RikudouGoku's Database (IEMs/Earbuds/Headphones Ranking list)

I am not sure I get what you mean. Are you saying you want an iem that is similar to the Final Audio E series?

Because if that is your question, I would say Sony iems like the XBA-A2 and the EX800ST (with EQ) are similar. Maybe the XBA-N3 as well.

@Rikudou_Goku mate out of interest have you tried the Yamaha EPH-100?

Nope, I havent.

no im more just looking for recommendations based on my EQ on the final E so i can find the perfect IEMs for me

If thats the case it might be easier for you to play around with crinacle´s graph tool and see what is closest.

Got my Sony XBA-Z5.

A really nice sounding iem thats for sure, but I wasnt as wowed as much as I expected. The LZ A7 is to blame for that.
Bass quantity isnt massive and quality is amazing, mids are not forward but not recessed, although on some songs having a bit more forward vocals would be better. Treble is quite tame (not for trebleheads for sure) but not dark for me and quite neutral. Soundstage is huge and other technicalities are very good too, nothing wrong with it on first impressions at least.

BUT here is the deal, the A7 sounds VERY similar to the Z5. They are so similar that the first few seconds I listened to the Z5, I thought I was listening to the A7. here is the graph on the Z5 vs A7:

And it alone:

Do I rec the Z5? It depends on how good of a price you can get, my unit (without shipping + import fees) is around 300 usd and for around that price I do. But at say, 400 usd? I say no, because even though the Z5 and the A7 arent identical in profile, they are close enough to make having both a bit redundant. Thats not even counting the fact that this is only 1 of the 10 configs you get with the A7.

(too dark for pictures right now so I take them tomorrow.)

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Here are my recs for 11/11:

IEMS:

  1. LZ A7, pretty much impossible to dislike with 10 different tuning configs and with an SQ/technicalities that are beyond anything else in this price range.

  2. Tanchjim Oxygen, best bright-neutral iem out of the Moondrop Blessing 2/KXXS and Tanchjim Hana

  3. Fiio FH3, Beryllium bass that is very powerful but with very high quality, non-offending mids/treble. (not NR 2 because of potential QC problems)

Bonus: Potentially the Shuoer Tape Pro?? (not released yet but I certainly have high hopes for it).

Earbuds:

  1. Yincrow X6, THE bud for iem users, very close bass quality/quantity to iems which is rare to say the least.

  2. NiceHCK DIY MX500, Huge soundstage and very airy treble with extremely good technicalities.

  3. NiceHCK EM80, Excellent tonality and timbre with a very good balance between bass, mids and treble (at least for a bud) (IF you can find it that is…as it is discontinued)

Bonus: Yincrow RW-9, might be a very good bud as well (I am getting it).

Cables:

  1. Faaeal Litz copper cable, cheapest and best measuring cable (that I know of).

  2. Tri Through, silver plated version of the Faaeal cable, but more expensive.

  3. Kbear Rhyme, good build quality and measurements, cheaper than the Through cable but not as good looking (in my opinion).

Bonus: Kbear Limpid/NiceHCK LitzPS, pure silver and well built but high measurements (1 ohm).

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2020-11-05: Review for the NiceHCK ME80 is up: https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/nicehck-me80.23837/reviews#item-review-24688

And K´s earphone Bell-LB from A to B: Bass quality is pretty bad.

I am currently working on a terminology list of the terms I use when I describe sound.

As for my plans on 11/11, currently plan to get the Shuoer Tape Pro, Yincrow RW-9, Blon BL-01 and a few Tri Through cables. Although who knows I might add something more lol. :joy:

Terminology list

Aggressive : I mostly use this term to describe if the treble is “in your face” or not, meaning that it has a lot of treble quantity (not necessarily a sharp treble though). (similar to fatigue, but without the time factor that makes you tired after a while.)

Air : The sense of being exposed to real air and having an airy transducer/bud will make it easier to sound real. A sense of realism, and a very important factor to have if you are listening to live tracks. (having a lot of air can also help you perceive the soundstage as being bigger.)

Bloat /Bleed: I use both of these terms interchangeably but I mean the same thing, that the bass is either too loose or/and too slow so that it takes over more of the range than it should do (meaning that it “invades” the mids and also your perception of the treble). Having a lot of bass quantity is an easy way to get a bloated bass, but in some more rare case (positive for me) the transducer in question does not get bloated even with a ton of bass. That is a high-quality bass for me.

Bright : A brighter sound will have an overall sound that leans more toward treble than bass.

Coherency : Applies to hybrids where there are different driver types and each one has their own characteristics. Bad coherency would for example be if a transducer (DD = bass, BA = mid/treble) has a very slow bass speed while the treble is really fast, that would sound unnatural and you would be able to pick up on what driver is doing what frequencies. While good coherency is the opposite, where all drivers are “synced” as in that they have the same speed.

Details : Think of it as the resolution for video, you have 480p, 1080p and even 8k now. You can have stuff that sounds low detailed or low resolution (480p-) or highly detailed (1080p). It exposes more of the recording, like if you can hear the player turning the note pages.

Extension: How low/high a transducer can play, that is if it can reach 20hz or go up to 20khz. Different from the amount of rumble/air, since rumble/air is a quantitative factor and you can consider the extension to be the quality.

Fatigue : If a transducer is fatiguing, in most cases that means that it has a lot/too much treble quantity, so listening to it in a long session will make you tired. It doesn’t necessarily mean that it is sharp though (it can be). And fatigue can also be caused by a bloaty bass or if it simply has too much (quantity). If a transducer doesn’t have a lot of treble/bass quantity, then it most likely won’t be fatiguing but can be a boring experience since it won’t be energetic/exciting enough.

Imaging : How precise every instrument is placed in the sound. With good imaging it is easy to tell where everything is or if it is bad it can sound like a giant mess. Imaging is very important for gaming since that is the factor that lets you know where your enemies is by their footsteps.

(Here is a very quick and easy to understand explanation of soundstage/imaging: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/ipfs5b/best_explanation_of_soundstage_vs_imaging/ )

Naturality : The combination of the 2 factors, being timbre and tonality. It is how natural/real a transducer sounds like on a track/genre. For example, you can have god-tier timbre but if the tonality is completely wrong for that specific track/genre, it doesn’t really matter since it won’t sound natural anyway.

Note-weight : I don’t think I have used the term “note weight” specifically that much, but that’s just the term used to specify thickness/thinness of the sound. Usually having a thinner sound will make it sound more “analytical” while a thicker would be more “musical”.

Shouty : Can’t relax while listening and female vocals particularly are very “nagging” like. Not pleasant.


Sharp : Worse than just a shouty sound and is painful, can sound like a gun shooting needles into your ears.

Sibilant : You DO NOT want me to use this term to describe the treble, this is the point where I simply can’t listen to it more than a few seconds before I almost throw them away. Extremely painful, or what I like to call “Death by treble”.

Soundstage : How “big” the sound is, if it sounds like it is room sized or a giant concert hall. Width = left/right and depth = forward/back are the dimensions that I use. Transducers are generally average in depth, but some have very deep soundstage and that is quite rare.

(Here is a very quick and easy to understand explanation of soundstage/imaging: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/ipfs5b/best_explanation_of_soundstage_vs_imaging/ )

Speed : How fast or slow a bass is. There is the attack, which would be how fast you stretch out your arms when you punch and the decay that is how fast you pull back your punch. Having a fast bass is important (along with tightness) to keep the bass clean and not bloated and even more so if there is a lot of quantity.

Tame : The opposite of aggressive treble. It can sound very relaxing but risks being boring.

Texture : You can visualize bass texture like the pictures below.
image
Bad texture = stopping your punch once you hit the target.
image
Good texture = punching “through” the target.

Even if the bass quantity (punching strength) is the same, it will feel (hurt) more if you have more texture.

Tight : Used for describing how “tight” the bass punch is. Where you can visualize a tight bass as precise hits:
precisehit
And the opposite, a loose bass would be something like this:loose
Where you can see a lot of shockwaves, that would be percieved as bloat in sound.

Timbre : Timbre is how close/natural the sound of your gear sounds like in comparison to the real instruments. If it sounds very similar to the real thing then it has good timbre, if it sounds unnatural/different then it has bad timbre.

Tonality : How thick/thin, bright, warm or dark a sound is. “Good” tonality is depended on the track/genre that is being used, for example on a Hip-hop track it is better if it is a warmer and thicker sound rather than bright and thin. While that same transducer that is warm/thick that will suit Hip-hop well might be bad for an acoustic track that is better with a brighter/thinner sound.

Transducer: A collective term for iems/earbuds/headphones/speakers.

Warm : A warmer sound will have an overall sound that leans more toward bass than treble.

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Hi, i’ve been considered the TRI Through and Kbear Limpid to replace the stock cable of my tin T4. which one should i choose?

The Through cable is measuring much better (around 3x lower). I would go with the Through cable. (I am ordering a few pairs on 11/11 as well.)

Ok, thanks for the help. And btw, do you think the Through better than the stock of Tin? Also the MMCX of the Tin makes me pissed off sometimes lol

The through cable is one of the best cables out there in build quality/price ratio. I dont have the T4, but the cable on the T3 and the P1 are inferior to the through.

2020-11-07: Sony XBA-Z5 review is up: https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/so…ear-headphone.20347/reviews#item-review-24698

Rank A+

Sadly the technicalities keeps it from being S rank. But it is a very enjoyable iem for sure.

I will be getting a review unit of the Shuoer Tape Pro, they are out of stock right now so I dont know when I get it.

Shopping list for 11/11 include the Yincrow RW-9, Blon BL-01 and a few Tri Through cables. If I get something else I dont know, that depends on how good the price is after coupon stacking.

If I dont burn a lot of money on 11/11, I will probably get the Sony XBA-N3.

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2020-11-07: Changes to earbud rankings:

Faaeal Snow Lotus 2.5mm from A+ to A: not very good technicalites and especially the imaging/instrument separation that is a bit congested.

Faaeal Iris CE from A+ to A: Imaging and instrument separation is a bit congested.

Qigom S130 from A+ to A: Imaging and instrument separation is a bit congested.

Earbud ranking now reflects my recommendations on earbuds.

  1. Yincrow X6

  2. NiceHCK DIY MX500

  3. NiceHCK ME80

Do you have any info on how long it will take for Linsoul Audio to ship a pair of Shuore Tape Pro to Sweden?
I just placed my first order from them and i’ve just read your statement that they are out of stock already.

Hi. Linsoul is known for being slow with stuff that is out of stock/hard demand, so I would expect a very long wait time if I were you. Honestly linsoul has treated me like shit in the past so I dont recommend them. But if they have it in stock, usually all chi-fi sellers shipping speed depends on what shipping option you use. If you use standard free shipping it take like a month to get here, then you know how shitty postscam (postnord) is so expect another week or 2.

I use DHL Express most of the time now and yes it does cost more but you get it in a 1 week usually.

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How close is the tuning of the Moondrop Nameless to the B2? Detail retrieval too.

Also, between the VX Classic and Turandot, which has the better SQ?

Its pretty different since it is an iem vs earbud comparison. Details is excellent for the price but it doesnt compete with my top iems (including the B2).

Turandot does have better SQ and technicalities…but it doesnt matter to me when the tonality and timbre is so bad on it. It sacrifices tonality/timbre because of the bass, which is not something I like and I take the VX classic over it.

But at this point the moondrop buds are very overpriced based on my other buds. If you are interested in buds I recommend these:

  1. Yincrow X6
  2. NiceHCK Diy MX500 (NOT THE PK VERSIONS)
  3. NiceHCK ME80 (discontinued but available on amazon japan)
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My problem is I don’t like bass that’s not close to neutral, so the X6 is not an option to me, and the ME80 and MX500 are at equal prices to the moondrops where I’m from (I can get them locally).

So my only concern are technicalities, soundstage and imaging. Turandot is definitely out of the question though.