Wow! Yes, I like Michael Stearns and Steve Roach as well. Regarding Jonn Serrie, you could do worse than begin with “Thousand Star”. The track " The flow of time’s arrow" is superb.
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Thanks!!
Here’s a Vangelis rarity you might not have heard. It’s amazing!
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Thanks!! I knew that one, is part of the soundtrack of a documentary for John Paul .
Vangelis has more music “unreleased” than the “official” discography most of the people know.
I’ll send you a few links as soon as I have a chance.
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Thanks! I’ll look forward to that.
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I got a bunch of Chinese iems in this week
First Impressions:
NiceHCK NX7 Pro
7 Drivers: 2 DDs, 4 BA and 1 piezo ceramic. V-shaped. Too much treble. I like the customizable face plates and nozzles. But stock nozzle is the best and am using red and blue faceplates now.
Shuoer Singer
More extreme V. Bullet shaped IEM, so already not a huge fan. The blue filter sounds really bad, and the normal one is kinda mediocre too. I just am not cut out for heavily V-shaped IEMs.
Shozy Form 1.4
New model with DD and 3 BAs. I really enjoyed the budget Form 1.1 and this takes what I didn’t like about it and reduces the super hot treble down. Maybe they took it down too much, but it’s overall easier to listen to without EQ.
WG T-One
Another V-shaped IEM, albeit milder. Nothing really bad about it, though seems to sound like most things that have come out recently from China.
Sabbat E12 Ultra TWS
heavy bass TWS that actually doesnt sound too bad at all. Great fit, wireless charging case and wireless charging TWS, so win-win. It’s more fun than both the Sony and Samsung TWS, but still tasteful.
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The Dunu DM-480 is an in-ear monitor utilizing a coaxial dual dynamic driver module with two 8 mm titanium diaphragms per housing. It retails for $69.
While it raises the bar for isolation and comfort for unvented universal-fit dynamic driver IEMs without compromising soundstage or introducing usability issues like driver flex, there is too much bass and the lower treble peak is painful to listen to. There are less fatiguing options around this price point with better technical performance.
My full review, with more images, comparisons with the Shozy Form 1.1 and KB EAR Diamond, measurements, and suggested EQ settings can be read on my blog: Dunu DM-480 Review
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I wrote a review on the Shuoer Tape on Antdroid’s blog!
Overall, a pretty good V shaped IEM. A bit outside the budget range at $130 but feels pretty justified. I don’t think it beats the MoonDrop Starfield or Tin Audio T4 though.
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Just a general comment about Chinese products in general. Over the last decade or so I had noticed that more and more good quality electronics were being exported from China. Nothing new there, plenty of high-end Western companies have their products manufactured in China for obvious economic gain but since the turn of the century something different is emerging out of China: excellent quality products that are nothing near cheap knock-offs of Western goods. A turning point was being reached and I became very curious about it. I picked Hifiman aka HFM as a good representative of this tendency. I learned a few realities about China that are little-known here.
Initially HFM founder and CEO Dr Fang Bian, a talented engineer-businessman and Columbia alumni, did not export his products because the 300+ million strong Chinese middle class provided a market base that was more than sufficient to allow for the sustained growth of a company like his.
We keep forgetting that China does have a middle-class and the members of this class have the same attraction to luxury goods as we do. Bian knew they were fed-up with having to pay huge premiums for Western imports such as luxury cars, jewellery, designer clothing, high-end electronics, etc. The Chinese government was more than happy to overtax those imports which could not be subjected to the tax breaks allowed for Chinese-designed goods sold in China which consist more in utilitarian items than in high-end audio, one example among many. 300 million middle and upper-middle class people is a massive base, it’s more than the US, more than any other country in the world actually. Bian figured that cathering to them instead of exporting his products would be more profitable for a startup, and he was right.
Bian did not invent the “trickle effect” where research data gathered in the design of very high-end products is “trickled” down by applying it to less costly items minus the shortcomings discovered along the way (instead of stuffing it in locked file cabinets to gather dust) and the removal of leather trim and other luxury extras that do not contribute to SQ. This approach often yields a lower priced but overall better performing product. He may not have invented the trickle effect but appears to be one of a few that systematically apply it.
A reasonable question would be why would anyone buy the massively expensive flagships knowing they have bugs and are more or less ongoing experiments not yet perfected? The answer appears to be quite simple: vanity. The preference of the wealthy for flashy exclusivity over lesser looking but better performing quality. This is what gives us Elears and Sundaras. Even at the launch price of $500 the Sundara was a steal that bested anything under $1,000 (that was when the Elear sold for a grand). I bought a pair of Sundaras out of pure curiosity, I wanted to experience the cans that generated such a massive buzz on the audio forums. Even before donning them (didn’t bother to demo at the store) when I opened the box I thought they had put the wrong phones in it. It had the structure of the upper-tier HFM products (oddly now referred to as the “Sundara style”), tank-like build quality, exquisite styling, metal everywhere: cups, grilles, yokes, etc. You never see that in sub-$1,000 headphones. Topping it off, they sound like they look.
Regarding the IEM’s discussed here I’m sure some will be astoundingly good because they’re aimed at the same market, and will cost half what Western-made similar products go for. Now that I know a little portion of the story I am very attracted to what China has to offer to the middle-class audio enthusiast who lives inside me. 
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Bargain alert!! Cambridge Audio SE1. Really good for the price.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cambridge-Audio-SE1-Headphones-Microphone/dp/B07LCM4XK9
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The Kinera Tyr is an in-ear monitor utilizing a single 6 mm micro dynamic driver, reportedly designed in collaboration with Final Audio. They are a surprisingly competent budget IEM with a balanced, U-shaped sound signature and no deal-breaking sonic flaws. My biggest issue with the Tyr is that the cables are not detachable, but this is forgivable given the low price point (<$30). The inclusion of Final Type E tips in the package is a great added value.
My full review can be viewed on my blog: Kinera Tyr Review
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A few months ago, I reviewed the Shozy Form 1.1 to some mostly favorable results. At $59 to $79, I found the dual-driver hybrid to have pretty solid resolution and fast, fun impactful bass for it’s asking price. My biggest gripe with it was that I had to use EQ to drop the treble response down to make it not so fatiguing and harsh, as I found listening to it was a challenge to it’s peaky upper-end.
The $199 Shozy Form 1.4 is the latest release to this series, and was sent to me by Linsoul for a review. I’ve had it for a little over a month now and have found it to be a nice update to the original 1.1. The 1.4 is also a hybrid featuring the same beryllium dynamic driver, but adds 3 additional balanced armature (BA) drivers to give it a total of 4 BAs within the same sized housing.
The housing now features a wood design faceplate, which is supposedly real wood, laminated within the acrylic shell. The cable is the exact same cloth-braided cord used in the Form 1.1, which I found to be very nicely made, and easy to use before.
Sound
The Shozy Form 1.4 has a nice balanced sound signature, though it does have a mid-bass hump that punches a lot of weight at times and lacks extension in the upper treble, however I don’t find that to be a problem, at all.
The bass level and quality hasn’t changed at all since the Form 1.1, as it’s being carried out primarily by the dynamic driver. There’s a lot of punch and slam at times, however the decay speed is on the faster end of a dynamic driver. I typically don’t like mid-bass humps but this one does it tastefully, as there’s not a lot of mid-range bleed off.
The mid-range has also pretty much stayed par for the course despite having more drivers. In fact, I found the entire headphone to sound almost identical to its lower cost predecessor with the only tweaks happening in the treble range.
With the original Form 1.1, I found that there was too great of energy around 8K and onward, which caused a lot of records, not just bad ones, to sound overly strained, harsh, and even sibilant. I felt it ruined it’s tonality with the exaggerated high end. With some EQ work, I was able to tone it down without any problems and then found the Form 1.1 to be a rather competent IEM. On this newer model, they must have taken some of that feedback to heart, as the new sound signature has a much more tamed upper frequency range, which makes everything sound more natural and relaxed.
There is a roll off right after 8K but in practice, like the Dunu DK3001 Pro I just recently reviewed, I didn’t find this to harm it’s tuning at all. With this small treble update, I found the Shozy Form 1.4 to sound pretty solid right out of the box.
Like the Form 1.1, the soundstage here is just average width and lacking a lot of depth, something I am slight disappointed at with a much higher price tag at $199. There aren’t a lot of technicality differences between the two despite having more drivers that share the load, and I haven’t been able to audibly hear enough to distinguish better resolution, transients, or anything of that nature.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, I think the tuning of the Form 1.4 is an improvement over the Form 1.1 It fixes the issues I had with treble gain, and strained, and sibilant sound, however I am not totally sure the small fix, which can be patched with EQ, is worth a 2.5X price gap. Yes, there’s more drivers now, but I don’t know if they do enough for me to really hear a marked improvement. That said, I rather grab the Form 1.4 over the Form 1.1 any day, however I also didn’t pay for these review units. The choice is going to be up to the user here.
And while I do like the Form 1.4’s general sound signature, I would take any of the lower cost Moondrop offerings – Kanas Pro and KXXS/Starfield – over the Form 1.4 as they just present sound better overall.
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The Shuoer Singer is a dual-driver bullet-shaped In-Ear Monitor (IEM) that is one of the newest in the brand’s lineup of in-ears. This blue bullet houses an 8mm dynamic driver and what they call an “electrostatic” driver, though it’s not a true electrostatic as you’d expect from say Stax or Shure’s KSE series.
This $75 earphone was sent to me by Linsoul for a review. They can be found on their website here: https://www.linsoul.com/products/shuoer-singer
The Singer isn’t really that good. I’m just going to throw that right up front so you can continue on if you want or not. First, the cable looks nice with it’s copper braid appearance, but in reality, it is a little janky at times, and tangles easily, for whatever reason. The included cable is defaulted to 2.5mm on the connector end, which is a little unusual, with a 3.5mm adapter included in the box. This could lead to confusion and trouble for potential users who do not know what a 2.5mm balanced cable is meant for.
Sound
Finally, the sound, it’s just not very good if you have any inkling for mid-range sounds, proper timbre and any sort of normal tonality. The one or two things it does do decently well are having a natural decay speed and decent soundstage width and imaging.
But the general sound signature is just mediocre in that it’s too heavily bass and treble directed that it completely scoops out any semblance of mid-range timbre that everything just sounds strained. It’s heavily v-shaped, to the point where I really don’t enjoy it. The treble and upper-midrange sounds shrill and bright, though not necessarily harsh or sibilant – it just shrieks in a way that doesn’t sound quite right.
The Singer does come with an additional set of filters to slightly change the tuning. Sticking those on, actually makes these sound worse. With the blue filter, I found the bass to become overly muddy, and even less defined, while slightly toning down treble shrillness, albeit lowering resolution and just creating a bigger mess.
I tried to see how I would appreciate the Singer across various genres, and I haven’t really found something that I enjoyed with these. Everything just sounds tonally off to me, and therefore, in this quick review, I really can not recommend the Singer at all.
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Funny, I rather prefer the look of the Singer over the 1.4.
Nice write-ups, Anthony. 
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Excellent reviews as always Anthony. I also like your review site. Keep up the great work.
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The bullet-style iems never really fit me well, except etymotics, sice it’s deep insertion. The Shozy fits really well for me and I prefer it’s look more personally.
@prfallon69 thanks! @Fc-Construct started posting reviews on my website this year as well, and his reviews getting more hits than mine 
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Haha yes I’ve seen some of his reviews. I thought he’d hijacked your site at first. 
. It’s a great collab too. We need to see you on Resolves channel soon.
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I have been absent from purchasing new IEMs for a while but I placed an order for the Blon BL03 and the Urbanfun ybf-iss014 a few days ago, I am deciding whether to order the Moon drop Starfield as well or not, I never got around to trying the Kanas Pro or the KXXS, so what do you guys think?
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I recently received the KBEAR Diamond for review from Sunny at Better Audio US. I have been testing it for a while now and this is my review:
KBEAR’s Diamond is the latest product from the company and is a single dynamic driver model featuring a diaphragm coated with DLC, or Diamond-Like Carbon. Seen recently in models such as the Moondrop Starfield and KXXS, it promises a fast response with low distortion. Carbon diaphragms are trending right now with CNT (Carbon Nanotube) technology also popular. The diaphragm diameter is 8.5mm.
The Diamond is very well made, being crafted from CNC machined aluminium finished in an attractive sage green hue, with a carbon fibre faceplate emblazoned with a gold KBEAR logo. The gold-coloured nozzles are of high quality with a silver grille. There is a small pinhole vent at the base of the nozzle and another on the side of the earpiece adjacent to the channel identification. The earpieces are smoothly contoured and have a bit of heft to them, but are very comfortable. The build quality is excellent, matching or even exceeding that of the TRI i4 and Tin Hi-fi T3. The interface is 2 pin and the supplied cable is also of very high quality, being a silver-plated type with a loose 8-core braid. It is very supple and fits very well over the ear. The plug, Y-split and chin slider are all metal with a black anodised finish. The chin slider could have usefully been a little wider, as it tended to get caught on the cable. The packaging is sumptuous and comprehensive, presented in a black rectangular box inside which you will find:
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KBEAR Diamond IEMs
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8 core silver-plated cable and velcro cable tie.
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3 sets of grey silicon tips with red bore S, M, L.
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3 sets of black wide bore silicon tips S, M, L.
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2 sets of foam tips, 1 white, 1 black.
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Faux pigskin case with magnetic closure.
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Instruction manual.
One of the nicest presentations I have seen.
The IEMs were left burning in for 100 hours to settle down the components, after which they were evaluated using an Xduoo X20 DAP connected via line out to a Fiio A5 headphone amplifier. I used the stock cable. I did try the medium size of the supplied black wide bore tips, but I found that I obtained a wider soundstage and a more natural overall balance with Spiral Dots (size M). The evaluation was carried out in this configuration.
The immediate impression of the Diamond was very positive, with excellent timbre across the frequency range. Bass was firm, well-textured and powerful, with good extension. Sub-bass had plenty of impact and mid-bass was somewhat elevated but nicely contoured, not colouring the midrage adversely. Treble was airy and well-extended with plenty of sparkle and excellent detail retrieval. The overall profile was mildly U-shaped with midrange climbing gradually towards the boundary with the treble and not being overly recessed. I would describe the tonality as “natural” with a little extra warmth.
Bass
Initially rather heavy and ponderous in the bass, after a lengthy burn-in, the Diamond really began to show its quality. The authentic timbre had a vinyl-like quality, which came to the fore in Brian and Roger Eno’s “Deep Saffron” from the album “Mixing Colours”. The deep sonorities and ambient atmospheres in this piece were very impressive. Equally impressive was “Another Land” from “Paradox by Davol. This is a moody synthesiser piece featuring deep bass tones and the Diamond displayed superb power and transient attack, while at the same time preserving the atmospheric nature of the piece with the reverb effects extremely well portrayed. Classical music also impressed, with orchestral bass drum demonstrating power and depth with authentic decay. The second movement, “Conflict”, from Roy Harris’s Symphony No.6 showed immediacy and brutality, with the drum possessing amazing impact. This recording, by Keith Clark with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, was a perfect demonstration piece for the Diamond.
Midrange
The midrange had a wonderfully natural timbre and was rich in detail. There was a little emphasis in the lower mids from the elevated mid-bass but this added warmth and character and an attractive “bloom” rather than endowing it with an unnatural quality.
Cellos and pianos are excellent instruments for gauging the quality of the midrange. Benny Andersson’s “Jag Hor” from his album “Piano” is a good example. The beautiful melody was portrayed with a very natural piano tone, with the harmonic decay well-rendered which added a live feel to the piece. Dynamic shading was also excellent here. David Arkenstone and Kostia’s “The Cello’s Song” similarly displayed the Diamond’s ability to accurately depict acoustic instruments with an authentic timbre. The sweeping orchestral arrangement and soaring cello melody thrilled and impressed in equal measure. Vocals, too were reproduced beautifully. Chris Izaak’s “Wicked Game” and Clannad’s “Newgrange” respectively showcased the Diamond’s handling of male and female vocals, being clear and well-defined and preserving the character of the voices very well.
Treble
The Diamond’s treble was clean, well-detailed and open, with good extension and free of peaks, possessing a “silky” quality which was very appealing and resulted in a very relaxing presentation. This attractive musicality came to the fore in Vaughan Williams’s “The Lark Ascending” in a beautiful recording by the Sinfonia of London conducted by John Barbirolli. Hugh Bean’s wonderful solo performance is a classic and the Diamond’s rendition did not disappoint, with all the delicacy of the violin figuring being projected beautifully and the emotion of the piece coming over in its entirety. The high synthesiser accompaniment to Richard Burmer’s “Across the View” was as clear as I have heard so far, with extra details and ambient effects adding to the feeling of the piece. The upper frequencies were nicely integrated with the whole, a consequence of using a full-range driver.
Soundstage
Staging on the Diamond possessed good width, depth and height, with good imaging, enabling the listener to pinpoint the location of instruments. Classical music benefited from this, with the solo flute in Stuart Mitchell’s “Mausoleum at Halicarnassus” placed precisely in the centre of the image and supported by strings and percussion laid out impressively within the recording venue. The sense of distance in the timpani strikes at the conclusion of the piece was very noticeable. This three-dimensional effect was strikingly reproduced in “I am a Camera” by The Buggles, with synthesisers, reverb effects and vocals all combining to create a holographic staging with the vocals appearing to emanate from a great distance, set against foreboding synth chords.
Conclusion
The Diamond is, without doubt, the best release so far from KBEAR, with superb sound quality, impressive build and attractive presentation and packaging. Single dynamic drivers with carbon technology are popular now, and the Diamond has a very natural tonality which contrasts with the Tin Hi-fi T4, which has a neutral-bright delivery and superb detail retrieval, but occasionally can feel a little thin, and the BLON BL-03 which has a prominent mid-bass and can be over-warm, even allowing for its excellent lush midrange, but which also falls short a little on the detail front. The Diamond treads a middle line between these and offers the best of both worlds. It has an authentic and accurate timbre and tonality, good detail and an attractive musicality, which, after extended listening, becomes more and more appreciated. As a result, the Diamond has now risen to #1 spot in my ever-expanding collection of IEMs.
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Excellent review, as usual!! Thanks!!
I was listening to Mixing Colours last night in bed . Beautiful album .
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