Goober's Journey Into the IEM Game or "Why Are You Not As Good As....?"

Boy howdy!

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LOL!

Change that to coffee and hot chocolate for Goober and we’re in business! :sweat_smile:

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Oh no, dude I am a tea guy. You just went to Starbucks, so I played the hand I was dealt.

IEM listening over tea? Fuck and yes please!

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well then, now I know!

Tea next time it is :sunglasses:

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Being English then…

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This song is both hilarious because of the lyrics and premise, but also I thoroughly enjoyed it? :sweat_smile:

Thanks for the Rec, buddy - this was a surprising song to listen to at 11am to say the least.

Side note - being from Boston this is somewhat Taboo to say, but … New York has been my favorite place in the world since I was kid so that’s a plus!

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KBear Qinglong or If the “At Least You Tried” meme Was an IEM

The IEM game is quite a dichotomy; on one hand, it is always evolving as $20 can compete with $50+, $35 can compete with $100+, $100 can compete with $250+, $220 can compete with $500, so forth and so on. When swimming with sharks, if you don’t keep moving, you die. But on the other hand, the game is very much a copycat thing. 2021 was a big year for tri-brids that took on the kilobuck and summit-fi sets. 2022 has been about the budget game leveling up but all sharing Harman-like DNA, and every planar on God’s green earth using the same driver to get a piece of the pie. Frankly, it’s tiring to listen to 3 or 4 sets that are 99.95%+ the same and try to parse out why you should buy one or the other. For example, if one more person tells me “the 7Hz Zero is VASTLY superior to the Moondrop Chu”, I’m going to slap a porpoise. Because they are the same IEM. Real talk: the difference between the two is you’re buying a detachable IEM vs. buying Spring Tips and a sleepable IEM shape. The IEMs themselves are within the margin of error that we accept as unit variance. And I KNOW that last statement will insult people who like both sets.

See, it’s exhausting!

So then I get to try something like the KBear Qinglong, and it doesn’t try to do Harman-style tuning, so I’m a little excited because that’s refreshing. But then I have to listen to it and decide if it’s worth it. That might not be as fun. But let’s find out together. Here’s my review of the KBear Qinglong.

Songs to Listen to and Follow Along:

As usual, I’m going to write my thoughts in generalities, but I’ll give you a sample of songs that I listen to, that will relate to the concepts I write about. Feel free to ask for specifics, if you don’t keep up with my thought processes.

Fundamental Elements of Madness - Dax Johnson (For soundstage, piano tonality)

Hell on Earth - REZZ & Yultron (For bass elements, sub-bass quantity and mid-bass quality)

Meaningless - Charlotte Cardin (For resolution, female vocals, tonal balance)

Johann Sebastian Bach: Concerto for 2 Violins in D Minor, BWV 1043 I. Vivace - Hilary Hahn (For layering/separation, strings tonality, speed of passages)

Hearts of Gold (feat. Menahan Street Band) - Charles Bradley (For imaging, male vocals, brass tonality, resolution)

I’m Usually Nice, But Just For Tonight I Wanna Be Mean; I Wanna Fight, I Wanna Say Things I’ve Been Keeping Inside

As I stated earlier, the Qinglong is an interesting IEM because it actively tries to do something different than follow the same Harman-style cookie cutter that was most popular in 2022. It more closely follows the diffuse-field target, with a prominent bass boost. The boost is very well done. Hell on Earth has more than sufficient rumble and slam; I was trying to compare it with the Rikubuds Assassin and Assassin got bodied so hard on this one (Berserker 2 is the only bud that was a close to fair fight with Qinglong, I’m aware). But the low-end is tuned very well in the KBear “I want to be fun” style. Some people and some of their IEMS stray into “bloated and muddy” territory, and for some I imagine this will too. But for me, KBear is almost always good at fun IEMs in the low-end. The challenge for them is always mids and treble tuning. And here it is no different.

For me, I can hear and appreciate the attempted tuning for what it is, but the tuning leaves a few issues for me. The lower-mids are balanced well enough, but there’s a fast spike into the upper-mids. So there’s an oddity where vocals sound good tonally (on females, the vocals are especially nice) but instruments and male vocals can push forward a bit, and there is a little bite on instruments and voices with strong harmonics in the upper-mids. It feels like someone was playing with the mixing, where they didn’t blow out the tonality but things that should be forward aren’t as much as they should and things that should be further back stepped up on the stage. For example, in Hearts of Gold, if I had to monitor for trumpets and brass I’d want this IEM because they are VERY forward, but if you’re sensitive to aggressive brass, this is a no-go. Fundamentals, being an all-piano piece that has less going on in it is lovely. Hilary Hahn, however, is pretty intense.

The interesting thing is that a lot of times, this type of intensity can be attributed to the deeper harmonics of the treble, but I’m not noting that. The treble is subdued, in fact, I think to try to balance against the hot upper-mids. What I would’ve preferred (and actually EQ’d to taste) was making the pinna gain a little less steep, to allow the frequency to better follow the actual diffuse-field target but keep the downslope into the early treble, and then boost my usual spot around 7k. I got a smoother, more coherent replay of the upper-mids, and enough treble to really clean up some resolution issues in the lower-mids that could result in muddy sound.

But Why Aren’t You as Good as…?

Now that I have a larger frame of reference of IEMs I’ve listened to, I’m going to change the comparisons section a little: Rather than always asking why an IEM isn’t as good as the 7Hz Zero, I’m going to put it up against an IEM in my stable that I don’t think it beats, and ask the question why not. Then I will compare it to an IEM that’s more in its class. For the Qinglong, a natural comparison is with it’s older sibling: The Aurora.

Listening to Qinglong, I was thinking it’s got good bass impact on a song like Hell on Earth, and then I switched to Aurora and it’s “no, bitch. I have GOOD bass impact”. The Aurora’s bass is tighter but with as much quantity. The combination feels very desirable. I think part of why it comes through as close but better is that it has a smoother frequency throughout. It’s less intense in the upper-mids, and tuned radically better in the treble. There’s improved clarity, resolution, and soundstage so that while they have similar enough performance, the tuning and playback comes off as superior on Aurora where I’d recommend that set over the Qinglong.

Versus Tinhifi T3+ - This is a commentary on what I spoke of earlier. The T3+ is part of the 2021 hype train around the Moondrop Aria, and the type of tuning both share. Both of these sets are bass-boosted with balanced lower-mids, and an energetic upper-midrange profile. T3+ is more sub-bass over mid, while I find Qinglong to have a better mid-bass replay. T3+ is a little more recessed in the lower-mids but Qinglong has more amplitude in the pinna gain, where the differences tend to cancel out. Neither set has a great treble response but Qinglong’s treble does less to harm the overall resolution and clarity than T3+. The other biggest tipping point is that T3+ has a more narrow soundstage, which amplifies the intensity of the upper-mids and it’s a little too much for me.

What Does This All Mean?

I will be the first person to complain about the hegemony of trends that litters the IEM scene. Once something gains traction, everyone jumps on the bandwagon and beats the horse dead. One thing I will credit KBear with is that they don’t really do this. They have Harman-inspired tuned IEMs, don’t get me wrong, but they also try other tunings and give them a chance to succeed or fail. Qinglong is an up-and-down variant, to my ear. The low end is very nicely done and is EXTREMELY reminiscent of the Aurora, at a much lower price point. Vocal tonality is another highlight. There’s a lot to like there. The failure was in the upper-midrange and treble. I especially want to call out the treble tuning because there was a lot of potential in this set and what it could be, but in the attempt not to be too spicy in the treble, they went the wrong way and took all the seasoning out of it. It’s missing dynamics; it’s turning a dial that only does 0-25-100. You’re missing a lot of nuance in between. It’s missing the effects of the spice. And for that reason, while I respect and appreciate the attempt at something different, I cannot fully sign off on it. That’s going to be it for this review. Enjoy your days, and take care till next time!

Rank: C+

Rank With Personal Bias: C+

Rank As a Food: Unseasoned Chicken

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btw, consider buying a coupler. The earlier you do, the less of a pain it be when you have to measure a TON at once. (and set up a squig as well.)

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Yes, I’m probably ending up down that rabbit hole and doing it, but I’m being stubborn and fighting it for as long as I can.

Don’t ask why…

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Why?

…Sorry, I had to. I’ve always been that way. :wink: That aside, this was another good review. I have also found myself appreciating KBEar/TRI for their willingness to buck trends and try something different. Even though you disparaged my beloved T3+ I’ll forgive you and give this one my stamp of approval since I know how important that it to you. :ballot_box_with_check::clap:

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To be fair, the T3+ is my Aria-clone of choice, and was my first baseline. It has even made a resurgence because I changed the filters on them (they were sounding muffled and congested beyond what I expect from the Aria-style tuning, now they’re back in line with what it should sound like).

I’m just SO over the Harman-tuned upper-midrange.

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Hey mr. Goober,

If unseasoned chicken is B-, what’s S tier? Tuna can?

Unseasoned chicken is at least C-. Outrageous.

Unsubscribed. Food shiller.

Bye.

Not_NyMz_xD

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It’s probably really a C+ (and I’ll get to adjusting it) but I’m TRYING to not shit on the attempt at something different. Honestly, I’d rather listen to Qinglong than another Harman-clone that’s a B-/B.

Plus I can’t offend all the people that haven’t discovered seasonings yet. They need to be guided to the light, not shunned

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I don’t give a cent about the IEM, I just look at your foods compared to rankings :sweat_smile:

Unseasoned chicken ain’t B-. Like Lobster or Tiger prawns are S+. A B- would be a great salad or grilled cheese I guess.

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See, the beauty of the grade is that in that context unseasoned chicken sure is a C- or worse. But if you’re have bowel problems and you can’t eat seasonings without pain, unseasoned chicken becomes your friend real fast.

I can see starting your chicken salad with unseasoned chicken (I wouldn’t, but I can see it). My gf’s dog would grade unseasoned chicken super highly.

You gotta be creative and think outside the box, my friend, to see the madness :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: :kissing: :smirk:

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What’s popping? What’s good?

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Leftovers from last night are still popping!

Gotta work on my gravy game, but practice makes perfect!

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Gravy is life. I just dunked some pizza tonight.

Have u heard Quarks DSP?

I have not, I have an iPhone so I’m trying to figure out why Moondrop hates me.

But I’ll get around to it, and plug it into my computer instead

Ping me when you get them. Interesting pair :slight_smile:

GL on QC dice tho

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