Night Oblivion - discussions

If everything goes well Batastur should be delivered tomorrow. Really excited for they’re first listen and hope they live up to all the talk. Will drop a quick comment on them and a graph for the community after initial listen.

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I had exactly same notice “item on hold exception” a day before Butastur’s
Arrival, it shall be very soon then​:eagle::crescent_moon:

Please pair it with H570😄

Also a warmer source may be a better match than analytical one for casual listening. For critical listening, analytical sources serves better.

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The tips were order later and will be in eventually. As for sources warmer is what I prefer.

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Just tried S&S, it somehow pushed the upper treble up and lowered bass floor.

Imaging projection shifted forward.

Not particularly bad but the timbre doesn’t quite match. I think S&S’s weakness is bass region resonance, the transient response will roll off quickly with this ear tip in general, which matches to some slow responding dynamic drivers, but not particularly a good match to Butastur’s system.

S&S does alter the sound by huge margin so it may have a good synergy at some occasion (for taming a wild bass, bright-tilt a dark sounding set), and it will help fit issues as the shape is basically hinted from reversed starline KZ ear tips, the top end has as wide bore fit area as its bottom end.

For that SpinFit W1, H570 also has extended nozzle, so it may be a good candidate to consider trying those out with less sound alternation.

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The same thing happens with SA6 MK2 with S&S tips. They don’t work for me, they reduce separation, muffle the treble, blur the bass, mess up the stage… You need a deeper insertion, which these tips don`t allow to happen. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Got my Night Oblivion order in, shipping before the 20th!

As for the H570 tips, those Ali express sellers are charging obscene money shipping to Philippines, found the same on Lazada much faster delivery and cheaper overall . About 12 US for 2 pair delivered. So if yer looking for those tips in SE Asia , your Lazada might be the ticket.

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Just received a notice that my Eagle has landed… :slight_smile: 7 days for shipping and customs clearing ain’t bad at all. Hopefully will be able to pick them up after work and lend them an ear tonight.

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Tony just shared me his measurements.

He casted Butastur (0-1 : micro detail mode) with Neon Pro (Off) for the comparison. I personally want to see (0-0 : Spirit mode) with NP (Off) as that’s my intended tuning, so I overcasted them. (Nvm he shared the updated ones)





Wow the fr looks very close. However the Butastur Reactive Air-pressure System handles the timbre very differently. Interesting :face_with_monocle:

As many of you may have noticed. We don’t exaggerate 15khz, the fake air, like almost all others are doing.

Neutrality without artificial colorations. The BRAS system made it possible or otherwise it would sound dull with this target line slope.

Also I’m happy to see the lab measurements with GRAS is identical. All units are as perfectly tuned.



Last but not least I’m very excited to hear from Akros that Butastur has exceptional synergy with Cayin RU7, as that’s the dongle I will get next when having RU6 having a perfect match with Butastur.

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Sharing an anonymous PM thanks:

We made Butastur with “Wabi & Sabi “
Spirit , a philosophy of subtraction.

Here is a Wabi-sabi (not wasabi) ‘s virtue in visual way vs traditional gorgeous beauty.

Beautiful flowers: philosophy of addition
IMG_9573

Wabi-Sabi flowers: philosophy of subtraction

Basically, it’s the empathizing on core essence of what’s standing out of a certain things, not necessarily physical thing, it could be behavior or logical way of thinking.

When a sound reach to this state, it will deliver the core essence , the sub context of the songs.

“clean yet rich”
“simple yet complex”
“Acceptance of imperfection and transience “
The contradicting concepts can co-exist under the wabi & sabi spirit.
IMG_9575

About wabi-sabi:

Here is a good example of songs that well expressed wabi-sabi spirit in a form of sound art.

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Ok guys. Here it is


As usual this thingy sure looks a lot better in real life than pics from a mobile can show.

I actually listen to it while I am writing this (Mahler Symphony No. 1, 2nd set, Daniel Harding & Berliner Philharmoniker).

Simply put - I already like them a lot! :slight_smile:

But let me explain a bit, as I use them in another cable/tip configuration than the one AmericanSpirit may have had in mind.

Taking them out of the box I first applied my usual Comply foamies. Sorry AS, I love these and use them on all my IEM… And though I have 570s on order they have not arrived yet, so I naturally grabbed my favourites.

First shock: ootb they sounded totally off. Oh no, please not a defect item! Well it turned out that I had simply failed in putting the changeable plug rightly into its socket…

Directly exchanged the cable and tried the just arrived AüR Athena. Much better, everything fell into place. But a few minutes in, it still did not feel rightly right to me. As the Athena was just a guess and not burned in, I rolled cable once more and attached a Penon Leo Plus.

And holy moly - that’s it, what a combo. Just beautiful. The timbre now has a very natural and musical touch especially with classical music and a few Jazz pieces I tried.

The Butastur in 00 mode - nothing else tried yet - has a very - really VERY - detailed but still coherent sound signature. Have not directly compared it to the Neon Pro yet but would say it is at least on par with the latter in that respect. I would describe the Butastur as a tad more dry (which I like) and maybe lacking just a tad more bass slam for my taste and compared to the Neon Pro (switch off too). But that characteristic also opens up the soundstage of the Butastur and makes it different enough to probably own both sets.

But hey, these are just early first impressions, so oc it is much to early for valid comparisons and to much to play around with switch wise.

But congrats to AS and the whole team - imo you have a winner here! No regrets getting one out of the first batch.

PS Source has been a Hiby R6P2 and the Eagle is very comfortable to wear - size wise (small) as well as in that I had absolutely no pressure build up…

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Hope you receive H570 soon​:smile::+1:

Bass will gain real note touch with H570🙌

If you like to add more note weight to flavor, NiceHCK BlackSoul (around $30) is a very good reasonable choice👌

DragonScale will add slam impact as well.

Basically Butastur is a transparent one, it renders the specialities of whatever sources /cables / ear tips paired. And for this reason, as an audiophile, platform without certain coloration is crucial to play and live with in a long term relationship.

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I can already say, that the Eagle is definitely a keeper in my book :sunny: Imo complements my beloved Neon Pro very well. The level of detail and transparency / imaging of the Butastur makes it special.

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Thanks!

Yes your feedback actually renders the basis of sound design very well​:smile::ok_hand:

The stock micro/macro balance of Butastur is set to my target 60 /40 (micro /macro) with switches to adjust the balance from 60/40.

Butastur: 60/40 (0-0 Spirit Mode)
Anole VX : 58/42
NP : 55/45
SR8: 45/55

With 1-0 (macro dynamic mode) : 58/42
With 0-1 (micro detail mode) 65 /35
With 1-1 (high gain mode : 57 / 43 )

There is a little background for the fact macro dynamic mode only shifts 2pts vs 5pts of Micro detail mode.

When we developed the prototypes, I also was on the borderline to push up the 1-0 macro dynamism’s bass floor a little higher, we tried, but that created an unwanted distortion with BRAS (butastur reactive air-pressure system) combined :sob:

The BRAS pushed the Sonion’s vented AcuPass to its best potential, better than similar 38DX iems . The measurement shows pretty neutral and rather calming bass floor but the actual energy output is already reaching to 38DX’s maximum.

In a simple example, Butastur’s drivers are supercharged, but BRAS vents out the energy, so the final sound delivered will be very lively and natural.

So we pushed full BA TOTL’s boundaries beyond what’s existing. Natural floor with realistic / naturally diffusing yet energetic and textured bass. With only physical limit that further throttling bass floor would mess driver’s capability.

But that’s not the end of the feasibility :smile: The neutral platform is capable to push the boundaries into more dynamic realm with DAPs and cables.

I like DragonScale’s color that can tweak Butastur into an American Eagle , with 50:50 micro /macro for that case.

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I got mine a little earlier than anticipated, so I’m just running them through their paces.

Right of the box, these are a very competently tuned pair of IEMs. There’s nothing that immediately stands out as harsh or fatiguing, quite the opposite, I seem to be able to go louder with these than I can with most of the other IEMs I’ve had - this must be that BRAS vent system at work :star_struck:

Soundstage is wide, separation is excellent, and vocals come in loud and clear. I mostly listen to rock and metal with a lot of other genres mixed in and these definitely do guitars and drums justice!

As others have mentioned, I do wish that the 1 switch increased the bass a little more significantly, but honestly in the 1-0 position there’s plenty of punch and slam coming from the drums as it is so this is more of a want than a need.

All in all, I’m very impressed with what AmericanSpirit and his team at Night Oblivion have pulled off with their first venture and look forward to what they can put together in the future! I’ll have to wait a week for the “new toy syndrome” to wear off and see if my thoughts remain the same, but so far I believe that this is a safe buy for anyone that is looking for an all-arounder that will work wonders across their entire music catalogue.

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Getting excited. Might save some $$ for these :smiley:

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I’m a drummer myself. Wouldn’t mess with band instruments for sure😉

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Should I understand it as it would not be a good idea to eq in a little sub bass as it would overload the BRAS?

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EQ should be fine.

It’s just internal load that is set to 80% at 0-0, and 95% at 1-0.

It shall take 5-10db of EQs scales well with amps.

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The-smirk GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY

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Forgot if I posted earlier.

Size comparison of Butastur.

Left to right:
SR8 (14BA), Neon Pro (10BA), Butastur (10BA), Anole VX (10BA), MEST MKII (2EST,4BA,1DD, 1dBC)





It’s smallest 10BA ever made, so smaller ears would fit and regular /larger ears will have very comfortable experiences.

I’m in between regular and large, and wanted Butastur to be at least capable for accepting my head rotation on the pillow while not badly stressing the concha bowl area by that. With softer pillows Butastur is side sleeping capable IEM for me.

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