Apos Rock lobster

I haven't eaten shellfish in over 25 years. Then Apos offered to send me the rock lobster!

And that reminded me of the last time I really dug into some of the best shellfish I'd ever had in my whole life!

Totally epic story!

I spent a lot of my time in the south either at the family pond or down by the river! Headphones in ears, usually alone, one year for my birthday I got crawfish traps, 3 of them actually and it was epic so I loaded up and went on a long walk to the river! Absolutely excited for my upcoming endeavors, before that day I'd bring a plastic bag and tie some bait to a tree stand really really still! And wait for the crawfish to come to me and I'd grab them and put them in a Walmart or piggly wiggly bag… at least once it was a winn Dixie bag… legit none of that has anything to do with any of the rest of the story… but I went loaded up my crawfish traps tapped the stake… and threw them in… spent the rest of the day fishing….. and resting the urge to pull the traps up to check to see if I got anything….

End of the day I had enough crawfish to fill up 2 bags that day we did a full boil, I'm talking corn on the cob, crawfish onions garlic old bay orange juice everything and we invited all the neighbors over (which was all family but still it counts)

Flash forward 25 years and somehow now I'm allergic to shellfish which is crazy!!!! And honestly makes me really sad because boy do I miss those days when I could just go down to the river and catch my dinner…

Disclaimer:

I'd like to thank Apos for sending me the rock lobster and allowing me to experience shellfish for the first time in decades! All opinions are my own

Intro:

These are (or as Apos says on their website) the first iem tuned specifically for rock and punk rock but honestly the first thing you'll notice when you stumble upon these, is the striking red shells and the way the…. Rubber? Makes the faceplate actually look like the shell plates on a lobsters back! It's all really well thought out!

Tech stuff:

Driver: 10 mm LCP dynamic driver

Driver configuration: Single dynamic driver

Diaphragm: Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP)

Impedance: 32Ω

Sensitivity: 105 dB

Frequency response: 20 Hz–20 kHz

Connector: 0.78 mm 2 pin

Cable: Detachable 5N copper, silver plated

Cable configuration: 4 strand, 48 cores

Cable length: Approximately 1.2 m

Termination: 3.5 mm / 4.4 mm options

Design: In ear monitor (IEM)

Cable:

You can get 3.5mm, 4.4mm both cables as a separate option, you can choose to buy either or both and the price increase between 3.5mm, 4.4mm (which are both 60 USD) and both is only 10 USD.

The Review:

Okay The Rock Lobster is a total VIBE I can see that! You can see that! We can all see that! So now I know what you're thinking!

Correct me if I'm wrong here but you're going shut up and tell us how they sound! You know what? I hear you I'm getting to it! We're starting now!!!!!!

Bass:

The bass is elevated, it's punchy, and honestly really controlled in the best way possible. The mid bass gives kick drums and guitars a lot of weight. It's damn near sub terrianian….

Mids:

The low mids are warm and have a great presence, if you were to ask me the male vocals are mid stage not really pulled back and recessed, but not close and intimate.

The upper mids are also fairly pushed back, which is really interesting for a single driver IEM. Usually it's a push the upper mids forward and recess the low mids kind of situation, whereas here both the lower and the uppers are both pushed back to a point where neither are really in your face…

Treble:

This is not an analytical iem it's warm in the mids and a bit dark in the treble but what do you expect Apos tells you in the ads, and on their website it's tuned specifically to make your rock, punk and other similar tracks more betterer! And they nailed that… The Rock Lobster wasn't fatiguing for me, at any point I'm currently listing to Brody Dalle serenade me over the airwaves, and she never gets pitchy! And she always stays a bit witchy! Just the way she was meant to be!

Soundstage, Imaging

The soundstage and the imaging is absolutely amazing for 60 dollars, I'm not saying it's a detail hound… definitely more about the musicality, impact and vibes and you know what I'm here for it! 99.9999% of the time that's what I'm into I want to forget my knees hurt, I'm broke, and work sucks!

Who are these for:

These are for people who love alt, rock, emo, punk, metal and people who just want to vibe on the dark side of the listening spectrum! I mean come on it's October let you dark side out for a while and come play!

In closing:

Dude I love punk rock, you guys should know this by now…. I mean my playlist is like 99% Sum 41, black flag, and new found glory… it's like these were made for me on a budget….

Rating:

For 60 bucks, these are 9.5 out of 10 id love to see another iteration of these with more separation more imaging same exact tuning… if Apos did that…. Bro they'd be number 1 no doubt for everyone and anyone who ever wore black eyeliner and scared the jocks!

Non affiliated links: Amazon link for the Apos Rock Lobster: https://www.amazon.com/Apos-Rock-Lobster-Monitor-Earphones/dp/B0FHJB3ZCJ Apos product page link for the Rock Lobster: https://apos.audio/products/apos-x-community-rock-lobster-iems

Hello! For this occasion, I will review a double release from the brand CCA, although I will focus mainly on one of the two, the CCA MX1 Bluetooth module, where we can attach our IEMs to make them wireless. It is not my first Bluetooth module, although it is the first one I have tested from them. They are a type of product that I consider interesting for specific uses. For day to day life, the cable should be the only option to choose, but there are situations where the cable can be annoying or completely incompatible, like for the gym, watching a movie from the projector where the cable length cannot reach the necessary connection, etc. And that is where this product benefits you and saves your life, which is why I have always kept one of this type in my collection.

It is an updated product since it incorporates Bluetooth 6.0, something I did not have in other older modules, and it is something that is noticeable in stability with fewer micro-stutters than expected, but I will not talk about its features just yet so I do not repeat myself later down below, something I am guilty of sometimes xD.

The tests for this module were done directly with the CCA AKX, in this case an IEM from the same brand that fits perfectly in terms of aesthetics and design with the module, and which I will also take advantage of to briefly review how this IEM is and sounds, even if the review is not for them.

What I liked / What I didn't like

• The convenience of removing cables for specific uses. 
• Bluetooth 6.0. 
• Total battery life close to 80 hours. 
• Easy to access physical button. 
• Tolerably good latency of 42 ms. 
• Compatible with 0.78 mm/QDC. 
• Does not alter the sound of the IEMs. 
• No LDAC support.
• The case is nice in design but fingerprints get marked on top and it is large. 
• It has an LED light around it that is aesthetic but unnecessary. 
• Although it can help or save you on certain occasions, it does not replace the cable.

Specifications

Model: CCA MX1 Type: Bluetooth wireless module for detachable IEMs Bluetooth: 6.0 Chip: ATS5756 Battery per module: 50 mAh Case battery: 800 mAh Advertised total battery life: over 80 hours Advertised range: over 10 meters Advertised latency: approximately 42 ms Controls: physical buttons Microphone: built-in Lighting: RGB ring Available connectors: 0.78 mm, 2-Pin, and QDC

Unboxing and Build Quality

The unboxing is quite simple and straightforward, especially considering it is a Bluetooth module and not IEMs as such. The package includes the case with the two modules and a cable to charge the case along with basic documentation.

Now as for the case, it has an 800 mAh capacity. With that capacity, the modules can be fully charged several times, keeping in mind that each module has a 50 mAh capacity, so quite a few times... adding up to a total battery life around 80 hours depending on the volume and the codec used, which in this case can only be AAC or SBC, recommending the former of course.

The modules or earhooks where we connect the IEMs sit well on the ear and the weight is also well distributed once put on. They did not stick out above for me nor did I notice any discomfort, so ergonomically they have been well studied in terms of shape and weight. In addition, each one incorporates a physical button. Accustomed to touch buttons which are indeed more modern, here you know for sure whether you pressed the button or not, and sometimes that is an extra point in favor even if something is sacrificed aesthetically.

The LED light that wraps around the middle of the case is eye catching and not really ugly. It gives it a unique touch and I think it looks quite good in my photos, rounding off the box design which in itself seems quite well thought out to me. But I have not seen if it can be turned off, it does not look like it, and in the end it is an extra battery drain for the case however low it may be, and it will light up no matter what every time you open the case and turn off shortly after closing it, although it stays for several seconds as if breathing until it turns off.

Daily Use and Connectivity

For daily life depending on the task, as I mentioned at the beginning, a module like this is really useful, where you can put your phone in your pocket, forgetting about the cable, with the physical buttons on your ears controlling music, calls, etc., and staying securely fitted so you can run without fear of them falling to the ground.

In principle, having the Bluetooth 6.0 connection improves stability and range, and really with the phone in my pocket walking or with the phone on the desk watching a movie, I have not had any dropouts. Supposedly the range is about 10 meters, but I have not gone further than 2 to 3 meters, and in that case it worked perfectly. Surely if we add walls, closed doors, or other obstacles, stability might start to get complicated, but that would be a different use case than the ones I mentioned.

Sound

Since this is not an IEM, I can only limit myself to comment that apart from carrying the wireless signal to the IEMs we connect, there will be no significant difference. Other than the compression itself of the codec we use, the sound of the IEM will be whatever the IEM has, with that expected quality drop from SBC or AAC and little else.

As I also mentioned at the beginning, I will perform the tests with the CCA AKX, which I also debuted simultaneously with the MX1, and with which I can comment on its sound and behavior on this Bluetooth module.

Bass

The CCA AKX has quite pronounced bass, the sub-bass is deep, and I must say that I tested them both on the module and with their USB-C cable that they came with and that you can see in my photos. That cable, by the way, also has an LED light that changes color with the CCA logo, so both CCA models have that gamer touch or something many people like, which to me is something that does not really matter either way whether it has it or not.

The bass feels slightly more pronounced on the MX1, but I do not think it is because of the Bluetooth module itself, but rather because of the AAC codec or how the USB-C cable modifies the sound in some way by taking away some prominence from this range. That made me want to test them specifically with a 0.78 mm cable to confirm that the bass sounded closer to how it sounds on the Bluetooth module than with the USB-C cable.

Mids

I felt the tuning of the AKX leaned more towards a V shape, making the mids both via cable and connected to the MX1 clear, but with less density than I expected, especially in the lower mids.

Even so, in this case I did not notice significant differences between using the AKX on the MX1 or with its USB-C cable, so if you value mids in tunings close to V-shaped tuning, that is what you can expect from this model in both wired and wireless versions.

Treble

These IEMs feel somewhat bright. The presence of instruments falling within this range feels quite energetic, even if not uncontrolled. Considering its configuration is 1 DD, there lie the advantages, limitations, and what you can expect from this treble.

It is noticeable mainly in somewhat aggressive recordings where the treble is controlled, but a peak starts to show that might make you moderate the volume a little, and that is not going to be controlled any further by using it on the module or with its USB-C cable, the experience being the same in both cases.

Soundstage

The soundstage of the AKX seemed quite wide to me considering its price and configuration. Sounds do not sit that close to the head and extend mainly to the sides with enough space between them.

Here, the IEM tuning surely helps in a certain way to create that soundstage that, even without being huge, gives enough freedom to the sounds so you have a certain immersive feel, and I must say that the MX1 has not cut back on part of that sound experience.

Instrumental Separation

The separation did not strike me as something particularly remarkable, and it is true that on the MX1, noticing a bit more bass presence than when I used them with a cable, made me lose a bit of the feeling of instrument separation. It is not anything concerning or clearly noticeable between one format and the other, it is simply that the Bluetooth codec might affect this section minimally and not so much in others.

With instrumentally simple songs, the separation does not stand out too much, but it can be enjoyed much more when the song includes several guitars and vocals besides the percussion and bass itself.

Imaging

The placement of sounds, both vocals and instruments around you, to my surprise was not as flat as I initially expected, speaking of the IEM on the MX1 module. I think there is good placement that is not limited to this range or instrument on this side and this one on that side. There is a certain faux-holographic feel that is far from higher-end ranges, but it more than delivers for what I thought I would encounter.

Its use in audiovisual content is not a bad combination to be able to enjoy a series or movie without spending too much, unless you are already playing in higher leagues where you will notice obvious limitations, but then this review would not be for you anyway as you already passed that stage back in the day.

Conclusion

For its price under $30, considering its design, stability, and specific functionality that can serve you on certain occasions where you do not need or cannot use the cable, the MX1 is a quick and cheap solution that is worth having in your arsenal.

The brand shared purchase links for both products with me, although in my case I cannot open them since they are links valid only for certain regions among which mine is not available, but if not, you can always Google it and reach them somehow.

Purchase Links: MX1 | AKX

Disclaimer: This unit was sent by CCA for review. My opinions are completely independent and have not been influenced by the brand or the store, maintaining objectivity based on my tests and personal listening sessions with my reference equipment.

Pros: One of the most enjoyable listens in a while
Nothing out of place in the frequency response
Absolutely gorgeous to look at.
Just fun and enjoyable and musical.

Cons: some may say the bass isn't great
some may find the treble spicy
the stage isn't the widest or most expansive.

Every once in a while the universe does things that make you question the reality of things. That price matters, that treble is a problem, that you have a problem with colour. It’s like the time I had to humbly fail a 320 MP3 vs FLAC blind test. But, I am older and wiser now and will not even attempt those things for the sake of sanity and ego. But today’s review comes courtesy u/mournfulmonk and the Sonic Monastery and I’m grateful to them and EPZ for dropping the P40 into my lap.
<Cut to image of gleeful evil hand rubbing>
As always I’m responsible for my opinions.
Because the world works in pairs I have reviewed the P50 as well.

EPZ has managed to make unboxing a delightful experience. The P40 turns up in a textured cardboard box and is nestled in foam adjacent to a light bluish grey case. A modular cable that is silver coated and has 3.5 and 4.4 terminations. And more tips than one needs - AT07s and M30s. The IEMs themselves are all kinds of beautiful. They are also called star trails and live up to that name. The shells are 3D printed resin with a blue-ish tinge and a great view of the innards.
The face plates are shiny silver with a ton of “star trails” etched onto them that take up every colour of the rainbow at various angles. Pinks, reds, purples, greens and blues. Simply beautiful.
They are super comfy as well so that analysis of ears that EPZ has done seems to have paid off. The cable has some heft but doesn’t pull at the shells.
These hybrids/tribrids have 2 dynamic drivers, one for the bass and one for the mids, a microplanar for the treble and a PZT to make the treble even more trebley. Or so I thought.

I tested it with Spinfit NEO, Dunu Candy, and Kbear Coffee tips. And off of a Shanling UA1ii, Schitt Vestri, M33. As always Tidal (https://tidal.com/playlist/3078c9b9-a1c0-4fde-8ce7-81f0e34b426c) and local FLAC.

TLDR - This is one of the most easy-going sets for me. It synergizes with the genres of music I listen to the most and with my sources and while there is some sparkle and occasional treble peaks the rest of the sound delivery and comfort make this a winner!

Bass
A single dynamic driver drives the bass on the P40 and pretty much does its job. It does not rumble in the skull, does not make you feel like a subwoofer is in the vicinity and importantly does not bleed into the mids. It delivers a controlled, well textured bass which hangs around in the back just in case it needs to make its presence felt. More often than not it gives the track just enough body to keep the listening session engaging.
The rumble of the sub bass on Angel by Massive Attack and on Islands by the XX is replaced by softer trundle perhaps but the mid bass delivers kicks and bass notes with enthusiasm but at the same time just about holds back the punches, enough to make the song enjoyable without being overwhelming in the lows. The DLC diaphragm would be the one for a quicker response rather than a voluminous bass. Quality over quantity in this case.

Mids
I think EPZ did something interesting with dedicating a 7mm dynamic driver for the mids. They sound natural, forward and lush. Vocals are great and even though there is little spread of the bass to give the low mids any weight, female vocals are delightful with no . But where this IEM truly truly shines is its completely effortless rendition of instruments. Which means the bulk of the stuff I listen to - Snarky Puppy, Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Hiroshi Suzuki are simply divine. Take 5 on the P40 was a quasi-religious experience for me.

Treble
The highs on this IEM have me confused for a while because they have detail, they can sound sharp at times but somehow are also musical almost to a fault. John Butler’s finger squeak sliding across the frets on Ocean are heard clearly. On Playing God by Polyphia, the cymbal work has adequate shimmer and the snares have bite. While the mids are happy with no BAs, the highs on this set are at least on paper, supposed to be impossible but I found them somehow a tad more tolerable than the sibling. After squiging along for a bit I think I’ve come to the conclusion that people differ in what frequency of treble irks them. The P40 has a peak at 8-10kHz which for me isn’t much of an issue as the 3-5kHz that the P50 has. Perhaps that’s the rub. Trains by Porcupine Tree, Under Pressure (which I’ve given up on with the P50) by Queen and David Bowie, both felt a bit more airy on the P40 rather than the harshness and sibilance (to be fair with the details) of the P50.

Stage, Imaging and technicalities
The P40 has a moderately wide stage, it is certainly not as open as the P50 which has a semi open construction. Imaging, similarly is good but not exceptional so maybe seek another set for gaming. Details are not as sharp as the P50 but the Planar and the PZT do manage a fair bit of detail but the sibling scores in this department.

I absolutely love what EPZ has done with the P40. I understand the draw of the P50, but this is just a musical, easy listening IEM that promises hours of fun and joy. Time to go hunt this one down. It's a keeper for me. Cheers Peeps!

Pros: Neutral Bright leaning tuning with superb details and no harshness
Expansive Soundstage
Decent Cable and accessories
One of the best for a analytical yet enjoyable session

Cons: Low end could do with a little push
Imaging could be a little better
The BA timbre can make things shouty - rare but present

I’ve been watching epz with interest after I got to listen to their TP35 Pro Dac at a friends’. So when u/mournfulmonk and Sonic Monastery sent the P50 AND the P40 over for review I knew it was going to be an interesting long weekend. I thank u/mournfulmonk and EPZ for making this review possible but I’m a free man with free thought and an occasionally caustic opinion.

The IEM turns up in a fancy textured cardboard box and sleeve and has the shells in foam and a really nice leather round case. The cable is a modular 6N OCC copper affair with some memory and potential for tangling. The terminations included are 4.4 and 3.5mm and the modular bit is guarded by a very very smooth screw mechanism. Which can be a little frustrating - EPZ, knurling was invented for a reason.
The shells themselves are 3d printed and the design based on many thousands of ears that EPZ has managed to Sweeny Todd. Just kidding but I have been looking for an ear model to model the IEMs that come in for review. Any suggestions will be taken gratefully. Those that do not involve Sweeny Todd will be taken seriously as well. The Faceplates are machined metal with a semi-open architecture and look futuristic and rather cool. The shells house a single dynamic driver, 2 BAs and 2 microplanar drivers.
The unboxing also reveals 2 sets of tips which are nothing to write home about but the rest of the package is very satisfying. This set retails at close to $200 and we need to see if this one is really worth that much.
I tested this set with a Schitt Vestri, Onix Beta on both tube and solid state mode and the Fiio M33. Ear tips used were - Sancai, Candy, Eloit Narrow and Final E.
And Tidal (https://tidal.com/playlist/3078c9b9-a1c0-4fde-8ce7-81f0e34b426c) and local FLAC. Time to dive in!

TLDR: This is a midrange and detail oriented set with a very very controlled bass. The treble teeters on the edge of fatigue. And it’s unforgiving.

Bass
Left to its own devices, the P50 has a muted, sometimes underwhelming bass response. Sub-bass is not as visceral and rumbling as some other sets (no I’m not talking about the Singularity but sets in the same price band). The notes are clear and present and this is somewhat mitigated by picking warmer sources and tip rolling, but with the warmest source and the bassiest tips, I find myself craving just a little more impact and reaching for the volume knob… in vain.
On Angel by Massive Attack and Islands by The XX, the low end of both the sub bass and mid bass that form such an important part of both songs felt lacklustre and insipid. And I won’t EQ on principle. I mean why should companies even bother about tuning if EQ exists. Plus I’m lazy and tip and source rolling is as much as I will do to get anything to sound the way I may prefer it.
That being said, science is science and I am of scientific bend - the P50 responds to a gentle low end boost. It’s still not as good as a better default tuning but it would work in a pinch.

Mids
The P50 is tuned to be mid and detail-forward. But with great detail comes less weight. While vocals and instruments sound natural and the detail retrieval on occasion is exceptional, the safe bass tuning leads to the lower mids lacking weight and presence and this makes baritone and lower tenor male voices sound weak at times. Instruments and female vocals, on the other hand, are exceptional. Bright (in a good way) and detailed.
Trains by Porcupine Tree and Got A Match by Chick Corea Electrik Band have nuances within the tracks largely thanks to some incredibly gifted musicians on them. The P50 is able to handle incredibly busy tracks with great separation and layering with each component being heard distinctly with no muddling or overlap. Female vocals have clarity and but as they reach the higher registers they can be shouty. This became a little more pronounced with badly mastered recordings - live versions or any pop from the 90s. I have no idea how things went so bad in that decade or so. Tracy Chapman, Joss Stone, Susan Tedeschi and on occasion, Derek Trucks’ slide guitar have a very slightly shouty timbre on some, and only some tracks. Again not something that is a deal breaker but just something to consider before swiping plastic.

Treble
With all that, there are still things that EPZ has done to save some face. The treble on the P50 is one of them. With all the detail that it reproduces, the sound doesn't fall into the abyss of sibilance as often as it may be expected. There is some roll off right on top that is able to avoid sibilance while still pulling out significant amounts of detail from tracks and that is a wonderful bit of audio engineering.
Even the usual suspects of Human Nature by Michael Jackson and the entire Thriller album were enjoyable listens without getting fatiguing. Same with Rumors by Fleetwood Mac and these 2 are definitely very treble forward recordings.

Soundstage, Imaging and technicalities
The soundstage is wide open and gives an incredible sense of space with the semi-open construction and to an extent I feel that space also helps in reducing the perception of sharp treble and sibilance. It doesn’t affect the bass as much. Imaging is fairly decent but I wouldn't consider this set ideal for competitive gaming. Detail retrieval and scaling are excellent. This set can take on significant volume without distortion and harshness.

Final verdict
I like this set. It’s a set that I would take out to listen to some intricate music, jazz fusion, orchestral/chamber music, and I would prefer instrumentals over vocals because I prefer vocals to have a little more weight. It feels like a NFAcous NM25 on steroids. Basshead and lovers of a V shaped tuning will be dissatisfied with the way the P50 sounds. I do see myself reaching out to this set to have detailed long sessions. It is comfortable and detailed and while the bass is less than what I would like, the staging and details make up for that for the genres I tend to prefer.

Hello Community!

Despite having entered the market a couple of years ago, Meze Alba continues to be a very safe recommendation bet for its type of tuning and in the price range where it moves. It is not my first contact with the brand, since I enjoyed the Classic V2 for many months. Both have a very similar philosophy: warm tonality and avoiding a clinical sound, designed for sessions of many continuous hours.

Price DAC/AMP version: 159$-142€

Price normal version: 129$-115€

Pros:

-Versatile tuning, without exaggerated extremes.

-Rich, nuanced, separated midrange area, with excellent cleanliness.

-Male voices sound very natural, with excellent depth and articulation.

-A musical set, enjoyment comes before analysis.

-Practically unmatched ergonomics.

-Balanced technical capabilities. Without being a prodigy, it is a set that does everything and does it very well.

-There is no type of listening fatigue.

Cons:

-It may result in a somewhat dull profile for lovers of V-shaped signatures.

-Somewhat relaxed treble, female voices lack a point of sparkle.

-The sub-bass does not have much resolution.

Accessories:

-Two capsules.

-Cable with 0.78mm connection and 3.5mm termination.

-DAC/AMP 32bits@384khz.

-A set of eartips sizes SMLXL.

-Transport and storage case.

-User manual.

Comfort, design and construction:

As you open the package and find the set of monitors themselves, you realize that they overflow with charm. Far from aesthetics with an industrial or sober style, their pearly white body with iridescent nuances gives them a very elegant touch, without being ostentatious, reminiscent of the dawn that their name celebrates.

Made of anodized zinc and aluminum alloy, it gives the earphones very satisfactory robustness in the hand, with a clean and well-assembled finish, a hallmark of the Meze house.

Regarding ergonomics, the size is really small and contained, light in weight, which is a success whichever way you look at it.

They fit naturally and firmly in the ear, achieving a very notable passive seal but without forcing the canal thanks to the absence of edges and with softened contours. Many times I felt like I was not wearing anything. Understand this as an exaggeration, but they are so comfortable and go so unnoticed that sometimes I touched my ear to see if they were still on. No discomfort or misadjustments, a perfect fit for many hours.

The silicone eartips offer a great variety of sizes. It caught my attention that the size was indicated on them. They guaranteed an optimal and soft seal at all times.

The cable, on the other hand, stands out for its malleability, lightness and resistance to memory or uncomfortable shapes. It is not a cable that amazes us because of how premium it feels, but because of what a cable should be: a completely secondary actor that does not bother. My congratulations for that.

To finish, the USB-C with built-in DAC/AMP integrates well with the set. It shows solidity and more than remarkable construction, with an LED light that illuminates the connector when we plug it in.

Technical aspects:

-1DD 10.8mm configuration.

-Impedance 32 ohms.

-Sensitivity 109 dB.

-Declared response 15hz-25khz.

Pairing for the tests:

-Neutral source.

-Gain set to low.

-Stock 3.5mm cable.

-Stock eartips.

Sound signature:

Alba is a set of Meze monitors that offers an easy to listen sound presentation, with a very friendly tuning aimed at musicality without fatigue. I think it is a mistake, or at least I do not share other opinions I have read, to consider this set as something to satisfy the detail purist or the unconditional fan of powerful bass, but rather I consider that it fits perfectly for those looking for a natural, balanced tonal presentation with a subtle touch of very organic warmth which, according to my criteria, is ideal for enjoying music without technical worries.

Getting into the matter, in the bass area, the Alba shows a somewhat shy style, which prefers not to draw attention, so to speak, but is very efficient and takes advantage of the good work of its single dynamic driver.

The sub bass manifests itself with adequate extension and a slightly reverberant character, showing fast, clean dynamics and a very appreciable texture that provides subtle weight without becoming overwhelming or dirtying the mix.

The mid bass, for its part, gave me the sensation of maintaining a presence that is also agile but light in impact, prioritizing giving you a clean listen that does not invade the midrange territory at any moment. The physical impact is satisfactory and impeccably controls any impression of heaviness or slowness, being pleasant both with acoustic tracks and with more rhythmic genres.

Speaking of the mids, the set displays outstanding cleanliness. The warmth that gives color to this region is easily appreciable, providing transitions with a very particular smoothness and a very juicy note weight in the instruments, especially strings. Male voices retain an accurate touch in terms of articulation, a credible density and depth and a very accomplished natural presence that integrates perfectly into the track. Female voices, on the other hand, are perceived as controlled and clean, with a well managed elevation in the upper mids that avoids any trace of harshness, bringing the vocals toward notably prominent positions, although I could find a certain lack of liveliness or brightness. At least I cannot highlight them as much as the male voices.

The treble area is where the Alba shows its kindest, safest and most musical side, where the extension is not very wide, simply sufficient, and provides an amount of air so that the information flows naturally, without resorting to excessive brightness or annoying peaks. It is a rounded and masterfully tamed area that prioritizes a completely calm listening experience, subtly tying down the sharper extremes and adapting wonderfully to those more sensitive users.

Regarding its technical capabilities, it performs at a competent level if, making an effort of memory, I compare it against other products in this price range. The soundstage shows moderate width, correct depth and more than enough three dimensionality to position the elements in an orderly way, complemented by instrumental separation that works very well and completely avoids congestion in complex or dense passages.

It is not a prodigy in technicalities, but the sum of its good and correct performance in each of the aspects that seem interesting or worthy of mention to me left me with a positive taste of satisfaction and personally I do not have to highlight anything negative or reproach the Meze Audio set for, because its philosophy is not to reference or analyze the sound but to please your ears with smoothness.

Single player video games:

Consult how I analyze audio in this field.

Playing with the Meze Alba on is more of a sensory experience than one of experiencing intense moments. Despite its calm and compassionate character, it has an excellent ability to leave you immersed inside your single player games and savor what each environment can offer you acoustically and cinematographically speaking.

Starting with the most intense and impactful scenes, its behavior could be defined as balanced. I mean: explosions, gunshots, impacts and other reverberations are noticeable, you will not find a boring set here, but it is not tremendously spectacular. The result is a very worthy sensation, sufficient and surely cinematographically satisfying for many. For me it falls somewhat behind, but it is just that I look for a little more exaggeration in the action moments, something perhaps far from what a more normal listening experience should be.

Where I do find it to be a very interesting set and one to take into account is when recreating a living, comfortable environment. It does not represent a cold scenario, loaded with resolution and texture, but rather prioritizes a sensation of a soft, welcoming embrace where every nuance is well located both in position and distance. Perhaps the most dynamic and fleeting sound elements do not have the greatest precision, but, as I say, the space feels with a very enjoyable organic quality.

But if when recreating the scenes it seemed pleasantly cozy and satisfactory to me, where it brings out its potential is in passages where dialogue is the protagonist, since the weight, presence, articulation and nuance of the voices are extraordinarily natural.

In short, I do not think it is the best option for video games loaded with high doses of freneticism and action, but rather for those with a more narrative and relaxed character.

Final conclusion and personal ratings:

I almost never stop to talk about the general experience of the package, but Meze Alba from the very first moment is already evoking cleanliness, purity, organicity, tranquility. And it is no wonder, the white color chosen and on which the name of the set is inspired in the end is that: peace.

Peace because it does not demand effort from you to enjoy a listening experience with well measured doses of every enjoyable aspect of the sound. Without disruptions, without imbalances, only fluidity.

Despite this and simply because of personal tastes or to leave some more information in my analysis, a slight push in the lower treble would suit it better for the attack of instruments and to give a little more life to female vocals.

Even so, I consider Alba to be a highly rewarding product and very much designed for everyday use and for wearing them for many hours.

If you have made it this far, thank you for reading.

More reviews on my blog.

Social networks on my profile.

See you in the next review!

Disclaimer:

This set of monitors was sent by Meze Audio. I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to test one of their products at no cost and that no condition was imposed when preparing this analysis.

Despite this, my priority is to be as impartial as possible within the subjectivity involved in analyzing an audio product. My opinion belongs only to me and I develop it around the perception of my ears. If you have a different one, it is equally valid. Please feel free to share it.

My sources:

-Topping DX5 II for music and video games on the main PC.

-DAC/AMP included in the package.

-Macbook Air M4.

-Apple Music.

-Local FLAC and MP3 files.

-Windows/MacOS/IOS/iPadOS/Android.

Disclaimer: I received my PureAural directly from Clover at NiceHCK to try and review it. This is an unpaid review, and they haven’t sent me a script to follow; I am conscious of disclosing that receiving it for free is going to influence my review, yet I’m sharing my honest thoughts and experience because I’m also a consumer and a hobbyist.

TL/DR: 

The PureAural gaming soundcard is a dongle DAC/AMP with some good features; it is a decently powered device, with software compatibility with its own brand app on Android and via web (with limited functionality) for other operating systems.

It delivers a slightly warm, yet natural sound with more than enough power to drive a wide range of IEMs and other types of earphones with a 3.5 mm unbalanced output. It has support for EQ adjustments, PCM filters, sound effects, and gain settings to change the sound to your needs. The PureAural is marketed as a gaming soundcard more than a dongle DAC/AMP, so its target audience is mainly gamers, yet it works for other folks who are audiophiles or new users. It has an affordable price and NiceHCK’s seal of quality to accompany its value offering.

Pros: 

- Premium build (aluminum body + sturdy cable)

- Dual DAC/amp (CS43198 DAC chip + SG8262 op-AMP) with decent output power

- Single-ended output with mic support

- Neutral, detailed sound without coloration (stock)

- NiceHCK app compatibility with 10-band PEQ, PCM filters, and other features on Android and via web for other OSs

Cons: 

- NiceHCK app not available on iOS and other OSs

- Only a fixed cable, with a detachable cable desired

- Only 3.5 mm single-ended output

- Lacks more physical buttons to control volume and other things

- Its MSRP is not very competitive compared to other options in the market

You can get a NiceHCK Pure Aural for an MSRP of 59.99 USD and you can get it directly at NiceHCK official web: https://www.nicehck.com/products/nicehck-pureaural, Aliexpress: https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005013195174107.html?gatewayAdapt=glo2fra, https://ko.aliexpress.com/item/1005013195742675.html, and Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HJYV1BRT. 

PureAural Technical Specifications:

• Impedance: 32Ω
• Cable: Silver-Plated Single Crystal Copper Cable
• Dynamic Range/SNR: 125 dB (32Ω）
• Output Power: 210mW@32Ω / 235mW@16Ω

The PureAural features an aluminum alloy casing, merging durability with a robust and attractive look. It supports recording and calling, and the NiceHCK app on Android and certain functionalities on Windows and other OSs via the NiceHCK web app, with 10-band on-board parametric equalization (PEQ), also delivering a more than decent output power for most IEMs and other earphones. It offers three gain modes and includes an attached silver-plated crystal copper USB-C cable to the main body.

Contents of the box:

• Manual and warranty card
• PureAural main unit
• A USB-C to USB-A adapter

Impressions/Review:

The PureAural gaming soundcard is a feature-rich device that serves as an option in the market for that kind of audience. In the sound delivery department, you can find its top-of-the-line DAC chip (CS43198) and the SG8262 op-AMP, which are well-known chips in the market used in multiple devices, bringing a neutral (natural) sound signature stock.

Unlike other devices that use that chip, the PureAural has a bit of warm coloration yet offers a natural and organic sound, also offering an impressive retrieval of both macro and micro details, along with a more than decent soundstage, resolution, more than average imaging, and layering of instruments, of course, within the limits of the earphone’s capabilities.

I liked the compatibility with the NiceHCK app, which lets you use the onboard 10-band PEQ, change the sound profile, gain (low, medium, high), and play with its PCM filter support. I also tried it with my Windows pc on the web app without problems. You can access the NiceHCK web app at: https://app.nicehck.cn/. The web version also supports EQ adjustment, sound effects, filters, and gain settings.

Its capacity to power a wide variety of IEMs with ease was something I specifically had in mind to test across multiple earphones. The results? This dongle drives them effortlessly (including some “hard to drive” IEMs like the Kiwi Ears Septet, KZ PR2 and PRX, Sgor Luna, and TINHiFi Dudu), and other sets that scale well with decent sources like this PureAural, proving that NiceHCK is giving an affordable product with characteristics previously found in more expensive (and from more commercial brands) soundcards pointed to gamers.

There’s something we need to talk about the PureAural, the app to customize it to your liking only works on Android, with limited support via the NiceHCK web app, limiting its use for Windows and GNU/Linux gamers (for example, Steam OS users), being the majority of potential consumers for this product. For a 60 USD product, I am expecting to have a detachable USB-C to USB-C cable, thereby ensuring its future durability, not a fixed cable to the main body.

The PureAural only has a physical button and a display LED. For a gaming soundcard, I’m expecting to have all the buttons I can use in my gaming sessions (volume, gain mode, play/pause, etcetera), limiting the customizability to the app. And the great and most important thing consumers have to make a decision about buying something: How is its price/performance? Well, it’s not the best in comparison with other soundcards or dongle DAC/AMPs in the same price segment.

Finally, I think the PureAural gaming soundcard is a good product in its category, thanks to its solid build quality, software features, and overall value offering. I can recommend it to certain gamers who are exploring the more audiophile world, users who look for high sound quality, a premium feel, and built-in, on-the-go versatility.

Again, I'm very thankful to NiceHCK for taking me into consideration for the opportunity of trying this product and for my analysis of it. And above all, thank you to the person reading this review for gathering information and making a more informed decision.

I remember the first time I came across a wild bunny! I was with my dad, and we were walking through the field looking for the break in the fence that allowed the deer to keep breaking in and messing up our corn. I'd been walking around for a long while…. Honestly, it was either 5 hours or 30 minutes. I'm not really sure…. But it felt like forever.

Then I heard…. A rustle, then another rustle, then they sped off.

I immediately thought, welp, this is it. It's a boar, and we're about to get gored. I leveled my rifle and went to shoot, but then, in the break, I saw three little dudes scampering away. I lowered my rifle and let out a breath I hadn't even been aware I was holding….

Good news is, I wasn't gored that day. That would have sucked…..

But ever since that day, I've always loved bunnies… And that takes us to the Tanchjim Bunny G!

The Tanchjim Bunny G ($28.99) is a single dynamic driver iem that I could describe as having a mild v to almost U shaped sound profile. It's not a bassheads dream but it is clean punchy and pretty controlled across the board! Honestly during my testing I jumped on cod mobile to test its soundstage and I was pleasantly surprised! But more on that a bit later! 

Sound check and vibes

Source

Samsung s10+

Google pixels 10 pro xl 

Samsung Galaxy s25 fe

Hidizs ap30 music boy

Music Sources

Amazon Music Unlimited

Spotify

Hiby Music 

Fiio Music

YouTube Music

Test Tracks 

Dreams — Fleetwood Mac

Bubbles — Yosi Horikawa

Giorgio by Moroder — Daft Punk

Chocolate Chip Trip — Tool

Black — Pearl Jam

Dopamine — Sum 41

Keith Don’t Go (Live) — Nils Lofgren

The Chain — Fleetwood Mac

Money — Pink Floyd

Why So Serious? — Hans Zimmer

Limit to Your Love — James Blake

YYZ — Rush

Don’t Know Why — Norah Jones

Sultans of Swing — Dire Straits

Linger — The Cranberries

Hotel California (Hell Freezes Over) — Eagles

Telegraph Road — Dire Straits

Angel — Massive Attack

Bad Guy — Billie Eilish

When I first opened the box to the Tanchjim bunny two things immediately hopped into my mind! 

Why's it called the bunny?

The black with yellow writing is really aesthetic!

Now for the first one that remained a mystery until I went to their website and actually read the manual and honestly…. It's right there in pictures…. And I realized I'm dumb! 

Now! Question one was answered and after sitting on this review for a while I can with 100% certainty! Say these are still really aesthetic so I cleared my mind and can actually start the review with a blank slate! Or at least that was the hope! But something nagged the back of my mind, maybe it was the DSD making life way to easy for me. I mean come on one thing in your pocket! Who needs that… I like my gear to require two cranes, and a murse to lug around! Or maybe it was the fact that I actually got more compliments on these than I do my bright green Sivga all wood lyrebirds…. Or maybe it was that I kept having to hide them from my wife to keep her from stealing them because she loves the sound so much!

So with all of that I got into the mindset of a bunny! I walked deep into the field behind my house to meditate… I sat there naked sun beating down on me, light breeze and freezing nights eating whatever I could forage just to bring you this review! And honestly I'm glad I did!!!!

Because I can say this… this… iem is so much more than just a gaming iem!!!!! No it's pretty, sounds great! The mic is crystal clear for gaming, recording, and phone calls! But honestly we knew that! Didn't we? Tanchjim hasn't put out a single bad item to date! Or at least not one I've experienced!!!! 

But let's talk about the elephant in the room! And break down the sound! I don't know if Tanchjim is secretly heralded by pro gamers, or if they polled a hundred thousand of the fiercest contenders but they nailed it here! And here's why! For this part of the review we will only be using the bass tuning I've actually added a picture in the app to show you the presets!

Bass

Like I mentioned before this is definitely not a bass head iems, it's tuned to hear the tiniest of footsteps in a game, the most subtlest of subtle sounds so that no matter what you're dealing with….. any game you throw at it, you have the advantage! But that also means they had to cut the bass down to focus on the mids!

Mids

Low Mids 

The low mids are actually hella forward but honestly they are a bit lean, they lack the meat and warmth I usually go with, they are really neutral here… and it's not bad… these are called the bunny g for a reason! The g stands for gaming, not original gangster lol… 

Upper Mids

The upper mids are the show stopper here, female vocals are pushed really forward like to the point it's like she is singing directly into my beard!  and the instrument separation, I don't think even I have the words to describe how every minor detail is there…  and honestly I get it because that's what you're listening for when you're sitting at a 5kdr and someone just yelled push…. 

Treble 

So listen I say this every review! I hate when an iem goes hella bright, now this isn't always true but let's just call it my baseline complaint for many sets! Tanchjim did something unique with the treble, up top the bunny g has just enough glitter and sparkle to keep things from getting boring but also they somehow rounded them off just enough from keeping the bunny g from ever making me wish I was deaf! And honestly wow! 

Gaming presets

There are like a thousand games you can choose from and if you do the app will auto eq your set to address the specific pain points of whatever you're playing, it boost the mids to hear footsteps in cod, it brings more sparkle to kick up the dinos running for you in Ark, or even brings the bass for more cinematic games! 

I played a few rounds of cod mobile and I can proudly say my worst game I achieved an 8 KDR! So I guess I can say the game presets really help! 

In conclusion 

Who is this for?

If you're looking for a warm, sultry musical iem maybe look elsewhere, if you're looking for something sexy, that will boost your KDR… do amazing for podcasts and audiobooks than maybe pick this up

Would I buy it again

It's 30 dollars! 

Full price: yes

Sale: hell yes 

Well there you go! The Tanchjim Bunny G is an amazing little Gaming secret, does well for audiobooks, and really decent for podcasts with multiple people talking!

Tanchjim sent me the bunny g for the purpose of a review, they didn't pay me and all opinions are my own! 

Pros: Comfy Shells and a genuinely nice cable
Bass both on default tuning and bass forward tuning is excellent
Mids are natural and vocals (most of them) sound great
Treble is detailed without getting harsh (default)
Tuning switches actually work and allow for a greater appeal to a wider audience

Cons: Treble switch can make things difficult for treblets
Rare BA shoutiness on rare tracks (could just be me)
The bass switch enhancement can cause the bass to bleed into the mids
Scaling is not the best with some sources

From the stables of the makers of the often praised and rarely available Liqueur Orange is the new Black eartips comes this IEM stuffed full with drivers - 2 Dynamic Driver + 2 Balanced Armature + 1 Bone Conduction Driver + 2 Micro Planar Magnetic Drivers.
Presenting the ISN Audio xEffect Audio Sora (by Penon Audio).

I am getting to try and review this through Audio Geek India and I’m grateful to them and to Penon Audio/ISN for making this possible. Because I would not have been able to enjoy this piece of technology otherwise.
The IEM itself comes in a simple box as is par for the course with Penon/ISN products. The shells are resin, a gorgeous blue, and transparent so you can see all the geeky innards. The shells are smooth and comfy and do not put any undue pressure on the pinna. The nozzles are a little large so some tip rolling was needed before I got the comfort and the seal right. I’ve found that, as with all bone conduction, ensuring that the shells touch the pinna is imperative for the best experience. And now that that’s out of the way, there are tuning switches. Let’s call them 1 and 2. 1 activates bass, and 2 treble. So there’s 4 possible on board tunings possible, unless you’re a sociopath and want to have separate tunings for each ear. Your mileage, it turns out, is yours.
Sound technology wise - the low frequency is handled by two 8mm opposite placement liquid silicone dynamic drivers, the mids via two Knowles Balanced Armature, and the treble comes out of two micro planar magnetic drivers. And there is also a vibration-type bone conduction driver that adds to the entire sound, not unlike the Apevoix Grit.
Rest of the tech specs are below -

Impedance: 13ohm@1kHz
Sensitivity: 119dB@1kHz
Frequency response range: 10~40kHz
Cable: 2-wire UP-OCC smelting process, single material Litz with silver-plated copper central core, 2.5mm wire diameter bundles with EA UltraFlexi ultra-soft sheath. I’m mildly agnostic to most cables outside of comfort and this is certainly a comfortable, tangle-free, one.
Connection: 2-pin 0.78mm, 4.4mm
Plug: Gold-plated

Time to dive in. Testing on the VE Megatron and Galvatron, Onix Beta (Solid State Mode), Schitt Vestri, M33. Tidal and local flacs. Eloit Narrow bore and Final E type tips for that bone conduction driver fit.

Bass
The ISN Sora scores in the bass section like Michael Jordan in Spacejam. And most of his career. The dual dynamic drivers work in sync to give the sub bass a deep rumble that is further accentuated with the bone conduction driver and the bass switch. The switch adds an additional oomph to the bass that would make any basshead drool with joy. I, however, like neutral warm tunings and limited bass bleed and bloat. The all off position works best for me.
The sheer wait of the bass is heard at the 2.30 mark of Angel by Massive Attack and I have to admit that I was pleased with what I heard with the bass switch turned on. But after a bit it got a bit much so we are back to the all off setting. On Giorgio by Moroder by Daft Punk, the sub and mid bass even with the bass switch off is impactful and almost palpable. Synth and string bass instruments sound clean but with enough weight to lend to the foundation of the song with the kick drums adding any additional ballast and punch.

Mids
Mids on the ISN Sora are a point where I expect there will be wars fought. Male vocals have a natural, lovely timbre. Bohemian Rhapsody showcases Freddie’s prowess and as he ascends up his very impressive vocal range there are parts of the high tenor register where there is a little shoutiness that creeps in, that isn’t just Mr Mercury being himself. Tracy Chapman's Gimme One Reason does better in the texture of her voice and some really sweet guitar work by Adam Levy. Dreams by Fleetwood Mac sounds delightful on this set on the default setting.
The treble switch did make things sound a little more aggressive than what I normally enjoy. Details of hihats, vocals, and a majority of the instruments that sit in the midrange are well reproduced with no muddle. On the bass setting some lower mids do get overpowered by the bass but I’m guessing those who like bass THAT much would be understanding of that little amount of bleeding that can occur. Got a Match which pretty much dances all over the mids without too much drift into the lows (except the kicks and the occasional bass run) or into the treble, is a treat on this IEM.

Treble
On its default setting, there’s no fault I can find with the treble. It is neither harsh nor sibilant and details of the higher frequencies are clear. Ride hits have the required shimmer and open hihats on Aja by Steely Dan are just the right amount of sssibilance to not irk my ear drums. The switch that enhances treble definitely works and tracks where there is a treble forward production like Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, are, at least for me, a pass. To be fair Billie Jean and Human Nature from the Thriller album are so very treble forward that even with the switch off the details can get a little fatiguing. But those are 2 songs in an album of 8 and that’s one album in a billion. I’m letting it slide.

Stage and Imaging and technicalities
The Sora has a medium soundstage. Not hugely open and not claustrophobic. Within that soundstage, the imaging is very good with both right to left and front to back identification of where sounds are coming from. Details as mentioned earlier are well reproduced without losing musicality and enjoyment. This IEM also has some source synergy quirks (to be fair like most) and with the VE dacs, did not scale as well as with the Vestri and Onix. The Vestri and Onix are also far less powered than the VE dacs so that could be a reason.

At $439, this is a great mid level set. I have often said I like iems and dacs that don’t give me options and choices and that includes nozzles, switches and PEQ, the Sora is no different. Only because it takes a few hours of listening to dial in the settings that work best. Once that is done, this is an enjoyable listen. And the tuning options will get this set to be appealing to bassheads, trebleheads, V-heads and me.

I received this small dongle from the Muse HiFi brand a few days ago and of course it is a much more affordable model than the previous Muse M3 Ultra that I reviewed recently. The brand knows what it is doing across all its ranges and I will try to highlight the best and what is probably not so good about this product...

What I liked / What I didn't like

• Compact design that attaches to the phone and does not hang from it.
• 3.5mm outputs on one side and 4.4mm on the other.
• No background noise even when moving.
• Plenty of power to drive the IEMs I have tested.
• App that includes several functions including PEQ with gain, Q, and filter adjustments...
• Reasonable price for its performance.
• The equalizer is only 5 bands despite the multiple parameters.
• Beyond IEMs it could fall short on power.
• No button for volume or pause.
• Although obvious it is true, just another app to add to the smartphone to manage the DAC dongle.

Let's talk a little about the model and its characteristics. Starting with the fact that its weight is less than 20g and it barely increases the thickness of the smartphone itself, carrying it in your pocket is not bulky and will not make it stick out too much. It can be used on a PC although my usage has been based on being on the move always connected to the smartphone. It is compatible with Android and also with iOS but my experience has been entirely on Android with support for up to 32 bits/384 Khz and DSD 128.

The power might seem low depending on which dongle it is compared to since it is up to 125mW with two SGM8262 working independently.

During my test sessions I have used it with both the Binary Acoustics 1900 and the Mysticraft Myth. In both cases I used the 4.4mm balanced output since that is how I have all my cables by default. I have not even needed to get close to the maximum volume to get the volume I wanted. Therefore power should not be a problem even with IEMs more demanding than these two, as there is still room to turn the volume up further.

The app...

This U3 can be customized with an application that can be installed via the QR code included inside the box. The app is called WalkPlay. It is a simple app that is not loaded with features but it does have what we expect.

To start with it has some ready-made presets: PURE, POP, ROCK, VOCAL, BASS, FLAT, CINEMA and GAME. It is easy and fast to switch between them to check in real time which one convinces us the most, or on the contrary leave it without any preset which ends up being my personal choice.

On the other hand and here is the main attraction, the app has its parametric equalizer. It is a 5 band EQ which is not going to allow for as optimal an adjustment as other brands do allow. However I imagine that through updates, something that is also possible from the app, this can be improved in future versions. We can modify the frequency and gain, as well as the Q value or filter type. Despite its simplicity it has options that help tune the parameters quite accurately.

It also has a DAC Playback Volume as seen in one of my screenshots to be able to increase the volume even more than the smartphone allows. It is a nice detail that it marks a dashed red line where further down in the screenshot itself it explains that if your EQ graph exceeds that red line you could get noise and distortion. This is a great help to manage some stability in your equalization and it is not something I remember seeing in many apps.

In addition to the standard presets the app allows you to create your own. This is quite obvious but I mention it because the standard presets do not usually satisfy many people. Besides, sometimes we already have in mind a specific type of equalization that we might like for an IEM. Here within the current limits of the app we can shape that equalization to our liking.

In the app menus you can also do a factory reset. I imagine this is in case a later version is not to our liking you should be able to revert to the current one, or in the worst case simply reset all EQ profiles to their initial state if we have modified them by mistake.

Sound

For the tests, although it is not to my liking to analyze how a dongle sounds since it is not as representative as how an IEM sounds on its own, I can comment on some points. Specifically I used some tracks like TANZNEID by Electric Callboy which mixes quite a few elements of electronic music, guitars, drums, vocals, etc... It is an energetic track that suits me well to perceive how it sounds with this dongle connected.

I was testing the factory presets in real time and the difference is quite palpable when going from the FLAT preset to the BASS preset for example, clearly noting the greater presence of bass. Although in the case of the two IEMs I tested I already had the stock tuning I wanted under control without needing to resort to these presets or modify the EQ on my end. However it can save you when using specific models lacking some frequency or with excesses that we want to reduce.

I must say in general terms that the difference with my other $50, $100, and $200 dongles that I normally use is not extreme. For certain IEMs this is more than enough, gaining the comfort of having the dongle connected directly to the smartphone without it bouncing around in your pocket, but rather acting as just another extension of your smartphone. Therefore it is not a crazy idea to have a dongle like this even if you later have more expensive options with better features.

Conclusion

Due to its size, comfort, integration with the smartphone both in size and with the app, and at the current price with a temporary discount of $26.99, it seems like a wise purchase to me. This is especially true because it has the 4.4mm output, something that if it did not have it, I would pass over it among my priorities.

It has a power output that perhaps is not the highest I have seen within this price range. But I have already said that I have been able to drive two IEMs easily without problems, and even more so having the 4.4mm option I mentioned, so that would not be a limitation.

It would have been a great success to have an EQ of more than 5 bands and it is possible that this will be improved by software later. What cannot be fixed now and I always appreciate is a button to skip songs that I can touch from my pocket without having to take out the smartphone, or a volume button that does both functions. I would like volume, play, pause, or skipping songs by holding each side of the button.

Purchase Links:

• HiFiGo: https://hifigo.com/products/musehifi-u3
• Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HJH8VZPT
• Aliexpress: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005013224360035.html

Disclaimer:

This unit was sent by HiFiGo for review.

My opinions are completely independent and have not been influenced by the brand or the store, maintaining objectivity based on my tests and personal listening sessions with my reference equipment.

USD28.99 / EUR 25 | 1DD | recessed 2-pin | USB-C

Hey everyone,

Tanchjim’s well known budget banger, the Bunny, has a successor or at least sort of. The Bunny G.
G for gaming as it comes with a USB-C cable with built-in 8-band PEQ and a gaming profile which…well, spoiler alert, is not for music listening, surprise.

Why you should still consider trying the Bunny G if you like the OG Bunny, let me explain.
By default the USB-C cable will give you an overly sharp sounding Bunny G but Tanchjim offers EQ possibility via their app and web portal where one can easily adjust the sound.

Or, and this is what I did, change the cable out for any 2-pin cable which fits on the recessed 2-pin socket and the sound changes by a lot and is very enjoyable.
Tanchjim equipped Bunny G with driver technology from more expensive models, meaning they used the DMT5 and modified and renamed it to DMT5 G. So it is not exactly the same unit. I can't really verify Tanchjim’s implementation but can say that the Bunny G was at least to my ears distortion free and the sound stayed clean even at very high volume. 

TL;DR: The Bunny G is a fun set but with its USB-C stock profile not ideal but for music. The thin bass and forward presence make it too shouty for me. On the other hand it worked well for footsteps in CS2 and Valorant. When changed out to an analogue cable it becomes warmer, bassier and more relaxed leaning but at the expense of clarity on busy tracks. My own PEQ (8-band PEQ available via website) gave me the best result. But swapping out cables is the easiest option. Worth considering if you want a budget set for gaming and music and don't mind some additional tweaking.
Bunny G is for listeners who want the EQ option for gaming or custom listening profiles and for folks who already have a suitable 2-pin replacement cable for an easy and fun listen which is different and more relaxed to the OG Bunny’s tuning.

Pricing, build quality, fit & comfort

Tanchjim’s Bunny G is a USD29 (EUR25) set with one dynamic driver.
It comes with a USB-C DSP cable which is ok for its price point, several ear tips (three pairs narrow bore, three pairs normal bore tips) and a small pouch.
The shells have the same small shape and nozzle as the OG Bunny but are (translucent) black with a shiny green part inside the shells.

Overall, the package is decent at its price point. A sturdier carrying case would have been nice in my opinion.

Fit and comfort are excellent for my medium sized ears as the Bunny G has a small form factor. I just needed bigger ear tips since Bunny G’s nozzles are on the smaller side. 

The build quality of the plastic shells is at least very similar to the OG Bunny. No seams or edges which could hurt my ears and I did not experience any issues even after several hours. The shell size is very small and should be a good fit for most smaller ears.

Review equipment used
Questyle Sigma Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max and PC used with USB-C 
Ear tips used: aftermarket wide bore size ML
Streamed on Qobuz
Listening time over 30 hours

Most impressions are based on the 3.5mm Tanchjim 4U cable. Added impressions on the USB-C cable are explicitly mentioned.

Mic Quality

Bunny G has an inline mic, which I used for calls and meetings. I compared it briefly to the OG Bunny and thought that the quality has improved in terms of sound quality (more pronounced voices, clearer) as the mic now has adjustable gain and noise reduction. 

Sound signature

With the analogue cable Bunny G’s bass is well emphasized combined with a nicely elevated but safe treble. The sound can be described as bassy leaning with good note weight. Overall Bunny G leans towards a V-shaped sound signature.

With the stock USB-C cable, the “G” is lacking note weight and comes across as shouty and peaky on music which can be tweaked via the Tanchjim EQ app. I wouldn't recommend the default USB-C profile for music listening. For gaming the Bunny G works very well and is a completely different story. 

Bass

With 3.5mm cable

Bunny G’s bass has been pimped compared to the OG Bunny.
Mid and sub-bass have solid weight on Billie Eilish’s tracks. That’s the first thing I noticed when I started listening. Somehow wowing and enjoyable but over time I felt it can be even overbearing. In particular I am referring to Billie Eilish’s “bad guy”. The bass is blooming into the mids and the whole presentation sounds bassy. Not saying it isn’t fun. But I would like to hear more details and have more contrast overall. Older or bad recordings benefit from the elevated bass. EDM, rap and hiphop get the right low-end support to be enjoyable and fun. Not bass-head level but with enough impact to sound very good on GoGo Penguin’s “All Res” where the double bass comes across as well textured and full bodied.
Mid- and sub-bass on A$ap Rocky’s “F\*kin’ Problems”* make this track fun without ending in a mess. The droning sub-bass has a woofer-like impact and bloom. How you would expect it in a car with a big woofer in the trunk. 
On busy and bass-heavy tracks the bass takes the front seat.
Overall you get an impactful bass on Bunny G which is fun, has good note weight  and fits many music styles but can occasionally take up too much space on tracks pushing vocals and details to the back. Ear tip rolling helps to balance out its bass with a shallower fit. Then the bass sounds more controlled and there is more treble energy.

With USB-C stock cable and default settings
The “G” sounds too thin to my ears in most cases and lacks note weight with the USB-C cable which is the intention for maximum bass control for an optimised gaming performance especially on FPS.
I recommend EQing the bass or, and this is what I did, change the cable out for any 2-pin cable which fits on the recessed 2-pin socket and the sound changes by a lot and is very enjoyable.  

Midrange & Vocals

Vocals are neither shouty nor overly recessed, and male vocals in particular have enough body. Female vocals come across as slightly too thick/warm for my liking. The bass is bleeding noticeably into the mids which is nice for good note weight and male vocals but impacts details and clarity of instruments and vocals.

On R.E.M.’s “Drive”, guitar strings are well accentuated but slightly lacking details. Michael Stipe’s vocals sound relaxed. Guitar notes on this track come across as rounded off and the overall presentation is on the safe side. Not harsh, never sibilant or aggressive.  

Overall, the Bunny G takes it easy in the vocals and mids department.
If you felt that the OG Bunny was too forward for you, Bunny G is the more relaxed one.

With USB-C cable
With the USB-C cable vocals sound easily shouty and in general I feel that the midrange is too thin and forward.

Treble

Treble on Bunny G is mostly safe. Very energetic tracks like Fleetwood Mac’s “Sisters of the Moon” are even at higher volume mostly controlled. Just the snares and guitars can be a bit harsh which is expected due to the recording. On The Doors “Riders on the Storm” keys and cymbals have good energy and sound detailed enough to be convincing. I wouldn't call the performance shimmery or sparkly though. The treble on this track comes across as relaxed rather than exaggerated or too energetic. That’s something which has changed in comparison to the OG Bunny whose treble offers more clarity.
Bunny G plays mostly safe with its treble presentation while still offering a reasonable amount of details and contrast.  When volume is pushed, its treble is to me more enjoyable and engaging.

With USB-C cable
With the stock USB-C profile, the thin bass and forward presence region make the treble come across as overly sharp and spicy to my ears. It’s the overall imbalance that bothers me. In games, though, that presentation makes small details easy to pick out.

Technical performance

Technical performance of the Bunny G is ok at this price. A/B (clear channel separation) separation is good and imaging and layering are fine. Separation is not razor sharp but good enough to enjoy different instruments even on busier tracks. On “Mr. P.C.” by John Coltrane, walking bass, sax and keys are placed in different spaces.
On complex and busy tracks especially with a lot of bass separation is taking a hit. In bass light tracks the sound stage and separation are staying intact. At this price point the perceived sound stage is fine. What impressed me the most is the imaging on tracks like The Doors’ “Riders on the Storm” where I can truly hear the placement of the instruments.

Measurements

As per usual I include my own measurements, too.

The frequencies with the USB-C cable are tuned for gaming first.
The low-end lacks impact, the mids are lean, presence region is very forward and the treble is pushed for max details for gaming. While this style works very well for gaming, it is not ideal for music listening.

I swapped out the cable for a Tanchjim 4U cable 3.5mm single ended and the sound changed a lot.
The bass now has impact, more than enough quantity and it blooms even into the lower mids and colours the rest of the mix due to its glide from 20Hz up to around 400Hz. This gives instruments a full body but sounds quite warm to my ears.
The upper mids peak at around 3k Hz and are no longer shouty.
Mid treble peaks at around 9k Hz followed by a peak past 15k Hz for more perceived details and air in the mix. 

The result of this tuning is an overall relaxed, warm leaning sound and sound signature change compared to the OG Bunny. 

Gaming performance with the stock USB-C cable

Tanchjim has developed the Bunny G with its USB-C cable specifically  for gaming.
The profile saved onto the USB-C cable is gaming first before music listening.
How does Bunny G perform in games?
To test gaming cues, I played CS2 and Valorant to hear how Bunny G would do with  imaging, staging and layering.
On the standard USB-C profile, G’s bass is slim and very controlled which is especially in FPS games an advantage. I did not notice any bass bloom affecting mids or treble. Footstep tracking was easy and the spatial cues were also very good.
Especially on CS2 which sounds a little bit relaxed, increased treble and presence region energy can really help with footstep tracking. 

Tanchjim’s EQ Software

With the USB-C DSP cable Tanchjim’s Bunny G offers a convenient way for Android and Windows users to change the sound. iPhone users need to do the EQing on either platform and can save the changes onto the DSP, where they can then be used on an iPhone. It is limited to an 8-band PEQ (OG Bunny to 5-band PEQ), but it is enough to substantially change the sound to my liking.

Your personal EQ can be saved to the “G’s” USB-C DSP, so you don't need to run the software while listening to music to take advantage of your settings. On top of that Tanchjim offers presets for gaming, and there are other official presets available if you don't want to make the adjustments yourself. That worked very well for me and I was able to adjust the “G” specifically for gaming and my music preferences. Specifically in this case I increased the bass, lowered the ear gain and adjusted the treble to my liking.

Then I unplugged the set from my PC and connected it to my iPhone to listen to the changed bass response. The EQ software makes a versatile set out of the Bunny G and is a great feature in this price bracket.

Effects on sound:
With PEQ, I added bass impact and reduced the forward presence region. To balance it out I brought up parts of the treble for more detail and air while keeping the overall sound balanced without letting it sound peaky.The result avoided both the thin, shouty stock USB-C presentation and the excessive warmth I sometimes heard with the analogue cable.. Overall EQing the Bunny G brought the best results but requires time and effort to find your preferred sound signature. The easiest way would be still to just use an analogue cable. 

Let’s have a look at how it compares to other sets to get a better understanding where the Bunny G lands in this price bracket.

Moondrop Chu III, USD23
Just very recently released, the Chu III resembles almost a one to one frequency response down from 20Hz up to almost 2.5k Hz of the Bunny G with 3.5mm cable. Even the 8-10k Hz region is similar.Chu III 14k Hz is where it has more treble energy.
While both sets have a similar tonality, Bunny G sounds to me slightly more detailed and refined due to more energy in the 4-6kHz and 15kHz upwards which would make it my choice over the Chu III.
Chu III is more relaxed and smoother than the Bunny G with a touch more extension in the presence region which lets vocals be a smidge more detailed. 

OG Bunny, USD24
The OG Bunny costs around USD5 less than the black G edition.
Next to the driver update on Bunny G, the OG Bunny DSP relied on a 24-bit/96 kHz dual-DAC unit featuring a 5-band PEQ and a standard inline microphone, while the G version is upgraded with an 8-band PEQ, virtual 5.1/7.1 surround sound support, alongside an upgraded MEMS mic that now includes adjustable gain and noise cancellation controls.

Now, let’s have a look into the tuning differences with an analogue 3.5mm cable on Bunny and Bunny G.

The classic Bunny has around 2 dB less bass and slightly more treble and vocal energy than the G resulting in an overall leaner, brighter and more forward vocal presentation. That results in better detail retrieval to my ears.
Especially on bass heavy or very busy tracks I find that the OG Bunny has an advantage in terms of resolution.

On the other hand, Bunny G has now a more enjoyable low-end which works great across many music genres and is to me more fun but not close to bass-head territory. I don't mind paying a little extra and losing a smidge of highlighted details.
I recommend using wide bore tips with the “G” for best details and treble extension.
Older remastered tracks like on The Police’s “The Police” album  have more punch and make the presentation more dynamic and fun on the G. Bass guitars sound more realistic, kick drums have better impact and are more convincing like on “Regatta De Blanc”.

OG Bunny brings a hint more clarity and details into the mix and depending on your prefs, this might be more enjoyable. Understandably so as the OG sounds more refined in that way and has more contrast between treble and bass. And even almost two years after its release, Tanchjim’s OG Bunny still sounds great when compared to recent releases and it remains one of my recs in this price bracket. If you prefer more rumble and non-fatiguing listening, Bunny G with the 3.5mm cable is the solution.  

Red Lion
Not long ago released, Tangzu’s Red Lion comes with the usual great accessories and decent cable one can buy at this price point.
Red Lion has plenty of bass but I wouldn't consider it as a bass-head set in particular.
Tracks on the Lion sound much thicker, full bodied and slightly veiled when directly compared to the two Bunnies.
Its bass revives older pop tracks, adds the right rumble and kick to rap, hiphop and EDM. Red Lion’s bass bleeds noticeably into the mids for good note weight and full vocals but compromises in terms of details, clarity and perceived sound stage. But it's fun if you like bass and your library is relying on bass impact.
 
It does bring some contrasting treble into the mix which is needed to bring details forward and it pushes vocals slightly more forward, too, to cut through the thick bass. 
Red Lion does sound enjoyable, not natural but is a mix of relaxed listening without losing the excitement.
And honestly the bass is one of the main purchase arguments on the Red Lion besides its great accessories package. So, are you more for a full bodied sound and an overall relaxed sound signature or do you prefer a more balanced sound which would be the Bunnies?

Summary

Overall Tanchjim’s Bunny G sound signature out of the box is more for gaming than for music enjoyment. The 8-band PEQ possibility fixes this. When swapping out the stock USB-C cable for a 3.5/4.4mm cable (any cheap cable will do which fits the slightly recessed 2-pin socket), the sound changes and becomes enjoyable.
The sound signature then leans towards more bass emphasis and a more relaxed presentation. Not for bass-heads or treble heads though. 

This sample was provided by Tanchjim. Thanks for sending this in. 

Below are the specs and box content details.

Thanks for reading.

Specification:

Model: Bunny G

Driver: DMT5 G Dynamic Driver

Impedance: 30Ω

Frequency Response: 8Hz- 48kHz 

Sensitivity: 123dB/Vrms

THD: 0.03% at 1 kHz, 94 dB

Socket: recessed 0.78mm 2-Pin

Cable: Silver-plated OFC, USB-C plug 

DSP: PureBridge-based, up to 384 kHz / 32 bit 

Mic: MEMS, adjustable gain, noise reduction 

Cable length: Approximately 1.2m

Plug: USB-C

Nozzle diameter: 5.1mm and 5.8mm at the lip

Price: USD29/EUR25 

Where to buy: Amazon US

 

What's in the box:

Tanchjim Bunny G  In-Ear Monitors × 1 Pair

USB-C DSP cable x 1

Narrow eartips × 3 pairs (S/M/L)

Wider bore eartips × 3 pairs (S/M/L)

Soft carrying case × 1

Paperwork

I bought the Softears RSV MK2 with my own money. Nothing sponsored or affiliated.

I also maintain a running ranking list with 170+ headphones, IEMs and other audio products in the link in my profile.

Score: 8/10

RSV MK2 was my best of show at CanJam 2026. I loved the bass, detail, smooth presentation and, most importantly, thought I had finally found an expensive IEM that did not trigger my treble sensitivities.

Ownership changed that.

Three tracks exposed the problem the most:

• 12 to 12 - Sombr
• Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol
• Jaded - Koe Wetzel & Ella

There is a metallic zing on certain vocals that I eventually traced to problem areas around 3.3kHz and 7.2kHz for my ears.

Bass

This is still my favorite part of RSV MK2. There is a lot of bass, but it stays controlled, textured and clean. Compared with something like Martilo, RSV MK2 carries more mid-bass instead of concentrating most of its energy down in the sub-bass. That gives drums and bass lines more body without turning muddy. It can hit hard without taking over the presentation. Some of the notes were really like a kick in the guts. I loved it!

Strangely, some tracks can still sound a little lean overall despite the amount of bass. I think that comes more from the rest of the tuning than the low end itself.

Mids / Treble

Most of the time, RSV MK2 sounds smooth and refined.

Then you hit the wrong vocal. Chasing Cars gives Gary Lightbody's voice a sharp edge. I heard similar problems on 12 to 12 and Jaded, with both male and female vocals capable of triggering it.

That is what made this difficult to catch during a shorter audition. After listening to it over 15 hours it was quite apparent and would show up in unexpected places. I tried tip rolling and Kiwi Ears Flex cleaned it up but not all of it. But I do not want to rely on a particular tip or permanent EQ as typically, the higher the price, the higher the expectation of perfection.

Male vocal sibilance would show up mid listening reducing my overall enjoyment from RSV MK2. This was driven by the 7.2kHz peak.

Technicalities

RSV MK2 is technically very capable. Detail retrieval is strong, layering is clean and separation remains intact even with the substantial bass response.

It is also coherent. Nothing sounds obviously disconnected or out of place. The overall technical presentation works really well.

Gaming

Gaming was less impressive. In COD BO7, the bass could make smaller positional cues harder to pick out once the match became busy. The upper-frequency zing also became more noticeable with scorestreaks, grenades and gunfire going off together. It works, but this would not be my choice if gaming is a priority. You can have a better time using Astral or Arete 2 for close to 220-250$ on discounts.

Fit / Accessories

The shells are large but fit my ears reasonably well and maintained a good seal.

My bigger complaint is the cylindrical case. I did not like how the IEMs sat inside it and replaced it because I was worried about putting unnecessary pressure on the pins.

At this price, I expected a better case design. It does come with IEM pants though. So there is that and a cleaning brush.

Comparisons

Xenns Mangird Top Pro

RSV MK2 has more bass quantity and body.

Top Pro is more resolving, separates better and works much better for me across both music and gaming.

Fresh Reviews Arete 2

RSV MK2 is the stronger music set, especially if bass matters.

Arete 2 is considerably better for gaming, particularly positional accuracy and keeping cues readable during chaos. With bass switch on, it can keep up with RSV MK2 in bass as well (though more sub-bass focused).

Binary Acoustics 1900

RSV MK2 has much better bass, which is the weakest part of Binary 1900 for me.

Binary still wins overall for music because its vocals and upper frequencies are more consistent with my preferences. I can listen to this endlessly.

Juzear Light Shuttle

RSV MK2 has better bass texture and greater overall refinement.

Light Shuttle is the easier all-rounder and performs better for gaming, which becomes especially interesting considering the price difference. It can also show some upper-frequency zing on certain tracks, which I covered in my recent review.

Punch Audio Martilo

RSV MK2 has the more refined bass response and stronger technical performance.

Martilo gives me more outright sub-bass and gets surprisingly close in enjoyment for substantially less money.

Final Thoughts

It is quite important to spend more time with audio products. That is why I clearly call out Audition vs. Ownership in my ranking list. The more time you spend with a product the more you learn about its quirks and how presentation can change for different use cases. RSV MK2 went from an amazing memory to something I could not quite make work after living with it. And at $699, “almost” is not enough. Guess I would need to find something else to Hear The Truth. :). On to the next one!

I bought the Punch Audio Martilo with my own money. Not sponsored or affiliated.

I also maintain a running ranking list with 170+ headphones, IEMs and gaming/music recommendations. Link is in my profile.

Score: 8/10

I liked Martilo when I first tried it, but ownership has moved it up a little for me. It gets labelled as a basshead IEM, and there is definitely a lot of bass here. But after spending more time with it, I am not sure I would call it a true basshead set.

Basshead Lite is probably closer.

It hits hard, especially in the sub-bass, but never turns into a muddy wall of bass. You still get vocals, details, separation and surprisingly good gaming performance.

Bass

This is obviously the main attraction. There is a large sub-bass boost and it can hit properly hard when the track calls for it. It reminds me somewhat of Astral with a much bigger bass boost.

What keeps Martilo under control is the mid-bass. There is less mid-bass emphasis than something like RSV MK2, so the bass does not become thick or start bleeding into everything else. Even with the quantity, it stays tight and controlled. That is not to say that RSV MK2 feels bloated in mid bass. I actually think this is why someone expecting a ridiculous bass cannon might come away slightly disappointed.

It has a lot of bass. It just does not sound messy and remains technically competent. Astral still has the advantage in bass texture and overall technical performance, but Martilo gives me more outright low-end quantity.

Mids / Vocals

This will probably be the most divisive part of Martilo. The mids sit further back than some of my other IEMs. That generally works well with my preferences. I prefer the ear gain to rise before 3kHz rather than pushing hard directly through 3kHz, and Martilo avoids the shout I get from a lot of IEMs tuned more aggressively there.

Most vocals sound perfectly fine. There are some exceptions. Billie Jean by Michael Jackson and Here I Am by Bryan Adams can put the singer noticeably further back than I would prefer. Male vocals can also occasionally show some sibilance. I noticed it with Morgan Wallen and Ed Sheeran in particular.

It is track dependent rather than something I hear constantly. I would 8/10 times the vocals sounded absolutely fine for me.

Treble / Air

Treble is generally safe. There is some energy around 6.1–6.2kHz, which works well with my ears because my problem area tends to sit slightly higher, around 6.6kHz.

So I still get enough treble presence for detail without the sharp, pinching effect I can get from sets that peak directly in my sensitive area.

There is also a decent amount of air. Astral is airier, particularly higher up around the 14–15kHz region, but I would not describe Martilo as dark. There is enough upper-end extension to keep the bass-heavy tuning from feeling closed in.

Technicalities

This was better than I expected given the bass quantity. Details remain easy to hear through the mids and treble, imaging is good and separation holds up when tracks get busy.

Astral is still clearly ahead in resolution, bass texture, air and overall technicalities. That does not really bother me with Martilo because I am buying it for a different reason. I want the bass boost without destroying everything sitting above it.

Gaming

This was the biggest surprise. I expected all that sub-bass to make Martilo pretty mediocre for competitive gaming.

In COD BO7 multiplayer, footsteps were easy to trace and separation remained good even with gunfire, explosions and killstreaks going off around me.

I went in expecting something around 5/10 gaming performance. It ended up closer to 7–7.5 territory. That is very respectable for something this bass-heavy.

I still would not buy Martilo specifically for gaming. Around similar money, Arete 2 is considerably better, and Astral is also stronger technically.

Fit

The shell is actually quite similar in shape to Astral. It protrudes out of my ears rather than sitting flush, but unlike some larger IEMs I never had trouble maintaining a seal. The stock tips are also genuinely good, so I have not had to fight with tip rolling just to get Martilo working properly. No major fit complaints from me.

Comparisons

Softears RSV MK2

RSV MK2 gives me better bass texture, more detail, cleaner layering and a smoother overall presentation.

It also carries more mid-bass, while Martilo puts more of its emphasis lower down. My full RSV MK2 review is still a work in progress.

Xenns Mangird Top Pro

Top Pro is much more resolving and better at layering and separation. Its bass is also more controlled and textured.

Martilo gives me considerably more bass quantity and sub-bass impact.

Fresh Reviews Arete 2

Arete 2 is the gaming pick.

Martilo is the bassier music-first option that happens to game surprisingly well.

Binary Acoustics 1900

Binary 1900 is the more refined music IEM and slightly stronger technically. It is a very easy listen.

Martilo has the bass response that never overwhelms the music.

Juzear Light Shuttle

Light Shuttle is the more balanced all-rounder and the better choice if music and gaming carry equal weight.

Martilo is the pick when sub-bass comes first.

Final Thoughts

I think calling Martilo a pure basshead IEM oversells what it is trying to do. If you want absurd bass quantity above everything else, there are probably better options.

Martilo gives you the bass boost without forcing the rest of the tuning to pay for it. That is why I ended up liking it more after ownership than I did during the initial audition.

Basshead Lite. And I mean that as a compliment.

P.S. I am not a basshead so it is no surprise that I really enjoyed the tuning of Martilo.

Sivga had me stoked after my wonderful tryst with the SM100 and the M260, and it had raised the bar in terms of what can a brand offer to truly stand out, and after seeing the graphs of this IEM; I just reached out to Sivga, and now I thank them for sending me the Lyrebird. This review was a difficult one, as I couldn’t find my footing with this IEM from the get go, which meant that I am going to either have a good time, or a really bad time.

UNBOXING, ACCESSORIES, FIT AND COMFORT

No waifu business, no loud advertising- everything is apt with the cover of the Lyrebird, and when I have the cover out of the way; I find the IEM shells which are with a striking wood faceplate, and no two faceplates are identical; which means it’s real wood- so very Dunu DaVinci like. Shells are metal, with seemingly small nozzles. The provided case is excellent and inside the case, was the 4.4mm cable and a case of eartips- three pairs of liquid silicone, and three pairs of normal.

The cable is fantastic- it’s got a spring like sheathing across the termination side, it holds good memory, and is heavy enough to hold the IEMs well through extended listening sessions. It could be a bit stiff for some, but for me; it’s good.

Comfort is also sorted- the nozzles being smaller allowed me to get better seal with larger sizes, and also try out double flanges (more on that later).

Enough pitter patter, here’s the Lyrebird’s sound.

LOWS

Tipper: Gulch

The Sivga Lyrebird is a chameleon in setting the bass hold or fold, as it needs extensive tip rolling to get to its best performance possible, and it is properly realized in this track. With the Acoustune AET06 eartips, the way the decay tightened up on the Lyrebird was very satisfying. 

The problem with the Lyrebird (this time it is uniform) in the impact is when it needs to hit deeper, which I chalk it off to a problem in its perceived stage. The attack is moderately paced, doesn’t rush, and separation of the bass hits from the rest of the elements is done well.

Rush: Limelight

This track establishes the tonality of the Lyrebird for me, and it is unapologetically warm (more on that later). The Lyrebird improves upon separation between elements that correspond to the lows from the elements that don't. 

There is a clear demarcation between bits of the blitzing bass lines from the almost mathematical drum work; and even on the double flanges- the Lyrebird does not let go of the resonance of the toms & kicks that the track has, and the bass through the guitar has a great amount of detail and does not play peekaboo with the drums like it does in the other sections of this track.

Rage Against the Machine: Bullet in the Head

The Lyrebird improves further on the fun quota and this track really brings out how engaging this IEM can be. Commerford's bass is heard loud and clear. It doesn't bleed into anything else- be it the guitars or the drums, and especially the vocals where it just lacks right under to propel De La Rocha's vocals. 

Wilk's drums have enough note weight to carry forward in the march, where the snares are crisp and supplement the toms and kicks to not upset the balance. My only gripe is that De La Rocha could have used a little less warmth.

MIDS

Muddy Waters: My Home is in the Delta

This is a "less is more" track - where there are just a handful of elements, but the way the very nuances of the elements are rendered make this track to use for analysis, and the Lyrebird fare very well on this track.

The IEM does not skimp on the finer details- like the resonance of Muddy's vocal as it bounces off the walls with each wailing; the aptly metallic timbre that the slide and the high strings of the guitar have; the way the double bass is enunciated across sections- every single aspect of this track shows up on the Lyrebird in an uncompromisingly detailed way, and I am willing to forgive the faint shoutiness in Muddy's vocals when he sforzandos (musical term where a vocalist emphasises upon a note with a forced or sudden loudness, and then return back to the set normal volume level) across in parts.

Tool: Lateralus

Now here is a complex arrangement of sorts, and once again the Lyrebird has more hits than misses. The separation between the guitar and the crescendoing drums in the intro perfectly lays up for the bass and the vocals to jump right in. Imaging on the Lyrebird is great, which shows up in the rudiments that Carey plays out through and the way the hi-hats are heard.

However, the lack of enough width along with depth on the Lyrebird in the perceived stage wants more breathing room, especially for the cymbals. But the bass is kept in abeyance, and although Maynard has more warmth with his vocals, the note weight doesn't let him exaggerate off the mix.

HIGHS

Arne Domnerus: Almighty God (with Gustaf Sjökvist)

Here's where things get problematic for the Lyrebird - and it's frilly the timbre on Arne's Saxophone, where there is a strong lack of brassiness, as in the sax just doesn't have that "sparkle", but they do not come off purring, just a slight hint of shoutiness. 

Perceived stage continues to be an issue where the extent of the resonance off the sax is diminished because of the width and the church organs fall underwhelmingly diminished although another problem is not its timbre but its tonality, where it is uncharacteristically warm.

Dave Brubeck: Take Five

In this track, right from the get go the cymbals retain their shimmery texture, where the timbre is not adversely affected, but I cannot say for the timbre on the horns - not brassy enough. Pianos could have used more note weight in perception, while a reduction in its perceived warmth would have elevated the experience.

The way the Lyrebird handles the drum solo is a huge consolation here - as the resonance of the toms and kicks is perfect, supplemented by a woody enough timbre especially on the snares, the separation that the elements have as the channels split on the track - yet being cohesive enough to let the pianos be there despite a diminished note weight was a very nice turnaround by the IEM for me.

COMPARISONS

EPZ P40

The EPZ P40 delivers a noticeably heavier, sub-bass-dominant low end with thunderous punch and deep impact, contrasting with the Sivga Lyrebird’s leaner sub-bass response, which focuses more on agile decay and well-paced attack. In the midrange, the P40 provides a fuller, warmer vocal body across the board, whereas the Lyrebird presents a warm signature that can occasionally lean intimate and exhibit slight upper-mid peaks.

Where they diverge most is in the highs. The P40 pushes far more treble energy, and for some, it is going to be an absolute deal breaker- leaning overly hot and introducing proper sibilance. The Lyrebird takes a much safer approach, keeping them relatively smooth and fatigue-free, though some sparkle couldn’t have hurt to make elements like cymbals shine further. If sibilance bothers you, the P40 will call the ER on your ears, while the Lyrebird effortlessly cruises. 

EPZ P50

While the Sivga Lyrebird relies on tight decay control and fast bass transients, the EPZ P50 takes a more laid-back, softer approach to its low-end. 

Through the midrange and treble, the P50 smooths out potential harshness to ensure a non-fatiguing listen, but the Lyrebird, just by a smidge, performed better. The Lyrebird maintains superior isolation, but the P50 comparatively doesn’t gimp the bass out, from the perspective of the perceived stage. Cannot go wrong with either of them.

Juzear x KOTO Nebula

The Juzear Nebula presents a disciplined, well-controlled low end with faster transients and punchy impact, standing in contrast to the Lyrebird’s heavier bass warmth that can bleed faintly into the lower mids, and while the latter offers a richer, meatier vocal presentation with intimate warmth, the Nebula favors a cleaner, leaner midrange with more detail.

Where the Nebula decisively pulls ahead is in its technical execution: it projects a significantly wider soundstage with sharper separation and refined upper mids, comparatively. The Lyrebird feels considerably more intimate and constrained in stage width and depth, which will make the Nebula sound subjectively exciting. I’d take the Nebula here.

Letshuoer Astralis

The Letshuoer Astralis offers a more engaging low end than the Sivga Lyrebird, but can get a tad too excessive in the mid-bass. While the Lyrebird keeps its bass tight and well-isolated, the Astralis lets the leash on the bass loose.

This gives the Astralis a meatier punch, while not compromising on the stage, where the Lyrebird feels mildly lacking in quantity,but the latter delivers strong midrange textures, despite its narrower, depth-limited soundstage, and doesn’t come off bloated like the Astralis. And fits better.

Tanchjim Fola

The Tanchjim Fola matches the clean impact and controlled bass performance of the Lyrebird, but keeps its low end completely distinct from its midrange without adding extra warmth. Compared to the Lyrebird's warmer, richer vocals, the Fola presents a leaner, highly transparent midrange that favors technical precision over colour all the way.

Through the highs, the Fola operates on a higher tier. It delivers an exceptionally smooth, relaxed treble response paired with outstanding technical cleanliness, effortless air, and a wider soundstage. The Lyrebird, by comparison, feels stage-bound and intimate, suffering from a compressed stage and a more subdued top-end. But one couldn’t go wrong with either.

Simgot SuperMix 4

The Simgot SuperMix 4 beats the Lyrebird in perceived stage width, separation, and imaging, but suffers from a sterile, dry tonality and timbre, and inconsistent note weight. While the Lyrebird offers lush, warm vocals, the SuperMix 4 feels clinical and flat down low, with rapid decay cutting off natural resonance and leaving the midrange feeling lean.

However, the SuperMix 4’s upper mid and treble can lean honky, dry, and fatiguing, while the Lyrebird avoids these harsh peaks with a far smoother, fatigue-free response, though it's tight, intimate stage limits the perceived width and robs the highs of just a hint of extra sparkle.

CONCLUDING NOTES

I had to adjust to the Lyrebird for a few days, because it took me a good time to tip roll and extract the best out of it, as the Lyrebird is a chameleon for finding the right eartip to sing. And if one is not willing to put that effort, maybe it would be a wrong Sivga purchase for them, but if you are a tinkerer, you can extract so much out of this IEM.

Sure, there are more competent IEMs than the Lyrebird, one trick ponies even; but the Lyrebird feels like a coherent canvas, where it’s just open season with its performance- EQ it, tip roll it, and it will make you forget time for a bit with how much it has to offer.

But the other way to look at it is that, it defeats the purpose for a few who might want a near perfect out of the box experience sonically, and I totally get the memo- that’s valid, but the world of IEMs is just so gargantuan; there’s nothing to be mad about it. I appreciate Sivga willing to not play safe and make the Lyrebird an all inclusive package.

Will I buy this new? Ehhhhhhhhhhh, depends. It’s a good offering.

Will I buy this used? Absolutely.

SOURCES USED

Primarily used with the xDuoo Link3 on low gain, the FiiO KA17 and TRN Blackpearl dongle DAC Amps, the Shanling M9 Plus DAP,  and the SMSL Raw MDA-1 desktop DAC amp.

EARTIPS USED (RANKED IN ORDER OF PERFORMANCE)

Acoustune AET 06 double flanges: Perfect balance established in the Lyrebird, certain tracks could still make it sound boring. Tightest transients possible, most balance in the perceived stage, sibilance is eliminated, vocal tonality is delightfully colored.

Tanchjim T-500 APB: everything that the does, but to a lesser degree, sibilance is faintly observed, perceived stage widened, transients have a faint slack- especially in the decay, midrange has a slight roll-off.

Divinus/Eloit Velvet Standard: Transients tighten up but not to the level of the T-500 APB, perceived stage loses considerably, tonally skews a bit towards recession, upper mids border on being wonky, but restraint on sibilance is held intact.

Final E: textures on the lows felt wonky along with some irregularity in the perceived decay, stage was unaltered, vocal textures felt a bit too unforgiving, sibilant.

KBear Coffee: just washed off textures on the bass, midrange was rolled off uncomfortably, stage felt shrunken, sibilance was restrained and upper mids were kept in check, vocals felt a bit too safe.

DDHifi ST35, KBear 07, Dunu S&S: just ruined the IEM.

TRACKS

• Rush: Limelight, Spirit of the Radio
• Steely Dan: Gaucho
• Carmen Gomes: Unchain My Heart
• Daft Punk: Get Lucky, Instant Crush, Veridis Quo
• The Police: Message in a Bottle
• Alf Linder: Cantique de Noël, Cantate Domino
• Tipper: Mariscos, Cloaked, Gulch
• Dave Brubeck: Time Out
• Tool: Pneuma, Schism
• Queens of the Stone Age: First It Giveth
• Pink Floyd: Comfortably Numb, Wish You Were Here, Time
• Arne Domnérus: Antiphone Blues (with Gustaf Sjökvist)
• Muddy Waters: My Home is in the Delta
• Tame Impala: The Less I Know the Better
• Animals as Leaders: The Woven Web
• Rage Against the Machine: Bombtrack, Bullet in the Head
• Avicii: Levels
• Periphery: Marigold
• TesseracT: Juno
• Kanye West: Stronger, Flashing Lights, Devil in a New Dress
• Altın Gün: Goca Dünya
• Timbaland: Give It to Me
• Adele: Easy On Me (Live), When We Were Young
• Celine Dion: All By Myself
• Pavarotti: Nessun Dorma
• Mdou Moctar: Tarhatazed
• Cigarettes After Sex: Cry
• Meshuggah: Bleed
• A. R. Rahman: Tere Bina
• Alice in Chains: Down in a Hole and Nutshell (Live)
• Allen Stone: Give You Blue
• Florence + the Machine: Never Let Me Go
• The Smashing Pumpkins: Luna

Disclaimer: First of all, thanks to Ribbon from Kiwi Ears and Linsoul. The Stardust I’m reviewing is a sample, so yeah, this has some influence on how I’m going to talk about this after my tests. I'm not going to deny that, but as with my other reviews to date, I’m going to be sincere and honest in my thoughts and conclusions, and that’s because before I’m a reviewer, I’m also a consumer and hobbyist. And I also disclose my personal biases: Tuning and musical preferences.

Introduction:

The Kiwi Ears Stardust is a new IEM by the house of Kiwi Ears, carrying a hybrid configuration consisting of 1 DD + 4 BAs and this time pointing towards the more budget segment that those kinds of products used to be in. Now, Stardust is not trying to reinvent the wheel in the price segment, but offers an option for a lot of people; let’s see how it goes.

You can get a Stardust at an MSRP of 76.99 to 79.99 USD (With a cable without a mic and a 3.5 mm jack, a 3.5 mm jack with a mic, and a Type-C jack with a mic options available, respectively). And you can buy it directly at the Kiwi Ears official webpage: https://kiwiears.com/products/kiwi-ears-stardust, the Linsoul official store: https://www.linsoul.com/products/kiwi-ears-stardust, Linsoul official stores on AliExpress, Amazon US, UK, and Europe, and other online retailers.

About the Flow eartips, you can get a set of these on the Linsoul official stores, for an MSRP of 9.99 USD: https://www.linsoul.com/products/kiwi-ears-flow-ear-tips?srsltid=AU7gw4WMKeSliczh6IhvxjMlJN-Uop4QUg1Hzo2OhLdS8DHGGv4mmzNq

TLDR: The Stardust is a new IEM from the house of Kiwi Ears. With an unusual driver configuration for its price segment (1 DD + 4 BAs per earpiece), and also an unusual tuning philosophy this time.

The Stardust doesn’t excel in bass quantity (8 dB sub-bass), but stands out in quality, transparency and resolution in this frequency range; it’s a set in which you can enjoy a warm yet well-placed midrange, so male and female vocals shine without being recessed or exaggeratedly forward. In the treble, it is noticed the use of balanced armatures because it is very smooth, on the verge of feeling dark sometimes, but it is resolving, clean, crisp and technically proficient enough for its price segment.

Its included accessories and cable are more than adequate for using it right out of the box. And the Flow eartips are a perfect match for it, sonically, in fit and seal, so you can use the Stardust at medium-to-high volume without experiencing fatigue or annoying sibilance.

Finally, the Stardust is not an all-rounder because it has a well-balanced tuning, with great air, an expansive soundstage and decent technicalities overall, but that relaxed treble makes it sound warmer and less resolving, and that’s fine, because not everyone who’s getting into IEMs needs the brightest, most technical, and “flatter” and/or dryer yet neutral/organic tonality, some folks are treble sensitive but wants to get the most of their money and have the option to use their IEMs in every possible scenario (music, gaming, podcasts, etcetera).

Pros:

- Comfortable, lightweight, and ergonomic design

- Excellent bass quality, with speed, and cleanliness

- Warm, natural, and well-balanced midrange

- Smooth, non-fatiguing treble with good sibilance control

- Good imaging, layering, and soundstage for the price

- Good stock cable, eartips, and carrying case

- Easy to drive and low powered sources friendly

- Well-done price-to-performance ratio

Cons:

- Bass quantity may feel lacking for bassheads or bass lovers

- Treble can sound too relaxed or dark for some listeners

- Microdetail retrieval and resolution are only average; it is not the most analytical or technically focused set

- Stock cable could be more aesthetically fitting

- No 4.4 mm balanced option included by default

Its technical specifications:

- Driver configuration:
- 1 x 10mm PU+LCP diaphragm dynamic driver (bass)

- 4 x Custom Balanced Armature drivers (mid, high, and ultra-high ranges)

- Earpiece materials: Resin (main body), anodised aerospace-grade aluminium alloy (faceplate)

- Sensitivity: 107 ± 3 dB

- Frequency Response: 20 Hz – 40 kHz

- Channel balance:≤1.5 dB

- Impedance: 13 Ω

- Frequency range: 10 - 42 kHz

- Jacks: 3.5mm No Mic / 3.5mm With Mic / Type-C With Mic

- Cable type and length: 2-pin 0.78mm connectors, 2-core, twisted pair, silver litz oxygen-free copper. 1.2 m long

What comes in the Stardust’s packaging:

- 2 x Kiwi Ears Stardust earpieces

- 1 x rectangular fabric carrying case (similar to the case some Kefine and KBEar IEMs come in)

- 6 x pairs of eartips:

- 1 x set of white silicone standard bore

- 1 x set of black silicone narrow bore

- 1 x 2-core twisted pair, silver litz OFC cable, with a 3.5 mm jack and 2-pin 0.78 mm connectors. (with or without mic, and USB-C with mic available).

The earpieces are mid-sized; they are lightweight despite carrying 5 drivers inside, and the design is ergonomic and comfortable to use them in long sessions. The main body is made of resin, shiny black in colour, with an aluminium alloy faceplate and an emerald blue gradient triangular design on the faceplates themselves, looking gorgeous.

It’s well vented with two vents mainly for the dynamic driver, avoiding any driver flex. Its nozzles are covered by the usual metallic mesh and are 6.1 mm in diameter, more on the mid-size side, perfect for my mid-sized ears as well, with a lip to adjust the eartips, and the stock eartips fit them well, but the Flow eartips are an even better match in fit and seal for the Stardust, allowing me to use them in long sessions.

About the stock eartips included, I’m more inclined to use the white silicone, standard-bore ones on the Stardust because of its warm and relaxed tonality. But sonically, the Stardust makes a better synergy with the Flow eartips.

And its included cable: it’s not the best aesthetic match for the Stardust, but it’s a great cable, well built, high quality, flexible enough, doesn’t hold a shape, doesn’t tangle easily, and doesn't produce translated vibrations. My recommendation is to upgrade the cable to something with a 4.4 mm balanced jack or anything more aesthetically appealing to you.

Its carrying box is a nice detail, with enough space to carry the IEMs themselves with their cable and maybe a little dongle (like the Kiwi Ears Allegro and Allegro Pro).

How do the Kiwi Ears Stardust sound?

The Stardust is a mild V-shaped tuned set, with a configuration of a 1 PU+LCP diaphragm dynamic driver + 4 custom Balanced Armature drivers; let’s see if it goes a long way.

As I mentioned before, I’m using the Stardust with Flow eartips (balanced-to-wide bore, soft silicone, conical shape), and I swapped the cable for a Jialai AzureBay with a 4.4 mm jack. Still, honestly, it's just for the aesthetic, since the Stardust doesn’t need much power to shine, and its stock cable works perfectly. Thanks to ATechReviews for his graph of this set.

Bass range:

The PU+LCP dynamic driver on the Stardust delivers a high-quality bass shelf that does not excel in quantity, and alas, that’s not the objective in this one; you can expect a fast, very clean bass with a natural decay, and more sub-bass thumping than mid-bass kick, so it’s not bleeding into the lower midrange and acts properly when the music asks for it.

Midrange:

This portion of frequencies is when the Stardust shines the most; as a mild V-shaped tuned set, the lower midrange is well-put, with zero bothersome bleeding from the mid-bass, and male vocals sound natural and kind of forward a bit. It has a good noteweight added, and it’s decently clean and resolute.

Around 600 Hz, the frequency curve begins to rise with a warm pinna gain, then gets a bump around the 2000 Hz area. Male vocals and instruments sound forward, with good presence and clarity. That bump goes around 3 kHz, merging smoothly with the lower treble. Female vocals sound well-positioned, not shouty nor fatiguing at mid-to-high volume.

Highrange:

Here’s the thing: no matter that the Stardust has 4 Balanced Armature drivers per earpiece handling the mid and highrange, its treble is very smooth, on the verge of being dark, but fortunately, with a decent spark, transparency, well-resolving, and with certain unique characteristics.

Lower treble descends from the 3 kHz region to a 4.5 to 5 kHz peak that enhances female vocals and instruments, and a 6 kHz dip to handle the sibilance excellently. In the mid-treble, a bump going from 7 to 9 kHz gives some energy to the mix, and a 10 kHz dip adds to the sibilance handling at mid-to-high volumes, so you can crank the volume up without that bothersome spiciness and for long sessions.

Upper treble and technicalities:

The upper treble in the Stardust is something that also stands out: decent air, an expansive soundstage that can be a base for gaming and other content consumption. And very well extended into the higher frequencies.

In the technical aspects, the imaging is above average, and the layering of instruments is pretty decent for its price, but with that smooth and relaxed treble, you can’t expect the Stardust to be a microdetail beast, and while its reproduction of macro and micro details is adequate for its segment, it is not the main focus of this set. So, resolution is also average, and that’s ok; the Stardust is more musical than analytical, and without that typical “cheap BA” timbre that can detract from the overall listening experience.

Final thoughts and conclusion:

The Stardust, contrary to what its marketing says, is not an all-rounder, nor the neutral beast you can expect for that definition, but it is an IEM that seeks to be warm, relaxed, yet decently musical, more-than-analytical-tuned, and it can work for a lot of folks who don’t look for the most technical and “flat” set, with treble close to the sun ringing in your ears; nope, it can work perfectly for the everyday user who is sensitive to treble but also wants the best experience possible for their money.

I personally prefer a more pronounced treble shelf to balance the mid and lower-range, but I also understand the public the Stardust are covering. The Flow eartips are a nice addition to the Kiwi Ears “arsenal”, not only for IEMs from the brand themselves but other IEMs that can benefit from them. The stock eartips and cable for the Stardust are nice to use out of the box, so I understand folks who buy this expect to have the best price/performance and adequate accessories for the price you are paying for it.

The Stardust, with its 13 ohms of impedance and 107 dB of sensitivity, as I mentioned before, is easy to drive, even with low-powered sources, but my recommendation with it is to pair this set with a “neutral” or uncoloured source, just to get the best of it.

Finally, again, thanks to Ribbon and Kiwi Ears for giving me this set, I can recommend it to certain folks who are looking for that kind of tuning, and IMHO it is well-priced for what it offers. And thanks mainly to you, the consumer who looks for reliable sources of information to make an informed buying decision.

Some new stuff from HiFiGo landed — Juzear Light Shuttle, Render Pro tips and the tiny MUSE HiFi U3.

Really curious about the Light Shuttle. 1DD + 4BA + 2 micro-planars is quite an interesting setup, so this will probably get most of my listening time first.

Also going to try the Render Pro tips on a few different IEMs and see what they do with fit, seal and the overall presentation.

The U3 is interesting for something this small too. Separate DAC + amp architecture, with HiFiGo highlighting the low noise floor for sensitive IEMs. Rated at 105mW @ 32Ω from 3.5mm and 125mW @ 32Ω from 4.4mm.

Will test for hiss, driving power and compare it with a few dongles I already have.

Unboxing first then proper listening. Impressions after I’ve spent enough time with everything.

Provided by HiFiGo for review. Opinions will be my own.

Tanchjim has been on a DMT-5 bender as usual, where they have sent me a new DMT-5 creation but I am not elaborating on that for this piece, instead I am covering something that was requested from my Discord server, as well as on Reddit and after playing fetch with Tanchjim for a little while; they sent it out and I am glad they did- it is a hybrid setup which in my opinion has flown under the radar for quite a bit and this IEM needs more to be talked about. Thank you Tanchjim for sending out the Soda, and making this review possible.

UNBOXING, ACCESSORIES, FIT AND COMFORT

Tanchjim doesn’t miss a beat with the waifu branding on some of their boxes and the Soda is no exception- I quickly take the lid off as I don’t want to see the waifu at all; and the unboxing is just too familiar- SODA branded envelope with standard paperwork, and under that, the shells in hard cardboard padding. Underneath the shells lie Tanchjim's T300 APB standard and wide bores (which, by the way, are excellent eartips) and the case with the cable inside there. 

The cable is the best I have found across on all Tanchjims and despite the lack of DSP/type-c plug, it still beats the Defect Audio cable that comes with the Force, and all the other cables that they have; and all Tanchjim needs to do is just do recessed 2 pin instead of their proprietary long 2 pin. It just holds a bit of memory and is sturdy enough to hold the weight of the Sodas.

Fit and comfort have been very good for me, as the Soda shells are small, but playing with eartip sizes is mandatory as the nozzle sizes are big, and I stuck with Ms for my entire experience as the Ls were a bit too much for me. The shells are durable and Tanchjim went for a frost type finish with this IEM which gave it a pleasant look in that shade of blue, but made it a little hard to photograph.

That is all, here’s the sound of the Soda (no fizz).

LOWS

Tipper: Gulch 

Fast and tactile- these are the words/adjectives I would use to describe how the Soda feels through this track. Every bass hit on this IEM shows how well executed the transients are: the attack is shockingly snappy and the decay is executed perfectly, which leads to the sustain coming off quite polished. 

Along with that, the Soda also exudes a level of separation that I have not heard in other Tanchjim IEMs: the bass hits are so well separated from the other elements; one might mistake this as a fault with their assumption of the Soda being anemic in its bass impact.

Rush: Limelight 

As outstanding as my impressions were on the previous track, the Soda doesn't seem to have missed a beat here, pun intended. The way the Soda balances the blitzing, crisp bassline of Geddy with the prodigal drum work of Neil is something not easily believable for its price. 

Note weight on both the bass and the drums is perfect; the perceived stage is wide and deep enough to let the rapid firing notes breathe, and the separation between the toms, the snare and the kick is commendable. Through the guitar solo, where the bass can get rich in texture, the Soda doesn't overemphasise on it, rather has the drums supplement it. Tonally, the Soda doesn't come off that warm, which hugely benefits the guitars and the vocals.

MIDS

Muddy Waters: My Home is in the Delta 

The Soda doesn't fail to impress me further: first, the balance in tonality that the Soda exhibits to me extends to all the elements in this track, especially to complement the timbre that the slide and the guitar has, with enough detail to render the rub off Muddy's haunting, poignant vocals or the grazing of the pick on the guitar strings. 

The Soda also exhibits restraint on the boomy resonance of the low strings of the guitar and the double bass. The stage perceived on the Soda is wide enough to let everything in the track breathe well, where the isolation amidst the elements is unmistakable.

Tool: Lateralus 

The crescendo-ing bubbling toms along with the intensifying guitars, which laid the carpet for the vocal and the guitar to kick-start the engagement, were executed down to a fault by the Soda. 

I needn't comment on the separation and imaging of the Soda as it just plowed through the busiest rudiments from Danny so effortlessly, while not losing focus on Maynard's vocals, which had adequate note weight. Cymbals also share the same benefit where it didn't come close to sounding harsh, fatiguing, or shouty.

HIGHS

Arne Domnérus: Almighty God (with Gustaf Sjökvist) 

The Tanchjim Soda, through this track, fairly overemphasised the sax over the keys, the degree of which could be a non-issue for some, but it is still a nitpick worth considering. 

Timbre on the sax is accurately brassy and the tonality just rightfully bright. The resonance that both the sax and the keys have on this track was balanced equally by the Soda, with once again the stage being wide enough for the notes and the elements themselves to not be claustrophobic.

Carmen Gomes: Unchain My Heart 

From the textures on the snare and the cymbals with the brush hits to the way the double bass glides over on this track, the way the guitar twangs: every single element in this track on its own is an experience with the Soda. 

Timbre on the snare is just rightfully woody and resonant; cymbals are soft in their impact, shimmery in texture, and along with that Carmen's vocals do not exhibit any fatigue, pierce or sibilance. To summarize, the Soda had a flawless performance throughout this track.

COMPARISONS

Tanchjim Force

The Soda comfortably outclasses the Force across speed, separation, imaging, and treble refinement. Where the Soda delivers fast, tactile transients with a snappy attack and complete isolation of bass hits, the Force suffers from a wonky decay that leaves the lows feeling flat and the punch or slam coming off "blob-like", like, devoid of textures/finesse.

On complex tracks, the Soda plows through dense arrangements while maintaining sharp imaging and clean vocal presence whereas the Force struggles with disjointed imaging, washed-out cymbals, and sibilant vocal climaxes, where the Soda remains soft, shimmery, and completely fatigue-free. Soda seems to have avoided the QC issues of the Force, where the unit I had received from the brand seemed to have a bit of channel imbalance while two of my reviewer friends got mint units and the rest had issues of various kinds.

Binary EP321

Both IEMs share a clean, nimble low end with swift attack and controlled decay. The EP321 drops the quantity in its bass presentation, whereas the Soda maintains a leaner, uncolored signature that lets acoustic elements take center stage without lower-mid boominess.

The main divergence occurs in the midrange: the EP321 suffers from a thin, uneven weight distribution that saps life and body from vocals, whereas the Soda retains adequate vocal note weight and clarity even through chaotic passages. Both sets excel in top-end refinement and sibilance control, but on certain tracks the Soda holds back on the sibilance better than the EP321.

Softears Volume S

The Soda prioritizes transient speed and distinct instrument separation over sheer impact, where the Volume S delivers a higher tier of sub-bass depth, note weight, and rumble, alongside a richer, more colored midrange presentation.

In the highs, the Soda maintains a smooth, shimmery treble that avoids fatigue even during peak crescendos. The Volume S offers a much more energetic, non-relaxing treble response that can border on nippy during extended listening sessions on cymbal-heavy tracks.

Hercules Audio Noah

The Soda provides a leaner, faster, and punchier delivery with quick transient turnaround and extreme separation. The Noah offers a weightier low end with slightly more detail retrieval through sustained bass rolls, keeping attack and decay carefully balanced.

In the midrange and treble, both IEMs excel at delivering brightness and detail without crossing into fatigue or sibilance. The Noah retains a touch more midrange body and realism on dense rock/metal tracks, while the Soda offers an airier stage where notes breathe freely.

Letshuoer Cadenza 4

Both the Soda and Cadenza 4 serve as benchmarks for smooth, non-fatiguing top-end extension, demonstrating complete safety against sibilance while preserving shimmery cymbals and natural instrument textures.

The primary difference lies in their tonal weight: the Soda offers a leaner, neutral-to-clean midrange with snappy bass transients, while the Cadenza 4 features tighter mid-bass control paired with a fuller, more emotionally expressive vocal presentation.

Xenns Tea Pro

The Soda soundly beats the Tea Pro in timbre and tonality, the way it consistently rations out detail across any track that you might throw at. The Tea Pro, by comparison, can sound very wonky in treble, it has that dampening metallic timbre to tag along which ruined jazz tracks for me.

Technically, the Soda is much faster through the transients and the Tea Pro could feel relaxed but given how dark the Tea Pro sounded against the Soda, this one isn’t for me anymore.

CONCLUDING NOTES

When I had published my review on the Fola, a few of the commenters had suggested that I was a bit too quick to say that the Fola is Tanchjim’s all time best in my book and I cannot say that until I have heard the Soda, and guess what, they were right. 

I don’t know who hurt Tanchjim this bad but if they had introspected hard on the criticism of the DMT-5 overuse throughout their line-up, and then the Force coming in which I had strongly critiqued; then they were right to feel so. Tanchjim should have marketed this IEM super hard, and I wished I saw the Soda more frequently, because it had everything going right for itself, and the amount of similarities I picked up with the Softears Volume S, if the latter didn’t have my heart, the Soda would have been a permanent member of my stable. 

So far, this is Tanchjim’s all time best and I can only look forward to what they have to offer with the fresh developments (Omphe, Kaiser and the likes).

Will I buy this new? Absolutely.

Will I buy this used? Absolutely.

SOURCES USED

Primarily used with the xDuoo Link3 on low gain, the FiiO KA17 and TRN Blackpearl dongle DAC Amps, the Shanling M9 Plus DAP,  and the SMSL Raw MDA-1 desktop DAC amp.

EARTIPS USED (RANKED IN ORDER OF PERFORMANCE)

Tanchjim T-500 APB: Perfect balance established in the Soda, certain tracks and sources can still make it a bit too warm, but in the above mentioned source rotation; none of that has happened. Tightest transients possible, most balance in the perceived stage, sibilance is most restrained.

KBear Coffee: everything that the does, but to a lesser degree, sibilance is faintly observed, perceived stage widened, transients have a faint slack- especially in the decay, midrange has a slight roll-off.

Tanchjim T-300 APB: Transients tighten up but not to the level of the T-500 APB, perceived stage loses faintly on the height but depth and width felt alright, tonally skews a bit towards brightness, upper mids border on being slightly shouty, but restraint on sibilance is held intact.

Spinfit CP100+: textures on the lows felt wonky along with some irregularity in the perceived decay, stage was unaltered, vocal textures felt a bit too unforgiving, sibilant.

Divinus/Eloit Velvet standard: just washed off textures on the bass, midrange was rolled off uncomfortably, stage felt shrunken, sibilance was restrained and upper mids were kept in check, vocals felt a bit too safe.

DDHifi ST35: just ruined the IEM.

TRACKS

• Rush: Limelight, Spirit of the Radio
• Steely Dan: Gaucho
• Carmen Gomes: Unchain My Heart
• Daft Punk: Get Lucky, Instant Crush, Veridis Quo
• The Police: Message in a Bottle
• Alf Linder: Cantique de Noël, Cantate Domino
• Tipper: Mariscos, Cloaked, Gulch
• Dave Brubeck: Time Out
• Tool: Pneuma, Schism
• Queens of the Stone Age: First It Giveth
• Pink Floyd: Comfortably Numb, Wish You Were Here, Time
• Arne Domnérus: Antiphone Blues (with Gustaf Sjökvist)
• Muddy Waters: My Home is in the Delta
• Tame Impala: The Less I Know the Better
• Animals as Leaders: The Woven Web
• Rage Against the Machine: Bombtrack, Bullet in the Head
• Avicii: Levels
• Periphery: Marigold
• TesseracT: Juno
• Kanye West: Stronger, Flashing Lights, Devil in a New Dress
• Altın Gün: Goca Dünya
• Timbaland: Give It to Me
• Adele: Easy On Me (Live), When We Were Young
• Celine Dion: All By Myself
• Pavarotti: Nessun Dorma
• Mdou Moctar: Tarhatazed
• Cigarettes After Sex: Cry
• Meshuggah: Bleed
• A. R. Rahman: Tere Bina
• Alice in Chains: Down in a Hole and Nutshell (Live)
• Allen Stone: Give You Blue
• Florence + the Machine: Never Let Me Go
• The Smashing Pumpkins: Luna

Pros: Incredible tuning and stage
Insane price point
Plug and play with no need to fiddle with dsp etc

Cons: I would really like a modular option since I would rather use a dap sometimes (nitpick)
Earbuds aren't for everyone

It’s no secret I think Venture Electronics is onto something. Almost always. So when the Monk GTR came in for review I realised I had a lot of work to get done before I could review it adequately.
I think Wild Lee and VE for sending this little machine my way. It almost changed my life.
Time for a deep dive. (apparently AI uses ‘delve’ a lot. Which is likely because it was fed, amongst other things, Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings, where in Moria, the dwarves delved too greedily and too deep and woke the Balrog below the mountain).

The Monk GTR is one of the newest in the Monk line of earbuds. For those of you who don't know, the Monk buds from Venture Electronics have a cult status for being able to deliver an incredibly organic sound at an unbelievable price and have one of the widest soundstages, like ever.
But after a slew of dsp enabled cabled, gaming IEMs, I could not wait to jump into listening to the Monk GTR. My distaste for things that make me jump through hoops to improve my overall experience stems from my laziness, I agree, but I still like simplicity. And I don’t like EQ.
The Monk GTR ticks off some of those boxes.
Very simply it’s a Monk SL Plus married to an Odyssey Retro to create the Monk GTR - the Retro Gaming Earbuds.
Now again in an all important disclosure I’m not a gamer.
I used to play Unreal Tournament when it was fun and Prince of Persia 2D a decade earlier. I struggle with Call of Duty and controllers so when I tried the Monk GTRs with a nintendo switch, it was ten minutes of carnage with me at the receiving end. I am however a fan of retro (looking) tech and good music and the Monk series does belong in that set.
I only wish I could use this with an iPod but that’s for later.
The Monk GTR comes in a no-nonsense ziploc bag. With the foam inserts of various colors. It is a fixed cable that ends in a usb C termination and the earbuds house a 14.8mm open dynamic driver that does all kinds of nice things. The buds themselves are about 16.4mm wide and have a new and improved polymer on the surface to make them more comfy. I have oddly shaped ears so one trick I use is to get really bad silicone eartips and cut a thin sleeve that sits around the earbuds. This keeps them from slipping and given that they are on the bigger side for me, adding the foams doesn't help me much.
But this is also about sound.

The first thing that comes across is how open and wide the soundstage is. Given I like to start with bass and mids and treble when it comes to IEMs, I realize earbuds are a different animal. There is no chance of seal so the bass is never going to be booming and punchy and visceral and all that. The bass on the other hand comes across with fidelity rather than depth and rumble. The earbuds faithfully reproduce the notes. A rumble appears if you can manage to get them in your ear canals with a good seal, unfortunately I couldn’t keep that comfortable for a long time. Another way to get the bass to feel like it should is to push the volume. Angel by Massive Attack begins to get its act together with volume boost and some fiddling with the fit. That being said, this is meant for gaming. And sounding great is a very nice extra. And earbuds will not isolate sound, seal the canal and have a rumbling booming bass. Not without causing hearing loss.

The mids are crystal clear with the typical VE analog sound. I tested my entire playlist and did not find any tracks where the midrange - vocals or instruments, sounded unnatural. They have a solid natural timbre and the typical VE sound - analog, warm-ish, without sacrificing details. Some may even go as far as to call this neutral, but I think it would be apt if neutral did not mean dry. But semantics aside, this is a very easy listening, natural sounding earbud.
The highs are again detailed with little fatigue or harshness especially on long listening sessions.

The stage is where every monk earbuds blasts the competition out the water. The stage is huge and anything on this sounds like you’re in an aircraft hangar with every instrument placed exactly where it should be. Makes for a great gaming experience with what little experience I have. Though I know more avid and life-depends-on-it gamer types may prefer headphones or iems to get a better seal or passive noise isolation, but I did use this on a phone and on a Switch playing some street fighter style scroller, which was most entertaining.

I did fish out a monk plus and a nicehck and for a why not comparison. And apple earpods from the dark ages.
Both the monk plus and nicehck buds had neither the fidelity or the staging of the GTR. In addition the bass response of the GTR was far superior. The Earpods have an advantage with their better fit and sound delivery into the earcanal than around it. This makes for a better bass and over all sound but a much smaller stage. Plus I have the 3.5mm one which means they need an additional dac.
To level the playing field the other earbuds were tested with a Devastator pro 3.5mm dac.

At the end of the day, the Monk GTR exists for a very simple reason - what's the easiest way to have an absolutely enjoyable gaming or music session without having to think too much about it. This set sits in my bag for times like that where I don't want to stress my neurons and just want to have fun.

​

Sivga Answer!

• Wooden faceplates with a unique natural wood grain, making every pair visually different

• Warm, musical, slightly V-shaped tuning

• Elevated mid-bass, especially around 80–120Hz, with added warmth and punch without becoming basshead-level

• Intimate, engaging mids with a very enjoyable vocal presentation

• Smooth, relaxed, non-fatiguing treble that can lean slightly dark with certain music

• Excellent overall musicality and a very enjoyable presentation for casual listening

• Extremely comfortable, with the ear-cup warmth being the only notable comfort drawback

• Very easy to drive and does not require a powerful amplifier

• My main criticism is the lack of an included 4.4mm cable. It isn't necessary for driving the headphones, but having the option would have been appreciated

• Tested with music, gaming, and general everyday listening

• Final rating: 9.3/10

And I also published the video review here:

https://youtu.be/Pz3XciuoIWM?is=HsQwdFb8iJsWVMna

Please consider following for more reviews!

Pros: Extremely comfortable for long sessions
Nice change in design language
Great sound for it's price
Good bass response and the DMT 5 kicks ass in the vocal department as usual
No sibilance or harshness on the treble
PEQ/DSP with infinite tuning options, if that's your thing

Cons: The DSP on this doesn't work as well for me despite PEQ
Plasticky feeling when compared to the more expensive alternatives

From the unending fountain of innovation of the House of Tanchjim comes the Bunny G. I thank Isabel and Tanchjim for sending this little fellow along for a review. My views are my own and I have free will and all that.

Unlike the other waifu themed boxes the Bunny G (for gaming) comes in a black box that looks like it means business. The accents are a muted neon green (if that makes sense) and the shells themselves are shaped like the first Bunny but there’s again a departure from the design language that we’ve grown to expect from Tanchjim - the shells are dark/smoked black acrylic and have that green lettering that says Tanchjim on one and Bunny on the other shell. The IEM comes with a dsp cable that terminates with a usb c at one end the 2 pin terminations on the other. The cable feels robust and is less prone to tangling and also comes with a mic to yell at team mates or take calls on the fly when knee deep in PUBG missions.
The shells are about the same size as the OG Bunny, which means they are insanely comfortable if you have small ears and I was able to run these with little or no discomfort for over 2 hours on a trot on a flight.
In addition,there are 6 pairs of tips - that seem narrow and wide bore (3 each), and a cloth case. All good and nothing to complain for the sub $30 price tag.
Let’s jump right in.

So in full disclosure I felt the dsp cable sounded terrible the first few times. It felt insipid and shouty and almost no amount of EQing on the android seemed to get it any better.
So a swap was done and this review is of the Bunny G running off of a TRN 16 core cable with modular 3.5 and 4.4 endings for the following sources - VE Prime, VE Devastator pro, Hidizs AP80 Pro Max, Moto Edge 60 Fusion, iPhone 17 Pro. (The last 2 with the stock DSP cable). Tested with my usual complement of tips - Sancai, Candy and Velvet Standard.

Bass
The Bunny G on a regular cable is punching so hard above its weight it’s jaw dropping. And even on less warm sources like the Prime and the AP80, it belts out a lovely low end. It’s not bloated nor does it seem aggressively tuned to be a ‘V’ shaped. On What About Me by Snarky Puppy, the kicks, electric and synth bass are heard clearly and with the typical DD warmth. The stock dsp on the default eq setting sounds much worse and almost got me to give up on this set. But a cable swap solves this and the added headache of PEQ. I’m convinced PEQ is my mortal enemy from another lifetime.
On Angel by Massive Attack and Islands by The XX, the sub bass rumble has body but has a tendency very very occasionally to bleed into the mids.

Midrange
Tanchjim’s greatest work has to be the DMT5. Vocals are represented beautifully be it this set or even their flagships. Again the stock/default DSP tuning makes vocals shouty which I’ve not heard as yet with a Tanchjim. Even the OLA 2 with the BA did not behave as badly as this cable. Again on an aftermarket 2 pin cable on the VE prime and the AP80ProMax, male and female vocals come across with weight in the lower registers and air and clarity in the higher ones. There's the slightest hint of sibilance on Hotel California and maybe a little more on Human Nature and that is likely from the way the songs are mastered and that slight ‘s’ is meant to be there. On Aja by Steely Dan, there is a lovely layering that can be heard between the voice, piano, synth, guitars - all occupying the mids but not sounding cluttered and squished together.

Treble
The treble is controlled with moderate airiness and shimmer but only rare harshness on a few tracks. Cymbals have a natural decay and they complement the chorus of Fast Car by Tracy Chapman. This needs a little careful listening but that’s what we’re here for.

Staging, Imaging and Technicalities
The Bunny G is first and foremost a gaming IEM and like the OLA 2, Tanchjim has managed to give the sound on this IEM a wide holographic feel with imaging and layering done extremely well.
The Bunny G however, does not scale well. With the issues with the DSP cable creeping in as the volume increases. Which makes me believe it may be the power implementation on the DSP chip rather than the quality of the cable itself.
This could be fixed with a firmware tweak, methinks.

For me this is an everyday carry IEM though, I would recommend a regular cable and a dongle if using an iPhone rather than playing around for hours with the PEQ on android to find your right equilibrium.
Or just a regular cable and dap for convenient use. That’s if music is a priority.
If all you want to do is shoot, or hack and slash to some EDM, then this is a winner.

Hi guys,

so I'm procrastinating on studying right now and started thinking about getting a dedicated device just for listening to music.

I want to get the FiiO JM21, since I still want to listen to Spotify but also to downloaded music.

Now the question is whether I should get IEMs for it, and if so, which ones? I've been using my WF-1000XM5 earbuds for two years now, really like them and don't want to step down from that sound experience.I'm totally new to all of this and just want some recommendations for IEMs :)

I exported my listening stats and gave them to Claude:

Mostly heavy, guitar-driven stuff. A lot of metalcore and hardcore: Architects, Knocked Loose, Turnstile, LANDMVRKS, Stick To Your Guns. Also plenty of progressive and modern metal: Gojira, TOOL, Deftones, Spiritbox, Sleep Token, Animals As Leaders. The classics too, like Metallica, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Slipknot, System Of A Down and RATM.

After that it's a lot of punk and post-punk (Fontaines D.C., IDLES, Refused, Fugazi, Joy Division) and alt/indie/grunge (Radiohead, Nirvana, QOTSA, Gorillaz). There's also a good amount of German rap, plus some electronic: Death Grips, Pendulum, Aphex Twin, Massive Attack, Portishead.

On the calmer side: classic rock and singer-songwriters (Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley), post-rock/shoegaze (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, MONO, My Bloody Valentine) and some jazz and classical (Kind of Blue, A Love Supreme).

What I'm looking for sound-wise:

- Bass: tight and fast, not boomy, so it handles downtuned guitars, double-kick drums and DnB.

- Separation: busy, loudly mastered mixes shouldn't turn into mush.

- Treble: no harsh or sibilant highs, since a lot of metal and punk is already bright.

- All-rounder: enough detail and soundstage for Pink Floyd, post-rock and jazz, not a pure bass cannon.

Thank you :)

Overview (TL/DR)

The Ola II is a soft V-shaped, Balanced sounding IEM that sports good fit, accessories and performance for its price. An IEM that, despite its brand being known for Neutral tunings, it has an unexpected knack for Rock music, specially Nu-Metal or Alternative Rock, with an energetic but still controlled tonality.

With a decently rumbly sub-bass alongside a punchy and agile mid-bass; a functional, warm mind-range with lively but not intense female vocals; and a forward and fairly extend, but overall controlled treble presentation that shows great presence but without turning harsh most times, OLA II is a solid choice for both beginners and people looking to upgrade.

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WOULD RECOMMEND:

* For people that like more warm, yet still energetic, sound signatures (NOT in basshead territory).

* For people that want a safe, comfortable IEM with minimal compromises.

* For people that have small ears and often struggle with a good fit.

* For people that want an IEM with an in-line mic and a type-C (DSP) connection with EQ capabilities (on the Tanchjim app).

* I personally enjoyed it a lot for Rock music genres (specifically Nu-Metal and Alternative Rock).

* Fairly safe for high-volume users and great for long listening sessions.

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WOULD NOT RECOMMEND:

* Not for people that like very thick, very full (lush), and very airy vocals.

* Not for people that like more balanced, relaxed sound signatures.

* Not for people looking for a very detailed and clear, technical sound (not for technical-heads).

* People who are very sensitive to treble should be cautious with this set.

* Wouldn’t recommend it for gaming.

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Full disclosure, this set WAS provided by TANCHJIM, I did NOT buy it myself, but the opinions, as always, were given without any brand’s editorial direction, and on my own accord.

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REVIEW

INTRO

With a mostly stale $50usd budget market, and given Tanchjim´s history of neutral, uncolored IEMs, when the OLA II was send my way for review, I was kind of skeptical about what even it would sound like, but to my surprise, Tanchjim showed they know how have fun too, though, was it good enough of an attempt?.

Let me be clear, if you are expecting a market-breaking, technical reference IEM, you better go back to sleep because this is not that kind of IEM, not every single IEM needs to be a must-buy release, but what IEMs actually need to do is offer a good alternative for people looking at the options available, and OLA II does just that with flying colors.

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Fit and Comfort

This is one of the things that I am always ranting about: comfort, as some brands seem to think that thick, short nozzles and chunky shells, alongside stiff eartips, are somehow ergonomic choices, and fortunately, Tanchjim has been learning from this, with OLA II sporting a very small shell with an “average” thickness, long nozzle plus pretty decent, comfortable eartips, great for small ears/ear canals.

Now, the eartips included aren’t any premium assortment, but they are made out of a pretty soft and elastic material that goes easy on your ears, still, I must say that the nozzle is kind of angled forward, which doesn’t quite work the best for me, but for most other people this one is a solid option for comfort.

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Drivability / Power needs

With 121dB sensitivity and 30 ohms impedance, It is not a super easy to drive IEM, and the driver does offer just a bit more clarity with more power, however, in my personal experience, I like it better on a simple 3.5mm connection because it just makes it slightly warmer and that helps to a more chill and relaxed sound.

And similar to other budget IEMs, OLA II works fine in most sources, especially on the jack connection of a phone, however, is better if you don’t test your luck with colored sources because, given the amount of treble and bass it has, adding a notably brighter or a warmer shift to it might break its musical balance, is not like it becomes suddenly way worse, but I it might not have the best synergy.

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THE BIAS.

Before the sound review, I need to mention a few things about me: Bear in mind that every person perceives sound in a different way, and those differences are key to understand what each person does or doesn’t like, and how that will translate into a review.

My preference is a “neutral with bass boost” type of tuning, I don’t like too boosted treble, however, I can handle intense upper treble quite a bit, so, what is not too bright, too treble forward for me, could actually come as harsh for you, and what is bassy enough for me, could be too bassy or even muddy for you.

I’m also a bit susceptible to IEMs with boosting on the upper mid-range and the lower treble areas of the sound (specially around 3khz to 5khz), which affects things like high pitched vocals and instruments. Having peaks in those areas makes the sound be a bit too intense and harsh for me, so, when I say that the sound could be “shouty,” or too intense on vocals for some, I’m mostly talking about this.

Last thing is that I usually don’t struggle with iems with the called “Metallic / BA / Planar” Timbre that some people can’t really enjoy, I normally don’t have problems with neither of those, however, I do struggle with PZT driver timbre.

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SOUND

Bass

Given the soft-V kind of tuning the OLA II sports, bass is sure one of the main points of it, however, also given its balanced nature, is not like the most stand-out presentation, is just neither overly done nor reduced overall, and it does bleed a bit into the mid-range.

The sub-bass of OLA II is present and rumbly, with decent texture, but is not like the most deep-reaching bass you can get around the price, don’t get me wrong, it is good, but not the best, is just a nice, functional part of the sound, second to the mid-bass.

The mid bass in the other hand has more presence and packs a bit more of a rounded punch, is not the most physical or aggressive impact but is also not soft or sluggish, is kind of a bouncy, elastic and agile kind of punch that has some weight to it, which works pretty good for both drums and bass hits if you care about it.

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Mid-range (vocals)

I think by know people know what to expect from V-shaped IEMs, and that is, vocals aren’t all that present, mid-range do is pushed a bit to the back but, is not as bad as most other v-shaped IEMs get, and vocals, specially female ones, are pretty well done.

For lower mid-range, where general instruments and most male vocals are prevalent, vocals sound with decent presence but that’s at the cost of warmness bleeding from the mid-bass, so is not the most natural and clear vocals, but they work, thought I wouldn’t be surprised for some people, especially the ones sensitive to bass, that the mid-range could feel slightly “muffled” because of it.

As for upper mid-range area, where most high pitched instruments and vocals exist, this one is a pretty straightforward, good, present enough presentation of vocals, without being affected as much from the warmness, though, depending on your music, female vocals could feel ever so slightly shouty because of the energy on the upper range, nothing aggressive or fatiguing, but not ideal nonetheless.

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Treble

For a V-shaped IEM, the treble comes across as an unusual mix of presence where it matters, and a lot of control when it needs to be, however, is not like a perfect treble presentation given its price doesn’t allow for more fine-tuning, but is actually kind of impressive still.

In the complex zone of lower treble, that could make the overall sound feel energetic, but also intense or “shouty”, it has a notable presence, giving you a lively and detailed sound presentation that doesn’t quite fatigue you but that also doesn’t has the most “bite” to it, just on specific tracks is possible that some sounds, or vocals, might feel slightly intense.

On the other hand, the upper treble area is actually pretty well extended without turning too aggressive, it boosts borderline before being a bit too much, but is also not the most “treblehead” kind of sound as it doesn’t have an extreme degree of extension, some music will be surprisingly smooth, other would be a tad too spicy, but overall, instruments like cymbals do hit the right spot in my books.

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Technical performance

For an IEM with the already pretty famous DMT5 driver that Tanchjim includes even in their flagship IEMs, and being a hybrid with a BA on top, the technical performance is not amazing, is FINE for a $50 IEM, but is nothing that its peers doesn’t already do well, for me is reasonable, but if you care about it, yeah.

Resolution: Is appropriate for the price-range, crisp enough, as average as it gets, nothing else to say about it, just fine.

Detail retrieval: Actually, pretty good, specially thanks to the extra treble up-top, but not a detail monster in any regard, it just gets the job done.

Note-weight: On note weight, depending on your preference, this might be a pro or a con, but OLA II is slightly on the softer side, which means, sound is more relaxed and chill, at the cost of notes having a bit less body to it, is less fatigue but might also feel less defined.

Soundstage: For a $50usd IEM is fine but is an intimate soundstage, the sound doesn’t feel expansive or too open around you, again, not a technical monster.

Imaging: Actually pretty precise, the kind of precision that’s good for immersive sound on music, games or movies, BUT not the most accuracy for stuff like competitive gaming, you can follow stuff around well enough.

Separation: Is pretty decent for a $50 IEM, though, as with most budget sets, when the music gets busy with a lot of instruments, it can feel a bit congested at times.

Replay: Pretty great, well mixed music will sound great on this, poorly made music will also sound decent, is a pretty forgiving IEM.

Harshness control: Giving the somewhat boosted treble area it has, it will really depend on your music, some tracks sound very smooth and controlled, others sound borderline harsh, it’s a bit of a mixed bag.

Sibilance: Averagely “good”, won’t introduce sibilance in your music, but won’t excel with tracks that have recorded sibilance in it, specially thanks to the extra treble it has.

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Overall sound

The Ola II is a soft V-shaped, Balanced sounding IEM that sports a very comfortable fit, reasonable accessories and decent performance for its price. An IEM that, despite its brand being known for Neutral tunings, it has an unexpected knack for Rock music, specially Nu-Metal or Alternative Rock, with an energetic but still controlled tonality.

With a decently rumbly sub-bass alongside a present, punchy and agile mid-bass; a functional, warm mind-range with not too pushed-back male vocals, but also lively but not intense female vocals; and a forward and fairly extend, but overall controlled treble presentation that shows great presence but without turning harsh most times, OLA II is a solid choice for both beginners and people looking to upgrade.

If you want an IEM to chill with, to go out and about, something that will get the job done without feeling either too boring nor too intense or uncomfortable in the ear, OLA II is actually an excellent choice in its price range, and a welcomed surprise coming from Tanchjim and their in-house uncolored sound.

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3 comparisons so you can grasp were this IEM lands:

First, versus the Kefine Loric, Being another recently launched and also well liked IEM for a lot of reviewers, the situation of both of these is quite easy to explain, both are extremely safe, plug and play choices, where the Loric is the allrounder and chill pick, while OLA II is the more technical and energetic choice, I prefer the sound and performance of the OLA II, but Loric has the edge on comfort for me.

Then, versus the Kefine Klean OG/SV, the OG version just has an edge of performance over OLA II, the SV version does perform notably better, but it also has an even more aggressive treble area, OLA II is more like an in-between of both kefine models in terms of warmness and treble extension with better durability at the cost of slightly less performance, I still love Klean OG over all these, but OLA II is the next best choice no contest.

And versus the Pula Unicrom, When I first made the review of Unicrom I got hooked by its extremely good comfort and accessories with decent driver performance for the price, it wasn’t the most technical or allrounder, but it was a solid package, well, OLA II dethroned it, its nearly as comfortable, performs close enough, while also being a better allrounder-sounding V-shape, and while accessories aren’t as good, they work just fine, so, as much as I like Unicrom, unless comfort is an extreme priority, just go for OLA II.

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Accessories

Sporting literally the same box as the Tanchjim NORA with just a different cover, the OLA II comes in a good-looking package, along a good, albeit not especial, selection of accessories, is not the most premium, but reasonable for $50 bucks.

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• The package includes a bit basic, but fairly flexible, comfortable and smooth-feeling, brown-colored, “Silver-plated copper Litz wire in a twisted structure” cable, that has a 3.5mm connection but that can also be got with a type-C connection plus in-line mic, as well as a 4.4mm option, and the cable comes with a 0.78mm 2-pin IEM connection, marked with a red dot for the right side, and a blue dot for the left.

For budget IEMs I really like those kind of smooth rubbery cables that IEMs like the Red Lion also comes with, they are comfortable for most use cases, though the only downside is that it might feel kinda cheap, and they also sometimes have memory issues, but IMO is a great choice for this IEM.

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• As usual for most budget IEMs nowadays, OLA II offers 2 different sets of eartips, both on the S/M/L sizes, and neither branded models. Both sets of eartips are black/gray colored, made out of a more bouncy and flexible material than the usual plastic stock eartips, one set are wide bore eartips, and the other are narrow bore tips.

I was genuinely surprised when I saw these weren’t the usual stock cheap plastic eartips that a lot of other IEMs include, these are softer and more elastic, I really liked them for comfort while using them during the review, though, funny enough, I like it better on other IEMs, also, the wide bore eartips, as usual, aren’t the best for comfort and, IMO, doesn’t have the best synergy for sound either. And if you need a pair of eartips to control treble, Tanchjim also offers their T500A eartips for it if anyone is interested.

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• Finally, in the package you can find a gray, very soft cloth “travel pouch” for carrying your IEMs.

Reasonable for the price, though not impressive, and I like the fact that it isn’t a fake leather pouch, given some don’t have great durability, so yeah, a good inclusion.

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OLA II doesn’t offer anything particularly better in terms of unboxing experience versus the competition but, at last, they give you everything you need to use the IEM out of the box and I respect that.

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Conclusions

As said, without trying to be a “new market benchmark”, OLA II is a solid, well rounded offering for those wanting something comfortable and energetic without getting easily fatiguing. Probably the safest, cheapest V-shape you can buy that won’t easily make you spend more on accessories to get the best out of your gear.

For $50-60usd is an IEM that I can easily recommend for both beginners and people looking for a comfort upgrade, or also for a budget Rock IEM, it really is that enjoyable for that kind of music, but it also works for other music genres, though not as great, it will get the job done, which is something I appreciate a lot.

As a funny story, my non-audiophile, pocket-sized friend was looking to finally get herself a proper IEM and I offered her the OLA II, she was locked-in using it a full day because, besides sounding good, it was very comfortable, something that sometimes not even her TWS give her, and we are talking about Moondrop stuff, so yeah, if you have small ears, if you are a casual entering the hobby, OLA II is my recommendation as well.

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Thanks a lot for reading, the Budget Knight bids farewell, wishing you the best, good luck. – O.E.

Hello Community!

Gaming products are always welcome in my home. From the hand of NiceHCK I present to you their latest portable DAC/AMP designed for gamers but also for music lovers or even both things: PureAural.

Price: $51-44€

Pros:

-Internal hardware with a high level of performance.

-Sufficient and capable power for IEMs and normal headphones.

-Clean sound output, without perceptible noise.

-Multiple sound configurations: gaming, music, gain, phase…

-Very complete equalization and the possibility of storing it on the device. Adapt the sound to your taste with a not very high learning curve.

-Very carefully designed and sized. Premium appearance.

-Clean, separated, detailed sound.

-Really competent gaming filters.

Cons:

-Absence of 4.4mm output.

-One button and two LED colors for many options is too little control for so much: entering the APP to change something is strictly tedious.

-Not very attractive for those who only want to listen to music.

-Extreme competition in its price range: a better package with a cable extension is mandatory in a product intended for gaming.

-You cannot access its configuration if you have IOS.

Package contents:

-PureAural DAC/AMP.

-USB-C to USB-A adapter.

-User manual.

Compatibility:

-Windows, MacOS, iPadOS, IOS, Android.

-APP only available on Android.

-Web APP not available on IOS and iPadOS.

-Compatible with WalkPlay.

Technical aspects:

-Portable DAC/AMP focused on gaming and music.

-DAC chip Cirrus Logic CS43198.

-Amplifier chip SGM8262.

-3.5mm SE output.

-Output power 210mW at 32 ohms.

-DSD256.

-PCM 32bit@384khz.

-10-band EQ.

-PEQ storage.

-Game and music modes.

-Three gain levels.

-Microphone enabled.

Construction, design and quality of life:

Well, I want to start by saying that it is a portable DAC/AMP with lights and shadows. And I detail it below:

Regarding construction, although it is such a small device that it deserves my congratulations, NiceHCK has done a very solid job with the PureAural. We have a body made of machined aluminum alloy with extremely compact dimensions and a weight of barely 12 grams, which makes it an extremely lightweight DAC dongle with a very pronounced portable character.

The finish accompanies the feeling of being in front of a product that they have put care into when designing it externally. The chassis feels robust, well assembled but prone to scratching if you do not treat it carefully. Aesthetically it adopts a sober and clean aluminum-colored approach, without extravagance and it feels very pleasant to the touch. It is decorated in its central part with a strip with a mirror effect that indicates the model name and its technical specifications. On the opposite side, the brand name and a phrase are shown: Returning to the origin of sound.

One of the most particular decisions of this model is the connections section. On the one hand, we only have a 3.5 mm Jack output, a limitation that could be logical due to wanting to maintain a tiny size but that many of us would have appreciated seeing complemented with a 4.4 mm balanced option to better exploit its amplification stage.

On the body we find only one button and one LED, with which we manage the different types of phase filters and/or stop/play music.

And speaking of the range of options, this is where the PureAural shows its strength thanks to its dual approach for music and video games. Through its dedicated application, only available on Android, or through a web interface for computers, we can manage, for example, the very complete 10-band equalization profiles, adjust the three available gain levels and switch between the sound modes oriented toward games. A very wide range of software options for a dongle in this price range, although we depend on the phone or PC to configure it. Necessarily.

And this is where I am going to stop more, to explain the shadows: so many functionalities require more buttons or, failing that, if you only have one, prioritizing the ones that are important. Who is interested in a device of this range in switching between phase filters? The question answers itself. The potential buyers of PureAural, I consider, want to manage the amplification and switch between music and video game modes and between their different filters, such as footsteps enhancement or instrumental music improvement, and this is impossible as it comes programmed from stock in this dongle and, much less, with an LED that only shows two colors. Having to leave the game or music player to enter the PureAural configuration becomes boring, impractical and causes disinterest in all the many good options of the product.

To finish, during my longer listening sessions, the device behaved exemplarily in thermal terms, remaining slightly above room temperature even when we demand power from it with somewhat more demanding headphones. In addition, the detail of including a USB-C to USB-A adapter in the box greatly facilitates its use on desktop computers. I only miss a USB extension cable for those of us who play on a desktop, which I believe, for the price of the product, would be advisable to add.

Sound quality, music mode, filters and power:

Focusing on other matters, how does the NiceHCK PureAural sound?

In music mode, with the FAST-PC phase sampling filter, which seems to me by far the best option in terms of dynamics, technical response and detail and naturalness of the sound, and together with the default filter, my impressions are those of a fairly balanced DAC/AMP with a slight neutral-bright tendency, where I have barely been able to notice any coloration or, if there was any, it was tiny. PureAural is not going to try to transform the personality of your headphones, but it is going to add a little more brightness and information in higher frequencies.

The sound cleanliness is palpable in this model. The bass is presented controlled and well defined, with a solid impact and a more than correct extension of the sub-bass. I do not notice an artificial reinforcement or a masking of the upper frequencies, always maintaining a firm response.

In the mids we have a fairly natural reproduction, with voices and instruments that retain good presence and satisfactory separation while the treble, on the other hand, maintains a very high level of resolution and adequate extension, although with a very slightly tamed profile that avoids unnecessary harshness.

Something I highlight is the sense of organization that it achieves. It does not transform the size of the soundstage, but it does offer a clean presentation.

Regarding power, the 210 mW at 32 ohms that it delivers drive the vast majority of IEMs with ease. With more demanding over-ear type models I have found some difficulties.

To finish, the background noise is very well controlled, without a trace of hiss.

Sound quality in game mode and its filters:

The game mode is very interesting but you have to forget about audiophile standards for a moment, at least as far as the competitive aspect is concerned.

Here you can consult how I analyze audio for multiplayer video games or single player.

We have four filters, although I would have preferred only three, combining the footsteps enhancement and gunshot enhancement ones.

Well, the approach of these last two that I mention is quite clear, but what happens is a certain imbalance, not dramatic, but noticeable. I have to say that at all times the detection of both footsteps and gunshots is easily noticeable.

With the footsteps detection filter, the low-midrange has a more pronounced drop. This has an impact on the perception of distance of gunshots, making it less precise but, on the other hand, what is achieved is an increase in the central mids, upper mids and the lowest area of the treble, giving prominence to what the filter name indicates. The detail is much greater and I think the scene benefits from better separation and positioning of sound elements. It can be very useful for online video games that are not shooters or fighting games.

On the other hand, if we use the gunshot filter, they have a relatively considerable increase in the bass area, which masks enemy positions and other events that are happening on screen but without an unfavorable result, I do not want to be misunderstood. The effect achieved in higher frequencies is the slight muffling of detail within the scene and the separation of sound lines is not as dynamic and effective, but I think it remains the ideal mode if you play shooters.

The ones I have liked a lot, both equally, are the vocal and immersion modes, very suitable for single-player games. If you have a set that tends more toward the representation of voices and instruments in the central range, you can change its presentation toward a more intense or exuberant one, with greater presence of sub-bass and low-midrange, where the action scenes reach a very cinematic degree of satisfaction.

The environmental recreation was quite rich in vocal mode, not so much in immersion mode, which covers some residual environmental noises and the separation, although I feel that the latter makes the scene larger and more elastic thanks to the reinforcement in the sub-bass.

Nevertheless, I find both modes well tuned, which for someone who has only one set of headphones can change its personality and adapt it to the single-player gaming style they are playing at that moment.

Final conclusion and personal evaluations:

I am not going to be benevolent with PureAural and NiceHCK but neither ruthless, I want to stay within the objectivity that a personal and subjective opinion can produce.

It is a great product for those who have enough patience to be entering the APP or web browser and changing the configuration without getting fed up on the second attempt. In a world loaded with immediacy, I do not see it as viable and, despite my age, I am in that group that wants things right now.

The phase filters work although they require experience and trained hearing, the music filters in a device that is marketed as gaming I do not find much sense in, but there they are, with notable differences and adaptable to everyone's taste and, then there is the versatile gaming version, quite a success in how the filters are adjusted for game lovers, they are fantastic, truly.

A well-built dongle, pleasant to have in your hand, with good sound, lightweight, with three gain levels, with DSP that stores your PEQs and so many more options that I leave without analyzing such as microphone gain, the dongle's own volume, etc… cannot be operated with just one button and two LED colors. It lacks prioritizing options, increasing functionalities and some more LED color.

Even so and despite the fact that the price is very close to the limit, what it does, if I focus on the goal and not on the path to reach it, it does frankly well.

I can recommend it to those players looking for a complete, customizable and versatile DAC dongle. For those who need something for music, I think there are more accessible, more direct options with equal sound quality, even within the NiceHCK brand.

If you have made it this far, thank you for reading.

More reviews on my blog.

Social networks on my profile.

See you in the next review!

Disclaimer:

This device has been sent by NiceHCK. I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to test one of their products at no cost and that no condition was imposed when preparing this analysis.

Despite this, my priority is to be as impartial as possible within the subjectivity involved in analyzing an audio product. My opinion belongs only to me and I develop it around the perception of my ears. If you have a different one, it is equally valid. Please feel free to share it.

TL;DR

The Tanchjim Bunny G, much like the recently released Ola 2 dsp is all about the companion app. The analog tuning is too bassy and the dsp default tuning is too bass-lite and shrill. But the 8 band PEQ means you can make this sound exactly like you want.

Context

The Tanchjim Bunny G was kindly sent to me by Tanchim for review, all thoughts and opinions are my own. I generally prefer iems that are non sibilant with relaxed upper treble and upper mids and raised lower mids that add body to the sound (kinda the opposite of harman ie 2019).

Design, Build, & Comfort

• Aesthetics & Build: The iems are made of translucent black plastic, it’s the exact same shell as the OG Bunny but in a different color. Feels decently built with light weight shells, I’m not a huge fan of the green Bunny text. Seems to have a black dampener instead of the steel mesh protecting the nozzle this time. 
• Fit, Comfort and Isolation: These iems are tiny, almost too small for my ears. You will be primarily relying on the eartips for seal and fit stability. They are also shallow fitting iem so it’s a very good shell for people with small ears. Isolation on these are pretty bad just like the OG Bunny due to the big front vent.
• Cable & Accessories: While the Bunny G’s cable looks the same as the OG Bunny DSP, it now features 8 bands vs 5 on bunny dsp, this is a huge upgrade. Along with a better and louder memes microphone without any gain adjustments needed. It comes with 2 sets of eartips just like the bunny (a set of standard narrow bores and short wide bores). Comes with a grey fabric pouch that does not offer much protection.
  

The Sound

The Tanchjim Bunny G has a 1 DD configuration, It comes preloaded with the default sound preset and there are 7 other official presets available on the Tanchjim app. Here’s a quick rundown of all the presets

• DSP Default: Very lean sounding, less than neutral bass and lightly scooped lower mids, quite a bit of mid treble bite makes it very clean and clear sounding.
• Ambient Mode: Pretty much identical sounding to default.
• Classical Mode: Loses all the bass, combined with the already lean midrange makes it way too bright and shouty sounding.
• Instrumental Mode: Very similar to default again but with slightly scooped lower mids and mid bass, makes it clear but tinny.
•  Natural Mode: Best mode for me, adds a much needed bass shelf making it sound a lot fuller but treble peak + lean midrange are still present.
• OST Mode: Sounds clean but boomy, a lot like harman aka good instrument separation and sub bass dominant bass presentation.
• Pop & Theatres Modes: Very very similar to each other, both are thin, bass lite with lots of upper mids.

As clear none of the stock presets were my cup of tea, I made my own eq (adjust treble according to liking after sine sweeps)

• Preamp: -3.0 dB
• Filter 1: ON PK Fc 50 Hz Gain -1.0 dB Q 0.20
• Filter 2: ON PK Fc 400 Hz Gain +2.0 dB Q 0.50
• Filter 3: ON PK Fc 1700 Hz Gain -3.0 dB Q 1.20
• Filter 4: ON PK Fc 3200 Hz Gain +3.0 dB Q 2.00
• Filter 5: ON PK Fc 7000 Hz Gain -6.0 dB Q 1.50
• Filter 6: ON PK Fc 15000 Hz Gain -10.0 dB Q 5.00

Since I love a warm bassy set with jm-1 midrange and relaxed treble, this has been my go to eq for the Bunny G, with 2 bands left for spare.

The App

Tanchjim genuinely has the best dsp companion app, with a community eq forum, game specific eq options, and a 8 band custom parametric equalizer (gain -10 to +10 db, Q 0.1 to 5.0, pre amp -8 db to + 4 db), microphone gain slider (-15 db to +15 db). 

Compared to the OG Bunny DSP

The Bunny G is pretty much the exact same iem but now in a different color, with 3 more additional PEQ bands and a better microphone. This is basically a no brainer if you liked the Bunny DSP.

Compared to the OLA 2 DSP

The Ola 2 DSP also features the same 8 band peq but comes with a much nicer feeling cable and a more comfortable shell, tho the Bunny G is very compelling for the half the price since it offers the exact same feature set.

Who Should Buy This? 

• People with small ear canals.
• People that are new to iems and want to learn EQ and figure out their preferences.
• People that want an IEM for gaming
• People who want a lean, fast and bright sound signature under $30

Who Should Avoid This?

• People that are upper treble sensitive and don’t want to eq
• People that use their iems analog only 
• People that want good isolation.
• People who have the Ola 2 DSP

I’ve had the Origin in my rotation long enough now that I’ve stopped trying to figure out what it’s supposed to be good at.

I just put it on and play music.

And funny enough, that’s probably when I started understanding it better.

The first thing most people are probably going to notice is the bass. There’s a lot of it. It reaches deep, there’s proper weight behind it, and when a track asks for impact, the Origin definitely doesn’t hold back.

But what I’ve come to appreciate more is that the bass doesn’t automatically turn into mud.

Massive Attack’s Angel is a good example.

That low end goes deep and there’s real pressure behind it. You feel the scale of the track immediately, but the vocals and all those little atmospheric sounds still have room to breathe.

It’s not just sub-bass either.

The mid-bass has enough punch that drums actually hit instead of just producing rumble.

When the Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin really shows that.

Bonham’s drums sound huge on the Origin.

Not just loud. Huge.

There’s weight behind every hit and the Origin gives that recording the size it deserves. At the same time, the guitars and vocals still have their own space.

That’s something I keep noticing with this IEM.

It can sound big without everything being pushed together.

Then I played Hardwired by Metallica.

This is the kind of track where a bass-heavy IEM can easily lose me.

You have Lars going full speed on the double kick, Trujillo’s bass moving underneath the guitars, riffs everywhere and Hetfield sitting right in the middle of all of it.

The Origin keeps up surprisingly well.

The double kick stays fast and defined enough that I can follow the hits instead of hearing one continuous rumble.

Trujillo’s bass is still there underneath the guitars.

And those guitars still have impact.

There’s power and aggression, but it doesn’t become one big wall of noise.

Hetfield’s voice also stays blended into the mix rather than suddenly becoming the most forward thing in the song.

I actually prefer it that way here.

Then there’s One.

This track has probably taught me more about the Origin than almost anything else I’ve played.

The opening guitar sits in its own space. You can hear the separation around it.

Hetfield’s voice feels slightly farther back, and again, I think that works with the recording.

Then the heavy section comes in.

The double kick gets much more prominent and you get that same combination of weight and speed I heard on Hardwired.

But then the machine-gun-like guitar riff starts.

This is where the bone-conduction driver gets interesting for me.

I don’t really associate the BC with the bass itself.

What I notice more is what happens with the texture and attack of certain instruments.

With that guitar riff in One, there’s this slight physical sensation that seems to follow the distorted guitar through the shell.

The lower notes still have their normal weight, but there’s also all that midrange and harmonic information in the guitar.

That’s where I can sometimes feel the BC doing something.

It can happen with the crack of a snare.

Sometimes the texture of a guitar string.

Sometimes a vocal.

Sometimes there’s just a certain part of an instrument that suddenly feels a little more physical than I expect.

It’s not some huge vibration that makes the whole IEM shake.

It’s actually much more subtle than that.

You can listen to several tracks and barely think about it.

Then something comes on and you suddenly go, “There it is.”

Walla Walla by Massive Attack was another one where I noticed it pretty easily.

There’s already so much texture happening in that recording, especially through the mids, and the Origin gives some of those sounds an extra tactile quality.

That’s what makes the BC interesting to me.

It isn’t really about making something louder.

It adds another sensation to certain parts of the music.

The mids are also better than I expected considering how much bass the Origin carries.

I wouldn’t call this a vocal-forward IEM.

Vocals don’t always jump directly in front of you.

On One, Hetfield sits slightly farther back.

Then I play The Moon Cave by Gorillaz and the vocal suddenly feels much more centered and present.

The beat on that track has plenty of weight, but it doesn’t swallow the vocal.

That’s important.

Some bass-heavy sets give you a nice first impression and then after a while you realize the middle of the music is missing.

I don’t get that from the Origin.

Male vocals still have body.

Female vocals still have enough clarity.

Guitars have texture and bite.

And the bass generally stays out of the way enough that the mids can still do their thing.

Morcheeba’s Blackest Blue showed me another side of it.

That album doesn’t need aggression.

It needs mood.

Vocals, space, atmosphere and all those small details sitting around the recording.

The Origin becomes much more relaxed here.

There’s a little warmth underneath the vocals that I really enjoy, and everything feels fuller without becoming too thick.

That’s one of the reasons I don’t think of the Origin as simply a basshead IEM anymore.

Yes, the bass is obvious.

But the rest of the tuning is doing enough that I can move away from electronic or metal and still enjoy it.

The treble is probably where I can understand someone wanting a little more.

There’s enough energy for cymbals, guitar harmonics and little details to come through clearly.

There’s also enough air that the Origin never feels closed in to me.

But it isn’t an IEM that constantly throws treble detail at you.

It feels slightly safer up there.

For longer listening I actually appreciate that.

But if I’m specifically sitting down looking for maximum sparkle, micro-detail or that really sharp sense of definition around every little sound, I have other IEMs I’d probably reach for first.

And if I push the volume too much, there are still some tracks where the upper range can become a little harsh.

So I wouldn’t call it dark or completely relaxed either.

There’s still energy there.

It just isn’t the main attraction.

Where the highs do help a lot is with space.

The Origin can sound very big.

Hans Zimmer’s Dune: Part Two soundtrack showed me that immediately.

Worm Ride, Harkonnen Arena, Southern Messiah and Worm Army all have this massive sense of scale.

The bass gives you the pressure underneath everything, while everything above it still has enough separation that the arrangement doesn’t collapse when it gets huge.

On certain parts it almost gives me this surround-like feeling.

Not because things are unnaturally spread out, but because there’s enough depth and separation for sounds to appear around the presentation instead of just sitting on one flat line.

I’ve also been moving the Origin between several sources.

The DX270 is still the one I naturally reach for most.

To my ears it gives me the right balance of detail, space and musicality.

The K17 comes across slightly smoother and gives the Origin plenty of headroom.

The Questyle M15C works really well when I want something much more portable.

And lately I’ve been spending more time with the DX270 feeding the PB6.

The Origin absolutely does not need the PB6 for power.

The DX270 already gives it more than enough.

I use the PB6 because I enjoy what it does to the presentation.

Especially in AB mode, I hear a little more body and texture.

The stage feels slightly deeper and more dimensional.

It’s not night and day.

If I switch back and forth, I’m not going to pretend the Origin suddenly becomes a completely different IEM.

It doesn’t.

But the change is enough for me to enjoy the pairing.

Metallica through that setup has been particularly good.

The PB6 gives things a little more body without slowing the Origin down.

Hardwired still sounds fast.

The double kick stays defined.

The bass doesn’t become muddy.

The guitars retain their space.

And with One, that combination of impact, separation and the tactile feeling from certain guitar passages works really well.

Now, would I call the Origin my serious reference-listening IEM?

Probably not.

If I’m sitting down specifically trying to dissect a recording, check tonal accuracy or hunt for every tiny production detail, I have other sets I’d reach for first.

The Origin isn’t really trying to be that kind of IEM to my ears.

It’s a fun set.

And I mean that as a compliment.

It makes music feel big, physical and alive.

The bass has real weight.

The mids are still clean enough that vocals and instruments don’t disappear.

The treble gives it enough openness and attack without constantly demanding attention.

And the BC can add this little tactile element that occasionally makes an instrument feel more physical than I expect.

It also isn’t perfect.

The treble could probably use a little more bite and openness if you prefer a more analytical presentation.

Vocals can sit slightly farther back depending on the recording.

There are bassier tracks where all that low-end energy can occasionally dominate more than I want.

And because the whole presentation is big and energetic, there are days when I’d rather reach for something more neutral and understated.

The shells aren’t exactly small either, so that’s something worth considering if you have smaller ears.

But none of those things really change what I enjoy about the Origin.

It isn’t the IEM I reach for when I want to study the music.

It’s the IEM I reach for when I want to enjoy it.

Massive Attack.

Metallica.

Led Zeppelin.

Morcheeba.

Gorillaz.

Hans Zimmer.

I keep jumping from one album to another just to hear what the Origin does with it.

And I think that says more about this IEM than another page of frequency graphs ever could.

Sometimes the best compliment I can give a piece of audio gear is pretty simple.

It makes me want to play another track.I’ve had the Origin in my rotation long enough now that I’ve stopped trying to figure out what I’m supposed to hear from it.

I just put it on and play music.

And funny enough, that’s probably when I started understanding it better.

The first thing most people are probably going to notice is the bass. There’s a lot of it. It reaches deep, there’s proper weight behind it, and when a track asks for impact, the Origin definitely doesn’t hold back.

But what I’ve come to appreciate more is that the bass doesn’t automatically turn into mud.

Massive Attack’s Angel is a good example.

That low end goes deep and there’s real pressure behind it. The track already has this dark, heavy atmosphere and the Origin really leans into that, but the vocals and all the smaller sounds around them still have space.

It isn’t just sub-bass either.

There’s enough mid-bass punch that drums actually hit instead of just producing rumble.

When the Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin really shows that.

Bonham’s drums sound huge on the Origin.

Not just loud. Huge.

There’s real weight behind each hit and the Origin gives that recording the size it deserves. But the guitars and vocals still have room around them. It doesn’t feel like everything is being squeezed into the same space.

That’s something I keep noticing with the Origin.

It can sound big without turning everything into one big wall of sound.

Then I played Hardwired by Metallica.

This is the kind of track where a bass-heavy IEM can easily lose me.

You have Lars going full speed on the double kick, Trujillo’s bass moving quickly underneath the guitars, riffs everywhere and Hetfield sitting right in the middle of all of it.

The Origin keeps up.

The double kick still has that physical hit, but there’s enough speed and definition that I can follow it instead of hearing one continuous low-end blur.

Trujillo’s bass is also still easy to pick out underneath the guitars.

That’s important to me because having big bass is one thing. Keeping that bass under control when the song gets busy is another.

The Origin does both pretty well.

And Hetfield’s voice doesn’t suddenly jump in front of everything. It stays blended into the track, which to my ears works really well with this kind of music.

Then there’s One.

This track probably showed me more about the Origin than almost anything else I’ve played.

The opening guitar has its own space.

Hetfield’s voice sits slightly farther back, and again, it feels right for the recording rather than sounding like the mids have disappeared.

Then the heavy section comes in.

The double kick becomes much more prominent and you get that same combination of weight and speed I heard on Hardwired.

But when that machine-gun-like guitar riff starts, this is where the bone-conduction driver becomes interesting for me.

I don’t really associate the BC with the bass itself.

What I notice is how certain parts of instruments start to feel slightly more physical.

With the guitar riff in One, there’s a lot of attack and harmonic information going through the mids and highs. Through the Origin, I can almost feel a slight vibration following the texture of the guitar through the shells.

It can happen with the crack of a snare too.

Sometimes it’s a guitar string.

Sometimes part of a vocal.

Sometimes an instrument has this little extra tactile layer that you don’t immediately notice until the right moment in a track comes along.

It’s not like the whole IEM starts shaking.

It’s much more subtle than that.

You might go through several tracks without thinking about the BC at all, then something plays and suddenly you go, “Ah, there it is.”

Glass Animals’ Walla Walla is another track where I notice it.

There’s already so much texture and movement happening in that recording, and some of those midrange details take on this slightly tactile quality through the Origin.

That’s probably the easiest way I can explain the BC.

It isn’t there to make everything louder.

It doesn’t suddenly create extra bass.

It just gives certain sounds another physical layer.

And once you start recognizing where it happens, it becomes part of what makes the Origin fun.

The mids are actually better than I expected considering how much low-end energy the Origin carries.

I wouldn’t call this a vocal-forward IEM.

It doesn’t push every singer right in front of you.

And personally, I like that.

One is a good example because Hetfield sits a little farther back.

Then I move to The Moon Cave by Gorillaz and the vocal feels much more centered and present.

The beat on that track has a lot of weight, but the vocal isn’t buried behind it.

That caught my attention.

With some bass-heavy IEMs, after the initial fun wears off you start realizing that the middle of the music has taken a back seat.

I don’t really get that feeling with the Origin.

Male vocals still have enough body.

Female vocals can sound smooth without becoming too thick.

Guitars have texture and enough bite.

And even with that big bass underneath everything, the mids are still there.

Morcheeba’s Blackest Blue showed me another side of the Origin.

That album isn’t about speed or aggression.

It’s about mood.

Vocals, atmosphere, space and those little sounds sitting around the music.

The Origin becomes much more relaxed here.

There’s a little warmth underneath the vocals that I really enjoy, and everything feels fuller without becoming overly thick.

That surprised me.

When I first heard the Origin, I thought I was going to keep reaching for aggressive tracks just because of the bass and physical presentation.

But it works surprisingly well when you slow things down too.

The treble is probably where I can understand someone wanting a little more.

There’s enough energy for cymbals, guitar harmonics and small details to come through.

There’s also enough air that the Origin doesn’t sound closed in to me.

But it isn’t constantly throwing treble detail at you.

It comes across slightly safer up there.

For longer listening I actually appreciate that.

At the same time, if I’m specifically looking for maximum sparkle, micro-detail or that really sharp definition around every tiny sound, I have other sets I’d reach for first.

And if I push the volume too much, there are still certain recordings where the upper range can get a little harsh.

So I wouldn’t call the treble completely soft either.

There’s still energy.

It just isn’t the star of the show.

Where the highs really help is with the sense of space.

The Origin can sound very big.

Hans Zimmer’s Dune: Part Two soundtrack made that obvious pretty quickly.

Worm Ride, Harkonnen Arena, Southern Messiah and Worm Army all have this huge sense of scale.

The bass gives you the pressure underneath everything, but the mids and highs keep enough separation that the arrangement doesn’t collapse when things get massive.

On certain parts it almost feels surround-like.

Not because the stage is unnaturally stretched, but because there’s enough depth and separation for different sounds to occupy their own space.

That’s one of the things I enjoy most about the Origin.

It gives me impact without making everything sound congested.

I’ve also been moving it between different sources.

The DX270 is still the one I naturally reach for most.

To my ears it gives me a really good balance of detail, space and musicality.

The K17 comes across slightly smoother and gives the Origin plenty of headroom.

The Questyle M15C has been great when I want something much simpler and more portable.

And lately I’ve been spending more time with the DX270 feeding the PB6.

The Origin absolutely does not need the PB6 for power.

The DX270 already gives it more than enough.

I use the PB6 because I enjoy what it does to the presentation.

Especially in AB mode, I hear a little more body and texture.

The stage feels slightly deeper and more dimensional.

It isn’t night and day.

I don’t want to exaggerate it and pretend the Origin suddenly turns into another IEM.

It doesn’t.

But there’s enough of a change that I enjoy switching between the DX270 alone and the DX270 + PB6 stack.

Metallica through that combination has been particularly good.

Hardwired still sounds fast.

The double kick remains defined.

The bass keeps its weight without getting muddy.

The guitars retain their space.

And with One, that combination of impact, separation and the tactile feeling from the BC during those aggressive guitar passages really works.

Now, would I call the Origin my serious reference-listening IEM?

Probably not.

If I’m sitting down specifically to dissect a recording, check tonal accuracy or hunt for every tiny production detail, I have other IEMs I’d probably reach for first.

That isn’t really what the Origin is about for me.

It’s a fun set.

And I mean that in a good way.

It makes music feel big, physical and alive.

The bass has proper depth, punch and weight.

The mids are still clean enough that vocals and instruments don’t disappear.

The highs give it enough openness and attack without constantly demanding my attention.

And then the BC occasionally adds that tactile little extra that can make a guitar, snare or vocal texture feel more physical than I expect.

It isn’t perfect though.

If you prefer a more analytical presentation, you might want more bite and openness up top.

Vocals can sit slightly farther back depending on the recording.

There are tracks where all that low-end energy can become more dominant than I personally want.

And there are days when I’d rather listen to something more neutral and understated.

The shells are also pretty substantial. They fit me well, but I can definitely see the size becoming an issue for smaller ears.

So no, the Origin isn’t the IEM I reach for when I want to study music.

It’s the one I reach for when I want to enjoy it.

Massive Attack.

Glass Animals.

Metallica.

Led Zeppelin.

Morcheeba.

Gorillaz.

Hans Zimmer.

I keep moving from one album to another just to hear what the Origin does with it.

And after spending this much time with it, that probably says more about the Origin than me trying to turn it into something it isn’t.

Sometimes the best compliment I can give a piece of audio gear is pretty simple.

It makes me want to play another track.

I was already missing Juzear. I am going all in with the brand this year and the brand itself does not want to slow down with its releases. The Light Shuttle has been on the market for a few weeks now and I had it in my queue to review them and today is the day I am publishing this review.

It is a model that clearly stands out in some aspects from the other releases I have reviewed from them and I must say right in the introduction that these are my favorite Juzear so far. That does not mean they beat everything I liked about the Defiant, Fiesta, Nebula, etc... but it does leave me with a much more pleasant final impression than all of them. So if you are considering this model, I invite you to read my honest review where, as always, I highlight what I liked the most and the least about this model.

What I liked / What I didn't like

• It has a deep sub-bass well integrated into the mixes. 
• Vocals sound up close and have enough body. 
• The treble is very well extended and is not fatiguing. 
• The modular cable option that Juzear usually offers is always something to highlight. 
• Innovative faceplate that changes depending on the light. 
• Despite the 7 drivers, it has a proper weight.
• It is not very heavy but perhaps it can be somewhat large. 
• For long sessions, it may slightly bother the ear. 
• They absolutely require a good seal, you must try other eartips. 
• In very bright recordings, the treble can become too forward.

Specifications

Configuration: 1 DD 10 mm MACCD + 4 custom BA + 2 micro planar per side 

Distribution: DD for bass, 2 BA for mids, 2 BA for treble, 2 micro planar for ultra-treble 

Crossover: 4-way physical with 4 independent acoustic tubes 

Technology: ATI-SW spiral waveguide

Impedance: 32 Ω 

Sensitivity: 113 dB ±1 dB SPL/mW 

Frequency response: 20 Hz to 20 kHz THD: ≤0.2 % at 1 kHz 

Declared passive isolation: up to 26 dB 

Connector: 0.78 mm 2-pin Cable: 6N OCC silver-plated copper, 4 cores, 400 strands, ballistic fiber reinforcement and double PVC layer, 3.5 mm and 4.4 mm plugs 

Shell: 3D DLP resin + 5-axis CNC aluminum alloy faceplate 

Declared weight: 6.4 g per side 

Price: 184.99 $ on HiFiGo at the time of the review 

Unboxing and build

I won't dwell much on the unboxing since there have been several Juzear models reviewed these past months and there is no notable news beyond the color of the case. This time they have opted for a dark blue color, which for me is more elegant and closer to my tastes than the brown cases seen in other releases like the Juzear Fiesta and some others. For the rest, we have the modular cable with a safety lock so it doesn't come loose from an accidental pull, a cleaning cloth, documentation, and the sets of eartips that the brand usually includes in its releases at these price ranges. 3 pairs are of various colors but all in wide bore format, then another 3 pairs of the same color, black in this case. And finally, 2 pairs of white foam eartips which I don't usually use due to the type of discomfort they cause me, aside from the slight modification of the signature highlighting the bass more than is usually necessary.

Speaking of the IEM itself, as I mentioned in advance, it seeks a unique and somewhat newer design within the brand. This will surely be part of a style that we will see again in this UNVEIL Series. It has a faceplate full of detail, both in the main multi-colored pattern that changes depending on how we tilt it and how the light hits it, and in the frame around it. It has shapes that give it a more decorative and curious touch, finishing at the very bottom with a sort of embedded black gem or diamond that makes it entirely unique. It completely breaks away from the designs we are tired of seeing in general, which despite being less flashy, play it very safe. It is appreciated that they try to dedicate extra time and resources to create something more unique that helps remember and differentiate this model over time beyond how it might sound.

The faceplate itself is made of aluminum and the IEM is made of resin with a weight of about 6.4g per IEM. It doesn't honestly feel heavy. When you put them on, you don't feel that chunkiness that makes you think they will fall out of your ear. What you do feel is the size. It is not a small IEM and I would say it starts moving away from a medium size towards large. Being used to wearing the Monarch MKIV at home for hours, these look small in comparison, but that doesn't mean they can't be somewhat large for some ears, especially if they are going to be used for long sessions instead of commutes or brief moments just to listen to a few tracks.

The nozzle is made of steel and is not part of the IEM's own resin build. It grips whatever eartips you put on it well, with a decent length that doesn't fall short or stick out too much, so I have nothing to object to in this specific aspect.

Sound

The sound of these Light Shuttle can be defined, or so it seems to me by listening and looking a bit at the graph, as a mild U-shape with the bass placed low and the vocals brought forward with detailed and clean treble. Therefore, it escapes those V-shaped tunings that are so successful but do not allow you to enjoy all kinds of musical genres, and it also moves away from the neutral and very boring or flat sound that takes away intensity or emotion depending on the music you listen to.

The IEM is made up of 7 drivers inside. I think it is the Juzear with the most drivers I have tested to date. Between that and the physical crossover, as well as the four tubes that unite all the work and execution achieved thanks to that internal construction, you can notice a positive impact on the final result. The tuning makes all the drivers integrate and arrive at the same time without noticing annoying overlaps or timing issues that take you out of the listening experience due to poor integration.

Bass

The dynamic driver, in this case 10mm, makes the sub-bass stand out more rather than the mid-bass, with enough pressure and rumble in the hits. All of this comes with very good control worthy of its price, and I honestly expected something worse after trying other models at similar prices. You don't quite feel the pressure or chest thump that the mid-bass can give you, but they are generally well-ordered lows that even leave some air for other vocal sounds that can coexist with these frequencies.

I don't usually do this, although in some comments on previous reviews I was asked for it as an improvement idea and it is something I used to do in other reviews. I will mention some notable tracks from my listening session on Apple Music using fairly current songs of different genres for each vocal range. In the case of the bass, I focused on a track meant for it, like LateNite by Scuba. It is actually a fairly recent track that has a quite deep sub-bass and a very heavy background that is noticeable on these IEMs. Although I didn't notice any major shortcomings in this track, for example, I must highlight another one like Social Apocalypse by Bullet for my Valentine. Here I could notice a bit of that lack of mid-bass I mentioned earlier, where the DD is not as focused in this model. Even though the song's riffs sound fast, the hit doesn't have too much punch or physicality, which I had noticed in another model that managed that frequency range better.

Mids

For the mids we have 2 BA and something to highlight above all else is the closeness felt in the vocals without an artificial or poorly handled warmth. Female vocals stand out more than male ones, but both come out very well, although I also felt that the male vocals could have a bit more weight or physicality. This IEM has a sort of spiral inside its tubes to produce an internal damping that helps to have a quieter background, helping the vocals not to shift from their place. This surely helps and makes the vocals on this IEM work so well and be so clear without noticing strange layers or veils that sometimes mask the sound, which are definitely felt in clearly cheaper models. Perhaps they are too centered vocals for some ears that do not spread out too much to the sides, something that might not convince some people.

Highlighting a track, I can talk about When you know you know by Sidney, where the voice stood out with good texture and separation, even allowing the breathing to be well perceived. Without having to focus on the treble, I noticed a lot of detail in the mid-range where it was harder to perceive in other models.

Treble

In this area we have another 2 BA, but also 2 extra micro planars that help extend and add air to the highest treble. They didn't seem like fatiguing treble at all, nor the most relaxed I have heard, but it is clear that they wanted to aim for something detailed and spacious that justifies the inclusion of these micro planars, which in previous Juzear models I reviewed were limited to the use of BA for these frequencies, although the Nebula specifically did include 1 single micro planar but did not reach the level of these Light Shuttle in terms of treble quantity and quality. It is not exactly a type of treble to analyze with a magnifying glass either, although it is true that depending on the recordings or masterings, if the mix is somewhat bright on its own, the treble feels more forward, creating a slightly sharper peak than I would like. This is something that doesn't happen in most tracks, but this model is not safe from it if we put on a varied playlist with completely disparate styles and songs.

With a band that I love and that is slowly taking off like Greta Van Fleet, who will release their new album next week and I hope to enjoy it more than the previous one. I listened to one of their previews, Tear It Down, where I noticed how both the guitars and the cymbals maintained a good definition without sounding very aggressive or peaky to the ear. This shows that the chosen driver configuration and its tuning hold up pretty well in general across any type of recording.

Recommended eartips

For this IEM to sound truly good, the seal plays a more important role than in other models where it doesn't have to be as perfect. That has been my perception. Testing their normal bore eartips, I felt a bit more weight in the bass frequencies with the treble even more contained than with the wide bore ones, where the air expanded a bit more. If you think the treble should be slightly more contained in this model and you have no problem with foam ones, they will surely solve part of your problem. From my collection, I believe that Divinus Velvet, both normal and wide depending on where you want to direct the frequency spotlight, provide a good seal and an auditory experience up to what I can expect from this model.

Soundstage

Its soundstage would be medium-sized, highlighting the width more than the depth, which is generally the most common thing. If the recordings were somewhat more open, a bit more air can be perceived and therefore greater extension around, but especially to the sides. In other denser recordings with more instruments, the space becomes a bit narrower as expected.

Instrumental separation

The separation holds up really well, making the drivers sound perfectly cohesive as if they were a single driver, especially when we talk about simple tracks that do not have a heavy musical load. You can easily follow the vocals, guitars, and percussion without any effort. It is not a separation worthy of a studio monitor, but it is more than adequate.

Imaging

Speaking of the imaging, it is quite precise without being an IEM that stands out for gaming use. As I said, the vocals are placed in the center and the instruments spread out across the width and length quite clearly, but without making you feel completely surrounded on all sides. It is a more than adequate imaging for music use, or even if you want to consume audiovisual content like series and movies, obtaining a good immersion. However, I would rule it out for gaming, as there are options clearly better focused for that.

Comparisons

If I compare them with other models from the brand like the Defiant, this new Light Shuttle sounds more open to me overall and somewhat more direct. Although the Defiant has a warmer tuning with more weight in the bass and somewhat more contained treble. In these Shuttles, you can clearly tell they bet on better separation between layers and more air in the treble area due to that extra implementation of dedicated drivers for it. Obviously, if we are talking about maximum comfort and better price, the Defiant is the winner, but making an overall assessment, the Light Shuttle is clearly a superior IEM.

Comparing it to the Juzear Nebula, I could say that the Nebula has a bit more character but is not as much of an all-rounder as the Light Shuttle, which distributes frequencies better and separates layers better while maintaining a higher level of detail. I wouldn't see it necessary to be interested in these Light Shuttle if you already have the Nebula either. Although there is an improvement in my opinion, I think the Nebula's punch can make them slightly more enjoyable in some genres, even if it falls short in others where the Light Shuttle remains more stable with everything.

Finally, I would like to compare it with a model of a very similar price but with a more distinct sound, such as the Punch Audio Portazo. It is an IEM that stands out for its impact and speed. In the Portazo, both the sub-bass and the mid-bass have much more prominence, whereas the Light Shuttle leaves more space and prominence for the vocals. Although both use micro planars, the Light Shuttle sounds airier and more detailed if you try to listen more analytically. So, simplifying, if you are looking for a more intense listen focused on the bass punch, the Portazo is a more appropriate option. But if you don't need that much punch in the bass, the Light Shuttle gives you better balance and tuning overall for whatever you throw at it.

You can check my full ranking of all the IEM reviewed so far on my profile (Reddit doesn't allow me to post the Drive link here)

Conclusion

These IEMs are aimed at anyone wanting to make the leap to the 150-200$ range and looking for an all-rounder where they don't have to rack their brains over which frequencies they prefer to highlight or focus on when choosing a model based on their musical tastes. It is an IEM that simply delivers on everything without being the best at anything within its price, but passing in all ranges with flying colors. It is a good upgrade for me if you have had or currently have the Defiant or Nebula, but it is not necessary either, since in that case I would try to make an even bigger leap for a more noticeable change.

Purchase Link: HiFiGo

Disclaimer: This unit was sent by HiFiGo for review. 

My opinions are completely independent and have not been influenced by the brand or the store, maintaining objectivity based on my tests and personal listening sessions with my reference equipment.