I just received the Fearless Provence and it exhibits many GS Audio tech choices. Similar construction to GD3A, with more bass quantity and slams significantly more than GD3A due to mid-bass focus on Provence. Nice fast impactful kickdrums.
So, they can do it the way I like with that side-tubed DD and much likely they will be able to do great on GD3C with your target FR. Just be patient
(Fast notes : no vent - great build - no 5-6 kHz peak - bit less treble extension than GD3A - same mids quality but colored by mid-bass)
I’m rather gobsmacked by the quality of Faaeal Iris 1.0 earphones. Fancied some light headphones with similar-ish signature to PX-100 II, and various Koss’s. Heard that these packed a good punch, and hit similar notes.
Very happy I listened to the recommendations. They’re great.
Intime Sora Light 2019: A (hard to recommend due to QC and hard to buy it for people outside Japan)
Sennheiser CX400BT: B
Sony WF-1000XM3: B+
Earbuds:
Koss KPH14i: D-
Philips SHS3300: D
Headphones:
Audio Technica ATH-R70x: A+
At this point, I have 100 iems, 36 earbuds and 15 headphones ranked.
With 4 more iems (KZ BA10, CCA CRA, Tanchjim ECHO and GS Audio GT12x) and 4 more earbuds (K´s K300, Qian39, ShoonTH ESEP-01BL and Astrotec Lyra Nature Limited Edition on the way right now.
Non-sound: Microphonic cable, plastic/metal shell, inferior to MX500 shells in comfort/fit for me.
Sub-bass: poor extension and lack of rumble, doesn’t have much quantity and lacks texture, not particularly fast or tight despite the low quantity.
Mid-bass: A little bit elevated, decent texture is on the tighter/faster side.
Mids: Warm vocals, good tonality with both male and female, forward as well. Pretty clean as well.
Treble: warm vocals but is airy, not peaky but well-tuned.
Technicalities: Average soundstage, but impressive imaging and separation. Detail is average.
Overall: I don’t really think it is worth the price of around 30 usd. Its only a bit better than buds around 10 usd technically, and tonality wise at least for my library is inferior to those buds (Yincrow X6 & Faaeal Iris 2.0 for example). You are better off getting the K´s LBBS instead or sub 10 usd buds.
Just a headsup, if you put tuning foams into the black filters on pop settings, it sounds very close to an upgraded KZ DQ6 + Tuning foams.
All you need is this:
(high density version)
Remove the stock metal filter on the nozzle (the side that is going into your ears) by using something like a needle or a sim card ejector.
(irreversible since it seems you cant remove it without putting a hole in it.)
Take one piece of tuning foams, and put it into the nozzle where there is now a hole. (one piece per side.)
Should look something like this now. Done
Pop-red + high-density tuning foams > Pop-red
Bonus:
Also, if you dont have tuning foams but do have the filters that comes with the Tanchjim iems, you could substitute the foams for those filters and the results should be similar.
I’ve tried the Tanchjim filters on DQ6 since I now have the O2 and…I was disappointed. I thought that it made it sound thick and narrowed the soundstage.
After some A/B testing with my other IEMs I came to the conclusion that it was great for rock/metal which is what people have been saying all along. That’s about 2% of my library these days.
Am I the only one to notice a strange timbre while listening to classical music with DQ6 giving instruments a sort of metallic sound to them?
I tried my best but I’ll be selling my DQ6 while I wait for the ZEX Pro.
Based on your graph, it looks like the filter reduces the upper mid range. I believe that the issue i have is with the area from 4k to 10k that’s too high and spiky.
The other issue i have with the bass is the lack of energy around 3k. I think it makes the low end too warm.
The good thing is I’m learning more and more about what i like and what i don’t.
I never thought to dial it in using EQ, excited to try soon.
I’ve never known to say if I’m treble sensitive or not, because for example the FD5 posed zero treble issues for me — but meanwhile there have been times a set is universally loved but for me it’s sibilant on all the sung consonants. Testing wise I can usually hear up to somewhere between 18-20kHz, but I’m guessing there are certain ranges of treble that bother me more. So far my experience has led me to believe too much of an 8kHz spike is an issue.
Historically I’ve been able to take quite the upper mid/pinna gain hike (NM2+, SSR), and often desired that for “bite”, but I think that’s been changing lately.
Impressions (after stacking another Tanchjim filter on it):
Bass: Very clean bass due to the sub-bass focus and pretty low mid-bass. Is on the tighter and faster side, not that much texture though. Extension is pretty good though, but doesn’t rumble that much.
Mids: Male vocals are a bit veiled and recessed, but they are clean at least. Pretty good female vocals, with good timbre.
Treble: Airy and on the brighter side, not particularly peaky but quantity is on the higher side.
Overall: While it is a pretty competent tuning (after stacking another filter that are included, as it is a bit too shouty and too much treble in stock), I am not sure about it as a TWS iem. The low bass quantity and higher treble quantity is not a good match to be used outside, where bass is lost quickly and the need to increase the volume to compensate for that is likely to be needed.
EDIT: Lasted 4 hours from 85-90% to 5% on APTX Adaptive.
