IEM for a stupidly small amount of money

Discussion in 'IEMs and Portable Gear' started by Rotijon, Jun 18, 2016.

  1. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    just got a second pair of the 5s from the latest drop because who the f**k cares - it appears there is no more film over the vent. went to perform harikiri and no resistance. lightly blew through the nozzle and a stream of air came out the vent. listening fresh out of the box: still a little fat in the bottom, but less than stock 1st version w/o hachiroku/yakisoba mods. I'll put a few hours of pink noise on them, then compare to DAS ORIGINAL 5 with Benihana mods.

    do we know what the actual differences are between the 5 and the 5S? cables on both black shell 5s are the same (and look the same as the red shell latest massdrop 5Ss'es's.
     
  2. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    So you're saying they're making rolling updates as they go? It's just luck of the draw what kind you get?

    These better sound balls to the wall incredible because this is taking up too much energy otherwise.
     
  3. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    for $70 they sound pretty good. I reach for these before i reach for my shure 535s if that's worth anything. massdrop has a decent reputation of either getting me 1) OK shit for cheap, or 2) working with a manufacturer to get me better shit for still pretty cheap. I'm guessing they're doing some of #2 here. now, if they'd just get some of the Schiit 2-channel gear...
     
  4. Tachikoma

    Tachikoma Almost "Made"

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    I haven't been listening to anything else besides the TFZs as of late, they have a certain addictive quality for me.

    The cable was the first rolling update, I wouldn't be surprised if they're all harakiri'ed by default now.
     
  5. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    I reach for the RE-00 and throw these in the garbage.
     
  6. ashrafazlan

    ashrafazlan New

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    I've been told that the 3s/5s have significantly reduced bass and improved resolution compared to the 1st and 2nd revisions. I'll probably stop by their shop in a week or so to try them out myself and see how they stack up to my modded 2nd generation TFZ S5's.
     
  7. Priidik

    Priidik MOT: Estelon

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    I think these are very different but roughly in same tier.

    RE-00 has more even midrange, better tone and and less bloat in mid-bass. TFZ has better bass dynamics, except for some tiny region in mid-bass. More air, much larger headroom, more depth. RE-00 imaging is slightly more precise. Mids are sucked out in comparison, but on bar in resolution. Vocals are distant vs in my face and inside my head from the RE-00. Midrange tonality is not great, but not shit either. Piano and string section sounds slightly off. For my purposes its fine as I rarely listen acoustic music in portable mode, and here I much prefer the TFZs.
    For some odd reason the TFZ sits better in my ear, despite being colossal in size.

    I've lend these to a few people and they have liked it. Maybe I have an unicorn pair ?

    For someone like myself such iem-s are great product as I tend to abuse my gear and no matter how well iem-s are constructed they fail within a year of use in my hands. 35..60.. 90 bucks is much more sensible in such scenario than 300... 1000 $, which should be used to buy gear that lasts. I've been seriously butthurt by losing or damaging expensive iems, these though, whatever.
     
  8. Tachikoma

    Tachikoma Almost "Made"

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    My thoughts exactly. My ety kids have gone through the washing machine about 3 times now... the last wash finally broke them (the shell, not the drivers).

    (as bad as that sounds, I've gotten roughly 3 years of service out of them)
     
  9. shotgunshane

    shotgunshane Floridian Falcon

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    On ClieOS blog, he has measured the older Series 1, 3 and 5. They basically all measure the same in frequency response; just very minor variations. So I would think it would be worth modding the cheaper models over the 5, especially if you are going to burn through a few trying things IMO.
     
  10. kepalafon

    kepalafon New

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    On the Massdrop TFZ 5S discussion page, there's a post detailing out the differences between the S and the original one.

    Looking forward to your impressions on these.
     
  11. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    Likewise. There's a lot of mediocre cack on there of late. I'm considering unsubbing.
     
  12. Drifterxny

    Drifterxny Friend

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    waw sucks for whoever bought the 5 from massdrop, could've waited a month or two.
    I have the first gen 5 series that's been modded, one must be on some good crack to think these are as good as andromedas. Pretty damn good for under $100 beaters though, especially for edm and hiphop.
     
  13. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    I don't detect any difference between the original Series 5 (purchased through Amazon, with harikiri mod and removal of filter) and the massdrop Series 5 (no need for harikiri, and filter removed). Maybe a dB or two less in the sub-80hz bass/sub-bass, but hard to say it'd be anything attributable to anything other than the difference between sets of old-ish and new comply tips.

    edit: both are the all-black bodied Series 5 with the revised cable.
     
  14. Poleepkwa

    Poleepkwa Friend

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    Pickup a pair of these second here at a local forum for about half price. This is the newer version with the braided cable.
    First impressions are that these are definitely not crap.
    Tuning is inline with my preferences. -Low bass boost under 200 Hz, smoothie top with some sparkle. Surprisingly spacious and open-sounding, despite the slightly roll off top for an IEM and thick bottom.
    A sure improvement of the Shure SE215 in this area.
    Still have to see how refined these are, but for the moneys involved no complaints here. Enormous size though, yet surprisingly comfortable and light in the ear.
    Biggest complaint so far is the 3.5mm connector is too big and does not fit through my protective case on my phone.
     
  15. kepalafon

    kepalafon New

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    I auditioned the Series 5S couple of days ago. I, too, found their soundstage to be especially spacious, separation of instruments were very good as well.
     
  16. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    My Massdrop pair finally arrived, shortly after I got the Vegas, so this is my first time trying them. I let them burn in over the weekend. I'm using the double flange tips that came in the box.

    I can see why people are enjoying these. They're pleasant enough and don't do anything overtly offensive. Soundstage is spacious and instrument separation is reasonable. There's the tiniest bit of bass impact. After the initial hype here came a severe wave of backlash and I was expecting these to be crappy. They're definitely not TOTL but absolutely acceptable as beater IEMs for when I don't want to risk my expensive ones. And they'll play through my phone, so if I was really in a pinch that's a combo I could live with. I don't hear any scaling up when I plug these into the Jotunheim, they're pretty much what you hear is what you get.

    They're kind of bulky though. All the other IEMs I've owned have been smaller than these, but they're mostly comfortable once inserted.

    Definitely not giant killers, but also not the worst IEMs ever made.
     
  17. Jjwfr

    Jjwfr New

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    Dont know who's still following this thread, but TFZ released a new model titled Balance 2. Supposed to be a more 'reference' sound for $139, single DD.

    First impressions are that the mids are a lot better. Sub bass extension is just as good as the TFZ 5, mid bass lowered, but still not exceptional in detail.

    Tuning is really nice, but treble doesn't extend as high as one would like
     
  18. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    bonus for MMCX connectors - i'm itching to try these if they end up getting dropped around $100. also, looks like two different housings, one aluminum, one magnesium. gotta love the googletranslate-changlish product descriptions on penon...
     
  19. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    Try some different tips; i found the stock double flange tips a bit rolled off and congested.
     
  20. ttangx

    ttangx New

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