IEM discussion thread (Part 1)

Yeap that’s right

So today I was wearing my KISS shirt at the gym and thought “why not listen to some KISS radio while I’m at it”. About 2 songs in I remembered why I don’t listen to these songs anymore. Most tracks are mastered way too thin and bright to the point that you need almost basshead level bass (midbass) to bring some life to them. Maybe I need to hunt for remasters but it’s such a pain. It’s sad cause i love rocking out and I don’t get to do it nearly as often now

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JH are they still competitive today unless you’re looking for a custom stage monitor set :heavy_dollar_sign::heavy_dollar_sign::heavy_dollar_sign::thinking:

https://jhaudio.com/iem/JHA-UIEM-SHE?fbclid=IwAR0S0YLHdkIiGg5RWvESl0jJ-JRR0JPtmHc3ChGRweQd_typhcNs6cBoOJE

Quarks DSP :+1:

Go Tanya if you want more excitement (increased bass and treble)

help me on this:

A4000 / A 3000/ FIIO FF5 / HEXA

target: upgrade over Tin T2. (retaining the W profile)
declaration: I love T2.

i have P5/EA500 (LOVE)/S12 PRO/T3+ (LIKE)/JD7.

Hey guys, today we have the Kara and DZ4, and I was very surprised at how much I liked these. Even though the Quintet is barely a month old it seems like it’s already been dethroned… (well at least for me). Anyhow, let’s just jump into it.

Starting with the KARA it has a very clean, clear, and airy signature. It doesn’t prioritize one frequency over the other, and is overall another great all-rounder set. The low-end is well-controlled and is placed more so in the background, so definitely not a bass set. If you have a lot of low-end tracks like hiphop and EDM then I would not get this as it does lack the slam and the last bit of rumble. But, the Kara does blend the bass with the mids naturally and cleanly for rock, indie, and ballads. Vocals are airy and more laid back, it does still have the note-weight because of the added bit of mid-bass, but I can be a bit light in busier tracks. They’re not going to be powerful or forward like the Studio 4 or DZ4 (more on that later), however, the vocals are open and fully extended.

Treble wise the Kara is airy, but there is a gap from 8-12K which does indeed affect the perception of details and sharpness. It’s not going to be exciting and lively sounding like the Quintet. For example, the electric guitars lack the grit and energy on the Strangest Thing, and I can see this being an issue at mid-volume as it becomes difficult to hear that region on songs like Model, which has a lot of cymbals. But, if you listen loud like me then it actually works in Kara’s favour since the details are revealed with scaling. It actually has the perfect amount of treble at higher volumes with the cymbals on Model while being incredibly smooth and still engaging . The overall timbre is also much more natural than the Quintett with the same level of separation, imaging, and staging. However, the Quintet will sound more resolving and detailed because of the extra treble which increases the perception of sharpness to the notes.

Overall though, I’d take the Kara over the Quintett because I listen at louder volumes, and prefer a more clean and neutral presentation. Versus the P8 it’s more airy, but it’s not going to have as much detail. Vocals on the other hand aren’t as forward as the P8, however they are more extended because of the increased gain region. The Kara also has more mid-bass which helps with bass guitars and the less forward midrange and vocals allows more room for more spread out imaging. If you listen at mid-volume and want the most treble detail then the P8 is still the way to go as the Kara can sound a bit boring and dull, but personally I enjoy the Kara more for it’s clear and smooth signature at higher volumes.

Moving on - the DZ4, 3 dynamic drivers, 1 radiator, how does it sound? Amazing actually, beautiful timbre, natural and coherent. It’s basically a mini EJ07 with a step down in layering and staging, and imo a direct upgrade to the Galileo with more treble extension and air. The main star of the show are the vocals, forward, full, extended, and powerful. It’s not airy like the Kara or P8, but they’re more weighted and natural sounding. The DZ4 scales super well and doesn’t sound sharp like the Quintett, and overall just top tier vocals. Now, the vocals aren’t as clear as the Kara, or energetic like the Quintet, however, they’re more powerful and forward, which is what I prefer more - it’s still clean, just not as clean. The tradeoff is that the DZ4s are heftier and more immersive, the power reminds me of the RSV, but not as open and extended because of the treble.

However, in busier tracks the DZ4s vocals aren’t as well separated, so they excel more with slower paced ballads and indie, whereas the Kara and others are better with rock, alternative, and everything else. Resolution wise the DZ4 sits around the Hexa, and in-terms of technical performance the Kara and Quintet are all going to have better separation, detail, and are better all-rounders. This isn’t a bass set, but the DZ4 has the perfect amount of low-end for what it’s going for, well-textured and has a satisfying rumble and slam, however it can lack quantity for bassheads on tracks like Earthquake. Treble wise, I wouldn’t call it dark, but it’s not as extended as the Quintett or P8 - cymbals aren’t as airy and extended, lacking the micro-details, so this is definitely a set that does better with more volume.

DZ4 Vocal Rank: A
Kara Vocal Rank: B

DZ4 Overall Rank: A (High-volume), A- (mid-volume)
Tonality: S-
Tech B+

Kara Overall Rank: A (Both)
Tonality: A+
Tech: A

Full Ranking List here: Jay Audio Ranking List - Google Sheets

Either way neither of these two are treble heavy sets, so if you’re looking for something like that go check out the Quintet. Thanks for reading :slight_smile:

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Quarks DSP, while good for the price, I found the sound for music to be lacking in every dept.
Bass has no definition or physicality, treble has some spiciness in the 6-7k area, technicalities like imaging, soundstage and timbre are poor.

I haven’t tried the other DSP iems.

I would still rec other sets and an apple dongle.

Oh…Tanya…yes give more power…oh that bass and mids…just shines…dark treble of course.

I cut the cable and manually soldered two 2 pin connectors from some redundant iem (trn mt1 haha) and using 4.4 balanced to push more power to Tanya…unbelievable sound.

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was my request too irrelevant to the forum ?

:thinking: :hushed: :dizzy_face: :woozy_face:

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Not too irrelevant, but it was q question with a lot of not very popular (at least in this forum) sets in the mix :slight_smile: You do want direct upgrade over T2? Are you considering FiiO FF5 earbud and not FH5? It is quite different experience than any IEM. Also A4000 has veeery different tuning to T2.

I believe Hexa would be the closest out of what have you mentioned.

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thank you.
you were the only one to come and reach out.
thank you very much.

You do want direct upgrade over T2?----yes keeping the near about same sound signature. (dd+ba/ dd/all ba)
Are you considering FiiO FF5 earbud and not FH5…yes ff5 earbud.
Also A4000 has veeery different tuning to T2…oh sorry idk that.

regards

Just threw up some popular sets on FR MMagTech . Among them is the Blessing 3, Performer 5, Stargazer and EJ07M. Also, recently added some hyped sets that have been making talked about rounds including Neon Pro, Aurora and Supernova.

The group and I have been hard a work to built a community database and it keeps growing slowly. More sets to follow in the coming days from Kiwi Ears, Soft Ears, KZ and TRI to name a few. We may be behind the big boys but, you may find a few sets to compare against others they don’t have. Remember all our sets measurements can also be found on My Google Drive free for use to upload on other databases.

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Edit: sorry for derailing with this comment. Carry away yall and sorry for the retardedness.


xenns top vs blessing 3 compared and measured by two different 711 clone couplers and 2 different sets.
either chifis qc is lacking or each 711 coupler measures massively different from others.

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A little of both but mostly it’s the 711 couplers that makes the biggest difference. But Chifi QC is a thing too

Not so much the averages, but the channel matching between the two sets is wildly different

The following is a composite plot of all third-party FALCON PRO measurements

So not the same IEM being measured so absolutely can’t rule out poor Chifi QC

Furthermore as I’ve said before I’ve personally owned a couple IEC711 rigs and measurements were pretty much identical when taking insertion depth variance into account.

And normally I hate bringing internet credentials into this stuff but I work on sensors on embedded electronics and they are highly uniform in that if we receive a “dud” it will measure nowhere near its intended specs. And, yes, we receive all our sensors cheap from China and well above 80% measure within the specified margin-of-error which is a fraction of a percent.

I remember in another thread someone showed THE EXACT SAME IEM measured differently on two different IEC711 rigs, however, one of the rigs supposedly was wildly off in its margin-of-error from spec!

I implore whoever does measurements to send their IEM to someone else who does measurements to compare the results as I’d imagine there will be no shock when they are similar and this should put an end to the whole “Is it Chifi QC? Or is it the rugs?” question.

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Super Reviews and Precogvision does that.

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Not even hour ago I picked up KZ Krila (I’d forgotten I even ordered it), you know, the $16 IEM that was supposed to be “a KILOBUCK IEM”. Laugh as much as you want, but it’s actually pretty great.
IT REALLY IS.

I use it in 1, 2, 3 ON 4 OFF config - most likely the only one reasonable - which means that bass is boosted 3 dBs while highs stay the same.
I didn’t even try to combine them with stock cable and stock eartips, so my impressions are based solely on the IEM itself. Whizzer SS20 and QKZ Q1 Max is my default choice for all the KZs models I own (precisely: two).

Having said that: this set sounds very, very natural. Not sharp at all, but at the same time - not gloomy.
Vocals sit where they’re supposed to be and feature just enough energy. Highs are not harsh and do not sting. They are nicely smoothed out toward their end. Bass is succinct and accurate. I wish it was a tiny bit more powerful since even with the boost that switches provide, it’s slightly lacking. Hopefully it may improve with the burn-in.

To sum up: charging 16$ for this set feels ridiculous based on how it sounds.
I enjoy it quite more than KZxHBB PR2 - and I own the non-revised version. More than PENON FAN 2, which I really wanted to love due to it’s build quality and how well it sits in my ears.

I need to directly compare Krila to Juzear 41T. RIght now I don’t think I could pick a clear winner.

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