I think I get that from my Kinda Lava, Mahina, and Twilight. Maaaybe from the Kai too. Thoughts on that from those?
So, as an owner of both the KL and Twilight (actually have the Twilight here today with my Storm), while both the Twilight and KL have good separation and width, the sense of projection and distance is NOT the same as it is on the Storm. To try and show it in a diagram:
l l l l l
l l versus l
0 l l
l 0 l
Itâs far more egregious when you A/B the sets, but yeah, itâs like that. The other thing with the Storm is that it doesnât do it artificially; itâs not like everything has a mile-wide soundstage, just things that were recorded that way. Intimate things maintain that small scale, but have that rich depth that most IEMs (and headphones, tbh) lack.
Loving the ASCII art music notes!
Thanks, it was the best I could do on short notice to kind-of illustrate what I mean; before I figured out the formatting, it was going to be a masterclass (read: disaster) of MSPaint skills!
Itâs really hard to put into words or drawings the difference in sensation, but I think that the dynamics of the replay also have something to do with it [the Storm has dynamics (read: difference in volume, impact and gradation between sounds) in spades despite being all-BA]. A lot of speakerheads will tell you that headphones of all kinds sound flat and undynamic compared to speakers, usually citing actual air volume excitement and displacement as the reason but thereâs more to it than that. I feel like @JAnonymous5150 's girl could explain it better, as I understand it sheâs something of a technician so she has great familiarity with monitoring setups.
Can you please put that black cable on the storm and take another picture just for aestehtics?! ![]()
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Is the Storm on the dryer side compared to the Twilight or the Kinda Lava (preferably tuned or EQâD to what HBB wanted) to you?
Itâs not really âDrierâ, but more open and clear compared to the Twilight IMO (the Storm does a great job of staying pretty neutral in its tonality, while the Twilight is slightly warm but also pretty neutral in its own right). My KL is the stock tune (not HBBâs original intended), but I can do some A/B for you tonight or tomorrow if you want. From memory, theyâre actually really close in tonality as-is (which, if you look at the graph of HBBâs Storm overlaid with Kinda Lava Sample #2 which was the retail version, they are REALLY similar).
I see! I prefer warm-ish tunings so you may have saved me 25 hundred dollars from the future lol. Nymz helped me out in EQ-ing my Kinda Lava with my Sony Walkman A105 to close enough if not exactly what HBB was going for a while ago so hereâs that in case you need it or are interested ![]()
Youâll want to keep an eye on Subtonicâs next release, Tempest; I believe that is supposed to be their âwarmâ offering (and supposed to be like half the price of the Storm).
Sweet! I have an appreciation for accurate replay gear, but have always preferred my bass areas a tad on the beefy-er side of things.
Twinning!

Definitely still way out of my price bracket but itâs nice to know theyâre working their way down, thatâs for sure!


Thank you ![]()
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So it is a big MEH. I was hoping for something of good with this ![]()
Ask reviewers who use EQ whatâs up. Could be a beast.
What Iâm rolling with:
60hz low-shelf +5db, Q 0.5
5800 peaking -1.5, Q3
11000 high-shelf -2, Q1
Bass boost of some sort is definitely needed imo, other 2 are optional because I find the higher FR too much




