#
November 2025
#
NF Acoust NA20 Impressions
30/11/2025
so i got an nf acous na20 for like 70 kangarooland fun bucks. never really heard of this brand before, but they sound really nice. also like how small and light it is.
#
Hearing Damage Cause
28/11/2025
OK bro im gonna confess something from the bottom of my black heart: most of my hearing damage came from listening to smut audio of girls farting loudly and one time i set my amp to high gain and set the knob way way past 12 o'clock just for this one particularly hot sounding fart and that's why you my left ear has has inferior hearing compared to my right
i was so horny but also autistic about detail that i literally brapped my ear half to death.
okay dude? i don't wanna talk about it. also this is not a joke this actually happened. i brapped my ear off with a German face tweeter. god please forgive me
and that is a tale of lust and greed
#
Shanling ME600 Impressions
27/11/2025
Just received the Shanling ME600. So far, they seem to be exactly what I thought they'd be; the perfect upgrade to the Fiio FH3.
The overall sound/tuning is very similar, but refined. It doesn't have the sharp peaks that the Fiio has, and the bass is even better.
Unboxing experience was really cool. Definitely the most high end feel I've had with an IEM. Also, they look really cool in-ears.
You can turn up the volume with these, and it never sounds harsh or sibilant. At the same time, it never sounds dark or muddy. Everything is really balanced. They shine at higher volumes with rock, hiphop etc.
Went out for like 2 hours with this. Man, is it good.
You know how hard it usually is to judge how much an IEM is worth, right? Like you can take a cheap one and an expensive one, and sometimes it can be hard to tell them apart. You compare the build quality, the sound, everything, and you just can't tell.
Well, with this one, you can immediately tell it's worth $300, in the same way you can tell a KZ EDC Pro is worth $15-$30 and an Aful Explorer is worth $100. The step up is just that big. This Shanling is three times better than my Fiio FH3 and Aful Explorer. That includes sound quality, build, isolation, etc.
On my 2 hour walk with these outside I noticed that they isolate better with silicon tips than my Explorers do with foam tips. That's pretty massive.
The shells are heavy, yes, but that probably contributes to the excellent sound isolation.
Next, the sound... it's fucking great. It sounds like speakers. You can turn up the volume and just enjoy. Nothing is muddy. Everything is crystal clear but powerful, and at the same time never sibilant or annoying.
This is the only iem together with the Aful Explorer that I think is safe to recommend for someone who does not intend to EQ (or don't know how). There simply aren't any resonance peaks to worry about here.could you show us a track the shanling had you notice things better than your other pos? like what song had the most drastic changes when listening with different pos?
It sounded good no matter the song or genre. I listened to rock, blues, rap, vocals and instrumentals. Bass is great (clean but punchy), vocals (both male and female) are natural, neither recessed or shouty, and instruments are natural too.
Just before I got home this song went on:
And it sounded just like it does on my speakers. I had relatively high volume on, and if I had listened to this on any of my other iems (except the Explorer), the guitar that starts around 15 seconds into the song would've hurt my ears. Not on this. But there was nothing recessed about the guitar and how it sounded. It was loud and in your face (like it should be), but not harsh or piercing.
The Aful Explorer also has this "feature", where certain sounds never really kill your ear drums. However, the Shanling has better more natural sound overall. The Explorer is too recessed in the upper mids, and lacks mid bass punch. The Shanling has a much clearer, less thick sound, with way better bass - but it still retains the non-fatiguing qualities of the Explorer.
#
Intuaura Balance & ARTTI T10 Pro Impressions
25-26/11/2025
First impression: Both sound nice and are super comfortable to wear.
Artti T10 Pro:
> Small shells
> Almost weightless
> Looks clean and beautiful
> Sound/tuning is very nice. I only have to reduce the treble a little bit (like -3db after 12khz)
> Maybe lacks a little bit of energy in the upper mids
> No issues with comfort after switching to longer tipsRating so far: 7.8/10 (one of the best in my collection)
Intuaura Balance:
> Most comfortable set I own
> Small shells that weighs little
> Sound is a bit bright for my taste (or compared to what Im used to)
> I reduce treble around 12khz with 6db. Still, upper mids are quite forward
> Bass is definitely lacking
> Seems good to me at low to mid volumes, not necessarily at high volume (because then it gets fatiguing)
> I will likely be using this as my dedicated audiobook/podcast-listening iemsRating so far: 7/10
#
CVJ Luki Impressions
26/11/2025
got my luki. fit is good, but they sound bad. bass is too muddy 2bh. sound of something bass heavy like early Kalabi is almost entirely mud. they do vibrate and it's kinda interesting, so it's worth to try since they cost almost nothing. I mow ordered konoka to compare the two.>they sound bad
this helps because you can just max the subbass without guiltI like the transparent shell, they remind me of the gato shell, which I also like very much
A shame they are both shit tho, what are some good iems with this transparent shitty plastic?also kudos for getting konoka, I also got it because the extra BA might help
>it's bad
>I ordered more, except now it'll have a 3rd bad sounding driver and switches to freely choose how bad you really want it to be!konoka is ok, been listening to it. the nozzle BA helps some of the mud
#
KZ EDC Pro Impressions
17/11/2025
>buy KZ EDC PRO for $5 on 11/11
>figure that’s cheap enough to try IEM’s for first time
>they sound way worse than regular AirPods, especially the Pros
I’m not sure what I was expecting for $5. They sound worse than my $30 Chinese gaming headset. They are a lot better than other shitty headphones you get for free, though.I don't think they are that bad, they beat almost every other $5 shitbut I tried. Definitely better than the Gate at least.
Yeah they’re better than basic free headphones that you get on an airplane but Idk, I kind of expected more despite the low price. I never tried IEM’s before so I was expecting something revelatory for some reason. I guess cheap stuff sounds cheap.
>worse than $30 chink gaming headpos
edczo in shamblesedczo only has origin and edc pro, so it makes sense the edc sound godly in comparison
>also worse than $30 chink gaming headpos
tanchjimfag in onaholeswhat exactly sounds worse compared to airpods? and which ones? airpods pro 2?
Nah first gen pros and 2nd gen regular AirPods. The regular AirPods just sound way more clear and the pros have actual bass that doesn’t sound muddy while still being able to reproduce the higher frequencies well unlike the KZ’s. Don’t take my input too seriously, though, I’m no hardcore audiophile. I eq’d the KZ’s and they do sound better, but I have to change them for each song and the AirPods just sound generally good for everything.
>I eq’d the KZ’s and they do sound better, but I have to change them for each song
what kind of EQ did you do?
if you think they have a muddy bass it's pretty easy to fix.
#
Ziigaat Doscinco Mod Impressions
15-16/11/2025
Just installed 500 Mesh filters on my Doscincos. Pic you see on the left is the EQ I used prior to installing these. With this EQ it sounded OK, but still harsh. It was like there was still some really sharp peaks. Now with the filters on (was super easy to attach, basically like putting on a sticker), I removed the first EQ filter of -5db at 5k, and they sound pretty damn SMOOTH.Only been 5 minutes, so its to early to tell, but this may have been a much better solution than using EQ.
Filters on pic:
>5000 Hz: -5db, 1Q
>7700 Hz: -2db, 4Q
>10000 HZ: -3db, 4QI'm exciting now. Going to try this on my KZ Prx as well.
My EQ is now simply 7700 Hz, -4db, Q2. That's it. Sounds super nice.
you don't have a 5128 rig, though..
My experiment with the Ziigaat Doscinco failed. I thought the mesh filters (500 strength) helped at first, and they do, but not enough. Even with strong EQ (High shelf from 5000 at -10db) is not enough to remove the ringing.
Today I received acoustic foam as well, and was about to install it, but I discovered that the existing grill/filters on the Doscinco is glued onto the nozzle. So unfortunately, all I can do now is give it away.
Or could someone give me something I can try as a last ditch effort?
Even though it's dark/warm sounding with mesh filter + strong EQ at the moment, it has this weird effect where a certain sound will produce an "echo", and just grow louder and louder. Is this what they call a "resonance"? Imagine you're shouting inside a basement, but instead of a regular echo that is quieter than your own voice, the echo just goes on and on, and becomes louder and louder, growing WAY louder than your own voice. That's pretty much what's happening when I'm listening with this.
#
Moondrop Blessing 3 Impressions
14-15/11/2025
Blessing 3 (used) just arrived, right one was clogged with wax, quick impressions now that I have cleaned it up: It is quite bright and a bit harsh, but in a way I sort of feel like that comes hand in hand with how detailed it is, which is something I like, but I don't think most people would. So far it seems to respond nicely to EQ. So I would only recommend to people who both crave details and aren't afraid of EQing at the same time.
How did you clean the wax? I have an old pair of IEMs full of it. Did you remove the mesh filters completely?
>How did you clean the wax?
You're supposed to lick it out of the nozzle, obviouslyDepends on the type of nozzle. For the B3 I zoomed in with my cellphone camera and used a thin needle to scrape it out, reminder that you must tilt it downwards so the wax doesn't fall inside. Another option is to give is an isopropyl alcohol bath.
>Another option is to give is an isopropyl alcohol bath.
But isopropanol does fuck all to ear waxIt's more so you can flood it out without damaging the inner components like water would.
I don't think that's necessarily safe for the iem, there's lots of adhesives holding the thing together (including the driver) that could potentially be affected.
You're probably right, I only did it a couple times when scrapping didn't work out with cleaning but so far I've been lucky.
#
KBear K01 Impressions
13/11/2025
KB01 arrived today. Couldn't get a good seal with any of the included tips (and they include entire 3 sets of very slightly different ones for some reason), but I had a pack of NiceHCK C04 come along with them, and they fit just fine. Dunno how much they affect the output, but they sound alright to me - and are about as comfy as celest wyverns. Haven't decided which ones I like more yet in terms of sound
>muh berylium tho
#
Schizo Scaling
10/11/2025
>chuzo sperged out over his single iem and some squig.link fiddling>PR2 guy spergs out about R2R dacs and having 30 different flavours of e-waste
Every new schizo is stronger than the last one
>schizo calling others a schizo
cuteReal recognizes real
#
Venture Electronics Monk Plus Impressions
10/11/2025
Got some of those cheapo Venture Electronics Monk Plus earbuds that are $20 on aliexpress and they're a bit boomy out of the box, tried downloading a few of the EQ presets made for them that I could find through the search thing built into Peace Equalizer and all of them sounded weird and unnatural, so I picked the least weird one and slowly reduced the problematic sections until I had an EQ that barely nudged the treble but kept most of the bass adjustments, just slightly softened. So I kept the 'shape' of his EQ but weakened it everywhere, in some spots more than others.
And the result sounds a good deal better than no EQ at all, so I guess I'm a believer. But I'm not satisfied with the EQ profiles being uploaded to the internet. They try to accomplish too much.
The end result now sounds a lot like my HD650s. I'm amazed by what kind of audio you can get for pennies in 2025, it wasn't like this in 2010
#
KBear Rosefinch Impressions
04/11/2025
Rosefinches from KBEAR arrived and wow, they're actually amazing for the price
the bass is powerful, the mud/bleed isn't as bad as the graph shows, granted it's warm and still quite muddy but the vocals aren't veiled, even male vocals in bass-heavy songs like Watercolor by Pendulum remain controlled and precise (at least for a $5 shitbud), whereas female vocals are even less affected by the bass boost, so all the weeaboo shit that doesn't suffer from excess warmth, for example Seventh Haven by Seventh Sisters (actually KZ from livetune in disguise), is very enjoyable on the 'finch, expecially after swapping the stock tips for spinshits W1 that make the bass just a tad more gentle and a lot more controlled and tactile
the mids have just a bit of contrast that keeps them from being devastated by the monstrous bass and makes them V-shaped in a peculiar way, but no sane person buys the rosefinch for neutral mids
the treble is better than expected, with nice saturation and energy, proper texture on cymbals and even a hint of air, which is noticable in Tourist in Paradise by The Rippingtons and Small Talk by Scritti Politti - even if no one will buy the 'finch for treble in particular, it's there, works well and makes great counter-balance for the bass
overall it gets a big rec from me, as a Chu 2 owner for almost 2 years already I'd consider KBEAR Rosefinch a worthy sidegrade that trades a bit of mids clarity for that extreme bass if that's if you want>KBEAR Rosefinch
the only pos in my collection which condensates like mf