May I lay here a quick thinking? I personally donāt really mind it, but this while card game isnāt really fair: some people get a card with part of a 4 lines verse while others get a part of a much bigger verse (more than 15 lines sometimes).
The effect of āone line missingā is the same whatever the number of lines is in the verse
So the owners of 15+ verse cards have way less chances of winning than the 4 verse ones.
As stated above, I donāt really mind: I bought the olina because I was curious about it, and I already bought a cable with it. I take all this as āsomething that might be a bonusā. I consider the number of lines to be a āluck variableā, as having a golden or silver card is.
But the way. As I said, I bought the Noire cable that was in bundle with olina.
The modular system is not bad: it seems pretty solid. It looks like a ps/2 port, but the thing is you donāt have any exterior indicator to match the orientation of the 2 parts, making the change of Jack less obvious and quick.
The cable itself is 4 core braided. I find that:
the cores are too thick, making the cable to thick
the cable is a little too stiff for my taste
the cable is a little too heavy for my taste
the exterior material is a little tacky for my taste
All in all, the cable is not that bad, but it would be better suited for a headphone than an earphone.
I think the Tripowin Jelly Cable much better than the Noire Cable, (16 core vs 4 core). The sound quality of my mele is improved by 1-2 levels than the stock cable. The black background is cleaner and more lively and engaging to my ears.
main difference is the resolution. Details and instrument separation is significantly better which is a planar driver trait.
They pair quite nicelyā¦im loving the Olina and i think it has the potential to shake the market at that price point (and above even)ā¦but iām a detail whore so my requirements may be different to most.
I wanted to make a list of proven songs that sounds particularly good on Olina (as I read in some reviews it does not fit all genres). The problem is that any song I throw at them at the moment sounds amazing:
Fiona Apple - Periphery (beautiful representation of her vocals and layering in the background) Spotify
Portishead - Roads (her vocal crushing soul!, drums, beat representation, tonality, little sibiliance (it is in the recording itself and in some sets it is very emphasised)) Spotify
Lena Hall - Linger (cover) (her vocal crushing soul on top of piano layer) Spotify
Joy Division - Atmosphere (drums, atmosphere as name suggest) Spotify
Balthazar - Iām never gonna let you down (sub-bass, mid-bass, male vocals)
Carter Burwell - The Last Judgement (In bruges OST) (great piano and double bass kick in) Spotify
Four Tet - Unspoken (general timbre, piano, layers) Cymbals are a bit off though Spotify
Darkside - Paper Trails (tonality, layers separation) Spotify
Nicolaas Jaar - Too many kids finding rain in the dust (sub-bass, layers/instrument separation, nice distorted male vocal) Spotify
DJ Shadow ft. Little Dragon - Scale it Back (beat, full-bodied piano, good female vocals, no sibilance, great soundstage) Spotify
This could be END GAME for most of the people looking for great tonality non fatiguing sound with amazing technicalities. This is first 1DD that I truly enjoy (sorry Mele, it never sounded that good so I would look a lot for a best possible fit out there, while in Olina it was worth the trouble (I am not tip roller at all). It and S12 and you have all you need potentally in my mind for both easy and critical listening. I mean you could throw in some Tea in the mix for sure and also be happy for less than 500$. But honestly I would say (after couple of hours not looking at the specific genres like classical and jazz as those are not heavy in my library) that having this and Tea is more of a convenience than really a must and that means something for a member of Tea gang:
TL:DR
Your budget is 50$ - you need to save more money
Your budget is 100$ - buy Olina
Your budget is 200$ - buy Olina
Your budget is 300$ - buy Olina and S12
Your budget is 500$ - buy Olina and S12 and take someone for a fancy dinner
Your budget is 1000$ - damn, I donāt know what to do with that amount of money.
This is exactly my trioā¦Olina, S12/Timeless and Mon Mkii.
I prefer the Timeless over the S12 but build Quality is a bit suspect which is why I got the S12.
Rocking the filter on nozzle vent mod, adds a touch more sub-bass rumble for stuff like PE without sounding like anything has been taken away from the mids or treble. Bonus - Xinhs 4-core graphene I ordered with custom dark grey hardware arrived is a great colour match
In other news, what will be spare set has also been shipped.
Is there some advantage to doing a physical mod as opposed to just EQ? I would think EQ is easier to implement, as well as being easier to reverse. Is there a suggestion of a qualitative difference between the 2 approaches?
ā¦welcome to HFGF and good luck 
