u/DynamicdB

Faith Audio E1000 A Single DD Benchmark

Another week, another review. This week I am reviewing another first. The brand is Faith Audio & the set is E1000. AudioGeek India is conducting a review tour of E1000 with Faith Audio. I being a Single DD lover couldn't pass this opportunity & got myself a spot on the review tour. Rest is history & today I am bringing its review for you. What do I think about it? To know more about it please read on.

First of all, mighty thanks to AudioGeek India & to Faith Audio as without their help this review wouldn't have been possible.

I was not paid or compensated in any manner for this review. The set will revert back to brand upon completion of the review.

My preference in terms of tone & timbre are DD > Hybrids > Planar

Now that all pleasantries have been exchanged let's get on with the meat & potatoes of the review.

Pros:

* Quality low end

* Realistic sounding female vocals

* Excellent clarity in mids

* Excellent details retrieval

* Nice open feeling Stage

Cons:

* Bass is bit soft for bass heads

* Slight dry sounding male vocals

* Treble can be bit on the edge for treble sensitive

* Fitting is an issue shape plays role in it

* Price it's subjective & personal con

Build Quality:

P.S. Please note that I have only received IEMs & Stock cable. I didn't get the retail package. So, my impressions are based on this only.

IEM shells are made up of Titanium. They are shaped a bit odd for me. I will talk about this in the comfort section. Nozzles are a bit short. They have lips to them. There is screen/mesh to the nozzles.

Cable is thick & 4 core high purity OFC one. It is a paracord or cloth clad. It is terminated in 4.4 mm. I personally don't like cloth clad cables as they have memory & microphonics. This one also suffers from it.

Overall Build Quality 4/5

Comfort:

As promised in the build quality I will talk about the IEM shells being odd shaped. Well their shape is an issue with me. It prevents good stable fit. The pointed part of the shells pushes on my tragus & causes pain to me. I have to continuously adjust it. Another issue that I faced was good fitment. Most of my ear tips couldn't provide a good grip. They kept sliding out of my ear. Only Dunu S&S & Eliot narrow bore ear tips worked.

Cable has memory and rodeo wrapping is a bit of an issue. It doesn't behave & the microphonics.

In short my comfort was a bit compromised on it. I struggled a lot to get the best fit.

Overall comfort 3.5/5

General Sound impressions:

Bass/Lows:

Nice sub bass rumble. It is very physical. You can hear it & feel it too. Is it a bass head level? No, but it's slightly above neutral. For me it's quite satisfying. Mid bass is a bit soft for my taste. Again don't get me wrong. It's impactful but it's not too physical. Its decay is quick. But will it scratch the mid bass itch 100% again don't expect bass head territory mid bass presentation. This one is a nice and impactful quick decay one that doesn't linger but provides the notes. Overall very nice quality & quantity bass at least for me. If you are the one who wants a nice bass that doesn't affect mids yet gives ample notes to make presentation better then this is the one.

Drums, kick drums sound great, they have a nice impact and nice trailing edge. Their presentation feels natural. Strings just feel divine. They buzz & rumble. Their presentation feels natural. You will string instruments here once you hear it. Percussion instruments sound equally great. They are natural. Bass here is textured & nuanced. You can feel the difference between notes of different bass instruments.

Overall Bass/Lows 5/5

Mids:

Male vocals be it low pitched or high pitched they sound equally great. There is note weight to them. But I feel high pitched voices sound a bit better than low pitched ones. Your mileage may vary. But one thing is sure male vocals are treat here. Female vocals are excellent hands down. They have the sweetness that makes them beautiful. They don't get intense. They are not shrill or sharp. Again I was enjoying their presentation to the fullest. Overall the vocals are excellent and are perfectly intimate for my taste. They are emotive. I just would have loved a better male vocals presentation, especially low pitched ones.

Most instruments reside in the mids. I didn't find any oddities there. No smearing or congestion was felt. Clarity is excellent.

Overall nice mid forward tuning.

Mids 5/5

Treble:

Let me be clear Treble here is bright & Unless you are using like me a warm source it will cause issues for most Treble sensitive people. I am one & I used the warm source to tame it. It is very detailed no questions about it. I was not expecting this much details from a Single DD set. Initially I double checked the website to verify whether this is really a single DD set or hybrid. All macro & micro details you will ever need are there. You won't miss any.

Bells and triangles can sound a bit more pronounced. Shakers also feel a bit more present in the mix but don't feel odd. Strings are just divine. Cymbals crashes are close to natural. Don't sound odd or metallic.

Perceived sound stage, the stage is nice holographic. It envelopes you. The out of head feeling is prominent. Instruments feel in the space around you. This one also creates open feelings like open back headphones. Positional cues are perfect. You can pinpoint the instruments properly. Vocals feel centered. If you are a stage hound you will live this one.

Overall Treble/Highs 5/5 (but if you use neutral or bright source this one drops to 4)

Song Impressions:

1. Despacito by Luis Fonsi feat Daddy Yankee

The starting string sequence is just amazing on E1000. They sound heavenly. Strings nicely rumble. Drums sound natural. Luis Fonsi sounds excellent. Daddy Yankee feels a bit light on note weight.

The entire song feels dynamic & energetic just as it should. Excellent reproduction.

2. Daisies by Nina Shallman

The initial drum sequence is nicely rendered. Be it strings, piano notes, drums, kick drums all feel natural. Just feel that shakers are highlighted a bit more. Strings can be a bit over the comfort level here.

But the entire mix felt nice and engaging.

Coming to Nina Shallman she sounds divine here. The youthful voice of her is rendered well. She is plucking the strings of my heart. I was lost in this song. I didn't want to stop listening to her.

3. Ego Death by Polyphia

String instruments are the usp of this song. They are nailed excellently here. They rumble & buzz. It was a treat to listen to them. Cymbals crashes felt a bit highlighted. Drums are amazing and do a good job as a backing element.

This song is my driver resolution check song aka driver speed check. I am happy to report that the E1000 just nails it with panache. No where congestion or smearing felt. Instruments remain separated and the presentation remains enjoyable. Doesn't get harsh or shrill. Excellent reproduction.

4. Kashmir by Marcin

This song is just acoustic guitar heaven. They just feel heavenly. The strings being plucked you can feel it. They buzz and rumble. Sounds so natural. Background string instruments are equally amazing. Supporting drums sound great & help in the setting of the atmosphere.

Overall it was a mesmerizing experience.

Final Conclusion:

This is my first ever exposure to the

Faith Audio Labs. I feel this is the best first exposure one can get. E1000 is just what the hype describes. A product worth hyping up. It's a nice detailed set & it was hard to believe it is a Single DD set.

No issues in low end mids are realistic & treble is the only place where disagreement can happen between two people. The stage is just awesome.

Don't get me wrong this one can be for most people's true end game set. For me it just falls short due to treble tuning. The only set that tops it for me is Dita Audio Ventura. That one is just a little better in treble. But does that diminish it? No, saying that would be a cardinal sin. This one is a truly hype worthy set & worth the end game summit fi set title.

So, final verdict? Buy, if you are in the market looking for a summit fi end game set. For myself I will wait for it to come to secondary markets to snag one. This is one of those sets that once you have experienced you can't go back. It is a benchmark in my eyes.

Thank you for enduring with me till the end. Now go grab yourself a cup of coffee & let's get high on safe high i.e. Music.

Faith Audio Labs E1000 A Single DD Benchmark 4/5

ISN audio EST60 A new reference

Another week, another review. This time it's a redux of ISN Audio & the set is EST60. I am always interested in covering the ISN Audio sets as somehow this brand clicks with me. So, with EST60's launch I was on prowl to review it & as the opportunity presented itself I leaped at it.

First of all, mighty thanks to AudioGeek India & ISN Audio as without their help this review wouldn't be possible.

I was not paid or compensated in any manner to write this review. Upon completion of this review the unit will revert back to the brand.

My preferences in terms of tone & timbre are DD > Hybrid > planar

Now that all pleasantries have been exchanged let's get on with the meat & potatoes of the review.

Build Quality:

What do you get in the box? Well, you get 2 IEMs, a color matched cable with gold colored fixtures. Three sets of ear tips & yes the shirt killer is there too. The entire things are inside a nice leather hard case that's premium.

Shells are resin. They are green colored and the faceplates can be had in two variants. One is a geographical pattern & another is a plain face plate. Nozzles are long and are made up of metal. They have lips to them. There is mesh/screen on them.

Cable is an SPC one. It is a 4 core one. The fixtures are metallic and the entire cable feels premium. The cable terminated in 4.4 mm only. No modular cable here. The provided leather case is large enough to carry everything inside. You can also squeeze in a small dongle.

Overall Build Quality 5/5

Comfort:

IEM shells are large. So, people with small ears please demo before purchase. For me the fit was excellent. It provides excellent passive noise isolation. Nozzles are long so provide deep insertion & inturn snug fit. The lips on the nozzles provide nice grip to ear tips . So, no ear tips slip offs. The mesh/screen provides defence against ingress of dirt & ear wax.

Cable is supple & easy to rodeo wrap. It behaves.

Overall comfort 5/5

Pros:

* Male & female vocals both are great here.

* Clean transparent mids.

* Smooth & detailed EST treble.

* Nice open sounding stage.

* Reference tuning

* Fitting & comfort is amazing.

* Build Quality is excellent.

* Accessories are on point.

Cons:

* Bass notes could be a bit better in terms of note weight

* Modular cable would have been great

* Price could have been on the lower side.

Sources:

I have used stock cable + stock ear tips & neutral sources to keep results reproducible. I felt the neutral sources and warm sources gel well with EST60. I didn't like bright sources with EST60. If you want to add more warmth to its presentation then use warm sources.

Sound impressions:

Bass/Lows:

Sub bass over mid bass.Sub bass rumbles but it's a bit on the low side. It is audible & physical but unlike earlier ISN sets, It is low on physical feel. You can say that it's there when it's needed but it won't scratch that itch for physical sub bass. Mid bass is impactful but its impact is on the softer side. Its decay is quick & doesn't linger. I feel bass here is quality over quantity. It will not satisfy the core ISN & Penon Fan. But those seeking quality audiophile correct bass will be. SDrums l, kick drums sound good, just lack the physical impact to move you. It doesn't connect deep inside you. Percussion instruments sound good. Strings sound good just lack the buzz & rumble. Some will say they have it but if you have used nicely tuned similar price sets then you will understand where I am arriving at.

I would have loved a bit more physicality in both sub bass & in mid bass.

Overall Bass/Lows 4/5

Mids:

Vocals are nice and feel a little emphasised. Vocals are clear and don't get affected by bass. They feel natural. Male vocals feel nice both low pitched & high pitched sound good. They have note weight to them. This one has nice intimate vocals. Female vocals sound amazing. They have their sweetness & don't get shrill or harsh.

If you want clean vocals this is the one. I liked listening to vocal centric songs on this one. Let me be honest this one doesn't have lush vocals or most intimate vocals. But vocals really are intimate enough for me to enjoy them & with enough note weight to make them stand on their own in the mix. This one is a treat for vocal lovers.

Most instruments reside in the mids. Clarity is excellent. No oddities in the instruments. No smearing or congestion was felt. It handles complex songs like champ.

Overall Mids 4.5/5

Treble/Highs:

The treble here is well extended & very detailed. You won't miss any details be it macro or micro. But the cherry on top is smoothness. No piercing sharpness or peaks. Just nice smooth like butter presentation. Detailed & nuanced one. Strings, bells sound good. Cymbals crashes don't feel artificial or metallic. Shakers feel natural. I am in love with the treble here & I know why it is ESTs they are doing their job perfectly. They are showing their prowess. Hearing is believing here

Perceived Soundstage, the stage is great and its open feeling. The stage is nice and enveloping. It is out of head. All instruments are around in the space surrounding the head & vocals in the center. Positional cues are on point. If you are a stage hound you should look on to this set. Is it vast? No, but it is great for the price point.

Overall Treble/Highs 5/5

Song Impressions:

1. Run to the hills by Iron maidens

The starting drum sequence is just nice. Cymbals feel as they should. Vocals are slightly back in the mix as they should be on these songs. This one is quite a fast paced song & still there was no smearing or congestion felt. The guitar sequence at 2.38 onwards is just nailed perfectly.

The entire mix feels dynamic & engaging. Full marks to EST60.

2. The Great Chinggis Khaan by The Hu

The starting string instrument piece sounds so engaging. Sadly strings & throat singing lack the rumble. That rumble is what sets the atmosphere of this song. I sadly missed it.

The throat singing feels a bit diminished due to the lack of sub bass rumble. Drums also felt a bit on the lean side. I am not a basshead but I like a good bass on any set. Which is a bit lean on this set. So, a certain section of this song plus a few genres of songs can sound not so perfect. But understand I am nitpicking here.

The built in stage of the song just feels less on this one. Yet this is enjoyable on EST60

3. Tv off by Kendrick Lamar

I am a Kendrick fan. So, I was interested in checking the hip hop performance on this set.

The bass notes here sound amazing. Kendrick sounds natural. Kendrick is not too forward on the mix. The entire mix feels nice. Nowhere I felt it lacked anything. But pure bassheads might find some issues with bass notes but rest all will not have any issues.

4. Daisies by Nina Shallman

Starting the drum sequence feels a bit light on notes. Nina Shallman sounds great. She has a youthful voice & it's captured well here. She sounds very engaging.

Shakers feel natural. Strings sound good, Piano notes sound great, just lack physicality. But mind you it's a very minute difference. You can catch it if you have heard this song on a nice set that has good physical bass notes.

Overall enjoyable experience.

Final Conclusion:

I am no stranger to ISN Audio. I have covered a few sets from them earlier. My favourites have been. EST80 & Sora so I came here with lots of expectations. To be honest I was left wanting cause I was expecting ISN Audio house sound here. Nice physical impactful bass with great vocals and nice smooth treble. I got the vocals & smooth treble but was left wanting in the low end.

But I pushed forward despite this & then slowly I realised I was trying to fit a shoe that was not meant for the foot I had. This one is more in the lines of being a reference set & if you see it that way, you start to realise this is a reference set & unlike earlier sets from ISN. Then when this realism hit me, I adjusted myself & truly started enjoying this set for what it has to offer. This one is really a different tangent by ISN. Hats off to them for taking risks & trying to do something different.

This is nothing but a reference set by ISN Audio & as that it really shines brightly. You get quality bass, nice clean transparent mids & controlled yet detailed treble. ISN has really tuned ESTs really well here. I can say that if you are looking for a reference set that is dynamic & engaging then this is the one. Look no further. If you are a bass head look elsewhere. Treble heads this is maybe set

Neutral heads & balanced tuning lovers rejoice this is the one for you.

Will I buy it? 100% why? Well I started as a neutral head in the hobby & this one reminds me of those old days when I was not corrupted by v/u shaped sets. Now I am beyond repair. Anyways, will I recommend it? 100%. Just read the conclusion to know if it's for you or not.

ISN Audio EST60 a new reference 4.5/5

[removed]

TSMR Armor Budget EST Fun

Another week another review. This week I am revisiting TSMR aka Tansio Mirai & the set we are looking at today is Armor. Armor is their budget hybrid set with EST. Yes, you heard it right it has EST. I don’t know whether they are branded or not. Now that caveat is out let’s get on with it. AudioGeek India was conducting review tour of it & as it happens always, I put my nomination. Fast forward here we are with the detailed review of it. To know more please read on.

First of all, mighty thanks to AudioGeek India & Tansio Mirai as without their help this review wouldn’t been possible.

I was not paid or compensated in any manner for this review. All opinions & thoughts expressed are mine.

My biases for timbre & tonality are DD > Hybrid > Planar

Now that all pleasantries have been exchanged let’s get on with the meat & potatoes of this review.

Pros:

Nice sub bass rumble

Male & female Vocals both sound good

Tuning switches (mod the sound to your desire)

Price (USD 289 for EST set)

Accessories (great cable + ear tips + leather case)

Build Quality (resin shells with nice gold decals & baller cable)

Cons:

Bass needs bit tightening

Female vocals lack a bit edge

Bit bigger soundstage would have been great

Sources:

I tested Armor with neutral sources. felt that neutral & bright sources gel well with Armor. Warm sources also gel well but sometimes it becomes bit too warm for my taste. To keep everything reproducible I have used stock cable & stock ear tips + neutral sources.

Music Genre Used for this Review:

Hip-hop/EDM/Rap/Rock both classic and hard/Bollywood Music/Pop/Jazz/Regional music etc.

https://music.apple.com/in/playlist/test-tracks/pl.u-8aAVXG6ivz8gyxX?ls

Build Quality:

What you get in the box? Well, you get 2 IEM shells, one nice two core SPC cable terminated in 4.4mm, two pairs of ear tips in all sizes, one cleaning tool, one tool for manipulating switches & nice leather semi hard case. Oh, and a leather cable organizer.

Shells are resin with nice gold decals on the face plates. The shells are semitransparent; you can see the drivers inside. Shells have long nozzles. They are part of the shell. They have lip to them. There is no screen or mesh to the nozzles.

Cable is nice supple with gold plated fixtures & its two-core cable. Leather case is large enough to carry IEMs, cable, ear tips & all the accessories inside or you can carry a dongle with the IEMs & cable.

Overall Build Quality 5/5

Comfort:

Shells are medium sized. So, it should fit most people. For me fit was nice & snug. Nozzles provide deep insertion & in turn stable fit. Lips on the nozzles provide nice grip to the ear tips. Since there is no screen or mesh on the nozzles there is no protection from the ingress of dirt & ear wax. No ear pressure or pain was felt in the long listening session.

Cable is supple & has no memory, it behaves & easy to rodeo wrap. Pre formed ear hooks don’t tug on the IEM shells.

Overall Comfort 4.5/5

General Sound Impressions:

The impressions are based on setting 020 on tuning switches.

Bass/Lows:

Sub bass rumbles with authority. It is both audible & physical.it is satisfying. Mid bass is thumpy & is physical yet it feels bit on low side for my personal taste. It has quick decay doesn’t linger for long. Its impact is also limited. I feel the bass is Sub bass over mid bass.

Drums, kick drums feel good have physical impact but it is the rumble of the sub bass that takes it notch up. Strings sound great, the strings buzz & rumble. This adds more realism to them. Piano notes feel good. Percussion instruments sound good.

Bass here is nuanced & textured you can make out minute details between various bass instruments. I liked the low end here just felt that mid bass could be bit tight & impactful.

Overall Bass/Lows 4.5/5

Mids.:

Vocals are slight recessed here. They are neither too recessed nor forward. They are just slight behind Bass & Treble. if you like vocals forward in the mix then this one is not for you.

Male vocals feel great. They have note weight, be it low pitched or high pitched. Female vocals sound equally good. They have that sweetness and don’t get shrill or harsh. This is not vocal centric set yet vocal presentation is great & emotive.

Most instruments reside in Mids. I heard no oddities in the timbre or tonality of them. Clarity is good. No smearing or congestion in the Mids.

Overall Mids. 5/5

Treble:

Treble is detailed yet details are not in your face. All macro & micro details are covered properly. This is not most technical set out there but still it’s not low res. It’s just perfectly in between. You won’t miss any details. ESTs are helping in detail retrieval. Overall treble feels nice smooth and well extended. Cymbals, crashes don’t sound odd. Strings sound good. Bells, shakers sound good. No harsh or odd tonality here.

Perceived sound stage, stage here is wide than tall. More horizontal than vertical. It creates enough stage to let all instruments coexist. It is immersive but not to the point where stage hounds will be satisfied. I personally feel it could have had bit more stage. Its neither too intimate nor vast. Its somewhere in between. But again, for the price point its good.

Treble/Highs 4.5/5

Song Impressions:

With arms wide open by Creed

This is me going back on my nostalgia trip. Creed is my old times favorite. Thus, it’s here.

The Scott Stapp’s vocals are nice frontal & in their full glory. They have enough note weight. They feel natural. He feels emotive.

Drums, strings both sound amazing. Their impact & rumble is on point. They create nice immersive atmosphere & armor captures it well. Entire song was treat to listen.

Nothing gonna change my love for you by George Benson

I wanted to check how George Benson sounds on this set & I am happy to report, he sounds impressive. There is charm to his nice melodic voice. I was listening to it on loop. In the background score nothing feels odd or out of sync. No tonal oddities. Be it drums, piano notes, cymbals all sounded close to natural. All instruments were in harmony.

I truly enjoyed song to the fullest.

Ego death by Polyphia

My driver resolution aka driver speed check song. Armor just nails this song. There are multiple instruments playing at the same time & Armor avoids smearing & keeps them well separated.

It was treat to hear drum beats, strings on Armor. They have nice impact & deep rumble that follows them. Thus, evoke emotions. No artificial feel was there to the instruments. Overall amazing experience.

No time to die by Billie Eilish

One of my favorite songs from Billie. Billie sounds great here just her voice lacks bit of female vocal sweetness. But we can ignore that as this set is not vocal centric set. Overall Armor captures here voice close to original & she really touches something inside you.

Supporting score feels very well due to tuning. Drum sequence is authoritative. Piano notes feel nice. Strings are equally great. Entire mix just moves you.

Final Conclusion:

TSMR Armor is my second encounter with the brand. First, it was Onyx & honestly, I am really impressed by Armor. I am going on record here one of the best sounding Est set under 300 USD or near it. It has nice EST treble presentation that I love. Bass is near perfection for me just needs to be bit tight. Mids. are also near perfect just need better female vocals. As you can see it is very close to my preferences. Let me be honest the cons mentioned are moot point at its price point. Just a Wishlist as you know good audio is now getting affordable.

What’s the final verdict? Will I buy it? 100%. Not even going to find any fault or reasons not to buy it. Do I recommend it? Absolutely, 200%. This one is hidden gem. If you like such energetic, dynamic presentation this one is blind buy. Who should avoid it? Treble heads & neutral heads for you its maybe set. Bass heads & balanced lovers rejoice this one is right up your alley.

Thank you for enduring with me till end. Now go grab yourself a cup of coffee & let’s get high on safe high i.e. Music.

TSMR Armor budget EST fun 4.5/5

TSMR Armor Budget EST Fun

Another week another review. This week I am revisiting TSMR aka Tansio Mirai & the set we are looking at today is Armor. Armor is their budget hybrid set with EST. Yes, you heard it right it has EST. I don’t know whether they are branded or not. Now that caveat is out let’s get on with it. AudioGeek India was conducting review tour of it & as it happens always, I put my nomination. Fast forward here we are with the detailed review of it. To know more please read on.

First of all, mighty thanks to AudioGeek India & Tansio Mirai as without their help this review wouldn’t been possible.

I was not paid or compensated in any manner for this review. All opinions & thoughts expressed are mine.

My biases for timbre & tonality are DD > Hybrid > Planar

Now that all pleasantries have been exchanged let’s get on with the meat & potatoes of this review.

Pros:

Nice sub bass rumble

Male & female Vocals both sound good

Tuning switches (mod the sound to your desire)

Price (USD 289 for EST set)

Accessories (great cable + ear tips + leather case)

Build Quality (resin shells with nice gold decals & baller cable)

Cons:

Bass needs bit tightening

Female vocals lack a bit edge

Bit bigger soundstage would have been great

Sources:

I tested Armor with neutral sources. felt that neutral & bright sources gel well with Armor. Warm sources also gel well but sometimes it becomes bit too warm for my taste. To keep everything reproducible I have used stock cable & stock ear tips + neutral sources.

Music Genre Used for this Review:

Hip-hop/EDM/Rap/Rock both classic and hard/Bollywood Music/Pop/Jazz/Regional music etc.

https://music.apple.com/in/playlist/test-tracks/pl.u-8aAVXG6ivz8gyxX?ls

Build Quality:

What you get in the box? Well, you get 2 IEM shells, one nice two core SPC cable terminated in 4.4mm, two pairs of ear tips in all sizes, one cleaning tool, one tool for manipulating switches & nice leather semi hard case. Oh, and a leather cable organizer.

Shells are resin with nice gold decals on the face plates. The shells are semitransparent; you can see the drivers inside. Shells have long nozzles. They are part of the shell. They have lip to them. There is no screen or mesh to the nozzles.

Cable is nice supple with gold plated fixtures & its two-core cable. Leather case is large enough to carry IEMs, cable, ear tips & all the accessories inside or you can carry a dongle with the IEMs & cable.

Overall Build Quality 5/5

Comfort:

Shells are medium sized. So, it should fit most people. For me fit was nice & snug. Nozzles provide deep insertion & in turn stable fit. Lips on the nozzles provide nice grip to the ear tips. Since there is no screen or mesh on the nozzles there is no protection from the ingress of dirt & ear wax. No ear pressure or pain was felt in the long listening session.

Cable is supple & has no memory, it behaves & easy to rodeo wrap. Pre formed ear hooks don’t tug on the IEM shells.

Overall Comfort 4.5/5

General Sound Impressions:

The impressions are based on setting 020 on tuning switches.

Bass/Lows:

Sub bass rumbles with authority. It is both audible & physical.it is satisfying. Mid bass is thumpy & is physical yet it feels bit on low side for my personal taste. It has quick decay doesn’t linger for long. Its impact is also limited. I feel the bass is Sub bass over mid bass.

Drums, kick drums feel good have physical impact but it is the rumble of the sub bass that takes it notch up. Strings sound great, the strings buzz & rumble. This adds more realism to them. Piano notes feel good. Percussion instruments sound good.

Bass here is nuanced & textured you can make out minute details between various bass instruments. I liked the low end here just felt that mid bass could be bit tight & impactful.

Overall Bass/Lows 4.5/5

Mids.:

Vocals are slight recessed here. They are neither too recessed nor forward. They are just slight behind Bass & Treble. if you like vocals forward in the mix then this one is not for you.

Male vocals feel great. They have note weight, be it low pitched or high pitched. Female vocals sound equally good. They have that sweetness and don’t get shrill or harsh. This is not vocal centric set yet vocal presentation is great & emotive.

Most instruments reside in Mids. I heard no oddities in the timbre or tonality of them. Clarity is good. No smearing or congestion in the Mids.

Overall Mids. 5/5

Treble:

Treble is detailed yet details are not in your face. All macro & micro details are covered properly. This is not most technical set out there but still it’s not low res. It’s just perfectly in between. You won’t miss any details. ESTs are helping in detail retrieval. Overall treble feels nice smooth and well extended. Cymbals, crashes don’t sound odd. Strings sound good. Bells, shakers sound good. No harsh or odd tonality here.

Perceived sound stage, stage here is wide than tall. More horizontal than vertical. It creates enough stage to let all instruments coexist. It is immersive but not to the point where stage hounds will be satisfied. I personally feel it could have had bit more stage. Its neither too intimate nor vast. Its somewhere in between. But again, for the price point its good.

Treble/Highs 4.5/5

Song Impressions:

With arms wide open by Creed

This is me going back on my nostalgia trip. Creed is my old times favorite. Thus, it’s here.

The Scott Stapp’s vocals are nice frontal & in their full glory. They have enough note weight. They feel natural. He feels emotive.

Drums, strings both sound amazing. Their impact & rumble is on point. They create nice immersive atmosphere & armor captures it well. Entire song was treat to listen.

Nothing gonna change my love for you by George Benson

I wanted to check how George Benson sounds on this set & I am happy to report, he sounds impressive. There is charm to his nice melodic voice. I was listening to it on loop. In the background score nothing feels odd or out of sync. No tonal oddities. Be it drums, piano notes, cymbals all sounded close to natural. All instruments were in harmony.

I truly enjoyed song to the fullest.

Ego death by Polyphia

My driver resolution aka driver speed check song. Armor just nails this song. There are multiple instruments playing at the same time & Armor avoids smearing & keeps them well separated.

It was treat to hear drum beats, strings on Armor. They have nice impact & deep rumble that follows them. Thus, evoke emotions. No artificial feel was there to the instruments. Overall amazing experience.

No time to die by Billie Eilish

One of my favorite songs from Billie. Billie sounds great here just her voice lacks bit of female vocal sweetness. But we can ignore that as this set is not vocal centric set. Overall Armor captures here voice close to original & she really touches something inside you.

Supporting score feels very well due to tuning. Drum sequence is authoritative. Piano notes feel nice. Strings are equally great. Entire mix just moves you.

Final Conclusion:

TSMR Armor is my second encounter with the brand. First, it was Onyx & honestly, I am really impressed by Armor. I am going on record here one of the best sounding Est set under 300 USD or near it. It has nice EST treble presentation that I love. Bass is near perfection for me just needs to be bit tight. Mids. are also near perfect just need better female vocals. As you can see it is very close to my preferences. Let me be honest the cons mentioned are moot point at its price point. Just a Wishlist as you know good audio is now getting affordable.

What’s the final verdict? Will I buy it? 100%. Not even going to find any fault or reasons not to buy it. Do I recommend it? Absolutely, 200%. This one is hidden gem. If you like such energetic, dynamic presentation this one is blind buy. Who should avoid it? Treble heads & neutral heads for you its maybe set. Bass heads & balanced lovers rejoice this one is right up your alley.

Thank you for enduring with me till end. Now go grab yourself a cup of coffee & let’s get high on safe high i.e. Music.

TSMR Armor budget EST fun 4.5/5

Samsung Z fold 8, Bio derma Sunscreen, Samsung ear buds, Pilot V5 Pen, Diary.

Penon Fan4

Nothing gets me excited like a new toy on Sunday Morning. I just received Penon Fan4 This is not my first exposure to Penon. I have used Penon Voltage, Fan3 & own Fan3s currently & honestly my impressions of Penon have been very positive. So, I am always looking forward to any new product from Penon stable.

I was really interested in fan4. I wanted to know how much better or improvement it has over my beloved fan3s. So, when the opportunity presented I got myself fan4. One thing that you notice is how not so beautiful the Fan4 is. Sorry, Penon but who ever decided to create this color combo just over did it and now it looks unappealing.

Rest it's typical penon packaging unassuming box that contains a nice semi hard leather case with all typical penon goodies alongside the IEMs & cable. The cable is nice supple & looks like the part. You get all the things inside to get started out of the box for that full marks to Penon.

How is the sound signature? Well, sub bass has a nice rumble, mid bass hits hard. Vocals are a nice center. Treble is lively and slight on the bright side but not much. The stage is good, wide and a little bit vertical but not much. Overall enveloping one. These are my initial impressions out of the box. Please take them with a grain of salt.

One thing is sure it's musically compensating for its looks. Sonically it's really impressive.

After running this one through its paces will update my final impressions. Till then enjoy the music. See you soon.

Penon Fan4

Nothing gets me excited like a new toy on Sunday Morning. I just received Penon Fan4 This is not my first exposure to Penon. I have used Penon Voltage, Fan3 & own Fan3s currently & honestly my impressions of Penon have been very positive. So, I am always looking forward to any new product from Penon stable.

I was really interested in fan4. I wanted to know how much better or improvement it has over my beloved fan3s. So, when the opportunity presented I got myself fan4. One thing that you notice is how not so beautiful the Fan4 is. Sorry, Penon but who ever decided to create this color combo just over did it and now it looks unappealing.

Rest it's typical penon packaging unassuming box that contains a nice semi hard leather case with all typical penon goodies alongside the IEMs & cable. The cable is nice supple & looks like the part. You get all the things inside to get started out of the box for that full marks to Penon.

How is the sound signature? Well, sub bass has a nice rumble, mid bass hits hard. Vocals are a nice center. Treble is lively and slight on the bright side but not much. The stage is good, wide and a little bit vertical but not much. Overall enveloping one. These are my initial impressions out of the box. Please take them with a grain of salt.

One thing is sure it's musically compensating for its looks. Sonically it's really impressive.

After running this one through its paces will update my final impressions. Till then enjoy the music. See you soon.

Penon Fan4

Nothing gets me excited like a new toy on Sunday Morning. I just received Penon Fan4 This is not my first exposure to Penon. I have used Penon Voltage, Fan3 & own Fan3s currently & honestly my impressions of Penon have been very positive. So, I am always looking forward to any new product from Penon stable.

I was really interested in fan4. I wanted to know how much better or improvement it has over my beloved fan3s. So, when the opportunity presented I got myself fan4. One thing that you notice is how not so beautiful the Fan4 is. Sorry, Penon but who ever decided to create this color combo just over did it and now it looks unappealing.

Rest it's typical penon packaging unassuming box that contains a nice semi hard leather case with all typical penon goodies alongside the IEMs & cable. The cable is nice supple & looks like the part. You get all the things inside to get started out of the box for that full marks to Penon.

How is the sound signature? Well, sub bass has a nice rumble, mid bass hits hard. Vocals are a nice center. Treble is lively and slight on the bright side but not much. The stage is good, wide and a little bit vertical but not much. Overall enveloping one. These are my initial impressions out of the box. Please take them with a grain of salt.

One thing is sure it's musically compensating for its looks. Sonically it's really impressive.

After running this one through its paces will update my final impressions. Till then enjoy the music. See you soon.

Penon Fan4

Nothing gets me excited like a new toy on Sunday Morning. I just received Penon Fan4 This is not my first exposure to Penon. I have used Penon Voltage, Fan3 & own Fan3s currently & honestly my impressions of Penon have been very positive. So, I am always looking forward to any new product from Penon stable.

I was really interested in fan4. I wanted to know how much better or improvement it has over my beloved fan3s. So, when the opportunity presented I got myself fan4. One thing that you notice is how not so beautiful the Fan4 is. Sorry, Penon but who ever decided to create this color combo just over did it and now it looks unappealing.

Rest it's typical penon packaging unassuming box that contains a nice semi hard leather case with all typical penon goodies alongside the IEMs & cable. The cable is nice supple & looks like the part. You get all the things inside to get started out of the box for that full marks to Penon.

How is the sound signature? Well, sub bass has a nice rumble, mid bass hits hard. Vocals are a nice center. Treble is lively and slight on the bright side but not much. The stage is good, wide and a little bit vertical but not much. Overall enveloping one. These are my initial impressions out of the box. Please take them with a grain of salt.

One thing is sure it's musically compensating for its looks. Sonically it's really impressive.

After running this one through its paces will update my final impressions. Till then enjoy the music. See you soon.

Penon Fan4

Nothing gets me excited like a new toy on Sunday Morning. I just received Penon Fan4 This is not my first exposure to Penon. I have used Penon Voltage, Fan3 & own Fan3s currently & honestly my impressions of Penon have been very positive. So, I am always looking forward to any new product from Penon stable.

I was really interested in fan4. I wanted to know how much better or improvement it has over my beloved fan3s. So, when the opportunity presented I got myself fan4. One thing that you notice is how not so beautiful the Fan4 is. Sorry, Penon but who ever decided to create this color combo just over did it and now it looks unappealing.

Rest it's typical penon packaging unassuming box that contains a nice semi hard leather case with all typical penon goodies alongside the IEMs & cable. The cable is nice supple & looks like the part. You get all the things inside to get started out of the box for that full marks to Penon.

How is the sound signature? Well, sub bass has a nice rumble, mid bass hits hard. Vocals are a nice center. Treble is lively and slight on the bright side but not much. The stage is good, wide and a little bit vertical but not much. Overall enveloping one. These are my initial impressions out of the box. Please take them with a grain of salt.

One thing is sure it's musically compensating for its looks. Sonically it's really impressive.

After running this one through its paces will update my final impressions. Till then enjoy the music. See you soon.

Penon Fan4

Nothing gets me excited like a new toy on Sunday Morning. I just received Penon Fan4 This is not my first exposure to Penon. I have used Penon Voltage, Fan3 & own Fan3s currently & honestly my impressions of Penon have been very positive. So, I am always looking forward to any new product from Penon stable.

I was really interested in fan4. I wanted to know how much better or improvement it has over my beloved fan3s. So, when the opportunity presented I got myself fan4. One thing that you notice is how not so beautiful the Fan4 is. Sorry, Penon but who ever decided to create this color combo just over did it and now it looks unappealing.

Rest it's typical penon packaging unassuming box that contains a nice semi hard leather case with all typical penon goodies alongside the IEMs & cable. The cable is nice supple & looks like the part. You get all the things inside to get started out of the box for that full marks to Penon.

How is the sound signature? Well, sub bass has a nice rumble, mid bass hits hard. Vocals are a nice center. Treble is lively and slight on the bright side but not much. The stage is good, wide and a little bit vertical but not much. Overall enveloping one. These are my initial impressions out of the box. Please take them with a grain of salt.

One thing is sure it's musically compensating for its looks. Sonically it's really impressive.

After running this one through its paces will update my final impressions. Till then enjoy the music. See you soon.

Snowsky Oak Nano

Another week another review. Today’s topic of the review is FiiO sub brand Snowsky & product is its very first flagship Oak Nano. This one is beryllium diaphragm single DD set. Its priced also like flagship product. It sells for 499 USD. I like sets with beryllium diaphragm. So, when I came to know that my friend Sushii from SushiiFi was conducting review tour for it with FiiO Snowsky. I jumped at the opportunity & as they say rest is history. Well, what do I feel about it? To know more please read on.

First of all, mighty thanks to Sushii from SuhiiFi and to FiiO Snowsky as without their help this review wouldn’t have been possible.

I was neither paid for this review nor was compensated in any manner. The unit would revert back to brand upon completion of the review. All thoughts & opinions are mine.

My preferences for tone & timbre are DD > Hybrids > Planar

Now that all pleasantries have been exchanged. Let’s get on with the meat & potatoes of this review.

Pros:

Vocals especially female

Safe detailed treble

Reference tuning

Accessories

Build Quality

Cons:

Bass both sub bass & mid bass bit light for my taste

Male vocals especially low pitched

Soundstage could have been bit bigger

Price

Build Quality:

Build quality is excellent flagship level. Shells are nice weighty. They have nice golden rim to them and checkering on the face plate. Entire shell feels like CNC shell. Shape of the shell is cylinder like. They have long nozzles and nozzles have lips to them. Nozzles are removable and you can change them to change the tuning. There 2 nozzles. There is mesh on the nozzles.

Cable is 4 core SPC one with modular connections. Best part is the included type c connector. You don’t need anything extra to start using it out of the box. Multitudes of ear tips are provided with the set. There is cable organizer, cleaning tool and nice hard plastic carry case included. In terms of accessories FiiO is competing directly with DUNU it seems.

Cable is premium feeling and matches the set.

Overall Build Quality 5/5

Comfort:

Shell shape is cylindrical so fitting should not be an issue. It fit my ears well. Long nozzles provide nice deep insertion & in turn nice stable fit. Lips on the nozzles prevent ear tip slip offs. Mesh on the nozzles prevents ingress of ear wax and dirt. No ear pain or ear pressure was felt in long listening session.

Cable is supple and rodeo wrapping it is easy. Modular nature solves termination issues. Ear hooks don’t tug on the shells.

Overall comfort 5/5

Sources:

I felt that warm sources gel well with Oak Nano than bright sets. Neutral sources were good pairing after the warm sources. For this review Oak nano was kept on stock cable + stock ear tips & red nozzles. For entire review neutral sources were used to keep results reproducible.

Music Genre Used for this Review:

Hip-hop/EDM/Rap/Rock both classic and hard/Bollywood Music/Pop/Jazz/Regional music etc.

https://music.apple.com/in/playlist/test-tracks/pl.u-8aAVXG6ivz8gyxX?ls

General Sound Impressions:

Bass/Lows:

Sub bass here rumbles but its physically weak. It’s mostly audible one than physical one. Clean sub bass. Mid bass thumps but again it’s not that physical. Bass decay is quick here. More of quality bass than quantity bass. If you prefer clean quality bass you will like this. If you are a bass head this is not for you. neutral lovers & treble heads this is perfect bass for you.

Drums, kick drums, guitars, piano notes don’t feel full potential & lack emotive power. Strings don’t buzz; drums don’t rumble I hope you are getting where I am heading.

Overall Bass/Lows 3.5/5

Mids:

Vocals feel nice bit forward. Male vocals sound good but they are neither thick nor thin somewhere in between. Tuning here prefers male vocals with high pitch than low pitch. Male vocals are emotive. Just low- pitched vocals don’t sound to their fullest potential.

Female vocals on the other hand sound delightful. They are nice sweet & emotive. They don’t get shrill or harsh. I feel vocals is USP of this set. I enjoyed both male & female vocals on the Oak nano. Yes, male vocals were not optimal but hey it didn’t diminish my enjoyment.

Most instruments reside in the mids. There was no odd timbre to instruments. Clarity is excellent. No congestion or smearing was noticed.

Overall Mids 4/5

Treble/Highs:

Clean, detailed treble. yet, details are not shoved in your face. They are presented nicely without overwhelming the listener. Nicely tuned smooth treble without any harshness. All details be it macro or micro are covered by it. Strings, bells sound good, similarly shakers & cymbals crashes sound good. No metallicness to the instruments.

Perceived soundstage is above average. It is nice wide stage. Less tall more of wide. Bit more stage would have been great. It creates nice stage for instruments to avoid smearing. Stage is around the head. You can spot instruments playing around you. positional cues are on point. Has open feeling.

Overall Treble/Highs 4/5.

Song Impressions:

To correlate my impressions, I have used few songs.

Ego Death by Polyphia

This is one of my favorite songs. I use this song to check driver resolution speed aka speed check. Oak nano passes this test with flying colors. No smearing or congestion was felt.

This song’s USP is the crazy guitars playing out. The strings sound good but lack the buzz and rumble of the strings and that takes away the immersion.

Same is for drums, kick drums their impact feels less. It fails to create the desired effect. Don’t get me wrong the song was enjoyable but I being reviewer have to create as true as possible picture. If you are listening to this song on Oak nano you will enjoy it and honestly, I also enjoyed. Just documenting what I felt about it.

Daisies by Nina Shallman

I know by now you are tired & sick of reading about this song in my reviews. But please bear with me for some time more.

Staring bass notes of drums & kick drums sound good but lack the physical impact. The deep rumble of the kick drums is missing here.

Shakers, strings, synthesizer notes feel good. No oddities in them. Just the strings lack buzz to them. Background vocals are on point. Nina sounds excellent. Her vocal magic is on point. I was lost in them. I had to remind myself to stop & continue review. The entire mix sounds nice and clean. Just the drums, kick drums and strings are let down.

Despacito by Luis Fonsi

This song is perfect example of right song on right set can sound very much best it can. This song was pleasure to listen on Oak nano.

Luis Fonsi is just exceptional on Oak nano feels natural on the other hand Daddy Yankee with his low-pitched voice feels bit off and with less note weight. To be honest this is nitpick, you may or may not feel the same. Overall, the mix feels great. All the instruments good with no oddities in timbre or tonality.

As explained at the start I thoroughly enjoyed the song.

Principles of Lust by Enigma

This is another song that gels well with the Oak nano. It has nice bass beats; they feel bit dull for me but your mileage may vary. Flutes sound good, bells sound good don’t have harshness to them. The vocal notes feel bit forward. Synthesizer notes are on point.

One thing that I missed most here is the grand feeling this song has. This song has baked in stage. It feels wide open on right gear. Here that was bit missing. But trust me this song plays very well on Oak nano.

Final conclusion:

SnowSky’s first ever flagship product, for first ever product is refined & well-polished one. It is following idea of being clean transparent closer to neutral tuning. It has succeeded in that regard. You can see that when you listen to it.

Now comes big but and that is my personal take based on my personal preferences. Being made up of beryllium diaphragm I had expected big tight bass but it was not there. Stage was not up to the point. Also, the price point doesn’t help either. So, do I hate it? No, I am just saying it doesn’t align with my preferences & expectations.

It is clean transparent & detailed without getting bright. It is more towards being reference. If that was the intended effect then SnowSky full marks to you. if you are neutral head this is one for you. if you love balanced tuning this is for you. if you are bass head or treble head look elsewhere. Also, if like me you like neutral with bass boost this is not for you.

Will I buy it? Its maybe set for me. Why/ at its MSRP I find it tough buy. At reduced price I will definitely add it to my collection. Will I recommend it? Yes, just read the review & if it appeals to you go get it it’s worth it.

Thank you for enduring with me till the end. Now go grab yourself a cup of coffee and let’s get high on safe high i.e. Music.

Snowsky Oak Nano 4/5

Snowsky Oak Nano

Another week another review. Today’s topic of the review is FiiO sub brand Snowsky & product is its very first flagship Oak Nano. This one is beryllium diaphragm single DD set. Its priced also like flagship product. It sells for 499 USD. I like sets with beryllium diaphragm. So, when I came to know that my friend Sushii from SushiiFi was conducting review tour for it with FiiO Snowsky. I jumped at the opportunity & as they say rest is history. Well, what do I feel about it? To know more please read on.

First of all, mighty thanks to Sushii from SuhiiFi and to FiiO Snowsky as without their help this review wouldn’t have been possible.

I was neither paid for this review nor was compensated in any manner. The unit would revert back to brand upon completion of the review. All thoughts & opinions are mine.

My preferences for tone & timbre are DD > Hybrids > Planar

Now that all pleasantries have been exchanged. Let’s get on with the meat & potatoes of this review.

Pros:

Vocals especially female

Safe detailed treble

Reference tuning

Accessories

Build Quality

Cons:

Bass both sub bass & mid bass bit light for my taste

Male vocals especially low pitched

Soundstage could have been bit bigger

Price

Build Quality:

Build quality is excellent flagship level. Shells are nice weighty. They have nice golden rim to them and checkering on the face plate. Entire shell feels like CNC shell. Shape of the shell is cylinder like. They have long nozzles and nozzles have lips to them. Nozzles are removable and you can change them to change the tuning. There 2 nozzles. There is mesh on the nozzles.

Cable is 4 core SPC one with modular connections. Best part is the included type c connector. You don’t need anything extra to start using it out of the box. Multitudes of ear tips are provided with the set. There is cable organizer, cleaning tool and nice hard plastic carry case included. In terms of accessories FiiO is competing directly with DUNU it seems.

Cable is premium feeling and matches the set.

Overall Build Quality 5/5

Comfort:

Shell shape is cylindrical so fitting should not be an issue. It fit my ears well. Long nozzles provide nice deep insertion & in turn nice stable fit. Lips on the nozzles prevent ear tip slip offs. Mesh on the nozzles prevents ingress of ear wax and dirt. No ear pain or ear pressure was felt in long listening session.

Cable is supple and rodeo wrapping it is easy. Modular nature solves termination issues. Ear hooks don’t tug on the shells.

Overall comfort 5/5

Sources:

I felt that warm sources gel well with Oak Nano than bright sets. Neutral sources were good pairing after the warm sources. For this review Oak nano was kept on stock cable + stock ear tips & red nozzles. For entire review neutral sources were used to keep results reproducible.

Music Genre Used for this Review:

Hip-hop/EDM/Rap/Rock both classic and hard/Bollywood Music/Pop/Jazz/Regional music etc.

https://music.apple.com/in/playlist/test-tracks/pl.u-8aAVXG6ivz8gyxX?ls

General Sound Impressions:

Bass/Lows:

Sub bass here rumbles but its physically weak. It’s mostly audible one than physical one. Clean sub bass. Mid bass thumps but again it’s not that physical. Bass decay is quick here. More of quality bass than quantity bass. If you prefer clean quality bass you will like this. If you are a bass head this is not for you. neutral lovers & treble heads this is perfect bass for you.

Drums, kick drums, guitars, piano notes don’t feel full potential & lack emotive power. Strings don’t buzz; drums don’t rumble I hope you are getting where I am heading.

Overall Bass/Lows 3.5/5

Mids:

Vocals feel nice bit forward. Male vocals sound good but they are neither thick nor thin somewhere in between. Tuning here prefers male vocals with high pitch than low pitch. Male vocals are emotive. Just low- pitched vocals don’t sound to their fullest potential.

Female vocals on the other hand sound delightful. They are nice sweet & emotive. They don’t get shrill or harsh. I feel vocals is USP of this set. I enjoyed both male & female vocals on the Oak nano. Yes, male vocals were not optimal but hey it didn’t diminish my enjoyment.

Most instruments reside in the mids. There was no odd timbre to instruments. Clarity is excellent. No congestion or smearing was noticed.

Overall Mids 4/5

Treble/Highs:

Clean, detailed treble. yet, details are not shoved in your face. They are presented nicely without overwhelming the listener. Nicely tuned smooth treble without any harshness. All details be it macro or micro are covered by it. Strings, bells sound good, similarly shakers & cymbals crashes sound good. No metallicness to the instruments.

Perceived soundstage is above average. It is nice wide stage. Less tall more of wide. Bit more stage would have been great. It creates nice stage for instruments to avoid smearing. Stage is around the head. You can spot instruments playing around you. positional cues are on point. Has open feeling.

Overall Treble/Highs 4/5.

Song Impressions:

To correlate my impressions, I have used few songs.

Ego Death by Polyphia

This is one of my favorite songs. I use this song to check driver resolution speed aka speed check. Oak nano passes this test with flying colors. No smearing or congestion was felt.

This song’s USP is the crazy guitars playing out. The strings sound good but lack the buzz and rumble of the strings and that takes away the immersion.

Same is for drums, kick drums their impact feels less. It fails to create the desired effect. Don’t get me wrong the song was enjoyable but I being reviewer have to create as true as possible picture. If you are listening to this song on Oak nano you will enjoy it and honestly, I also enjoyed. Just documenting what I felt about it.

Daisies by Nina Shallman

I know by now you are tired & sick of reading about this song in my reviews. But please bear with me for some time more.

Staring bass notes of drums & kick drums sound good but lack the physical impact. The deep rumble of the kick drums is missing here.

Shakers, strings, synthesizer notes feel good. No oddities in them. Just the strings lack buzz to them. Background vocals are on point. Nina sounds excellent. Her vocal magic is on point. I was lost in them. I had to remind myself to stop & continue review. The entire mix sounds nice and clean. Just the drums, kick drums and strings are let down.

Despacito by Luis Fonsi

This song is perfect example of right song on right set can sound very much best it can. This song was pleasure to listen on Oak nano.

Luis Fonsi is just exceptional on Oak nano feels natural on the other hand Daddy Yankee with his low-pitched voice feels bit off and with less note weight. To be honest this is nitpick, you may or may not feel the same. Overall, the mix feels great. All the instruments good with no oddities in timbre or tonality.

As explained at the start I thoroughly enjoyed the song.

Principles of Lust by Enigma

This is another song that gels well with the Oak nano. It has nice bass beats; they feel bit dull for me but your mileage may vary. Flutes sound good, bells sound good don’t have harshness to them. The vocal notes feel bit forward. Synthesizer notes are on point.

One thing that I missed most here is the grand feeling this song has. This song has baked in stage. It feels wide open on right gear. Here that was bit missing. But trust me this song plays very well on Oak nano.

Final conclusion:

SnowSky’s first ever flagship product, for first ever product is refined & well-polished one. It is following idea of being clean transparent closer to neutral tuning. It has succeeded in that regard. You can see that when you listen to it.

Now comes big but and that is my personal take based on my personal preferences. Being made up of beryllium diaphragm I had expected big tight bass but it was not there. Stage was not up to the point. Also, the price point doesn’t help either. So, do I hate it? No, I am just saying it doesn’t align with my preferences & expectations.

It is clean transparent & detailed without getting bright. It is more towards being reference. If that was the intended effect then SnowSky full marks to you. if you are neutral head this is one for you. if you love balanced tuning this is for you. if you are bass head or treble head look elsewhere. Also, if like me you like neutral with bass boost this is not for you.

Will I buy it? Its maybe set for me. Why/ at its MSRP I find it tough buy. At reduced price I will definitely add it to my collection. Will I recommend it? Yes, just read the review & if it appeals to you go get it it’s worth it.

Thank you for enduring with me till the end. Now go grab yourself a cup of coffee and let’s get high on safe high i.e. Music.

Snowsky Oak Nano 4/5

Snowsky Oak Nano

Another week another review. Today’s topic of the review is FiiO sub brand Snowsky & product is its very first flagship Oak Nano. This one is beryllium diaphragm single DD set. Its priced also like flagship product. It sells for 499 USD. I like sets with beryllium diaphragm. So, when I came to know that my friend Sushii from SushiiFi was conducting review tour for it with FiiO Snowsky. I jumped at the opportunity & as they say rest is history. Well, what do I feel about it? To know more please read on.

First of all, mighty thanks to Sushii from SuhiiFi and to FiiO Snowsky as without their help this review wouldn’t have been possible.

I was neither paid for this review nor was compensated in any manner. The unit would revert back to brand upon completion of the review. All thoughts & opinions are mine.

My preferences for tone & timbre are DD > Hybrids > Planar

Now that all pleasantries have been exchanged. Let’s get on with the meat & potatoes of this review.

Pros:

Vocals especially female

Safe detailed treble

Reference tuning

Accessories

Build Quality

Cons:

Bass both sub bass & mid bass bit light for my taste

Male vocals especially low pitched

Soundstage could have been bit bigger

Price

Build Quality:

Build quality is excellent flagship level. Shells are nice weighty. They have nice golden rim to them and checkering on the face plate. Entire shell feels like CNC shell. Shape of the shell is cylinder like. They have long nozzles and nozzles have lips to them. Nozzles are removable and you can change them to change the tuning. There 2 nozzles. There is mesh on the nozzles.

Cable is 4 core SPC one with modular connections. Best part is the included type c connector. You don’t need anything extra to start using it out of the box. Multitudes of ear tips are provided with the set. There is cable organizer, cleaning tool and nice hard plastic carry case included. In terms of accessories FiiO is competing directly with DUNU it seems.

Cable is premium feeling and matches the set.

Overall Build Quality 5/5

Comfort:

Shell shape is cylindrical so fitting should not be an issue. It fit my ears well. Long nozzles provide nice deep insertion & in turn nice stable fit. Lips on the nozzles prevent ear tip slip offs. Mesh on the nozzles prevents ingress of ear wax and dirt. No ear pain or ear pressure was felt in long listening session.

Cable is supple and rodeo wrapping it is easy. Modular nature solves termination issues. Ear hooks don’t tug on the shells.

Overall comfort 5/5

Sources:

I felt that warm sources gel well with Oak Nano than bright sets. Neutral sources were good pairing after the warm sources. For this review Oak nano was kept on stock cable + stock ear tips & red nozzles. For entire review neutral sources were used to keep results reproducible.

Music Genre Used for this Review:

Hip-hop/EDM/Rap/Rock both classic and hard/Bollywood Music/Pop/Jazz/Regional music etc.

https://music.apple.com/in/playlist/test-tracks/pl.u-8aAVXG6ivz8gyxX?ls

General Sound Impressions:

Bass/Lows:

Sub bass here rumbles but its physically weak. It’s mostly audible one than physical one. Clean sub bass. Mid bass thumps but again it’s not that physical. Bass decay is quick here. More of quality bass than quantity bass. If you prefer clean quality bass you will like this. If you are a bass head this is not for you. neutral lovers & treble heads this is perfect bass for you.

Drums, kick drums, guitars, piano notes don’t feel full potential & lack emotive power. Strings don’t buzz; drums don’t rumble I hope you are getting where I am heading.

Overall Bass/Lows 3.5/5

Mids:

Vocals feel nice bit forward. Male vocals sound good but they are neither thick nor thin somewhere in between. Tuning here prefers male vocals with high pitch than low pitch. Male vocals are emotive. Just low- pitched vocals don’t sound to their fullest potential.

Female vocals on the other hand sound delightful. They are nice sweet & emotive. They don’t get shrill or harsh. I feel vocals is USP of this set. I enjoyed both male & female vocals on the Oak nano. Yes, male vocals were not optimal but hey it didn’t diminish my enjoyment.

Most instruments reside in the mids. There was no odd timbre to instruments. Clarity is excellent. No congestion or smearing was noticed.

Overall Mids 4/5

Treble/Highs:

Clean, detailed treble. yet, details are not shoved in your face. They are presented nicely without overwhelming the listener. Nicely tuned smooth treble without any harshness. All details be it macro or micro are covered by it. Strings, bells sound good, similarly shakers & cymbals crashes sound good. No metallicness to the instruments.

Perceived soundstage is above average. It is nice wide stage. Less tall more of wide. Bit more stage would have been great. It creates nice stage for instruments to avoid smearing. Stage is around the head. You can spot instruments playing around you. positional cues are on point. Has open feeling.

Overall Treble/Highs 4/5.

Song Impressions:

To correlate my impressions, I have used few songs.

Ego Death by Polyphia

This is one of my favorite songs. I use this song to check driver resolution speed aka speed check. Oak nano passes this test with flying colors. No smearing or congestion was felt.

This song’s USP is the crazy guitars playing out. The strings sound good but lack the buzz and rumble of the strings and that takes away the immersion.

Same is for drums, kick drums their impact feels less. It fails to create the desired effect. Don’t get me wrong the song was enjoyable but I being reviewer have to create as true as possible picture. If you are listening to this song on Oak nano you will enjoy it and honestly, I also enjoyed. Just documenting what I felt about it.

Daisies by Nina Shallman

I know by now you are tired & sick of reading about this song in my reviews. But please bear with me for some time more.

Staring bass notes of drums & kick drums sound good but lack the physical impact. The deep rumble of the kick drums is missing here.

Shakers, strings, synthesizer notes feel good. No oddities in them. Just the strings lack buzz to them. Background vocals are on point. Nina sounds excellent. Her vocal magic is on point. I was lost in them. I had to remind myself to stop & continue review. The entire mix sounds nice and clean. Just the drums, kick drums and strings are let down.

Despacito by Luis Fonsi

This song is perfect example of right song on right set can sound very much best it can. This song was pleasure to listen on Oak nano.

Luis Fonsi is just exceptional on Oak nano feels natural on the other hand Daddy Yankee with his low-pitched voice feels bit off and with less note weight. To be honest this is nitpick, you may or may not feel the same. Overall, the mix feels great. All the instruments good with no oddities in timbre or tonality.

As explained at the start I thoroughly enjoyed the song.

Principles of Lust by Enigma

This is another song that gels well with the Oak nano. It has nice bass beats; they feel bit dull for me but your mileage may vary. Flutes sound good, bells sound good don’t have harshness to them. The vocal notes feel bit forward. Synthesizer notes are on point.

One thing that I missed most here is the grand feeling this song has. This song has baked in stage. It feels wide open on right gear. Here that was bit missing. But trust me this song plays very well on Oak nano.

Final conclusion:

SnowSky’s first ever flagship product, for first ever product is refined & well-polished one. It is following idea of being clean transparent closer to neutral tuning. It has succeeded in that regard. You can see that when you listen to it.

Now comes big but and that is my personal take based on my personal preferences. Being made up of beryllium diaphragm I had expected big tight bass but it was not there. Stage was not up to the point. Also, the price point doesn’t help either. So, do I hate it? No, I am just saying it doesn’t align with my preferences & expectations.

It is clean transparent & detailed without getting bright. It is more towards being reference. If that was the intended effect then SnowSky full marks to you. if you are neutral head this is one for you. if you love balanced tuning this is for you. if you are bass head or treble head look elsewhere. Also, if like me you like neutral with bass boost this is not for you.

Will I buy it? Its maybe set for me. Why/ at its MSRP I find it tough buy. At reduced price I will definitely add it to my collection. Will I recommend it? Yes, just read the review & if it appeals to you go get it it’s worth it.

Thank you for enduring with me till the end. Now go grab yourself a cup of coffee and let’s get high on safe high i.e. Music.

Snowsky Oak Nano 4/5

Snowsky Oak Nano

Another week another review. Today’s topic of the review is FiiO sub brand Snowsky & product is its very first flagship Oak Nano. This one is beryllium diaphragm single DD set. Its priced also like flagship product. It sells for 499 USD. I like sets with beryllium diaphragm. So, when I came to know that my friend Sushii from SushiiFi was conducting review tour for it with FiiO Snowsky. I jumped at the opportunity & as they say rest is history. Well, what do I feel about it? To know more please read on.

First of all, mighty thanks to Sushii from SuhiiFi and to FiiO Snowsky as without their help this review wouldn’t have been possible.

I was neither paid for this review nor was compensated in any manner. The unit would revert back to brand upon completion of the review. All thoughts & opinions are mine.

My preferences for tone & timbre are DD > Hybrids > Planar

Now that all pleasantries have been exchanged. Let’s get on with the meat & potatoes of this review.

Pros:

Vocals especially female

Safe detailed treble

Reference tuning

Accessories

Build Quality

Cons:

Bass both sub bass & mid bass bit light for my taste

Male vocals especially low pitched

Soundstage could have been bit bigger

Price

Build Quality:

Build quality is excellent flagship level. Shells are nice weighty. They have nice golden rim to them and checkering on the face plate. Entire shell feels like CNC shell. Shape of the shell is cylinder like. They have long nozzles and nozzles have lips to them. Nozzles are removable and you can change them to change the tuning. There 2 nozzles. There is mesh on the nozzles.

Cable is 4 core SPC one with modular connections. Best part is the included type c connector. You don’t need anything extra to start using it out of the box. Multitudes of ear tips are provided with the set. There is cable organizer, cleaning tool and nice hard plastic carry case included. In terms of accessories FiiO is competing directly with DUNU it seems.

Cable is premium feeling and matches the set.

Overall Build Quality 5/5

Comfort:

Shell shape is cylindrical so fitting should not be an issue. It fit my ears well. Long nozzles provide nice deep insertion & in turn nice stable fit. Lips on the nozzles prevent ear tip slip offs. Mesh on the nozzles prevents ingress of ear wax and dirt. No ear pain or ear pressure was felt in long listening session.

Cable is supple and rodeo wrapping it is easy. Modular nature solves termination issues. Ear hooks don’t tug on the shells.

Overall comfort 5/5

Sources:

I felt that warm sources gel well with Oak Nano than bright sets. Neutral sources were good pairing after the warm sources. For this review Oak nano was kept on stock cable + stock ear tips & red nozzles. For entire review neutral sources were used to keep results reproducible.

Music Genre Used for this Review:

Hip-hop/EDM/Rap/Rock both classic and hard/Bollywood Music/Pop/Jazz/Regional music etc.

https://music.apple.com/in/playlist/test-tracks/pl.u-8aAVXG6ivz8gyxX?ls

General Sound Impressions:

Bass/Lows:

Sub bass here rumbles but its physically weak. It’s mostly audible one than physical one. Clean sub bass. Mid bass thumps but again it’s not that physical. Bass decay is quick here. More of quality bass than quantity bass. If you prefer clean quality bass you will like this. If you are a bass head this is not for you. neutral lovers & treble heads this is perfect bass for you.

Drums, kick drums, guitars, piano notes don’t feel full potential & lack emotive power. Strings don’t buzz; drums don’t rumble I hope you are getting where I am heading.

Overall Bass/Lows 3.5/5

Mids:

Vocals feel nice bit forward. Male vocals sound good but they are neither thick nor thin somewhere in between. Tuning here prefers male vocals with high pitch than low pitch. Male vocals are emotive. Just low- pitched vocals don’t sound to their fullest potential.

Female vocals on the other hand sound delightful. They are nice sweet & emotive. They don’t get shrill or harsh. I feel vocals is USP of this set. I enjoyed both male & female vocals on the Oak nano. Yes, male vocals were not optimal but hey it didn’t diminish my enjoyment.

Most instruments reside in the mids. There was no odd timbre to instruments. Clarity is excellent. No congestion or smearing was noticed.

Overall Mids 4/5

Treble/Highs:

Clean, detailed treble. yet, details are not shoved in your face. They are presented nicely without overwhelming the listener. Nicely tuned smooth treble without any harshness. All details be it macro or micro are covered by it. Strings, bells sound good, similarly shakers & cymbals crashes sound good. No metallicness to the instruments.

Perceived soundstage is above average. It is nice wide stage. Less tall more of wide. Bit more stage would have been great. It creates nice stage for instruments to avoid smearing. Stage is around the head. You can spot instruments playing around you. positional cues are on point. Has open feeling.

Overall Treble/Highs 4/5.

Song Impressions:

To correlate my impressions, I have used few songs.

Ego Death by Polyphia

This is one of my favorite songs. I use this song to check driver resolution speed aka speed check. Oak nano passes this test with flying colors. No smearing or congestion was felt.

This song’s USP is the crazy guitars playing out. The strings sound good but lack the buzz and rumble of the strings and that takes away the immersion.

Same is for drums, kick drums their impact feels less. It fails to create the desired effect. Don’t get me wrong the song was enjoyable but I being reviewer have to create as true as possible picture. If you are listening to this song on Oak nano you will enjoy it and honestly, I also enjoyed. Just documenting what I felt about it.

Daisies by Nina Shallman

I know by now you are tired & sick of reading about this song in my reviews. But please bear with me for some time more.

Staring bass notes of drums & kick drums sound good but lack the physical impact. The deep rumble of the kick drums is missing here.

Shakers, strings, synthesizer notes feel good. No oddities in them. Just the strings lack buzz to them. Background vocals are on point. Nina sounds excellent. Her vocal magic is on point. I was lost in them. I had to remind myself to stop & continue review. The entire mix sounds nice and clean. Just the drums, kick drums and strings are let down.

Despacito by Luis Fonsi

This song is perfect example of right song on right set can sound very much best it can. This song was pleasure to listen on Oak nano.

Luis Fonsi is just exceptional on Oak nano feels natural on the other hand Daddy Yankee with his low-pitched voice feels bit off and with less note weight. To be honest this is nitpick, you may or may not feel the same. Overall, the mix feels great. All the instruments good with no oddities in timbre or tonality.

As explained at the start I thoroughly enjoyed the song.

Principles of Lust by Enigma

This is another song that gels well with the Oak nano. It has nice bass beats; they feel bit dull for me but your mileage may vary. Flutes sound good, bells sound good don’t have harshness to them. The vocal notes feel bit forward. Synthesizer notes are on point.

One thing that I missed most here is the grand feeling this song has. This song has baked in stage. It feels wide open on right gear. Here that was bit missing. But trust me this song plays very well on Oak nano.

Final conclusion:

SnowSky’s first ever flagship product, for first ever product is refined & well-polished one. It is following idea of being clean transparent closer to neutral tuning. It has succeeded in that regard. You can see that when you listen to it.

Now comes big but and that is my personal take based on my personal preferences. Being made up of beryllium diaphragm I had expected big tight bass but it was not there. Stage was not up to the point. Also, the price point doesn’t help either. So, do I hate it? No, I am just saying it doesn’t align with my preferences & expectations.

It is clean transparent & detailed without getting bright. It is more towards being reference. If that was the intended effect then SnowSky full marks to you. if you are neutral head this is one for you. if you love balanced tuning this is for you. if you are bass head or treble head look elsewhere. Also, if like me you like neutral with bass boost this is not for you.

Will I buy it? Its maybe set for me. Why/ at its MSRP I find it tough buy. At reduced price I will definitely add it to my collection. Will I recommend it? Yes, just read the review & if it appeals to you go get it it’s worth it.

Thank you for enduring with me till the end. Now go grab yourself a cup of coffee and let’s get high on safe high i.e. Music.

Snowsky Oak Nano 4/5

Snowsky Oak Nano

Another week another review. Today’s topic of the review is FiiO sub brand Snowsky & product is its very first flagship Oak Nano. This one is beryllium diaphragm single DD set. Its priced also like flagship product. It sells for 499 USD. I like sets with beryllium diaphragm. So, when I came to know that my friend Sushii from SushiiFi was conducting review tour for it with FiiO Snowsky. I jumped at the opportunity & as they say rest is history. Well, what do I feel about it? To know more please read on.

First of all, mighty thanks to Sushii from SuhiiFi and to FiiO Snowsky as without their help this review wouldn’t have been possible.

I was neither paid for this review nor was compensated in any manner. The unit would revert back to brand upon completion of the review. All thoughts & opinions are mine.

My preferences for tone & timbre are DD > Hybrids > Planar

Now that all pleasantries have been exchanged. Let’s get on with the meat & potatoes of this review.

Pros:

Vocals especially female

Safe detailed treble

Reference tuning

Accessories

Build Quality

Cons:

Bass both sub bass & mid bass bit light for my taste

Male vocals especially low pitched

Soundstage could have been bit bigger

Price

Build Quality:

Build quality is excellent flagship level. Shells are nice weighty. They have nice golden rim to them and checkering on the face plate. Entire shell feels like CNC shell. Shape of the shell is cylinder like. They have long nozzles and nozzles have lips to them. Nozzles are removable and you can change them to change the tuning. There 2 nozzles. There is mesh on the nozzles.

Cable is 4 core SPC one with modular connections. Best part is the included type c connector. You don’t need anything extra to start using it out of the box. Multitudes of ear tips are provided with the set. There is cable organizer, cleaning tool and nice hard plastic carry case included. In terms of accessories FiiO is competing directly with DUNU it seems.

Cable is premium feeling and matches the set.

Overall Build Quality 5/5

Comfort:

Shell shape is cylindrical so fitting should not be an issue. It fit my ears well. Long nozzles provide nice deep insertion & in turn nice stable fit. Lips on the nozzles prevent ear tip slip offs. Mesh on the nozzles prevents ingress of ear wax and dirt. No ear pain or ear pressure was felt in long listening session.

Cable is supple and rodeo wrapping it is easy. Modular nature solves termination issues. Ear hooks don’t tug on the shells.

Overall comfort 5/5

Sources:

I felt that warm sources gel well with Oak Nano than bright sets. Neutral sources were good pairing after the warm sources. For this review Oak nano was kept on stock cable + stock ear tips & red nozzles. For entire review neutral sources were used to keep results reproducible.

Music Genre Used for this Review:

Hip-hop/EDM/Rap/Rock both classic and hard/Bollywood Music/Pop/Jazz/Regional music etc.

https://music.apple.com/in/playlist/test-tracks/pl.u-8aAVXG6ivz8gyxX?ls

General Sound Impressions:

Bass/Lows:

Sub bass here rumbles but its physically weak. It’s mostly audible one than physical one. Clean sub bass. Mid bass thumps but again it’s not that physical. Bass decay is quick here. More of quality bass than quantity bass. If you prefer clean quality bass you will like this. If you are a bass head this is not for you. neutral lovers & treble heads this is perfect bass for you.

Drums, kick drums, guitars, piano notes don’t feel full potential & lack emotive power. Strings don’t buzz; drums don’t rumble I hope you are getting where I am heading.

Overall Bass/Lows 3.5/5

Mids:

Vocals feel nice bit forward. Male vocals sound good but they are neither thick nor thin somewhere in between. Tuning here prefers male vocals with high pitch than low pitch. Male vocals are emotive. Just low- pitched vocals don’t sound to their fullest potential.

Female vocals on the other hand sound delightful. They are nice sweet & emotive. They don’t get shrill or harsh. I feel vocals is USP of this set. I enjoyed both male & female vocals on the Oak nano. Yes, male vocals were not optimal but hey it didn’t diminish my enjoyment.

Most instruments reside in the mids. There was no odd timbre to instruments. Clarity is excellent. No congestion or smearing was noticed.

Overall Mids 4/5

Treble/Highs:

Clean, detailed treble. yet, details are not shoved in your face. They are presented nicely without overwhelming the listener. Nicely tuned smooth treble without any harshness. All details be it macro or micro are covered by it. Strings, bells sound good, similarly shakers & cymbals crashes sound good. No metallicness to the instruments.

Perceived soundstage is above average. It is nice wide stage. Less tall more of wide. Bit more stage would have been great. It creates nice stage for instruments to avoid smearing. Stage is around the head. You can spot instruments playing around you. positional cues are on point. Has open feeling.

Overall Treble/Highs 4/5.

Song Impressions:

To correlate my impressions, I have used few songs.

Ego Death by Polyphia

This is one of my favorite songs. I use this song to check driver resolution speed aka speed check. Oak nano passes this test with flying colors. No smearing or congestion was felt.

This song’s USP is the crazy guitars playing out. The strings sound good but lack the buzz and rumble of the strings and that takes away the immersion.

Same is for drums, kick drums their impact feels less. It fails to create the desired effect. Don’t get me wrong the song was enjoyable but I being reviewer have to create as true as possible picture. If you are listening to this song on Oak nano you will enjoy it and honestly, I also enjoyed. Just documenting what I felt about it.

Daisies by Nina Shallman

I know by now you are tired & sick of reading about this song in my reviews. But please bear with me for some time more.

Staring bass notes of drums & kick drums sound good but lack the physical impact. The deep rumble of the kick drums is missing here.

Shakers, strings, synthesizer notes feel good. No oddities in them. Just the strings lack buzz to them. Background vocals are on point. Nina sounds excellent. Her vocal magic is on point. I was lost in them. I had to remind myself to stop & continue review. The entire mix sounds nice and clean. Just the drums, kick drums and strings are let down.

Despacito by Luis Fonsi

This song is perfect example of right song on right set can sound very much best it can. This song was pleasure to listen on Oak nano.

Luis Fonsi is just exceptional on Oak nano feels natural on the other hand Daddy Yankee with his low-pitched voice feels bit off and with less note weight. To be honest this is nitpick, you may or may not feel the same. Overall, the mix feels great. All the instruments good with no oddities in timbre or tonality.

As explained at the start I thoroughly enjoyed the song.

Principles of Lust by Enigma

This is another song that gels well with the Oak nano. It has nice bass beats; they feel bit dull for me but your mileage may vary. Flutes sound good, bells sound good don’t have harshness to them. The vocal notes feel bit forward. Synthesizer notes are on point.

One thing that I missed most here is the grand feeling this song has. This song has baked in stage. It feels wide open on right gear. Here that was bit missing. But trust me this song plays very well on Oak nano.

Final conclusion:

SnowSky’s first ever flagship product, for first ever product is refined & well-polished one. It is following idea of being clean transparent closer to neutral tuning. It has succeeded in that regard. You can see that when you listen to it.

Now comes big but and that is my personal take based on my personal preferences. Being made up of beryllium diaphragm I had expected big tight bass but it was not there. Stage was not up to the point. Also, the price point doesn’t help either. So, do I hate it? No, I am just saying it doesn’t align with my preferences & expectations.

It is clean transparent & detailed without getting bright. It is more towards being reference. If that was the intended effect then SnowSky full marks to you. if you are neutral head this is one for you. if you love balanced tuning this is for you. if you are bass head or treble head look elsewhere. Also, if like me you like neutral with bass boost this is not for you.

Will I buy it? Its maybe set for me. Why/ at its MSRP I find it tough buy. At reduced price I will definitely add it to my collection. Will I recommend it? Yes, just read the review & if it appeals to you go get it it’s worth it.

Thank you for enduring with me till the end. Now go grab yourself a cup of coffee and let’s get high on safe high i.e. Music.

Snowsky Oak Nano 4/5

Snowsky Oak Nano

Another week another review. Today’s topic of the review is FiiO sub brand Snowsky & product is its very first flagship Oak Nano. This one is beryllium diaphragm single DD set. Its priced also like flagship product. It sells for 499 USD. I like sets with beryllium diaphragm. So, when I came to know that my friend Sushii from SushiiFi was conducting review tour for it with FiiO Snowsky. I jumped at the opportunity & as they say rest is history. Well, what do I feel about it? To know more please read on.

First of all, mighty thanks to Sushii from SuhiiFi and to FiiO Snowsky as without their help this review wouldn’t have been possible.

I was neither paid for this review nor was compensated in any manner. The unit would revert back to brand upon completion of the review. All thoughts & opinions are mine.

My preferences for tone & timbre are DD > Hybrids > Planar

Now that all pleasantries have been exchanged. Let’s get on with the meat & potatoes of this review.

Pros:

Vocals especially female

Safe detailed treble

Reference tuning

Accessories

Build Quality

Cons:

Bass both sub bass & mid bass bit light for my taste

Male vocals especially low pitched

Soundstage could have been bit bigger

Price

Build Quality:

Build quality is excellent flagship level. Shells are nice weighty. They have nice golden rim to them and checkering on the face plate. Entire shell feels like CNC shell. Shape of the shell is cylinder like. They have long nozzles and nozzles have lips to them. Nozzles are removable and you can change them to change the tuning. There 2 nozzles. There is mesh on the nozzles.

Cable is 4 core SPC one with modular connections. Best part is the included type c connector. You don’t need anything extra to start using it out of the box. Multitudes of ear tips are provided with the set. There is cable organizer, cleaning tool and nice hard plastic carry case included. In terms of accessories FiiO is competing directly with DUNU it seems.

Cable is premium feeling and matches the set.

Overall Build Quality 5/5

Comfort:

Shell shape is cylindrical so fitting should not be an issue. It fit my ears well. Long nozzles provide nice deep insertion & in turn nice stable fit. Lips on the nozzles prevent ear tip slip offs. Mesh on the nozzles prevents ingress of ear wax and dirt. No ear pain or ear pressure was felt in long listening session.

Cable is supple and rodeo wrapping it is easy. Modular nature solves termination issues. Ear hooks don’t tug on the shells.

Overall comfort 5/5

Sources:

I felt that warm sources gel well with Oak Nano than bright sets. Neutral sources were good pairing after the warm sources. For this review Oak nano was kept on stock cable + stock ear tips & red nozzles. For entire review neutral sources were used to keep results reproducible.

Music Genre Used for this Review:

Hip-hop/EDM/Rap/Rock both classic and hard/Bollywood Music/Pop/Jazz/Regional music etc.

https://music.apple.com/in/playlist/test-tracks/pl.u-8aAVXG6ivz8gyxX?ls

General Sound Impressions:

Bass/Lows:

Sub bass here rumbles but its physically weak. It’s mostly audible one than physical one. Clean sub bass. Mid bass thumps but again it’s not that physical. Bass decay is quick here. More of quality bass than quantity bass. If you prefer clean quality bass you will like this. If you are a bass head this is not for you. neutral lovers & treble heads this is perfect bass for you.

Drums, kick drums, guitars, piano notes don’t feel full potential & lack emotive power. Strings don’t buzz; drums don’t rumble I hope you are getting where I am heading.

Overall Bass/Lows 3.5/5

Mids:

Vocals feel nice bit forward. Male vocals sound good but they are neither thick nor thin somewhere in between. Tuning here prefers male vocals with high pitch than low pitch. Male vocals are emotive. Just low- pitched vocals don’t sound to their fullest potential.

Female vocals on the other hand sound delightful. They are nice sweet & emotive. They don’t get shrill or harsh. I feel vocals is USP of this set. I enjoyed both male & female vocals on the Oak nano. Yes, male vocals were not optimal but hey it didn’t diminish my enjoyment.

Most instruments reside in the mids. There was no odd timbre to instruments. Clarity is excellent. No congestion or smearing was noticed.

Overall Mids 4/5

Treble/Highs:

Clean, detailed treble. yet, details are not shoved in your face. They are presented nicely without overwhelming the listener. Nicely tuned smooth treble without any harshness. All details be it macro or micro are covered by it. Strings, bells sound good, similarly shakers & cymbals crashes sound good. No metallicness to the instruments.

Perceived soundstage is above average. It is nice wide stage. Less tall more of wide. Bit more stage would have been great. It creates nice stage for instruments to avoid smearing. Stage is around the head. You can spot instruments playing around you. positional cues are on point. Has open feeling.

Overall Treble/Highs 4/5.

Song Impressions:

To correlate my impressions, I have used few songs.

Ego Death by Polyphia

This is one of my favorite songs. I use this song to check driver resolution speed aka speed check. Oak nano passes this test with flying colors. No smearing or congestion was felt.

This song’s USP is the crazy guitars playing out. The strings sound good but lack the buzz and rumble of the strings and that takes away the immersion.

Same is for drums, kick drums their impact feels less. It fails to create the desired effect. Don’t get me wrong the song was enjoyable but I being reviewer have to create as true as possible picture. If you are listening to this song on Oak nano you will enjoy it and honestly, I also enjoyed. Just documenting what I felt about it.

Daisies by Nina Shallman

I know by now you are tired & sick of reading about this song in my reviews. But please bear with me for some time more.

Staring bass notes of drums & kick drums sound good but lack the physical impact. The deep rumble of the kick drums is missing here.

Shakers, strings, synthesizer notes feel good. No oddities in them. Just the strings lack buzz to them. Background vocals are on point. Nina sounds excellent. Her vocal magic is on point. I was lost in them. I had to remind myself to stop & continue review. The entire mix sounds nice and clean. Just the drums, kick drums and strings are let down.

Despacito by Luis Fonsi

This song is perfect example of right song on right set can sound very much best it can. This song was pleasure to listen on Oak nano.

Luis Fonsi is just exceptional on Oak nano feels natural on the other hand Daddy Yankee with his low-pitched voice feels bit off and with less note weight. To be honest this is nitpick, you may or may not feel the same. Overall, the mix feels great. All the instruments good with no oddities in timbre or tonality.

As explained at the start I thoroughly enjoyed the song.

Principles of Lust by Enigma

This is another song that gels well with the Oak nano. It has nice bass beats; they feel bit dull for me but your mileage may vary. Flutes sound good, bells sound good don’t have harshness to them. The vocal notes feel bit forward. Synthesizer notes are on point.

One thing that I missed most here is the grand feeling this song has. This song has baked in stage. It feels wide open on right gear. Here that was bit missing. But trust me this song plays very well on Oak nano.

Final conclusion:

SnowSky’s first ever flagship product, for first ever product is refined & well-polished one. It is following idea of being clean transparent closer to neutral tuning. It has succeeded in that regard. You can see that when you listen to it.

Now comes big but and that is my personal take based on my personal preferences. Being made up of beryllium diaphragm I had expected big tight bass but it was not there. Stage was not up to the point. Also, the price point doesn’t help either. So, do I hate it? No, I am just saying it doesn’t align with my preferences & expectations.

It is clean transparent & detailed without getting bright. It is more towards being reference. If that was the intended effect then SnowSky full marks to you. if you are neutral head this is one for you. if you love balanced tuning this is for you. if you are bass head or treble head look elsewhere. Also, if like me you like neutral with bass boost this is not for you.

Will I buy it? Its maybe set for me. Why/ at its MSRP I find it tough buy. At reduced price I will definitely add it to my collection. Will I recommend it? Yes, just read the review & if it appeals to you go get it it’s worth it.

Thank you for enduring with me till the end. Now go grab yourself a cup of coffee and let’s get high on safe high i.e. Music.

Snowsky Oak Nano 4/5

Snowsky Oak Nano 

Another week another review. Today’s topic of the review is FiiO sub brand Snowsky & product is its very first flagship Oak Nano. This one is beryllium diaphragm single DD set. Its priced also like flagship product. It sells for 499 USD. I like sets with beryllium diaphragm. So, when I came to know that my friend Sushii from SushiiFi was conducting review tour for it with FiiO Snowsky. I jumped at the opportunity & as they say rest is history. Well, what do I feel about it? To know more please read on.   

First of all, mighty thanks to Sushii from SuhiiFi and to FiiO Snowsky as without their help this review wouldn’t have been possible.

I was neither paid for this review nor was compensated in any manner. The unit would revert back to brand upon completion of the review. All thoughts & opinions are mine.

My preferences for tone & timbre are DD > Hybrids > Planar

Now that all pleasantries have been exchanged. Let’s get on with the meat & potatoes of this review.

Pros:

Vocals especially female

Safe detailed treble

Reference tuning

Accessories 

Build Quality

Cons:

Bass both sub bass & mid bass bit light for my taste

Male vocals especially low pitched 

Soundstage could have been bit bigger 

Price

Build Quality:

Build quality is excellent flagship level. Shells are nice weighty. They have nice golden rim to them and checkering on the face plate. Entire shell feels like CNC shell. Shape of the shell is cylinder like. They have long nozzles and nozzles have lips to them. Nozzles are removable and you can change them to change the tuning. There 2 nozzles. There is mesh on the nozzles. 

Cable is 4 core SPC one with modular connections. Best part is the included type c connector. You don’t need anything extra to start using it out of the box. Multitudes of ear tips are provided with the set. There is cable organizer, cleaning tool and nice hard plastic carry case included. In terms of accessories FiiO is competing directly with DUNU it seems.

Cable is premium feeling and matches the set.

Overall Build Quality 5/5

Comfort:

Shell shape is cylindrical so fitting should not be an issue. It fit my ears well. Long nozzles provide nice deep insertion & in turn nice stable fit. Lips on the nozzles prevent ear tip slip offs. Mesh on the nozzles prevents ingress of ear wax and dirt. No ear pain or ear pressure was felt in long listening session.

Cable is supple and rodeo wrapping it is easy. Modular nature solves termination issues. Ear hooks don’t tug on the shells. 

Overall comfort 5/5

Sources:

I felt that warm sources gel well with Oak Nano than bright sets. Neutral sources were good pairing after the warm sources. For this review Oak nano was kept on stock cable + stock ear tips & red nozzles. For entire review neutral sources were used to keep results reproducible.

Music Genre Used for this Review:

Hip-hop/EDM/Rap/Rock both classic and hard/Bollywood Music/Pop/Jazz/Regional music etc.

   

https://music.apple.com/in/playlist/test-tracks/pl.u-8aAVXG6ivz8gyxX?ls

General Sound Impressions:  

Bass/Lows:

Sub bass here rumbles but its physically weak. It’s mostly audible one than physical one. Clean sub bass. Mid bass thumps but again it’s not that physical. Bass decay is quick here. More of quality bass than quantity bass. If you prefer clean quality bass you will like this. If you are a bass head this is not for you. neutral lovers & treble heads this is perfect bass for you.

Drums, kick drums, guitars, piano notes don’t feel full potential & lack emotive power. Strings don’t buzz; drums don’t rumble I hope you are getting where I am heading.

Overall Bass/Lows 3.5/5

Mids:

Vocals feel nice bit forward. Male vocals sound good but they are neither thick nor thin somewhere in between. Tuning here prefers male vocals with high pitch than low pitch. Male vocals are emotive. Just low- pitched vocals don’t sound to their fullest potential.

Female vocals on the other hand sound delightful. They are nice sweet & emotive. They don’t get shrill or harsh. I feel vocals is USP of this set. I enjoyed both male & female vocals on the Oak nano. Yes, male vocals were not optimal but hey it didn’t diminish my enjoyment.

Most instruments reside in the mids. There was no odd timbre to instruments. Clarity is excellent. No congestion or smearing was noticed.

Overall Mids 4/5

Treble/Highs:

Clean, detailed treble. yet, details are not shoved in your face. They are presented nicely without overwhelming the listener. Nicely tuned smooth treble without any harshness. All details be it macro or micro are covered by it.  Strings, bells sound good, similarly shakers & cymbals crashes sound good. No metallicness to the instruments.

Perceived soundstage is above average. It is nice wide stage. Less tall more of wide. Bit more stage would have been great. It creates nice stage for instruments to avoid smearing. Stage is around the head. You can spot instruments playing around you. positional cues are on point. Has open feeling. 

Overall Treble/Highs 4/5.

Song Impressions:

To correlate my impressions, I have used few songs.

Ego Death by Polyphia

This is one of my favorite songs. I use this song to check driver resolution speed aka speed check. Oak nano passes this test with flying colors. No smearing or congestion was felt.

This song’s USP is the crazy guitars playing out. The strings sound good but lack the buzz and rumble of the strings and that takes away the immersion.

Same is for drums, kick drums their impact feels less. It fails to create the desired effect. Don’t get me wrong the song was enjoyable but I being reviewer have to create as true as possible picture. If you are listening to this song on Oak nano you will enjoy it and honestly, I also enjoyed. Just documenting what I felt about it.

Daisies by Nina Shallman

I know by now you are tired & sick of reading about this song in my reviews.  But please bear with me for some time more.

Staring bass notes of drums & kick drums sound good but lack the physical impact. The deep rumble of the kick drums is missing here. 

Shakers, strings, synthesizer notes feel good. No oddities in them. Just the strings lack buzz to them. Background vocals are on point. Nina sounds excellent. Her vocal magic is on point. I was lost in them. I had to remind myself to stop & continue review. The entire mix sounds nice and clean. Just the drums, kick drums and strings are let down.

Despacito by Luis Fonsi

This song is perfect example of right song on right set can sound very much best it can. This song was pleasure to listen on Oak nano.

Luis Fonsi is just exceptional on Oak nano feels natural on the other hand Daddy Yankee with his low-pitched voice feels bit off and with less note weight. To be honest this is nitpick, you may or may not feel the same. Overall, the mix feels great. All the instruments good with no oddities in timbre or tonality.

As explained at the start I thoroughly enjoyed the song.

Principles of Lust by Enigma

This is another song that gels well with the Oak nano. It has nice bass beats; they feel bit dull for me but your mileage may vary. Flutes sound good, bells sound good don’t have harshness to them. The vocal notes feel bit forward. Synthesizer notes are on point.

One thing that I missed most here is the grand feeling this song has. This song has baked in stage. It feels wide open on right gear. Here that was bit missing. But trust me this song plays very well on Oak nano.

Final conclusion:

SnowSky’s first ever flagship product, for first ever product is refined & well-polished one. It is following idea of being clean transparent closer to neutral tuning. It has succeeded in that regard. You can see that when you listen to it.

Now comes big but and that is my personal take based on my personal preferences. Being made up of beryllium diaphragm I had expected big tight bass but it was not there. Stage was not up to the point. Also, the price point doesn’t help either. So, do I hate it? No, I am just saying it doesn’t align with my preferences & expectations.

It is clean transparent & detailed without getting bright. It is more towards being reference. If that was the intended effect then SnowSky full marks to you. if you are neutral head this is one for you. if you love balanced tuning this is for you. if you are bass head or treble head look elsewhere. Also, if like me you like neutral with bass boost this is not for you. 

Will I buy it?  Its maybe set for me. Why/ at its MSRP I find it tough buy. At reduced price I will definitely add it to my collection. Will I recommend it? Yes, just read the review & if it appeals to you go get it it’s worth it.

Thank you for enduring with me till the end. Now go grab yourself a cup of coffee and let’s get high on safe high i.e. Music.

Snowsky Oak Nano 4/5

 

   

Snowsky Oak Nano 

Another week another review. Today’s topic of the review is FiiO sub brand Snowsky & product is its very first flagship Oak Nano. This one is beryllium diaphragm single DD set. Its priced also like flagship product. It sells for 499 USD. I like sets with beryllium diaphragm. So, when I came to know that my friend Sushii from SushiiFi was conducting review tour for it with FiiO Snowsky. I jumped at the opportunity & as they say rest is history. Well, what do I feel about it? To know more please read on.   

First of all, mighty thanks to Sushii from SuhiiFi and to FiiO Snowsky as without their help this review wouldn’t have been possible.

I was neither paid for this review nor was compensated in any manner. The unit would revert back to brand upon completion of the review. All thoughts & opinions are mine.

My preferences for tone & timbre are DD > Hybrids > Planar

Now that all pleasantries have been exchanged. Let’s get on with the meat & potatoes of this review.

Pros:

Vocals especially female

Safe detailed treble

Reference tuning

Accessories 

Build Quality

Cons:

Bass both sub bass & mid bass bit light for my taste

Male vocals especially low pitched 

Soundstage could have been bit bigger 

Price

Build Quality:

Build quality is excellent flagship level. Shells are nice weighty. They have nice golden rim to them and checkering on the face plate. Entire shell feels like CNC shell. Shape of the shell is cylinder like. They have long nozzles and nozzles have lips to them. Nozzles are removable and you can change them to change the tuning. There 2 nozzles. There is mesh on the nozzles. 

Cable is 4 core SPC one with modular connections. Best part is the included type c connector. You don’t need anything extra to start using it out of the box. Multitudes of ear tips are provided with the set. There is cable organizer, cleaning tool and nice hard plastic carry case included. In terms of accessories FiiO is competing directly with DUNU it seems.

Cable is premium feeling and matches the set.

Overall Build Quality 5/5

Comfort:

Shell shape is cylindrical so fitting should not be an issue. It fit my ears well. Long nozzles provide nice deep insertion & in turn nice stable fit. Lips on the nozzles prevent ear tip slip offs. Mesh on the nozzles prevents ingress of ear wax and dirt. No ear pain or ear pressure was felt in long listening session.

Cable is supple and rodeo wrapping it is easy. Modular nature solves termination issues. Ear hooks don’t tug on the shells. 

Overall comfort 5/5

Sources:

I felt that warm sources gel well with Oak Nano than bright sets. Neutral sources were good pairing after the warm sources. For this review Oak nano was kept on stock cable + stock ear tips & red nozzles. For entire review neutral sources were used to keep results reproducible.

Music Genre Used for this Review:

Hip-hop/EDM/Rap/Rock both classic and hard/Bollywood Music/Pop/Jazz/Regional music etc.

   

https://music.apple.com/in/playlist/test-tracks/pl.u-8aAVXG6ivz8gyxX?ls

General Sound Impressions:  

Bass/Lows:

Sub bass here rumbles but its physically weak. It’s mostly audible one than physical one. Clean sub bass. Mid bass thumps but again it’s not that physical. Bass decay is quick here. More of quality bass than quantity bass. If you prefer clean quality bass you will like this. If you are a bass head this is not for you. neutral lovers & treble heads this is perfect bass for you.

Drums, kick drums, guitars, piano notes don’t feel full potential & lack emotive power. Strings don’t buzz; drums don’t rumble I hope you are getting where I am heading.

Overall Bass/Lows 3.5/5

Mids:

Vocals feel nice bit forward. Male vocals sound good but they are neither thick nor thin somewhere in between. Tuning here prefers male vocals with high pitch than low pitch. Male vocals are emotive. Just low- pitched vocals don’t sound to their fullest potential.

Female vocals on the other hand sound delightful. They are nice sweet & emotive. They don’t get shrill or harsh. I feel vocals is USP of this set. I enjoyed both male & female vocals on the Oak nano. Yes, male vocals were not optimal but hey it didn’t diminish my enjoyment.

Most instruments reside in the mids. There was no odd timbre to instruments. Clarity is excellent. No congestion or smearing was noticed.

Overall Mids 4/5

Treble/Highs:

Clean, detailed treble. yet, details are not shoved in your face. They are presented nicely without overwhelming the listener. Nicely tuned smooth treble without any harshness. All details be it macro or micro are covered by it.  Strings, bells sound good, similarly shakers & cymbals crashes sound good. No metallicness to the instruments.

Perceived soundstage is above average. It is nice wide stage. Less tall more of wide. Bit more stage would have been great. It creates nice stage for instruments to avoid smearing. Stage is around the head. You can spot instruments playing around you. positional cues are on point. Has open feeling. 

Overall Treble/Highs 4/5.

Song Impressions:

To correlate my impressions, I have used few songs.

Ego Death by Polyphia

This is one of my favorite songs. I use this song to check driver resolution speed aka speed check. Oak nano passes this test with flying colors. No smearing or congestion was felt.

This song’s USP is the crazy guitars playing out. The strings sound good but lack the buzz and rumble of the strings and that takes away the immersion.

Same is for drums, kick drums their impact feels less. It fails to create the desired effect. Don’t get me wrong the song was enjoyable but I being reviewer have to create as true as possible picture. If you are listening to this song on Oak nano you will enjoy it and honestly, I also enjoyed. Just documenting what I felt about it.

Daisies by Nina Shallman

I know by now you are tired & sick of reading about this song in my reviews.  But please bear with me for some time more.

Staring bass notes of drums & kick drums sound good but lack the physical impact. The deep rumble of the kick drums is missing here. 

Shakers, strings, synthesizer notes feel good. No oddities in them. Just the strings lack buzz to them. Background vocals are on point. Nina sounds excellent. Her vocal magic is on point. I was lost in them. I had to remind myself to stop & continue review. The entire mix sounds nice and clean. Just the drums, kick drums and strings are let down.

Despacito by Luis Fonsi

This song is perfect example of right song on right set can sound very much best it can. This song was pleasure to listen on Oak nano.

Luis Fonsi is just exceptional on Oak nano feels natural on the other hand Daddy Yankee with his low-pitched voice feels bit off and with less note weight. To be honest this is nitpick, you may or may not feel the same. Overall, the mix feels great. All the instruments good with no oddities in timbre or tonality.

As explained at the start I thoroughly enjoyed the song.

Principles of Lust by Enigma

This is another song that gels well with the Oak nano. It has nice bass beats; they feel bit dull for me but your mileage may vary. Flutes sound good, bells sound good don’t have harshness to them. The vocal notes feel bit forward. Synthesizer notes are on point.

One thing that I missed most here is the grand feeling this song has. This song has baked in stage. It feels wide open on right gear. Here that was bit missing. But trust me this song plays very well on Oak nano.

Final conclusion:

SnowSky’s first ever flagship product, for first ever product is refined & well-polished one. It is following idea of being clean transparent closer to neutral tuning. It has succeeded in that regard. You can see that when you listen to it.

Now comes big but and that is my personal take based on my personal preferences. Being made up of beryllium diaphragm I had expected big tight bass but it was not there. Stage was not up to the point. Also, the price point doesn’t help either. So, do I hate it? No, I am just saying it doesn’t align with my preferences & expectations.

It is clean transparent & detailed without getting bright. It is more towards being reference. If that was the intended effect then SnowSky full marks to you. if you are neutral head this is one for you. if you love balanced tuning this is for you. if you are bass head or treble head look elsewhere. Also, if like me you like neutral with bass boost this is not for you. 

Will I buy it?  Its maybe set for me. Why/ at its MSRP I find it tough buy. At reduced price I will definitely add it to my collection. Will I recommend it? Yes, just read the review & if it appeals to you go get it it’s worth it.

Thank you for enduring with me till the end. Now go grab yourself a cup of coffee and let’s get high on safe high i.e. Music.

Snowsky Oak Nano 4/5