Thought I’d share highlights from Hifi Con yesterday, where I test-drove some killer IEMs and headphones:
The Truthear Blue 2 hit different - super clean sound with well-behaved treble (especially with an impedance adapter). The bass is impressively rich and clean for its price point. Great build quality, comfy smaller nozzle, and that excellent Truthear Hola/Gate-style cable.
The Apos Project IEM crushed it with spot-on tuning, crystal clear sound, and detailed highs. Rocks the same comfortable form factor as the Kinera Wyveryn Abyss.
The Thieaudio Valhalla though… straight-up beast mode. Perfect frequency balance and an exciting signature. Yeah, the metal shell’s chunky, but those contours work. Real talk: if I had $2k for an IEM right now, this would be it - easily one of the most fire IEMs I’ve heard.
The Prestige LTD and Divinity D16 were interesting cases. Both delivered solid performance - the LTD with its balanced signature and the D16 with its airy, fun presentation. But man, their dated shells and build quality made them feel like throwbacks compared to the others.
The wild card? An electrostatic headphone that brought insane clarity and detail - totally stole the show.
How hard is to tune an IEM to make it sound like the 7th Acoustics Supernova?
I’ll be messing with EQ right now, I just slapped an EQ setting on the Tanchjim Origin to make it sound like the Supernova but haven’t done any listening tests yet.
I’m aware the Supernova uses some proprietary tech which tames the lower treble, as seen on antdroid’s Supernova FR.
I would highly encourage you to use a 5128 graph set for matching EQs in the treble, as they better represent that area than IEC couplers. I think crin/the Hangout have both of those models graphed. You can download the graph of Supernova, re-upload it as a target curve in the EQ section on Squiglink, and then match the second set to that one. Then use a sine wave sweep (I use Szynalski) to see how it works in your ears and adjust to taste.
Actually, I see that you can’t download graphs on the hangout site so the process is more complex. I had some time so I did this for you and matched the EQs. Here are the values:
Preamp: -3.8 dB
Filter 1: ON LSC Fc 50 Hz Gain 3.0 dB Q 0.500
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 540 Hz Gain 3.0 dB Q 0.500
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 590 Hz Gain -1.0 dB Q 2.500
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 1400 Hz Gain 1.0 dB Q 0.700
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 2600 Hz Gain -3.5 dB Q 2.000
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 3300 Hz Gain -2.0 dB Q 3.000
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 3700 Hz Gain -12.0 dB Q 0.700
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 8000 Hz Gain -2.0 dB Q 5.000
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 11800 Hz Gain -8.0 dB Q 5.000
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 13800 Hz Gain 6.0 dB Q 3.000
Tuning an IEM to sound like the 7th Acoustics Supernova is tough. The Supernova uses proprietary tech to tame lower treble and balance the sound, which is hard to replicate with just EQ. The Tanchjim Origin is good, but without the same driver tech and tuning, it’s tricky to match that exact sound. Keep experimenting, though!
Yeah, matching something like the Supernova through EQ alone sounds pretty challenging. It’s not just the FR shape…the way they control the lower treble and manage the overall note texture probably relies a lot on the driver and tech they’re using. Still, curious to hear how close you can get with the Origin! Sometimes even just getting the general balance right can make suchh a difference
Love this!!
