What is up with the nozzle??? There should be a black Styrofoam material in there.
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Came like this 
All photos I’ve seen are like this
Seems like they improved it. Looks like plastic/resin to me 
maybe I’m blind 
Damn, these look good. (Tribrid next for me though so I’m just passing through.)
Thanks bro. Not even close as your usual “Pro Juice”
Yeah, I love the looks. I’m on tribids atm, but always wanted to try full BA 
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I can confirm mine also look like that. Just realized that’s because… that’s my set! 
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Ha ha. I sold mine and did not have good pictures of the nozzle. I hope you don’t mind me using your beautiful pics to show how the nozzles use to appear.
Ah I thought these were your photos. Your set is the one that went to another user and then to me, I think… that’s what I meant. 
They’re not my photos.
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ROFL! So it was originally my set??? ROFL! Hilarious.
Yes, I sold my set to @Sonofholhorse. He sold them to you? lol!
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And I think they’re fantastic. I’m selling them on because I don’t have the luxury of owning more than one, and the Aladdin do everything pretty much perfectly by my ears. If they had the tiniest bit more mid-bass warmth like the Lokahi… then oh wow!
Between their obscurity and how much I like their sound, I wish I didn’t have to pick just one tuning, and could keep them around. An almost tubey warmth, sufficient/natural level of detail, perfect cymbal shimmer, impressive snare impact). While I usually prefer more soundstage, their intimacy was never an issue while enjoying music. They have their caveats, but I have a whole lot of praise for the Lokahi. Fit was lucky for me too, I had suction issues with 3DT and Clairs but not these. All ears are for sure different.
I’ve still got them for now if people have questions about them, can’t really do many comparisons because as mentioned, I’m not able to keep IEMs around besides what’s intended to be an EDC.
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Thems the ones!
Sorry to hear that especially since you enjoy them as much as you do. I could not wear them without painful inner-ear suction.
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Audio Lokahi First Impressions
This little fellas suprised me, in a good way, the second I putted them on. Was expecting something else or maybe something I wouldn’t like with them. That wasn’t the case. It’s also my first entry into Full BA sets, so there’s that. Going from Teas, to Variations to Lokahi has been a rollercoaster.
Fit and confort are great for me. Any tip worked for me and their fit is close to Teas for good measure, which is deep without hotspots. Remind me of FH3 fit but ligther, since FH3 body is made of metal and Lokahi seems to be made of Resin/PVC, weighting nothing. I ended up with Final E tips to try to enhance bass and tame treble, which will be obvious above.
Now lets just get this out of the way:
- If you despise BA timbre, these are not for you.
- You might get some inner-ear suction. I’m not getting much/none, but as always YMMV and you’ve been warned.
- If your library resolves around heavy subbass, I’d not pick these since they don’t have a Dynamic Driver.
So, given that, how’s the Sound on Lokahi?
Lokahi was the first IEM that instantly reminded me of my beloved Teas as soon as I put them on, which is a feat by itself already. But curiously enough, they are unidentical twins, since Teas are balanced with sub-bass focus and dark treble, while Lokahi is slight U-Shaped, having less sub-bass but brighter treble. Let me explain you why, without getting lost in the sauce:
- Lokahi mid bass is elevated to perform a resemblance to a DD driver. BAs don’t have the physical “thump” that DDs makes you feel, so a smart tuning detail is to elevate the mid-bass so you feel more kick to compensate the rumble you aren’t having. And this kind of works.
- Lokahi Treble is elevated to balance the signature out with this mid-bass elevation, giving it more energy and air.
- Mids are pretty flat, giving them a nice presentation without leting mid-bass bleed and has an ok transition to upper (could be slight better imo, but big deal).
So, how to they really sound?
They have some BA timbre to it. It’s a bit dry and metallic, but I’ve heard much worse, even on hibrids. Lokahi is coherent and fast, but lacks some detail. Like there’s some tiny pieces missing here and there on tracks. Soundstage is ok with nice imaging.
The big elephant in the room is of course the lack of DD bass. Surprisingly enough, mid bass is pretty good and has a nice kick to it, that can get a bit muddy on very busy tracks. This kick will help you with the driver main problem, the lackage of real sub-bass. The texture is good, even for a BA. When hearing albuns like Daftpunk - Homework, I slight missed the typical DD rumble, but the kick compensated some of it. I trully liked the bass on these, even if it’s not perfect.
Mids are very well presented to my preferences, and are their best trait in my opinion. Could use a little more detail, but overall fine.
Treble is a tricky one. It has good extention, but can get a little bit spicy. I’m ok with it having energy, but sometimes they get slighly hotter than it should. Also, all this elevation don’t seem to bring as much air into the table as I would expect, again, leaving some micro details to be left out.
First conclusion: I really like these. If they were at their original price, around 140$, I’d say grab them, it’s a rec based on tunning. At 240$ it’s hard for me to say the same thing, as you are 60$ away from the 300$ range, where the usual suspects step over these. It’s a nice entry to people that want to try full BA setups.
None the less, they surpised me in a good way and I hope to spend some more time with them in a near future, before taking some final conclusions. I’m trying to downsize my collection, but I have some love for these. Maybe they’ll stay.
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Nice review.
I find these very nice to have in a collection. If you were to have only one IEM then you might pick something else but these offer an alternative sound if you have a single DD, hybrid, etc already.
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Exactly how I feel!
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If someone has Audio Hekili (or even Lokahi), could you measure an post the nozzle size?
Just an info for those interested, the Hekili nozzle size is 4.83 mm.
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