Sure 
I’ll apply for it’s audition today and hopefully it should arrive in 1-2 weeks. I’ll have 3 days time to test it before sending it back.
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Got the Fiio FD5 & Sennheiser IE 300 3 days ago, I’ve made some notes about their overall performence and will share them here soon.
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Is that the BTR7 by any chance?
Yes, I used it for most of my testing.
How do you feel about it comparing to other portable DACs? I have a unit that should be arriving within the week hopefully!
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When it comes to bluetooth dongle style DACs, I’ve also tried Topping BC3, Fiio BTR5, Astell&Kern XB10 & Shanling UP4 and to my ears BTR7 sounds better than all of them.
It doesn’t quite reach the capabilities of bigger bluetooth DACs like Gryphon & XD-05 BAL but unless you are driving Headphones the difference isn’t that big for IEMs.
Like most gear with balanced design, BTR7 sounds better from 4.4mm Output but maybe it’s because of the THX Amp or something cause to my ears the difference between 3.5 & 4.4 isn’t that big compared to other DACs with Balanced design.
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Boy this is reassuring - I’ve heard some great things on the 7, and I can’t wait for it to come in. That Ali Express shipping is killing me! 
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Just came here to say Mangird Tea. I swear.
Ex800st love??? I love the default tuning, but either though eq or mods others like it as well.
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Hey what did you think about the FD5 and Hook-X? Trying out the FD5 and love everything about it except for the mid-bass up to 800 hz. The open-back gives it such a nice stage presentation though, and they are amazing for gaming. Just can’t justify their price for gaming alone. Saw the Hook-X and think this might be a great middle-ground to replace the FD5 and a lot of other sets in my collection.
I’m sorry for not posting this sooner, at first I was waiting for the replacement of FD5 which had an issue and then life got in the way and I was not able to focus on this hobby. Now I’ve shifted to a new house and finally things have settled down a bit and I managed to finish my comparison with a bunch of IEMs.
My current IEM is the Hook-X and I really like it’s sound quality but had some minor complaints about its sound signature
- It lacked the punch of a good DD
- There is a tiny bit of unnaturalness in the vocal region, I think it’s a planar thing because I heard similar quality from Timeless & P1.
Some of the budget hybrid or tribrid IEMs I heard had coherence issues from driver crossover and having read a lot of users praise single DDs for their evenness, I figured I’d give them a try.
The IEMs I’ve compared this time are the Fiio FD5, Sennheiser IE 300, Final E3000 & Campfire Honeydew with the end goal being the discovery of an IEM that’s better than the Hook-X. I’m mostly a Headphone guy but have recently started experimenting with IEMs.
I have used HiFiMan EF400, Chord Mojo 2, Fiio BTR7 & LG V60 as sources for this testing.
Build: IE 300 > FD5 > E3000 = Hook-X >= Honeydew
IE 300 feels like it’ll survive a nuclear blast, there’s no paint to chip which is great. FD5 and E3000 are also solid but I think the mirror like finish can get scratched overtime. Hook-X seemed well built at first but my unit dropped from my bed and ended up with a small dent which does not inspire confidence in it’s longevity. Honeydew looks and feels like a children’s toy and for me and has major driver flex.
Cable: FD5 > Hook-X > IE 300 = Honeydew = E3000
The FD5 has the best cable among these IEMs, it’s light weight does not tangle much and has interchangeable jacks. Hook-X stock cable is good in terms of weight and looks but the outer cloth layer gets weirdly bent which happened to my Aria Cable too. The swapping mechanism is much better on the Hook-X cable. None of the other 3 IEMs have good cables, IE 300 feels like a catheter tube and tangles a lot, it also uses a weird MMCX connection and so not all replacement cables are compatible with it. The E3000 has a thin cheap cable that tangles and is not replaceable. The Honeydew has the most tangle prone cable I have used to date and looks as cheap as the E3000 cable.
Comfort: IE 300 > Honeydew > E3000 = Hook-X > FD5
IE 300 is the most comfortable IEM I’ve used, it’s also the only IEM that I can use lying down on the side without any major issues. Honeydew has a major driver flex (for me) but apart from that is very comfortable and light weight. E3000 is comfortable but has a tendency to droop which feels weird and I end up constantly adjusting the fit. Hook-X is alright for the most part but gets slightly uncomfortable after an hour or so. FD5 for me creates some pressure and pain where it sits on my ear lobe after just a few minutes of use.
Signature: Hook-X (mild U, mostly balanced), FD5 (U), IE 300 (V), Honeydew (reverse J), E3000 (V)
Sound Overall: Hook-X >= FD5 > E3000 > Honeydew >= IE 300
A few points before I get into the details.
- IE 300 stock tips have a foam like filter for earwax protection which is also useful to tame some sibilance and using them gave me the best results for the IEM In my testing, using other tips resulted in some harshness.
- I used the wide nozzle with the FD5 as that sounded the best to me.
- I had a XINHS Cable that I was using with the Hook-X which improved the sound a tiny bit but for this testing I used the stock cable for fairness.
Frequency Response: Both the Hook-X and FD5 are top performers here with good clarity and trading blows with each other with the Hook-X being on top for my personal tastes. The FD5 fixes the issues I had with the Hook-X by giving a stronger bass response and more natural sound with slightly better clarity but it lacks the detail and resolution of the Hook-X. The Hook-X also has better balance between male and female vocals where as the FD5 slightly favors female singers. On busy passages the FD5 blends some of the background sounds while Hook-X does not. I was afraid the FD5 might be sibilant after reading some reviews but it has a pretty smooth overall sound.
The E3000 does a good job for it’s price but cannot compete with the texture, refinement of the above two IEMs. The vocals here (like the Honeydew) are a bit too recessed for my tastes and similar to the IE 300, the vocals sound thin. The IE 300 is barely better than the E3000 which was a shock to me, I don’t know if I got a faulty IEM but overall the IE 300 sounds thin and has a grainy/distortion like sound all over. The Bass, which is sub-bass focused lacks control, is wooly and lacks punch. The vocals are thin, lack body and lack proper tonality, especially male vocals. The Honeydew is a Bass tuning gone wrong, It’s whole identity is being Bass monsters, everything else is just meh.
Sound (Stage): Hook-X >> E3000 > FD5 = IE 300 >> Honeydew
The Hook-X is better by a margin among these and many other IEMs I’ve heard in this price range. They don’t provide a vast out of the head stage that some HiFiMan Headphones are capable of but there’s an effortless quality to the stage similar to the feeling I get from open-back headphones. I was a bit disappointed by the FD5 here cause I was hoping it would stage just as well as the Hook-X being a semi-open design. Both the FD5 and IE 300 have similar stage size but there is a diffuse like feeling to the center image of the IE 300 that gives it a wider sounding effect. The Honeydew has the most intimate stage of the bunch. The E3000 is barely wider than the FD5 but lacks depth compared to FD5.
Sound (Imaging & Depth): Hook-X > FD5 > IE 300 > E3000 = Honeydew
None of the IEMs here have good depth. The Hook-X, FD5, IE 300 provide a slight sense of depth where as the E3000 and Honeydew are mostly flat with sounds playing left, right and center. The Hook-X has better separation of different instruments with plenty of air in-between. The FD5 and IE 300 are mostly in the same league but with FD5 having slightly better separation while the IE 300 has a hazy imaging. The Honeydew has Imaging capabilities that are barely better than 5$ earphones.
Conclusion: At the end of the day, my goal to find an IEM that’s better than Hook-X has not been achieved yet. I’ve tried some 20+ IEMs like Blessing 2, Tea, FH5, Timeless, Norn… in the sub 400 USD category and for me the Hook-X is the one that sounds the best if not perfect. I think I’ve come to a stage where I have to move up in price to get a meaningful upgrade in sound.
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Just posted my comparison of those IEMs above, I hope this helps.
Very nice write-up. I think I’m going to pull the trigger on the Hook-X and send the FD5 back then. They have the new HBB version of the Hook-X, which supposedly has a different PZT driver and has the planar retuned with a different shell design. I heard someone say it brings the mids out ever so slightly more and gives it more of a thump in the bass area. Maybe you would enjoy that version more?
Maybe, I have not heard that one. The Hook-X currently has just the right amount of elevation for my tastes, it’s just that it does not have the weighty impact that a Dynamic driver IEM can produce. I don’t think adding more Bass to the Hook-X would fix that but like I said I have not heard it.
As for the upper mid boost, I think the current tuning is just perfect for me in that region. Obviously after a certain point, as long as the overall tuning isn’t a train wreck this all gets very subjective so I can only recommend you try one of the two and see for yourself.
I should mention that the Hook-X, like the Timeless does need some current to sound it’s best. It’s easy to get them loud but with proper amplification the stage really opens up and Bass hits are well controlled, not crazy amount of power but something as simple as the BTR7 or similar would be good enough.