Iāll get my timeless soon, and let you know. I really doubt it will beat Teas, for my tastes, in anothing but detail retrieval. I hope iām wrong, tho - I want to love a planar lol.
Iām expecting them to play along nice with eachother and also that I can ignore the ālack of depth/imaging/stagingā that some people complained about, but I need to ear it for myself anyway and take my own conclusions.
1 Like
I use some amazon one that is bigger with 4 slots + DAP. I need more space on my IEMs (AKA: I bent 2pins using ones like that). I use Shanling C3 for stuff like going to the beach or something and need something portable for my dap + a pair.
Iāll buy this one since Iām resctring myself to 2-4 endgame IEMs + Buds. Keep in mind I throw it on my backpack for work. At home all my pairs are on a watchbox, except for EJ07m - He is the only one so far that is allowed to be on my desk with its alluminium box.
1 Like
Iāll need to find some good velcro straps for all my sets tho. Have to look into it. Iāll make a post/thread once I get RSV and settle down on it talking about my choices and getting some nice shots of my gear 
1 Like
I thought of doing the same! The design has to prevent the individual shells from clanging around, and also minimise compression and strain on the cables. Curious to see your design!
1 Like
5 Likes
Again an absurd comparison of Teas and Timeless. Planar vs. hybrid. Timelessness can beat Š¢ea only by resolution, the plenary has a flat soundstage, everyone is like that! Tuning is also very different.
Absurd how though? They are all devices that produce sound in the end.
Also, if Timeless sound signature is that niche, wouldnāt reviewers mention that in their first impressions? Even Crinacle praised it in his recent unboxing.
I donāt listen to Crin say what he wants! The comparison between the two is illogical, otherwise Timeless may be good IEMs! Tea is better, it seems.
I agree. A set that does everything well is really an incredible experience. I have several days of listening and note taking ahead of me before I even start comparing. This one is gonna be fun. 
I donāt believe this pressure thing will go away though. It is only on insertion. The problem for me is I have to fiddle with it with insert and re-insert. I have found that a very light insertion does pretty well particularly with cp145. I am gonna try it with my stickier tips at some point (xelastec, cp100+ and crystal). The problem for me is āfiddling with itā represents about six insertions in terms of irritation for the day. So if I have to go out/in for other reasons, or have to adjust, I am using up my IEM time until my ears are too irritated to use any IEM. 
So, I am leaving them in as much as I can.
1 Like
Same thing for me but itās just upon insertion. If I have music already playing, I hear the bass being sucked out the first 3 seconds due to the pressure issue but it goes away pretty quickly. Also, CP145 is fantastic on these and Iāve completed my tip roll journey on the Tea (cheap silicon, foam, Azla SednaEarfit Crystal, Final E). CP145 is good because it creates more distance between your ear canal and the nozzle, and the stage is noticeably wider than the Final E tips. Wide bore doesnāt do it for me as it makes the treble too piercing. I have CP100 incoming, but many here have already stated theyāre good as well.
^^^^ this. I have liked that aspect on every tip that does it.
I have dozens of tips now, and I havenāt rolled them all on teas yet. But there hasnāt been an IEM where cp145 isnāt in the top 3 if not #1 overall.
Right now, I need the least irritation. cp145 is often the best mix of seal, sound quality, and ability to go in and out with the least irritation.
I should try final e though. They have been incredible when I do get a seal. But they can also be a nightmare.
Cp100+ and cp100 also do really well. The + bring that measure of grip on the material. While retaining sound of the cp145. But, they are better when you know you wonāt get interrupted. Havenāt tried them on teas yet. So many tips to try.
1 Like
Thatās what I got for 2 days with my EJ. Reso burned his vents during 12h or 24h with the bores closed. You just received them, enjoy them, donāt try to rush it I have teas since May and I have not reviewed them yet 
Iāll get that rash on your ear if you change a lot or tip roll a lot. Thatās how it works, I still get it every now and then. I usually switch to buds for a while
Yeah, that was the point of the fiio em5. Didnāt go well. 
Itās not a rush. But I donāt think this is typical driver flex either. Itās only on insertion. If I were to guess, the cavity inside the unit has the DD driver separating the vent so essentially there is a full seal blocking the vent. When you push in, air compression, and hence vacuum. As long as I stop pushing in right when the seal happens, I am good. And the world is happy.
I donāt see how this will change over time except me getting used to inserting them very delicately (which is fine).
Anywho, I am going to try another tip. I think this insert light will work, but it also means smaller tips, and I donāt have everything in every size.
For those who noticed my IEM stand project 3 hours ago and got interested in, I finished designing it for 3D printing and so here are some previews:
Disclaimer: Take this with a grain of salt as Iām just learning CAD and I donāt have a 3D printer to test this, so this might fail at the joint of 2 pieces. But itās a fun project that I did to kill time and wanted a stand for my IEMs on my desk, so I want to share you guys the files. Iām also open to receive any feedbacks through PM to prevent spamming this topic.
Dimensions (complete): 85 x 95 x 152mm
5 Likes
I had the possibility to try the Tea today, a Co-Worker of mine bought them and asked me about my opinion about them, and tbh I was pretty dissapointed.
My preference is a natural and smooth sound, as a reference I use Neumann KH 80 speakers in a mildly acoustically treated room.
Problems I had with the overall Sound
- Bass extends low enough, but is not emphasized enough, which makes it kinda boring sounding on more āengagingā music.
- Mids are clear, but they sound too forward to me. This may be great when listening to vocal stuff, but can even be annoying on some tracks.
- Treble is the biggest problem for me. There is a huge dip around the 5k region (you can hear it clearly with pink noise) and its overall a little āpeakyā. Good thing that the overall Treble has not too much energy, otherwise I would be unable to listen to this IEM. On some tracks the Treble even sounds incoherent to me (like it is āput on topā of the music, very weird)
Overall I woulnāt say the Tea sounds āoffā, but it def sounds āweirdā and not natural to my ears. I would even prefer my Sony MH750 over this. But thats just my personal opinion I wanted to share it here, as there are over 1000 (!) posts about this IEM in this Forum.
Problems I had with the overall Design
- Driver flex (!!) on an over 200 $ IEM is a no-go, venting at the back would help
- The venting port on the top is a bad idea (sweat/water ingress)
- No specs for the DD (wtf is a āGerman Bio-Titanium DDā lol), not even diameter
- No accurate specs on the Sonion BA (2600 is series of drivers, not the exact model)
- I think they messed up the crossover/divider, hence the weird dip around 5k
Things I liked
- The shell is nice (even though the venting is bad)
- Nice packaging
- The drivers themselfs are of good
- Cable is nice
Thank you for reading this and I dont want to attack anybody who is enjoying the IEM, I just wanted to āventā my dissapointment a bit, as I think it has way too many flaws for the asking price.
Have a nice day.
6 Likes
The opinion expressed is personal taste and preferences. Yes,Tea has some drawbacks. I do not agree that there are many disadvantages to the asking price !! There is no way to compare IEMs with an acoustic room! The description is not detailed, but it is enough. The fact is that Tea competes with IEMs at twice the price, despite the subtle disadvantages! And I do not want to attack anyone, just an opinion !!! 
I dont know whats so funny about my initial post, but I reply you to really let your brain āexplodeā , as your only question seems to involve the price of an IEM :
" I referred to the slide above that shows the predicted sound quality for 61 different models of in-ear headphones based on their measured frequency response. The correlation between price and sound quality is close to zero and, slightly negative: r = -.16 (i.e. spending more money gets you slightly worse sound on average). "
So according to Dr. Oliveās findings, it even shows that it can be the case that the sound gets even āworseā the more you pay. This correlates with my own findings, as I canāt say that the more expensive IEMs that Iāve tried were really better then the lower priced ones I mostly use. This is not a āI pay more I get moreā situation.
If youāre interested what IEMs I use, I have to say that I dont really use IEMs so much, because I think headphones deliver better sound quality, as they involve more parts of the ear and donāt have this āin your headā sound so much like IEMs do. I just use IEMs in the gym, for commuting on the bike or for plane travel. My favourite is still the Sony MH750, its not perfect but its really good and enjoyable. I also like the QKZ VK4, which albeit having some minor flaws still delivers a great tonality and is really comfy for me. For plane travel or louder environments I use the Etymotic ER4XR, they are better than the Sony or the QKZ, but the deep insertion kinda annoys me on a daily basis.
Have a nice day.
3 Likes