I believe that @paulwasabii has compared these two in his YouTube review. Highly recommend you watch it - he makes some excellent points
God darn it - ended up buying a set during the 3.28 sales. I just managed to sell my Olina and promised myself no more budget sets. Hopefully the EA500 gets me closer to Tanchjim Oxygen!
That’s funny. And you can buy KATO nozzles separately now too
I bought a set I dont think his Sqig allows you to see Red Nozzle ve Kato Brass ?
Holy smokes! That’s awesome!
Mike Bruce has my set and replaced the stock filter with an O2. He likes it a lot, maybe more than O2.
@8FlatBeat8 The two are similar but can co-exist. I wouldn’t consider EA500 a direct replacement, but a slightly different flavor, more energetic in the upper range and with that comes crazy stage. When I first heard it, I’d swear their target market was Olina owners. The people who got why Olina was special will get why EA500 is special. But the folks who needed more upper range in Olina SE are getting that in EA500 which is why you see it attracting a wider group of fans.
Ok real shit, this has got to be one of the most moddable IEMs right now due to its detachable nozzles. It’s really fascinating ngl and a potential game changer if we can just swap the nozzles for these and get the sound signature that we want on the fly. But, not really likely since we mostly still prefer the single type of signature that we want from our IEMs.
Had some time with these. Very short impressions, pretty good - mid-bass over sub wins for me and 90% of my library and yeah this driver is S O L I D no doubt.
But - there is something a touch too spicy somewhere higher up the freq range across maybe half the tracks I listen to that makes me virtually wince. Final E tips helped a touch but not enough, so going to try some filters on nozzle and maybe vent.
Any advice on what to try/where welcome - with some links to purchase would be appreciated.
Build - very good (mirror finish not 100% my thing normally, but these I kinda like).
Fit/comfort - excellent for me.
No regrets (snagged 15% off from AE store) - even if they need a minor mod for me.
Swap the foam inserts from black nozzle into the red nozzle. It will reduce some of that spiciness in the treble.
What is your DAC?
7hz Shio: ocassional spicy treble present.
Ibasso DC04 Pro: spicy treble is gone! Love it!
Thanks - I’ll give that a go.
Currently swap between FiiO Q3 and xDuoo Link2 Bal dongle.
Review by baskingshark: SIMGOT EA500 - Reviews | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org
One other thing I have appreciated about the EA500 is that it got me to do some A/B testing with some IEMs that I don’t listen to enough.
I was reminded how much I really like the S12, Olina SE. That said it is absurd how good the EA500 is for the money.