hellblazer33
Forerunner
Audiophile and gears
- Thread starter icysmoke
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MrdK
Explorer
For blon bl03 only, then you dont need a desktop level dacamp. Just get a basic usb c dongle dac. That is enough for a while. Get one that suits with bl03's sound signature, a pretty neutral sounding dongle maybe. Then later upgrade all together when it is time. Usb c dongle will work fine with any pc directly or with Usb A adapter if your pc don't have usb c port.
I'm looking into getting a bluetooth dac- been waiting for the Fiio BTR 3K or 5K to come back in stock for a long time. Came across this recently launched Timeear BTE 222, available at a good price. No useful reviews anywhere though. Can anyone weigh in on this? What are my other options?
Muse Hifi M4 is also available but its pretty expensive for my use case.
Just need to drive some IEMs, have good battery life and possibly have inbuilt EQ.
Muse Hifi M4 is also available but its pretty expensive for my use case.
Just need to drive some IEMs, have good battery life and possibly have inbuilt EQ.
dissel
Innovator
My suggestion is to save up more and go for Fiio BTR15, comparing these two - BTR3K lineup discontinued by Fiio for sure.
Also, there is no power figure (mw@32ohm) mentioned for Timeear which is a concern and then the battery life as this aged.
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I didn't know about the BTR15. A quick review run says that it has pretty poor battery life? Like under 3 hours? Some people claim 5-6 hours (which is ok) but I see more people mentioning poor battery life overall.
It also seems to have a mic, which is useful.
@Alucard1729 From squig.link and Autoeq, I think I've found my preset. It sounds bloody good to me. Do you know if its possible to transfer that to 5 bands EQs like the Fiio's will have? That and some good battery life will seal the deal for me.
Nothing beats the Qudelix 5k if "you can obtain one". Ticks all the boxes including balanced out and a fantastic app with PEQ.
The A&K XB10 is a cheap option with decent build. You get balanced out and an inbuilt mic but lose out on EQ.
Yeah, I would have bought the 5k in a heartbeat if it popped up in the Indian market. Read somewhere that Qudelix will not sell in India due to exorbitant taxes and customs. Sigh. Don't have means to get it from abroad anytime soon.
As for the XB10, while a decent budget option for what it is, is micro-usb, BT 4, 2hrs ish battery life among other things. Kinda inconvenient for today's standards.
This review has me kinda sold on the BTR15. Might just get this if I don't find anything else.
Alucard1729
Forerunner
You can but there's the limitation owing to limited number of frequency bands (also them being large).
If you have done multiple changes with filters then it will not be easy to replicate in 5-band.
If it's just minor changes with peak filters or with some shelves than it could be replicated on the 5-band eq.
Try using the squiglink autoeq tool while restricting the frequency range to the problematic region.
I haven't used recent fiio apps but they should provide parametric eq at least.
If you like subjective reviews with flowery words then that is him. And, who doesn't equalize today ? Sigh ..
Ah, no, from a usage perspective. He claims battery life is about 8 hours in PC mode, which is fantastic if true. In Phone mode he says its about 3-4 hours, which lines up with other people's complaints. And the general software experience, while slow, is good enough. (Also I didn't think his description of those songs were too flowery)
@Alucard1729 Thanks again mate, thats helpful to know. I'll take another look at squig.link.
That is the product functionality. I was referring to the core - sound. Looks like the app's PEQ feature is buggy. Do share your review if you get one.
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dissel
Innovator
Before anyone points out I would like to correct my statement - Fiio does have plan for the BTR3K line as BTR13 - So anyone looking for the same can wait a bit longer.
sujan
Discoverer
Been using Truthear Nova for couple of months. Thought about sharing my impressions here for anyone looking to get these iems.
Flashy is the theme of this iem, and not for the better unfortunately.
Their previous flagship, the hexa seemed like a no frills product with understate look, normal sized housing and a tuning that was pretty much neutral. I personally haven't heard the hexa but the people in the hobby revere it for its price and for buckling the harman tuning trend.
Truthear, unfortunately went the opposite route for the Nova.
The housing is big with a flashy faceplate in blue. It fits fine on my ears but I can totally see it being an issue for people with below average ear canals. The cables has matching blue color but it's microphonic due to the fabric like texture. And it's quite uncomfortable after an hour of use due to the pre-formed hooks having too narrow of a radius. We also get a pouch which is pretty fancy with a heavy duty zipper, but isn't as protective as a hard shell case.
The flashiness continues with the sound too. Barring a slight relaxation in upper-mids, the tuning is pretty much Harman IE 2019 target. A target that the budget iem space has clung to, for better or for worse.
I have two major qualms with harman in-ear target. The scooped low-mid (~150hz-300hz) and too much upper-mid(~3khz-6khz) emphasis. It's a one-two punch to disjointed bass and shouty mids. It's got a wow factor on first listen no doubt, but is pretty fatiguing on my ears.
Now the bass on nova has fantastic rumble thanks to generous sub-bass elevation, and it maintains a good speed even with demanding genres like death metal and dnb. But since it's harman tuned, the mid-bass presence leave a bit to be desired. Kick drums for example have good heft but can sound a bit like it's lacking texture. This is just me being nitpicky though. I don't think anyone would be complaining about the Bass on Nova. It's pretty satisfying with good extension and punch.
Mid-range is another story though. The bass to midrange transition is quite smooth but since the mid-bass is scooped, they unfortunately sound thin and cold. Male vocals sound pretty heady with no power behind them. Female vocals fare a bit better, but even they sound a bit thin and raspy. Actually everything sounds thin, skewed towards upper-mids and lacking in body. The upper-mids glare also results in shrill sounding instruments.
Things get better from this point though.
Nova slightly regains its composure in treble. I'm a bit treble sensitive so I don't like too much treble tilt. Fortunately, the treble here is quite smooth and bereft of any egregious dips or peaks. It behaves quite nicely with almost all my music. Cymbals sounds quite natural and extended. Easily the highlight of this iem.
Maybe this is due to the emphasized upper or the smooth treble, but Nova has fantastic detail and instrument separation. Soundstage isn't that wide but whatever is in its stage has good imaging and is also slightly holographic. I've been even tricked into looking behind at some sound cues during my gaming sessions.
So I've pretty much been quite negative on this iem so why buy it then? Couple of reasons.
First, the overall FR while harman has some of the smoothest bass to mid & mid to treble transition. Second, the treble as I said before is extremely smooth with little to no peaks. This makes Nova one of the best iems to play EQ with.
The second point I discovered thanks to the new B&K 5128 measurements that some reviewers have started publishing. I'll highly recommend to read these two articles if you want to learn more about the merits of this new system over the current 711 couplers:
A Reviewer's Guide to Understanding Graphs - the B&K 5128 Edition
The introduction of the B&K 5128 measurement system heralded a revolution in the headphone hobby with our visualization of frequency response graphs. But how does it compare to the old GRAS standard and how will calibrated graphs improve our understanding of measurements? In this article, we...
The Shape of IEMs To Come
IEMs sound pretty different to headphones, but why? Why isn't there an "HD 650" of IEMs? Is it even possible to make one? Join listener as they discuss the Brüel & Kjaer Type 5128 Head and Torso Simulator, the previous generation of IEMs, and where we might be heading to capture the sound of...
If you don't wish to read it then I'll throw a quick TLDR here. 711 coupler measurements are accurate upto to 8-10khz, but 5128 rig has a realistic ear canal which has accuracy upto 20khz. This is the first rig to measure iems accurately in the entire human listening range. Reliable treble measurements is a thing now.
Nova measurements on 5128 show treble that's smooth and fortunately my ears agree too. Using listener's (an excellent reviewer) 5128 rig and EQ tool, I was able to fix pretty much all of my tonal issues with the Nova. And the best things is that it doesn't need much to make it better. Just two high pass filters:
Filter 1: ON HSC Fc 800 Hz Gain -3.0 dB Q 0.700
Filter 2: ON HSC Fc 8000 Hz Gain 1.5 dB Q 1.000
Gone is the thin lower midrange and glaring upper mids. Midrange now have good body and warmth. The upper-mid is tamed which brings out the treble. Timbre in general improves significantly as a result.
This midrange taming also affects the bass, in a good way. The rumble is present but now it also has fantastic texture and sounds a bit more bouncy now. Best things is that detail and imaging is pretty much the same as before. Instrument separation might sound slightly closed in to some in comparison to stock tuning but I think the slight hit here is more than justifiable.
Do I recommend this iem? I hesitate to, since a listener ideally shouldn't have to resort to EQing to make an iem shine, and I don't wish to make it a norm either.
So I'll recommend the Nova if and only if you want to play with EQ and want to find what type of tuning you prefer. Regular audiophiles should rather avoid this iem. I hope Truthear goes back to the drawing board and come up with a tuning that's better than the flawed Harman IE. Given their good track record I'm sure they will.
Thank you for reading my ramblings. Here's some artsy-fartsy eye candy:
Attachments
Very nice review, perhaps this can go into the dedicated reviews section.
Speaking of Harman tuning, the AKG K371 is available in FK -
This is 2023 manufactured.
sujan
Discoverer
I don't think my ramblings are good enough to be a review haha, but thanks for the kind words!
I wanted to get the K371 but QC issues made me stop. Are these newer manufactured ones built well?
Mine arrived yesterday and I only had a one hour listening session. Build wise it seems ok but I suppose time will tell. I had the BT version earlier which was painful as the driver pressed against my ear so sold it off.
sujan
Discoverer
ah nice, congrats. Do keep us updated!
K371 seem to be tuned so well man. It measures so close to my HD650 (even better in the low end)
Re entering into this hobby with this headphone. What a classic headphone with very traditional mid centric focus, such a beauty it is. Straight out of my MBP it has wonderful details and soundstage that I don't even feel a need of amping. Warm and smooth sound that I can listen for hours without any fatigue. IEMs can't come close at this even at 5x price, I have listened to many TOTL's on headphone shows.
tr27
Explorer
any updates? Also what was the deal price? ATM I have ordered the Fiio x Headphone zone type-c iems, should I cancel those for the akg? Totally different budget and type of device ik but I need something decent for music, I was also looking at Samson open backs