Man that looks dope, enjoy 
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Agreed, nice set for sure.
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I bought mine used, a significant enough margin for me to go for it. Iâm pretty sure the previous owner wasnât an ogre, I think itâs just the material choice. They look great but get micro scuffs like crazy.
The Rain Song as my first song, starting of with Variations then giving these a whirl
Iâm learning ESTs are my jam, they donât have that same breathiness and openness that Variations has but beyond that, to my ears theyâre amazing.
Iâm actually so annoyed how much I love these, Project M has moved down lower on my list but itâs a happy occasion.
PS. those ridges you guys see? they will snag on your friggin fingers and they feel like super cheap Christmas tree ornaments, about the only thing I hate about them right now
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A few more thoughts on the Vader Balanced. This is really a strange beast by KZ in a more positive or letâs say neutral sense.
Due to the pure electronic tuning without any dampers and filter the experience is quite different. For example when out and and about in public transport the outside noise leaks through the shell. This feels kind of odd when you are used to standard IEMs. So when isolation is important I donât recommend these.
This unfilteredness gives them a raw sounding vibe.This is also kind of odd because its not as raw or incisive as BAs sound but more DD-like analog rawness. I really like the Vader. Theyâre definitely not more of the same thing.
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You are making me even happier I ordered them.
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I was tempted by the EM10 and while I know they arenât the tuned the same to a T, I was wondering if anyoneâs got any opinion on the Variations and EM10
are they different enough to warrant buying the Simgot or is that bass difference something I can just EQ, alternatively is the PZT adding something special or can I get away with just buying supermix 4
I also already own a Pilgrim, so I think thatâs like redundancy x2
EM10 all the way. My review is coming soon, like probably in the morning. Very different tuning from the Pilgrim.
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Iâll add it to my list then, see how I end up liking it
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With only around 5db or so ear gain that is gonna be a bassy boy me thinks. 10 is always too much, but maybe 6 or 7 would balance it more approperiately. Not sure. Any reviews up?
For the 3D printers out there, here are files to make an IEM eartip case. Looks neat (I didnât make it myself, saw it on Reddit):
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Thank you, that is really cool.
Plus it reminds me that I need to unpack my 3D printer ( it has been in a box for about 14 months ).
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Very cool, we now need someome to print these and distribute them within the community! 
Any volunteers for germany?
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This reminds me to actually get a 3D printer, haha. I have several still in my wishlist. My fav is still the Ender series but I last used it at the Uni several years ago, might be something better out there now? 
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Damn, that is super dope.
The YouTuber AWSMDanny is involved in a tour group Iâm in and he sent over a 3-D printed tip case just like this one when he sent over the Pilgrims to me and I love it, I just wish it was bigger. This one seems to be just that!
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I lost my buds 2 pro charging case on the bus , the case slipped away off my pockets and now im left with 2 unusable homeless buds in my drawer looking at each other in deep coma thinking what they did wrong to have an owner like me , and here is not Japan where people behave like evolved human beings with intact sense of morality in their prefrontal cortex so my buds case is now probably traded for other things and ill never get it back. i decided to buy the new galaxy buds fe to use it until the buds 3 pro comes out and Here is a comparison review against the pros and oracle mk2s from a consumers prespective.
The comparison are done based on tone generator 20hz to 20 khz, some of the histories âbetter produced mainstream tracks with proper million dollar budget mainly jazz, pop and even modern kpop,â and the typical songs I listen to 99.99% being 2000s onwards metal( half of them having trash low fi production half of them being decently produced)
The sound of buds fes (fan edition)
I really didnât expect much from them tuning wise, since no 5128 graph of fes were out, and in general nobody gives a damn about graphing air conditioner maker Samsung and I thought Ill get them and eq them like anything I have and boy They were worse than I thought. The Default tuning on the fe is atrocious, its basically unusable if you want the slightest clarity in your music. The freebie wired akg earbud I got 4 years ago when I bought the s20s had better tuning than these and they were bloated as hell. All the tuning modes are garbage too and I was losing my mind until I switched to the clear preset and everything took a 180 degree turn. The clear one is pretty good for my tastes and I donât have to fiddle with eq again, and thatâs a rare occurrence for me with audio products. Its basically a very mild downward tilt df flat signature with some boost on 5 to 8k area that I donât mind, and just like the pros, on anc mode I get slight 1-2db boost on the upper midrange and thatâs pretty welcomed since the default upper midrange is slightly recessed for me. I can only hear up to 19k on them but very faintly so the treble extension is alright for the price, I expected worse tbh.
Comparison to oracle mk2
Sound signature
Oracle mk2s are heavily colored when I compare them to my speakers mainly on the bass area, with a boomy and heavy bass lift ( a lot of subbass and considerable midbass) and 4 dp upper treble boost to my ears. The sound is way too thick and unbearable for me. There is 2 to 3 db boost on treble in various regions specially around mid treble but this is needed if you want to recreate flat on axis experience and listen within 1 meters of the speakers .the mids are almost flawless but any boost on different regions of fr affect the overall replay so having a great and accurate mids means nothing on its own. I would say itâs a v shape tuning to my ears and considering nearfield listening they are flat with heavy bass boost. Buds fe default mode is muddy warm but the clear preset is df flat with 10 db tilt from 20hz to 19khz, more like listening to flat speakers far field with slight room effect. winner for me with no eq is fe clear mode most of the times.
Bass
Oracles bass without eq is a boom mess, more boomier than how my room affects by speakers if i donât eq them to reduce the room effect . Fe sounds more boomy on the normal preset so both are mud fests. The difference is on oracles I have to use 3rd party apps to reduce the boom and fe got presets to handle it. Clear preset on the fe is faar more enjoyable for me on any genre. Oracle got separate bass driver so people who want to boost bass should choose a hybris than the single dd on fes.
Mids
Oracles got almost flawless midrange for my ears, and i have been eqing and auto eqing midrange alot in the past year, they got the best midrange tuning on the market hands down imo, perfectly follows the average hrtf and mine too ,0 shout or uncanny boosts, Not in 1k to 2k region nor 3k, but sadly this beautiful midrange gets annihilated by the bass. The buds fe however got slight tiny shout around 1.5k region and the 3k area is around 2 db recessed for me. This makes the replay slightly less sharper than I like and takes away the natural bites some instruments need but I can always turn the volume slightly higher. The winner is the oracles on midrange alone if you want a transparent and realistic midrange.
Treble
Both have their goods and bads, oracle got constant output from midrange to around 16k then falls off from 16k to 20k. there is a boost at around 15 k but since there is no dips in their sound before that (unlike the buds 2 pros ill talk about later) made the overall replay a bit more realistic and higher resolution to my ears than the fe and 2 pros. it got separate drivers for treble so the treble output can be high whereas the single driver of buds fe limits its treble(and bass boost) versatility considerably . If the oracles had 2 db less mid treble and 4 db less upper treble it would match my speakers and my eard hrtf completely but its not far off nearfield flat listening. Buds fe however lacks power on upper treble, basically the lack of separate driver for treble slightly hurts like I said above. after 13k the output drops hard but still I can hear until 19k but pretty faintly . There is roughly around 3 db boost from 5k to 7k on the buds fe but I donât mind it. Choose oracles if you have listened to nearfield speakers and donât mind the brighter nature of flat nearfield and choose fe if you want controlled treble or a far field treble with room effect. If you wanna know which one is âflatterâ or more âaccurateâ, then I really donât know whats âflatter or accurate trebleâ and itâs a similar situation for bass too. Is Df response the answer when you have 0 reflections? But irl you get reflections from objects, speakers positioned to different positions and even the distance of the listener results in different treble peaks and dips. Also upper treble is very dependent on ear canal shape. i would take the fes for balanced songs and oracles for darker songs or when i need clarity and more bite , fes win for me 6 times out of 10 times.
The overall winner for me, sound quality wise is oracels by a small margin. It got better midrange and overall resolution (by a tiny amount) but fes tuning (clear mode) is great either, and clarity wise is only a few % behind the hybrid oracles.
Comparison to buds 2 pros (no pics, rip 2 pros)
Buds 2 pros on normal preset had subbass boost, roughly accurate midrange to my ears (on no anc mode) and a high q boost at around 12-14k right after the 10-11k dip, this gave the treble and as a whole resolution kind of a plasticky texture. The 2 db extra added ear gain on the 3 k region on the anc mode didnât help it either so I would say they had a u shape signature maybe w shape even. All other presets were trash even the clear due to the dip and the peak on the treble that made my ears hurt on some tracks without the bass support so it was unusable, I thought the same gonna happen with the fe but they tuned the fes treble completely different. basically you cannot except a dd on an in ear product to reproduce an extended treble evenly, and its evident on any single dd iem graph. I couldnât make the treble work with eq, manufacturers canât and have to resort to a relaxed treble and for a more extended treble they have to to use a driver with thinner diaphragm. Fe however like I described are either muddy trash(normal preset) or neutral tilted with 2-4 db low-mid treble boost to my ear. Winner? I choose fe on clear mode. 7 times out of 10 times.
bass
Buds 2 pros could handle bass boost a bit better than the fe because it had a separate woofer driver for bass region whereas the fe is a singe driver and bass impact suffers a bit when boosted. The bass control on the buds pros were better than the oracles and fes default tuning(both mud factories). The upper treble boost also made the bass sound âquicker and sharperâ on the buds 2 pros but the trash bass decay of the Fe is fixed with the clear preset. People who enjoy bass boost choose the buds 2 pro( or wait for the the incoming buds 3 pro or any iem with separate woofer) and people who want lighter flat or 2-3 db boosted bass like me are fine with fes (clear mode)
midrange
midrange on buds 2 pros were slightly gimmicky, my unit had the slightest boost around 700hz to 3k that made the sound slightly honky, and on anc mode the pinna gain would rise past 10 db. I like high pinna gain and I wouldnât care but I could hear slight coloration on the mids of buds 2 pros on anc mode. Fe however like I described above on oracle vs fe section has slight boost around 1.5 region and the gain is around 7 db so on medium volume where I listen to music everything slightly lacks the sharpness and bite I need but overall sounds less honky than the buds 2 pros. Itâs a tie for me, maybe a win for the fes on 7 songs out of 10 songs for me.
Treble
buds 2 pros had better extension with some caveat I mentioned above. the sense of resolution is the same as the Fe but the sense of space inside the head were slightly better on the buds 2 pro but the typical uneven dip-peak treble response makes it hard for Samsung to boost the treble on dds without them sounding plasticky and cheap. Fe follows a safer tuning and avoids upper treble boost. This hurts the sense of space and the perceived clarity but at the same time its easier on ears and the dds. Again I donât mind the slight 2-3 db 5-7k lower treble boost on the fes. The treble winner for me is the fe, I can flatten the bass without the upper treble being sharp on the fe whereas on the buds2 pros i needed the bass boost to compensate for the weird upper treble tuning on them that didnât help the resolution due to the mid treble dips either. the winner for me is fes again.
- **(non audio)**The pros had more non sound functionality like double tap on back of ears to adjust the volume( very useful and I miss it) , they also had more motion sensors for some gimmicky 3d concert hall bullshit I really didnât care. they were fully waterproof and they survived on me during heavy rains (fes are not) . Pros had better build quality and felt more sturdy both with the buds and the case. Fe looks and feels cheaper on my hands.
So which one I choose? Both are side grades for me. On some tracks the u shape tuning on the pros would be more pleasing for me but on some tracks the more neutral tuning on the fes clear preset works better, 7 times out of 10 times I choose the fe clear mode.
Tldr
I compared them in detail and would choose the 2 pros (with eq) and buds fe( no eq and clear preset) over oracles, they all 3 get annihilated by my budget cheap speakers though to shadow realm due to the speakers having actual imaging and soundstage but I canât listen to speakers in the mountains, nature or work. 44$ got me an almost âendgameâ iem on the go+ anc machine for city traffic+ transparency mode+ touch controls for 3 years and im happy for now.
I really doubt I need the buds 3 pros now since the fes do everything I need, but if they release a dd+ other driver with thinner diaphragm setup ill buy it and compare it to the previous wireless products here, that extra 5-10%resolution is all these tws earphones need to be flawless for me.
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I got my KZ Vader Balanced today. I need more time, but my initial impression is that for a $31 dollar set ( full price on Linsoul ) they are seriously good. It might also confirm that 3DD setups are my jam. The Artti R1 is still my fav under $100, but Vader can hang with many other IEMs in that range.
While listening in my office, I can hear a bit of the TV in the next room. It has an almost semi-open back sound to it. I find the raw sound very appealing for older recordings, and it was great for Jimi Hendrix, and the extra bass is really nice for Noel Reddingâs lines.
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Maybe I should upgrade my linkbuds to pros, then again I went from wired to TWS back to wired lol
I think Iâll stay
Btw is effect audio the cheapest cable dealer that has Pentaconn Ear connections available? I need a backup for my Pilgrims since theyâre white and you just know theyâll turn yucky in color
if you donât wanna deal with dongles and wires and need anc in loud 80db+ traffics to protect your hearing like me get tws otherwise hybrid wired iems are not capped by driver types unlike tws earphones. also the more i listen to the fes the more i miss the upper region boosts of the pros, these are tuned extremely âsafelyâ around 3k region and upper treble.
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