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ARTTI T10 - PLANAR IEM

I bought T10's on a black Friday sale. Initially they lacked bass and were overall meh. I was ready to return them. After taking the time to get the right fit I took back Initial impressions. For the price the T10's sound amazing (for my tastes). They are getting more use than my Simgot EM6L and Letshuoer S12 IEM. Only complaints are the cheap looking shell and fit.
 
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I recall when you mentioned some of this earlier. Can imagine that sure, the quality control may not be as stringent as products made by Sony, Sennheiser, Apple, Audeze, Dan Clark, Beyerdynamics.

One thing you may end up doing with the Zero Two's is replacing the cable - which reduces the economy of it a bit. I had been using mine for months when the insulating sleeve on the 1/8" stereo plug started sliding off whenever an attempt was made to unplug it from my amp. I ordered one of these.


Much nicer build quality cable overall. I look at it as a maintenance cost. As a bonus, the transducer end connectors clearly identify left and right channels by color.
 
Was going back and forth between the T10 and the 7hz Zero 2. The default sound without EQ, in either case.

From this comparison, just got the "hunch" the T10 had a bit of artificial bloom in the low end. Psychoacoustic enhancement, makes everything sound a bit more life like, but it's hard to tell if this is an accurate representation or NOT.

Tried cutting out some of this via low end via EQ, I think the sound tightened up, and this clean up also applies to the bass frequencies. Applied +0.8 dB gain compensation to the audio chain, to bring the level up, whenever this EQ is enabled, which also helps with comparing the before and after, when EQ is switched in/out.

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One thing you may end up doing with the Zero Two's is replacing the cable - which reduces the economy of it a bit. I had been using mine for months when the insulating sleeve on the 1/8" stereo plug started sliding off whenever an attempt was made to unplug it from my amp. I ordered one of these.


Much nicer build quality cable overall. I look at it as a maintenance cost. As a bonus, the transducer end connectors clearly identify left and right channels by color.
Makes sense. With the lower cost IEMs, a cable upgrade should definitely add value to their regular use. While the cable is functional, one of my gripes with the Zero 2, was the strangeness of the 3.5mm connector, the bit you have to hold, when you insert the cable into a dongle, or remove the cable from the dongle. Its the tiniest cable end "handle", I have ever seen. Makes it hard to hold that end of the cable. Also the plastic housing is slippery with no friction to hold it properly.

Must add, now I appreciate the cable which came with the T10. Luxurious in comparison., with a nice chunky end for the 4.4mm plug (mine is 4.4mm). It would be great if all IEM products move over to cables with a modular end, like that on the T10 Pro, so one can swap from 4.4mm balanced to 3.5mm single ended, as both of these ends are provided, with the modular cable. At the very least, such a cable with swappable plugs should be an option when buying the IEM.

If I replace the stock Zero 2 cable, I'd be planning to get one of these modular cables 0.78mm with 3 modular plugs 2.5mm/3.5mm/4.4mm.
 
Got a pair of the T10 pro yesterday. A more relaxed listen than the OG T10. Nice and solid though.
Good to know. Tempting. Struggling wih spending any more on IEMs, cos it's so easy to catch the bug, and spend. Too many IEM's one hears about, that are good. The T10 Pro has been getting pretty good reviews. Definitely about the best value for money planar magnetic IEM, out there, replacing the OG T10, in this regard.

Do enjoy your acquisition, a worthy purchase.

I'm using EQ with my T10, with EQ derived via AutoEQ.app, targetted at either the AutoEQ default for IEM's, or StaticV3's target, which is kindly provided on one of his posts on ASR.

+ A 2nd layer of EQ, which adds a Speaker in a Room curve, boost low frequencies a bit, and lower high frequencies a bit.

Hopefully that will suffice, until I can splurge on something more expensive, or get the T10 Pro.

The S12 2024 and the Timeless 2 seem to also be all the rave now, but of course are in a different price bracket. Too many temptations.
 
Good to know. Tempting. Struggling wih spending any more on IEMs, cos it's so easy to catch the bug, and spend. Too many IEM's one hears about, that are good. The T10 Pro has been getting pretty good reviews. Definitely about the best value for money planar magnetic IEM, out there, replacing the OG T10, in this regard.

Do enjoy your acquisition, a worthy purchase.

I'm using EQ with my T10, with EQ derived via AutoEQ.app, targetted at either the AutoEQ default for IEM's, or StaticV3's target, which is kindly provided on one of his posts on ASR.

+ A 2nd layer of EQ, which adds a Speaker in a Room curve, boost low frequencies a bit, and lower high frequencies a bit.

Hopefully that will suffice, until I can splurge on something more expensive, or get the T10 Pro.

The S12 2024 and the Timeless 2 seem to also be all the rave now, but of course are in a different price bracket. Too many temptations.

If you've got happy with the t10 with some eq the pro aren't going to do anything more for you. You will still eq . Plus the og10 dont cause frostbite in the ears like the pro with the metal shell in winter .
 
Seems like planars are going through a warm tuning trend with S08 and T10 Pro.
I know I'm biased toward bright signature and I'm sure i would find them too warm and bassy. I'm listening to Sgor Luna for the last few days and I find that their pronounced higher-mids region is the right amount to balance the bass, although prone to rare sibilance with female vocals.

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OG T10 seems to be a good compromise, but all in all I find that the majority of planar iems having too much bass for my preferences. At least from graph the planar one most aligning to my preference seems to be Tangzu Zetian Wu Heyday but I'm never going to spend that much.
 
I know I'm biased toward bright signature and I'm sure i would find them too warm and bassy. I'm listening to Sgor Luna for the last few days and I find that their pronounced higher-mids region is the right amount to balance the bass, although prone to rare sibilance with female vocals.

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OG T10 seems to be a good compromise, but all in all I find that the majority of planar iems having too much bass for my preferences. At least from graph the planar one most aligning to my preference seems to be Tangzu Zetian Wu Heyday but I'm never going to spend that much.
Despite planars measuring with a relatively elevated bass often the impression I see is that the bass feels unsubstantial. Maybe this is why warmer tuning is the trend now? I've debated trying a planar many times, but I'm not sure if they fit my high volume listening habits better than the DD and hybrid sets I've tried so far.
 
Despite planars measuring with a relatively elevated bass often the impression I see is that the bass feels unsubstantial. Maybe this is why warmer tuning is the trend now? I've debated trying a planar many times, but I'm not sure if they fit my high volume listening habits better than the DD and hybrid sets I've tried so far.
I honestly don't know, I got the Luna just to try this planar thing and to my ears it's bass is not unsubstantial at all and exactly how i imagined it to be from it's graph (a bit too much).
 
If you've got happy with the t10 with some eq the pro aren't going to do anything more for you. You will still eq . Plus the og10 dont cause frostbite in the ears like the pro with the metal shell in winter .
Good point. I recall a similar cool touch with the KZ ZVX which also has a metal shell. Not a major issue, but definitely something to think about.

Very happy with the T10, I mean shockingly pleased. I was listening to music for a few hours today, and some things I have been listening to for 40 years, like Michael Jackson's Thriller, and even on lossy streaming from Spotify, I am amazed at the level of resolution, and revealing sonics. Amazed. I have never heard anything this good, on any kind of transducer, and that includes speakers. So much detail, with all manner of 3D, width, depth, and height. Shocking. Everything I listen to is like, I'm hearing it for the 1st time, even after listening to it, several times with the T10. Such a pleasure. But I also hear any small errors, in things like timing, and then what I would call the "texture" of the music.

Anything that sounds bright, or sharp, it's the source, i.e that's coming from the music/audio.. not the T10, in my opinion (after applying EQ as I had described earlier). I think the T10 (further to some EQ), just spits out what's in the music. Love it, love it. Love it. I now look forward actively to listening to everything, including Youtube. I'm an audio engineer, so it is such a pleasure to so easily appreciate all the tricks of the trade, like EQ, panning, and reverb, distortion, saturation, and Limiting/compression, that have been applied on every track, or video, and being able to hear how one track compares to another in these areas of audio processing, is such a blessing.

So much modern music, sure sounds great, but now I can so easily hear the compression and limiting, that has been applied to it, to give it that "modern" sound, which gets a bit tiring. You will not hear much of that, if at all, on music like Thriller. But let me not start that debate, between modern music and things from yesteryears. I would call the T10, my reference. Anything I buy next has to sound better, and I can't imagine what that would be, cos I have not heard it yet.

I know some would argue with me, if I attributed the resolution of the T10 to its planar driver, but I have no other plausible explanation. It takes listening ahead of anything else I have ever heard. Once one hears the difference, it's impossible to unhear it.

Two things that have helped, in addition to EQ.

1. I've been playing around with some crossfeed solutions in software - aka plugins, which process any audio I route through my DAW - Digital Audio Workstation - Reaper, which is also where the EQ correction is implemented. For those not familiar with DAW's, think of it like one of those Player Apps, like JRiver.

2. Replacing the stock eartips with Clarion TRI eartips, which have a wider bore, and this opened up the high end as well as tightened up the low end, that bit more.
 
Seems like planars are going through a warm tuning trend with S08 and T10 Pro.
As you can tell, I am in love with the planar tech. Definitely for those who can afford, yes it would be a good idea to own an example of some of the categories of the sub $300 planar IEMs, if budget allows, maybe even as many as 4 variants, or ways of grouping them. I only give a few examples, there are many more in each category.

1. One of the 13mm's - e.g Sgor Luna, KZ PRX or Letshouer S08, which have toed the line of more natural presentation.

2. One of the "budget" 14+mm variants e.g T10, NiceHCK F1 Pro, TinHiFi 1 Max 2.

3. One of the OG planars e.g Letshouer S12 or Timeless., with their reknown for brightness. - aka planar timbre.

4. One of the "premium" and more recent "refinements" of the 14+mm variants e.g. T10 Pro, Timeless 2, S12 2024

5. One of the alternate flavours like the MP145 or the Shozy P20, which are, from reviews similar sounding.

6. The Letshouer S15, which seems to sit alone, in its own category.

All of this though is FOMO. Looks like any planar from Letshouer, Artti, HIdizs, or the most recent planars from NiceHCK, TinHIFi, will be be unlikely to stray too far from acceptable sonics., and me thinks, just one good planar IEM, if it has a good fit, is all one may need.

Buying more than one, is more of scratching that itch, satisfying the curiosity, and responding to FOMO, we all have a bit of this, wanting to see what's on the other side.
 
For about two months I had switched to the TRI Clarions, believing that they offered a more open sound, compared to the stock white tips with black inner bore. Since Xmas, I had been doing extensive comparisons, with a Zero 2 and a KZ EDC Pro. Cos there were aspects where the Zero 2 and EDC Pro ($5 or $6) were superior to the T10. Now that was strange.

Went back to hear all the glowing reviews of the T10, being crowned one of the best value IEM's of 2024, but I was not getting any of this goodness.

Something felt weird with the T10 and I could not shake it off. On several occasions, I had actually concluded that I would "write off" the T10, cos I was not getting a cohesive sound, it sounded like there was an echo, and it was difficult to focus on elements in the music.

Pretty frustrated but resigned to accept my loss, and pack up the T10 for good. If we do not adventure, we do not learn., we do not grow. Life.

Woke up this morning, and inspired to give it one last go - took out a bunch of stock and other eartips. After extensive comparison, realised that the TRI Clarions, which have a wide bore, and not the best seal, for my ears, are just not the best, for the T10's, and me.

With a better fit, going back to stock eartips, delivered the most balanced result, the bass and thump was back. Vocal clarity without shoutiness. The timing and pace were back - now I'm sounding like one of those hi-fi audiophiles, who use such language. I think pace and timing may actually be a perception of phase accuracy, i.e bass and treble in time with each other. With the TRI Clarions, the bass was wobbly, and severely attenuated.

A small cut of the extreme highs, with high shelf EQ, sprinkled on for taste., an anti fatigue move. Just a teeny weeny bit more smoothness.

So relieved.
 
With a better fit, going back to stock eartips, delivered the most balanced result, the bass and thump was back. Vocal clarity without shoutiness. The timing and pace were back - now I'm sounding like one of those hi-fi audiophiles, who use such language. I think pace and timing may actually be a perception of phase accuracy, i.e bass and treble in time with each other. With the TRI Clarions, the bass was wobbly, and severely attenuated.
Do you find that the Tri Clarion tips worked better with the other IEMs that you tested? And did you test the tips that you liked with the T10 with the other IEMs? I ask because personally I find that tips that I like work well on more or less every IEM in my collection (which is now embarrasingly large). Ironically my go to tips are the Tri Clarions but I also like the Xelastec tips by Sedna and the Moondrop Spring tips, the Xelastec tips would be my favorite if they didn't make some of my favorite IEMs sibilant.

The enormous bore size of the Tri Clarions can definitely change the sound of IEMs, but I find the change to be positive. In my experience oversized bores tend to mellow sibilant frequencies, but narrower bores can definitely boost the bass.
 
Do you find that the Tri Clarion tips worked better with the other IEMs that you tested? And did you test the tips that you liked with the T10 with the other IEMs? I ask because personally I find that tips that I like work well on more or less every IEM in my collection (which is now embarrasingly large). Ironically my go to tips are the Tri Clarions but I also like the Xelastec tips by Sedna and the Moondrop Spring tips, the Xelastec tips would be my favorite if they didn't make some of my favorite IEMs sibilant.

The enormous bore size of the Tri Clarions can definitely change the sound of IEMs, but I find the change to be positive. In my experience oversized bores tend to mellow sibilant frequencies, but narrower bores can definitely boost the bass.

I have not yet gone back to the other IEMs. I was so stoked up about trying out the tip rolling, on the T10, cos it was the IEM which I had spent the most money on, and in many ways, had the most promise, as well as the most significant accolades, by almost every reviewer. So today, just spent quite a bit of time, painstakingly trying out each eartip in the shortlist, and taking written notes.

I can imagine that over the next few days, I'll get round to doing the same on the other IEMs. Will be back to share opinions here.
 
Do you find that the Tri Clarion tips worked better with the other IEMs that you tested? And did you test the tips that you liked with the T10 with the other IEMs? I ask because personally I find that tips that I like work well on more or less every IEM in my collection (which is now embarrasingly large). Ironically my go to tips are the Tri Clarions but I also like the Xelastec tips by Sedna and the Moondrop Spring tips, the Xelastec tips would be my favorite if they didn't make some of my favorite IEMs sibilant.

The enormous bore size of the Tri Clarions can definitely change the sound of IEMs, but I find the change to be positive. In my experience oversized bores tend to mellow sibilant frequencies, but narrower bores can definitely boost the bass.
I also think that our ears need time to learn.

It has taken me a while to learn the importance of a good fit, including things like sometimes needing to rotate the IEM in the ear, a little bit, for some IEM, to find the best position., where they fit like a glove., rather than use pressure to push them in, to achieve a good seal.

Looks like there is a sweet spot. Too much isolation - could lead to pressure and pain in the ear canal, and too much bass. Too little isolation, not enough bass. In the past, with the Clarions, I was having to push them in a fair bit, in an attempt to get a good seal, cos even the largest size of the TRI Clarions, was not an exact fit for me., especially in one of my ears.

I had swapped all my regular use IEM's to TRI Clarions, but will now revisit that decision. Will take time out to do a bit of detailed study of available eartips. The Clarions were NOT expensive, which was part of the reason for buying them - really just trial - let's see. But clearly just like anything louder sounds better, anything louder also sounds better, and I was fooled.. It happens.
 
What made me revisit the T10 sound was - listening to Spotlight by Jennifer Hudson. There is what I can describe as, a fair amount of saturation (sorry that is a term used in professional music/audio/mixing), on the elements of that, track and on the track as a whole. A grunginess. like a bit of white noise on almost everything.

So the TRI Clarions, were amplifying this.

When listening to less busy music, I would not notice there was any issue. So going forward, I'll be auditioning with as complex music, or highly processed music, in my reference listening tracks.
 
Do you find that the Tri Clarion tips worked better with the other IEMs that you tested? And did you test the tips that you liked with the T10 with the other IEMs? I ask because personally I find that tips that I like work well on more or less every IEM in my collection (which is now embarrasingly large). Ironically my go to tips are the Tri Clarions but I also like the Xelastec tips by Sedna and the Moondrop Spring tips, the Xelastec tips would be my favorite if they didn't make some of my favorite IEMs sibilant.

The enormous bore size of the Tri Clarions can definitely change the sound of IEMs, but I find the change to be positive. In my experience oversized bores tend to mellow sibilant frequencies, but narrower bores can definitely boost the bass.
I find Tri Clarion fantastic tips and they work pretty well on almost all my iems, L size are particularly useful since there are not many other cheap tips available with 14mm width. I generally find M size good on iems with narrower and longer nozzles while L size are perfect on shorter nozzles\shallow fit ones. Only iem where they not performed well are Truthaer Zero:Red, but to me those iems are very picky and didn't perform well with any other short and large bore tips.
 
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I find Tri Clarion fantastic tips and they work pretty well on almost all my iems, L size are particularly useful since there are not many other cheap tips available with 14mm width. I generally find M size good on iems with narrower and longer nozzles while L size are perfect on shorter nozzles\shallow fit ones. Only iem where they not performed well are Truthaer Zero:Red, but to me those iems are very picky and didn't perform well with any other short and large bore tips.

Do you find that the Tri Clarion tips worked better with the other IEMs that you tested? And did you test the tips that you liked with the T10 with the other IEMs? I ask because personally I find that tips that I like work well on more or less every IEM in my collection (which is now embarrasingly large). Ironically my go to tips are the Tri Clarions but I also like the Xelastec tips by Sedna and the Moondrop Spring tips, the Xelastec tips would be my favorite if they didn't make some of my favorite IEMs sibilant.

The enormous bore size of the Tri Clarions can definitely change the sound of IEMs, but I find the change to be positive. In my experience oversized bores tend to mellow sibilant frequencies, but narrower bores can definitely boost the bass.

THIS IS ABOUT THE TRI CLARION EARTIPS
One does not know what the original music sounded like, so the best one can do, is compare how it sounds on different devices. Who knows what the truth is.?

I had been listening to the KZ EDC Pros with the TRI Clarions, for at least a month, more like 2 months, and was relatively happy with the sound.

On the KZ EDC Pro's, compared to the stock tips, (I typically use LARGE, in all tip sets), the TRI Clarions :

1. Give the Bottom End that bit more heft. Not excessive, just really solid thump, of kick drums, and snares. Not boomy. But solid hits become more audible, without needing any EQ. SOLID, Just the right amount of bass, and engagement. Proper attacks but also smooth, not harsh, and edgy.

2. The vocal range, becomes more natural, relaxed darker, detailed yet without the kind of fatigue that is immediately unbearable, yes it is bright, but that comes from the IEM itself. I would describe it as feather bright.

3. The top end smoothens out, and becomes less harsh, yet more harsh(see item 4 below). Now that is a surprise, and if I had not done an intense comparison, I would have assumed that the TRI Clarion would make the high end bright. ON the contrary, the things like pianos, just become clear, just almost short of becoming harsh.

4. There may be just a little bit of enhancement of the air frequencies, the really high treble, while tucking in the mid treble, so that the treble overall just sounds ethereal, from another world, detailed enough, vivid enough, natural, not soft, but not particularly harsh. Scratchy soft.

So over all some kind of additional U shape., with a boost in the clarity and body of the vocal, with air on top, at the bottom end.

Another way to look at it is like some kind of tilt EQ, softening some of the treble and boosting the bottom end, + fairy dust on top.

I think listening to devices in isolation, should not be done. Really great to compare.

The TRI Clarions pair very very well with the KZ EDC Pro's.

A teeny weeny bit of high shelf to trim some of the harshness on top, then brings everything into an even better presentation. Very cohesive sound.

Definitely an impressive combination, feathery punchy sound.

But when I compare with the stock eartips, and listen to these again, the TRI Clarions, have the following possibly negative impact, on the audio.

1. Softening the transient response. I kept using the word feather earlier. Definitely a smoothing out of the transients. A kind of more relaxed listen, the pace of the music does seem slower, and seems to be coming from a bit more of a distance. With the stock eartips, all the elements in the music are much closer to the listener.

2. A similar phenomenon is how high frequencies are absorbed in air over distance. That crispness is lost somewhat. There is a certain veil over the music, definitely NOT as punchy.

As enticing as the impact is, I think while the softening may be welcome, on music that has quite a bit of harshness in the music itself, or the IEM has a trebly presentation, I think the TRI Clarion, is having an impact that denatures the audio. My subjective opinion. Wish it was just EQ, that it alters, but I think its more than just EQ, cos I can use EQ to simulate the impact/sound signature of the TRI Clarion, when using the stock tips, by attenuating the pinna gain frequency, with a low Q band filter, but without any extraneous loss of the transient response, it still stays punchy and immediate and forward., and crisp, and not feathery.

Does make me think - how is the TRI Clarion achieving this change?

In the final analysis, what the TRI Clarion does is no mean feat, very enjoyable and it is so hard to decide which I prefer, TRI Clarion or the stock. For casual listening, I prefer the TRI Clarions, with these IEMs. But it sounds like I have placed a compressor on the music, to smooth out all the rough edges. Apologies, for using terms from my job, I'm an audio engineer. So the average loudness is increased, peaks are reduced. But intelligibility is lost a bit, it sounds really nice, far easier to listen to., and relax and enjoy.

So much easier to hear into certain elements of the music. With the TRI Clarion.

I cannot decide which is better, the TRI Clarion or the stock tips. Psychoacoustically, the thump of the bass introduced by the Clarion, is more satisfying, addictive. Awesome bass. And the reduction in harshness makes for a pleasurable listen, if I must admit it feels smoothed over, and veiled like a rough surface polished, more difficult to feel the elements, above the bass, you just hear them smooth. Like a sub woofer was added and some tissue paper was placed on the tweeter. Club like music - Thumping. Better? Not sure.
 
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