This is exciting! Now I just need @MMag05 to get the tour box!!!
EDIT: FREAKING USPS, man!!! How’d it already arrive!!!
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Okay I gotta ask. What is it? It looks like a dap but I can’t make out which
It’s the Simgot EA500 we’ve been talking about the last few days. RBW got his set in
Ahhh I the box made it look like a dap. Looking forward to hearing your impressions @rattlingblanketwoman
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I knew it… just minus the 5k peak I didn’t like:
Biggest surprise so far: black filter is much smoother to my ear and has energy levels better within my threshold.
Holding out general feedback until after more tracks and tip rolls.
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Happy enough with my notes (and given the set enough time) to write something up soon.
The short version for now: While not quite for me, the SQ deserves all the praise you’ve heard. If the tuning is up your street, it is happily in the quality range of Canon/Vernus, not the other safe sub-hunnas. If you can handle energy/detail without it getting distracting for you (mental fatigue vs ear fatigue) and don’t mind a very well implemented sub-bass roll of, these are the “you can stop spending money now” set.
They’ve helped me realize how much I prioritize an analog “laid back in just the right ways” tuning, because outside of my ears preferring that lilt, these do excellently and don’t really do any wrong.
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I am pleasantly stunned. I fully expected you to say “these aren’t my jam”, because they’re not your jam, and that is okay.
I fully was not expecting you to give the amount of praise you did, considering they’re not your jam.
If this is not a sign I’m doing God’s work to spread the gospel of Simgot…
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I love my Xenns Mangird UP they kinda are opposites bassy , warm,.
But I reached for the sub $100 EA500 last night for a jazz session. I really enjoy the Simgot’s for what they do.
Maybe we should start a new page for the 500 cult to breathe?
I have had quite the ear ride lately, The Shine is a lifeless wonder pkg, the StarRiver’s high end almost killed me .
I loaned out my UP’ S so I got the AQ 4 incomming for a warm bass fix for $109 1/2 on AliX another no brainer.
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Audiosense do huge discounts if you message them before buying. You got a good deal, but for reference they would sell it for $130 over a year ago if asked. Just a heads up. Your price is nothing to worry about in this case, just if they release anything newer/pricier later on it’s worth a shot.
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And now you tell me LOL 
Thanks very much.
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Saw the Ikko OH2 on sale for 50% off so figured it might be worth a flyer. Then I started looking at graphs and found these:
Bass that profiles in the vein of Dark Magician with mids and treble that are related to the Xenns Up? At the least, this probably won’t suck…right?
Alternatively, it graphs like a more mid-centric relative of Serial
I can remember no particular details other than I tried one and it was awful.
I’m not going to call it awful, but it is fatally flawed. Way too much roll off, on both ends. But I’m glad I’ve heard this though.
It makes me miss the P1 Max. I didn’t feel like I had to get that one back, but now I’m starting to think I do. Because that is a great mid-centric IEM, under $100, and that’s hard to find.
Not So First Impressions of the Kinera Celeste Gumiho
So this is a kinda long overdue set of impressions posts that I’m going to get caught up on: @nymz (before his hiatus) sent @domq422 @Lcg842 and myself our Holidays care package that included the following sets:
For Lisa
- TGXear Alpha
For Dom and I to split
- Kinera Celeste Gumiho
- TANGZU Wu Zetian (the OG)
- Dunu Kima
For Dom
- Tripowin Olina (double filter modded)
I’d been spending some time with these sets, and had Gumiho in my ears today when it finally clicked for me, so I wanted to get the thoughts out while they’re fresh.
PROS
- This is a pretty well tuned set: acceptable bass, clean mids, clear treble. Where I was struggling was placing it in the sets I know, and thus where to rate it. I was looking through some graphs and then it slapped me like a porpoise:
(credit to hbb.squig.link normalized to 300hz)
- It sounds like a dead ringer for the TRI Starsea, in terms of tone and tonality
- The biggest difference is the cut Gumiho has at 6k: if that’s a sensitive point for you, the smoothness there is notable
- Compared to Starsea it has immensely better fit and no driver pressure build-up. Comfort for days
- If you remember my early posts/reviews, I am a BIG fan of the Starsea sound
CONS
- Gumiho does not have the special sauce Starsea has
- It is quite inferior in soundstage and technicalities
- The competition sub-$100 is too fierce to really recommend this
Overall, Celeste is a fine-enough IEM, but it was a year or 18 months too late. It’s a very nice first IEM, but it’s not going to stand up to the killers out there
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Yup. Competition is too hot nowadays - and didn’t know you had the OG Wu. Let me send you the HeyDay for you guys to A/B along with the other stuff 
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FIIIIIINE, if you must! 
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Looks like a Fiio Hybrid
Named like a KBear DD
Is a Planar
From TRN
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