Did you give your feedback to AFUL? Maybe they can still fix the tuning. I hope.
And what about soundstage? It gives the sensation of out of head sound?
Let me mention that I drove them on my mojo 2 which is a very neutral and technical source.
It adds to the treble as well
The stage was just under my ltds which is good
The thing is the micro details are so present that it can reduce the stage psychoacoustics on some songs.
Sounds like the audience coughing laughing and clapping in “you’ve got to give me some by Cecile mclorin” were so present and clear that they jumped from sitting 4 levels back to 2.
The static shimmer in shine on a rainy day by Brent cobb were so present.
They were not the most technical (the annihilator/ storm) I heard at canjam but certainly one of the most detailed I heard.
The bass as well is great. Very textured
2 Likes
I need to see the frequency response at this point. They said the release date?
If there are no branded BAs - don’t buy it even for 100 dollars. Many companies are already lying. Hats off to Sound Rhyme - they always indicate the drivers and these drivers are always very good.
2 Likes
My Majestic and Alien Brain also don’t mention what BA drivers they use, but both are some of the best IEMs I’ve heard and are an easy endgame for most guys (and for me).
There are companies that use custom BAs to achieve what they set out to achieve in terms of sound, dynamics, transitions, etc.
I’m increasingly thinking that it’s not just the brand that matters! 
For example, I have a few IEMs with Knowles and Sonion BAs that sound like sh.t. 
I’m sure you have some too.
Sad but true…
4 Likes
Agreed. I’ve heard the Alien and it does sound great. Aful’s shown they can tune well. My issue is with transparency and pricing. It’s gets hard to know if we’re being extorted.
2 Likes
It’s probably harder to tune an IEM well with unbranded BAs then it is with the known ones. Hats off to Aful for what they’ve achieved.
1 Like
For a while I think that was the case, but I don’t think so anymore. At least in the US, I think the term custom ba is used due to the Knowles lawsuit that outlaws knockoffs from being used.
My gripe is more ‘how do you quantify an iem’s worth?’ Price certainly isn’t accurate. I’m willing to pay for tuning expertise, or even a company’s solid track record, but You can’t expect me to trust a company to charge a fair price, and not inflate to what the market will bear. Some won’t, but the main reasons the price to performance is so much better than a few years ago is due to graphs and measurements. even if at the end of the day I trust my ears. I don’t feel good about encouraging less transparency with my wallet.
Rant over. I’ll go back to lurking
3 Likes
Actually, if they’re using truly ‘custom’ BAs (and not just off-the-shelf Bellsings or other knockoffs to save $$$) then it should be easier to tune them since they are modified to the parameters of the designer/engineer using them rather than working off of an existing design and datasheets. The harder part is going to be QA ensuring that all of the units fall within acceptable variance since they are not a standard design, and that will come down to both the manufacturer’s ability to deliver consistency as well as what the designers & engineers deem acceptable ranges. I have to agree with those arguing for transparency (you should be PROUD of your product and willing to divulge your components) but as always your ears will always be the final arbiter of whether you get your money’s worth or not.
2 Likes
Is it easy to drive?
I have no idea about drivablity, but I’ll be getting one. I wasn’t sure until a few days ago. The brand send this out. It’s coming out in September, along with what seems a lot of other iems.
I try not to read too much into brand graphs, but this looks good, at least I think. There might be an error at the bottom as I don’t think the 2k peak is at the flat part of the FR. But not sure. It’s a wood faceplate which is interesting.
1 Like
This FR is completely wrong with the notations! 
3 Likes
Bass over treble OMG bring it on!
1 Like
Daym, graph looks gooooood. I am hyped for this one.
2 Likes
I grabbed the Aful Dawn-X frequency response graph from Aful’s advertisement. Then I horizontally and vertically resized the graph to fit on a squiglink relative to the HBB tuning target. I hope that this gives you all a better idea about the overall tuning of the Dawn-X. There are a lot of things which I like about this Dawn-X graph.
8 Likes
Graph looks right but wrong name.
Looks sad to me. Too bright at 5 to 10, and that uneavenness, including peak after 11 is no good either. May be tip roll will help, but at the moment, tuning is discouraging.
Btw, any body know why did they have to use 8(!)BA to play just 2 to 5 kHz as they advertise? I’m not an engineer but there’re many examples of mids done right with just 1-2 BAs. I have some thaughts on this, but they have nothing to do with tuning 