Bad Guy Good Audio Rankings and stuff (under construction) (Part 1)

It will come as the Mele replacement at $35 around end of year. Got other stuff to do first :slight_smile: Thanks for the interest btw :raised_hands:

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After a while I worked out the only drawback to the xQKZ that I could find was a timbre issue. Metallic would be too strong of a word, but something about the edge and resonance didn’t chime with me, reminded me of the CRA.

Which is crazy, because it means that for $20 it hit tonality and technicalities to a really high standard. I guess “timbre” is the third “t” for me, and it’s already better timbre-wise than it should be for $20.

The amount of physicality it delivered was fantastic icing on the cake, and I hope it carries over to other collabs too although I expect it’s thanks to the Ti coating and it will be hit or miss whether that can be reproduced.

So I guess what’s got me excited… is whether this $35 set can hit all three Ts. From what I remember of photo previews I think it’s a slick looking set to boot.

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Well now I can’t keep it in my pants either.

pants GIF by James Curran

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Oh thanks! I actually found that exact video just before you mentioned it. Unfortunately, I think I require some stronger measures in order to get full ear function back :skull:

Hopefully the Otovent balloon will do the trick.

Got the GL-AMT16s today, with some pics and preliminary bullet points here:

One thing I’ve found really strange is that two of the tuning nozzles come entirely without a mesh, or even ridges for a mesh. I don’t think I’d be comfortable using those without wax-guard tips like Shure uses, since there’s nothing between the ear and the “black bubblegum” void below.

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could use one of the filters like the moondrop illumination (just sits in the nozzle)

This johnchpark on Head-fi actually used Tanchjim filters, but that was a bit overkill for the pinna gain. Something less impactful might do the job, I haven’t checked measurements for the illumination filters yet.

That is in fact my only issue with the xQKZ as well. That Timbre issue - I remember mentioning this when I first got the set to @GooberBM. Honestly though, for $20 it’s just not even a point to bring into a forum for all to see. I feared scaring off people from buying the incredible set that it is if I had mentioned any issue with Timbre.

you could buy a filter with essentially zero damping to be used as a dust guard.


https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004485357287.html

Silver mesh, 120 grade density, essentially nothing.


Here is a 200 grade filter compared to filterless.

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You just reminded me that I hadn’t tested if the LZ A6/A7 nozzles fit yet… They do… perfectly…

I think I just opened a whole lot of new possibilities. panic

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Have fun. :joy:

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We all know it has to have a flaw somewhere for $20, otherwise why wouldn’t it be the equal of $150+ sets? It’s remarkable how minor the flaw is. Still a full rec for $20, if anything I think the timbre being slightly off being the only bottleneck comes off as a huge recommendation in its price range, not a warning! :slight_smile:

Detachable cables too :+1:

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Do either of you or @domq422 think an putting another filter might mitigate the light metallic-ish timber a bit, maybe a really thin one so it doesn’t mess with the tuning too much?

I’m not knowledgeable enough about modding, @Rikudou_Goku might be able to contribute to it.

My personal take on timbre, at least in this instance, is that it’s inherent to the driver material first, and perhaps housing/cavities second.

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I don’t feel like a filter would change the overall timbre without affecting the FR tbh but I’m no expert. So take my ideas with a grain of huge salt, please. A filter would most likely reduce some of the upper mids/treble and I don’t think that would be better than just listening to the set as is, accepting the Timbre but enjoying the rest of the positives. But @Rikudou_Goku most likely has a more mature take on this.

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Sometimes it can. In cases where it is a BA that is doing the upper-mids/treble, dampening it, (aka telling it to shut up), will make you hear less of the unnatural BA timbre. You are also affecting the speed, by dampening it you are slowing it down, aka, the faster decay/attack of the BAs in comparison to DDs will not be as big as before.

In this case I believe you are referring to the QKZ/HBB iem? Which you guys say share traits with the CRA timbre (which has some metallic timbre in the treble), you wont really be able to help tame the timbre without making it overly dark. As the metallic timbre in that one (CRA) comes from the 5k, 8k and 12k peaks and I suspect it is due to the shell resonance. You might want to use PEQ instead but not sure how much you can fix it since it seems to be a fundamental issue with the shell used.

(While timbre and tonality are 2 different factors, they do correlate a lot.)

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@hawaiibadboy check DM once. Please.

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@hawaiibadboy , thanks for the rec on that 7Hz SEVENHERTZ 71 dongle. That is a steal at $35, and can power all my IEMs well. Nice to hear AKM’s AK4377 DAC chip at that price too.

The 71 paired with the Olina SE is pretty amazing.

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Thanks for the trust bro! It’s a handy little affordable ding dongle :notes: :slight_smile:

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