SoundRhyme Prado - Flagship impressions​

Thanks to AG and (Penon) SoundRhyme for the review unit of the Prado.

All views of the iems are mine and are not compensated for in any manner.

OVERVIEW​

SoundRhyme have been making waves with their SR and DTE lines of iems in their mid-budget segment with very good value fun tuned iems.


The Prado is their flagship (https://penonaudio.com/Sound-Rhyme-PRADO.html) sporting an incredible number of drivers - 4 EST and 12 BA drivers.

With a nicely speckled shell and faceplate, the iems are relatively small and compact for the number of drivers in the iems. The shells are resin with a sparkle effect
and a very light construction. The iems use the 2pin connection and have a medium large nozzles leaning on the broad side a little more.

The iems sport 2 tuning switches per side with the following configuration according to the product info on Head-fi
1, 2 off: pop music
1, 2 on: wide sound field
1 off, 2 on: clear voice
1 on, 2 off: deep bass

DRIVEABILITY​

The iems are fairly easy to drive off dongles (middling 40s on the Lotoo PAW S1 and the Questyle M15i. I drove them off the 4.4 balanced output of both dongles.

OVERALL SOUND SIGNATURE​

The iems are tunable via the switches, and the sound signature does change a bit with the switches on and off.

With 1 and 2 off, the signature is a relatively fun sound without overemphasis on either the bass or the treble end. The mids are decently present in this configuration

With 1 on, the bass is more pronounced and more forward. As a result the sound is quite warm, but with decent amout of details. The mids take a slightly recessed position.

With 1 off and 2 on, the treble is a little more extended and offer a lot of detail retrieval. There is a touch of brightness that creeps in with poor recordings.

With 1 and 2 on, the V profile is very prominent with deep bass and treble extension.

With the bass switch on, there is a lot of bass rumble, but there is a little bit of muddiness that is felt. Decay is slightly off with a little more sustain on the bass, with a thud being more prominent than a slam.

Fun tuned for sure, and a lot of fun can be had. Also I reached for the toothpick to change the switches for each genre change that I did as part of the audition, and the iems did change the sound quite significantly.

CONCLUSIONS​

The Prado is a nice looking and compact flagship with a large number of drivers, and a fun tuning with a lot of promise.

Thanks to Conceptkart (https://conceptkart.com/) for the iems for the review units. The views expressed are my own and am not compensated in any way for the same.

OVERVIEW​

Purple (https://conceptkart.com/products/intuaura-xue-qingpurple-iem).
These are selling well in the local markets of the maker, and for good reasons (YMMV).
The review units came as iem units only and a couple of cables, so I will not review the package or cables.
The iems are resin based and are fairly lightweight. The iems are single driver (DD) units and as a result, are very cohesive as expected.

IMPRESSIONS​

The flagship of the Intuaura stable (atleast on ConceptKart) offers a purple shell as the name suggests. It sports a nicely done shell that fits very
comfortably and is usable over long sessions. Armed with a Japanese LCP driver from Fujimori, they sit very snugly and lightly.

Sound impressions - The Purple is the find of the year for me, with a beautiful balance across the spectrum, very reminiscent of the QDC Gemini (YMMV).
All areas of the spectrum are well represented and near perfectly balanced interms of quality and quantity. The bass hits well with all the textures,
vocals are a delight and the treble extends superbly with excellent texture and imaging. The stage is above average and the imaging is very nicely layered.
There is no harshness in any of the registers. More people should atleast try this iem.

CONCLUSIONS​

I havent done any comparisons here, or reference tracks. The Purple is a definite recommendation from me, taking all the good things of the Aful Performer 8 and pushing it to a 12.
I havent been this much impressed with the tuning of an iem after the QDC Gemini. And that is very high praise indeed. Near perfect for me. Highly recommended

Quloos - MUB1 - Quick Impressions​

Thanks to Concept Kart (https://conceptkart.com/products/quloos-mub1-bluetooth-portable-usb-dac-amp) and gadgetgod for the tour unit of the Quloos MUB1 portable dacamp.

As always, the views expressed in the review are mine only and are not influenced or compensated in any way by any one.

BUILD​

The review unit has been going around for a while now, and it has stood up to the abuse very well, so full marks for the build of the unit.

I have tried Quloos QA390 earlier (QA390 is a all in one desktop music player/DAP that can power the most demanding of headphones without any additional devices.
I havent tested them with Susvara, but everything else I threw at it, it drove it wonderfully!) and had the impression of a very beautifully balanced sound, with
excellent technicalities as well as balanced sound.

Hence the MUB1 also comes with those sort of expectations. The review unit came with a transparent silicone cover and nothing else. The unit has a small LCD (maybe monochrome led?)
display that is quite minimal in terms of readout.

The device has 2 USB C ports, one for charging only, and the other that does dual duty of charging as well as receiving digital data.

There is a 3.5mm output jack as well as a 4.4mm balanced out. The device also has a spdif/optical out, for DDC purposes. As the device also has a built in
femtosecond clock, this is a very good option for clean input to more sensitive devices.

The input is also BT enabled, for streaming from a source bt device such as a phone or streamer, and similar to the usecase of the BTR devices from FIIO.

USAGE/POWER IN THE REALWORLD​

To test the gain options (Low, Medium, High, Super), I tried mutliple transducers - sensitive iems, single DDs that scale, planars that are hard to drive, headphones that test the amp sections
and the MUB1 was able to drive them well.

For sensitive iems (some older micro drivers and BA iems), in the Low Gain mode, there was no hissing, excellent sound without noise in the background

* Single DDs were able to use the gain (High) very well, with excellent performance.

* Planars were driven well with top performance.

* Hard to drive headphones (vintage Sennheisers HD650) were driver very well in the Super gain mode.

Filters actually make a difference, similar to the QA390. NOS mode is very true to the original mastering, while fast and slow rolloff filters were very usable and produced perceptible change in the sound.
Fast rolloff provided for very quick decay, while there was adequate sustain with the slow rolloff filters, making the sound more analog.

COMPARISONS WITH QUESTYLE CMA18​

The CMA 18 in comparison, provides similar options, but run hotter. However, the CMA18 has an additional ADC mode which allows for recording audio.
Both have excellent performance overall and offer true high end value to discerning audiophiles looking for portable options.

CONCLUSION​

The MUB1 is an excellent portable dacamp that provides high end sound in a portable form. The device didnt heat up after a lot of usage even in a hot 38 celcius environment.

Thanks to Concept Kart and gadgetgod for organising the tour of the Artti iems. Below is the review of the Artti T10 .
All views of the iem are my own and have no incentives of any sort for the same.

Artti is a relatively new brand to hit the market with a set of iems that have gathered positive reviews quickly.

Build and fit

The T10 is the planar iem offering from Artti. Sporting a 14.2mm planar driver, the iems are moulded into a ABS plastic like shell with a CNC milled aviation aluminium faceplate.

The iems come with a nice 4 core SPC cable with a 2pin connection to the iem shells. The iems are very lightweight as a result, with a very nicely sized nozzle. As a result,
long term fit and usage is excellent.


No microphonics in the cables, excellent comfort overall. Best fitting of all the Artti iems.

Sound impressions

Typical of a planar driver, the iems scale on power, but are fairly decent to drive easily. They are well tuned with a V shaped tuning with a very slight mid recess.

Bass - 4/5 - As the iems are planar drivers, they dont get the decay of a well implemented DD for bass. However, there is plenty of slam and texture to keep the overall composure.
Bassheads will love the bass for sure.

Mids - 3.75/5 - While the vocals are slightly recessed, there is still a lot of details and nuances that the drivers are able to portray. However, there is a little bit of domination from the bass.

Treble - 4/5 - The treble speed is very good as expected from a planar iem. There is a touch of brightness on poor tracks, that are typical of planar drivers.
Again, treblehead heaven.

Imaging - Above average imaging provides a very nicely done instrument presentation. Precise presentation of vocals and instruments are a highlight

Conclusions

The planar budget game is definitely heating up with the T10. It is a superb offering for the price, outcompeting some of the previous gen planar iems like the Hook X or the Tangzu Zetian Wu.
Artti is definitely promising and a brand to watch out for

Thanks to Concept Kart and gadgetgod for organising the tour of the Artti iems. Below is the review of the Artti R2.
All views of the iem are my own and have no incentives of any sort for the same.

Artti is a relatively new brand to hit the market with a set of iems that have gathered positive reviews quickly.

Build and fit

The R2 is a fairly small iem that dissappears into the ears fairly easily. The shell is resin based with a nice tesseract like faceplate in brown.

The R2 comes with a 2pin detachable cable and the the cable is a nice sturdy brown cable, but I dislike the L shaped taper.
The review unit came with a 3.5mm SE termination. The nozzles are fairly short and slightly above average in diameter, and did give me a fair bit of tip rolling
to get a semi decent fit. I wish the nozzles were a bit longer, and help get a deeper insert. This could be an overall dampener as the fit could be a bit of a compromise for people.

The driver is a beryllium DD. Wow, a BE diaphragm driver at this budget price is definitely welcome! Without going into the controversies in the annals of BE driver history (kbear believe et al),
the driver at this price is definitely an option to try atleast.

Sound impressions

While the iems drive alright at low volumes, I "believe" this will scale better with more power.

The sound is quite balanced, and quite reminiscent of the other BE iems that i mentioned earlier. Warmish neutral is how I would put it.

It is not a basshead or treblehead iem. The tuning is fairly neutral with very good detail retrieval and imaging. If I had a deeper fit with longer nozzles, I believe this iem has very good potential. Maybe a V2 will sort it out.

Bass - 3/5 - I was unable to get a deep fit and hence the bass was light overall. I think the bass body will definitely be helped with a longer nozzle.

Mids - 4/5 - Excellent textures and upfront presentation the vocals. Both male and female vocals are well represented

Treble - 4/5 - The treble speed is very good as expected from a BE based drivers. The iems are very nuanced on the treble end, without getting too bright.

Imaging - Above average imaging provides a very nicely done instrument presentation. Precise presentation of vocals and instruments are a highlight

Conclusions

The R2 is so full of potential, if only the nozzles were extended a little bit more. So close!

Thanks to Concept Kart and gadgetgod for organising the tour of the Artti iems. Below is the review of the Artti R1.
All views of the iem are my own and have no incentives of any sort for the same.

Artti is a relatively new brand to hit the market with a set of iems that have gathered positive reviews quickly.

Build and fit

The R1 sports an all metal shell and is very reminiscent of the MP145 in terms of feel or alteast the faceplate. The iems come with a very nice
looking braided brown cables with no microphonics and feels nice and sturdy. The iems sport 2pin connectors and the stock cable came with the 3.5mm termination.

The iems sport a 3 DD combination that I was quite surprised (having not read reviews of the iems before the listen! I roll like that).
The shells seem to be normal sized, and fit quite well even with the above normal sized nozzles.

The iems came in a standard fabric covered carry case that seems sturdy enough for every day usage.

Sound impressions

The iems drive well with most sources and dont need much power. However, they can scale with amping, give the 3 DD setup of the iems. I paired them with the Penon Liquer tips due to the fairly large size nozzles (I have small ears)

Overall sound is very large, with a lot of reverb that makes a lot of tracks sound like being listened to in a theatre. The largeness of the sound makes me think they will be wonderful for open world games and action movies!

The tuning is quite mature, with hardly any bass bleed into mids. The iems sport 3 way crossovers that have done an excellent job of controlling bleed.

The vocals are slightly recessed, with the instruments on both ends of the spectrum being given a more prominent positioning. However, vocal nuances are not lost.

Bass - 4/5 - There is plenty of slam and rumble with a deep insert. I docked about 0.5 points for the nozzle size that makes it a little painful for me to get a deep insert.
However, for whatever little time that I got a deep fit, the bass goes deep and slam hard. The texture is a little bit muddied though, just a tiny bit, to get a higher score.

Mids - 3.75/5 - As mentioned, the mids are slightly recessed in comparison to the rest of the spectrum, especially with the deep fit. Nuances and details are good and enjoyable.

Treble - 3.75/5 - Treble extends quite a bit with a lot of details. However, speed is touch slower for the faster tracks, along with a slight bit of harshness in the upper registers.

Soundstage - The stage is super sized. One of the larger stage sounds that I have heard in recent times. The experience is theatre like and there is no missing the largeness of sound.
They remind me of the Final VR3000 in terms of stage size, that extends in height and width equally.

Imaging - Above average imaging provides a very nicely done instrument presentation. These will add atmosphere to open world and FPS games alike.

Conclusions

Artti R1 definitely took me by surprise on first listen, giving a very different flavour from the competition, that makes it well worth adding to the collection! And at budget! I am looking at you, very expensive but poor implemented iem!

Thanks to Concept Kart and gadgetgod for the review tour of the Softears Studio 4.
As always, there is no incentive for me to post anything favorable unless I actually feel so in the product.

Softears have had a good run in terms of quality iems at the mid-upper budget segment (or lower luxury?) of the price range.

The Studio 4 is another such example of well done iems for a specific target audience.

Build, package and fit

The Studio 4 iems came in the stock padded pelican like case which feels luxurious. A lot of much higher priced iems come with lesser box than this.

The iems are covered in a drawstring velvette pouch to protect the iems. The iems themselves are resin based shells with a minimalistic lettering on the shells.
The iems come with 2-pin detachable connectors and slightly above average sized nozzles. This did cause a bit of a pain for me to use. These are not monstrously big,
but comparable to nozzles of BGVP iems or the CA Solaris.

The cables are strong and lightweight with very little to no microphonics. The review unit came with the 3.5mm termination and that was used for the review.

I paired the iems with the Penon Liquer tips, as they help with large nozzles for me. Aside from the nozzles, the fit is pretty good with the iems almost feeling weightless.
This is a good fit for long term studio monitoring.

Sound Impressions

The Studio 4 is a neutral with 4 BA drivers doing the duties of sound reproduction. They are tuned to not add any color to the sound, and this is the case with the iems.

They are easily driven (considering a low 14ohm impedance) and dont seem to carry forward any interference noises. Well done from a monitoring perspective.

Overall signature - The iems are mostly neutral with a rounded sound, with no peaks anywhere in the spectrum. As a result, people looking for treble extension, brightness and bass slam could find it boring.

Bass - 3.5/5 - The bass detail is good, with bass guitars, double bass and percussion sounding just about right, without any added emphasis.
Mids - 4.5/5 - Vocals come through with a lot of nuances and detail. This is true of both female and male vocals. No recession of the vocals in the overall sound. Inhalation, trills, and any detail in the track is represented well.
Treble - 4/5 - Treble is well represented in terms of quality. There is no sibilance or brightness from the instruments. Speed is not an issue again, with fast decay thanks to the all BA setup.
Stage - Intimate - The listener is put in front of the performers in a intimate setup to savor and monitor all the details required.

Conclusions
The Softears Studio 4, after a detailed listen, is a very good iem that is an excellent monitor.
However, for genre that dont need sharp treble, deep bass slam, will be well rewarded with the iems from a pure music enjoyment. This is especially the case with true instrument based presentations including classical, rock, jazz, blues etc.

These may also work well with movies and games, where details are important, without the listener being fatigued. Easily one of the better mid budget iems that I have reviewed in the recent past.

Thanks to Hidizs and gadgetgod for the review tour of the MP145.I know this is quite late in coming, but here it is.
Link to the site here

As always, the reviews are all mine, and am not compensated in any way by either cash or kind.

The MP145 is a special iem in that 1% of every MP145 order goes directly to supporting Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC).

Build

The MP145 is a fairly large iem with a full metal body with an interesting faceplate. The plate's grooves represents a whale's tail, in effect representing the Whale and Dolphin Conservation effort.

The Tin P1, in the picture is dwarfed by the iems. The MP145, still weighs in as much as the Tin P1! The nozzles are fairly large and I was able to find a fit with the Penon Liquer tips.

I have small ear canals and dont prefer large nozzles due to comfort issues. However, with the Liquer tips, the iems sat comfortably in the ears.

The stock cable is a nice braided litz cable and sport a 14.5mm planar driver to do the sound duties. The iems also come with replaceable nozzle filters, which I did play with during the review.

Sound impressions

For the review I used a Lotoo Paw S1 in High gain mode and was able to drive the iems well at 50 volume.

The filters dont seem to change the sound by much, from my A/B ing, and will continue the rest of the review with the Gold filters, for the sake of convenience.

Tuning

The MP145 is tuned against the Harman 2024 target and this shows very clearly, with a sort of pleasing V shaped signature with slightly boosted bass and treble.
The tuning is very reminiscent of the Tangzu Zetian Wu in terms of tonality and resolution.

Imaging is excellent with fast decays and excellent instrument placement. There is some mid thickness that borders on fuzziness in the vocals. Could be the tips or source, I am not sure.
There is a very little bit of treble sizzle on high hats that works for a lot of tracks, but could get fatiguing on poor recordings and bright tracks.

Bass is quick and thick, but not the same quality as a DD, but again not as short a decay with other planar iems. There is a little more sustain, adding to weight of percussion tracks.
The sustain almost has a little bit of influence on the lower mids, lending a little bit of weight to the mids.

Mids are quite decently done, but a tad bit recessed, especially male vocals. Female vocals benefit a bit more than the male vocals. A lot of the nuances are translated especially with female vocals.

Stage is wide, but quite 2D.

I did briefly watch the Joker: Folie à Deux trailer with the iems, and boy they sound good. Looks like a special usecase in addition to music with the iems.

Conclusions

While the review is fairly short, this summarizes the MP145 in a very crowded mid-budget market of excellent iems. The MP145 does hold out on its own and is a choice that could outlive other planars in its price range, eg, Tangzu Zetian Wu and the Hook X.

This is post the kickstarter and marketing controversies, therefore with an undiluted view of the iem with its competition

Thanks to gadgetgod for the review unit of the Questyle CMA18.

Questyle is well known for quality audio products for a while now. The CMA18 is a portable dac amp that sounds like the swiss army knife of portable audio products.

Package and Build
The CMA18 comes in a fairly large carboard box, with foam inserts for the dacamp and accessories. The dacamp itself is a sight to look at on opening the box.

The large transparent window showcases the circuitboard with all the components on display. The size of the dacamp is about 3x the size of the M15 dongle.
While the unit itself isnt heavy, I wonder how the transparent top will take a fall from a considerable distange. This is one of my main worries of transparent units.

The accessories that come with is a very good selection. Lightning cable (for apple devices), usb-c cable for android and windows alike, toslink cable, adapters. wow this will fit almost all use cases

Features

The dacamp supports ios, android and desktop (linux/mac/windows) out of the box thanks to the xmos USB decoder.
It support the following inputs - USB, optical, bluetooth
Output - USB out, bluetooth (LDAC, aptx), 3.5mm SE, 4.4mm balanced and lineout on both outputs.

The volume is controllable via volume rockers on the side, and from the source device.

With support for multiple codecs (BT, DSD512 Native, PCM768 etc) the device can run in so many configurations.

Sound

Boasting a 2W x 2 power output with the current mode amplification, the device can drive a lot of hard to drive iems and headphones with ease.

I tried a lot of headphones including HD650, Fostext T50rp mk3 and a selection of iems to determine its ability to drive. Aside from the T50rp, the CMA18 was able to drive all the devices thrown at it with ease.

The DAC duties are performed by a well implemented AK4493 chipset. The characteristic house sound questyle - clear all through while being musical at the same time is the tuning here too.

The dacamp itself does not add color to the sound in a perceptible way. However, with excellent clean power, the CMA18 sounds dynamic with a large stage (again depending on the transducers being driven).

Boasting a 10hr battery and 60hr idle time, this will keep the music flowing through the day.

Another feature that I didnt test out but am very impressed with is the analog line in on both the 3.5mm and 4.4mm balanced connectors. This enables usage of the device for recording from analog sources.

While playing back, the device does get a bit warm. So they may not be exactly pocketable over a little bit of time, but play a suberb role on the desk.

Conclusions
The CMA18 is a no brainer device for those looking to drive hard to drive gear, or even for recording analog audio with very good fidelity. This device is a veritable swiss army knife of the portable audio world.
Well done again, Questyle !

Thanks to gadgetgod and Concept Kart for organising the review of the Softears Twilight .

As always, these are my own opinions and with no compensation of any kind accepted or given.

Softears has been a raved about brand in the recent times. I have personally heard and probably reviewed the RSV and the Turii (maybe didnt write a review for the turii).

The Turii is the elder sibling of the two, both in terms of looks as well as build config. Both the Turii and Twilight sport a single DD in a unusually engineered shell.

The faceplate is rectangular and the pin sockets are at the tall end of the rectangle!

Build

The Twilight is built with a magnesium aluminium alloy shells. The detachable cables plug into the shell using a 2 pin recessed connector.

The cable is fairly supple and is non fussy with a smooth glossy finish. The stock cables came with a 4.4mm balanced pentacon termination at the source end.

The faceplate is rectangular as mentioned earlier, with a small rounded bulge holding the drivers and sporting a fairly small (about 5mm similar to Sony iems) nozzles.

While the nozzle size allows for deep insertion, the rounded driver bulge do make contact with my pinna. Comfortable to use for a fairly long time, but does introduce a little bit of a bother with deeper inserts.

I used a standard M sized silicone tips, and got a comfortable fit. With a single 10mm doing the duties, I very much look forward to reviewing this unit!

Driveability

The iems seem fairly easy to drive, and posed no challenge to the Lotoo PAW S1 in the balanced out with farfield eq enabled (personal preference for now).

Sound

From the get go, there is nothing that seems harsh in the sound. The soothing single DD takes you on a beautiful musical journey, like all well tuned single DDs should do.

The Twilight shines in presenting a balanced W tuning across, without any bleed, harshness or sibilance. The overall signature is warm with good extension.

Bass (4/5)
With deep insertion, the bass is well represented and with very good slam and rumble. There is no bass bleed into mids and the iems are excellent to listen to, be it basshead or not.

Mids (4/5)
On tracks with male and female focus, the Twilight is able to bring out the nuances and emotions in the vocals well. There is no nasality or harshness/shoutiness in the mids. Well done!

Treble (4/5)
Tracks with strings, cymbals etc carry a lot of energy. The Twilight is able to carry the energy with aplomb and is very articulate in presentation. Again no harshness or sibilance on even poor tracks.

Staging, imaging - The iem shells are vented and allow for a good amount of air in the treble. As a result, the stage is wide around the ear. The imaging is good too, and the general placement of the instruments is good.
The stage is quite shallow though, and the sound is more or less flat around the listener. You are in front of the stage, and the music is around in front and around the ears in a arc.

Comparisons

Intuaura Purple - The Purple is the flagship (atleast here) offering from Intuaura. The Purple is also a single DD iem that is well implemented. The iems from a sound perspective are quite similar in terms of presentation and balance,
and both are neck and neck in terms of competition, although the Purple is priced about 25-30% lesser than the Twilight. This is not a easy win, as the Purple shells are acrylic, while the Twilight sport a much stronger Mg Al alloy,
easily justifying the price difference. Hence a tie in almost all ways.

Meze Advar - The Advar was a breathe of fresh air when a lot of the upper mid budget iems were multi driver units. The Advar, while being a bit more heavier and polished looking of the two, was not quite as balanced as the Twilight.
The Advar is made a lot more special to look at (and does win in terms of looks). The Twilight possibly edges out the Advar in terms of the balance of sound and tonally being more accurate of the two.

Conclusions

The Twilight is a beautiful sounding single DD iem, and it gets an easy recommend from me, as this config is my preference. And the twilight does almost everything very well.

Thanks to Hifigo and gadgetgod for organising the BQEYZ Wind review tour.

Overview
BQEYZ was one the earlier iem brands to sport multiple drivers that was a fan favorite for a very long time, with the KC2. I had owned the KC2 for a long time too for providing a very nicely balanced and rich soundscape. It still has its fan following.

The Wind felt like a spiritual successor to the KC2 in terms of tuning.

The Wind (part of the Weather series of iems) is a hybrid driver iem with a dual cavity dynamic driver, paired with a bone conduction driver. This combination made me think that the iems may be a basshead iem. However, this was not the case.

Build
The iem shells are CNCed aluminium alloy that are sturdy and look strong and are unlikely to break in a long time. The shells are lightweight and have a fairly large sized nozzle, but not as big as say the Celest Plutus Beast.

The iems came with a silver colored cable and a selection 6 pairs of tips in S, M and L for reference tuning and atmospheric tuning.

The review unit came without the stock box, hence the accessories were minimal.

Sound impressions
As mentioned previously, the Wind is a warm iem, but not quite basshead level. The bass, while present, is well restrained within its frequency range and do not bleed into the mids.

The mids again are presented nicely, with good detail retrieval and sonic nuances.

The treble, while being a little short on the extension, has plenty of detail for everyday listening.

Overall, the tuning is very reminiscent of the KC2.

In comparison to the Celest Plutus Beast (in a similar price benchmark), the Wind sounds more coherent and clean, with the BC being a bit more controlled in delivering the goods.

Conclusion
In a hotly contested mid budget space, the Wind offers a continuation of the sonic signature that was previously loved in the KC2. If you are looking for the KC2, and cant find one, the Wind is the one to get.

The bone conduction and the bass drivers, while having decent bass, dont seem to overpower the mids and the other frequencies.

Thanks to Hifigo and gadgetgod for organising the review of the Celest Plutus Beast.

Overview

The Plutus Beast is a stunning looking iem with an almost spherical curve to the overall shell. The faceplate looks fantastic.

Build
The Beast is an all resin iem with a fairly lightweight body. However, they do look like they can get damaged quickly if not babied. The black background helps the faceplate graphics stand out in a stunning manner.

The nozzles are chonky and require fairly large ears to get a good fit. As a result, the Bone conduction may or may not work for you. I was able to fit it in to get a good contact for the bone conduction.

Cables
The cables that the review unit came with were similar to the Letshouer Chimera cables with a similar modular termination on the source end and a 2 pin into the iem shells. The cables are well built and thick, with very good non conduction of microphonics.

Sound impressions
Due to the overall size of the nozzles, I paired the Beast with a small silicon ear tips. This helped with the BC driver contact and hence plenty of bass slam/rumble.

Bass (4/5)
Due to the BC drivers, the bass was strong in this one. However, that may not mean too much as the bass does come across as being muddy and oftentimes bleeding into the mids. However, the rumble and slam could be felt at a slightly higher level than the UM Mest 2 (Unfair comparison I know).

Mids (3.5/5)
Due to the BC drivers, there is a bit of bass bleeding into the mids. Along with a strong treble, the mids take a slight back seat in the presentation. So not the best for vocals and mid favored music

Treble (4/5)
Due to the EST drivers serving up the treble frequencies, there is plenty of extension in the treble sections. However, there is also a sense of harshness in some of the steel guitar and string tracks. Poor recording do make their presence felt.

Conclusions
The Plutus Beast is a lovely looking iem, that could have been tuned a bit better. I compared it against the BQEYZ Wind, which sport a simiar setup, and that was tuned a bit better for a more balanced sound.

Thanks to Concept Kart for the review tour and gadgetgod for organising the tour.
QuietSea - Buy link

Rose Technics has been an underrepresented brand, with some very nicely tuned iems in the past. Off late, they are making more inroads in terms of very nicely tuned iems.

The QuietSea (https://conceptkart.com/products/rose-technics-quietsea-iem) is no exception. The QuietSea (QS henceforth) is a 10mm single DD iem that is tuned with zinc alloy acoustic cavity.

Like the QT9, the QS is a similarly sized (tiny) iem that practically dissappears in the ears. They are very comfortable to wear and look fairly industrial in design with a 2 tone faceplate.

The cables are a twisted paracord covered OCC copper with decent heft. The cables are mmcx terminated (I dislike mmcx terminations in general). The cables, clad in paracord fabric can carry rustling through the cable to the ears.
The around the ear wear helps to a certain extent, but still has some noise carried over.

The cable looks very nice overall, in a darkish gray color, with a 3.5mm termination.

Sound and impressions

The iems sport an oval nozzle, that I havent seen since Klipsch iems. I used the Sony MH755 tips and got an excellent fit with no discomfort. Playing off the Akliam PD4 Plus dac dongle (also part of the tour),
the iems were powered well.

From a sound perspective, the iems are decently V shaped iem, with decent bass and treble extensions. There is decent amount of mid and sub bass on the unit. The tuning is a slight variation of harman tuning. There is treble extension and bass.
The mids are slightly pushed back, but the rest of the spectrum is fairly well tuned.

The treble extends decently well, but there can a little more brightness than I would like. The micro detail retrieval is superb and the stage is above average - large room, with good imaging.

Conclusions
The low - mid budget market is fairly congested and the Rose Technics QuietSea adds a nicely fitting (for small ears) iem in the mix, which does a lot of things well. One can compare it with the Simgot EA500 on an even keel.
For those small ears, this is a decent option, if you like harman tuning.

The Akliam PD4 plus dac dongle is part of the review tour organised by Concept kart and thanks to gadgetgod for coordinating the same.

Overview

The PD4 plus (https://conceptkart.com/products/akliam-pd4-plus-portable-dac-amp) is a dual CS43131 Cirrus Logic chipset, that comes with a 4.4mm and a 3.5mm output option.
Like most other CS43131 chipset dacs, the PD4 Plus comes with a gain switch and physical volume control buttons. They do have a transparent window on top, similar to the newer dac dongles (like the Tempotec BHD Pro, Questyle dacs, Muse M4 etc).

Performance impressions

The PD4 plus is a nice little dac dongle, with a USB C input and works out of the box with all the devices I tried - laptop, mobile phone etc. The CS43131 is a well received chipset, with sound sitting between the ESS and AKM chipsets.
The dac dongle runs fairly cool over long listening sessions, and provides a decent amount of power for most iems. It was able to power the notorious Tin P1 fairly well on high gain, with good sound.

The sound signature is a slight warm with excellent detail (typical of the CS chipset). They perform similar to the Audiocular TP20Pro, and is priced similarly.

There are LED indicators for PCM and DSD decoding, with support for upto 32-bit/384kHz PCM and native DSD256.

Overall a decent dac dongle in a hotly competitive space at a matched price in comparison to the competition

Thanks to Concept Kart and gadgetgod for organising the iem and dac review tour!
QT9 MK3 Buy link

Rose Technics has been a well regarded brand but with not much of a presence here in India. Their house tuning has been pleasant with almost no harshness in the past.

As part of the review tour, the QT9 mk3 iems (with the cable and case) and the RZ200 dac dongle were sent together. The review unit came only with the case and dac, no tips or packaging, I wont talk much about the package.

Build

QT3 mk3 - The iems are very tiny, with a resin body and milled aluminium faceplate. They are tiny in size, dissapearing into the ears. The nozzle is slightly medium-large in size, and I paired it with the KZ starlines M tips for the review.
The iems sport mmcx connectors, with a paracord braided 5N OCC copper cable that is 3.5mm terminated. (I reviewed the iems with the stock cables only).

RZ200 Dac - The dac dongle is a tiny one reminiscent of the older Zorloo Ztella and the likes, with a very small footprint. The dac dongle has a usb c termination and a female 3.5mm jack for the audio.
Nothing fancy, very functional.

Performance

QT3
The QT3 fits in easy into the ears and one wouldnt expect it to be multi drivers. I was surprised to learn that it was 10mm tesla DD + 4 BA driver config. These feel about the same size as the Aful Magic One! How did they manage to fit so many drivers on such a small shell completely baffles me!

The iems are very efficient and easily drive off mobile phones. However, as always, I prefer driving iems out of my standard dac dongles, and in addition, the RZ200.

RZ200
The dac dongle is a simple device, a callback to a few years ago when dac dongles made their appearance in a trimmed down mode. These again are very energy efficient and run fairly cool.
No fuss whatsoever. The dac appears as Realtek dac, happy to see that name after a long time.

Sound impressions

QT3
I drove the iems off the THX Onyx dac dongle and the RZ200 dac dongles. The THX Onyx is fairly neutral/bright, while the RZ200 is a little warmer in comparison. Both were able to drive the iems to ear shattering levels, without any distortion even at high volumes on either dongles.

Bass - The iems pack a good punch and sound full with good subbass off the RZ200. A 10mm driver tends to do that! And surely enough, the QT3 is nicely punchy and detailed
They sound similar to the Aful Performer 5 in the bass and mids department. While not at true basshead level bass, the bass carries decent punch and slam. 3.75/5

Mids - The mids are present and decently supported although slightly recessed in the male vocals. There is a lot of nuances and detail retrieval, although from a slightly pushed back position.
Female vocals get a little more support and are slightly more forward. Good amount of detail retrieval and tone on the vocals. 3.75/5

Treble - Unlike say the Performer 5, there is a lot more extension on the treble side of the spectrum. There is sparkle on instruments and excellent imaging. On slightly poor tracks, the female vocals and some of the instruments can have a nasal tone to the proceedings.
On well done tracks, the details are excellent with very good imaging and stage. The 4 BAs help with speed in fast instrument sections while keeping the instrument positioning very well.
4/5

RZ200 - The dac dongle is surprisingly powerful and full sounding with the QT3. It is slightly warm sounding, without any harshness/glare. Quite efficient with the battery usage too.
I quite like it a lot!

Conclusions
No comparisons here, but the iems are a surpriging package considering its size. The pricepoint will be the one decision point, when compared to other similar offerings. For small ears, this is definitely a nice option

Thanks to Hifigo and Pulkit for organising the review tour of the Effect Audio x Hifigo Griffin cables.
The impressions shared below are mine and there is no compensation whatsoever in exchange of the review.
Effect Audio and the Hifigo collab brings a beautiful cable with some real cool features - Replacable terminations on both end! Read on and find out!

Effect Audio has a set of very nice looking cables that have been popular on the market. The Griffin retails at $199 on Hifigo (https://hifigo.com/products/effect-audio-x-hifigo-griffin)

Package

The Griffin comes in a nice box and a unique looking carry case, in a nice cardboard box. It also carries a pamplet of other Effect Audio cables.

Build
The cables are a nice silver colored 8core Silver plated Copper cable. There is sufficient heft in the cables and looks like a long lasting one. There is a bright red carbon fibre like material in the strain relief that looks like a jewel.

Connectors
The cable comes with 2 features - replaceable connectors and ConX connectors on the earphone end. What this means is that the cables can be used with a lot of iems (mmcx/2Pin) and sources (2.5, 3.5, 4.4mm)!

Sound impressions
The cables perform fairly well, with a balanced sound. In comparison with other SPC cables, these dont seem to boost the bass all that much (keeps it nice and tight) and enhances the treble a touch more.

Do note that this is in comparison with other similar SPC cables and not standalone impressions.

I tried it with a Single DD iem (QDC Dmagic Solo) as I prefer to audition single driver iems when doing cable impressions.

What I also had on hand to compare is the Effect Audio Cadmus, which has a similar construction and very nearly the same pricepoint. And surprise surprise, or not, the cables performed very similarly.They are priced near identically too.

Conclusions
Overall, a well constructed cable with replaceable connectors that should be offered by most iem makers in the expensive bracket atleast.

Thanks to Hifigo and Pulkit for organising the review tour of the SeeAudio Neko (https://hifigo.com/products/seeaudio-neko).

SeeAudio is a coming together of seasoned audio engineers in recent times post Covid and have delivered very interesting iems including the Yume, Yume Midnight and Yume 2 iems.

The Neko is a 6BA iem in a beautiful shell. Historically, SeeAudio iems were among the best looking iems in the recent times.

The iem impressions are my own and have no incentive attached either in cash or in kind.

Package and Build

The iems were shipped to me in a standard SeeAudio round carry case, with the Effect Audio Cadmus cable that comes stock with the iems.
The iems are made of blue resin, with a beautiful floral motif on the faceplate. The iems sport 2 pin connectors that are not recessed, so can take a variety of 2 pin cables.

The cables are beautiful and match the iems in terms of looks. They are very sturdy and pliable, with a nice marbled plate on the strain relief. The cables came terminated with a 4.4 balanced connector.

Fit

The iems are fairly small and lightweight, very similar to the BGVP DM6 (similar configuration in terms of drivers). The Neko also has fairly big nozzles similar to the BGVP iems (DM6/DM8/DM9).
There is a wing on the back of the shell that should help with the fit for a lot of people. Since they are lightweight, they are mostly comfortable to wear for long.

The cable weight does pull the iems a bit, but since the cables are worn around the ear, they are fairly fine for wear.

The nozzle being a touch big, did give me some trouble over an extended period of wear (about 1 hour).

Sound Impressions

I drove the iems out of the Fiio KA2 balanced dac dongle that delivers a lot of power. The dac volume was kept at 13, and the iems were sufficiently loud. Easy to drive, also considering that they are all BA.

The overall sound signature is quite balanced and relaxed. There is no sibilance. There is enough microdetail retrieval and enough bass to keep most people happy.

Overall here are some scores.

Bass - 3.5/5
Mids - 4/5
Treble - 4/5
Stage - Intimate and immersive in a small hall with the musicians. Very involving
Imaging - 4.5/5 - Beautiful rendering of the instruments around the listener
Depth - 3.5/5 - Depth is present, but not the best in class by any means.

TR1> Tool - The Pot () - This track has a lot of mixed time and rhythm with a lot of instruments. The Neko was able to navigate the complexities very well, while keeping composure right through.
Bass was present in the drum tracks with a lot of guitar cues and micro details being delicately retrieved.

TR2> Porcupine Tree - Arriving Somewhere but not here () - This track was thoroughly enjoyed when paired with the Letshuoer Chimera cables. The song was enveloping and the whole track was enjoyable. The iems dissapeared and in its place was a sea of immersive music

TR3> Planet Funk - Chase the Sun () - A classic track from the early 2000s that is still a banger. The iems made me dance (or just shuffling around, for others watching me). The bass hits were sufficient without going into basshead territory. The synths were rendered very well. The vocals were spot on.
Nostalgic

Comparisons

Thieaudio Monarch MK2 - This is from memory as I dont have the mk2 with me. However, both iems seem neck and neck in the balanced sound signature game. Both are technically excellent, with a very slight edge to the mk2.
And that is an impressive feat on its own.

Kinera Imperial Urd - This is my to go for balanced long term listening. The Neko is very similar in characteristics, especially with the Chimera cables. Like Master Oogway said, everything in balance!
Or was it thanos? Either ways, I prefer the Urd just a bit more due to an easier fit for my ears. Again, neck and neck in terms of sound.

Aful Performer 8 - The Aful, with a DD in addition to its BA drivers, has a touch more bottom end than the Neko. However, the detail retrieval and finesse on the treble end more than evens out the score, and with better technicalities, outdoes the P8, just by a little though.

Conclusions
The Neko is an excellent iem from SeeAudio, taking away my main gripe of looking good but sounding average as with the Yumes. Those that liked the Yume will like the Neko even more, as it has a bit more character to it.
In summary, a well built, musical iem whose only concern may be on the pricing bit.
Conclusions -

Thanks to hifigo and Pulkit Dreamzz for organising the review tour of the Aful Performer 8, the successor of the generally well regarded P5.
As usual, the impressions are mine only with zero influence of anything/anyone else.

PACKAGE AND BUILD

The iems come in a mid sized cardboard box with a minimalistic approach. The iems are present in the foam cut out, while the brown/silver cables in 3.5mm termination and 2 pin at the shell end coming in a nice round faux leather case.
Under the foams, there is a selection of tips with various colors and sizes. and a product literature booklet.

The iems are dark resin shells with a nice faceplate that is reminiscent of recent iems from other manufacurers across priceranges. The cable is a SPC cable with 4 core braided cables that is supple and nice feeling.

FIT AND COMFORT​

These are some of the better fitting iems even for small ears. There is a very small wing at the back that has a nice dip and sits very nicely in the ear. The nozzle is medium-small and very comfortable. The nozzles fit the sony tips very well, and indicates a very comfortable longtime wear.

Well done in the fit department. The iems are lightweight and one can practically wear it for a long time without much issues.


Similarly, the cable being nice and supple, wear very comfortably around the ears. The 4 core braid ensures that there is not much of a weight and this does not pull the iems in any way. No microphonics either.

SOUND IMPRESSIONS​

I drove the iems off the Tanchjim Space dongle on the 3.5mm and 4.4mm taps with an aftermarket cable. The sound was consistent with both inputs.
The selection of tracks from Qobuz, youtube premium and flac was used to test the iems.

Bass - These iems are not basshead iems. That said, they do have a decent punch in both mid bass rumble as well as palpable slam in the subbass areas on selected tracks. The textures come across nicely although a little softer than other basshead focussed iems. (3.75/5)

Mids - These iems are mid forward. They have a sense of a lot of air in the mids, making the vocals sound prominent and spacious. Both male and female vocals are provided good amount of support. However, sometimes this can be too much off a good thing. There can be honkiness on some tracks in the upper mids. This can also come out as being a little harsh in the upper mids/lower treble. (4/5)

Treble - There is good extension and space in the treble areas. There isnt much details lost in translation, be it imaging or staging. The size of stage is quite wide and a above average depth, like a large hall. (4/5)

COMPARISONS​

The other mid focussed iems that I have on hand are the Juzear 41T and the Kinera Imperial Urd, and hence I will compare them with the P8, which is priced between the 2 iems.



Juzear 41T - The Juzear 41T was a recent acquisition and has a slightly larger nozzle than the P8. The size and weight is very similar between the 2. The key area where the 41T pulls a little ahead of the P8 is in the upper mids. Where the P8 sounds a bit honky, the 41T is a little more controlled. However, the bass on the P8 is slightly stronger.

Kinera Imperial Urd - The Urd is one of my favorite mid focussed iems at a much higher price bracket than the P8. Understandably, it has better performance across the board. However, the difference is much narrower than the prices make out and hence the comparison still stands valid.

CONCLUSIONS​

The P8 is a very good performer in the mid budget segment, offering good fit with airy soundscapes that is not the traditional harman tuned. With a good mix of technical chops and fit, it performs very well.

Thanks to Concept Kart for organising this review tour of 2 dacamp dongles. Audiocular is Concept Kart's own brand and is their first foray under the brand. Wishing them the very best in bringing excellent products under the umbrella!

TP20 Pro and TP30 Pro are balanced and single ended dacamp dongles that are affordable and provide excellent features in a tight budget. The review is from a very neutral standpoint and has absolutely no influence in any way from Concept Kart. All opinions are mine only.

Specifications

The TP20 Pro dacamp comes with dual independent Cirrus Logic dac chipsets (CS43131), supporting 3.5mm (SE) and 4.4mm (Bal) ports on the output section, while taking a usb c input. It supports 32 bit/384khz PCM, DSD256 decoding as well as MQA decoding.

The TP30 Pro comes with dual ESS ES9038Q2M chipsets that has a 3.5mm (SE) and 4.4mm (Bal) output with a similar usb c input. The dac decodes 32 bit/768khz PCM, DSD512 decoding as well as MQA decoding.

Both dacamps have an option of USB C or Lightning cables, for use with appropriate input sources.

There are minor differences in terms of THD, sensitivity, SNR, dynamic range parameters, while providing a similar output impedance of 32 ohms. The TP20 Pro has a green LED while the TP30 pro has a red LED indicator when they are powered on.

Package and build

The devices come in identical carboard packages with the corresponding usb-c to usb-c or lightning cable nestled in foam, while the dacamps are nearly identical in terms of dimensions.

The TP20 Pro is a black brick, while the TP30 Pro is a golden brick (or biscuit!). Both look solid with metal construction that looks like it can take a lot of abuse. Both weigh a bit and give a feeling of solid metal mass.

The input and output ports are near identical on both units, with the output ports switching order in comparison to the other.

The TP20 pro comes with a gain switch as well as volume buttons that control the source volume nicely. The TP20 pro also has a Play/pause button that pauses and resumes play on the source (Even on a windows laptop!).

The TP30 pro does not have the gain switch or the pause/play button, but has a similar volume control buttons.

Screen printing on the cases of both dacamps are similar, with the logo on one side, and the name and chipset capabilities on the other side.

Both units came with identical cables.

Sound profile

With impressive output power specs on both units (2Vrms - single ended, and 4 Vrms on balanced), there is plenty of juice to drive iems with ease. I was able to drive KZ PR1 Pro and CCA PLA13 to ear shattering levels on both dacs.

Tuning

TP20 Pro - The TP20 Pro has a slightly more pronounced bass, of the two. Details are good, lots of head room without any distortion experienced at any level. The mids are pushed slightly back in comparison with the TP30 pro, more due to slightly bassiser output.

TP30 Pro - The TP30 Pro is slightly more neutral sounding of the two. The mids are a touch more clearer, with excellent treble detail. The bass is more rounded than the TP20 pro, that has a bit more oomph. The typical sabre glare is mostly avoided, and the sound is very clean.

Conclusions

Coming at excellent price points, both dongles offer very high value in terms of features and excellent sound. The only probably qualm is that both are on the chunkier side. This could auger well as the metal builds inspire confidence in terms of longevity. Standard usb c input means the most common failure point of dac dongles is well addressed.
The TP20 Pro is an easy recommendation for those looking for a fun sounding dongle, while the more detail oriented and technical audience will enjoy the TP30 Pro more. Well done, Concept Kart / Audiocular!

BGVP DM9 - Quick impressions​

Thanks to Bgvp Acoustics for the review unit of the BGVP DM9. This is part of a worldwide tour by BGVP.
As usual, there was no compensation in cash or kind (not even shipping charges) was offered or taken for the review. It is completely my unbiased opinion.

I have been using the BGVP flagships for a long time, including the DM6, DM8, NS9 etc. I will compare between the DM6, DM8 and DM9 as part of this review. The DM6 and DM8 are my own units and previous flagships of BGVP.

PACKAGE AND BUILD​

The package of the DM9 is a slightly smaller box than the DM8, however with similar contents. It came in a nice box with the iems nestled in a foam board. The cables are a thick mmcx iem (similar to the DM8 cables), thick but supple.
No microphonics carried through the cables, whatsoever.

The iems are a beautiful shade of purple and blue, similar to the stabilized wood from the DM8 series. The cable is modular and came with a 3.5mm and 4.4mm terminations.

The carry case of the DM9 is a fairly large oval white box that can house the cables and iems, along with a selection of tips. An iem cleaning brush also came as a part of the standard kit.

The iems carry 9 drivers, as opposed to the 6 BAs of the DM6 and 8 BA drivers of the DM8. However, the 9 drivers are a combination of one liquid silicone DD, 4 BA and 4 low voltage EST drivers. The iems also came with a 4 way crossover for frequency division and 3d printed acoustic tube structure.

FIT AND COMFORT​

The DM9 is a lightweight iem, however when paired with the stock cables, there is a bit of added weight. An aftermarket cable like the Smoky Litz will reduce weight and increase wearing comfort significantly.

The biggest gripe I have with the BGVP iems are the nozzle size. As with the other models. the DM9 has a chonky nozzle that can hurt small ear canals. So if you do have smallish ear canals, try before buy is a must. The nozzle size is similar to that of the CA Solaris.

SOUND IMPRESSIONS​

From an overall tuning perspective, the DM_ series has been mostly neutral balanced with very good detail retrieval. The DM9 changes this a little bit with a little more presence in the lower end with the DD driver prodiving for thick and palpable thump and rumble in the bass section.


The mids are slightly recessed in comparison, while the treble have good details and energy without being sibilant.

The bass is thick and reverby, which makes it sound fun. There is a lot of thump and impact in the mid bass and sub bass regions, making you want to listen to fun sounding tracks. This will be ideal for R&B genre more than tight bass decay requirements of EDM.

The mids are a slight bit recessed, but provide sufficient support for male and female vocals alike. However, vocals are a touch back in comparison to the surrounding bass and treble sections.

Treble performance is very good, with the EST drivers playing their part in good detail retreval and imaging.
Stage depth is average with a decent amount of layering of the instruments.

Driveability is decent, middling between very easy to drive single DDs and hard to drive yesteryear planars like the Tin P1.

COMPARISONS

BGVP DM6
The DM6 from one of the earliest batches manufactured have a very balanced sound, easy driveability and package. The DM6 are easier to driver, but are more neutral in comparison to the DM9. The DM9 have a lot more bass impact thanks to the DD included.
The size and fit is very similar to the DM9.

BGVP DM8
The DM8 is very similar in terms of package and presentation. The stabilized wood shells make them look excellent and this is a similar case with the DM9 again. The fit is identical and the iems are just a touch more heavier than the DM9.
Soundwise, the DM9 has more lowend, while requiring similar drive current as the DM8.

CONCLUSIONS​

The DM9 carries forward the design language of the DM_ flagship series, while offering a bit more fun signature, when compared to the more neutral/balanced sounding DM8 and DM6.