Hey all, I know I haven’t been very active here, which is mainly a combination of being bombarded with school work and not really having access to as much stuff as I did before. Anyways, I’m visiting home this weekend so I swung by MRS to catch up on some of the newer stuff that’s come out this last month. I have units on the way for most of these IEMs, just on the slow boat as usual so I figured I’d get down my thoughts so y’all don’t have to wait haha.
7Hz Timeless: I saw this a while ago and, probably like most people, I didn’t really care about it until Crin gave it a cursory ranking of 5/5 in his unboxing video. The general tonality of the Timeless is neutral with bass boost; however, I can’t say I’m particularly enamored by the tonality here. Yes, the Timeless is better in the tonal department than any planar I’ve heard to date, but that doesn’t mean it’s good tonality either. Noteweight on the Timeless generally skews toward the thinner side, almost like there’s too much upper-midrange, and there’s a similar phenomenon going on in the treble where the Timeless exhibits a strong peak at 7.5kHz. It’s fatiguing to hear despite the perceived detail it lends, and the general timbre of the Timeless is overly dry in tandem with its characteristically planar transients. By this, I mean that notes generally decay a millisecond faster than they should; there’s not sufficient “bloom” to notes. This is probably just a limitation of the driver type; however, timbre-heads really need to look elsewhere. I like the bass on this IEM, though, and it hits hard with remarkable control despite decaying a little quicker than I’d like.
Still, the Timeless’ biggest strength would lie in its technical performance. It definitely sounds like a planar should in a good way. Notes are crisp - hell, more crisp than they have any right to be for $220 - and dynamics on the front of macro-contrast are strong. Imaging is really only the department with which the Timeless lacks. While localization is slightly above average, the general staging and ambiance of the Timeless sit somewhere within the realm of average. It stands that layering suffers as a result. So what are my concluding thoughts after demoing this IEM for about an hour? First, I definitely think it has a place in the $200 bracket, as it is probably the most technical IEM I’ve heard for the price. Second, props to 7Hz for making the world’s first competent planar IEM. But third, I also don’t find myself completely sold on it, and there’s a nagging feeling that it’s a tad unrefined.
Moondrop Kato: Moondrop’s proclaimed successor to the Moondrop KXXS. I haven’t shilled that IEM in a while, but I hope it’s no secret that the Moondrop KXXS is one of my favorite single DDs (my first real IEM at that) so I had high expectations for the Kato. Let’s see. It’s definitely a slight technical improvement all-round while maintaining the general tonality of the KXXS. Slightly better resolution, bass slam, imaging, etc. The Kato’s treble doesn’t sound particularly more extended; however, it’s eschewed the 13kHz peak of its predecessor for a less hazy response. So it’s better than the KXXS; that was to be expected. Now how does the Kato stack up against its closest competitor, the Tanchjim Hana 2021? Well, I’m not a fan of the Kato’s dynamics. They sound sluggish, as is typical of most DD IEMs of this price caliber, but most notably they lack aplomb - they sound slightly soft - in the macro-contrast department relative to the Hana 2021. Generally I get the impression that the Hana 2021 uses a slightly higher-quality driver; outside of this, I could see it going either way even if I prefer the stronger sub-bass focus of the Hana 2021.
Nicehck TopGuy: I got the review unit for this about a month ago and simply couldn’t find the motivation to take it with me back to college. Why? Well, when you look at the FR of this IEM, it actually tracks scarily close to the dreaded Shuoer Tape Pro. I think that about says it all, but to be fair, I don’t think the TopGuy’s that bad. It’s just really mediocre. The mid-bass is trash and the sub-bass rolls-off audibly, it’s got what sounds like a weird, immeasurable dip the upper-midrange that makes everything sound veiled and slightly edgy, and the treble sounds like it has all sorts of tonal imbalances. Now, I feel like the imaging on this set is not bad at least in terms of diffusion; however, notes are blunted and there is nothing else remarkable (scratch that, acceptable for $250) about the TopGuy’s technical performance. This thing needs to go back to the drawing board if it’s being touted as a flagship IEM because it’s not even playing in the $50 category for sound quality to be perfectly frank.
HarmonicDyne Poseidon: LOL. Sorry, these are not good. They sound like they roll-off under 100Hz; there’s no sub-bass at all to this headphone. Seriously, if you think the Sennheiser open-backs are bad for bass extension, this is way worse. This headphone also has an upper-midrange recession right around 3-4kHz which isn’t doing resolution any favors. Now, I think treble would be OK if it weren’t for the contrast of this recession to 5kHz which doesn’t seem to work as well with headphones. The Poseidon’s treble sounds overly sharp in the initial impact of percussive hits whereas, as I alluded to just above, the midrange sounds plain hazy. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still nothing really outright offensive about the Poseidon’s tonality, but it’s sooo far from sounding good. This is basically the textbook example of what mediocrity sounds like.