Experiences may differ and that is okay, but I whole heartedly disagree with both of you. I have heared many amplifiers from the apple dongle over hyped up Topppings and up to different 1kilo buck amps expressedly recommended by the headphone manufacturer themselves to pair with their headphones. I tested them with cheap IEMs, expensive IEMs and top of the line open back Headphones.
My personal findings:
as long as there is enough power with open back headphones I canāt hear a difference between a 200$ (not recommended by ASR) soundcard and a 1k$ dedicated amp recommended by the headphone manufacturer
for IEMs almost always a simple dongle has enough power (iem power problems with things like apple dongles are 95% (very real) driver issues and gimped EU versions)
for sensitive IEMs the amp does make a difference based on output impedance alone. I think this is where most people get confused as many seem to prefer how the IEM response arbitrarily changes with some specific output impedance of some amp, where as ātechnically/objectivelyā speaking that amp has often a worse/higher output impedance.
Many people did that test and came to similiar conclusions as me (Dan, Crinacle). Many people did that test and came to different conclusions. Almost no one does the test in a scientific way (e.g. ABx test/impedance matching/etc.) to exclude placebo.
A couple of initial thoughts on the Letshuoer D13:
expansive sound; not the widest soundstage Iāve ever heard, but everything in a track has room to breathe. Imaging is decent, but far from top-notch.
bass is imapctful, yet well controlled. Works well for D&B, Hip-Hop, other low end dependent genres
relaxing: not an IEM for trebleheads or detail maniacs, but rather one to throw on and lose yourself in an album. Itās not without treble or details, but those are not the highlight here.
They are TINY; they fit my ears well, but I could see people possibly having to go up 1/2-1 sizes from their normal tips.
The cable is a nice, light, no-frills no tangles affair. I like it.
Sensitivity is high; on my Hiby r3 pro, running single-ended, it needs 5-8 steps less volume than most of my IEMs, including Letshuoerās other models (EJ07/KL, S12). You can drive these with most anything.
Digging it so far, no regret in the purchase (especially at the early bird price). Will detail more with further listening and tip-rolling (mostly Sednafit Light so far. I am also only using the ādefaultā silver nozzle/filters, I will try swapping with the gold ones later.
The mods shown there are quite friendly in terms of material accessibility. But if u want to take a step further, its better to use the tuning materials you can find on aliexpress.
I donāt know how you feel about this, but maybe you would get more visibility if you reach out to the editor JĆ¼rgen and write a follow-up post for more advanced mods? I think they have fairly good visibility, although I understand if you think itās just more work lol
He has been known as āOtto Motorā to Head-Fiers, as āDr. Schweinsgruberā to audiobudget.com users and Youtubers, and as āBrauseā to Super Best Audio Friends and the Headphone Community. - For the purpose of confusion, he decided to pose under his real name JĆ¼rgen Kraus (āJKā) from now on.
Olina does Vocals better Dioko has better bass, treble is similar between the two.
quite the compliment for the Olina since Iām a sucker for planar string playback.
on another note Dioko blocks out a lot more noise passively than Olina if that matters for anyone (me with a loud ass AC in a tiny room)
I think just to be safe, itās always the best to use the Olina modded in my opinion. Also if you donāt like modding the Olina, the Seek Real Airship exists for that but the tricky part from that IEM would be the fit but luckily for me it fits me fine.
Given for its price, I think itās worth looking into if you want to dwell into a sample of what planar offers. Probably would get myself a pair when that times come, but for now I have to save up since I just spent a lot of dough on my Airship and they are worth it.
The more I read/hear about Dioko, the more I think s12 would be more suited for me than any other planar. The thing is, timeless didnāt please me, and s12 is said to be very similarā¦ Choices, choicesā¦
From what I read from you about the timeless and many other peoples experiences with the neo planars, I think the hook x should be the closest to your preference, even though I am not sure you would like any of them.
Random thought after listening to the Olina and Mele. Wish I had just stopped here and never dived into the higher dollar IEMs. However, the techie in my always wants more than needed for what I ultimately enjoy.
Take my home server for instance. Way overkill to host a handful of dockers mainly dedicated to media automation. I spend way more time tweaking and maintaining it than the movies I watch or my friends. Which was supposed to be its main purpose. Itās just something in me that always wants to see the top despite no need for it. Then I get distracted from the original purpose for it. New tech comes out then rinse and repeat the endless cycle.
This is how IEMs are starting to be. I came here just trying to get away from AirPods and gas station earbuds. To get a somewhat better reproduction of the music to my preference. I thought initially maybe $200 max was top dog. Found out real quick how wrong that was and needed to hear the higher dollar ones because the techie itch started. Despite some of the cheaper sets, such as the Hana 2021, werenāt that bad at all. Fast forward thousands of dollars later and nearly forty IEMs Iāve lost touch somewhat with my original intentions; enjoy the music.
Before coming here I gave zero care where or what music came from. Could be a cheap phone in tin can. It was all about the music, vibes and the company with me or a solo car ride jamming. It was music and I could here it, sing with it and bob my head. Of course the answer of if I still enjoy music is definitely a yes. Just that the technicality of IEMs, analyzing them and all the offerings become obstacles to the enjoyment.
So why did I bring up the Olina and Mele? Because despite being loaded with numerous technical weaknesses compared to other offerings theyāre really really good at a low price. Which pulls me away from analyzing their weaknesses. Theyāre not trying to sing theyāre praises with a high price tag or newer tech. Iām nearly 100% accepting of the faults. Which ultimately allows me to get to the main reason that brought me here and Iām back to the music.
Do I get as lost in the music or go into a deep euphoric state from micro-details and amazing staging. Not necessarily but, I do find myself listening more to the song and not critiquing the IEM. Itās a weird place to be when Iām contemplating that a $50 IEM might get me closer to the original reason why I came to this hobby than my UP or Moonlight. Would love to here your thoughts and if you disagree or can relate.
I started off in 2019 with the ZS10 Pro, then Blon 03, then Starfield, then mele, then aladdin and now Canon. Each helping me enjoy the music and what I really appreciate in the reproduction of music and seeing my tastes have changed. I canāt imagine spending more money to get slightly better vocals etc. like the cliched saying goes āuse the gear to listen to the musicā
Appreciate the response. The crazy thing is Iām not even necessarily doing it to chase something better as my goal or want. I could be content with something as cheap as the Mele to enjoy the music. Thereās always just this urge in me to see what ābetterā supposedly is. Mostly with tech and oddly I havenāt always been this way. When my wife and were younger and income was low and we had college debt I was fine. Felt no desire for anything more. A Tube TV, VCR, a Compaq computer and two flip phones were all we had tech wise well past most folks. Pay raises came and debt was eliminated and the itch started then never went away. Maybe I need the AA equivalent of therapy in the tech world.
