My graph tools were updated with a new community made interface:
8 Likes
Whatās the Antdroid Antdromeda?
Please tell me CA made you a unique and therefore the most limited/special edition CA IEM ever!
(Or did you mod an Andro?)
2 Likes
No Sony IER Z1R?..
Apparently that post was too short 
1 Like
Lol its fiction at this point. I made it to test the tool but never got rid of it. It would be great to make a collaboration with them with that name as well as a meze antpyrean. 
3 Likes
Yea Ive listened to it several times but didnāt get a chance to measure them
1 Like
Thanks! I figured as much.
LOL, that would be priceless. Coming up with fun names for collaborative editions could quickly get out of hand so Iāll just confine myself to the following:
Focal Antopia
ZMF Anteur
HiFiMAN Ananta
HiFiMAN Shantgri-La Jr. and Sr.
Noble Audio Khant and Kantana
4 Likes
Hi! Can you post a google drive link to the spreadsheet over at Antdroid IEM Ranking List (audiodiscourse.com)?
Iām trying to view the latest Price vs Score Sheet but it appears as unlabeled blobs shown below:
Sent you a PM. Check your inbox!
Too funny. I noticed this yesterday. This and a few other sheets seem to be corrupted. Its still not working now.
google driveās sheets isnt as easy to use as Excel which does all of this easily.
Where would the Moondrop S8 sit on this list?
1 Like
I havent heard the S8 so I cant say. Based on what Iāve heard, I imagine itād be A range.
I figure I should start dumping some of my reviews in this thread too, so I can be cool like precog. 
Hereās my latest impressions of the new planar IEM from Gold Planar. PS. dont buy it.
The Gold Planar brand has gained a lot of popularity over the past year with their planar and ribbon-driver based headphones that come priced below similar competition from Audeze, HEDD and Hifiman. While my personal opinion of the couple that Iāve tried have been lukewarm, if not mediocre, at best, there has been some praise from reviewers as well.
Today, Iāll provide some quick impressions of the companyās new 12.5mm planar driver In-Ear Monitor, the GL12. This product retails for $198 USD and can be found at Linsoul here: Linsoul Audio-GoldPlanar GL12 HiFi Lightweight In-ear Earphone
Unboxing
The GL12 comes with a round wood travel container which is pretty to look at. The foam cutouts that come included in it wonāt fit the IEM with cable attached though, and it wonāt fit the cable without removing these cutouts. Even with the top foam removed, itās still pretty hard to put the IEM with its cable in it as the bottom foam piece has storage spots for the extra filters included.
Filters, you say? Yes, the GL12 has screw-on nozzle filters. The included set has no mesh leaving the nozzle totally bare, while the other set has mesh filter at the end. The major differences is the level of treble presented with and without the mesh.
The shell design is a metal housing painted gold. There is a silver front plate with several holes that act as a semi-open grill/vent.
The included cable is actually quite nice looking and features a gray and silver candy-striping design and terminates in a 4.4mm balanced plug. A matching 3.5mm pig-tail adapter is also included. Since the connectors are a semi-bulky aluminum design, the cable does have a bit of weight to it at the amplifier end.
Sound Impressions
The GL12 can be described as muddy, dark, blunted, and an overall AM-radio sound. The bass has a decent amount of punch to it when demanded, but I found the overall level of realism and dynamics to be severely hindered.
At first, I thought this was possibly caused by the ridiculous lack of upper mid-range and treble quantity, but even after EQing this IEM to my personal preference target (shown above in the graph), I wasnāt able to improve any of the technical abilities of this in-ear. This isnāt much of a surprise I guess, as technical performance may be slightly masked by FR deficiencies but is also inherent of the driver/design too.
Thereās a continued veil to vocals, which is most apparent on female-led tracks, but also to male ones alike. The haze level in the sound of the GL12 is almost as bad as the smog and haze coming from the wildfires hitting my area each Summer.
I honestly did not find this IEM pleasant for use in any genre Iāve thrown at it so far, and my level of patience to continue to use this IEM as really waning. Planar driver-based in-ears have never hit the spot for me, as much as I want them to. I was quickly an owner of Audezeās iSine 10/20 and Unique Melodyās ME1 when they first launched many years back now, and have been disappointed with every planar IEM since. Both of those IEMs have decent technical performance but require a significant amount of EQ to fix their tonal issues.
While Tin Hifi has come close a few times with tonality, they lack technical chops. Gold Planar strikes out here in both accounts.
6 Likes
Shuoer EJ07M - This one is pretty solid.
The EJ07M is latest in-ear monitor from Chinese-brand Shuoer. If youāve read my previous reviews on Shuoer products, my impressions of their lineup have been anything but stellar. In fact, many of their IEMs rank on the low end of my ranking list. This new model is an update on the popular EJ07 model released over a year ago, and the āMā stands for āmass production.ā
I never had an opportunity to listen to the original EJ07, but impressions were anywhere from very impressive to overpriced and over-rated. Without really knowing what the original sounded like, my impressions here will be geared more towards its target price-range which is solidly mid-tier pricing, at $599 retail.
The EJ07M is a tri-brid monitor featuring a single 10mm dynamic driver, 2 Sonion balanced armatures, and 4 Sonion electro-static tweeters. The drivers are covered by a CNC metal shell with a graphic acting as a faceplate. It reminds me a bit of the feel of a 64 Audio IEM, though with a much different look. The version I got was the silver model, and it features a red, black and blue art.
Please note, I did receive this item as a review sample from Linsoul, who carry Shuoer products on their website located at http://www.linsoul.com.
On the topic of the shell design, I do want to point out that while it has a nice feel, I am not super impressed with its fit. This is mostly due to the conical shape of the inner shell design and the shallow nozzle. I went through several dozen tips with varying success. Some just did not want to stay in, some had poor seal, some hurt, and very few sounded and felt right. In the end, I went with SpinFit CP100 tips for my ears, but there was some occasional sensations of discomfort from time to time. So for me, this is not near the top of my fitment list.
The included cable is a very, very nice light-copper colored thick braided cable with a right-angle 3.5mm jack, and bended 2-pin connectors. The cable is very attractive, sleek, and also tangle-free and very usable. I have no issues continuing to use this cable with the IEM and is one of the better cables Iāve seen included with IEMs.
Sound Impressions
The Shuoer EJ07M surprised me a lot. This stems from my previous experience with IEMs such as the Shuoer Tape and Tape Pro, and the variety of other Shuoer disappointments Iāve tried in the past. In all these other IEMs that I listened to, they were stuck with a heavy bass, hazy-mids (or perhaps, āvelvet fogā) and rolled-off treble sound that I did not find any enjoyment out of it.
The EJ07M is different. It is tuned very, very well. In fact, when I put it up against my āAntdroid Targetā curve, which is my personal preference/neutral curve, I found the EJ07 to align very close to its mid-range and treble range, with only an additional sub-bass boost over my target. Only the See Audio Yume or maybe the Moondrop Aria have come closer (besides the Hidition Viento, which is where this graph is based from).
Of course, I did not just graph and go. In my initial listens, I typically play a few well-known tracks to get my audio reviewer mindset going. These tracks include songs such as Fleetwood Macās āDreamsā, Alison Krausā āRestlessā, and Bill Laurenceās āThe Good Things.ā The first thing I noticed was how nicely balanced the IEM was, with perhaps a slightly dark treble region. The bass level was not overly done, and the mid-range was spot on. The soundstage was generally intimate, but some songs had a slightly wider sound to it, and all through my listening, I noticed a very mid-forward sound that didnāt have a great deal of image depth to it.
The low-end does not come across as big boosted as it may appear on just a glance at the frequency response. The bass range is actually well in-line with what Iād say is a slightly boosted neutral sound. It should have the quantity to make most all people happy, whether it is someone who wants a little more fun in their favorite EDM track or someone who needs a powerful stand-up bass strum.
The mid-range was near perfect for me, at least in terms of tonality. There was just the right amount of balance between the low mids and the upper mids that gave an equal weighting for male and female vocals, and nothing seemed too shouty, nor too hazy, both of which are complaints of previous Shuoer IEMs that Iāve tried. Instrumental play also seemed equally balanced and guitars had the right amount of emphasis without being to shrill or twangy.
The treble range is where I felt the tonality took a small dip, pun intended. Yes, thereās a small amount of darkness to this range, with an even more small set of dips that leave treble slightly uneven. Itās not a huge deal, but I do feel like thereās a small amount of closed-in space and a lack of dynamic range between the low-mids and the treble range.
This lack of treble may contribute heavily to this intimate and small soundstage and just a lack of sizzle and sparkle. Itās quite a nice organic overall sound, but the EJ07M does lack a little bit of excitement. Instead, this IEM is wonderful to use for hours upon hours of listening enjoyment. Itās an easy listener, but may not have the extra character to keep you fully engaged.
I sensed some trouble when I listened to The War on Drugsā various guitar soundscape blends of Don Henley sweetness and shoegazing wall of sound rock. While the EJ07M packs in a very nice amount of clarity and resolution with its tribrid setup, I felt that the low end and the lower midrange texture and layering depth was lacking some of its competition here. It felt very one-noted in many cases.
The soundstage is forward leaning, and add on the lack of layering and imaging depth gives this overall sound feeling more like something just slightly below its price range, however its tonal balance keeps it in strong competition against its peers.
Comparison Shoot-out
I spent an hour or so with four IEMs, all priced in the $500-700 price range, which bounds the price point of the Shuoer EJ07M ($599). I compared it against the recently released 8-BA Kiwi Ears Orchestra ($499), the 6-BA Dunu SA6 ($549), and the single dynamic driver Dunu Zen ($699).
Letās make this straight, right off the bat. I really enjoy all four of these IEMs a lot, and for different reasons. They are all among my top IEMs in this price category, and just flat out overall. They are all good IEMs and one could be happy with any of these. But to make things more fun, letās compare how they stack up against one another.
I started with the Dunu Zen. Right off the cuff, one should be easily distinguish between these two. They are totally different, which is to be expected as the Zen is the one IEM in this shoot-out that is unique from the rest as the only dynamic driver IEM. The Zen has a more powerful and more natural and realistic bass and mid-range presentation. It handily beats the EJ07M and the Kiwi Ears Orchestra in the texture, decay, and overall power quantity and quality in spades. The Zenās most glaring flaw, however, is its tonality, with a tad too much emphasis in the upper mid-range that makes it come across as a little shouty and shrill.
In comparison, the EJ07Mās tonal balance is really well done, and in my preferences, beats the Zen for the most part. Now that said, tonality is only one part of the equation. The Zenās dynamics are really good with equally good micro and macro-resolution, which is comparable if only slightly trailing the EJ07M. And while the EJ07M is a bit too forward and lacking depth, the Zen is even more closed-in, with a much more forward mid-range presentation that can be a little too nearing for me. The Zen struggles a little more in heavy instrument packages, but its also not one of the Shuoerās specialties either.
Next, I pulled off Dunuās stablemate, the all-BA SA6. This extremely attractive and colorful, wood face-plated IEM has a price tag that is just below the EJ07M and beats it in almost every area in my opinion. The SA6 has a bigger, livelier, and more engaging sound, while also keeping the best parts of tonality and FR. The upper midrange of both still have adequate pinna compensation, but do not extend it too far like many IEMs have done so recently, and not nearly as much as the Harman Target. In both cases, they both fall in-line with my Antdroid target. The SA6 has a bit of wonkiness in the 5-6KHz lower treble, while the EJ07M has an overall darker and smoother treble, which is both a plus and a negative all in one.
The major differences between listening to these two are this: The EJ07M is a smoother and warmer listen, with a relaxing overall sound that has good resolution and clarity. The SA6, however, easily beats out the EJ07M when it comes to natural decay, and resonance, as well as just an overall more dynamic experience. The dual-vented woofer BAs that drive the low end do a great job of presenting bass that even out-performs the dynamic driver of the EJ07M.
The battle that I thought would be the closest and hardest to differentiate came to fruition and expectations were met, as I compared the Kiwi Ears Orchestra and the Shuoer EJ07M. These two both have the smoothest of sounds of the four. Both have similar midrange responses, but differ in bass quantity and treble.
The EJ07M has more subbass quantity, though quality level was quite similar between the two. If I really had to pick which was bassier, itād be actually hard to discern, as I think both sounded very similarly. Both of these had the lowest quality bass performance in terms of texture, decay, and naturalness.
The treble range also differed between the two. The Kiwi Ears Orchestra had a noticeable airier and brighter presentation, though Iād still put it as a smooth and relaxed listen overall. That just means the EJ07M is a slightly darker sounding in-ear monitor, and this is mostly due to the reduced lower treble range, where the Orchestra has a peak here.
Picking between the two here is tough. Iād probably choose the Orchestra overall for tonal balance and improved dynamics, but the EJ07M and it are very close in all technical categories, albeit perhaps a step below the Dunu siblings.
So where do they rank against one another? Letās just do a quick and dirty categorical stack and file:
Bass Quality:
-
Zen
-
SA6
-
Orchestra / EJ07M
Mid Quality:
-
SA6
-
Zen
-
Orchestra/EJ07M
Treble Quality:
-
Orchestra
-
SA6
-
EJ07M
-
Zen
Tonal Balance:
-
Orchestra
-
EJ07M
-
SA6
-
Zen
Depth & Imaging:
-
SA6
-
Orchestra
-
EJ07M
-
Zen
Decay & Natural 100% Certified Organic Level
-
Zen
-
SA6
-
Orchestra
-
EJ07M
Resolution
- Tie
Overall Scores (lower better):
-
Dunu SA6 - 12
-
Kiwi Ears Orchestra - 14
-
Dunu Zen - 17
-
Shuoer EJ07M - 19
Wrap-Up
Okay, so the Shuoer EJ07M did not actually win this shootout against other similarly priced in-ear monitor competition, and actually fell into last place overall in my random categories. BUT ā It is still a good solid product at its price range, and Iād give it a solid recommendation. Of course, as you have seen above, the caveat is that there is stiff competition here, and in some areas it doesnāt meet the top bar for the under $700 IEM class.
It does, however, provide the most listenable experience across many genres, and many hours of listening. It has no sibilance, no harshness, and no sense of shrill or stridency that would cause any fatigue in my experience and musical selections.
In the end, I still like this EJ07M model from Shuoer and I hope to see more from them now. What once was an IEM brand that I honestly had little faith in, has now shown me something that makes me more interested in whatās next. Thereās a great foundation here to build from. Letās hope they continue with improved products!
9 Likes
I have never heard of this Ovidius brand before, and I imagine they are new to the scene. They just released two new products found on Linsoul: one is the āCombat Armorā planar magnetic headphone, and the other is the āQin Armorā, or RX-100 in-ear monitor, which runs for $229 and will be reviewed here.
The Qin Armor is a triple-driver IEM featuring a single 10mm dynamic driver and a dual-driver balanced armature. The IEM comes complete with a set of tips, a very nicely braided cable with red connectors and splitter, and a very, very fancy pouch. This leather pouch has a snazzy designed button for the attached cord to wrap around to lock the carrier. Overall, the package is nicely done.
The RX-100ās shell design is a unique one. Someone on the forum saw the photo I posted and said it looked like a metal strawberry. It sure does! The metal housing has a pretty intricate hole pattern and geometry that makes it stand out as a unique look in the sea of IEMs out there, while also looking quite tasteful. Not only is the outer face have a unique look, but so does the inner side that goes in your ear.
It looks a little strange at first, but once I put it in my ear, I was pretty content with how it fit in nicely and was very comfortable for long-term usage. Thatās a good thing, because I ended up enjoying the sound signature of this set, which Iāll go over next.
Sound Impressions
The RX-100 Qin Armor has a very typical balanced signature that has a bit of a bass bump, slightly U-shaped mid-range, and a surprisingly smooth treble, that can perhaps be a tad on the dark side on the lower-treble area. Itās quite non-fatiguing for my music choices, which I think can have listener fatigue given the amount of strings, cymbals and other percussion sounds going on in my staple of jazz, bluegrass and folk music.
The Ovidiusā biggest strength is its fun, but relaxed sound that I find quite enjoyable for a lot of stuff. The biggest weakness is perhaps its just average all-around technical performance. Bass texturing and overall resolution is just average, however, it does do a pretty good job with imaging and separation.
While itās not totally one-noted, the dynamic driver performance is not the best Iāve heard. Its quantity is just right for me though. Itās clean but also has enough there to also shake and punch, while never sounding bloated. This is a good thing for most of the music I listen to.
I spent a few good repeat listens of Jorja Smithās āAddictedā and āGoneā from her new record āBe Right Backā and really admired how nicely balanced and tuned this IEM is for these tracks with a deep bass line and drum beats that are very reminiscent of trip hop meets jazz. Smithās vocals are never too sharp or fatiguing and the bass lines have a nice rumble and power to them that really sets the tone of the song.
The mid-range has a nice amount of warmth to it and despite its frequency response graph showing a slightly more forward vocal range at 1-2KHz, I didnāt find this a problem listening to Of Monsters and Menās Nanna BryndĆs HilmarsdĆ³ttir sing in Olafur Arnaldās piano ballad, āParticles.ā Her vocals did not have a nasally sound to it nor did Arnaldās piano strikes come across as too sharp or too resonant.
If anything, I found HilmarsdĆ³ttirās highest-octave to sound too restrained and lacking the excitement and energy I hear in other headphones and IEMs on this specific track, mainly towards the end when she really goes at it. Itās muted a bit, but again, this does have a gentle and relaxed sound overall to it.
While the FR does show some pretty large peaks during the treble range, I never did experience that through listening myself. Yes, the treble isnāt as smooth as I have heard on other IEMs like say the Viento or the Odin, but I was a tad surprised after seeing the graph and then trying to get these to pop with sibilance and not really experiencing any. So thatās a good thing.
Final Thoughts
The Qin Armor name is perhaps a proper name for this IEM. The styling of the design does have a bit of a chest chain armor look to it, and the overall sound is shielded from going to extreme and for the most part is a rather safe tuning. This one is easy to like if I am being honest, and worked well with most music I threw at it.
It can be a little lacking in treble flair, but it has a fun bass presence and generally non-fatiguing sound. The price tag is probably justified with its interesting and unique choice of cable, shell design, and extra fancy pouch. Overall, I am pretty satisfied with this IEM and its only cons are really its average technical performance in the grand scheme of things.
9 Likes
Oh yes, impressions/reviews battleā¦ the readers all win so +++
6 Likes
A couple quick impressions of two new IEMs I got:
TRN X7 -
Really nice purple shell.
Sound is fine. Its slightly v-shaped but well balanced. Nothing really bad to say about it, besides it does lack a little bit of upper treble extension and slightly uneven treble. Itās fine. But is it worth its price when there are more solidly tuned stuff out there for less like the Moondrop Aria and Etymotic?
Shozy Ceres
Shozy is consistently bad, minus their Form 1.1 and Form 1.4, which are pretty decent IEMs. The Ceres is bad. Its actually really bad tuning. It reminds me of a skull candy bud. Bloated bass, no mids at all, especially not upper mids. Treble is non-existent except for a sharp peak which saves it from being a total dark mess, though its still dark.
Strange tuning choice. Really is.
5 Likes
Damn dude, choose your journeyā¦
2 Likes
For those who would like to know more about the host of this thread, I have published a brief interview with @antdroid on Acho Reviews.
Iām afraid I am not going to cross post it as I usually do with my reviews, so I guess this is a shameless plug for clicks 
The English version can be seen here:
It is also available in Spanish and I have posted a video in Spanish talking about the measurement comparison tool found on Audio Discourse, so for those who speak Spanish, you can find them here:
9 Likes