Heard this at CanJam SoCal 2023, too expensive for what you’re getting, much more impressed with the Scarlet Mini and Crimson.
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Getting a Scarlett mini on tour this week. Pretty fun.
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The Plungies and the Unity in particular are geared for Musicians 4 BA.
There is some new stuff ready to hit. Canucks Audioholics Anomomous we are getting a few of the newer releases in March to shill the shit out of.
Honestly they dont need shilling they need exposure on how different they are to everything else.
I listened to one of the new hybrids and I am excited like a fat kid in a cake store!
Exciting times ahead and the prices are super reasonable for TOTL level performance.
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“Not Just a Bass Cannon’”
Pros
Great bass, it rumbles in ears and feels fantastic.
Comfortable small shell
Podcasts sound impressive.
Vocals are impressive.
Enjoyable for most music, and a fun experience.
I dig the case.
Cons
Resolution and imaging is off to me.
Seems to do better with more power
Detail can be lost, and tonal balance is a bit off.
On man tracks this is just blah, so it is a specialist not an overall best iem.
Red cable doesn’t feel worth the premium 140 bonus
Mids are more of an afterthought
On certain tracks this is world-class, but a specialist/toy not a daily driver.
TECHNOLOGY So this does have a lot of technology, let’s show it here and then move on.
-BASS CANNON™
(Patent Pending) Using proprietary dynamic woofers, bass chambers and acoustic damping networks, FATfreq was able to design the deepest bass ever recorded of over 30dB, expertly controlled below 200Hz with zero mid-range bleed. A FATfreq innovation pioneered and perfected for sheer bass power.
-LINEAR IMPEDANCE
FATfreq uses proprietary circuits to correct the non-linear impedances of multi-driver systems. The different output impedances across all your devices cause frequency response to vary. Having this tech ensures consistency in frequency response for all our IEMs when plugged into any device - Be it your mic-pack, mixer board, phone or dedicated DAP.
-SONAR LA TROMPA™
Inspired by the anatomy of the traditional french horn, FATfreq uses exponential horn curvature for gain control and to improve treble tonality via acoustics. Providing you with Smooth, natural sounding highs, grounded by a nice timbre in the mid and low frequencies.
-PHASEALIGN
The absence of a DSP in IEMs means that we have to match the phase of multi-way systems via Acoustic delay. Using proprietary structures, we were able to align the low, mid and high frequencies such that they reach your eardrum in a coherent manner. Giving you the sound accuracy and resolution demanded on stage and studio.
Bass (20-60 Sub Bass, 60-250 Hz Mid Bass)
Bass good, but how good. It’s strong and overpowering. I want bass quality and rumbling, not just volume. I think the quality is fine, but a bit too much for my personal take.
Midrange (250 HZ to 800 HZ Low Mids, 600-200 Hz Mids, 2000-5000Hz Upper Mids)
The timber and tone is great on this iem, the vocals are very nice and podcasts sound good on it. But there is a richness to voices that is off to me a bit. It’s nice, its fun, but it pushes somestuff out a little bit.
Treble (5000- 10000 Trebble/Highs, 10000 ++ HZ Upper Trebble & Air)
The treble is a good part of this set and this iem has good detail and technicalities but it doesn’t seem class-leading or perfect to my ears. I like it, but it feel tonally off a bit to me for what I want. It has a certain bass head type that it pushes towards and not a push for naturalness or a balanced signature. It does have a great tuning and is very impressive.
Shell -
The shell is pretty, it fits great and and it’s small. Often time high end shells are massive but part of the apeal of this set is how small it is. Very comfortable for me.
Case- The case isn’t something that I personally would use. But it’s a nice case and I enjoy it a great deal.
Cable- Not a huge fan of this cable. I would personally recommen getting the cheaper version with a cheaper cable and swapping it out. If you want a fancy cable, go for, but it’s not for me.
Tip Selection - I was pleasantly surprised with the tip selection! I really enjoyed them.
Graph:
Sound - Final Impressions
While this iem is very good, and almost perfect is seems that there could be some room for some slight improvement here. I think the bass physical impact of the Monarch MK 3 is better, and I think the tuning could be slightly improved with EQ, but
Gifting/who is it for: I think this is a nice hifi iem to gift to someone, but it is rather expensive. I would recommend a cheaper product for most people. It is very nice, but the shells look a little blarg for an 800 dollar iem. The packaging is fine, but just that… fine. It’s a good iem for bassheads, but I don’t think it’d be a safe bet to give to someone.
Pairing: I used a Quidelix 5k for mobile, my dongle Dac iBasso DC04 for my laptop, and my JDS labs Element III MK2 Boosted for my Desktop PC. I also tried the iem briefly on the Apple dongle as well. This iem did feel better when it had more power in my ears. I’m not sure exactly why, as the vibration was more apparent when it was. I could be wrong, but it’s just my experience in my limited testing
Summary-
This is a fantastic basshead iem that I fully enjoy. I do like it a great deal, and have enjoyed my time with it, but tonally prefere Fatfreq GM or their SE. (Those were just demos). I do like this iem a great deal, and could see myself owning in my collection if money were no issue. But I think personally I’d rather own something else, but this is an exceptional iem, and probably the best basehead Iem that I’ve ever tried. Very enjoyable, very fun, but it does need a ton of power, and some songs feel a tiny bit off as this is not my preferred sound signature
I would love to own a Basshead iem if price was no issue, maybe I would spend 300-400 for one, but I think I’m going to pass on buying a Scarlett mini on a personal level. I don’t need it in my collection, but It is tempting with its darn beautiful shell, forward vocals and a beautiful fun vibrating shell.
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Thanks for your great review. This is a set I’m really interested in and hope to demo them soon.
Quick question about squigs and apologises for my noob-ness, I’m still learning how to interpret them. I’m never sure how to read loudness to compare to my own listening levels (which I feel is esp. important for bass-orientated music). Do you know if this is something that can be corrected with the normalize tools? Not sure how to use it.
Anyhow, if the graph representative of the actual volume at around 80db, I tend find myself EQing to the red curve across IEMS I’ve owned (usually 9-10mm DDs)
In which case…I can see Scarlet pleasing people wanting neutral-bass boost (hate these loosey-goosey definitions). But IM-humble-O…needs more…well…cowbell…
Also, channel imbalance, was it noticeable? At this price, should be better? Not sure what work it takes to achieve that but simgot doing really well there at a lower price. Normalise sending FR in the box!
Just a few thoughts. Thanks again.
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followed by
The review made sense to me to read through, but the title seems contradicted by it? The rest makes it sound like it’s off in other areas and you would keep it if you had money for something just good at bass.
Why is a specialty basshead IEM, that isn’t strong enough in other areas, not just a bass cannon? They seem like different names for the same thing.
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Lots of questions here . The first one was the channel imbalance wasn’t a big deal to me at all and at that level it’s pretty normal.
As far as you question about normalization goes. I’m not sure, but using eq is always a good option. I primarily only really eq to test a few things either on the Quidex 5k. I also use squiglink ti eq to a target.
I’m of the school of thought of having an all arounder vs a special iem for all genres. I do think eq is a great tool to utilize.
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Thanks for the feedback. The cohesion of the review wasn’t as clear as it should have been.
I should have been more clear but I think you are right. I’m more interested in Hbb’s Scarlett iem as it looks similar in graph or the fatfreq gm. The 640/800 range is a bit cursed in a way. But this iem was extremely fun and had nice bass.
Enjoyable iem with overall fantastic sound but it is a specialist for sure.
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How are you enjoying the Scarlett mini? Great shot.
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It’s tuning is definitely not for everyone…that’s a certain
If you like wearing the same monitors either throughout your day or for a session with different genres…probably not for you
But they’ve been my bird dog for a couple weeks now and with the kind of tracks I’ve been listening to lately the Scarlet is a beast
Does nothing overtly wrong with anything but if you’re a L tune lover the FFS is a no brainer
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Not a recommend. I agree With Paul and TDM.
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I heard they already changed the driver in a silent revision.
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Did a branding revamp. I changed the art to my Ranking list. Still wip, but looks mucbh better than it did when I started a few months ago.
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Dude, it looks fantastic!
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