IEM for a stupidly small amount of money

Just poked a shallow hole using a thin needle into the 3S.

Dynamics improved a lot, bass got even more boomy(less punchy), full bodied than before, a notch improvement in clarity and resolution, more noticeable plankton. Soundstage seems to be even more wider than before mod. Overall sound signature still remains dark vs jvc fx1200/sony z5.

Yes, I can also confirm after modding, This 3S iem likes high amplifcation power*. No noticeable distortion and much improved coherence@loud volumes after mod. This iem excels at female vocals, especially if you are after the sultry deep female voicing.

*(My Audio-gd Master 9 headamp single ended spec at: 40ohm @ 2500mw), with Yggdrasil as DAC & Mutec MC3+USB DDC

Even after mod, the iem still has this laid back/darker upper mid/mid treble.(e.g. cymbals lacks# the strong ting and tsh transients)

# The bigger size JVC Spinfits does help improve this somewhat

 

It's worth going all the way with these. Tips with as large openings as you can get, remove these shitty metal grilles, add alco swab strips. Additionally, while the alco swab adds leakage between nozzle and tip, some extra silicon strips might be needed. Extra large openings on tips remedy the need for front venting thing quite a bit.
These can be tuned quite neutral, with little oddities in FR.
They don't need much actual power, but powerful amplifier deliver more solid, snappy, dynamic sound in general.

 

Not sure if it's really due to this, but I can hear the metal grilles resonating back and forth with certain type of music played at louder volumes.

@Priidik , could you elaborate more on the alco swab strips mod or some photos would be very helpful?

side note: I just received the KZ ZS3 in my mail. I shall post my impression in shotgun shane's thread as not to derail this thread.

 

@Madaboutaudio

Spoiler: Pictures of alco swab mod

I have one small strip of silicone glued inside the tip for extra leakage, as I'm allergic to bass overdosage.

 

Just joined SBAF to reply to this thread

Alright, you got me with the hype. Joined the current Series 1S Drop on MD, and this thread was linked in the discussion. Midway through the 2nd page, excitement got the best of me and I ordered the 3S and 5S from Amazon.

I need IEMs for work, because the asshats just published a new regulation forbidding full-sized cans. :middlefinger:

Have Monk + reds that won't stay in my ears, thus have maybe 15 minutes on them. Waiting on the RE-00 Drop to ship. And that's really the extent of my IEM experience, I've been focusing on full-size cans and my home setup since I entered this world only about 9 months ago....

These will be used out of my crappy LG G4 (streaming Tidal HiFi). I'm reluctant to bring my Oppo HA-2 with me to work to drive them, in case it gets banged up....but I might say f**k it, since the Oppo mostly gathers dust ATM.

For reference, my home PC source setup is Schiit Wyrd (PYST USB) -> Schiit Modi Multibit (PYST RCA) -> Stax 252S (PYST RCA) -> Schiit Magni 2 Uber.

With the inclusion of the Stax amp in there you can probably guess I own the Stax 2170 system, and they are my go-to neutral-ish cans. I just received my TH-X00 Purplehearts 2 days ago, and they're my basshead compliment to the Stax.

I will have no compunction modding the TFZ up, as I want to have the best audio experience I can while stuck at work doing overtime >.<

 

Does anyone know what series, if any, Comply tips fit these?

I'm looking to help out my son who's a hundred miles away so I can't easily measure them.

Thanks

 

Ordered TS-400 a few days ago. I'm not 100% confident about the 400 series being the one for TFZ, though. I'll report back as soon as I get them.

 

Dug up some tx-200s from a drawer and they fit, plus they've got a built in filter/screen.

 

That helps - Thanks!

 

I just got my Massdrop TFZ5 and I can confirm the hype is real. These sound really amazing, a giant killer.

 

I received my MassDrop pair earlier this week. After listening to them for over an hour without any burn-in (manual suggest 200! hours of burn-in), I find them to be much more fun than my ancient pair of Sony MDR-EX90. The TFZ-5S sounds much more clear and "fast" with nearly exact opposite tunings between the two. The EX90 have a slight mid-range boost with a significant treble and stupendous bass roll-off. Bass on the EX90 is just plain wimpy, at most on-par with my Audio Technica AD700 but usually way worse.

From what I hear, there is plenty of bass on TFZ-5S. All the way down below 30 Hz. However, they remind me of Bose speakers from the 90's. The 5S has an additional mid-bass boost over the general bass boost. The bump seems to be around 80 Hz and colors the bass with a thud. They also seem to have a boosted high frequency response, which causes the mid-frequencies to appear recessed. Mids still sound very good, but the shallow U just diminishes them a bit.

Doing a sinegen frequency sweep, I also heard spikes at around 5 Khz, 8 Khz, and 10 Khz. On lush tracks like Enya's "Only Time" which is already close to sibilant, these cross the border for me and becomes sibilant.

For about $50 USD, I think TFZ-5S beats the pants off my MDR-EX90, which were twice the price. Is it a giant killer? Sorry, I have not heard any of the giants so no opinion from me. I much prefer my HE-560's, though, but I think that is an unfair comparison.

Tried them on the Liquid Carbon, Black Widow2, and straight from an iPhone 4s (Wow... it sucks from the iPhone with "no EQ" sounds double-boosted...)

 

Yep, the treble used to be smoother and less harsh on original 5; but thanks to the modders that preferred to remove the treble filter behind the grille, TFZ decided to remove it by default for the stock tuning of 5S.

You can put some foam or cotton in the nozzle to tame treble

 

Thanks for the info. This may be the first piece of audio gear that I mod. The clarity is very good and, as a whole, the TFZ-5S was better than I was expecting from a $50 IEM.

 

Just completed for Mr Woodcans.

 

So I plugged the TFZ5 into my T3/Musette rig the IEM scaled, much cleaner and better extension than using my Galaxy Note 3 smart phone. Even more impressed with these IEMs now. I haven't had a real IEM before so I don't have comparisons, I think it sounds like a cleaner HD 600 with more bass.

I Enya's "Only time" wasn't sibilant for me, she really doesn't have any shhh sounds, it does enhance some of the breathing sounds she makes. Also the part when the background singers that goes haha haha is slightly louder than usual.

 

Spot on description of TFZ-s coloration. (assuming modded form)
It manages to hide sibilance, even if it's on recording, comes from source or amp, at the same time it has excellent air (clarity in top octaves).

 

Just received my tfz 5s from the mailman, trying out the tips and found out none of them really felt comfortable. I was previously using the smallest tips on my shure 215, and the bore of the tfz 5s seems twice as big as the shures i was used to. The foam tips provided are also too big. I was thinking of getting comply tips, but will they be the same size as the ones provided?

 

I should say that I have purchased a total of 4 sets of the S5's. I have modded each and every one of them (the same or almost the same, as far as I can tell). I now have two pair that sound as good or better than any headphone or iem I have ever heard and I also have two pair that sound like s***. Don't know if it is production variance or mod variance. Or something else. All I know is that the two pair that sound fantastic are just heads and shoulders above other iems/headphones that I have heard recently. In any event, I would encourage those interested, please mod you pair(s), and if they don't blow you away, try another pair and mod them. I'm running a 50/50 success rate, yet couldn't be happier as the two pair I have that are great, are not just great, they are the best sounding iem's (and maybe headphones) I have ever heard. Caveat emptor: amp important and wide bore tips important.

 

Throwing good money after bad does not sound like a great time to me.