I’m am thoroughly enjoying the AüR Ascension. It hits such a sweet spot for me. I had a listening party with a friend yesterday, doing a blind comparison of the Ascension and the EE Odin, Neon Pro, Helios SE, and (just to mess with him) the Crinacle Red. The Ascension was the clear champion. On Chris Stapleton’s ‘Whiskey and You’ , his voice is so nicely presented and detailed, and you can hear every attack and slide on the guitar strings. It’s well-detailed , but still fun and emotional with a well extended sub-bass and a punchy mid-bass that holds it’s own without being covered by the sub-bass or bleeding into the mids. On Yosi Horikawa’ s 'Bubbles ’ , the imaging is verybwell done, with sounds appearing to fly in from multiple directions, then rich sub-bass kicks in. It was almost like hearing the song for the first time. On ‘Birds’ by Dominique Fils-Aimé, her voice also is nicely detailed and present, but perhaps 10% less enjoyable than male vocals. There’s a good balance between the bass, percussion , and effects with nice tracking between the left and right. The claps have a slight sharp edge, but I softened this by adjusting the second harminic regulation on my FiiO M11 Plus. On Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ there is very good dynamic contrast with the initial guitar parts, starting in the right channel softly, then expanding nicely into the left. Not every iem can present the dynamic contrast in this way. I also notice this in classical pieces, such as Elgar’s 'Enigma Variations ’ (BBC Symphony with Leonard Bernstein).
So, I just wanted to share my love for this iem, and would recommend it to anyone who wants a nice balance of technical ability and pure enjoyment.
P.s. My friend’s response to the Crinacle Red after hearing the Ascension (20 seconds in): " Nope"
Thanks. This is an iem that makes me want to listen to my entire 900+ song playlist just to see what it can do. Many all-rounders don’t really excel in any specific area, but this seems to do well with every genre I throw at it, from Billie Eilish, to Massive Attack, to Iron & Wine, to the Allman Brothers, to Aaron Copeland. Makes me very happy!
So the Sono gets a rec if you like modding, and it’s pretty simple since you’re just swapping the nozzle foams for aftermarket ones (HD = High Density Foam)
Wait… in the video “DUNU MIRAI Earphones unbox” of his unboxing channel, at minute 3:00 he said that you have to comment below the video and you have to be a subscriber to qualify to win the Mirai… and also I saved a link of a giveaway created by him Tropee
in that link you can see the winner has not been selected (“Lucky draw IN PROGRESS”) from weeks and now I read that he sold the Mirai to you? I’m disappointed.
Well it’s nothing to do with me, but it seems like he just changed his mind on how he was going to move forward with the giveaway, I wouldn’t say that’s lying.
I was more than happy to pay for it to secure it, but that’s just me.
There is like $5000 in goods in a quick search. Most winners don’t say thank you or ever post about it
Tropee winner was a scammer so selected re-draw and it went into a loop. Cannot do anything.
Sold it on Patreon.
I do also have to add that if you are interested in any of the more expensive sets, I highly recommend signing up to Patreon. It’s also a way to support hbb for the work he puts in.
I was also really impressed with the process, quick postage and communication from hbb and Mrs hbb. They were a pleasure to deal with.
They are obviously very physically similar, as they are the same config in the same shell however the Doscinco’s “bits” are a bit brighter (although they both have a little bit of a blue sparkle background) where the Cincotres has little hexagons that are more subdued. Both are lovely without being garish.
They come with a nice lil’ faux leather case that’s flat and square, with a nice kinda double pouch to retain tips and accessories. Accessories are scant with three sizes of normal bore silicone tips and one pair of foamies. Kinda nice to see not a lot of waste, though.
Paid express shipping and the miracle of speedy DHL; I didn’t even get the shipping notification until Sunday (which was Monday in China) and they hit Cincinatti this morning, followed by delivery this afternoon. I legit didn’t expect to see them for at least another week, but now they’re gonna accompany me to Mexico on Thursday (a little bit of play and a week of work).
Hint: Cincotres first