• Small, very small, disappears in ear.
• Very, very light.
• NON-detachable cable.
• Sound is smooth the highs are barely ok bass is ok.
• Separation not good.
• Stage not great, imaging well, no.

Sounds seem to blend together but in a nice way. Detail was not there, songs I use to test detail I could not hear the detail or not identify the sound because of a general muddiness.

These do have a very mellow sound to them though. A nice, maybe “sweet” tonality to them. I can picture sitting on a beach with a drink in my hand and listening to some Latin beat music / island type music (maybe Jimmy buffet) and relaxing.

I cannot recommend at this price because there are “way better” in this price point. Some of those are:

• Jade Audio EA1 – $29.99
• Docooler QKZ VK4 $18.99

Both of these are superior in sound quality, the Jade EA1 by a mile.

Where to start? This is a special IEM. Not because it’s the best I have ever heard (although its up there) but more because of so many dimensions this set of earphones excels in. I purchased these because I heard good things from people I trust and I was interested in listening to these myself.

The box/packaging is very “formal” and down to business which I like. I will say that when I saw the cables it came with I was surprised, in a bad way. The cables are not very nice, both 3.5mm, one with a mic. I expect the cable it came with in a under $50 set, not these. So right away I was worried that I was not going to be impressed, I mean lets face it these are $269 (as purchased) and for that price you expect more.

But much to my surprise they sounded good. I let them play laying on my desk for about 20 min a loud volume to break in the Dynamic driver a bit. Side note, if you need to let a DD “burn in” for more than 20 minutes then something is wrong, really 5 minutes should be good. Your just getting the driver moving and loosening its coil.

I immediately heard some very refined bass and mid’s. I threw an Amy Winehouse song on that was recorded at the BBC live. Many IEM’s cannot play this well, it sounds like crap on them. But some, with excellent tuning around the mid’s and good stage can make this song really stand out, and the TANCHJIM’s delivered. Next I tested for detail and treble with several Jazz songs I prefer, Diana Krall Live in Paris, John Coltrane & Thelonious Monk – A Love Supreme and of course Hotel California. The detail retrieval was very good. The separation in these songs was also very good, above average for sure. But the tuning was fantastic, songs sounded very 3 dimensional no doubt due to the timbre and stage these deliver. I could easily place instruments. Symbols sounded “just right” with the seemingly right amount of roll-off and decay. But vocals are a treat on these. Diana Krall’s musky voice was a very powerful experience to hear on these earphones. The one song that gave me any problem was Metallica – Ride The lightning, In some of the hard hitting guitar riffs that included detailed drumming it seemed separation fell apart a bit and things blended together more than I would like.

Though with that, these have been my daily drivers (until a recent acquisition of the Fearless Tequila) but I still have these on my desk and listen to them often. They have a sound that makes me want to listen to them rathe than finding a reason that I have too. I will be keeping these for sure and they are currently in my top 3 all time favorites.

They can be easily driven with a Phone but for sure they shine with a good DAP or AMP. I tested with, RME ADI-2, FiiO M11 Pro, FiiO BTR5 and an Iphone.

Cables aside I can easily recommend these as a “buy”.

The Fearless Audio Tequila is here and I really love it. This is a keeper for me. I really couldn’t find anything wrong but of course I have to nit-pick a little; I would like the stage to be bigger, it was good but a little bigger would have been nice. Would like a little more sparkle at the upper end. Bass is huge improvement over S8Z

Imaging is very good, separation is excellent, really excellent. Mid’s, Highs, bass all in the right place with good tone. Voices are very, very. very realistic. Consistently  I could really feel the emotion in the songs, it really moved me. I really need to emphasize this, every song I played sounded “epic”. I could feel the singers or the musicians “intent” or emotion in the song. It was a very profound experience. Yes it sounds like I am hyping these but truly this was my experience. The timbre was the best I have come across, better that the Audiosense AQ3 or T800. The fantastic timbre and imaging created a very 3 dimensional sound experience where I felt like I was right there with the performers.

Against the Tanchjim Oxygen it had much fuller sound, better separation and the stage was a little better on the Tanchjim. Tonality was also better. Details were good without being overwhelming. These are substantially better than the S8Z. Depth back to front was good, side to side depth felt a little narrow.

You can see I liked these as i tested an unusually large number of songs. I really couldn’t help my self, I loved the sound. But I also wanted to make sure I was really understanding these.

These are a shining example of how a manufacturer puts there best foot forward. The IEMs are “beautiful”, the packaging was excellent and very “polished”. The cable is excellent. You can see the internals through the clear resin body and you can easily see that there are special brackets made that support the BA and the DD inside. The attention to detail and craftsmanship is outstanding. To date these are the best sounding and most well made IEM’s I have tested and owned.

I will be keeping these..

Definite recommended buy. Nothing at this price competes, at all. These are an easy recommend.

Song List (Song list is in this order: Artist – Song – album)

Aha – Take on me – MTV Unplugged session: clarity, stage  and vocals amazing. Timbre of Piano excellent (most have hard time with piano)

Alexis Cole – Alone together: Symbol is excellent, voice excellent

Amanda Martinez – Tomalo – Amor: her voice was excellent, guitar sounded excellent and all the “volumes” that is the tome across the board was even and good. Man, guitar strums that scraped the Guitar body sounded so real!

Truth about Charlie sound track – De cara a la pared: Rain in beginning very defined, detailed.

The go Between’s – Love Goes On (remastered): clear, guitar strings easily defined, Tonality fantastic.

Eagles – Hotel California (DSD) Remaster – Guitar picking very clear and defined, timbre excellent. Bas very good and clean, no muddy run over. REALY CRANKED THSES UP WITH NO DISTORTION OR SIMBELENCE. Symbols in background detailed and clear

Rodrigo y Gabriella – Metavolution -Metavolution: Bass greatly improved over S8Z  could really feel the emotion of this song.

Miles Davis – Someday my prince will come: Piano timbre excellent – Horn good too. Clean and detailed.

Justin Le Blue -all songs – Blue: compared directly against the HSN I40 as these sound great on this song, the Tequila’s were better hands down.

Glenn Campbell – Gentle on my mind – The capitol years: Sounded epic, no more to say. Well guitar picking was so detailed and timbre was excellent