Bad Guy Good Audio Rankings and stuff (under construction) (Part 2)



Now we have reports of Moondrops Latest Dark Sabre shells breaking
What’s going on with manufacturers making the shells too thin?

At least Empire Ears recalled all the Raven units to retool the shells bravo EE for the extra effort!

Let’s see how ChiFi does it?

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is it me or the s8 looked more dense/thicker in resin part?
vs the more hollow dark saber @6:30

I thought you had a messy desk and no way is that another epic QC prob…holy shit.
Cayin, EE…it’s everywhere.


jesuschrist-jesus-christ-kid

That looks a tad thicker than a fucking straw

S8 is filled and built great. The good ole’ days…

My Solaris 2 has a dead cable out of box and I still have no replacement.

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Chasing profit margins is all fun and games until your IEMs shatter if you breathe lightly on them

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find-out

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Uh oh I hope mine isn’t like that Jesus sorry you had to experience that, and it’s literally brand new too :confused:

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Glad I have never had any QC issues with any of my units. Owned Variations for more that two years now with daily use, still looks like new. Kato, same story; S8 I had for the longest time as well.

Hope that‘s just a one off case; at least EE had a proper response on the Raven fiasco.

That said, looking forward to demoing the Saber some time soon.

that shell looks crazy thin…like EE. These molding and 3D rigs might be spitting out some really poor stuff. That’s too thin. Everyone who buys has a chance at that shitty lottery. Hope they do what EE did and call em back

Yeah, and that Saber had the shell breaking near the 2-pin connector, just like the Raven. In that case, why not have the shell be thicker around the connector proximity? (Or, you know, just having a bit more thick of a shell)

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It’s cutting corners to save on production costs, to increase profit margin on their luxury priced IEMs (and yes I’m saying Dark Saber is luxury cost for most).

In capitalism, the opportunity cost of this is you will get away with a small percentage of bad batches, in order to save the most in manufacturing costs.

And sometimes you get caught with your pants down when your IEMs shatter at the slightest touch

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You probably are right on this one, but just for the sake of being the devil’s advocate , I will try and imaging some other stories:

1st hypothesis:
The manufacturer develops new 3D printing technology, promising as solid stuff for less material. With that you can get smaller shells, or as big shells with more drivers, etc .

As an iem manufacturer, you trust the shell builder and make a deal.

Your tests, done on preprod shells, are all positive.

When your iem is out in the wild , you realize your shell supplier has bad QC, did not worked well, or was just wrong.

2nd hypothesis:
all the tests you’ve run concluded the new thinner shell design was solid enough, but in some cases you didn’t test, it breaks and you discover it only with user feedback. It is just a case of a miss in the conception phase. It happens all the time in computer development.

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Moondrop has always had QC/QA and design problems. The last well made Moondrop product I owned was the SSP, and it sounded weird. I saw the buttons are falling off on the Dawn Pro.

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I’d say a combo of 1 & 2

I have been in the hobby long enough to remember worrying about a 2pin snapping on a tight set…I do not remember worrying about how to remove a 2pin to prevent a shell from failing.
This occurring when 3D printing is being employed and touted is not a coincidence.


Not sure if impacted sets are being done like this but the timing is epic.
A shell fracture being a concern v.s. a 2 pin breaking is 2023 probs.

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Few folks I know and trust said this was pretty bad at SoCal Canjam. 1 is a huge Softears fan.
Was in diff shell but was told tuning is set.
There was no driver in window (prototype)

I just saved $3500 :heavy_heart_exclamation:

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You and me both so disappointing what happens to the crazy vented shell.

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$3500 :eyes: tf

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Anyone here heard of the Campfire bonneville? I heard that it’s like the Andromeda with actually good bass, though knowing head fi’ers good bass just means a light breeze lol.

Still I should have an opportunity to try it in an Australian Hifi event soon. Might be the 1 in a 1000000 IEMs that CFA gets right.

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It was in a Studio4/ish shell to give early listens, the venting serves no purpose apparently.
Sometimes Canjams are used for feedback along the development stage
Nightjar Singularity and Duality have gone to a couple before the team finalizes.
Enigma is slated for November and there is no time. :melting_face:

I’d pay it.
The ridiculous replacement cable B.S. I am going through aside (Kinda like you and Lee just switch it to Cloris) …I pay big money for unique and craftsmanship.
This might fit unique too much and QC doesn’t scare me but the after care does cuz it’s same folks.

I put this set in my Top 5 sets I’m looking forward too.
image0 (1)

This matches what I was told buy a guy at Canjam. Sounds like an upper mids dampening issue from what i was told.

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I tried at can jam not a fan. All the passive radiator items were weird.

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Thanks. You helped kinda save me $3500…my Fiance would be appreciative of that :laughing:

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