Earbuds/Flathead Discussion

Discussion in 'IEMs and Portable Gear' started by shotgunshane, Oct 18, 2016.

  1. shotgunshane

    shotgunshane Floridian Falcon

    Staff Member Pyrate Flathead IEMW
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    This is the SBAF official Earbuds/Flathead discussion thread. No IEMS please.

    Review/Impression Links-

    Apollo Warlord
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-13#post-411434

    Auglamour RX-1
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-10#post-286665

    Blur OFC MX300 aPs
    300Ω (1 of 1 Limited Edition)
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-14#post-413539

    Dunu Alpha 3
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-14#post-413141
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-14#post-413320
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-15#post-414971
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-16#post-418253

    Faael Rosemary
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-12#post-409439

    Fiio FF1
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-15#post-415082

    Fiio FF3
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-12#post-409450
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-16#post-415852
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-16#post-418253

    Fiio FF5
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-16#post-418721
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-16#post-418253

    Ksearphone Temperament LBBS
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-13#post-410068

    Moondrop Chaconne
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-11#post-384583

    Simphonio Hifiboy Dream and SWD2Plus
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-10#post-216230

    Shozy Stardust/BK
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...s-flathead-discussion.3026/page-6#post-100209

    Rikubuds Alter Rider 3
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-14#post-413097

    TGXear Desolation Sound
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-16#post-415692

    TGXear Serratus
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-15#post-415143

    TGXear Sunniva
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-15#post-415199

    Yincrow X6
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-12#post-409439

    Yinman 600Ω
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-14#post-411470
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-14#post-411484
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-14#post-411489
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-flathead-discussion.3026/page-14#post-411496
     
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    Last edited: Nov 4, 2023
  2. music4mhell

    music4mhell New

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    Hello All,

    This thread is dedicated to Earbuds discussions only. No IEMs please.

    I own below Earbuds as of now:

    Ve Zen2, Shozy Cygnus, Rose Mojito, Rose Masya, Ostry KC08, Musicmaker Tomahawk, Ting, TKY2, Auglamour RX-1, VE Monk, Monk+, TY Hi-Z 32 Ohms, Seahf 150 Ohms, 400 Ohms etc etc. I am not able to recall every earbud right now.

    I will update with my short impressions and review later on.
    For a starter, every one should buy the $5 VE Monk+ for sure :)

    Let me know, how i can contribute more.

    My current setup :
    Home : Genelecs 8010 + Genelec F One Sub + Chord Mojo
    Office : Oneplus One UAPP + Chord Mojo + HD650 + Earbuds
     
  3. Abhishek Chowdhary

    Abhishek Chowdhary Friend

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    Describe their sound signature, differences, what's your reference system....
    Do post what do you think of HD650 (this will give you some credit :D )

    I'll post my findings on these buds later today.
    Thanks for starting the thread. Some of these buds have changed my perception towards earbuds (Apple destroyed the category)
     
  4. Abhishek Chowdhary

    Abhishek Chowdhary Friend

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    I am by no means a portable audio guy. I've had mostly cheap IEMs. The most expensive ones i've heard thus far are Fischer DBA2, RHA T20i, JH Audio Rosie. While none of them were bad they did not justify their price tag.
    When someone offered me some earbuds to listen to, I was reluctant as I had no hopes for earbuds at least. But when I finally gave some of them a chance, was taken back by the price to performance ratio.

    While I won't consider any of these earbuds for serious listening nor are they going to replace your HD650 (even stock ones), some of them offer insane value for the money while maintaining more than acceptable performance.
    As with IEM tips, headphone pads earbuds too change sound sig depending on the foam cover(mostly density and thickness) used. The below impressions are actually earbuds + whatever foam cover suited most the particular earbud.


    1) Rose Mojito - $230. Warm, full bass, too recessed mids, peaky and grainy treble. Acceptable refinement and relatively fine resolution. It's not bad technically but recessed mids and treble issues along with high price do not make it worth a buy.

    2) VE (Venture Electronics) Zen2 - $150. Dense tone, rolled off highs, prominent mid bass rumble and too much chamber reflections, rolled of sub bass, ok resolution, too dark for some music. Some may like the tuning, I find it a bit too uneven.

    3) Shozy Cygnus - $89. Impactful bass and decent extension, Dynamic, clean, no major peaks or dips, good resolution, grain/refinement acceptable, very comfortable. Overall best of the lot. Great value at the asking price.
    Edit : A minor lower treble peak detected over extended listenng. Resolution lower than RX1 and Zen2/black

    4) Musicmaker Ting - $75. Flattest FR of the lot but also flat dynamics. Refined and extended at both ends. Good sounding but too flat dynamics and for $15 more one can get the Cygnus instead.

    5) Musicmaker TY2 - $89. Cheap looking cheap sounding. Total POS. The Audeze EL8 of earbuds.

    6) Ostry KC08 - $99. Another POS. Measured exactly 1.5*TY2 POS

    7) Venture electronics Monk+ - $5. Lots of weaknesses such as uneven FR, echoy, unrefined treble. But for the price it's a GEM. Everyone buy one, listen and then buy more to gift around.

    8) Auglamour RX-1 - $20. My personal favourite. A bit uneven and rolled off bass but good definition, good midrange, extended treble and mostly refined, no prominent peaks or dips, decent dynamics, bass could have little better impact. For the price insane value.


    I never expected earbuds to sound even decent. RX1, Cygnus are great example of how good earbuds can get. Earbuds have a different presentation to IEMs. SS, imaging, dynamics are more like open back headphones while IEMs (I speak of only those i've heard)
    have too compressed dynamics, lack air and imaging precision. The downside to earbuds is isolation and bass extension but i can live with that.

    To give a relative comparison to some known headphones, RX1 and Cygnus are technically better/agreeable than Hifiman HE400i/s, DT1770,1990,770 , EL8, Sine, cheaper Senns (HD 4xx)
     
    Last edited: Feb 28, 2017
  5. ibzrg1570

    ibzrg1570 Facebook Friend

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    Never understood the hype around the Monk+ on Reddit, I'd say it's priced exactly right. Very uneven FR and lots of weird echo as @Abhishek Chowdhary mentioned. Comfort and fit were really bad for my ears. I tossed them in the trash right away, then read something about how they need to be burned in. Burned them in and they still sound like trash. I have a second pair still in the packaging if anyone wants them.
     
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  6. gurubhai

    gurubhai Friend

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    So, it was the auglamor rx1 that you snuck upon me during our last micromeet. Gotta say, I was really impressed though.
    I have never been been much of a portable audio person mainly because my earcanals are of slightly unequal diameters and I find it difficult to get a seal with most IEMs.
    These earbuds with their foam tips fit in nicely though and they did sound really nice. One doesn't usually expect sub $100 equipment to not have at least one serious fr issue, but these were quite terrific in that regard and while I didn't get to listen to them for long, I thought they didn't do too bad in resolution department either.
    The first audio related impulse buy I have done, ever!
     
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2016
  7. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    I have a Celsus Sound Gramo One that's nice, though I haven't taken it out of the box in a while now. If you google it, my review on HF might be one of the first things that pops up.
     
  8. AustinValentine

    AustinValentine Friend

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    Spent some time with the Auglamour RX-1 this evening listening to select bits from a few albums.

    For $20 these are a really nice buy. Build quality is much better than you'd expect from a sub-$100 IEM. Accessory set is very nice for the price too. Comes with a little red & black carry case that's serviceable, some rubber bands, a metal decal, and a kinda crappy pack of foam covers. They had a slight odor out of the package, but it faded after around 45 minutes.

    Tonally, they remind me a little bit of an HD600 but with more bass roll off (because its an f'ing earbud) and some slight unevenness through the mids. Very open and airy sound with excellent treble timbre and solid sparkle & shimmer.

    Not going to make any grand claims about them being worldbeaters but I will say this: I think they're better sounding than a Koss Portapro or KSC-75. Performance is comparable to something like a PMX 685i, but with way way less sins of commission. (Sennheiser's sports earbuds have bloated, omnipresent one-note bass...but they're workout earbuds so WTF do you expect?). They sound excellent out of an iPhone. Get them for friends, colleagues, random family members, etc. so they can throw out their stock ibuds.
     
  9. Koth Ganesh

    Koth Ganesh Friend

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    Sigh...I am a sucker for new product ideas...just ordered the RX-1.
     
  10. music4mhell

    music4mhell New

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    Once you start, you will keep buying higher end earbuds, it's a bad hobby :( i am not able to come out of it :D
     
  11. imackler

    imackler Key Lime Pie Infected Aberdeen Wings Spy

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    I was so underwhelmed by the comfort and sound of the original Monk... I was turned off once again by buds. I love the idea, though.
     
  12. music4mhell

    music4mhell New

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    Monk is only $5, also it was not tuned properly, you can try Monk+ once, same $5.
    But there are really high end earbuds which are far ahead than Monk/ Monk+.
     
  13. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Edited the title of this thread to remove extraneous special characters formed to shape two arrows. This isn't necessary. Quality content will always draw attention to itself. Looking forward to discussion as I am somewhat of an earbud noob.
     
  14. music4mhell

    music4mhell New

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    Thank you :)
     
  15. gurubhai

    gurubhai Friend

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    I just received my own pair of Auglamour RX-1, some early notes :

    • Solid build quality and package.
    • I realized that I don't really have a portable setup, my Moto G 1st gen woefully falls short as a music player.
    • Surprisingly my motherboard's (Gigabyte Sniper) headphone output is really nice, better than wife's iphone actually.
    • I won't recommend these to bassheads.
    • Though bass light, they aren't really thin sounding. Mid range has good weight and body to it.
    • The separation and imaging is excellent. The depth is really impressive esp. out of my tube amp.
    • Good decay characteristics and plankton resolving ability.
    • The mid treble is a little bit spot lit and it kinda rolls off above that. Nothing really offensive though.
    • Overall, pretty good value for money.
     
    Last edited: Oct 21, 2016
  16. Tyll Hertsens

    Tyll Hertsens Grandpappy of the hobby - Special Friend

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    In my experience, Apple has done an amazingly good job of making a good sounding earbud at a low cost. Admittedly, I don't have much experience in this category, and haven't heard the buds listed. Have you heard the Yuin PK1? It's the best earbud I've heard...but the last generation of Apple earbuds were almost as good at 1/5 the price.
     
  17. music4mhell

    music4mhell New

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    I was about to buy Yuin PK1 to listen from my Mojo.
    But after some research, i found that there are so many earbuds better than Yuin PK1 with lesser cost. So i din't buy the PK1/PK2/PK3.

    But yes, 10 years back Yuin PK1 was a very famous earbud, that's the reason this company can be seen very often on massdrop :)
     
  18. Abhishek Chowdhary

    Abhishek Chowdhary Friend

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    The earpods sell for ~ $25 in India. For $8 a cheap IEM such as Philips SHE3590 sound better than those honkpods. Earbuds like RX1 are a totally different league that too at a lower price.
    I speak this only on relative terms. By itself the earpods are not that atrocious. But i'd better be off music than listening it through the earpods.
     
  19. stratocaster

    stratocaster Friend

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    Having fit issues with IEMs and shying away from CIEMS due to poor resale value, I have been into earbuds for some time now. I own Shozy Cygnus, MusikMaker Ting, Auglamour RX-1 and Monk+ buds. Among these I prefer the Cygnus by a fair margin. They are offering the best bass extension and mids of the above buds as well as some noticeable high-frequency shimmer and sparkle. In addition, they are very comfortable and easy to open up for mods, which can turn these into nicely balanced buds of decent audiophile quality.
     
  20. AustinValentine

    AustinValentine Friend

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    Apple earpods are a solid middle of the road earbud with a few good affordances - unique fit, social acceptability, ease of replacement. They don't sound like ass but if you buy them at retail, they're overpriced for what they are. (My wife is quite indelicate with hers so I just buy them in 3s at this point).

    The Philips SHE3590, Aiwa H-V151 (vintage out of production bud), Yuin PK1, and the Hisoundaudio Paa-1 are all more or less in the same sound bracket with the earpods - with the Paa-1 being the best sounding of the lot. They have an HD650 like tonality but their big weakness is a closed in sound with very indistinct staging and crap instrument separation. Oh, also, I had three pairs of the Paa-1 break on me at various times so f**k them.

    I'll probably need to try the Cygnus in the near future. Just like Stratocaster, I shy away from CIEMs due to resale and universals rarely workout because of fit issues. This is a good thread and I'd definitely be interested in more impressions.
     

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