This is the official thread for the Softears Volume
This thread is for discussion and reviews.
- Type: In Ear
- Amp needed: No
- Driver Type: 1DD 2BA
Hifigo Link[Reviews]
Z Reviews…
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Thank you for creating this thread.
Volume would be my next iem, hopefully the last one 
. My wallet can’t take it anymore 
Just sharing my fave review:
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This are close to my first thoughts, minus the part I can’t use them and he can.
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Thanks for your impression 
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These aren’t mine, are Michael Bruce’s. Mine are somewhat close to them, but not as good since I can’t hear to them more than 10mins without an headache. They get ultra high pitch around upper mids, I have to turn them down to a level it’s so low I’m not even getting much from it…
We are all lost, as you can see. No reviewer knows what to do yet, other than those trebleheads.
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Michael mentioned tip rolling helped him - i’m guessing you tried but didn’t find a solution? Bit sad that you can’t try them out properly - most reviews I’ve seen have highly praised the set. Dang ear anatomy / impedance issues!
Yeah it sucks. Other from HBB, I don’t find them hard to believe. Take MRS as an example, it was very obvious that he was going to love it!
I will play more with it during weekend when I have more time, since atm they fry my ears and I can’t use IEM for a while.
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The unboxing
Got these in the mail today.
Way too bright stock, also very light on bass. (Albeit, pretty good bass texture and speed.)
Disappointed with the Volume, these need EQ or RikudouGoku’s paper mod to sound good. (Which I’ll be ordering.)
I think of the Volume as a shouty Legacy 4 tonality wise. (Both have a neutral bright signature, but the Volume goes too overboard with 3k energy.)
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While you are waiting for the paper filters, you can substitute them with micropore tape if you have, or if you dont they should be findable locally.
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Because of a recent discussion in the MEST thread, I started looking into (dac/)amps that are capable of driving extremly low impedance IEMs, but even a beast like the Topping NX7 which claims to have an output impedance of “< 0.1 Ohm” , specifies it’s adapter impedance as “> 8 Ohm”, which is still higher than the Volume’s 5 Ohm impedance.
From the little reading I did, my understanding is, that it is extremly difficult to drive low impedance IEMs properly - regardless of their output impedance - and many amps struggle with low impedance loads.
Is there any amp at all that would be specified to work at loads of 5 Ohm?
Regardless of their specifications and regardless of preference towards the actual resulting FR, what amp/dac+amp/dongle/dap would be recommended for an IEM like the Volume from a technical perspective? Would you just look at low output impedance or are there any other metrics relevant? What kind of mW power output would be a good minimum target?
Qudelix-5k is an answer:
~0.3 Ohms
Ok, this post says SE use for ~9 Ohms…
Maybe ifi IEM match thing can help?
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Not an answer but why would a company make a set with such low impedance?..maybe ask Softears for their recommendations 
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The lowest impedance IEM I have is the og Andro and no hiss on a DX300 with it’s…
I’m not sure how that would equate
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Good point… I will try to reach out to them.
Just for clarification: I don’t own the Softears Volume, I am just curious to learn something (and may apply it to my MEST situation).
If I am lucky I will be able to borrow a Qudelix 5k.
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I’ve tried to EQ these down to a palatable level while I get some tuning filters on Ali, obviously not a permanent mix, I’m really enjoying the bass on these now that the peak isn’t totally blasting my ears.
This is definitely a technical issue and not Softears trolling slimmer wallets with an IEM that is tuned like garbage.
The 3k peak wouldn’t be much an issue if Softears included tuning filters with the Volume.
FYI
I asked:
You specify it with 5 Ohm impedance, but I can’t find a single dac/amp or amp, which specifies to work with 5 ohm loads. The best I can find is the Topping NX7 which is specified for loads >8 ohm with an output impedance of <0.1 Ohm. What amp, amp+dac, dongle or dap do you recommend for Softears Volume?
Softears responded:
topping nx7 is good enough:CattoBlush: , we use many topping products in our lab
I was hoping for a bit more than “X is good enough”, but well…
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Forgot to ask: What filter size did you use? 2.5mm or 3mm?