Anybody try this one? Thoughts…?
@LakeWyles might have bought one lately?
I had one a while back only very briefly because I knew I couldn’t afford to keep it, I really loved it though. Chonky nozzle. Bass had huge arena space and resonance, mids very clear. That’s all I can remember.
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I apologize for the late reply. Yep, I grabbed a Szalayi. If you like sets like the Penon serial or tri i3 pro, it’s an excellent upgrade. It’s a big step up from these with better detail retrieval, and a large immersive soundstage. The bass is so punchy, impactful, and textured. The mids are smooth and clear. The treble is pretty smooth, but theres good extension, air, and energy. Scales extremely well with power. Definitely a chunky sized set. I think it’s beautiful. Still in the honeymoon phase, but it’s wonderful.
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I’m gonna bite on this one, and skip the mid-bass-tucked/focused Variations & Monarch MKII club. Dunno about the Prestige yet. Might try Maestro Mini, but I hate cramped soundstages that it probably has. JD7 bass does an awesome job for electronic, at $80. I probably prefer Szalayi’s fatigue-free BA treble over EST, too. Seems to have some incredible qualities, with that bass, spaciousness, and planar driver! The case for it looks like a cheap turd, tho. 
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Oriolus Szalayi is very interesting. I have the Oriolus MK2 which is 1DD/4BA at $900. Quite old now, something like 8 years. But dang, the mids are some of the best ever on that set and the Szalayi according to people who have heard both possess better mids still.
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I bought Isabellae a few weeks ago, my first Oriolus, and it basically does everything very well, from deep bass to upper treble. One tiny treble peak, and a rather dry/non-lush/non-fluid sound. I am entirely expecting Szalayi to out-do it in all ways, and to sound far more lush/fluid.
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When I ordered the ThieAudio Prestige my plan was to grab the Szalayi if I didn’t like them. I ended up really enjoying the Prestige a lot so that didn’t happen, but I’ll likely still pickup a pair in the future as basically everything I have read about them makes me believe that I’ll really dig 'em.
Edit: I forgot to add that I would love to read your impressions about them when you’ve had them for a sec. Also, I wouldn’t call the Maestro Mini’s stage cramped or crowded, but it is on the smaller side.
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Awesome result! If in later years they reach $300 or under I’ll have to pick one up.
For sure! Will try to remember to post here! Hopefully I can get them within a week from now.
(I also heard the Maestro Mini has some hot treble, so I am gonna pass on the Maestros)
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Cool! I’ll be looking forward to reading it.
The Maestro Mini’s treble actually came across as pretty well balanced to the bass boost. It definitely has elevated highs, but because of the enormous bass boost they don’t sound out of place or piercing at all to me. My problem with them was ultimately the bass. I just felt that there was too much bass. It made everything sound overdone. It was like a caricature of a v shaped tuning. If you’re not a very dedicated basshead, I think you’re better off giving them a pass. I’d expect the Szalayis to be quite different. Congrats on the new shinies! 
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Alright, so I am not having a good experience with Szalayi. It sounds a little unusual(H40/Orb?) in general, and then gets worse when you start honing in on what’s wrong.
The general tuning is:
- Decidedly warm
- Elevated bass, over a wide bass range
- Moderately muted & dry mids+treble(dark?)
- Not a very apparently large spatial presentation
- Sounds like all BA drivers
- Zero wow-factor(s)
BASS:
This isn’t super XL bass like Meteor or Penon Fan, but is balanced tastefully enough with the rest. Bass is probably the most prominent part of the balance, or level with mids/vocals. It’s certainly not as strong or refined as I was expecting, but often sounds dulled/blobby, strangely recessed in the mid-bass, and the sub-bass elevation can muddy up and drown the background. Bass guitars sound like they are under a heavy blanket, and distant. This bass creates more of a vibration effect(similar to EJ07 bass), instead of rendering detail/texture clearer, and with the strange mid-bass dip it simply does not sound very good at all. It can get boomy. If you like good bass, this isn’t your IEM.
TREBLE:
There’s not very good detail or clarity here, with how muted it is. The treble seems moderately subdued in general, leading to a darker sound on top of the muted definition. Extension seems good, but difficult to hear airy, fine details with these. Fatigue is decently low, but rock is still loud and energetic. This treble is not good, and the bass is worse.
SPATIAL PERFORMANCE:
You can hear seemingly decent depth and space, but it’s not very apparent/clear. Things seem to sound a bit distant (and un-focused?) to begin with. I also do not find the imaging to be particularly convincing, leading to a fairly spatially spacious-but-vague experience. Sound seems to occur in a more frontal projection, with less than 90 degree L/R spread/reach.
VOCALS:
Sounds average/normal overall, perhaps a little smoothed, with correct/regular placement. The female vocal region(elec guitar upper notes?) seems a bit fatiguing, so this IEM is not as infallibly fatigue-free as I’ve read. Voices are the most natural, convincing aspect of this IEM’s sound, I would say. Everything else is too colored…
MIDS?
I don’t really discuss mids(whatever they are), but the one thing I will say is - this IEM doesn’t sound like it has a planar(like the distinct Hook-X), nor does it sound like it has a DD. Just sounds like warm, muddy, dry BA.
FIT:
It doesn’t really sit in my ear much, but on it. I haven’t had any problems with it so far, but it’s definitely a weird shell shape I’m not fond of.
TL;DR: Meteor(4BA) wasn’t very impressive to me, but I would take it any day over Szalayi.
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After what playtime did you write your first impression? Did you burn it in?
I only heard good stuff about szalayi so I am surprised you don’t seem to like it at all.
I will get a chance to demo it in the beginning of march alongside with numerous other IEMs I have always wanted to listen to, can’t wait 
I bought them Like New, so I don’t know how many hours they have. I listened to them about 3-4 hours so far, no special burn-in. I can’t say I’ve heard an IEM yet that changes very much over time.
I got my Isabellae the same way/story, and it sounds so much better than whatever this tuning is. Kind of reminds me of EST112, as well as Penon Orb, H40.
Sounds like you’re going to an IEM Jam or something?
Too bad they are not for you, hope you can sell them without any loss!
I’ll be driving to Zürich, Switzerland to a shop that I discovered online with a really friendly and helpful owner and as it is “only” a 3 hour ride I can combine with a nice city trip with my fiance
Here is the shop link
Looking forward to try out the Empire Ears lineup and a lot of other top sets 
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Nice! Hope 64 Audio is there, too =p HF
Yes, 64Audio is available, i am really curious about Nio…from what I´ve been reading it should match my preferences
I would want to hear Duo, U12T, and then all of the rest lol.
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What amp/source are you using? I’ve found they’re pretty power hungry. The i3/i3 pro are similar, in that the bass sounds loose without a decent amount of current. The Szalayi sounds best out of my desktop setup. The tri clarion tips work best for me
I have not heard any kilobuck+ iem sets, so I could not say it can hang with the best or that I’m that knowledgeable. I will say I just sold a symphonium meteor set because I prefer this tuning. I liked the meteor quite a bit, but just not quite right for my library. Great review though
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Thanks! For my main review impressions, I used Pro-Ject Pre Box S2, and all other impressions are from A90D. S2 has smoother treble performance(prefered) & more treble prominence with Szalayi, and bass, sparkle, richness are definitely better on A90D. It’s possible they might need a lot of break-in to relax the vocal area and tighten the bass. The bass seems so…distant. :\
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