These sound fantastic, I appreciate the impressions! I haven’t been able to find a way to purchase them stateside unfortunately, but I would absolutely be interested. It reminds me of the Dark Magician in a way. Small unit count, DIY in a sense, similar upper mids tuning. Looking forward to the proper review, brother!
out of all the sub $50 sets out recently (that I tried) CHU was the one I liked most sound wise, if I can get a better cable on there and better fit it’s my budget endgame, another $20 isn’t bad 
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I absolutely agree. This is again, another prime example of how there is always a pair of ears for every set out there. I really hope they work out for you, man 
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If you imagine the Fat Girl graph shifted slightly left that the 8 kHz peaks match these 2 are really close.
It would be interesting to A/B test them.
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The TinHiFi T4 Plus is not a bad IEM, but it is overpriced given what it brings to the table. If you are dead-set on a warm, bassy IEM under $150 and are more interested in strong bass technicalities than other performance aspects, it may be worth considering. Otherwise, I would look elsewhere.
My full review is up in my HiFiGuides thread.
Moondrop LAN review up next.
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I’ve been trying out the Rosefinch over the past week to see what a bass canon sounds like. I thought I was a bass head but that bass can be overwhelming at times. However, for certain libraries and moods, it is such a fun ride. I’ve noticed that the quantity of bass is there but may not be the the best quality. Almost akin to “dirty” bass. Also not a huge fan of the dip around the mids.
What improvements can I expect if I were to save and get the upcoming FatFreq Mini Mastro SE v2 vs. the Rosefinch? Is it worth looking into if I’d like improvements over the Rosefinch?
The bass is definitely what I would call dirty. Its not the best quality but totally acceptable for <$20 imo. I can only speak to the FF Maestro Mini V1 but the bass in the MM is less bloated and pushed to the sub bass frequencies which results in it feeling like there is less overall bass compared to the Rosefinch. Bass quality is leaps and bounds better and treble experience is totally better too. Pretty much everything is better with the MM but you loose that “wall of bass” feeling that the Rosefinch brings.
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Quantity and quality look also to the Xenns Mangird UP, for me the bass is perfect and the rest is pure beautifully tuned bliss!
Yes I biased on the UP should have been the progression on the Tea cult except the price is up there.
I am so blessed to own a pair.
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Not to mention, you probably have my favorite pair in terms of aesthetics out there!
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Thanks for the impressions. Wall of bass is great for about 10-15 minutes before I start craving more clarity in both the bass and treble regions. Granted, it is less than $20 (or $30 CAD in my case). Will be looking to grab a set of MM SE V2s when they’re available.
I have the OG Teas and have always kept an eye out for the UP but the price, even used, does put it lower on the priority list. Have you (or any one else here) tried the UP vs. Serial?
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so after some time with the Hiby R5 Gen 2 I think I have some thoughts I can put down finally:
- I don’t notice much of a sound difference between Class A and economy mode on low, medium or high gain honestly. Maybe Class A with high gain is a tad warmer but I don’t think I would be able to call it out if I was doing it blind
- I don’t really notice much of a sonic difference between the Qudelix 5K and Hiby either. Both drive the Serratus very well to my ears.
- I enjoy having a DAP where I can listen to music without having my phone on me and using up my phone battery
- MSEB is… not great. Trying to do bass boost with it just sounds bad to me. I have also tried bass boost in Spotify which is somehow better than MSEB but also pretty terrible. Its shocking how good the EQ on the Qudelix is. Doing a bass boost with PEQ sounds substantially higher quality and deeper, literally rumbling my ears with my IE600.
I will say that I am overall happy I bought the Hiby from @rattlingblanketwoman and finally got to try a DAP out for a great price! I do think though that this ends my source journey as I cannot imagine spending more money on something that I don’t think will appreciably improve my experience.
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I have the HiBy RS2 and MSEB on that one isn’t great either. The sound distorts easily even with minor adjustments.
I was considering getting the R5 Gen II but went with the DX170 instead, mostly to try a CircusLogic Chip but also cause I like the looks of it. Hopefully it will arrive soon.
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I know this was like a week ago, but I just read it and wanted to say that I’m generally not a fan of the VE cultish fanboy croud or their leader, but I have owned several VE buds and their Megatron and I have to say that they do make some very good higher end buds. I haven’t liked most of their lower tier stuff, but I really dug the VE Sun Dice and would still own them if I could get the damn things to fit with any level of stability (and I tried everything). The Zen series is too warm for my tastes, but the 2.0 is, IMO, a very good bud rec for someone looking for that super warm, lush tuning. The Megatron is an absolute steal for $50. I have tried some of their higher end amp and DAC offerings and thought they were a bit overpriced and lackluster for what they are, but no more so than a hundred other companies I could name. Point being, the Wild Lee dude is clearly a nut who needs to grow up a bit, but he is capable of puting out some very good sounding buds. That’s all.
P.S. I have tried one of their expensive IEMs called the Grand Duke and it wasn’t my style at all and I think it’s considerably overpriced given it’s performance, but that’s just me…
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Killer deal on a set of Xenns Up if anyone is looking.
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The Magma sounds really nice. I am baffled that no one talks about it.
To be honest I was not even aware that it existed.
It wows me quite a bit more than Mahina or Meteor did and it´s the first IEM that can compete with my beloved Kinda Lava.
Truely a hidden gem
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