Fiio FF5 - Maturity
Last year, I had a chance encounter with the modern flathead earbuds in the form of Fiio FF3. That unassuming piece of head-fi gear ended up receiving the fi...
Recent Posts
Shanling M6 Ultra - Sensible Luxury
What’s the point of digital audio players (DAP) in this day and age?
Dunu Talos
Few IEMs captured my imagination more than the famous planar-BA hybrid from Dunu.
ACMEE Magic Sound 4S - Yup, it’s a dongle
What do you think about when you hear the name “ACMEE?”
NF Audio RA10
Are modern IEMs becoming too large?
Topping G5 - Sensible Endgame?
The first time I visited a hi-fi store, I saw a person holding a big “brick”, either a digital audio player or a portable amplifier, in his hand to listen to...
TGXear Serratus - Summit
Reviewers are good at picking apart head-fi products. How do they fare when they build head-fi products themselves?
Fiio FD5 - Fancy, Open, Tactile
Welcome to another rapid-fire review where I share impressions of audio gear as fast as possible. Today, we talk about my (ex-)darling, Fiio FD5.
Fiio JD7 - The budget flagship
What do you think when you see yet another set of IEM tuned according to Harman In-ear Target?
Hidizs S9 Pro - Rich. Deep. Refined.
Among all the reviews I have written, the one you are reading is one of the hardest for me to write.
Hidizs MD4 - Resolving and Immersive
Beyond tonality, what makes a pair of IEM or headphones “good”?
Fiio FH3 - Anything besides bass?
Welcome to another rapid-fire review where I try to share impressions of audio gear as fast as possible. Today, we talk about Fiio FH3, the first “audiophil...
Westone MACH 20 - More is not better
Is more better?
Westone MACH 10 - IEM in its purest form
What is an In-ear Monitor (IEM)?
Final E3000 - Aging but still put up a good fight
tl;dr: smooth and mature tuning that encourage you to listen at higher volume than usual. Treble is more controlled and detailed than you might expect. Lo...
Rapid fire impressions: Trio, SA3, FH9, FD7
tl;dr: Some expensive IEMs are worth it
CCA CRA Impressions
tl;dr: A good sounding CCA/KZ? Are my ears playing tricks on me?
Moondrop Chu Impression
tl;dr: It’s better than Aria!
Rapid fire impressions: IE300, IE900, Lola, LCD-4i
tl;dr: Expensive does not mean good
Fiio KA3 - Nifty Nugget
tl;dr: Clean and powerful output for a mobile DAC/AMP. The price is very reasonable. However, it gets warm and chews through your phone’s battery fast, ev...
Tanchjim Ola - Exceptional stereo imaging but limited by fit, bass, and resolution
tl;dr: Undeniable stereo imaging prowess. However, the detail retrieval and bass cannot catch up with the exceptional stereo imaging. The fit might also b...
Tanchjim Ola - First impressions
I blind bought Ola after Tanchjim released its frequency response graph. Was it a good idea? Here are my initial impressions.
We are in the endgame now: CFA Andromeda 2020 impressions
I have been searching for my “endgame” IEM for a while, leading to my encounter with some TOTL ones. After many more trips of local hifi store, I settled for...
Brief update on reviews and review method
Hi, welcome back. It has been a while.
KZ ZSN Pro X - Is it really that bad?
tl;dr: A relic of a (hopefully) bygone era. Surprisingly, it has some positive aspects, such as above-average separation and percussion control. However, ...
Dunu Titan S - Vanilla Ice Cream
tl;dr: The best description of Titan S is that it sounds right: timbre is realistic, frequency response is not too warm nor cold, separation and micro-dyn...
Welcome to In-ear Gems!
Hello, and welcome to In-ear Gems. I hope you enjoy your stay.