IEM discussion thread (Part 1)

John_W_Clark · October 23, 2021, 2:56pm

I got a new pair KZ ZEX, and have been enjoying them. It was partly curiosity to hear an electrostatic or electret driver, and if that is the cheap version, I want to hear more.

I typically think of KZ as having a bit too much treble energy somewhere for me, and these don’t. They have a nice mellow sound, and work pretty well for classic and progressive rock. They have decent bass, and might be the best cheap set I have heard, $22 on Linsoul.

I got mine on Amazon for $25, and It came with a soft zipper case that was nice. I am not sure what I think of the cable. The other ear tips seemed like TWS tips, so I went with some Final Series E. Other than the case, the rest isn’t worth talking about. The tips might make it a tough first IEM recommendation since they were bad. I hope that is an Amazon vs Linsoul thing.

drftr · October 23, 2021, 8:56pm

I still have a 50 page thread on Head-Fi waiting to be read, but from what I have read from other reviews this morning this is E X A C T L Y what I’m looking for. With one tiny detail - you guessed it - price! But everything it breathes is me, and that includes the matte black finish without any name or logo or anything. Minimalism at its best. If only it were a single DD… IEM

Just kidding here. If anyone wants to part from his/hers at a reasonable price then I’m going to take the gamble.

Just in case anyone’s interest is piqued this is a fantastic read:
https://headfonics.com/the-prophile-8-by-inear/

drftr

M0N · October 23, 2021, 9:01pm

It really is nice, had mine for awhile, only recently decided to sell it when I was slimming down and it wasn’t getting much use. Also extremely comfy at least for me

drftr · October 23, 2021, 9:28pm

I plan to win the lottery tonight. If it works I’ll be ordering the small version without the filters first thing in the morning! Did you use any of those by the way?

drftr

M0N · October 23, 2021, 9:38pm

It’s good to have to prevent wax from building up, because it’s not easy to clean due to the smaller nozzle. I’ve swapped the filters a few times throughout owning it I think. It’s a nice feature to have that I kinda wish other iems had, increase longevity and makes cleaning easier

drftr · October 23, 2021, 9:44pm

Guess I used the wrong word (not-native English speaker here). I was actually referring to the toggle switches - my bad…

drftr

M0N · October 23, 2021, 9:52pm

Ah lol no worries, my bad. Most of the time I just had both off, for casual listening it can be a bit more fun with both engaged for a slight v, but personally I thought it somewhat threw off the overall balance of things (which is something the iem is really good at), so if I wanted more fun factor I would have rather grabbed for my ce-5 (at the time when I was daily driving these) instead. The switches are subtle and not that substantial so it’s definitely not like it becomes a different iem or something, it’s more a set and forget type of thing depending on preferences or sources

Eric_Rosenfield · October 24, 2021, 2:54pm

So on the recommendation of @Rikudou_Goku, I bought the $30 KZ DQ6 because I was disappointed with the way the Blessing 2 didn’t have enough “presence” for me.

The DQ6 stock are already shockingly good for the price. In particular the separation and imaging are really surprising, easily besting things that cost hundreds of dollars. Compared with the Blessing 2, the B2 has far more detail and speed, you can hear the texture of each note in a way you just can’t on the DQ6. But the DQ6 has none of the issues with “presence” I had with the B2, settling one question: I definitely prefer dynamic driver headphones. The DQ6 are just more fun to listen to, especially for rock music. They have impact and slam in spades. (Comparing these two, it’s also kind of funny that the silver color DQ6 I got looks exactly like a cheaper version of the Blessing 2; they both have a clear plastic housing so you can see the components underneath, but the B2 has a shiny metal front plate while the DQ6 has a silver colored plastic one.)

The main problem the stock DQ6 have is that they’re a bit shouty and harsh in the treble. I especially had a reaction on the song “Royals” by Lorde which has a snap sound all the way through which was much too present and harsh. So I tried the filter swap with the Tanchjim Tanyas recommended by @Rikudou_Goku. The new filter completely fixes the issues with the treble to a shocking extent, and makes these just sound good especially for the price. The only real issue is that, if anything, the filter tamps down the treble a little too much, making the it a little veiled. It’s not necessarily bad, if anything it reminds me a lot of my HD 6XX. (The HD 6XX sounds very different in other ways, or course, especially since the DQ6 is v-shaped while the HD 6XX is mid-focused.)

In fact, comparing the DQ6 to the Blessing 2 gives me flashbacks to my 6XX vs. Sundara comparison, but the differences here are even more extreme. Blessing 2 has better detail retrieval, speed, and clarity by far than the DQ6. It’s not even close. But I put a rock song on with the Blessing 2 and I think “that sounds really nice”, and I put the same song on with the DQ6 and I start bobbing my head and dancing around the room. It’s just a more pleasant experience. Obviously this isn’t a perfect comparison–the Blessing 2 isn’t the Sundara and the modded DQ6 isn’t the 6XX–I just find myself having a similar reaction to them.

The Blessing 2 also scales with my RebelAmp vs. the Qudelix 5k a whole lot more; you can really hear the improvement in quality on the desktop amp, while the difference is much less noticeable (but still there) doing the same comparison on the DQ6. In fact, the improvement of the Blessing2 on the RebelAmp is dramatic, where things that sounded merely good on the Qudelix taking off on the RebelAmp.

And so, ironically, the DQ6 made me rediscover my love of the Blessing 2 with the right music and amp. For example Hiromi’s “Silver Lining Suite” on the Blessing 2 with the RebelAmp just sounds astonishing, in a way that the DQ6 can’t touch. I had a similar experience with “Cables Rewired” by Bill Lawrance & the Untold Orchestra, which just sounds magnificent on the Blessing 2; classical music and film scores yielded similar results.

But for rock music and Jazz with a strong backbeat, the DQ6 wins for me over the Blessing 2, and it doubly wins when compared on the Qudelix. Also the DQ6 is just a better walking around on the street headphones, where ambient noise can cut out details anyway and the extra bass can help the music come through. They’re also much more forgiving of bad recordings than the Blessing 2 is.

I kind of can’t believe how cheap these are for the kind of performance you get. Separation, imaging, impact, slam, and fun. What a great set!

Based on how much I’m trusting RikudouDoku’s taste after my experience with the DQ6, I still kind of want to buy the FD5 in hopes that it’s like the 660S sweet spot was for my headphones (compared to the Sundara and the 6XX), giving me the detail of the Blessing 2 with the presence and impact of the DQ6. In any case, I’ll be keeping both the Blessing2 for the music it shines with and the DQ6 as a rockin’ beater.

Thanks again for the recommendation!

Rikudou_Goku · October 24, 2021, 3:30pm

If you can get a hold of the Tanchjim Hana filters, they dampen the treble a bit less than the Tanya/O2 filters.

(or you can try my DIY foam mod, since that is a much cheaper way lol.)

Rikudou_Goku · October 24, 2021, 3:31pm

drftr · October 24, 2021, 5:26pm

Bad news on the lottery front…

Have you had the possibility to compare the PP8 with the Ultimate Ears Reference Remastered by any chance?

drftr

M0N · October 24, 2021, 5:41pm

Hmmm it’s been a bit since I’ve heard a uerr, from memory the pp8 is more flat neutral to my ears as I found the uerr a bit more on the warmer and relaxed side of things actually, so less linear in the bass and slightly lacking in upper air prominence (but not extension, the ue might go a bit farther into the treble actually but with less prominence) in comparison to the pp8. The uerr is still reasonably neutral enough to work with from a studio perspective, but personally I felt that the og uerm was more deadpan neutral and no nonsense which made it a closer comparison to the pp8 at least from a signature perspective. That extra bit of warmth and body does make the uerr nice for more casual listening though. From a stage perspective I do recall the uerr being a bit larger in stage but it had less depth and sounded more spatially flat, the pp8 is more accurate imo. For resolving power I do think the pp8 outresolves the uerr and can pull more information pretty easily while presenting it better too. For tonal density I do think the uerr has a bit more meat on the bone but not by all that much, for speed and separation that also goes to the pp8 pretty well too. In terms of general overall extension I do think the uerr did go a bit farther in both directions albeit with a bit lower prominence. For timbre that also goes to the pp8. Dynamically is the same. From a technical perspective in general I do think the pp8 is a step above the uerr in most aspects, generally the pp8 is pretty easily the one I’d pick the majority of the time unless you did want to sacrifice some technical ability for something a bit more relaxed and warmer

The UE stuff was good for it’s time, the UERM was amazing when it came out, but imo I think now you can kinda see they are lagging behind what’s out there in the current market. I was somewhat disappointed in the UERR, not that it was a bad iem by any means, but just that they didn’t really improve it enough to make it all that competitive in the current market, was kinda expecting more. But I’m going to guess since it’s main focus was studio, they are following the rule of if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it lol. Their tuning is still great and doesn’t really need any change imo, but I think they do need to improve their technical performance a bit more than they have (but honesty considering the uerr still goes for around 1k, it could still be a pretty compelling choice as not many iems in that price range have as refined tonality/tuning as that does outside of like hidition imo

drftr · October 24, 2021, 5:52pm

Tnx much… I’m particularly impressed (and intrigued) by the way the PP8 seems to outclass basically each and every other IEM in comparison when handling complex orchestral pieces.

I have read a couple of reviews about one of your other favourites, the VxV, as well by now. Possibly a little too warm but it seems to be an excellent product for half the price. Will also do some homework on the Andromeda later on.

drftr

M0N · October 24, 2021, 5:54pm

It depends on what you compare it against, imo start putting it against some of the higher end or equal prices iems out there and it starts to trade blows or lag behind, but if you are only looking at comparisons below it might be that way

Hmmm I really don’t think the vxv is really warm personally, I found it more on the cleaner to neutral side, I do wish it had a bit more warmth and body to the low end at times lol. I do think the other fir iems are warmer though, like the M series, but the vxv was a deviation from their house sound from my experience

nymz · October 25, 2021, 12:54pm

My custom shell/logo GS Audio ST1 has arrived. Here’s the unboxing and first shots:

Unboxing

Nerf_Mozambique · October 25, 2021, 1:19pm

Those things look sweet!

Erokh · October 25, 2021, 10:42pm

So beautiful! Everything is perfectly matched: the faceplate, the wires, even the connectors! That makes me think about the things I could do with a custom faceplate…

Robius · October 26, 2021, 2:10am

Tanchjim Echo TWS

nymz · October 26, 2021, 6:29am

Thanks bro. Yes, everything turned out great also the cable matched real good lucky snowflake

Dynamic · October 27, 2021, 1:08pm

I am looking at doing another mult-iem comparison. I am thinking of Unique melody 3DT, Tanchjim Oxygen, jvc fdx1/fd01, sennheiser IE300.

Not sure I can swing all four either budget wise and/or into one video. Does anyone have any preferences of this group that you would like to see me compare?