Earbuds Round-Up

@redkingjoe : Agreed. The summit-fi TOTL IEM might be around 2999$ together with just a plain stock cable.

 

I could enjoy my Emx 500 for 2 days only before right side stop working..I hope TOTL earbuds do not suffer from so
poor QC

 

The differences are so insignificant that it can be attributed to reverse phasing, perhaps

 

Did you try the graphene?

 

Yes, interesting sig, airy

 

If just one side suddenly stopped working there's a big change it's just the cable which dropped off from the solder joint. If you can open your earbud to check it and if you got a soldering iron would be really easy to fix it. Or maybe send a message to the store on Aliexpress. I had a good experience with Penon Audio when a similar thing happened to my Shozy Cygnus.

 

how is the DIY Graphene compared to th Senfer Pt15? is it better in resolution? or just different sounding with the same ballpark in quality?

 

Thanks for suggestion. I have tried but I am not good with a solder. I think the driver is dead now. I will keep the cable and try to put it on an old Aiwa earbuds

 

I thought so too. But just a few months later I bought the only pair of Red Dragon in existence for close to $600 second hand. I can only say that I will never have a need for full size headphones as long as I own the Red Dragon.
The previous owner decided to leave the audiophile world and offered the Red Dragon to me. I could not refuse even if it was about $200 more than my spending limit on earbuds.

About 10 years ago when I started lurking on Head fi, I bought a pair of Yuin PK3 for about $35. It was much better than the no name cheap earbuds I was using. Still, I would never spend over $50 on a pair of earbuds. Well, a few months later I bought a pair of PK2 for $60 and loved them more than the PK3. Then I got into vintage earbuds and then I could spend $200-300 on old Sony and Aiwa earbuds. But that was mainly for the collector's value. The old Sonys and Aiwas are really good, but current earbuds are better overall, even some of the budget ones.
The spending limits kept getting pushed upwards.

Anyway. CAX Black blew me away when I bought them, but I still sort of prefered CampFred for the more laid back sound. Red Dragon takes that neutral type of sound, but with a sort of effortless and laid back CF type of presentation. Together with a wide and deep soundstage a la ABnormal Diomnes Lv2.
Those earbuds could easily compete with full size headphones in the same price category.

Still, current budget earbuds are getting better and better. Vido just amazes me and it sounds like a baby CampFred for a fraction of the price. DIY PK2 is quite close to Shozy BK/Stardust.

Curiosity made me order the graphene earbuds a few days ago together with Yincrow RW-777 and Moondrop Nameless.

I decided a while ago to only go for $100+ TOTL earbuds together with $5-10 budget earbuds but still I go ahead and buy new stuff since I'm curious... The earbud disease is not as strong as it was before but sometimes I get another fever pitch even if I have told myself that I do not need any new earbuds.

Also, I recently bought a pair of Victor HP AL1000 clip on earphones. I hope they arrive this week. Then my small collection of clip on earphones will be complete!

 

Ha. I was just about to ask you what you thought might be a budget bud that sounds something like the CampFred.... And you were kind enough to answer! (Love the Vido's myself btw).

It's hard to get completely away from the occasional fever pitch lol!

I'll be interested interested in your impressions of the graphene buds, and the the Victors. Where the heck did you find them?

 

I'm starting to feel conflicted the more I listen to my new reterminated 2.5mm earbuds. I've switched to full thick foams and the voices still sound really distant... The larger soundstage was really neat at first, but now I'm not so sure anymore. Is an earbud tuned manually after the plug? I wouldn't think so, right? (This mainly affects the QFred)

Edit: I just used a 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter and there's no audio in the QFred's right channel. Did the guy reterminate these incorrectly?...

 

Frankly speaking, life is too short and our ability to appreciate good sound is even much shorter than our life.

A lot of us would be willing spend a few hundred more just to achieve than 10% improvement.

After listening to that 10% of improvement, one might simply doesn't wanna listen back to the inferior sound and consider the money on that "10%" improvement was well spent. 10% improvement might be significant.

 

Very true! And not to discourage anyone from trying to get the best. I'm currently saving for a well deserved gift to myself as well but I was more speaking to the voice in the back of your head when you're adding things to your cart and about to hit the buy button. I think the term I've heard recently is "analysis paralysis"

 

I have been playing with diy for 20+ years. I learned that everything changed needs to be cooked. If one changes a plug, both the plug and the contacts between the cable and the plug also need burning in. The soldering material affects SQ, the skills of soldering will also afffect SQ. it takes time to stabilise. You have a new earphone thereafter. The quality of the plug significantly influences SQ too.

 

Has anyone compared the NICEHCK DIY Graphene to the Tomahawk?