Also what is this w10 iem i keep hearing about?
W10 10BA IEM made by Jinny, different drivers and config, and tuning with Butastur, for Chinese domestic market.
Some people thought those are Butastur’s rebadged model, so it could be acquired at lower price.
The truth is, those are different IEMs. If you like bright tuning, W10 is very bright and maybe your choice for female vocal songs.
Jinny told me day before that he is no longer interested in making 10BA for his brand so those on sale on taobao will be the last of his own 10BA model.
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have completely lost interest, I’m out
Oh nice, I never heard tube amp sound so I don’t really know the timbre, at least I am never that conscious about it until recently.
Ah, the volume imbalance can be a bit annoying. My Q11 has a bit of that issue at the beginning of the gain knob so about 7-9 o’clock.
Regarding the opAmp, I was going to hunt for it later down the line if I were to get it. Just was looking for it the past few days and found out that those Muse 02 chips have a few counterfeits roaming around so am not even sure if I manageed to put it together that what I am suppose to be hearing to know? Is it more the case of ‘you’ll know when you listen to it?’?
Anyhow, this is certainly a contender for an upgrade for more juice/power, but in near future have decided to pull the trigger on either RU6 or RU7 if I could get a hold off them at a good price. Most of my sets apart from the Tin P1 are generally have no issues with being driven very well with my current portable DAC/AMP combo. IEMs are now my favourite audio playback device. Simply gave me so much joy listen to each of them.
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I’m using RU6 to the amp. I found RU6 has a better timbre over RU7 when paired with Butastur for that set up
Drama aside, after taking some time to compare the Butastur to some other IEMs like the Supernova, SA6 Ultra, TOP, EJ07M KL, and AuR Neon Pro - with all due respect, the Butastur is a fine IEM, but I would not dare to claim it as a kilobucks contender like you made them out to be - that would be more the 7th Acoustic Supernova or AUR Neon Pro.
Some issues I ran into with the Butastur that I hope you can address in the future:
The 1.5K is too boosted, masking the vocals and making them not fully extended while being shouty at the same time. I ran into sharp vocals on 9/10 of the tracks I’ve tested, especially with consonants. Comparing dynamics, the Butastur also doesn’t touch the Supernovs in-terms of smoothness and treble quality, which leads to the second issue: lack of air. It’s by no means dark, but if you’re painting it out to be an endgame contender, then you need some treble extension for better staging. Likewise, the treble is also uneven with peaks and dips - that combined with the vocal shout makes the Butastur harsh to listen to.
Low-end is “fine”, you can find sets with better bass texture and slam around the same price like the EJ07M, TOP, or even Hype 2, and in-terms of resolution it’s respectable falling around the EJ07M level, but again not kilobuck performance.
I bring this up because you mentioned yourself in your introduction pitch claiming to bring “kilobucks level of performance” down to a more “affordable” price, although $600 is by no means affordable, but if the Butastur did succeed then the price would’ve been justified, however, it did not. At best it plays with the EJ07M, which again is respectable, but not kilobucks level of respectable.
As @hawaiibadboy and @Kenyon have pointed out the main issue people have with this release is that you heavily mislead others into thinking the Butastur was built from the ground up, which it was not, as you and Jinny admitted yourselves, which would’ve been fine because many IEMs get retuned using similar components, but the problem here is the false marketing as well as you overhyping it and playing the “Robinhood” role, pretending to bring kilobucks performance when really it was just a retune. Now, I understand you don’t want to pay the advertisement fees over at head-fi, but please don’t bring this type of behaviour here.
@OK4128 So with all this taken into consideration I wouldn’t recommend this IEM personally as there are many better ones at its price point - personally I really like the AuR Neon Pro. I personally find the design and packaging of the Butastur just very very mid.
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Wow. I thought this Butastur drama was over, but I guess poor AS will have to publicly receive all the shitty subjective feedback on his IEM whenever someone gets a listen that doesn’t like it. I’ve no idea what’s true or not in this situation and I haven’t had a chance to listen to his IEM, but I’m starting to feel bad for the guy. Considering that there’s not much incentive for him to hang around here, to me, it says something that he’s actually still responding to others here after all the bashing that he’s received.
If your post was meant to be a review and only a review, it shouldn’t have mentioned anything outside of the product, but tossing in all that other junk about the drama shows bias in your review. Is this what you really think about the IEM or is your opinion swayed by the situation?
@AmericanSpirit_JP, I wouldn’t blame you if you disappeared from this forum. I wouldn’t want to be around for all this hate either.
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He only got the “hate” when he disappeared a few days after HBB spoke out about his problem with the Butastur and wanted a replacement set. If he didn’t disappear for over a month, replaced HBB’s set in a timely fashion like he said he would, and addressed concerns of the ridiculous origin story of this IEM, which turned out to be a lie, none of this would have happened and no “hate” would’ve been heaped on him by me, HBB, and others.
At least he came back now and is fixing the problems he caused.
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I would like to pitch in about the Kilobuck level of performance as well.
While I love Butastur, and it is my gateway to have a luxury listen, it is truly beating the kilobuck iems…of yesteryears. It absolutely decimated the Andromeda. So in that sense, the Butastur does have a kilobuck level of performance.
However, currently the technology have progressed. When I compared it with the SoundRhyme SR8, I found that when well powered, the SR8 with its bass switch off condition has a more tactile mid and treble presentation with more fleshed out notes and better details, better separation compared to Butastur (also similarly powered). However, the SR8 with bass switch off does not provide a BA bass as satisfactory as Butastur. There it is completely untouchable (not considering DD or Hybrid iems since that will be unfair as DD bass is on another level.) If I turn on the bass switch of SR8, it becomes bolder than Butastur but then the other frequencies gets drowned.
I have not heard other kilobuck level BA iems recently, will get to hear the Supernova next month probably, so I am not sure where Butastur stands in that context. But for me, I really do love the balance across all three frequencies that Butastur offers. I never expected it to punch above its price point, I am just pleased it is very well tuned and more than worthy of its price tag for me.
If I ever feel the upper-mid and treble is becoming a bit hot, I turn off the Switch 2, and if I feel for more, I turn it on. Never felt that it is becoming unbearable once I turn the switch off.
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?
- Not a review, just a feedback on the whole situation and moving forward, and answering the other guy what he should watch out for since he was asking - if it was a review I would’ve posted it on my thread
- @AmericanSpirit_JP Made it seem like it was a “kilobucks killer” in this day and age and it was indeed not one, so, misleading, and pretty much just hype marketing (I’m sure it would’ve been a “kilobucks killer” if you compare it to an iem 3-5 years ago lol @AceBee but of course we’re talking about the current market, so again misleading)
- He made it seem like it was built from the ground up which it was not and admitted it himself - again, there’s nothing wrong with claiming it’s a retune, but he lied, and that’s the issue
- Guy left for a month but was still promoting over at twitter/X lol, and then comes back to give his thoughts on some expensive iems lol
- It looks to me he joined the site just to sell his stuff here because head-fi would’ve charged him a fee there but not here lol, so really not sure why you’re feeling bad for the guy after all the overhyping and false promises
@AceBee Out of curiosity, what volume were you listening at? I tested at lower, mid, and higher and ran into issues mid/higher in the vocals (DD position). Age could also be a factor as I’m sensitive to higher frequencies. If you want balance the Blessing 3 is there for $320, or even the Studio 4, or even the Chopin and Nova for $150 and $200. All better tuned imo.
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He never posted on here prior to the launch/hype of NOB, he could’ve paid Head-Fi their pound of flesh and they would’ve had his back removing any negative reviews and turning a blind eye to any quality or customer service issues.
Here folk are free to have their say regarding that set or any other for that matter as long as it stays within the realms of decency. I don’t have a dog in the fight but it seems to me some are happy with their set and some not so, some didn’t like the marketing tactics some didn’t care so pretty much like any product launch tbh 
.
The only thing that really stands out to me was his disappearance when Chris had his problem, a problem that would’ve been an easy fix with a heart felt apology and swiftly dispatched replacement 
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Hahaha agreed. We would’ve been blacklisted on head-fi by now LOL 
You guys da goat 
Maybe you should start charging @AmericanSpirit_JP and see what he does 
Again, I haven’t followed the drama from beginning to end, but claiming something is a “kilobuck killer” nowadays seems pretty common. It’s all relative in this subjective hobby. There are so many flavors of the week that people claim it’s the best of the best until something new gets hyped the following week. You really can’t trust anyone wholeheartedly.
All I know is that the set was low on bass so it was a pass for me.
I think the biggest fault in all of this was AS not following through with replacing HBB’s faulty set when the issue was brought up by HBB and acknowledged by AS… but I guess that’s being taken care of now.
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I confirm! I recently listened to old Xelento ,Rai Penta, HiFi Man silver2000 IEMs - $1000/1100 /1500 and they were completely killed by the new IEMs around $2oo–$300.
Technology has developed a lot, making the hobby unprofitable 
.
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Not so sure about unprofitable when $3 fixed cable IEMs are being resold for >£250
Or even LV reselling a €200-300 M&D TWS for €1600…
Now those are margins I can get on board with as a business owner…
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I mean, if you bought a Rai Penta or someone else for $1000-1500, now you can’t sell them for $300 because they’re beaten by today’s $200 IEMs. 
Unprofitable for owners of old IEMs.
And you’re right about the companies, yes.
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Didn’t understand what you meant by “mid/higher in the vocals (DD Position)”.
I always listen at a moderate volume, never at high volume. I am moderately sensitive to high frequencies. I found Blessing 2 to be very sharp and uncomfortable.
I have not heard the Blessing 3 or Studio 4. But I heard Softears RSV, and Butastur is significantly better than that any day. I found RSV to be thick and congested sounding.
Chopin, on the other hand, was a soulless affair. Felt empty and dry. Despite having a DD for the bass, the bass was totally lackluster. Butastur has much better bass in both quality and body. Better mid and treble as well.
Haven’t heard Nova so cannot comment. But I doubt it will have a better tuning than Butastur.
May we have different preferences, and hear things differently. That is why our impressions do not align - definitely possible.
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Drama Aside? Are you kidding?
A few people (at most) have some issue with what they’re claiming to be marketing lies and false claims.
“As @hawaiibadboy and @Kenyon have pointed out the main issue people have with this release is that you heavily mislead others into thinking the Butastur was built from the ground up, which it was not, as you and Jinny admitted yourselves” …soooo… I don’t have that issue, and I’ll bet the majority of folk who own NOB don’t either. I’ve read every post here about the NOB and in no way, shape or form did I come away with that BS.
I’m way older than you and because I don’t remember all the content of the posts, will you please point me to the post/s where AS claims this is entirely built from ground up then admitted they were lying? Different drivers and tuning in W10 shell with new faceplate…is the gist of my take away, always was.
NOW THIS>>> “When fully driven, the TS-316 can explode with astonishing sound quality, easily crushing rivals of several times its price.” “The TS-316 in this show is a Ture Flagship Killer IEM”
Misspelling aside, OMG where is all the backlash at this horror of horrors? Lies, hyperbole, false marketing…when will it stop!? Please make it stop.
When, and because I read that, I dropped my consideration for that IEM, yet it’s already in the threads and no one has called it flagship killer, shouldn’t we be outraged?
I have an opinion that virtually every IEM is some form of a re-tune, reshell, reworked etc…
I cannot speak for anyone else here… BUT… when I purchase anything , and in this case the NOB, which I did, and found a defect, the very last person I considered for resolution was a designer/ producer, engineer, and again in this case, was AS. He did not sell it to me, PENON DID. Some of you should read that again. Penon resolved my issue, simple as that. Not at any time was AS in my thoughts as some villain.
Aside from all that drama, I hope 1.5 khz stays exactly where it is, not too boosted for my library, not even close. Switch up is plenty of air, so much in fact, I leave it down mostly. NOB truly lets you know the quality of the recording , that is my observation. Nothing is sugarcoated, all laid bare.
I think there is a bit of lynch mob mentality surrounding NOB, It’s okay to step back from that. Lets move on.
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- Not TOTL:
- He literally says from scratch lol. This is very misleading:
- And heavily suggests that it’s not just a retune
Me neither but AS promised Chris himself he’ll do it so he took on that role HIMSELF and then disappeared for a month lol.
You literally just admitted that it’s hype marketing by comparing both together lol. If it was only “a few people” then there would be no backlash.
Alright man, you guys enjoy your 1.5K masking and sharp treble. I’m outta this thread 
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