EST50 IEM. Through different cables and ear-tips I have learned to change the bass, and accept (through new experiences) that the ISN EST50 is a whole different beast than when I first reviewed it. Also in about 90% of cases the IEMs will get better.

Yet this DOME with the ASOS+ is what this review is about, a slightly new way to enjoy an IEM that before did the basics well and grand, yet now possibly even better. Wait I said possibly even better……..no this is most surely a great way to spend an afternoon.

The DOME with ASOS+ Cable:
Here we are taking steps towards a more timbre correct midrange. You see when things are dialed back ever so slightly a midrange and upper midrange like what the DOME does becomes that much more real. I mean sure there is a timbre that a full-range single DD does morning to nite that a Hybrid can’t touch. We all know this and accept this always. Yet there is a displacement of items…………a shuffling around of tonality into imaging and tone into broader images of the stage. These items are as real as sound artifacts can try to be, but because normally (inside the midrange) with the DOME they are big……big and in-your-face. It is this upfront midrange and this spectacular dissection of details that we came to the dinner table for. Only as guessed some cables may be slightly too much? And that is where the ASOS Plus personality comes in. It walks that fine line between separation and clarity, yet there is a place in the treble and upper midrange where it shows politeness and reserve. A smoother clean-up that we could access by using a different DAP, or different ear-tips……….still it wouldn’t quite be the same. And remember there are many ways a cable can be. This ASOS+ almost makes through balance a low end that seems slightly more sculpted, in relation to the original ASOS. Of course that could very well be resulting from complete IEM tonal relationship balance.

Yep, you go and add thickness to the midrange and just due to this new style of midrange existence, we perceive a slightly tighter bass replay in the end.


Top the ASOS+, bottom the standard ASOS

Top the ASOS+, bottom the 3-in-1 modular plug ASOS standard




The regular ASOS 3-in-1 Modular Cable one of my favorite cables of all time!

Per Dsnuts

• Silver for its highest transparency and stage enhancing.
• Gold for that rich tone and depth.
• Palladium for that remarkable imaging and detail.
• Copper for body and warmth.

As such we are simply trying to align the DAP and IEM characteristics with the Ear-tip to come about a better understanding of the music, to gain something or diminish some character trait somewhere in the chain. Except the special redeeming quality with the ASOS and ASOS+ is that they offer a particular stage size, a noticeable stage expression that goes above and beyond every cable in their respective price point and at times beyond the respective price point. As such these effects are readily noticeable and thoroughly appreciated due to specific separation and imaging always being something we are after.

It is just we are viewing amalgamation of input materials here……..


Brand: PENON
Model: ASOS
Materials: 8 strands, 25 cores alloy copper silver-plated + 99 cores single crystal copper silver-plated wire mixed
High transparent imported PVC wire sheath
Carbon fiber silver shell
3-in-1 modular plugs

Package includes:
Penon ASOS cable
3.5mm audio plug
2.5mm balanced plug
4.4mm balanced plug

Verses:

Penon ASOS+ 8 Shares Alloy copper Silver-plated & OCC Silver-plated Mixed HiFi Audiophile IEMs Cable wth Purple Copper Plugs

Description
Brand: PENON
Model: ASOS+
Materials: 8 strands, 25 cores alloy copper silver-plated + 99 cores single crystal copper silver-plated wire mixed
2pin 0.78mm purple copper connectors and plugs
High transparent imported PVC wire sheath
Carbon fiber protective sleeve

Package
Penon ASOS+ cable

To quote Dsnuts here:

“Cable manufacturers have experimented with all sorts of tricks like shielding, fancy geometries & alloys to elevate performance over the years, but the most surefire path to greatness seems to be building thick, heavy cables with huge numbers of wires in them.

More wires means more conductivity, which usually translates to better performance.”

Conclusion:
Both the ASOS and the ASOS Plus are top notch players, they go one step farther to get you and your listening times one step closer to what you want. I’m not about to say the ASOS Plus will work with every IEM, every DAP or Ear-tip on earth, but that is the way it's going. The direction is simple, add more wires and get a bigger sound, add the Purple plug and both ends of the cable and get a richer thicker sound than what the standard ASOS can do. And it’s not dark, only better separated and denser……….which brings with it a feeling of a less cluttered soundstage with more directness of focus………clarity. If this sounds like something you would like to be a part of, I can assure you the results are real, they are real and repeatable time after time. And I will finish with the fact that (I maybe shouldn’t say this) except the Penon ASOS and the Penon ASOS Plus are my references from here on out and will be found in use with pretty much all my future reviews. I mean because of how balanced they are, and combined with the fact that they pretty much go with everything to drum-up bigger more involving imaging………..they make every IEM different and different in a better way. Order yours today.

$169.90
https://penonaudio.com/Penon-ASOS.html

$215.00
https://penonaudio.com/Penon-ASOS-plus.html

Disclaimer:
I want to thank Penon Audio for the love and for the ASOS+ Cable review sample.

Disclaimer:
These are one person's ideas and concepts, your results may vary.

Equipment Used:
Sony WM1A Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm
Sony WM1Z Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm
Sony TA-ZH1ES DAC/AMP Firmware 1.03
Electra Glide Audio Reference Glide-Reference Standard "Fatboy" Power Cord
Sony Walkman Cradle BCR-NWH10
AudioQuest Carbon USB
HiBy R3 II DAP 4.4mm
ifi GO bar Dongle

THE EPZ G10 Universal IEM
Redcarmoose Labs March 9th, 2024

10MM PU + LCP Dynamic Driver Sonion IEM in Ear Monitor
$55.78 USD without USB
$62.52 USD with USB
https://www.linsoul.com/products/epz-g10

• Dynamic unit: 10MM dual cavity dual magnetic circuit, PU+LCP liquid crystal molecular sphere top diaphragm
• Sensitivity: 100db (± 3dB)
• Frequency range from 20Hz to: 20KHz
• Impedance: 32 Ω
• Plug diameter: 3.5MM
• Earphone plug type: 0.78MM dual pin
• Wire: 4-core single crystal copper silver plated
• Cable length: 1.2M
• Microphone: Yes
• Carbon fiber fluorescent panel
• 3D printing technology
• 360 ° omnidirectional noise reduction microphone

EPZ:
The EPZ company here is trying to fit in with offering a bundle. As such searching the web on-line or in a store, we may find extra value in seeing a microphone cable with the sound cable as a way to hook the G10 to the audio 3.5mm port and microphone port on a PC? Also this fluorescent flashlight which goes to momentarily act to make the G10 faceplate to light-up green for less than 1 second. Still the offerings, while different may be of value to a gamer, but as for pure sound response, I would need something more to buy into the G10 marketing. Namely low-end.

Yep, even with the extras included, the sound is the most important feature of the G10. While the EPZ G10 offers an incredible build, there are slightly long nozzles and a very smooth and joyful form factor………..again the low-end could have used an ounce or two more finishing before the G10 left the factory floor. And if you read my reviews I try not to be too fussy. Really I’m a pretty easy going reviewer, always looking to try and make things work-out. There is no way that offering a 3 star review is something I want to do, except if you are reading this review, I hope you read a few more on the G10 before making up your mind to make a purchase.

Biases:
Some recent history to always be mindful of as a reviewer, if you are to know yourself. What have you recently heard that could skew your understanding of a new IEM response? Did you just do a review of a 5 times more expensive IEM, therefore making this new lesser cost IEM sound cheap, or un-involving?

Your personal tone target:
A basic personal target response (which you own) to keep aware of. That a new IEM may not be so bad even if it doesn’t match your desired sound signature. All these things are important to somehow try and keep the subjectivity at bay. When in reality reviews are always subjective, yet we are looking for basic tone and technicality ideas of even, correct and complete responses or variations of those ideas.

The G10:
Here we are hearing an IEM which is deficient in both sub-bass and middle bass, and lower midrange. As such whatever fireworks are in focus through the balance of the tune are helping to delineate the 2.5kHz to 4.5kHz shelf. This results in a thin demeanor and emphasizing the lack of note weight. Along with that we are witnessing a going thru the motions style of musicality……….with an assortment of IEMs both lesser priced and slightly more money still outperforming the G10 at its very own game.

And example of success here is the 7Hz Salnotes Zero and Zero 2:

Probably the biggest thing is the bass or lack of it. Note graph.

Now I want you to focus not only on the amount of peak from 2.5kHz to 4.5kHz……….I want you to see how that peak sits in relation to the lows. The midrange peaks here are at least 5dB higher than the top of the bass energy. With a slight dip at 3.5kHz we are introduced to a wildly pushed midrange shelf, so much that it is all you hear. This is even greater spice than the EPZ Q5 I just reviewed. And many of the same issues can be found, like lack of note weight, an overbearing thinness……….and overall dryness that makes doing a review a chore and not the very reason I signed-up for reviews in the first place.



Build:
They may have thought that due to build comfort the the G10 could find a use in gaming. And sure the build and fitment are really good. The fact that you can wear them for extended periods of time is a benefit here. Though the nozzle lengths are dramatic in portion, so this ends a personal thing if they would work or not. Meaning these sit deeper in-ear than the last few IEMs I have reviewed. Though look at them, they are truly gorgeous here. One vent off the center of the side as shown in photos. A 2Pin which accents cables well. Yet there is something about the polish on them, just how and to what extent they are finished.



The sound:
Strangely after doing the Q5 review these G10 IEMs are way less money but I like them equally the same as the EPZ Q5. Sure if you look at the graph there is actually a smoother and more together style of tune than the drastic Q5. What I mean is there is a slightly less forward set of shelf at 2.5kHz to 4.5kHz which enables a slightly more musical approach to tuning than the Q5. If you look at the comparison graph between the Q5 and G10 it really shows what’s up here. That while less upper midrange shelf promoted by the G10 it is also met with a lower bass contrast. Now at first you would think this is all bound bass energy and you could be forgiven for guessing that. Except it is the contrasts that we are most interested in, that and the fact that while the G10 has less technical abilities, there is also a smoother rendition here as we are dealing with less brightness compared to the Q5. So less intensity means that even though there is less bass in comparison to the Q5, there is still an accessible style of balance even though the graph shows a tremendous reduction in bass with the G10. I mean I’m guessing they thought this tune would be great for gaming? But for music and gaming we run into the standard issues here.



The issues:
To start let’s look at another contender for an IEM at around $24.99.
So sure the first thing we note with the 7Hz Salnotes Zero 2 is the bass additives. And really it is not just the bass but this while gambit of energies of lower emphasis travels upwards into the midrange. This simply means there is a warmer take on the 7Hz Zero. A more V-shaped idea and I simply think it is better. The next additive is the 1.5KHz to 6kHz area is sitting lower than the G10. This 2X compounds the thickness found in the bass and lower midrange, resulting in a totally different take on what an IEM could be. Is it the same as far as technicalities?

The Zero 2:
While sure the Zero 2 is a reinterpretation of the famous Zero 1. What they did was a very precise tuning of added bass, took off the treble energy but left vocals intact. But besides the dynamite tuning there is an advancement in technicalities to where the stage is simply better organized and fill-out in all directions compared to the G10. Inside of that fill-out is better constructed imaging and better/more natural placement of elements. I won’t go on as to dilute the points I have made.

The original Zero:
Here is the thing, even though missing the lows and a different tune than the more filled out Zero 2, and probably more mainstream acceptance of the Zero 2, the Zero 1 midrange is clearer, showing a broadcast of farther elements into the stage. I mean everyone who owns the original Zero knows this. And even if there is less bass than the Zero 2 that bass that is there with the Zero one. The Zero 1 is owning a transient bass edge and placement into the stage. Oh…..this stage……..well it is bigger, more natural and holds elements of both width girth and top to bottom front to back size. Yep it is bigger all over. And the imaging…….holding bigger broader imaging of elements far greater than the G10 ever hoped to accomplish. To quickly sum-up the Zero 1 it is a more natural and bigger display of correct imaging which holds value, and the timbre is something special to boot and better than the G10.



Cable:
Here you can get a microphone and the cable is not bad though 4.4mm makes a world of difference.





Packaging:
Here is a smorgasbord of stuff, more than you would guess for the asking price. Six sets of ear-tips, a pouch, a audio splitter cable to go into the sound card of your PC, Quality control paper work and a manual. And finally a UV flashlight to activate the faceplate shell into a glowing green for 0.5 of a second.








Music tests:
Here I’m using the WM1A along with my typical wide-bore ear-tips. Cable put into use is the SIMGOT AUDIO LC7 in 4.4mm.



Gdanian
Induction
Shield Emitter (feat. Tineidae)
44.1 kHz - 24 bit
Here is kind of the same phenomena that we will encounter with the Hans Zimmer song to follow here. These songs can make an IEM become more than it truly is. The vividness of the contrasts found at times will optimize playback. The difference here is that now we can crank it and not fear of the treble energy found in the Q5. Yep, because we can get volume the playback is more dramatic and bigger. Also I’m not unusually sensitive to treble/midrange boosts, which is really saying nothing about the Q5! Here the stage somehow seems bigger than it is, the details while congested are still relaying the song's message. Also the uniformness of vividness seems to be a feature which works with this song. Meaning the excessive bass in this number somehow activates the G10 making it more than it is. Yet I mean simply because this G10 IS getting this level of playback, then it is self-for filled in quality? The best I have ever heard the EPZ G10 sound, really?

Lorne Balfe and Andrew Kawczynski
Grand Turismo OST
Academy Race
44.1 kHz - 24 bit
For starters this is really OK? Sure it doesn’t have the contrasts of many IEMs in this price range. And I don’t take back anything I said, as missing note-weight, missing real bass and not fully dialed in to project the imaging needed to make this shine.One of the big issues here is note weight and the fact that note weight is combined with reverberations. Meaning often when you can grasp good note weight, you are also getting good reverberations, yet here they are compromised.



Hans Zimmer
Inception OST
Old Souls
44.1 kHz - 16 bit
After those Zero and 7Hz Zero 2 comparisons the G10 may not be all that bad when this song comes on. I mean I actually like the fit better than the Q5. Also again less top end heat than the Q5. While this playback is not the very biggest in the price realm there is a nice quality to it. At 00:54 there is a bass drop that while not at all out front…….seems well blended and mixed with the overall tone. What I’m trying to say is that it is connected as full-range single DDs often do. While this song was just used in the Zero 2 and Zero review section, it is true that the 7Hz simply do better separation. Where here I can’t leave out that while there is a politeness to it all, there is also a lack of real bass energy, which in a song like this is a must. Here they are relying on that midrange to offer-up all the details, and sure there is bass, and it is even separated and fun, and with this song more fun than the G10 has rights to perform………..but that is kinda how it goes, get a dramatic song and even the middle of the road IEMs have fun doing it.

Conclusion:
In many ways I like this better than the EPZ Q5 I just reviewed. Yet they both are going to get 3 out of 5 scores. And much of the same issues are held by both, lack of note weight, a crazy tune with very little bass. I could go on except I have already made my points so it’s senseless to pour salt into the wound. They look nice and are built well, and they fit really well, actually as good or better than most. You get a nice box opening experience and a lot of extras. Still I wonder why they are giving all these extras, to maybe make-up for the lack of superior sound? When a $19.99 IEM or a $24.99 IEM beats you in the sound department………..well that’s something to be concerned about. There are no amount of “fee gifts” which can make-up for such sins.

$62.52 USD
https://www.linsoul.com/products/epz-g10

Disclaimer:
I would like to thank Kareena from Linsoul for the love and EPZ G10 review sample.

Linsoul website: https://www.linsoul.com/
Linsoul Aliexpress Store: https://ddaudio.aliexpress.com/store/2894006
Linsoul USA Amazon Store link: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=merchant-items&me=A267P2DT104U3C

Equipment Used:
Sony WM1Z Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm and 3.5mm
Sony WM1A Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm and 3.5mm
Samsung Phone 3.5mm
HiBy R3 II 3.5mm/4.4mm output

The EPZ Q5 Universal IEM
Redcarmoose Labs March 9th, 2024

Manufacturer Specification:

• Brand: EPZ
• Model: Q5
• Driver: 10mm self-developed dual-magnetic circuit, dual-cavity ceramic carbon nano-composite diaphragm
• IEM Weight: 4.17g
• IEM Dimensions: 18mm (height) x 20.3mm (width) x 20.3mm (max depth)
• Shell: 3D printed resin shell & acoustic cavity
• Impedance: 26Ω±15%(@1kHz)
• Sensitivity: 109dB/Vrms(@1kHz)
• Frequency Response Range: 10Hz-50kHz
• Effective Frequency Response: 20Hz-20kHz
• Cable: 1.2m 4-core single crystal copper silver plated cable
• Connector: MMCX Single Pin with 3.5mm jack

$77.70 USD
https://www.linsoul.com/products/epz-q5

The EPZ Q5 comes in a nice box opening experience, and is really on the smaller and lighter side as far as weight and size goes. The thing is it does scale really well and will go to show you the quality of file and source components you are using. That said, the Q5 can come off un-involving and thin in regular phone use.

If I could suggest some things?
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/7hz-salnotes-zero-universal-iem.25980/reviews#review-28978


https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/7hz-x-crinacle-zero-2.26878/reviews#review-32694


You see there are other offerings which still go to get better well roundedness at a lesser price point.

The peak intensity here with the EPZ Q5:
Don’t get me wrong here. Except notice that spike between 3.5kHz to 7.5kHz? Where the Zero 1 and Zero 2 avoid these intensities and I seemly find them smoother. Due to such smoothness I find them more enjoyable, despite any drawbacks. Yet to be real here, comparing the Q5 to the Zero 1 and Zero 2 with all three using the same aftermarket cable (MMCX and 2Pin) and my regular wide-bore ear-tips and Sony WM1Z DAP. That while more aggressive the Q5 did show its value in performance beating out the lower priced rivals in detail and bigger imaging. Now there is one point I really want to drive home here. If you think you're going to get the Q5 and simply use the provided 3.5mm MMCX cable to quickly attach it to your phone, you’re probably not going to be thoroughly impressed. Meaning the Q5 has the ability to replay whatever is upstream. This is so very surprising to me as I was to rate the Q5 much lower until I looked through my equipment and discovered truly what it would do. This side-by-side with the Zero 1,2 was part of that discovery. As sure tuning would have you believe that I would like the Zero Twins better, and in that regard we have a more balanced example of the tuning art.

Not going by sonic memory, but doing direct comparisons (in-real-time) is the best way I know to explain sound signatures. As sure there is that Q5 peak and if you look carefully it rises above even the total amount of bass energy. As such I matched it with a 4.4mm aftermarket cable and took it to the very V shaped WM1Z with MrWalkmans firmware installed.

Results:
Sure that spiciness bump is going to be always there. It in itself goes to add to the proclamation of clarity here. Yet there is more, more bass definition and imaging into a better, more realistic idea of bass replay, than the Zero 2 and miles better than the Zero1. Some may even question why I’m using these for comparison?

Two reasons to compare to the Zero Twins:
Two reasons, one they are a known commodity, and two........they help delineate the real reason I think people should take caution when choosing the Q5? So that kinda becomes a double edged sword in that yes, this brightness helps make the Q5 seem more vivid and it really scapes the ceiling of what peak areas would even be acceptable. Though what this gets you is soundstage width and size. Yep, there is a trick sound engineers use to add to the soundstage width and overall size by enlarging the midrange frequencies. Still even with the energy the soundstage is only slightly above average.

Can you take it, the peak I mean?
I mean that’s the only thing here, that yes there are all kinds of benefits to a tune like this, yet I can’t help but think it limits the genres and sources you need to choose to run through the Q5? Now that doesn’t mean there are avenues that you can travel to seemingly down-tune this peak if you get your pair and start to notice it. One way I worked with this peak issue was to switch DAPs and change ear-tips. So going with the dual density (SONY HYBRID EP-EX11 Japan Version) was the correct way to reach a special tune. Added to the mid centric Sony WM1A provided a less contrasty way to interpret the Q5. Now while there was no real way of totally changing the overall character here, this reduction in peak was kind of blending the tone all together to find less peaky vividness. As such different sources and ear-tip nozzle diameter size are our friends and useful tools in finding a way into Q5 enjoyment. Anything to combat the dryness and lack of note-weight.

Results from a phone:
Here is where I really find issue with the Q5, seemly adding to the thinness that is regularly found with simple phone use. You see this dryness and lack of real deep end is then compounded to come-off as the poster child for standard 3.5mm phone playback. Where some IEMs use bass emphasis too counteract the thinness and add note-weight, here we are in a style of trouble compounded by the 3.5kHz to 7.5kHz peak. If I was to use a phone any number of Dongles and 4.4mm add-ons would help smooth-out the party.

Balanced:
I can’t help but think this use of balanced 4.4mm output changed the sonic landscape. Making an IEM I almost didn’t know how to review became a somewhat enjoyable experience. I say this that if you find the Q5 thin out of the box, simply burn-it-in for a few days and try to locate a copper cable in 4.4mm to join it with. Really the cable I used was not dark in any way, but is renowned for letting the pure character of an IEM through.

Music Tests:
Using a hybrid Orange ear-tip seemed to do the trick of getting both the Q5 charter and staging transferred here. I’m using the Walkman WM1A with no EQ.





Kaveh Cohen, Michael Nielsen
Forza Motorsport OST
Brotherhood
44.1 kHz - 24 bit
Finding this as my regular testing track should be of no surprise. I choose this for a few reasons, though one of the main reasons here is if the piano comes off too forward or too intense. This style of tune no matter what asks for slightly lesser volume. And with that stated at what I would call slightly less than normal the piano starting at 00:09 comes off both correct sounding and not too bright, but going that direction. Though I will say get timbre here, and separation, very natural. I would call the stage about medium, maybe on the border of medium large. While there is decent width as well as forward to back thickness. Really the top to bottom placement is average with the primarily spectacle being width. As such the real second level of the song promotes a soft next level feeling at 00:42. This somehow is not that contrasty or promoted with density of bass, but rather a complete but maybe too smooth of rendition? Showing the details and adding a nice noticeable completeness, yet withholding some of the dynamics which will often pull on the heart stings. It’s not boring, and way way better than out-of-the-box with 3.5mm single ended, even single ended 3.5mm from an audiophile DAP. Yet I would say I have heard this better for less money………..of course maybe it is all simply the volume needed to be reduced……..reduce the volume and reduce the emotional factor!



Hans Zimmer
Inception OST
Old Souls
44.1 kHz - 16 bit
Amazingly the opening is almost just right, with a free open space which finds the piano played inside. Yet when the bass hits there is nothing really dramatic or of incidence to it, making me wonder why we are even here? While yes, all is playback, only there is very little excitement to a song that should have excitement dripping? We are only going through the motions, and while technically correct there is something left out and I’m not sure I know what it is………….though to start with the word soul comes to mind…….it is missing the soul here, no pun intended?



Gdanian
Induction
Shield Emitter (feat. Tineidae)
44.1 kHz - 24 bit
Balanced is how I hear this interpretation, while seemingly everything has its place, this is not exactly boring though I have heard it with more spice at times, where here everything has been homogenized……..flowing together as one, typical of DDs at times. I mean sure the fun aspect is finding where the bass in this chooses to position itself, and sure there is a careful and correct way about how the song is replayed…….almost too careful?

Lorne Balfe and Andrew Kawczynski
Grand Turismo OST
Academy Race
44.1 kHz - 24 bit
Seemingly smaller stage than expected? Yet when the bass hits even at the start at 00:11 in we are met with decent technicalities and tune. While this song is again asking for a slightly lower volume to be used to deal with the midrange peak. There is nice cohesive playback and well done separation here. As such the upper midrange still asks for carefulness in volume use? Well itemized and entertaining nonetheless, some of the attacks are thin and refuse to hold note weight.

Packaging:
6 pairs of ear-tips and a nice cleaning cloth. A full-size branded zipper case and some paperwork.







Build:
Coming in at only 4 grams each the Q5 excels at wearability. While on the smaller side of small it is a jot to wear, even when jogging or involved with outdoor sports. Where MMCX can be unreliable and limit your cable rolling choices, it does seem to work well with the form factor present. As such we are offered a 3D resin shell with a vent surrounded by an aluminum piece. And really the nozzle works well to both hold on any style of ear-tip, and reach a level of ergonomics which is correctly angles and just long enough, without being on the longer side.

Conclusion:
Well there you have it. The EPZ Q5, a copy of another more expensive IEM, the Meze Advar. While doing to terms with sound replay probably the bass weight is what threw me off the most emotionally, I mean I need a certain amount of density to really feel the music. Now even if they won’t give me that, give me some bass attack edge and we will be fine, but no the Q5 is stingy there too. There is always that slight fear of sibilance no matter what tip we use or what source is put into play. And finally there is a level of dryness that permeates all, a dryness that will counteract musicality in its steps. While sure the openness of the stage did the amount of footwork so that it wasn’t all bad, but I have to ask myself, am I truly judging this compared to IEMs at the same price, and I am. While in many ways it is better than the 7Hz Salnotes Zero and Zero 2, the tuning seems to be too hot in areas where the Zero 2 especially beats it. To where of course the Q5 is more detailed and offers better technicalities as far as separation and sculpturing, though it just shows how important a good tune like the Zero and Zero 2 can be in the end. While the Q5 does great imaging and an airy crisp detail orientated treble and midrange, there is more to the equation, and things that matter more in the end……………..

$77.70 USD
https://www.linsoul.com/products/epz-q5

Disclaimer:
I would like to thank Kareena from Linsoul for the love and EPZ Q5 review sample.

Linsoul website: https://www.linsoul.com/
Linsoul Aliexpress Store: https://ddaudio.aliexpress.com/store/2894006
Linsoul USA Amazon Store link: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=merchant-items&me=A267P2DT104U3C

Equipment Used:
Sony WM1Z Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm and 3.5mm
Sony WM1A Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm and 3.5mm
Samsung Phone 3.5mm
HiBy R3 II 3.5mm/4.4mm output

As you can see they are on the smaller side of the street.

SHOZY P20 14.5MM PLANAR MAGNETIC DRIVER IEM
Redcarmoose Labs March 5th, 2024

SHOZY is one of the oldest manufacturers of IEMs in Asia. Though I previously reviewed three SHOZY IEMs, I like them very much. One is the SHOZY B2, a 10mm Dynamic Driver which is so thick and just a warm musical sound that separates it from everything? The B2 somehow does its magic by having good pace besides being thick sounding and ultimately fun. Also there is the ultra-budget IEM called the SHOZY T1, that once again shows us that warm replay can in-fact be our friend.


The famous SHOZY B2 above:
The wacky open-back SHOZY $39.90 USD T1 below:

SHOZY AVA:

Another (above) I use all the time is the SHOZY AVA TWS IEM. The AVA is not really conventional as far as tuning, it has a dark and full-bodied stance (missing that B2 pace) though with a surprising treble tilt. The treble is still not enough to balance the big lower midrange fiasco. Which in turn makes the AVA unique and it’s my favorite TWS IEM, even though it is not perfect, it’s fun when out and about. Though if a better TWS comes along it will go into service. And you know how this bass stuff works, when too much of the bass-stuff (is added) it begins to drown-out clarity even though our hips sway and we get excited to it. The ultimate guilty pleasure in the world of audiophile playback.



P20:
So when I found out that the P20 was coming out I thought maybe we would have a planar IEM which fully incorporated the SHOZY house sound? Yet this is not exactly what turned out to be true. Yes, there is a little of the SHOZY house sound inside the P20, but what was surprising was how even and correct the tune tuned out to be. Meaning they didn’t go as crazy as I thought in the bass department, arriving at a very midrange focussed IEM. One of the reasons this review took longer than most is because the P20 needs a lot of burn-in to be its best. Still the overall sound is also very accessible (and the P20 being itself) straight out of the box. I have had the P20 since the very middle of February and have taken my time with this review.

The review experience:
After some preliminary listening tests I found the P20 incredibly balanced with a more forward midrange and missing the lower midrange thruster power normally included with SHOZY tune. This slightly new tune is both refreshing and fully accomplished, even if a surprise turn-of-events. Such careful evenness and completeness go to make an IEM of such become polite in contrast to some of the other competitors. From memory we don’t have the drastic forward-midrange or bass of the Kiwi ears Melody, or the forward upper-midrange encounters of the NiceHCK F1 Pro.

As such I will once more visit the P20 and try my hands at comparing the tone against my other planar favorites. And besides the tone here it is also of value to see how fit takes place, besides the overall sound value. Here is a list of my all time favorites.


Top row left to right:
TANGZU Zetian Wu (Weight 4 grams a piece) 14.5mm Planar $149.00 USD
NICEHCK Audio F1 PRO (Weight 5 grams a piece) 14.5mm Planar $99.00 USD
Kiwi ears Melody (Weight 5 grams a piece) 12mm Planar $89.00 USD

Bottom row:
SHOZY P20 (Weight 8 grams a piece) 14.5mm Planar $139.00 USD

My testing machine:


I’m using the renowned Sony WM1A with MrWalkman’s aftermarket firmware. I’m using the 4.4mm Simgot Audio LC7 cable and my usual wide-bore ear-tips. This photo (below) is showing almost all of the planar IEMs I have heard…..I have left out two or three in the photograph due to not wanting to give them much notice, namely the TINHIFI P5 and KZ PR1 HiFi.

All are planar IEMs in the below photo.....but don't whine, 2 are Square Planar IEMs and two are Hybrid Planar IEMs.




Comparisons:
TANGZU Zetian Wu:
The Wu was really my very first favorite planar. Sadly it is out of production, but the HBB Wu still is for sale. After 200 hours of burn-in the P20 sound seems to me both smoother and better separated? This could be mental acclamation too? The P20 is both more forward, louder on the same volume and offers a slightly bigger stage. The thing is all these planar IEMs are the best of the best. I have no way to measure volume, but taking the P20 volume down for a guesstimation shows the Wu still offering (many of) the perceived characteristics in relation to the P20. While the Wu does have this thing, and I don’t even know how to explain it, but if you own the Wu you know……….the very finite upper midrange sophistication, where the P20 is all about being simply bigger and more vibrant. Where after about 5 back and forths of the darn two………the P20 is more airy and spread-out, maybe slightly less decays, but truly clearer and more forward in nature. Where the Wu is still pulling off slightly more analogue bass, yet I wish I could find more differences? Really these two are very close to being the same, though with the Wu being aluminum and resin it is much lighter being 1/2 the weight of the P20. There is still this romantic quality the Wu does that is its charm, I would say the Wu maybe inches the P20 out but only by a small amount. In fact at first you think the P20 is way better, only to have that vibrance and forwardness found with slightly less detail and finesse inside. It is the faster decays of the P20 that lend itself to pace, yet the Wu has that pace too, for days and days.

NICEHCK Audio F1 PRO:
This has been my new favorite offering a completely different shape, yet that shape works with less hitting your ear. There is an upper midrange positioning a boost where vocals are slightly more in-your-face and alive here. Sure I reviewed the F1 Pro, but hearing this phenomenon again drives it home. Where their response to power is just about the same, here due to balance of the P20 lows......and simply those lows get slightly more focus, as you don’t have the upper midrange grabbing the limelight. Where vocals are almost what I would call perfect positioning with the P20, and the F1 Pro maybe a wanted energy, and for some possibly too much, but only a little. Just like the Wu we have also an added positioning into the P20 stage that is showing a more even and correctly spread-out size and emphasis. Upon first listening to the P20 I felt it was almost all midrange, but I liked it. Now I am hearing a more fleshed out and wider, and smoother yet not dark in any way shape or form………which once again makes it the different SHOZY from what I heard. If you own the F1 Pro and want a subtle reduction in upper midrange, this is really the ticket here. When this tune takes place like the P20 does, there is no more bass really, but because of the focus on midrange being less than than the F1 Pro we are automatically provided with a clearer window into the low end. Where the P20 is offering-up a less contrasty results frequency wise, but actually performing great forward items here of crystal clear imaging and positioning. So it’s more even and of a balanced nature, where some though may want the upper midrange thrills (and eat them up) with the F1 Pro?

Kiwi ears Melody:
This should be interesting, if memory serves me correct…..to say the Melody will outperform in the thicker low-end, and also be somewhat like the F1 Pro as far as that upper midrange energy………let’s find out? Yes, there is a hint of that low-end, but it is really not that much different between the two? Sure where it is extra is the lower midrange, yet it still has balance due to the Melody having a more vibrant upper midrange positioning. The Melody even goes forward to make the P20 come-off as sleepy, and it is nothing of the sort here. It is just the Kiwi ears Melody made a mark for itself with the most bass in today's testing and an upper midrange a lot like the F1 Pro.



Side-by-side conclusion:
This was an intense battle, as I like these 4 IEMs the most out of all the planar IEMs I have heard. While the Melody was strangely small and low weight it had great separation, though more bass than anything tested. If anything this test proves that the SHOZY P20 can keep up with the best of the best. Yes the forwardness of the P20 imaging and evenness of tune were some of the redeeming factors. Still the F1 Pro is no slouch, heck none of these are bad, and are very close to being at the same level. Sure the shell of the P20 is different from any of the others…..look at the pictures, except they fit fine. And yes, they are 8 grams each, the heaviest in today's tests? Yet, they are all metal construction, where the only other all metal construction is the F1 Pro. Yep the Wu and the Melody are 1/2 resin……3D printed resin and aluminum. It would be really hard for me to recommend one of the others if you already had one. Unless of course the Melody had too much bass, or you found the F1 Pro to be a little too brash in the upper midrange, as was the Melody. So it pleases me to write that the P20 does none of those things but carries itself in the most polite of manners, without being boring or non-musical. Sure there may be a slight airiness in contrast to what the Wu does, and sure the Wu is harder to drive, the hardest of the group……..but in so many ways these planar IEMs are very close to the same. Though I am truly careful with the Wu, and in contrast this P20 is probably better built if I may say?



Build:
The P20 is a little of a beast. I mean when you pick-it-up it is noticeable in your hands. At the same time it is profoundly rewarding in structure, I mean it is not going anywhere……..built like a brick Schiit-house. I must have done at least 30 cable changes in the comparison section, and the cable is totally easy and confidently placed into the 2Pin receivers of the P20. That little shark-fin at the top slides into a section of your outer-ear. The rest even though it is not an involved semi-custom shape is very comfortable being it sits close to your ear. There is one vent under the nozzle and three vents in the center of the faceplate. And while the overall shape is unique in my experience, it goes one more step to prove that many ways can fit the ear and that is not to say that this idea of something going into your outer ear is not advancing forward. Surly the faceplate design is both functional in that ridges make something low weight, yet as strong as a thicker piece of metal. Also as a marketing tool, the faceplate is original with nothing even remotely like it. Being only two pieces of metal the design is both simple and effective. The nozzles are really the perfect length with robust bevels to hold tips on. A wire mesh screen stays in place and is of no hassles.




Package:
Minimal at best, this shows the effort was put into the IEM, and not the other way around. A nice case, and six sets of ear-tips of various sizes and shapes. Just look at the case you get!







Cable:
The cable is simply OK. Yet upon closer inspection it is an example of effort. Why? Well every single part of the cable is metal. It comes with 4.4mm if ordered and only $5.00 more, as I wish I would have gotten it in 4.4mm? The chin-cinch is metal, the plugs and 2Pins are metal and color coded. While yes it is on the thin side of the cable world, it is hard to judge as I mainly use 4.4mm balanced amplification, and with planar IEMs that is worth using. But guessing here, I totally see someone using the 4.4mm cable option, especially as some don’t like thick cables, and this one is not at all thick. The included ear-hooks are just cool. I mean how often do I talk about ear-hooks? Though these can help with fitment and feel great! The included cable winds up nice and has great ergonomics for a little guy.





From a standard phone or other devices:
What can I say the P20 was simply even and correct from a Samsung 3.5mm phone output. Hooked-up with the included cable the P20 definitely showed its potentials, yet was held back by the 3.5mm phone soundstage expansion, the blackness of background and separated imaging. While in a bind out of the house there truly was an added balance to where nothing was exactly thin sounding, only less vivid and clear due to such lesser characteristics. Still if phone playback was all someone had, I would still go ahead and recommend the P20 based on pure musicality. With the P20 in-place with a phone there were strangely no real planar IEM issues, with basically a person upgrading at some point possibly to a Dongle to further the stage width and vivid-up the contrasts held back by the regular phone use. As such we truly can hear the subtle differences between phone use and an upgraded source which is normal for planar drivers to need an ounce or two of better quality power in the end.

Fed by a normal Dongle or DAP there can be a view of better pace as well as a feeling of soaring which takes place with imaging jumping in and out, which is the magic of the planar driver at work. As such it is not hard really to find synergy, as the P20 is not fussy or in need of any one type of correction, quite possibly the conservative tune goes further to compound these outcomes? Meaning sure planar drivers need a little juice to wake-up, but as such you will have good luck really with a number of Dongles or DAPs in the end. With that said (to get my point across)..........switching the P20 (still attached to the included cable) over to the HiBy R3 II we are once again met with a wider stage and more finite imaging taking place. There is no denying the increased presence of DAP resulting resolution and details found. As such this entry level DAP provides a world of difference in how we can perceive music, all at once opening the curtains into viewpoints obscured by the phone fog, and gaining ample details and stage expansion. It is probably this correctness which goes one step further to a place of full recommendation all for the HiBy R3 II price of $179.00.............while using the included cable of the P20 at $139.00………………and surely better with the $5.00 4.4mm cable upgrade!

Music tests:
Here is the most fun, as there are no more comparisons to make, just listening and describing what takes place. I still have a job to do, to discover how the timbre is, to describe just how the P20 goes to recreate instrument and vocal ideas.



Kaveh Cohen, Michael Nielsen
Forza Motorsport OST
Brotherhood
44.1 kHz - 24 bit
I use this song all the time. I use it so much I must play it a couple times a week, therefore I know it and understand it. Part of reviews is simply understanding a sound signature to where it simply does what it should and for the money it should at least provide the wanted thrills. The side-by-sides showed up how performance was against the competition. Though when the bass drops at the 00.09 mark it is something not too much or too little and comes off reassuring that it is just right. Now later in the song the bass will progress to more thrills but here is a standard form of replay where everything is accounted for. At the 00:15 mark we witness the piano and the bass showing a contrast in tone, yet the piano is the real concern here. Why? Well this song has a specific tone to the piano and if that is messed with it shows up fast. Really this is like my first impressions in that the upper midrange is not really that forward but finds itself at what many would perceive as correct, nothing like this song with the added effervescence of a brighter upper midrange like the F1 Pr or the Melody. Now remember those are still winners here, only different where things are still noticeable, but nothing is over the top, unless you are extremely midrange/treble sensitive. Really the P20 walks that line. As such we are not experiencing a super detailed treble which is super out front and splashy or anything. But there is a reason why people buy planar IEMs. It is this nice relationship between the bass pace and midrange, this slight extra planar detail that holds interest in playback. Also especially with this song how the bass and lower midrange offer up warm surprises and correct tone. Where there is a slight issue is an ever so slight planar timbre, yet I had to search for it to be heard. This is the kind of thing that can be found especially with acoustic instruments, where it is just a tilt but it is there.



Hans Zimmer
Inception OST
Old Souls
44.1 kHz - 16 bit
Where this song takes us in on a journey. Not in a motorhome, but in an IEM journey. And once more I have become smitten with just how the P20 does bass. Where this drop at the 00:53 hits it is so in-the-pocket. Meaning it is separated and there, and satisfying but is no way overboard. I guess I’m simply enamored with the balance and what you get for $139.00? That’s all……..because there is a sophistication going on here that is well above the price point. It is found in the tuning of course but then made listenable by the technicalities. Meaning that 00:53 drop was clean and pure holding no distortion of fogginess. The other surprising thing here is there seems to be absolutely no off-timbre that I can hear. Timbre can be a song by song thing at times. And I am sure we may hear a few places of planar timbre during this music test, only not at this point in time.



Gdanian
Induction
Shield Emitter (feat. Tineidae)
44.1 kHz - 24 bit
Great bass, what can I say………this song combined with the P20 is doing it. Now I have reviewed other IEMs that have a more separated treble and a separated midrange…..where this song allows for those items to be heard at times, while here if I was to point out some of the highest treble placements are bunched together and offer a less than perfect window into the items. Still we are entertained as to the total experience this song relays. And to stay positive here, this song is built around layers, layers of many elements. At 00:54 there is a swift skyrocket that flies past your head and is lodged in the wall behind you. As such it makes a sound of impact. This takes place from center off the middle left. All this time though there are bass washes sounding almost like waves……they caress us and guide us further. This is ambient music but a style of bass ambient music.



Lorne Balfe and Andrew Kawczynski
Grand Turismo OST
Academy Race
44.1 kHz - 24 bit
What is the most fun here is just how the P20 sends home the bass! I listen to this song all the time except at 00:11………It’s like what? This IEM does this part well? Often a controlled bass will all of a sudden perform in a song due to ability, yet that ability is on the more careful side, and that’s what we have here. Only at this point in time I wish I would have known to play this song more than at this final stage in the review! Yes, it is that good! Why? It’s physical that’s why. The lows here in the recording are just well done……they are a statement to be found out about especially with planar IEMs. Maybe it’s the speed, maybe it is the balance, at times it is simply good and you don’t always have a reason. What I’m hearing is separate layers of events here, all at once. Yet there is a simple word for this replay and the word is satisfying.

At 00:31 I can hear this percussive attack placed onto the front of the bass note. Now sure it has always been there is this song, yet at this point it sounds totally natural and somehow focused due to nothing overbearing or too much. At 00:39 we are kind of inside this whole world of images, they are using images to showcase the spacial elements here. At 00:43 there is a slight blast of air which comes onto of regularly heard sounds……….and that is how treble detail works here, it is not steely in any form, but still wicked fast, and still separated. Where this blast of air takes place is right in the middle of the left side of the soundstage. Now normally a person would not concentrate on such elements, except if conscious or not to the events they exist and are performed here. As so much is going on with this song and so many layers, each time a new facet of sound can be noticed.



Conclusion:
Well there you have it, the P20 review in the books. And while SHOZY did make a winner of an IEM, it was the balance that was maybe the most surprising. Where this becomes double noticed because of the P20 being SHOZY you would think of a beefy bottom end authority? And while the bass is nothing other than cool, the bass is not really the focus here, and that’s refreshing.

Question:
“Does that mean there is enough bass, I mean I don’t want an anemic IEM.” Let me say one word here………SHOZY. Yep, it still has the SHOZY DNA inside and becomes just that much more valuable due to the exact approach they decided on.

I can almost see the engineers back at their SHOZY LAB going through this tune and saying “This will surprise a few, and bring the mainstream to our doorstep.”

And that is my take. It didn’t take long as the very moment the P20 came out-of-the-box and into my ears I found pretty much a whole understanding of their sound goals. Only days and days of burn-in allowed the P20 to smooth-out and open-up into a more mature sound, this maturity helped propel the P20 into my top four planar IEMs I have ever heard. The P20 is there in the limelight simply due to technicalities and tune. I also couldn’t help but notice the unusual shape and look, which helped get me there? But truthfully the P20 would have gained acceptance simply due to the tune. This style of playback offers the regular planar sound we know so well, only the brought forth midrange encases most of the sound, as it should. The layers of bass are secondary but in a song with a lot of bass those layers can be widely accepted and rejoiced upon. Normally though this style of tune ends valuable due to being well rounded and going with any source, and that is what is taking place here. Easier to drive than the TANGZU Zetian Wu and less upper midrange emphasis than the F1 Pro or Kiwi ears Melody. We are simply left with a near perfect idea of what a $139.00 planar should be. Built like a tank, the P20 proves that on the heavier side can still be comfortable due to sitting inside your ear. In the comparison photographs here the P20 looks big, because it is big, but don’t let the size fool you. Sure it is noticeably the heaviest in today's testing, still not as heavy as some 11 gram IEMs, and the fitment here is truly wonderful, yet you may know the P20 is in your ears, especially when running or doing other physical out-door activity.

Simply walking with the P20 is perfect, and I can’t help but think this size and shape, along with the build material makes the P20 block-out more noise than most IEMs I’ve tried. While the look is different and this time SHOZY went and tried to make an IEM which resembles no other, yet in hand and in-ear there is no denying the P20 means business both in tune/technicalities and shape of construction. Probably what the P20 represents the most here today is a solution, a careful, even, complete and correct tune solution comes along and gains points for just being easily accessible. Just the fact that while listening I was smitten with just how they have done this replay, and with any genre or device tone. Get yours today!

$139.00
https://www.linsoul.com/products/shozy-p20

Disclaimer:
I would like to thank Kareena from Linsoul for the love and SHOZY P20 review sample.

Linsoul website: https://www.linsoul.com/
Linsoul Aliexpress Store: https://ddaudio.aliexpress.com/store/2894006
Linsoul USA Amazon Store link: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=merchant-items&me=A267P2DT104U3C

Equipment Used:
Sony WM1Z Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm and 3.5mm
Sony WM1A Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm and 3.5mm
Samsung Phone 3.5mm
HiBy R3 II 3.5mm/4.4mm output

Bonus size comparisons to EPZ IEMs..........
This (placed out in-front) laughingly makes the P20 look even bigger, yet it is big!

ifi GO bar
Redcarmoose Labs February 29th, 2024

An amount of difference:
Using simple logic, you would think someone would eventually make an extra powerful Dongle, and add more features than ever existed in the Dongle realm. As such, ifi has created a product that not only acts and looks the part, meaning the shape and options match the rest of the ifi product line. But have made a device which transcends the sound you normally associate with portable Dongles.

ifi:
So I was approached by the ifi Company and strangely they told me I could review anything I wanted, or they would guide me to a product destination. Really, I thought, this would take some time? But upon looking over their product page it really only took minutes to decide. I have always seen ifi around, you know if you are browsing Head-Fi you really can’t miss them. Belonging to the group AMR (Abbingdon Music Research Group) one of the largest if not the largest audio manufacturer in the UK, ifi has made a notch here at Head-fi. Endlessly imaginative they have created one-of-a-kind products like the xDSD, the Nano iOne, the Nano iDSD Black Label, the ifi Blue and most recently the ifi iDSD Diablo II.

https://ifi-audio.com

But if you were wondering why the GO bar grabbed my attention you would have to understand my history. I come from full-size headphones and migrated slowly to portable more around 2017. DAPs have always been my forte, yet as of recently I have been inundated with small devices. Meaning brands simply sent me these little Dongles and I was curious as to their performance. Then I became fascinated by how each is different and offers different levels of sound quality and features. So out of everything I chose to review the ifi GO bar. Keep in mind I’m no expert in Dongles, and I actually told ifi that, that I would do my best and compare the GO bar to different devices I had…………and the rest is history. Showing-up on my doorstep was a fairly large box, yet inside was a very small box, I mean I knew this was small, yet you always have a different idea as to size from the close-up photographs online.

Really you don’t need to read any instructions to move ahead into usability. Sure this is the most feature rich Dongle on the market, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get going instantly once you have it in your hands. I plugged it into the USB Type-C port at the bottom of my HiBy R3 II and away I went………

The sound:
Look, I consider myself a Sony fan, I have the TA-ZH1ES flagship desktop, the WM1Z and the WM1A. So over the years I have gotten to know what the sound is about. Yet for many Sony is too laidback……at least the WM1Z DAP and the Sony TA-ZH1ES desktop can be looked at as that, the WM1A goes about a drastic about face, and proclaims a vivid midrange opposing what the WM1Z stands for……..and finally the TA-ZH1ES DAC/Amp comes-off even more relaxed, seemingly asleep at the wheel, trying to please the tube enthusiasts only not using tubes. To my surprise the ifi GO bar was different, yet fully entertaining. Yep, I read it was the most powerful Dongle on the market, yet I was using easy to drive IEMs here.

But what had me obsessed was the tone…….the simple tone of this little thing.

First off it was better sounding than all of the Dongles I was sent, but I said to myself…….this I can (singularly) listen to, and use to performance test IEMs. Why? While slightly warm, the GO bar was super authoritative. It was in a way like the WM1Z, yet more forward, offering a placement of midrange that was no-nonsense. Sure the stage wasn’t as big as the MrWalkman’s aftermarket-fortified WM1A or WM1Z, yet it was close, and better positioned than pretty much all I had heard besides the few Sony products I used.


But, you’re forgetting................... well actually I haven’t told you……….why I was curious about the GO bar. The GO bar has no battery to wear out. The GO bar is truly portable and joins with all kinds of sources, to proclaim a vivid and exceptional level of sound out of the house. I mean, commonly it is called the GO bar…….and I know I’m being myopic here, but the sound of this little bar is way, way better than I expected. I had used the Penon Dongle, the Shanling UA3, the SIMGOT AUDIO DEW4X, the Penon OS133 Dongle and the HiBy R3 II micro-DAP, yet this little bar beat them all, and not by a little. It even had me questioning the tone of the $3200.00 SONY WM1Z for a moment. Why? Simply because the tone was both fresh and new.

The new toy phenomenon:
Basically when you get to a certain level in this personal audio game it becomes (more often then not) all good. What that simply means is good quality gives you more ways to become introduced to your music. There are obviously some outsiders, but the main output by companies in the $600 to $2000 IEM league is surprisingly entertaining regardless of tune. This means that those levels of IEMs provide a subtly different well done response, yet none of it is truly bad, like at times you find (stuff missing) in the ultra-budget realm. And I started to get a glimpse that this little Dongle was in many ways joining the ranks of the more expensive DAPs I had. And in fact if you had a need for the various features in excess of what the Sony DAPs offered, this little Dongle could in fact become of even more use. But this new toy thing is that often we become enamored by simply a new tone. A fresh new example which is just different, yet gets accepted as better just because it is new, when in-fact it is showing you extra details in a different place, and those details come-off as exciting. There is actually nothing wrong with this, unless you become addicted to such delusions, getting a bunch of new toys all the time until eventually the old toys in your collection become the new toys again because (after time) they are foreign to you once more. Yet eventually stuff reaches the level of correct assessment (personally) due to quality of signal.

Full-size headphones:
Before I get started on features I want to bring-in full-size headphones. Yep………but we haven’t even begun to list the specifications, or even the bells and whistles here, and you know why? As long as you are listening and having fun in audio, you can do no wrong. Plug stuff in and get going…..we only have limited time to enjoy audio……so let's not waste it. Basically grab the Go bar and plug it in, there is no chance of breaking anything.



Full-size headphones:
Test units In order of appearance left to right.

1) The Penon Audio Tail:
2) The Shanling UA3:
3) The SIMGOT AUDIO DEW4X:
4) The ifi GO bar:



Daft Punk
Tron OST
Derezzed
44.1 kHz - 16 bit
Here is the thing, each Dongle performed well, yet there was noticeable differences in performance. Obviously the ifi GO Bar was the best, but it’s also the most expensive. The trick here is understanding the application and how the results can be perceived.




Top to bottom:
1) ifi Audio GO bar Dongle
2) SIMGOT AUDIO DEW4X Dongle
3) Shanling UA3 Dongle
4) Penon Audio Tail Dongle



The Sony MDR-Z1R:
Penon Audio Tail:
With the Tron OST opening of Derezzed.......the drums were very loud, all you would want, yet the pronunciation of the opening drums was not as thick (with the Tail) or holding the ample amount of physicality possible. And while the attack edges were clean, they simply didn’t contain the reverberations both in the stage and to the actual drum hits. While the stage was ample in size, it was filled with simply less involvement because it was missing details, therefore less real. In comparison to the ifi GO bar.............it contained a lower depth to the bass harmonics, which simply extended farther down. And this wasn’t due to volume chosen, because the Tail is one loud Dongle, yet slightly thin in the end compared to the GO bar.

SIMGOT AUDIO DEW4X:
One of the loudest Dongles ever in today's testing, the DEW4X has the ability to go ungodly loud. With that volume though once again we are offered a thinner and less filled-out rendition of the opening Derezzed drums, that in fact this extra treble tilt even adds to perceived clarity, yet there is less inside of that detail, it is fine anyway, but if you really sit down and do side-by-sides..............this physicality thing, this density of realness that the ifi GO bar does................becomes inherently real……

As I continued my tests one major thing became apparent. Why would people buy 3 or 4 (or more) Dongles and complain that the GO bar is too pricy? Simply buy the GO bar and never buy another Dongle again......simple. If ever there has been an example of getting what you pay for.......this is that exact time.



The Shanling UA3:
Crazy as this is the least loud of today's contestants. And yes, even though the MDR-Z1R is very easy to drive, we still do notice the reduction in dampening factor here. Where if the UA3 was all you had it would seem normal........and sure it gets to a good volume, except the dampening factor (which effects every Dongle here today, except one) means a slight less (again) physicality, except the DEW4X and Penon Audio Tail that was also associated with the tune, being more middle tones, with the DEW4X tilted slightly up. Where in its nature the UA3 is supposed to have a warmer bass, and a laid-back demeanor, yet here those attributes are downplayed due to the power requirements in MDR-Z1R use. Now again, if this was all you had, you could get by, except with a test song like Derezzed you are not totally feeling it, as it is simply slightly less involving........and the song almost seems farther away in clarity?



The MDR-Z7 and ifi GO bar:
Here is the amazing thing, I keep the Z7 around for exactly this bass heavy style of music. There are drops in bass from this TRON OST that are not even touched by the MDR-Z1R in comparison to the Z7. Now the MDR-Z7 stage is not as wide, nor is the midrange filled in with all the details the ZIR provides effortlessly, but there is a physical thing the Z7 does that it tickles your ears. You actually feel the bass vibrations physically. No headphone in my life has this feature, and believe it or not the GO bar is able to activate and turn-on this playback feature. As such this style of thick bass is rewarding in that we feel complete..........and fulfilled with-out want.

The GO bar with MDR-Z7 and MDR-Z1R:
The best and easiest way to understand what you get (with full-size headphones) is to describe the bass as layered. These layers are always there, yet the other Dongles today didn’t know how to pull them up, as there was a missing deepness to where these layers lived. Jumping off to a MacBook Air and plugging in the GO bar we are rewarded with again deep seated MDR-Z1R physicality. This playback actually takes a minute to get a grip on due to being ever so slightly dark, yet clear...........but not holding a tremendous difference in character of tone…….think of eating mash potatoes. It is true and fulfilling, yet with the MDR-Z1R the sound is always on the border of almost dark, and almost boring all the time. And that is in a way the good part, because we are owning a thickness that has its warmth, yet the above Dongles told of thinner emotional involvement, their stories were less dramatic, and were only matters of fact………not totally involving or containing as real of emotion as the GO bar. As such it takes (even me) an hour or so to adjust to the MDR-Z1R…….you have to get permission for your mind to give the MDR-Z1R a clean bill of retail, only because it really is on the darker side........all of the time. This darker side is like hearing music in a room with the extra room reflection effects getting their credit. You see in speaker life reflections bounce off the wall behind the speaker and off the sidewall to add a dB or two of bass/lower midrange, and as such those tones are added to the forward firing tones coming off the front of the speaker. This is not gossip, but tested as a true fact. This room ambiance is what you hear from the doorway of a night club.......and is the sound energy which encases you as you enter. Yet to balance it all..............Sony has thrown-in a V response of slightly spicy treble in both the MDR-Z7 and MDR-Z1R. And maybe what could be best today is how the GO bar somehow doesn’t emphasize that (brighter) treble arraignment?

The GO bar and IEMs:
As fate would have it the longer I used the Go bar the more I started to understand it better. Meaning the Go bar may or may not strike you first off as something totally out of the ordinary. Sure it is powerful and tiny and it does add girth to the midrange of full-size headphones, and just the fact of added dampening (authority power) makes full-size shine. Shine because dampening is (also) connected to imaging and pace. So this clarity from a well controlled low-end actually travels up into the midrange character and even affects the treble as far as a correct placement into the stage. The diaphragm starts and stops quickly due to the ability of the GO bar amplifier to take physical transient control over it. This stopping and starting in finite control means there is a more stable positioning of elements, think imaging and reverberations which (in detail) go to simply proclaim a more fleshed out stage and pace.

Imaging:
This is the very definition of the word transients.

You see this perception of pace is probably the very first thing that will get to you. As once the foggy lower imaging transients and blurry pace is adjusted, a noticeable pace is arrived at. The next thing which in-a-way is very good with all the dongles tested with full-size headphones is bass. Meaning if we try to use an Apple Dongle or similar low-power Dongles this bass will come off anemic. Now lucky we had no such power issue of this sort today.

1) Low bass amount
2) Correct (decent) bass amount but less imaging and detail
3) Imaging, detail and the perception of better pace

Really this bass hierarchy is pretty simple. Yet really also there can be better bass control as we move down the bass scale list. Meaning desktops will often show us there is still improvement a little continuing with how bass is controlled. And often there is the Psychoacoustic phenomena where better detailed bass is perceived like more bass. As such a sculptured and correctly separated powerful bass may in-fact measure like decent bass, only there is no denying this close-to-perfect bass is doing something. So not only does pace and imaging increase often with power and dampening, the lost details start to caress this bass signal and make it even appear louder, when it is simply better quality heard.

IEMs:
Obviously IEMs are different, except they can be persuaded to come alive at times from a better source. In my testing I come upon this everyday with a standard Samsung Phone use, with trying IEMs. So your question may be...........that maybe IEMs are less important to be driven well than full-size headphones? While each IEM is a different story finding the personality from each style of amplification to be slightly different with each and every IEM. Obviously this means many IEMs will sound better from a phone and some not. Yet every IEM I have tested in the last few years has ended with better replay once I departed from the phone. In fact that is one of the wide-spread popularity factors to all kinds of Dongles now, people do perceive a boost is separation and added pace and detail from most all IEMs once they are removed from a phone and a Dongle placed in-between. Each Dongle has its own sound profile, with some being closer to the same and others being wildly different. I don’t want to underestimate synergy here, which seems to come about from finding the right combination of gear. As such it is almost endless the levels of better or worse synergy found by attempting different sources and phones. Yet I am of the belief that everything matters, what this means is sure you will find good results from hooking a Dongle to a phone, and the convenience of such combinations is apparent. Yet finding a pure source like a DAP or even a computer can at times result in improvements......maybe due to clarity from pace? The clock ticking? Whatever it is, trying different digital sources is the key to understanding that the 1s and 0s are not all the same.

GO bar tone:
As this review matures I am finding a subtle personality to the GO bar. As such......you start to learn more about Dongles the more you interface different equipment with them…….and a generalization of demeanor starts to form. As such I started at first to hear the GO bar as neutral, with a boost in clarity, yet now I’m more face-to-face with that clarity and am starting to name it. Where I view the GO bar as slightly warm and friendly with natural clarity. As such we can count on this tone to be both constant and possibly more synergistic with certain combinations. As such I have a number of ideas which we will learn if they play-out or not? I will be testing both a detailed cable, as well as IEMs that are both on the bright side and the duller side of the street. I mean lets see just how well rounded the GO bar can become…….but more than that, lets see how much epic synergy we can drum-up here!

My baseline:
The Sony WM1A is many listeners favorite. Where this tone is taken with MrWalkman’s firmware into a more midrange centered device replay. Yet it can not be overlooked that the aftermarket software went to make the 1A more warm, and have a bigger stage. What this means today is the Walkman 1A is offering a faster bass and nibble pursuit of clarity through pace.


Hans Zimmer
Wonder Woman 1984
Apex Predator
44.1 kHz - 24 bit


Timestamp accuracy on digital file only, not YouTube video.

While using the WM1A and Penon Volt IEM there was notable wideness in the stage, even increased imaging. These features in WM1A were already (previously) recognized with playback characters. Switching over to the same track with the GO bar we are witnessing a slightly warmer playback, which still could be considered neutral and the WM1A is mid-centric. While even the upper mids and treble were found to be more relaxed, I can still say due to overall technicalities with a beautiful careful and acceptable tone! The GO bar is now in the top 4 units I get playback from.

My personal value/quality list
1) The Sony WM1Z DAP
2) The Sony TA-ZH1ES desktop
3) The Sony WM1A DAP
4) The iFi GO bar Dongle

The above list doesn't included specific synergies, only generalizations.

The WM1A and IEMs:
Where switching over to the ASOS cable and Noble Audio K-10 Encore…the Encore actually can become too energetic with the added energy and midrange girth supplied by the combo of WM1A and Encore…….not to mention the added details and subtle spice additives from the Penon ASOS Cable.

Where in place into the GO pro this slightly less trebly playback was the preferred route.

Finally the NiceHCK Himalaya was put into use, which totally surprised me as far as upper details, as often (to me) an IEM choice allowing upper treble details and even deep sub-bass will kind-of activate the GO bar’s mood, bringing us just that much closer to involvement. At 02:25 when the rhythm hits...........those drums out to the edge in position, in contrast to the violins, comes off as memorable. Sure this style of playback with the Himalaya and ASOS cable is some go the best it can be too. Does the WM1A win-out? Yes, it does, but this could only be almost a matter of opinion. Somehow the WM1A is both more midrange forward and still smooth? Yet switching to the song off this OST ’The Monkey Paw’ we are rewarded with a fun display of imaging as well as a dramatic display of mixing GO bar sound elements. Maybe I just like these IEMs a whole lot? So in ending these tests............the ifi GO bar never fails to amuse and will even go to proclaim a more balanced playback into which we find a bright upper midrange shelf like in use with the Noble Audio Encore K-10 Universal IEM to become sounding more accessible, even smoother in replay!


The Noble Audio K-10 Encore Universal IEM


The NiceHCK Audio Himalaya TOTL IEM


The Penon Audio past flagship Volt


The Sony WM1A and GO bar

Sony WM1Z/WM1A DAP v ifi GO bar Conclusion:
In comparison to the Sony WM1A the GO bar sound is warmer, yet in comparison to the WM1Z the ifi GO bar comes across as less V shaped and offering a tailored bass, and polite treble. Where the WM1Z broadcasts this halo around the inner head stage, thus projecting images against the walls of a fishbowl display through a higher, more finite treble response.

What this ends with providing is that the GO bar is small and fun, powerful and well controlled, offering-up a well balanced demeanor that goes with many IEMs and all styles of music.

This is my first exposure to an ifi tuning stance, and I would generalize here that there is a smoothness that counteracts against any bright treble or upper midrange detail glare. As such we are provided with a fast and clear bottom end with just enough smoothness at the top to create an accessible and rewarding listen!

While not offering up the biggest stage in the business, there is a lot to chew on, and this same goes for the found imaging, that while not the most separated and itemized, there is a careful and correct way the ifi GO bar performs which enables it to rise about every Dongle I have tried….to bask in the glory next to my favorite desktop and DAPs. It can’t be underestimated the power also included with GO bar output, seemingly being the most powerful Dongle I have tried.

The Penon ASOS 3-in-1 Cable:
You may be wondering why I chose this particular cable for testing today? Well even if you're not at all curious, I'm going to tell you anyway. There have been people who favored the ASOS more than 80 previous cables! Now I wouldn't go that far except to say that the way the ASOS works is through clarity. It doesn't exactly alter the sound too much, but goes ahead to provide extra clarity, though transparency. It brings you closer to your gear, that's all. And while somehow blackening the background, we are in a better position to perceive bass separation, as it is simply more bass textured. Next the ASOS does add slight midrange energy which goes forward to expand the midrange girth, which can excite some bright IEMs, taking them up-a-level into upper-end focus as oppose to a straight OFC copper cable. Yet today, and the way the ifi GO bar carries itself, it was basic synergy to be found, with all the IEMs used. With that said the ASOS reacted to supply detail in droves, and in contrast to the WM1A, the iFi GO bar went to smooth-out the Noble K-10 Encore upper frequency midrange shelf, which is uncommonly bright just by itself.



In everyday phone use:
While the total output of the ifi GO bar is limited by the host. Meaning total power offered by USB 2.0 is 2.5 watts. Yet ifi says the GO bar can draw up to 4.0 watts. Thus to get the pull power posted by ifi the GO bar must be hooked up to USB 3.0 (or above) capable host. Still even at 2.5 watts draw is fine for most uses. I hooked the GO bar to my Samsung Phone and was met with ear shattering power levels. Yet really playback was fine from my NiceHCK Himalaya IEMs. Note though when hooked to the HiBy R3 II we are now supplying the full 4 watts needed from the HiBy R3 II Type-C plug due to USB 3.1 protocols. Though I tried to picture myself using a standard phone and the sound was totally great. What I mean by great is there was decent stage and separation, there was nice fast and authority in the bass, where this ended being the very best Dongle (ever) in phone use for regular USB 2.0 Type-C. Listening to this DEPECHE MODE album was fantastic? Simple regular 44.1 kHz - 16 bit was maximized in use. Probably the most beneficial thing was imagining how each instrument had its own place in the stage……….listening to ’STRANGLOVE’ with the Eddict player for Android. Now here is the big thing..........normally I don't really talk about phone use. I mean we are Audiophiles who pride ourselves taking this audio equipment thing always to the superlative level? Only here I was listening to a regular bit-rate file off my phone, and just happened to be throughly involved. In fact it was really a good replay, so much that I could have continued the rest of the day listening? It was the best I had ever heard a phone sound, ever...............and that is saying something.

Go bar Features:

• Native playback up to DSD256​
• Ultra-res PCM up to 32-bit/384kHz via USB ​
• 2x DXD​
• Full MQA decoding​
• 32-bit Cirrus Logic DAC chipset​
• 6-core XMOS micro controller​
• GMT (Global Master Timing) precision clock ​

Four filters:
1) Bit Perfect: No digital filtering
2) Standard: Modest filtering, modest pre and post ringing
3) Minimum Phase: Slow roll-off, minimum pre and post ringing
4) Gibbs Transient Optimized (GTO): Named after ‘Gibbs phenomenon’ in mathematics. Research this if wanted.

Two analogue processing modes:
1) XBass+ bass boost
2) XSpace increased soundstage

Two outputs:
1) 4.4mm balanced output
2) 3.5mm S-balanced output



The rarity of S-balanced:
Balanced 3.5mm is an attempt to use an S-3.5mm to eliminate 50% of crosstalk from regular 3.5mm single ended plugs. But the question here arises, as to why you would even seek-out such plugs, as they are incredibly rare? You would simply go forward with the regular 4.4mm cables you already own, or are yet to purchase here.

3 position slider switch: 4.4mm/off/3.5mm
iEMatch: Attenuates power for power sensitive IEMs.

Double volume button activation:
Tubo Mode: Adds 6dB of power for power hungry headphones.



Key to features:
Top:
44/48
88/96
176/192
352/384
DSD 64/128
MQA
XSpace
XBass




Packaging:



Included with the GO bar is a USB Type A to USB Type C, two cables for USB Type C and Apple Lightning, an ifi sticker, a case, a quck guide, an after purchase guide and user manual.


USB Type A to USB Type C adapter for notebook or PC use

The included case:
Sure I’m into cases, as how else do we protect the device while on the road? The thing is, I have found such a case here with two compartments inside to fit all the accessories. Included is the smell and feel are of genuine leather. Really, the materials used and finish set this simple case apart from the competition. A magnetic latch holds the flap down, and a belt loop provided helps if you want to go into 100% nerd fashion. The question is will it fit (that’s what she said) and strangely it all goes in?






Conclusion:
Simple really……as I don’t foresee any Dongle coming along and taking over this top performance position any time soon. Really my assessment job here was easy, just listen to it in place and come to conclusions. As results were so profound that it wasn’t really a question of subjectivity…..…nope. The GO bar was objectively the best Dongle I have ever heard. While the stage was not the absolute biggest (in comparison to the Sony DAPs) it was still very well positioned, involving and paced. There is a smoothness about the ifi GO bar that begs for your best gear. Probably the most surprising thing was the provocative neutral imaging which lived inside of that stage. The deep bass that went to provide both dampening factor and ultimately transient response with any and all IEMs and headphones I tested. As such this kind-of opens positioning and details clarity, but not the kind of fake clarity from too much treble, as this clarity is from good old fashioned technicalities and clock timing.

You have a choice of XBass and/or XSpace......even a Hi-Res Audio sticker! But in all seriousness here, that sticker goes on to proclaim you can decode your favorite format on-the-fly. You have color coded lights to prove the bit-rate, and the IEMatch switch on the side to arrange a correct output impedance without any distracting extra noise. The ifi GO bar was hooked up to my MacBook Air, also hooked up to the different phones I have, along with the TypeC USB 3.01 from my HiBy R3 II, gaining full power. As such I could take advantage of Hi-Res files, as well as an incredibly small HiBy R3 II form factor. This set-up made my Sony MDR-Z7 headphones wake-up and provide a thorough audiophile experience, adding a physical bass that I could feel with my ears as well as hear with my eardrums. All these features..........all this functionality from a very small bar, one that you can feel free to take anywhere. Just for fun I hooked up my iPod Touch to the Lighting connector and I was instantly met with some of the best tone from watching YouTube Rock videos? As expected (once again) we are met with a style of plug-and-play simplicity…….to where you have better things to do than to have to worry about (doing anything else) but putting the ifi GO bar in action, and GOing places!

The GO bar retails at $329.00 USD.
https://ifi-audio.com/products/go-bar/

https://www.amazon.com/iFi-Audio/s?k=iFi+Audio

Disclaimer:
I want to thank Lawrence at ifi for the GO bar review sample.

Disclaimer:
These are one person's ideas and concepts, your results may vary.

Equipment Used:
Sony WM1A Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm
Sony WM1Z Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm
Sony TA-ZH1ES DAC/AMP Firmware 1.03
Electra Glide Audio Reference Glide-Reference Standard "Fatboy" Power Cord
Sony Walkman Cradle BCR-NWH10
AudioQuest Carbon USB
HiBy R3 II DAP in 4.4mm balanced and 3.1 TypeC USB digital output
Samsung Phone 3.5mm analogue output, USB TypeC USB digital output
Apple MacBook Air USB TypeA digital output
Apple iPod Touch Lighting digital output


Sony IER-Z1R and ifi GO bar doing its thing.......