As many others have said, you will be fine. I didnât watch his review (I donât watch anyoneâs review of the timeless at this point), because I have already found them to be exceptional in many ways. I really donât care if others have issues with them. They are crazy good for my preferences.
Try them. The Apple dongle does well even if you need to blast it (You may need to deal with defeating Appleâs âdonât hurt your earsâ volume control insanity), but you likely do not âneedâ amplification for quality purposes. You may want it for volume purposes if you like to blow your ears off. I canât see anyone listening long term at the volumes the Apple Dongle produces with this set.
Having both I can say that The Monarch mkii is a different animal altogether.
You canât really compare the Timeless with anything as the planar driver has unique properties.
The Timeless holds up surprisingly well but if you gave me the choice, itâs a no contest but YMMV.
Having a bunch of cheap IEMs in store for fun listening is important for me, so I own a few of KZ IEMs. Using the timeless for critical listening is such a good idea. I can wear it for ours given how light it is.
Just got these in yesterday and I have to say overall these things are damn impressive, I had to tip roll a bit and I changed the cable to a balanced tripowin cable and had to do a small bit of eq in the 500 hz to 1.5 hz region to give the mid range a bit more body and presence (mainly for bass guitar) and drop down the 8k spike by about 2.5 db as stock they had a bit too much zing for me. Other then that the tuning is damn near bang on for my preferences, and this setâs bass, resolution and vocal texture along with its ability to convey a very atmospheric staging on certain songs is just nuts for the price. When these things trade blows with my Oratory 1990 EQâd Elears and actually out resolve them, I was blown away. I still think the Elears are my favorite for their tonality, dynamics, and sheer musicality but the fact that the timeless is an extremely close second is to me insane for a $200 iem.
After spending far too much time on searching for the right IEM and ending up getting the timeless there is only one IEM that I may buy, because I am confident that I will prefer it over the timeless signature: Moondrop Variations. I already regret not buying it last week in the sale, because I didnât want to fuss over the shipping during Christmas, but with the current virus situation, chances are I will stay home during christmas regardlessâŠ
To be honest, I donât get why everyone is talking about the EQ-ability of the timeless/planar. You can EQ everything. And true⊠some IEMs are better or worse in that regard, but from what I have seen, the timeless isnât really special. I eq-ed the Blessing 2 much more and the end result was sounding better than an eq-ed timeless. I sold the Blessing 2 however, because the timeless sounds so much better when there is no eq around. And with major EQ the timeless falls apart just as much as other IEMs, I find.
Itâs been widely tested/accepted that planar drivers can take a lot more deviation from their stock tuning before distorting and manifesting adverse effects. Compared to other driver technologies. Presumably thatâs why itâs being hailed as a perk.
Thereâs only one DD which sticks out in my memory as taking bass EQ like nobodyâs business. Itâs one of JVCâs earbuds (just found what I think it is - over-ears, âSZ2000â if you want to YouTube it, I donât want to cause a distraction in this thread with video links). Not sure if itâs good at much else! Just found HBB created one of the video demos.
I am with you. I also have the Apple dongle, and the Timeless sounds good on it. I also have a cheap Stouchi branded one I got on Amzon, that goes a bit louder. I usually listen on a BTR5, but the volume is sufficient on a cheap USB-C dongle.
I really like the sound on the Timeless, and have pretty decided that I view it as the compliment I wanted to go with the Mele, so I am pretty happy with them as well.
The 2021 Hana were really good too, and about $100 cheaper.
I am not sure what I am doing next, but I am hitting pause for a couple months, and saving some money. I have thought that one of Mangrid Tea, Tanchjim Hana, or Tanchjim Oxygen, might be next. The new Tin T3 Plus looks interesting too, but I am looking for a step up, not lateral.
I have been thinking about a pair of AGK K702 as well ( I am an open back listener too, just fewer hours, mostly after work ). I have been curious, due to the wide sound stage for the money, which seem very appealing.
So, the timeless, oxygen and mele probably hit my preferences better than any other IEMs I have heard. Where they are really different is in note presentation. All 3 have that BGGAR approved tonality (which happens to also be me approved).
I think steps up is going to be difficult. The same things you like about the mele, that dynamic response and richness of the notes, even if it isnât as smooth or precise as the timeless, also comes across in the oxygen. But the oxygen is technically better (but still not as precise as the timeless to my ears). I would call the oxygen a sidegrade to the timeless in that it embodies that dynamic richness and deep texture bass, which the timeless canât do, but doesnât really do anything else outright better.
One of my goals currently is to find the next step up above the timeless that isnât 3, 4 or 5 times the price. Havenât found it yet.
My phone has shit audio that pops when it plays bass for some reason(tested with SE215 and a KZ) but my timeless just doesnât have any of that popping sound itâs just clean bass.
A thing to note is that I can hear some kind of white noise like sound when females are talking never mind cymbals/bells/female singing that caused this white noise artefact to bury the rest of the audio. I partially got around that by stuffing tiny bits of tissue into the eartip which also muffles the audio a tad and gives a lush feel but doesnât seem to hurt precision much. This might be what he means by spicy treble.
As far as sources go I just have internal 3.5mm jacks and 2 USB-C dongles and I canât hear any difference at all except maybe the Apple dongle is a little leaner on the spicy treble and maybe marginally more transparent. I too hate the idea of spending extra money on sources and adapters and it still sounds amazing I donât get what powerful sources would do other than make it louder
Save for the Xenns Ups IMO. Same type of tuning, but major steps up in terms of instrumental timbre, space, airiness, bass quality and texture and overall musicality.
