For The Beginning
Now i am lying on my bed listening to Blowin’ In The Wind by Bob Dylan with my Sony WF-XM4 which reminds me of my old memories. This one is a wireless headset with low bandwidth and thick low frequency volume. I used to like high frequency monitoring about four years ago. Yes I quit. I stopped chasing high fidelity and choose convenient instead. I’m not quite sure whether it’s financial austerity or just academics. I wanted to note something Deja Vu on my head.
1. MoonDrop
In the far long past years I listened to different types of IEM, what makes me feel the must touching is MoonDrop Kxxs, I was depressed in my age of 18. I lost my patience and curiosity in the whole world in a highly pressured environment: My High School. So I listen to a theme ACG from When the Cicadas Cry, It gave me a peaceful Zen for a short summer. That’s also my age I got addicted to Nicotine.
By chance, I stumbled upon Kxxs review videos on Bilibili, sparking my dive into the world of headphones. The MoonDrop Kxxs, with its sleek silver design and single dynamic driver, came paired with a crystal-clear, silver-plated copper braided cable that silenced the annoying stethoscope effect as I lay in bed, lost in music. That wire stopped me from hearing stethoscope effect noises when I crying in my bed. A standard Harman Curve based training sound effect makes me immersed in the ocean of tunes.
I started obsessed with ACG and slowly turned to Electronic and Rock genres. I used them to release the pain and suffer inside me. After half a year, I was cured.
Although it has done well in Mid-frequency vocal part and low-frequency rhythm. But it seems to be more like a luxury symbol in that period of time. Kxxs is no more than a Entry-level headphone. The diaphragm isn’t that professional and “Referenced”. Now , Kxxs is officially announced discontinued. When i look up to the materials, Kato the plus version and KADENZ the final version has replaced it. The curtain of Kxxs has fell. However, it gave me a brief path on the way finding the “Reference Sound”, the Harman Curve.
2. Harman Curve
Imagine one simple frequency response diagram can quantification the beautiful of music, that is the Harman Curve. Harman researchers find that nearly straight frequency response won’t give a better deduction to the audience. Just like chocolate bars, without corners and lines makes them rigid and tasteless.
The Harman Curve is dedicating a publicly acceptable frequency response, gain in the low frequency for better liveliness, and improve the high frequency to enhance larger sound field and fidelity, the sound will be not as dry or boring as the record studio do. But now there came up to an problem: “How to convince me that a non-original sound is referenced?”. I can’t. It depends on individually ear preference. Some would think a formulated studio sound is referenced, but some would think a sound that company them through the darkness and asphyxia times. But all i can say is Harman Curve designed a paradigm, less than it can’t be good goods, equals to it would be boring, beyond it brining a different whole new universe.
3. Dunu Est 112
It was the first time knowing Multi-sound unit design when i browsed headphones forums in my age of 19. I sold my Kxxs with deep cherish and bought Dunu Est 112 on Chinese Ebay. Larger power and resolution requirements didn’t stopped me, i also bought a Low-spec headphone amp which cost me around 40 dollars.
Dunu Est 112 has four different units : 1 Dynamic Driver, 1 Balanced Armature, 2 Electrostatic Drivers. Without doubt, this headphone brings significant high frequency resolution and shortage in low frequency performance.
I really love the electrostatic unit in these earphones. I especially enjoy using them to listen to electronic music, like Coldplay’s Hymn For The Weekend or Mike Perry/SHY Martin’s The Ocean (Radio Edit). The electrostatic unit handles the highs with a sweet and smooth quality, rarely producing any sibilance. Complemented by the dynamic driver, the rhythm and bass impact of the songs are quite impressive, as the electrostatic sound overshadows them……However, when switching to other genres, the bass lacks depth, and the soundstage feels scattered and incoherent.