Comply Ts - Spherical Shaped Goodness

First, I’ll like to thank Comply for giving me another chance to evaluate their latest offering , the Ts series.

I have reviewed the Comply S series a little over a year ago (see the review here) and compared it to the T and Tx series. At the time I have came to the conclusion that my personal preference is still the original T series in general while on some occasion, I do find the Tx series to work well to add warm to analytical IEM while S series provides easier fit. The reason for my preference for the T series is simply - it is the least intrusive when it comes to sonic effect. Like any eartips, foam tips also affect the IEM sound as the foam itself tends to absorb more treble and add warm to the overall sound, which can be a negative trait if the IEM is already warm sounding. But even with the T series, it is still impossible to avoid some level of treble absorption. The Ts series, while not really aims to 'fix' that issue, has actually turned out to be the least intrusive of all the Comply foam I have used (and I have used almost every models of them).


Ts400 (left, all middle sized) next to T200 (right, S, M, L each a pair)

[REVIEW] DUNU Trident and Hephaes

First, I’ll like to thank DUNU for the sample. DUNU, also known as TopSound, is one of best headphone OEM currently in China. They have been around for a while now but mostly outside of the public’s view as an OEM. However, they have recently decided to refocus on their own DUNU brand of headphones with the launch of a new series of earphones. The first two of the series, balanced armature based Ares (DN-11) and Crius (DN-13,) were reviewed a few months ago and I am impressed by their outstanding build quality. Now it is time to follow up with two more DUNU, the dynamic transducer based Trident (DN-12) and Hephaes (DN-16).

make • believe

Sony just announced 11 new models of IEM under the new XBA series, and they are all balanced armature based. This will mark Sony first entry to the BA based IEM market -  a little late to the games, but comes with full force! The whole series spans from one to quad drivers IEM (XBA-1 to XBA-4) and their mic supported variation, plus one bluetooth model, one noise canceling model and one ear clip / sport model. Check them all out on Sony website here.

[REVIEW] Sub$100 Dual Driver – SonoCore Cindy + BrookStone Clear Dual Drive

First, I'll like to thanks SonoCore for the review sample of COA-805 Cindy.

Dual driver based IEM is pretty rare on the sub-$100 price point. For balanced armature, we have the Apple dual driver IEM, for dynamic transducer, we have the SonoCore COA-803 which I had reviewed before. In this review, we are going to looking into another two dynamic based dual drivers - the latest offering from SonoCore, the $75 COA-805 ‘Cindy’ and the $60 Brookstone ‘Clear dual drive earbuds’ (BsCDD)

Excellent Sound

Here is another IEM brand most of you probably never heard of, Excellent Sound (EXS) from South Korea. I won't blame you - as I have very little knowledge about this company as well. Here is an interesting dual driver EXS just launched over a month ago, the X20, featuring dual balanced armature drivers from Knowles with impedance of 54ohm and sensitivity of 101dB/mW @ 1kHz. The MSRP is just a little over US$180 and it is pretty much exclusive to S.Korea at the moment. Now you know everything I know about EXS X20.

[UPDATE] EXS is currently looking for oversea dealer. Anyone who is interested can drop me an email.

Oh, check out the picture after the break.

Sennheiser New In-Ear

Sennheiser has just announced two new additions to their IE series - the IE60 and IE80. Judging from the press material, the biggest change seems to be isolation, which is known to be lacking in the old IE series. The new IE60 and IE80 will provide up to -26dB of isolation (a little above average in my book), but both models will keep the overall design of  IE6 and IE8. The improved isolation is a welcome change but it also indicates that the new models might change from being opened design to a closed design, which means there is potential for soundstage reduction (from IE6 / IE8). I guess we just have to wait and see. No actual price yet, but don't expect it to be cheaper than IE6 / IE8.

[UPDATE] It seems there is a silence update on Sennheiser website and now the isolation is down to -20dB. So the new IE60 and IE80 are probably as open as the old design.