Just in case anyone is looking:
Good deal on them in the UK at the moment @ £339
I bought a pair of Tri Starseas and they arrived today.
Although they sound great they seem to have driver flex, I’ve tried the other tips but no change. Are they faulty? 
some male vocals sound recessed but that may just be the tuning.
Hi and welcome to HFGF 
Driver flex is quite common with sets that use DD’s especially if they have little or no venting, it’s not a fault but can be annoying when trying to fit them, it should stop once they’re fitted 
Can’t answer this one as I’ve not heard that set hopefully someone will chime up who has
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Hey there!
Thanks for the reply! and yes this forum has been amazing! soo glad I found it 
that’s reassuring thank you!
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I somehow stopped receiving new notifications for this thread. Reading up now I see your comment about the non-existing vents of the RSV. On Head-Fi I had questioned whether this would be a problem for long (5-8 hr) listening sessions as I would expect. Also, since I’m mostly spending my time in the tropics and sub-tropics I thought it might become a potential health issue over time. The reply on Head-Fi was that foams would cure all problems but you seem to be a bit less optimistic on that. Is it time to take off yet another IEM of my shortlist to err on the safe side of sorry? Tnx…
drftr
It’s sometimes a bit difficult to interpret and for that reason I have put the ThieAudio Oracle on my shortlist a couple of times while taking it off the next day 
What BGGAR describes as “neutral” may be the same as my “bass boost” so it’s difficult to interpret whether that’s the case or not.
For the other poster: Do yourself a favour and look up the incredible reviews for the Kiwi Ears Orchestra, which seems to have the politeness you (we) are looking for while having great technicals as well and a good fit. I mean, if they’re loved by such a wide range of reviewers while comparatively lacking in bass they must be something special. I learned they’re the first product of one of the main tuners for different companies that apparently has found out not everyone is keen on the usual frequency targets.
drftr
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I know this wasn’t for me, but you make me want to try that one. I haven’t tried any all BA units. And the kiwi ears orchestra, dunu sa6 and moondrop s8 are all high on my list for BA. Only so many resources available to try things out. 
Really, it’s the only IEM I’ve read and watched reviews for (like a dozen or so) for which not a single reviewer said anything bad. Literally the worst line came from BBGAR when he said that they ultimately were lacking a bit in the bass, while still praising 'em through the roof. Now exactly that part I translate into a big plus as I don’t want any boosted bass. So the only things I take offensive of (is that how you say it in English?) are some practical things:
- It’s a first product of a new company (although from one of the most well-known tuners)
- Lack of ear tips in the box
- 2 pin connector, not recessed
Even though I don’t like the “first product” part at all and was trying to find reasons to take it off my shortlist, I failed. Now compare that to the list of No’s that I have for basically any other IEM between, say, $250-$750. Still I keep trying to find great competitors. Maybe THAT’s my new hobby - LOL. Saves a lot of money too… 
FWIW…
drftr
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That’s how I was when I bought the Zen. I actually ruled out all the IEMs we are currently talking about to narrow down to the Zen. (Not sure kiwi was out yet, but sa6 and s8 were both on the short list)
Mostly because I couldn’t find much said that was bad about any of them. At least nothing that wasn’t easily more preference than capability.
I am currently interested in all one driver IEMs. I want to determine if it’s a mix of types of drivers or crossovers that effects the coherency I care about.
It’s so much fun to shop! Even if I am just looking.
The only multi driver configs I find coherency close to single driver are things like the DQ6/3DT, though they are all DD in it, so possibly all BA would be similar, I don’t really get BA IEMs though.
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I don’t even know how to describe what is different. All I know is the b2 dusk feels… less smooth? Maybe? While both the Zen and the Timeless have this sort of transparent quality as they move through the FR.
It could be that Zen and Timeless are both simply better IEMs. I don’t know. But I have been suspecting it has something to do with transition/presentation of different driver types. When I put in the dusk, I love the tonality but I crave whatever it is that Zen/Timeless have.
3DT is high on my list. But, ideally, I would want several options at the same time. And that budget is a while off.
Have you added the FiiO FD7 to your list?
From my time selling high-end speaker systems I was most in love with the one driver ones. No cross-over meant there was simply less they could F up. However, from the zillion IEF reviews I’ve read so far I come to a slightly different conclusion (albeit I’m not there yet) and that is that most (and maybe all) single dynamic drivers seem to struggle with the highs. It looks like it’s very hard to get everything right. A thing that puzzles me is that with speakers you often get a much better soundstage, imaging, inner detail, pace/rhythm/whatever you want to call it, and I contributed that to the lack of the cross-over and active filtering. However, I have yet to find anything similar for single dynamic drivers as it seems that tribrids with a lot of electric tricks seem to have a WAY better soundstage and imaging. That goes completely against what I would expect and it probably only shows that there’s no one technique or material or whatever that is king. For me that’s a bit of a disappointment as I like to believe in Simple = Better. So yeah, I think I popped it myself…
drftr
Nope. Because, on the surface, it seems to similar to my Zen.
This seems to be the case, but strong highs hasn’t been a priority for me. The Zen sound fantastic to my ears. The FD7 should actually address the vocal shoutiness the Zen has. But I am not sold on their other attributes comparatively. (The zen’s presentation is just amazing for me)
I haven’t heard enough imaging to draw any conclusions. But, I do wonder about the physics of it. If I were to guess, I would say that any time you have drivers dedicated to a frequency, you can enable more/better layering generating that illusion of stage. Our brains are ridiculously good at untangling sounds and interpreting them. This is one reason I am excited to try a multi-dd like the 3DT. I really want to see how it compares to the Zen in that respect. Same with multi-ba. Multi-planar if anyone even makes one ;).
This is just an outright guess though. I don’t know if BA/DD/Planar would add/remove staging additionally.
Reading this makes me think if there’s really any layering based on (f)actual recorded info about it or that reviewers are simply hearing the fact (?) that instruments with a lower frequency tend to be behind solo instruments and vocalists in general whose frequencies are simply captured by other drivers. Would be interesting to hear what for instance covering the whole frequency range of a cello would do to the position of that cello in the soundstage compared to instruments that are fixed because they keep playing the same thing. That might reveal the real qualities of soundstaging/imaging/depth/etcetera vs the quality of the tricks our mind plays.
drftr
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Well any soundstage besides reality and a multi channel speaker setup is using audiotory tricks to simulate 3D space. Part of that is in the recording and part of that is how the driver handles it. The rest is our mind putting things back together in a way that makes sense.
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The thing that gets me is over ears like the arya. That’s a single driver practically throwing it’s voice around your head. Are some of these larger over ear drivers simply more able to layer in a way that might need multiple drivers on an IEM.
Another thought is the space between drivers themselves. Our hearing apparently becomes much more positionally accurate as you get closer to the eardrum (somebody covered this above, been trying to learn more).
Maybe we pickup that as part of the staging?
Anyone aware of hybrids that use one or more dynamic drivers plus an electrostat/electret? I don’t think I have come across that combination. Could be interesting to keep the timbre of dynamic drivers for everything except maybe the last part of the curve. Me thinks BA can come across as a bit plasticky at times and this would be an interesting setup to avoid that.
drftr
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From what I read it seems like bggar is working on a dd+est set.
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Can’t find too much info but a review on Head-Fi says it’s a 1DD?
drftr
The hbb mele is his and its a 1dd for $50. Mine is incoming.
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