I only just saw the video, didn’t realize Mahina is moonlight lol
To my ears - because in my country we’re still taught a lot of Latin in school - I thought you were going for the traditional Latin pronunciation of 'machina ’ (as in, Deus ex machina [machine]) because that’s how it’s pronounced (except its MAhina, not maHIna, of course)). Even if it’s not that, this sure came in as a hi-fi Deus ex machina 
So I purchased the Kinda Lava at launch buy I couldn’t get into it because of this reason;
It lacked immersiveness. Music played in exclusively infront of me as opposed to infront & around me. It sounded distant and forced me out of the music to appreciate it from a distance. Happened regardless of source.
How is the Mahina in this regard? How is the stage? Does it give that club/car audio feel or more like 2.0 traditional stereo?
Few words regarding Kai on usability mostly:
Very short impression on the sound:
Generally a keeper, even just for the unusual looks (worst case scenario I would give it as a jewellery for my wife )
Ok, one extra (little or huge depending on your life choices) minus on the usability and visual aspect. There is no way to hide this new purchase from your special one. I have some cases in the past when new set was similar enough to the one owned, so she never realised, or just simple “I changed cable” was enough
Im on the opposite side. Im looking to order more of these for my other sets.
Perfect for my use case!
I’m still down for a temp exchange at some point. Would hate fior either of us to spent so much on something we won’t enjoy and then loose money on resale.
I also do not get Aria love at all.
I really get it but muse well tell her as she going to eventually find out. 40 years as an audiophile you might as well tell from the start.
My question is can you see yourself rocking out with them because the music is moving you and singing around the house with them ect. ect.
I use Chu for this
Since getting it, it’s been my “set for whatever”. I keep it in the case of my switch for example, or thrown in my backpack to make sure I have a 3.5mm earphone with decent sound if anything goes wrong. Absolutely can’t fail at the price!
Yes, for sure. It is less engaging for me meaning it does not ask for your attention constantly, but subconsciously depending on the mood and situation you could start rocking and singing to the music you are listening (it has really good kick for that). It can be an easy listen for that fact and this is cool (e.g I felt asleep in coziness with them in my ears yesterday) 
Just wanna share some of my story. I’m another one that follow HBB and agree with his recommend for many years. I have EJ07 which I quite like so when Kinda lava came out, I almost instantly buy it but… its sound don’t impress me at all. Almost lose my faith in him then the person who buy Kinda lava from me say it’s the best iem he heard at this price range. Also, I buy mest mk2 and I like it a lot so faith restored lol. Waiting to see if Mahina could beat mest mk2 or not😁
Yeah the presentation of the Lava was strongly in the opposite camp for my preferences.
It ruined it for me…
The MEST 2 had the tech and stage and imaging but not the tuning I wanted. That’s what everyone says about it pretty much.
These golden nuggets are more detailed than the Thor MK2 by virtue of the smaller driver and the balanced tuning.
It has great inherent detail but the stock tuning is not inclined to highlight the details that are there.
Simply because it is slightly dipped in the presence region in its stock tuning, it comes across as ever so slightly shouty and “twangy” to me.
It does take well to EQ thankfully so I raise the sub bass by 2 dB and 4-8kHz area by 1,5dB to get it more in line with my preferences.
I think I’m especially sensitive to dips in 7-10kHz area. Too little energy here tend to dull the perception of transient attack which for me takes away much needed and appreciated excitement.
Bass is really snappy and the driver is quick for a DD at this price point.
Driver is capable of bass but I wouldn’t bring up the word basshead. With EQ is can thump some.
If you need at least 1 DD set in your collection, you might as well get this one. You don’t buy DD’s for technicalities.
Does very little wrong with no annoying sound characteristics.
It’s a really good set. Cable is really nice too.
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PSA: It’s time for the semi-monthly ear cleaning! Get that muthafukkin’ wax outta there!
Don’t use Q-tips; use wax disolvant liquid.
That is not how the term is used.
It is completely 100% unrelated to the frequency response range.
100%
Dynamics…
the difference between the loudest and quietest sounds. It’s measured in decibels, or dB for short. In a single audio track,**
I don’t care if you like or dislike or otherwise any set including my collabs but please do not completely miss represent well known and defined terms in Acoustic Science that most folks who talk about audio gear already know
That’s dynamics and dynamic range
That’s a frequency graph.
Dynamic range has nothing to do with tuning and everything to do with transducers and the replay (output) of analogue or digital input
Thanks for feedback. Yeah, DD’s are not the res kings
