So as TLDR the VSA-MAX is a V-Shaped iem with a lift in the upper mids to bring vocals to the fore.
Being a reviewer I try to give my subjective opinions on iems, in the hobby at the moment 95% of iems released at the moment are good a solid 4 stars in their price segment so the differences between great iems and good iems is all about the nuances. All reviews are based on a single point in time for the reviewer next week an iem can come along and make a mockery of your previous judgement.
The VSA-MAX is an artistic masterpiece the faceplate is similar to the SPA series, the body of the iem has a pattern engraved design and goes with an aviation grade aluminum shell. The iem is supremely comfortable with a sound signature that is incredibly dynamic with an emphasis on giving every detail of vocals with beautiful natural timbre and tone especially for female vocals . The Dynamic driver is the same extremely high quality as The Silver Angel series of iems. Tuned differently with a more extreme V shape, lots of quality bass and boosted upper mids and treble. If you were one of the people that found the SPA series too bright then this set is probably not for you. On the other hand if you like very Dymamic, exciting sounds that wring every detail out of of vocals and instruments read on.
When I started to really listen I was mesmerised by the depth of the bass. Clarity of tge mids and extension of the treble. There is a as the flagship model of this iem called the VSA-LTD thats Gold with a special ornate cable thats either gorgeous or too much bling depending on your taste. Ithein the former team. Upon listening to the VSA-MAX I contacted EarAcoustic and purchased the LTD edition. Details are all presented with an exciting, some might say old fashioned style of more is is better. I found the level of bass and treble intoxicating despite this V-shape overall signature still manages to pull your focus to the mids specifcally the vocals. Male vocals are given good body from the mid bass while the female vocals are crystalline teetering on the edge of sibilance but not crossing the line. Being a Dynamic Driver, my favourite type of drivers they are really cohesive with no jarring transitions between frequency ranges
Which opens up the subject I've been ruminating about for quite a while. Are iems in the higher price margings acutally imoroving in sound quality my opinion is, not really. What is happening is though is the more refined sound signatures and the tuning expertise of the Kilobuck companies is filtering down to the midfi £100 to £300 iems. There's never been a better time to invest in an iem like the VSA-Max which is half the price of the Ltd Edition. That being said the LTD is very reasonably priced this time around. In these days of two week life spans of iems where an iem is released hyped then forgotten about. I think this set of iems are going to be remembered as they offer a wonderful dynamic sound signature that is still musical at an affordable price level that is not just the purview of the executive classes.
VSA-MAX is the not the flagship of this new series of Silver Angel branded iems and its one stop from the top priced at $140 or £102 which I feel is even more competitive than the SPA series. The Ltd Edition uses the same 11.4mm Titanium dynamic driver and is priced at $280 or £206 and really stands out from the crowd with its golden beauty.
The beautiful all aluminium shell is very well built with the crystal faceplates exuding a premium appearance, as usual for me the incuded eartips did not fit my large ear canals so careful selection of eartips is needed to get a comfortable fit I settled on Divinis Velvet tips for a very comfortable fit with good seal so I could enjoy the sound they produce to its full effect.I'd just like to say upfront I believe we are all biased when giving our subjective thoughts about IEMs and earbuds be it a particular type of signature that works with our music library or how they look and feel in our ears. On the subject of ears everyone's ear anatomy is different and this effects fit and seal which in turn effects the perception of bass response so I recommend finding the right ear tips or foams that suit your ears to get the best of any earphone.
My review star ratings are linked to the price range of the iem eg a 5 star review of a $100 iem is not equal to one of a $500 iem. I’m and audio enthusiast with a collection of over 300 iems, 30 different sources with a music collection that numbers over 100,000 tracks and 18 flathead buds I share my impressions as a way to share my enthusiasm for the hobby I approach from the premise of music first technology 2nd, what does this mean? For me the technicalities are not of prime importance but does the music move me with this particular iem. I’m a connoisseur of many different sound signatures. The only prerequisite is musicality I’m not a fan of analytical cold playback. My scale of success when it comes to evaluating earphones is; do I get goosebumps when they playback my favourite tunes. There are many good earphones but do they give me goosebumps? Unfortunately I have a draw full of just good earphones.I want the earphone that I reach for without thinking because I instinctively know it will bring the thrill I’m seeking from my music.
The VSA-MAX is close to a bass head sound signature they have a boosted bass that is commanding with good texture and excellent technicalities a very grippung presentation while being free of any unnatural tone, timbre, the bass is not boomy, it digs deep in the subbass region while also supplying enough mid bass slam with great texture and detail making drums, electronic bass instrumets exciting and engaging. I'm a closet Basshead and I was extremely satisfied with the forceful bass provided, The Bass is not to the detriment of the mids or treble regions in fact to balances out the boosted upper mids and treble well. There's a lovely snap and clarity to leading notes across the frequency range with natural decay to draw you into the music. The mids have a glorious depth in playback making male and female vocals have a microscopic clarity there is no thinness rather a warm clarity that enhances the overall enjoyment. In the iem's description there's mention of sweet vocal poison and murder vocals! I feel this is a lost in translation moment. A more appropriate terminology would be extreme clarity without sacrificing naturalness of the voice.
Now I know there are those who don’t believe in burn in of earphones, all I’m going to say is, I burn in all my earphones the VSA-MAX response tightened and the treble smoothed out at the 80 hour mark I didn’t hear any shift in the signature from there on.
Disclaimer
EARACOUSTIC AUDIO was kind enough to send me a sample of the VSA-MAX (I purchased the VSA-LTD with my own money). I am not affiliated with EarAcoustic and of course was not asked for any copy checking before publishing, they are seeing this the same time as you. All pictures taken be me or sourced from the Earacoustic website . ALL opinions shared in this review are my subjective thoughts.
The VSA (Void Silver Stalker)series of iems can be purchased direct from the EarAcoustic website
https://www.earacoustic-audio.com/
The slightly over the top description from the EarAcoustic website
What do they sound like? As I mentioned above they are a female vocal lovers signature with big big bass, they played well with much of my library but were not an iem to use with tracks with built in sibilance or any poorly recorded music.The bass is boosted present with enough sub bass to dig deep for bass driven tracks and midbass to give that extra bit of slam. The included cable a good quailty cable, i personally found it a bit too bright for my tastes and replaced it with the a Xhins 8w Dark/Bright copper cable which adds more wow to the staging and tames the treble with a little added warmth revealing the details and air.The bass is meaty and dynamic, the quality of that bass is superb full of details and texture. The Ltd edition golden cable didn't need replacement as it managed this tamping of the trebthe effect on its own.
Bass there's a noticeable boosting in quantity but there's enough air to balance out the signature. The differences to the LTD Edition are very small there's a tiny nuance of less treble the bass is in my opinion the same.
The mids are warm, clean with a very smooth transition from the bass, there is a very pleasing body to males vocals the timbre is natural. Male vocals sound really good, very smooth with good air. Female vocals sound amazing, pure soaring crystal clear with a little edge that adds excitement.
Treble and upper mids around the 5k region are not rolled off they are boosted so badly recorded music can have jagged edges. Cymbals sound natural with good decay, guitars are detailed with every resonance clear and sweet. A perfect iem for Yacht Rock, Classic Rock, Blues, jazz and acoustic music. Acoustic guitars sound just wonderful with beautiful transients that decay with perfection.The timbre and tactility of drums, strings, guitars and brass instruments is very natural all instruments find their own place. Vocals both male and female are reproduced authentically with emotion, every inflection captured and served up on a shiney platter.
When I'm evaluating iems I have a play list of roughly 100 songs of mixed genres. With VSA-MAX I was analysing the different frequency ranges listening to albums in their entirety. I found they I worked across most of the genres in my library always full bodied. smooth and detailed . They really excelled with Shawn Mullins, The White Buffalo, Led Zepplin, Rod Stewart, Lorde, Hozier, Journey, Foreigner.with Punk and extreme metal they were a touch fatiguing, I had to take a rest after an hour with these jagged musical genres.
Some of the music Selections I evaluated the VSA-MAX with
Shawn Mullins - Apocalyptic BluesThis track really shows what a well tuned Bass with clean mids and treble gives you with this tune with its anologue instruments inc guitars drums, bass and Salvation Army band , the staging really shines with intricate layering and superb depth you can picture the position of every instrument and shawn's voice in your minds eye gving an holographic out of head experience this iem is just perfect for this track.
Led Zepplin - Since i've been loving youThe ultimate slow burning power blues song with its live in the studio production is rendered to perfection from Bonham's iconic drum sound (squeaky drum pedal included) to Plant's sublime vocals dripping with emotion and clarity. Jimmy Page's arguably finest guitar solo is given centre stage, pesented with a special sauce that gave me goosebumps, so much so I replayed it several times in a row.
White Buffalo - The Woods -this is one starts with a lush strings which the VSA-MAX layered beautifully. Jake Smiths rich baritone vocals were on point the song slowly builds with new instruments being introduced as this slow ballad pics up pace Jake's authorative vocals stays front and centre with great depth, as the song becomes a multi-layered wall of sound the VSA-MAX keeps the big production in control avoiding any congestion, with every nuance present and correct, impressive.
BROTHERS OSBOURNE – Slow your rollThe sound of waves lapping at the beach shoreline before the exquisite instrumentation starts was so realistic I swear I could smell the salty sea air. The instrumetal layering and rich baritone vocals are so real I felt the singers breath in my ear with the superb staging of instruments giving them space to linger in the air. I think you've got the idea I love this iem.
Tori Amos Conflake Girl - this is the track that made me fall in love with the VSA-MAX the vocal reproduction of Tori's breathy soprano was just exquisite. Combined with the warmth from the bass giving the piano and other instrumentation a solid ground for her vocals to soar the space in the production giving the impression of being in a large room with Tori herself singing directly to me. Goosebumps!
The VSA-MAX is reasonably easy to drive iem I had no issues using them with my , Daps, Dongles in getting loud enough, the dynamics and open sound was present with all sources the texture and layering they are capable of was available for all to some degree.They sounded best with warmer sources. This is an iem that doesn’t necessarily need a powerful source but it does scale impressively with the bass getting tighter with even more details and texture.I'm not a fan of analytical sounding IEMs/earphones that force details into your ears like a photograph with HDR and sharpening set at max a decidedly digital representation. I'm more Vinyl on a turntable, Leica manual focus, sumptuous colours on kodak colour gold film, kinda guy, where if you look really close all the details are there but it's the whole image you appreciate rather than just how sharp it is.
Sources used:
Onix Waltz XM10
FIIO JM21
Shanling H5
Cayin N3 Ultra
Cayin N7
Sony NW-WM1Z
Fiio BTR17
Kaei TAP1 pro
When using my different sources I did favour the warmer more powerful ones the extra dynamics and layering and technical presentation was more apparent but the overall musical presentation was the same.
Cable rolling
I'm a cable believer but if you are not then skip this bit. While the VSA-MAX comes with a great quailty cable with changeable terminations (an improvement from the SPA series) which really is good enough I personally prefered a copper cable with 4.4mm termination and non recessed 2pin connections so used the Xhins 8W dark/Bright copper cable.There was a slight taming of the 5k boost and the staging and depth using this cable. I will say this differences was minor and many people would probably be completely satisfied with the stock cable on this occasion.
Comparisons
I've already mentioned that the LTD edition is a twin just dressed in its Sunday best. So my comparistheiem is the Earacoustic SPA-Hi End MAX
A single Dynamic Driver iem that also has a beautiful shell the SPA-HI End MAX has a more balanced less pronounced V shaped Signature with more emphasis on the mids. The overall upper area of the VSA-MAX is more prominent especially in the upper mids and lower treble area adding more excitement to the sound. The SPA-HI End MAX iem is one of my favourite DD iems and until now was my first choice for vocal focused music. The SPA-Hi End MAX has a similar bass sound but when it comes to the upper mids and treble is more forgiving of lower quality recordings giving a all round smoother playback.
When it comes to atmospherics and emotion out of the vocals and especially acoustic guitars the VSA-MAX does pull ahead more with its extended treble in comparison to the "safe" treble tuning of SPA-Hi End MAX.
Conclusion
The VSA-MAX are a V shaped vocal clarity champion with the right music I literally used then for 8 hours and more without any fatigue absolutely enraptured by the musicality my music sounded so exciting and dynamic. With the wrong music they they were fatiguing so not an all rounder but a set worth adding to your collection because when they hit they hit big!
Recommend with caution, understanding that they are a specialized iem that when used with the right source and music sound spectacular.
