Got the DUNU Vernus 2 days ago and have been comparing them to the Olina.
Some notes: (Assuming the Reference filter is used.)
Olina is more technical than the Vernus sporting wider soundstage and slightly better detail retrieval. Imaging on both is about the same.
Vernus has more a natural timbre and generally sounds less compressed than the Olina.
Vernus has a much smoother treble response but is a tad bloated even when using the transparency filter which has the least mid bass, something the Olina avoids completely.
The Vernus is a good set, but it canāt hold a candle to how good the Olina is at itās price point.
front vent mod easily come of over time because it rubs against our ear skin but double filter mod should never come off even when you change the tips because it is protected by the tube lip, you may either have not pushed it down enough or have touched the glue from the second filter with your fingers
Aromato, yeah, thatās pretty much what my final tuning is right now, but also with the original Olina filter over the port near the bore. So itās one high density filter tuning sponge in the bore + 4.5mm 500 mesh damping filter over the bore + the original Olina damping mesh filter over the port nearest the bore. Iām telling you the Olina is one special beast. I donāt know how itās doing it but itās putting my Xenns Up IEMs to shame on my rig. The speed that the Olina is capable is pretty impressive. Bass impact now is killer even better than planars. Also instrument separation & soundstage is still good after these mods. I know a lot has to do with the DAC/Amp combo too. Iām running them on a modded Xduoo XD-05 around 20% or so volume on the highest gain setting. High gain has the best impact, the Olinaās seem to like the volts. I milled out the cover of the XD-05 and installed 2 Sparko Labs SS2590 Pro opamps paired into their 8-pin adapter. (See Michael Bruceās YouTube video) Running the XD-05 on bass boost doesnāt muddy up the mids either with this setup. The Olinaās are now a bass heads dream come true. Thanks HBB for getting these produced and the community for all the work testing and giving feedback on your mods.
P.S. Using with ES100 today. Sounds great too. Balanced out 2x setting. EQ slight bump at 63hz and 16khz.
I donāt think the Olina sounds unnatural, but it does lose some points against the Vernus on smoothness.
That being said, I definitely see people enjoying the treble energy Olina brings to the table, itās not something I would consider a hard negative, just something to keep in mind if you are treble sensitive or if you prefer a smoother treble.
Vernus on Reference and Atmospheric Immersion settings sounds pretty nice and fixes some of the bloat issues people reported with the Falcon Pro, pity itās stupidly limited.
Tbh I prefer a Matte look all day so that it wonāt be a fingerprint magnet. Looks good on the Olinas, if only I got the Matte finish back then for the Katos I got, but they ran out of stock therefore I got the Mirror Silver.
I couldnāt bare the ātreble energyā on the Olinaās either. Especially at higher listening volumes. Thatās why there are quite a few people on this forum applying filter mods to calm that down. I have been playing them with DSP to lower the simbilance until I got the filters set just right. Now they sound much more natural and balanced. Actually they are my favorite set now, and I probably have 20 sets of IEMs in the $20-$700 range. I know a lot of people donāt want to mess around with modding IEMs, and want them to be great out of the box. But there are rewards to be gained by those that do.
I wonder if there are people here can tolerate the Olinaās treble energy, I think I can tolerate it since there are many people from other forums that have been telling me that the DT880ās treble is a bit sharp to them, I know itās not a fair comparison but I think this is the closest one that I can compare it with since I donāt have the Olinas and I can imagine it having that treble enegy same as the DT880 Pro.
You need to be very careful doing this. There is a filter on the backside of that vent and if youāre making holes in the attached tape while attached, you are almost assuredly perforating the back filter or loosening it. Itās why I use a filter instead of tape. Mine come off after a while as well but if I wanted to prevent that, Iād just ring the filter with a very thin layer of nail polish applied with a pin or put a piece of tape with a hole cut out over the filter. I havenāt done that simply because I never planned on keeping them and wanted to hear then after having the O2 and Kato. I prefer these modded to either of those. Did I mention I was selling them with some spare filters?
For those that want try tape. Make the hole before applying the tape and pull it off to change it. If you resell these after putting a hole in the tape when attached, youāve very likely changed the stock product for the worse. Recommendations on add on filter values would not be correct either though that could be corrected by experiment.
How many flavours did Olina bringsā¦so far 3 and loving allā¦the ranking as per picture.
Ovidius B1ā¦the majestic pairing of allā¦very natural analogue sound with intimate sweet mids and smoothed out occational shoutiness and nasal vocal for Olinaā¦no hissing on B1 and also no need for impedence adapter. UAPP works great switching to software volume controlā¦cant go beyond 15 of 100 volume.
Xduoo L2B the widest and deepest soundstage on a dongleā¦excellent bass as well on Olina.
Tempotec E44ā¦more modern hifi soundā¦bit aggressive but also bit edgy occationally.
Like them all. Using S12 4.4mm cableāŗļø and for B1 using xihns 3.5 to 4.4 adapter cable for easy switching.
With Olina and S12 currently not motivated to watch any iem reviews haā¦ha.
can you compare B1 vs Xduoo?? I love having wide & deep stage but you seem to ranked L2B lower than B1. is there a problem with it? does it have hiss on olina?
also do you have sth like BTR5 to compare?
L2B is great tooā¦it is just preferenceā¦if you like intimate mids, B1 is your choiceā¦also B1 is more analogue than l2b. For Olina both are great B1 will smooth out upper mid occational shoutiness so suitsble for long sessions. L2B is excellent soundstage so opposite of intimate otherthan that no hissing on both dongles. I got B1 on sale for $75 which is steel.
Sorry i dont have any bluetooth dongle to compareā¦i have xduoo mt604 which is too much for Olina so dont use it.
When it comes to S12 though my no1 choice is L2B only deep stage also excellent bass with Azls crystals. B1 dont pair well with S12. So its all about synergy and bit of personal preference.
That is interesting, I wouldnāt have expected the size to impact the tonality that much, since the tube is based on the model. The CP145 is one for 5-6mm, so I am guessing is around 4.5mm un-stretched. Actually the CP100 is stretched more, since it is designed for 4.5-5 mm.
I am guessing you are correct, it must be the seal.
I find that I get a very consistent seal with the CP100+ S that I typically use, and nearly as good with the Final E S, where I use a M once in a while. I do use the Sedna Crystal on some IEMs, but always in S.
Tip rolled my modded Olina (Tanchjim O2 filter) from stock Canon tips (similar to kbear07 but slightly thicker and stiffer stem) to Final E. Really liking the combo!
Edit: I think Iām sacrificing a little bit of the holographic feeling for more mid-bass. The notes also sound more dense within the smaller stage. I think I wasnāt getting a proper seal in my left ear using the stock Canon tips. Anyway, I like it for jazz!
I have been listening to a couple albums with a pair of IEMs each day, today was Olina and Tea day, and while they are very different, Olina holds up well with the OG Tea on classic rock. The two albums I picked today were Fly By Night from Rush and Presence by Led Zeppelin. While the Mangird Teas are the newest addition, I continue to be impressed with Olina, even when compared with far more expensive IEMs.
Did I mention I was selling them with some spare filters? 
