Earbuds/Flathead Discussion

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

  1. manatworks

    manatworks Friend

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    Anyone got to try shozy stardust? I kinda like their previous offering (cygnus) and pretty intrigue to hear their new model as well.
     
  2. music4mhell

    music4mhell New

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    @Abhishek Chowdhary please enlighten us with your impressions on Shozy Stardust !
     
  3. Abhishek Chowdhary

    Abhishek Chowdhary Friend

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    Stardust sounded worse than the cygnus. Stardust has rougher, rolled off treble, disjointed bass. I didn't do a direct comparison so this is all from memory.
    Zen 2 with the cardas cable on the other hand was a refined version of the regular Zen 2. But it requires serious power to sound decent. Directly from the Mojo it sounded bad. The mids are too recessed though. For $350 not worth it.
     
  4. peterpangea

    peterpangea New

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    Just got my Stardust yesterday. Quick impression on Stardust/BK from me after a few hours of late night listening, compared to VE Monk/Zen:

    - Fairly bassy earbud out of box, subbass and lower midbass is surprisingly prevalent. Lot of impact, bass quality is good for price but a bit "wooly" compared to Andromeda (admittedly tough comparison for Stardust).

    - Mid-focused, vocal quality quite good. There feels to be a bit of treble-roll off but nowhere near as bad as VE Zen. Treble also more even than VE Monk. One niggle is that lower mids (esp. guitars) was not the most clear relative to the rest of the FR on some J-indie songs I was testing. Need more listening to assess.

    - In general sound signature I'd feel would look like this \^_ (elevated bass, mid emphasis, flat/slightly rolled off treble)

    - Much larger soundstage than Monk, similar level to Zen and Andromeda, good sense of height and depth. Need more time to assess width and positioning.

    Build is really good. Cable probably best IEM/earbud cable I've handled yet. Great quality feeling, no memory effect or microphonics. Feels more supple than the already supple Litz cable on Andromeda. Accessories a bit light for the price (i.e. there's nothing else besides a carrying case).

    Pretty good buy overall, however Abhishek's position that Cygnus actually is better sounding one to him is interesting to explore. Will need to grab a Cygnus for A/B.
     
    Last edited: Nov 30, 2016
  5. Abhishek Chowdhary

    Abhishek Chowdhary Friend

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    VE Zen with the cardas cable has actually pretty good extension and good refinement. I'd say most refined treble of all earbuds. It's not exactly sparkly but gets the job done. The thing with Zen is, it scales quite a bit with proper amplification, think HD650 although not as technically capable.

    Stardust on the other hand has harsh/rough (distortion probably) lower treble and rolled of upper treble. Midrange is the only decent aspect about it. Even the bass was cleaner on cygnus.
     
  6. peterpangea

    peterpangea New

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    Hmm, you think the cardas cable makes that much of a difference?

    This amping thing is where I run into issues with the Zen 2.0. I don't want a earbud where I have to plug it into a powerhouse portable/desktop amp to get good performance out of. I'd have to try Zen again out of a good amp, but I'm a bit skeptical that amping will fill in the hole where its mids used to be. For a earbud, I really just need it to sound fairly good out of a phone and be comfortable. Stardust wins here IMO.

    Trying the Stardust out of my GOV2+ though, I'll say that it doesn't benefit that much from improving source besides having a fairly clean sounding DAC. More complex music started getting too congested for my liking. It does reconfirm how nice the mids are. I think saying mids are "decent" on these is definitely a slight understatement :)
     
  7. HAL9000

    HAL9000 Almost "Made"

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    A like new pair of Shozy Stardusts just got listed on HF :)
     
  8. munch

    munch Friend

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    interesting. sorry if I repeat myself but- do you have any headphones which tonal balance you can compare this to?
    I also wonder, do you feel it has any sibilance issues/harshness, or mid shoutyness? \^_ seems a little steep but hard to get a sense of scale of an FR written out in ASCII :p

    mid focus seems promising, just don't want it to be too uneven.

    thanks for the impressions!
     
  9. peterpangea

    peterpangea New

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    Hey of course :) honestly they remind me a bit of my old HD 650 with more bass emphasis. I do think if you want a more neutral sounding bud, these probably aren't it. They're pretty coloured-sounding.
     
  10. munch

    munch Friend

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    hmm interesting. HD650 don't sound very coloured to me, minus the bass emphasis. but even more... well, I don't mind. TH-X00 style perhaps?
    I really like those to be honest.

    Thank you!
     
  11. peterpangea

    peterpangea New

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    I haven't tried TH-X00 but these should have less treble than them. If you're on the fence due to price, I'd recommend either getting Armaegis' Celsus Gramo One or picking up a Cyngus. Both of those should also be quite close to your preferred sound sig.
     
  12. music4mhell

    music4mhell New

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    Ok guys, i just compared my Cygnus to Stardust ..

    I will pick Stardust over Cygnus anyday..
    Stardust has clear mids, smooth treble (Less than Cygnus).. I can say Stardust Mids is at par with HD650..
    On the other hand, cygnus is good value for money, but it sound grainy to me.. Spikes in highs .. my 2 cents :)
     
  13. Abhishek Chowdhary

    Abhishek Chowdhary Friend

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    Unless you have an engineering degree, knowledge of particle and wave theory; your impressions are worth even less than 2 cents. Don't you ever post here.
    - Headfi deja vu ;)
     
  14. munch

    munch Friend

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    ahh right. well I definitely wouldn't mind a little less treble on those, they have a bit of peakiness!
    not at all worried about the price, I actually went ahead and picked up the used ones on HF. should be able to re-sell if I don't like them. :p

    I couldn't resist - thanks everyone!
     
  15. FallingObjects

    FallingObjects Pay It Forward

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    Just got the Monk+'s (3.5mm TRRS), and have them plugged into my GOV2's balanced aaaand...

    ... They play music? I might just not be jiving with the sound signature, and for their cost they're definitely a hell of a lot better (both in quality and construction) than any other $5 earbuds I've tried. But I feel like I was expecting more out of them with their reputation. I'll give them a broad welcome across my playlists though.

    Worst case scenario I just pick up some converters and use them as a cheapo pair, so I'm not upset over this purchase overall. Just a bit disillusioned I guess.

    edit: On second thought, these are pretty good with 'fun' music.
     
  16. peterpangea

    peterpangea New

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    Yeah Monk+ are good for the price, but are they good on an overall basis? Not necessarily. Just enjoy them for what they are :)
     
  17. FallingObjects

    FallingObjects Pay It Forward

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    Oh for sure. For the $20 that I paid for two pairs, I can definitely respect them at their price point. They're also much more convenient to take off and use than my MEE's with the triple flange tips, but obviously not as noise isolating.
     
  18. peterpangea

    peterpangea New

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    Mhmm, now time for you to get deeper into the earbud game :) Shozy Cygnus or Stardust should be a solid (and reasonably priced) step up.
     
  19. outonochuvioso

    outonochuvioso New

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    @FallingObjects, you have to try different foams and change the way you position them in your ears. Just have fun playing with them.
    They are not the best resolving earbuds (Lee has other options if you are only looking into that), they are made to have fun searching your favorite sound signature, because the foams can change the FR drastically.
     
  20. music4mhell

    music4mhell New

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    I use my Monk+ without any foams after a lot of research :)
     

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