Reviewed by Steva
:
Metal and nice shells
Nice cable
Nice pouch
Solid tonality (especially if you like Harman)
Solid technicalities
Nice unboxing experience
:
I dont like Harman treble and mids
One dip in treble response which can be noticed
Non audio stuff:
Since i got this brand new and i knew it im gonna review it i took pictures as i opened the package, so you can have the closest experience from pictures but i will try to describe everything of course. So, when i was opening the box i was really stunned by how nice is the unboxing experience at just 25$. This "trick" with separate sides opening is really cool and i see it for the first time, it reminded me of box of one very expensive "Cognac" which is produced in my town btw, and it costs around $3500 USD per bottle. Back on pack, nice touch with Phoenix picture i must say, next as you lift it those nice shells really shine and are beautiful for real especially in this purple color, and you can also pick in silver and black color. On the faceplate is also "goldish" color round filter which is for pressure relief i believe but there is also one little hole behind the eartip, so im not sure which one does what exactly. Shells are metal, they feel sturdy, heavy and nice quality. Shell width and height is "normal" sized looking directly at faceplate but depth is smaller than i am used to, so i would say that shell is ergonomic in a way. Nozzle is somewhat wider if i can say so but even Ziigaat Crescent's didn't bother me which is even wider i think, so neither this one did, also it has black mesh filter, i dont think it's metal but it's there, and you can see through it. As you lift upper part of case beneath that is i think PU leather pouch with cable and eartips inside, and this pouch is again the best i saw. You can store it in your pocket and spring on top of it which keeps it closed is really strong and wont open for sure, it also feels of nice quality. Eartips are dark grey, feels ok and you get M already installed and also S and L sizes. Cable feels really nice, it's white silver color and silver plated conductor also which is pretty cool at this price, standard 2 pin connector with 3.5mm gold plated plug. Oh, you can pick between type c and 3.5mm with or without mic, i got this one with mic, and you also have white velcro tape on it. So, packaging and accessories are really amazing i have to say.
(more pictures below)
Gear used for testing:
Spinfit W1 eartips (im often using these for benchmark), stock cable, SMSL DL200 desktop DAC AMP, Tidal desktop app.
Bass:
Non offensive, lean towards neutral to me but slightly boosted. You feel the rumble, you feel the punch, and it has decent energy. Texture is ok to me, but i dont know how exactly to describe it further, it's kinda fast (i didn't "break in" it, if that's even a thing) when it needs to be and im satisfied with it's speed, but in the same time feels somehow soft without obvious attack or bite. So if you're gonna give it to someone who expect big "BOOM" in bass he would probably be "oh, well this is ok", so bass dont really stand out on this set, but overall it's pretty good to me because it feels organic and realistic with natural decay. Some example, when i listen 2Cellos which have boosted lower notes as standard from that artist, it sounds just on spot, i dont hear any overdone upper bass notes, same goes for "Suspicious Bulge" which has "boosted" bass notes on "meta" tuned IEMs. So overall, bass is decent or even good if you aim neutrality but not recommended for bassheads. Also bass dont "die" when tracks are busy compared to lower price ranged DD drivers. I can enjoy this bass although i prefer a bit of boost in sub bass, so this is pretty enough if you ask me, and it doesn't bleed into mids.
Mids:
Pretty decent mids here, not much wrong about them. I would say for this set that is vocal forward for me and i would say that there is a highlight on upper mids rather than lower mids. Why ? Male vocals sound mostly good, but for my taste they could use just a little more energy, and same goes for female vocals, so although vocals are forward they lack just a bit of energy for my taste. Now, that "forwardness", sometimes vocals can be just tiny shouty to me, but it's "vocal forward" set, right ? Honestly most of the time it's fine and correct in terms of vocals overall but im just nitpicking here a little bit. Instruments ? This set reminds me on my last reviewed IEM tonality which are Moondrop Quarks, so dont plan to listen "full" notes of instruments when it comes to lower mids because this set is more lean towards "music". I mean, it can reproduce lower mids pretty fine, but surely not as mid centric "endgame" IEM, this set is just lacking it a bit of energy there, so it's pretty clean and inoffensive there which can be good on certain tracks or if you just dont like lower mids and prefer cleaner tonality. Because of that upper mids and instruments living in upper area are forward, so if you like that here you go. So, mids on this set are like double edged sword but probably on spot for people who aims at this price range for buying.
Treble:
Treble is nice, and you can hear way more details compared to something like Moondrop Quarks (OG) or single DD KZ's which cost 10$, so this really comes as and upgrade from those sets. However, sometimes i just feel that something is "off" if i compare this treble tonality to something like Aful Performer 5+2 or Ziigaat Crescent which costs 10x-15x times more and have BA drivers which are easier to tune. Back to "apples to apples", i was actually really amazed how much details this set can retrive from some tracks which i didn't expected at all, but i must say it won't retrieve "everything" like those way more expensive sets would, not gonna lie. However, i really enjoy this set in terms of upper treble especially at this price. Why ? It feels non offensive nor spicy or sharp, yet it can retrieve plenty of details and i can listen in for a long period. Now i checked the graph measurements and i saw that this set has "bigger" dip in upper treble which would be fine if lower treble isn't slightly boosted (i tought that upper mids are boosted more but it's actually more of lower treble tbh) but this way it's probably that what causes "off" to me, but i need to say that im used to Crescent treble which is pretty bright (especially in upper area) and more linear and also uses "premium" BA drivers so keep that in mind (also you can check how i described Crescent's treble in my review). So all in all, lower treble can sound a bit boosted and upper treble is fine and good, and again i dont find it sharp or spicy, maybe just tiny sibilant or shouty from time to time probably because of that lower treble. And one more correction in the end, it's actually Harman tuned treble, i completely forgot about Harman target because i use Diffuse Field an JM1 as reference, so if you prefer Harman you're just right on spot here!
Technicalities:
So, coming from treble, detail retrieval can be really good sometimes and not "that" good sometimes, overall pretty fine at this price. What is highlight to me is resolution, i really didn't expected this resolution from single DD IEM at 25$, it's pretty nice. Also layering is pretty nice and i feel like it's an upgrade from Moondrop Quarks (OG) for example. Same goes for sound imaging as well as separation, but transients are not slouch either for real. What i think it's one level below other good technicalities is soundstage, it's fine but probably that treble dip kills it, but why i say it's fine ? Because sometimes feels good and sometimes sound dies when it needs to "travel" in distance, so it's track dependent i would say. Dynamic is also decent i would say.
Other sound impressions:
Since when buget IEMs got this good ? Am i lagging behind ? I checked the price when it had been told to me that im gonna receive this IEM for a review, and now im checking it again because i simply cannot believe what 25$ IEM can do compared to 15$ "old" sets. And when im talking about that i mean for real, i didn't expected this performance for 25$. Initial quick impressions were really good to me, although i just plugged it directly to my phone 3.5mm output, later on i made this review on SMSL DL200 and full critical listening and sound was again really nice. It basically follows Harman target except sub bass and upper bass which i realized just at the end of this review, i use Diffuse Field targets as reference. It's not my cup of tea tuning wise but if you look at more organic Harman target then this set is for you! Overall im really satisfied with how it sounds and i tought it just a small step up from 10-15$ sets but it's a big step up actually. Job well done on this set.
I took down 0.5 stars just because i dont like Harman tuning.
I hope you found this review any helpful and thanks for reading,
- Steva
