[kaeswiss]

The upcoming AFUL EXPLORER - previously known in beta-testing as the Performer 3 - is releasing soon. I tested a pre-production unit at Can Jam Singapore, and the rep was saying it would be a sub-$100 USD IEM.

Sub-$100?? I'm definitely going to give this one a try then. I have so many blue IEMs...

 

[Knale]

Sub-$100?? I'm definitely going to give this one a try then. I have so many blue IEMs...

Given how fabulous the MagicOne sounds, I'm down to try any budget stuff from Aful these days.

 

[lgcubana]

BQEYZ Wind

On stock cable (2.5mm balanced), on my burn in rig (2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter --> iPad, playing 2000's Hip Hop, via Pandora), for 20 hrs. What's the best way to convey my listening experience ?
The playback gives me flashbacks of working late in the office, when it's just me, waiting for a RAID array to rebuild itself and the only company that I have is my Discman and the cleaning crew. After listening to the "Blue Crush" soundtrack for the umpteenth time, I put away the Discman and only hear the droning of the commercial grade vacuums. And that's the most accurate analogy that comes to mind; it sucks. The playback sounded more like a hand held, mono speaker, am/fm radio, being played at full volume

I pretty much bought the Wind on @ToneDeafMonk review. For the soundstage , a resounding sub bass , a clean mid bass , natural vocals
& his qualifier, that the Wind requires power.

Do I think that the Wind is worth north of $200 ?
Not in today's ever advancing rollouts of hybrids and multi driver setups. But if you can get 'em on sale, for $150ish, that would be a big Yes!!!

The Wind (on sale) makes for an excellent gateway, into bone conduction done correctly. For Bassheads, the Wind is a more mature listening experience, versus a head banger like the 7hz Legato. The sub bass has just enough decay and chest thump, for you to know that the bone conduction is more than a gimmick.

 

[o0genesis0o]

BQEYZ Wind



On stock cable (2.5mm balanced), on my burn in rig (2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter --> iPad, playing 2000's Hip Hop, via Pandora), for 20 hrs. What's the best way to convey my listening experience ?
The playback gives me flashbacks of working late in the office, when it's just me, waiting for a RAID array to rebuild itself and the only company that I have is my Discman and the cleaning crew. After listening to the "Blue Crush" soundtrack for the umpteenth time, I put away the Discman and only hear the droning of the commercial grade vacuums. And that's the most accurate analogy that comes to mind; it sucks. The playback sounded more like a hand held, mono speaker, am/fm radio, being played at full volume

I pretty much bought the Wind on @ToneDeafMonk review. For the soundstage , a resounding sub bass , a clean mid bass , natural vocals
& his qualifier, that the Wind requires power.

Do I think that the Wind is worth north of $200 ?
Not in today's ever advancing rollouts of hybrids and multi driver setups. But if you can get 'em on sale, for $150ish, that would be a big Yes!!!

The Wind (on sale) makes for an excellent gateway, into bone conduction done correctly. For Bassheads, the Wind is a more mature listening experience, versus a head banger like the 7hz Legato. The sub bass has just enough decay and chest thump, for you to know that the bone conduction is more than a gimmick.

I read this two times and I still cannot decipher whether you like this IEM or not

 

[thaslaya]

Unique Melody 3DT (aka TERMINATOR).

Big thank you to @Neweymatt for letting me borrow his personal unit and grumpy pepe @grumpy213 for sending the IEM over.

Years ago when I was wet behind the ears, I wanted to blind buy this IEM from musicteck but I chickened out. I wouldn’t be disappointed if I went for it.

This IEM might be one of the first 3DD IEMs in the world (yes, it’s an old IEM). It has a tight, snappy, and dynamic presentation rather than big wooly and “analogue” like you would expect from 3DD and the wooden shells. The treble, likely 5kHz region, can flare up in some tracks, but fine with most of my library.

The upper treble extension is as expected behind the Anni 2023 and thus micro detail and the reverberation sound is not as apparent. But the details within the midrange is quite good.

The strength of this IEM besides the dynamic presentation is the wide stage and the unique way it shapes the stage. For example, when I watch an episode of big bang theory, it creates a strong impression that the laugh track (or live audience) is behind my ears to the back of my head.

Edit:


Nicer photo in daylight. This IEM has beautiful shells in real life. Given how I was very unimpressed by MEST III build, I’m surprised that it is this well done.

Loved the look and build quality of the 3DT. Hated the sound. Way too bright for me.

Sub-$100?? I'm definitely going to give this one a try then. I have so many blue IEMs...

Damn if it's really sub $100 I'll blind buy day 1. You definitely need 1 more blue iem though

 

[lgcubana]

I read this two times and I still cannot decipher whether you like this IEM or not

On my desktop setup the BQEYZ Wind is a keeper. Directly off of my iPad,

Hopefully I'll get a chance tomorrow, to try out the Wind on my FiiO BTR7

 

[o0genesis0o]

Loved the look and build quality of the 3DT. Hated the sound. Way too bright for me

Interesting. I wonder whether it is because of the way I wear IEM, my library, or my ear physiology, but it seems I have higher tolerance for upper mid and treble than many folks here.

If I tap out with any IEM, I guess you should run away from that

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Unique Melody 3DT (aka TERMINATOR).

Big thank you to @Neweymatt for letting me borrow his personal unit and grumpy pepe @grumpy213 for sending the IEM over.

Years ago when I was wet behind the ears, I wanted to blind buy this IEM from musicteck but I chickened out. I wouldn’t be disappointed if I went for it.

This IEM might be one of the first 3DD IEMs in the world (yes, it’s an old IEM). It has a tight, snappy, and dynamic presentation rather than big wooly and “analogue” like you would expect from 3DD and the wooden shells. The treble, likely 5kHz region, can flare up in some tracks, but fine with most of my library.

The upper treble extension is as expected behind the Anni 2023 and thus micro detail and the reverberation sound is not as apparent. But the details within the midrange is quite good.

The strength of this IEM besides the dynamic presentation is the wide stage and the unique way it shapes the stage. For example, when I watch an episode of big bang theory, it creates a strong impression that the laugh track (or live audience) is behind my ears to the back of my head.

Edit:


Nicer photo in daylight. This IEM has beautiful shells in real life. Given how I was very unimpressed by MEST III build, I’m surprised that it is this well done.

I once had this in the cart, ready to go, and then someone talked me into getting the Aures instead. Now, I have ZERO regrets pivoting to these amazing IEMs, but it's always left me wondering? Now with the Trio being 3DD, even more so.

 

[thaslaya]

Interesting. I wonder whether it is because of the way I wear IEM, my library, or my ear physiology, but it seems I have higher tolerance for upper mid and treble than many folks here.

If I tap out with any IEM, I guess you should run away from that

Yes I'm always looking for good ears that match my preferences to watch for reviews and impressions. I tend to use my iems with farily deep insertion and L or XL tips and listen at high volume. I will say that a lot of my sibilance and shoutiness complaints mostly go away if I turn the volume down but that's not my listening style.

I once had this in the cart, ready to go, and then someone talked me into getting the Aures instead. Now, I have ZERO regrets pivoting to these amazing IEMs, but it's always left me wondering? Now with the Trio being 3DD, even more so.

Eh 3DT is very neutral bright with anemic bass. You're not missing much unless that's you're tuning preference. I think Blessing 2 does it better without sibilance. Nowadays all the Simgot stuff is better in my opinion.

 

[Zerstorer_GOhren]

@Questyle M15i

Questyle M15 First Gen and Questyle M15i

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

When you find gear with great synergy, you don't question it, you simply enjoy it.

ST7 + Rockbox'd Sansa Fuze = Extremely satisfying experience to my ears.

Once again, I say for metal, these IEMs are freakin' sensational. I tried them for jazz, reggae, and some 80's pop, and I just didn't dig it as much. I think it's the rolled off sub bass? Something about the bass just doesn't satisfy me the way these do when I feed them METAL! Then they get silly good. Through the Sansa, they synergize to a budget perfection. I bought this Sansa still sealed in the box, so even though they came out in 2008? 2009?, this one is as new as you can get for 2024, though I've put it through the ringer already. I have two, and I've owned probably 5 since 2008, when I first got introduced to them thru my ex wife's unit. She bought me a Sony 545 DAP for Christmas, so I would stop using her Sansa all the time lol I got my own after we split, and all have been Rockbox'd. They have some of the most powerful internal amps in the old DAP world. I've never had to use an amp with any IEM. I love them, and this combo with the ST7 is CRUSHING!

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Yes I'm always looking for good ears that match my preferences to watch for reviews and impressions. I tend to use my iems with farily deep insertion and L or XL tips and listen at high volume. I will say that a lot of my sibilance and shoutiness complaints mostly go away if I turn the volume down but that's not my listening style.

Eh 3DT is very neutral bright with anemic bass. You're not missing much unless that's you're tuning preference. I think Blessing 2 does it better without sibilance. Nowadays all the Simgot stuff is better in my opinion.

No sir. Neutral bright with enemic bass describes the 2DD Star River, and that sits in my wooden box untouched. Not my groove. The Trio is my groove, or the Aures, or these ST7's, or the EA500LM.

 

[Jmop]

That FiiO graph looked real good with 4k cut but damn that super high treble peak kinda crazy.

 

[Redcarmoose]

SIMGOT AUDIO SuperMix 4
The graphs give some ideas as to the tuning, though still no exact price from SIMGOT. Though the early reviews seem very promising!

 

[atechreviews]

The upcoming AFUL EXPLORER - previously known in beta-testing as the Performer 3 - is releasing soon. I tested a pre-production unit at Can Jam Singapore, and the rep was saying it would be a sub-$100 USD IEM.



That was not the final tuning though, but the Can Jam unit sounded neutral with a sub-bass boost. Very balanced with good technicalities for a sub-$100 hybrid. Non-shouty upper mids, good extension at both ends. Very promising tuning, with just a nitpick of slight BA timbre. Fits well too.



AFUL has installed some resonating acoustic tube in this IEM, unlike a conventional acoustic tubing. If you recall the previous AFUL MagicOne, it had a special Nautilus labyrinth acoustic tube, which is an acoustic damper that operates via air pressure to down-throttle certain frequencies; this essentially results in an increased sub-bass resonance, much more than what a traditional single BA can execute.



Interesting to note that AFUL is employing some exotic tech once again in the Explorer, but of course, the proof is in the pudding for how it actually sounds in the ears.


https://www.facebook.com/AFULAudio/...Pstom4FSx9TPoY9gKfLqLhqBj9jbt2NLsDAHDW5888fhl










Yeah @Vonbuddy the Fiio FA19 is one of the best purchases I made this year. Warm neutral tuning with good note weight and excellent soundstage, imaging and layering. Not fatiguing to the ears too.

It has a bass boost switch to add some fun, but otherwise for an all-BA set, the bass doesn't sound like a BA bass due to the addition of a vented sub-woofer. So it doesn't sound thin compared to some all-BA sets which are "sterile".

Wow, under $100? That's amazing! I actually liked the name Performer 3. I love how AFUL always uses innovative tech in their IEMs. And it looks beautiful too!