jello
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Post by jello on Sept 11, 2016 17:21:46 GMT
Think I'm settled on the gunmetal filters when using the Vyrus with an amp. These are the ones that are fitted out of the box so are a good starting point.
Plan to use gold w/o damper with my mobile phone though as they seem to work best but sound quality is nowhere near as good as with the Mojo. Not to say that these scale up massively, just that they deserve better than a crappy source.
Double flange tips for me. Comply TSX 200 will fit these too.
You may be right about the cable connectors Ian. Had the right connector pop off a couple of times over the weekend. First time I put it down to me not fitting it right but happened again just now and I know it was on properly.
Does only happens when I'm removing the earbud and pops back in place fine. Once re-connected the fit feels tight and doesn't pop off during use but may need to look at glue or tape (or exercise the warranty) if it worsens.
The instruction booklet* does say to remove the earbuds by holding their body and rotating them but due to the flush fit, small size and glossy finish that isn't particularly practical esp. if you want to remove them quickly to speak to someone. So more often than not I find myself having to tug them out via the metal collar that houses the L/R connectors....which quite possibly causes the disconnects but if it does then imho that is a bit of a design / usability issue. Minor grumble for now though unless it worsens.
(* imagine this is a generic booklet included with all their IEMs and the suggested method probably works just fine for their bigger bodied IEMs)
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Sept 11, 2016 19:07:01 GMT
The disconnection thing can get worse with time. They slowly wear down, Mark. Really, they are better with some kind of locking mechanism via something like a 'twist'.
When taking them out, try doing a kind of 'yawn' action with your jaw and that can sometimes loosen the fit into the ear. Or pull the top of your ear up. If it's loose, it will at least come out a bit easier. I'll glue them if it's an issue. I won't be changing leads TBH.
The higher end iem's use the same connection method as well, so maybe Bob needs to get some feedback.
If they are scaling up with an amp, then they must be pretty good. Poor drivers don't seem to change much with amps. I'm looking forward to trying them actually.
I'm also still waiting for an msr7!! All go 'ere 'innit?'
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jello
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Post by jello on Sept 11, 2016 21:32:04 GMT
Good tip about the ear stretching. Have used that method for inserting earbuds to help get a solid insertion but never for removing them. Worked a treat though and edges them out just enough for me to get a good grip. I don't mind the 2 pin system in general (liked it quite a bit on the Heirs) but I just find the connectors on these a bit imprecise when pushing them into place. Quite a firm push is needed and you don't get much in the way of tactile feedback which is a bit unnerving the first time. Doubt you could damage them as long as you line up the guiding tab / notch though. Don't get me wrong. It does it's job but I just think if I was buying something like the PM6 I'd prefer things to be a bit more refined. But then again I also like MMCX connectors and others don't, so maybe just a preference thing. Still no sign of the MSR7...what kind of a friend does that??? You'll need to get him told The Kameleon and HE-560 module should be here Tuesday so think the Vyrus may well end up taking a bit of a backseat for a while. Can't wait to hear the adjustments Frans has made. Edit: oh and back on the gold filters. I'm done playing around and these ARE staying. Think they just offer a bit more excitement and air vs the gunmetal which makes them really good with rock. Also a touch less bass which helps give the perception of more detail, even if it was there all along.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Sept 13, 2016 13:51:19 GMT
I'm sitting out in the garden still waiting for the Vyrus to arrive. Because I live in the middle of nowhere, deliveries always come here last!! I bet the Kameleon is spot on Mark!! Frans has an uncanny 6th sense with graphs and headphones. Actually, I'm a bit jealous since the HE560 will probably become quite a beast with Kameleon filtering. I can't get round the HE1000 nonsense, so I'm steering clear of Hifiman, except for the 350, which is coming from Massdrop anyway. Ultimately, I guess a high end portable, open and closed and an iem is going to cover most uses. Some of these high end iem's are eye wateringly high priced though and there's no real way of knowing how they sound. So same as you, Id like to get a 'feel' of Trinity Audio sound first I guess. Exactly what I'm doing with the he350!!! As I type, the Vyrus has just arrived. There's a separate set of Kombi tips that look nice as well. On first sight, they certainly look good value!!
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Sept 13, 2016 13:58:31 GMT
What good value ....... Even a nice little case with it. It looks so pretty in the box, I don't want to get it out!! 6 choices of tips in box and a set of Kombis with 5 pairs, plus the different barrels and two cords to attach..... Great value actually.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Sept 13, 2016 14:05:59 GMT
Blimey .....
And there's more ......
Right angled adapter. (Excellent) 4 extra barrels, large Jack adapter. Clip. All hidden in the case.
Cables are very pretty. Woven and have some kind of plasic coating. Good quality Jack plug and connectors.
Looks good so far .....
Whatever is fitted on it fits my ears and the sound is quite bassy. I'm not exactly sure yet what barrel is on. Looks like grey.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Sept 13, 2016 15:17:48 GMT
Quick comparison with 1More shows a lot of similarity. With the purple barrels fitted, the Vyrus has slightly less bass. Not a lot in it. Because of this, they seem more clean sounding. Surprising considering that the one more is a balanced armature with a passive bass speaker in them.
With the gun metal, bass would be on the same level, but there is a filter in there which takes the edge down on the treble. So I prefer the 1More with the same bass level, but perhaps the Vyrus via the purple barrel with no filter.
Purple seems better with voice to me. The bass increase with the barrels is in the upper bass I think, so if there's going to be any 'boom' with mens' voices, they'll show it!!
The fit is way better for me with the wire going over my ears as well. I also swapped to larger buds.
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jello
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Post by jello on Sept 13, 2016 16:18:23 GMT
Good to hear that first impressions are positive Ian! The purple filters (w/o damper) do give the Vyrus a nice clarity and detail. You do lose some of the really deep bass and it feels like the 'bump' shifts to the mid or upper bass. It is quite a bundle of extras you get isn't it? I was pretty gobsmacked when I opened the box and don't think I've ever bought an IEM, regardless of price, that has come so well 'equipped'. Now that I've had these a few days and put in a good few hours use I think I can safely say that I am very pleased with the Vyrus. Not to say I don't have a few minor niggles but the good far outweighs the bad. When I get some time I think I'll probably try and put together a wee write up (don't want to use the word review because I know my limitations!) that will hopefully summarise my thoughts on the Vyrus into a cohesive whole. Appreciate most of my posts over the last few days have been a bit spur of the moment (how many times was it again that I flip flopped between filters??) and gone off at tangents so would be good to post something more useful for anyone interested....or perhaps you could do it and I'll work on a '+1' or '^ what he said' Give the double flanges a try if you haven't already Ian. I like them a lot.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Sept 13, 2016 16:49:05 GMT
The value for money is second to none, Mark. The pack that you get with them is really comprehensive. Bob must be an iem guy!! The tuning is great actually and I really like the fact that you can tune in the amount of bass that you want. I found the gunmetal ok. Didn't like the effect of the filter. The others without the filter just give a bit of zip in the top. Ooh er ..... Gold without filter is rather nice!! Bigger bass and much more like the 1More in quantity. I did a virtual instant swap and so it was more noticeable. To me, it's more of a V than the purple but has more life in the sound. These iem's are hilarious. There's not a single sound that you can describe because the changes in the bass really change your perception of the treble. For some reason, the gold sounds slightly more sparkly with a fatter bass!! I looked at the barrels and compared. I think the gold is slightly fatter as well. High quality files sound extremely good, with a very solid, hard hitting bass. These are very good. I can't get the double flanges to seal, Mark. I have some Spinfits on order, but they're delayed. I had an email telling me that it was due to a tsunami!! The strain relief on the cups isn't great. The cable itself has a bit of stretch so that might avoid damage. I quite like the cable. It's very thin and lightweight and no noise gets transmitted. Curious that someone on HF reckoned that it was microphonic. I wonder whether the cable has been changed? I also noticed that the back half of the iem looks glued on. Don't stand on them .... The two halves might well part. Strain relief on the jack plug is quite good, with a spring, but the right angled plug is quite big with the straight jack inserted. You could get quite a bit of leverage there. For a cheap iem though, it does fantastically well in the sound department. They sound way bigger than they are. I'm very curious though about the push/pull technology of the better ones now though. I think Trinity Audio might be a fairly new company which is why many might not have heard of them. They have a good designer there for sure and my guess is that the better iem's from them might well be something special. Anyone fancy risking £400? There's a new one on the way. They're only making 1000 per year. I really like the look of those but the cost .........
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Post by Rabbit on Sept 14, 2016 8:07:16 GMT
Had a good listen last night and this morning with the Ifi IDSD using dsd files as the source. The Vyrus shows more depth and a really smooth treble. The depth of the bass from them is remarkable given that they're so small.
In the end, I stayed with the gold barrel without filter. It is a bit more lively than the gunmetal with filter and the larger, rubber buds. I'll use these for a week until the Spinfits arrive and see whether they sound any different.
They perform beyond what I'd expect at this price TBH and are easily a match and perhaps slightly better than the 1More. Not sure yet. The tuning aspect is great and fairly subtle. Going straight from one to another points out the changes. The description of the changes is spot on. The filters do as the description says. The sound easily matches full sized headphones and tonally, I think it's better than many.
The supplied extras are great.
A great buy actually. I really want to try some further up the line, but my Hifi mate can't get them for me. I have to pay for them and although I know that there's an iem at double these, there are others further up that I suspect are going to be stunning.
The guy that tuned these knew what he was doing. There's no feeling of a big peak (other than bass if you want it) Really smooth and on first listen, they sound kind of ordinary. Then feed them a decent signal and they take off. The treble extends without harshness as well. Nice drivers inside, I think.
So what's it to be? A £200 or £500 pair? That's the one tricky area that Trinity might have a problem with. A new company and as far as earbuds go, it's a risk at those price levels. They will have to rely on someone taking a chance and then writing a review and TBH, I'm very careful about what many people write in their reviews unless I know them.
It may be useful if Trinity Audio put some FR graphs up, so that we can see what we might be getting for our money. Even if they're not that accurate, comparing the graphs as long as they're all done the same way would show the differences in FR and maybe impulse response to show the push/pull technology in action?
Anyway, there's no doubt in my mind, these cheap ones are really very good and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone wanting a decent sound from an earbud.
Trinity Audio really ought to put a little description of the filters in the box. It's a pain to keep referring to their website to see what they say. All of those extras and no leaflet?
Moving on to an Msr7 today. My mate has found one for me!!! Hopefully see him later. I'm still pondering a better Trinity Audio bud though. These are that good.
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jello
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Post by jello on Sept 14, 2016 10:13:13 GMT
Agree with pretty much everything you've said Ian. Gold w/o dmaper for me too. Despite being a very comprehensive package (clearly put together with a lot of thought) it's also a somewhat confusing one to me. Some things just don't quite add up and think they could be improved upon. - Trinity should really include a card explaining the different filters (a comparative FR chart would be good too). - why is there 2 of every filter except the gunmetal.? I like that one but think the damper isn't exactly beneficial. I don't want to say it makes the Vyrus sound muffled as that's not quite it, but it definitely subdues them - possibly Trinity have changed things since the Vyrus was first released but the contents on the back of the box don't mirror what's actually included. Where are the triple flanged tips or the Spinfits (appreciate they're temporarily out of stock)? - why are there S/M/L versions of most tips but the double flange (imho the best of the bunch) only come in a single size? I'd like a couple of sizes because based on Ian's experiences they aren't a universal fit. - the instruction booklet really needs to be printed in a bigger font. I don't require glasses for reading but find the text is almost illegible. tbh I never read the things anyway but some do - I'd like metal tubes to store all 6 unused sets of filters in when not in use. But the two supplied tubes only hold 2 pairs, so the silver ones have to be kept in the plastic bag they came in. - Might just be my box but it doesn't close properly after I cut the seals. It feels like there are a couple of magnetic discs under the flap but no matching ones on the side of the box for them to couple with. Might be nitpicking but I think when you get so close it's a shame to fall just short of 'perfection'. I don't have the funds just now but I'm impressed enough that I'd like to try one of their higher end IEMs in future. I think in terms of price and visual appeal the PM6 appeals more than the Hunter. The PM4 (£92ish after discounts) looks good on paper too and also packs push/pull dynamic drivers + 2xBA, but think if I bought that one I'd be asking myself if I should have stumped up the extra for the PM6
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Sept 14, 2016 10:43:39 GMT
My box doesn't close either, Mark.
I was puzzled about the gunmetal having a filter and no 'clear' one available. I might try and get the filter out. I agree, it does a bit too much to the top. I wonder whether the number of filters was an afterthought? I also wondered why the silver were separate. Actually, I thought that maybe Trinity were wanting us to try the silver before anything else!!
Maybe it is actually still evolving?
Trinity is catering to an audience that needs to know what to do with those barrels. Even though we know what to do, an explanation wouldn't go amiss. In fact, advertising these and getting them out to retailers with a box that states .... 'TUNABLE IEM' might get them more sales. It would need an explanation though. Doing this would set up a lower level customer base and perhaps get people more interested in going up a level.
I'm very interested in those top end ones. Then again, I've been using Hifi since the 60s so I'm more tuned in to these products but £500 on a new IEM is just too much. How on earth will they sell these? I'd be expecting something really special at that price. How many Hifi people can even afford that? (And I'm not poor by any means!!)
I know what I'd do - I'd get a middle of the road one and still wonder about the better ones!!!
I hope Trinity do well with the lower and mid budget ones because the Vyrus is really impressive and an excellent intro to the company.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Sept 17, 2016 9:19:22 GMT
The Spinfits have arrived from the tsunami......
They're lovely and soft. Slightly softer than the Trinity ones perhaps. Because of the softness, I was able to go back down a size and they expand gently inside my ears. They're fiddly to get on because the earpieces are so small, but I'd rather they were tight than come off inside my ear.
If you have trouble keeping a seal, the Spinfits might fix it for you due to their softness.
Trouble is that you have to buy a whole set, when only one size will fit. Now, I'd like to buy a packet of all the same size.
No sound changes for me because the others sealed fine.
I do find that the Trinity seals better if you take the wire over your ears rather than hang them as most iem's hang. It takes the weight off the cups, stops cable noise and they seal a tad easier.
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jello
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Post by jello on Sept 17, 2016 9:51:30 GMT
Received my complimentary pair (nice gesture from Trinity) this morning too. Not had a chance to try them yet but the smaller bores make me think they won't be replacing the double flanges...we'll see though.
Come to think about it I have a bag full of spare tips somewhere including some regular silicone tips with nice wide bores. Should fit the Vyrus so will need to dig them out for a listen.
Edit: and some JVC spiral dots. They're very decent tips and quit supple too from memory.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Sept 17, 2016 9:55:10 GMT
I think the crucial thing with tips is how soft and springy they are. If they're not soft enough, your natural tendency is to go to a larger size and cram them in. Then they become very uncomfortable after a while.
I find going down a size with softer ones is nicer to my ears. Sometimes even two sizes for a looser fit.
Probably why many feel uncomfortable with iem's.
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