Und jetzt?

I’m coming to conclude that the rôle of reviews in our oft-times quite desperate quests for something even beginning to approach personal aural satisfaction is as vexed a one as can possibly be. The now more or less standardized terminology used in the majority of reviews does not, in my own fairly wretched experience, correspond in a truly useful way to what I actually hear. I cannot, for example, for the life of me say what, in ‘technical terms’, sounds so appalling to me about the Pioneer CH3 just received (yes, inspired by your review but i’m not now nursing a grudge JK I hasten to assure you!) I can’t put admirable “tonality” and what sounds to me just downright cheap and nasty together in the same reality at all! Our auditoriums must have been designed by different architects, I swear! I remain as bewildered as I think it’s possible to be by the audtioning (after purchase) of one IEM after another. And it’s not as if reading and ‘cross-referencing’ multiple reviews is any less vexing a business, either! For there one comes across stark contradictions that virtually cancel respective claims right out and it is finally impossible to know *what* to believe. All we find ourselves capable of in the end is ‘taking a punt’ (downing a pint?) and hoping for the best.

Right now I’d like to thank you for that indirect heads-up on the Kbear Believe. Were we not all ed to believe that in the rigidity of beryllium lay our guaranteed salvation? My lust for Chi-Fi has for the time being subsided appreciably, with one last shot at glory made in the direction of NF Audio.. haha..

Thanks also for providing the opportunity to get as much ‘off my chest’ today! Can only hope it’s not too depressing to read!

I don’t believe in break-ins…I think it is gaga…I just do it to justify my forthcoming review. I don’t expect the Believe to blow mw out of my socks.

I do understand your consequences out of your Blon experience. If I was you, I would also not buy the 5S.

In the end, I have indirectly answered your question on the Believe. Be careful!

Gadzooks! Can i recklessly seize this opportunity to ask something i have always been curious about? HOW does one go about these massively extended break-ins, with only a laptop at one’s disposal, a laptop being constantly used for god knows what? Is there some *other procedure* that I am wholly ignorant of, one that is *not* reliant on being hooked up to and monitoring YouTube burn-in videos?

Phew, now that’s ‘out of the way’, I can inform that i do have the TRI I3, and from my LG V30 with Topping amp it sounds so intensely good i can barely handle it! Whatever powers the ESS DAC in that LG thing possesses they put ‘aural sex’ on a whole new plateau!

Am more than somewhat reluctant to jump at word of the Blon BL-05S, having bought the 05 and rejected it out of hand (ugh), and before that a faulty -03 (unreplaced due to apparently unconvincing video for Ali seller!), followed by a new one, which, despite o-rings and a sh*tload of experimental tip try-outs, NEVER came close to properly inhabiting my ear. So the entire Blon story is rather a sorry mess for me, JK!

I just ordered the NF NM2!

But the one you could consider is the KBEAR/Triaudio I3…a very smooth sounding planar magnetic earphone…the other one I recommend is the Shozy Form 1.4. And one of my biggest faves this year is the Blon BL-05S…note the “S” in the end the original Blon BL-05 has a different driver and is crap.