This is a review, listening tests, EQ and detailed measurements of 7Hertz (Hz) Timeless planar driver IEM. It was kindly sent to me by a member and is on sale right now for US $176 (normal $220).
As you see, the same is unique as is the construction made out of machined aluminum. I thought this would be an issue but wearing them was very comfortable for me. I performed my testing using the tips you see. Two boxes are provided, one for a different shape than the other. IEMs are stored in a solid, metal box that is not pocket friendly but would stand driving your car over!
If you are not familiar with my headphone measurements, I highly recommend to watch my tutorial on it:
[And subscribe to the channel
]
Timeless 7 Hertz IEM Measurements
As usual, we start with our IEM frequency response measurements using GRAS 45CA as a fixture:
At high level, this is very good compliance with our target. There are small variations especially the pulled down area around 3.5 kHz which we have to evaluate using listening tests.
Relative difference to our target as a result, only shows small variations:
What was shockingly disappointing was the distortion in lower to mid treble:
We have nearly 3% distortion at 1.8 kHz!
The planar panel must be resonating at those frequencies.
Group delay is not revealing of much as IEMs don't suffer from internal reflections like headphones do:
Typical of planar transducers, impedance is on the low side:
I rescaled the vertical axis to show the variations that we observe in frequency response and distortion, showing this is some kind of acoustic event.
Sensitivity is worse than average:
Timeless 7Hz IEM Listening Tests and Equalization
I am migrating my Roon server to another platform so temporarily don't have access to my usual test tracks. Using what I had, I found out of box tonality to be very good. I did try to two corrections though:
Band 2 opens the sound up a bit -- as it usually does in headphones and IEMs. Spatial qualities went from good to very good. Band 1 took a way a bit of boominess especially before I reduced its negative gain. In balance, I found the two filters to benefit most of the tracks I threw at it. But on one of my bass and treble heavy tracks, I found the sound to become brighter than I liked. I would say then that the deviations are within degrees of error in the research target.
With or without EQ, sub-bass performance was excellent owing to nice boost in low frequency response.
Conclusions
The tonality of 7 Hertz IEM lands slightly outside of our target. Per listening test remarks, we simply don't have accurate enough target to say this is bad or good. The high level picture of good amount of bass response is certainly good. Overall then, I have no complaints about the tonality. The issue is that of distortion. Sometimes I feel that I am the only one running distortion tests and identifying clear engineering issues that could have been resolved had there been any focus on it. Yes, the distortion response doesn't immediately tell you what audible issues you may have. But it does tell you that all else being equal, you want an IEM/headhphone that doesn't have copious amount of distortion, especially where our hearing is most sensitive.
Putting it all together, I will recommend the Timeless 7Hz IEM for its tonality, comfort and unique look. Distortion keeps me from highly recommending it.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
As you see, the same is unique as is the construction made out of machined aluminum. I thought this would be an issue but wearing them was very comfortable for me. I performed my testing using the tips you see. Two boxes are provided, one for a different shape than the other. IEMs are stored in a solid, metal box that is not pocket friendly but would stand driving your car over!
If you are not familiar with my headphone measurements, I highly recommend to watch my tutorial on it:
[And subscribe to the channel
]Timeless 7 Hertz IEM Measurements
As usual, we start with our IEM frequency response measurements using GRAS 45CA as a fixture:
At high level, this is very good compliance with our target. There are small variations especially the pulled down area around 3.5 kHz which we have to evaluate using listening tests.
Relative difference to our target as a result, only shows small variations:
What was shockingly disappointing was the distortion in lower to mid treble:
We have nearly 3% distortion at 1.8 kHz!
The planar panel must be resonating at those frequencies.
Group delay is not revealing of much as IEMs don't suffer from internal reflections like headphones do:
Typical of planar transducers, impedance is on the low side:
I rescaled the vertical axis to show the variations that we observe in frequency response and distortion, showing this is some kind of acoustic event.
Sensitivity is worse than average:
Timeless 7Hz IEM Listening Tests and Equalization
I am migrating my Roon server to another platform so temporarily don't have access to my usual test tracks. Using what I had, I found out of box tonality to be very good. I did try to two corrections though:
Band 2 opens the sound up a bit -- as it usually does in headphones and IEMs. Spatial qualities went from good to very good. Band 1 took a way a bit of boominess especially before I reduced its negative gain. In balance, I found the two filters to benefit most of the tracks I threw at it. But on one of my bass and treble heavy tracks, I found the sound to become brighter than I liked. I would say then that the deviations are within degrees of error in the research target.
With or without EQ, sub-bass performance was excellent owing to nice boost in low frequency response.
Conclusions
The tonality of 7 Hertz IEM lands slightly outside of our target. Per listening test remarks, we simply don't have accurate enough target to say this is bad or good. The high level picture of good amount of bass response is certainly good. Overall then, I have no complaints about the tonality. The issue is that of distortion. Sometimes I feel that I am the only one running distortion tests and identifying clear engineering issues that could have been resolved had there been any focus on it. Yes, the distortion response doesn't immediately tell you what audible issues you may have. But it does tell you that all else being equal, you want an IEM/headhphone that doesn't have copious amount of distortion, especially where our hearing is most sensitive.
Putting it all together, I will recommend the Timeless 7Hz IEM for its tonality, comfort and unique look. Distortion keeps me from highly recommending it.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
