Symphonium Helios

I didn't see a topic on this IEM, so I thought "Eh, why not? I actually own it."

Anyway, I've been absent from the hobby for a bit. I won't go into much of it, but my wife died in September and I've been dealing with becoming a widower, single parent, and getting healthy. Anyway, back in November, I ordered myself a pair of these because I quickly found out how hard it is to work from home with two kids being kids and loud.

Some background with my relationship with IEMs: I simultaneously think they're better than the majority of closed-backs, yet I, prior to the Symphonium, always found something I didn't like about every one of them I bought. Andromeda? Too amp dependent and sounded like a BA. Theiaudio Monarch? Estat tweeters have bad timbre. Orion? Too mid-heavy. Blessing 2 Dusk and the Thieaudio Oracle got the closest for me, but one was too chifi and the other had the bad EST driver timbre.

So after everyone and their mother in other audio communities (that don't include Head-fi) told me these were probably the best kilo-buck IEMs before you start burning money trying to buy anything else, I ordered them....hesitantly. A lot of the claims were bold (the bass is good for a BA driver, the timbre is fantastic for a BA driver, great imaging, ect.) And, you know what? Some of them were actually true.

Against all odds, an IEM company took an all-BA driver design and made... a very dynamic IEM. There's actually subbass and it is actually good quality. I'm not going to say it's fantastic or up to a dynamic driver's level, but (in my mind,) you're not actually going to get any better with a BA driver. The amazing thing is that you can tell the micro and macro dynamics are good DESPITE me driving them from an apple dongle (as I meant to buy an AMP/DAC for it, but still haven't gotten around to it.)

The timbre is the highlight though. It manages to not sound like a typical BA. It's enjoyable, it's fast, and sounds...actually correct. It's not on the level of a HD650 in timbre or anything, but it sounds miles better than the chifi shit I bought prior. Hell, sounds better than the entirety of the egg-style Hifiman headphones (though, in regards to timbre, that's a pretty low bar.)

There's no noticeable holes in the FR. The treble sounds airy (as airy as an IEM can get - it's still an IEM,) detailed, and correct. The imaging is fantastic (but...the soundstage is typical for a IEM. It has more depth than usual, but don't go expecting some miracle.)

It seems to drive pretty well out of nearly everything. PS5 controller, Steam Deck, Apple USB-C dongle...all of them drive it decently. There was an improvement going to the dongle, and the one amp I heard it on (I believe it was an Asgard 3) did make a decent bit of difference. So it scales well, but can run on most things. I will say though, plugging it into a monitor or microphone analog port made it sound like straight ass. Something like the Blessing 2 Dusk could get away with it, but this can't as much. Granted, I don't know who would actually do that in earnest, but I figured I'd mention that. If you like to listen to them loud, they do take a bit more power than a normal IEM, so keep that in mind.

That said, there's still some issues. These are incredibly minimalistic in their build. They're all metal, but the shape is not conducive to most people's ears. As someone like @Mystic could attest to, I'm tall dude with a big head. They don't bother me. But normal people? Yah, I could see the fit being an issue. They're also not very flashy, they don't come with a cool design....they're just a hunk of metal with ear tip you shove in your ear. Personally, I don't give much of a shit, but I know some people out there want their kilo-buck stuff to look nice. The other small nitpick is the carrying container included with them. IT's a big chunk of metal in a circular tin shape. On one hand, it's baddass. On the second hand, the finish is coming off the top and the letters are falling off of it. I just put it in my suitcase bag and that wasn't enough apparently to keep it from wearing down.


Anyway, if you guys ever have the chance, try them out! They're the only IEM I've actually enjoyed and probably the only ones I'm keeping for awhile.