Rating Scale
• 5.5 stars – Zomogmgonghsi BUY IT NOW!!!!!iwuwjesuwnsh#<×&7×82&÷&#&#&!!!!
• 5 stars – Strong recommendation if your tastes align with mine.
• 4.5 stars – Recommended with some caveats.
• 4 stars – Slight recommendation.
• 3.5 stars – Fine, but I wouldn’t recommend.
• 3 stars – Approaching fine.
• 2.5 stars – Not quite approaching fine.
• 2 stars – Not fine.
• 1.5 stars – Kinda broken.
• 1 star – Totally broken.
• 5.5 stars – Zomogmgonghsi BUY IT NOW!!!!!iwuwjesuwnsh#<×&7×82&÷&#&#&!!!!
• 5 stars – Strong recommendation if your tastes align with mine.
• 4.5 stars – Recommended with some caveats.
• 4 stars – Slight recommendation.
• 3.5 stars – Fine, but I wouldn’t recommend.
• 3 stars – Approaching fine.
• 2.5 stars – Not quite approaching fine.
• 2 stars – Not fine.
• 1.5 stars – Kinda broken.
• 1 star – Totally broken.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Ear Acoustics and the Audio Geek team for assisting me in acquiring this unit for myself. It being a limited edition model, was not readily available for purchase as far as im aware. I paid for this unit. All opinions are my own and uninfluenced by external factors.
Personal Preferences
My preferences are of a warmer tilted balanced tonality with analogue characteristics. The techs that I value a little higher than the others to me are mids “emotionality”, stage depth, 3d layering, timbre, slam, bass body/transient speed, treble quality, dynamics and realism. My library is heavy on Jazz and other genres with real instruments such as Classical and Orchestral and thus timbre matters to me heavily.
I am a converted cable believer as well as a source believer (aka I start off as a non-believer, but now I believe). I understand these things are controversial however are part of my opinion with my intention to share my experience rather than to coerce you in any way.
My preferences are of a warmer tilted balanced tonality with analogue characteristics. The techs that I value a little higher than the others to me are mids “emotionality”, stage depth, 3d layering, timbre, slam, bass body/transient speed, treble quality, dynamics and realism. My library is heavy on Jazz and other genres with real instruments such as Classical and Orchestral and thus timbre matters to me heavily.
I am a converted cable believer as well as a source believer (aka I start off as a non-believer, but now I believe). I understand these things are controversial however are part of my opinion with my intention to share my experience rather than to coerce you in any way.
Background
I previously reviewed the SPA Hi End Max and SPA Limited Edition 001 [link] as well as the VSA MAX [link]
The VSA LTD is the limited edition of the VSA line up. I do not know the backstory to this edition but considering that it comes with the snake motif and a red puck case, im imagining that it is something to do with Chinese New Year of 2025 (year of the Snake). I do not know details of what improvements they have made in the innards of the IEM but the external improvements are really hard to miss.
I have already talked about the VSA's lineup philosophy and my thoughts on the... marketing copy. You can read it if you are interested in the VSA Max review [link].
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VSA Line Philosophy
I have already talked about the VSA's lineup philosophy and my thoughts on the... marketing copy. You can read it if you are interested in the VSA Max review [link].
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VSA Line Philosophy
The VSA series focuses on female vocals—what they call “female toxicity.” As a Chinese speaker, I understand the intent, but the translation doesn’t quite land in English. Their marketing copy has a charmingly direct, DIY vibe. I don’t take brand claims too seriously—my ears are the final judge.
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Unboxing & Build
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Unboxing & Build
Packaging is exactly the same as the other models except for the puck case being red.
The VSA LTD features a now all gold shell with a gold cable, plug and hardware as well as a custom 3D snake on the splitter. WOW. Its certainly show piece worthy beautiful. You can tell a lot of money and effort went into the design and crafting of this aesthetic masterpiece. The fact that it only retails for $290usd made me really feel kinda guilty, like I stole something.
It does come with a big con for me though. Im generally a low key kind of guy and prefer to not have too much attention drawn to me. As a result, I found myself feeling embarrassed to wear this IEM out in public like I usually do. Those that prefer the attention im sure would absolutely revel in this aesthetic. It was so attention-grabbing that even my wife, who usually pays no attention to my audio gear actually noticed it and made a comment. Now, thats some attention I DEFINITELY prefer to have less of. Ha ha.
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Listening Setup
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Listening Setup
• Stock tips (deep fit)
• Stock cable
• Sources: Hiby R6ProII, Shanling M9plus
Sound Signature
To my ears, compared to the VSA Max which is a slightly bright tilted U shaped IEM, my subjective experience with the VSA LTD comes across more like an L-shaped IEM or bass tilted V-shaped IEM.
• Bass: More textured, with more slam and body, LTD was a half or one step up in quality vs the VSA Max.
The problem? Huge in quantity with much more midbass. Unfortunately unlike the VSA Max, for some songs, spills over and bloats into the mids, on the worst occasions actually obscuring and overwhelming the mids and detailing distractingly.
• Mids: Warmer than the VSA MAX, which is nice. Male vocals are less thin now relative to the VSA Max. Note weight is thicker. Female vocals are warmer though still carries the clarity and character of the VSA line up. I like it.
• Treble: Treble is richer and less harsh compared to the VSA Max. LTD's treble quality is perhaps half or 1 step better than the VSA Max.
Technical Performance
Technically, the VSA LTD sat a step or two above the VSA Max all round.
Resolution - LTD was a step or 2 up from MAX.
Timbre - LTD was a step up from MAX. Coming across not only still accurate but richer and more pleasing to my ear.
Microdetailing - a relative weakness of the MAX. LTD was a step or 2 up from the MAX.
Staging and presentation - Didnt have the out of head surround sound 3d feel that the MAX had for me but instead has the 2 forward Speaker feel with some depth - like a central wall of sound without left or right lateral sounds.
LTD had better layering by half or one step over the MAX.
LTD's Macrodetailing is a step up over the MAX.
Cable Impact
(Non-believers feel free to skip to the next section!) Im in two minds about the cable. On one hand it did contribute to the better technicalities and the warmer, richer mid range (for my tastes) but on the other hand, it definitely added to the bloat that I did not like. Swapping to the stock cable of the Max, I found a drop in technicalities but less bloat and tighter bass. I suppose properly cable rolling might find an even better pairing that would not have as many trade-offs. The problem is that aesthetically, the cable was made especially to pair with the IEM and thus you couldnt get a better aesthetically pairing cable. In the end, I still decided to stick with the stock cable.
Genre Performance
Unlike the VSA Max, to me, the LTD was less all-rounded purely due to the excess bloaty midbass. This tuning flaw caused me to really dislike the replay of some songs where the bass obscured the mids and the detailing of the song, causing me to figuratively in my mind, try to squint behind the curtain of bass to try to pick out the mids and other details hidden behind. Its a shame because the mids and detailing on this IEM are actually quite good for me and my tastes. As a result, I enjoyed songs and genres that featured less bass on this IEM like acoustic songs.
I tip rolled and found that with larger tips and a shallower fit, the bass was not as obscuring as the deep fit with the stock tips however, I felt the mids and treble werent as enjoyable. In the end, I still went back to the stock tips.
I did not play with some EQ but I suspect a little bit of EQ to reduce the bloat would really help this IEM shine.
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Conclusion
The VSA LTD is the breathtakingly beautiful (albeit gaudy) upgrade over the VSA MAX in most areas sonically. Unfortunately it faces one fairly significant tuning caveat for me, being that the bass can bloat and obscure the other parts of the music in some songs. This puts it for me in the 4.5 star basket rather than the 5 star basket despite being better in most ways vs the VSA Max for me.
Some of you may not mind this, like my friend that I let try but he does seem to enjoy sets that have a significant amount of midbass and warmth. But for those, especially whom are much more sensitive to midbass bloat and too much warmth unfortunately will have to stay away from this model.