HBB X KZ PR2 Planar IEM

[BillG]

I'm very keen to see the THD measures!

It appears that the only way this is going to happen now is if someone sends a PR2 to Amir to review. Every other reviewer I've corresponded with about it is either unable or unwilling to measure it, and KZ has gone quiet on me about it.

 

[OnLyTNT]

Sharur is fine, he may be sometimes a bit over the top, but mostly straight to the point. Just look at the FR, it is rising steeply from 12kHz, nothing I would enjoy as well (at least not without EQ). And as a matter of fact, the Variations are the best IEM, hands down. Even without any EQ.

Once, he was comparing a standalone DAC to an audio recording interface and complaining about the DAC not having a headphone output. That tells everything about him in my opinion.

 

[IAtaman]

ok, as I said, he is sometimes over the top, I agree, He also wants to judge over-ear headphones just by FR alone, which is, in contrast to IEMs, not valid, but he is an knowledgable objectivist. I discusse with him also in private on his discord server, he knows his stuff.

Yeah sure, you say a bit over the top, someone else says a total troll with emotional development of a 3 year old, tomato tomatoe.

 

[BillG]

Just look at the FR, it is rising steeply from 12kHz, nothing I would enjoy as well (at least not without EQ).

Besides the fact that above 10kHz the readings are unreliable, there's surprisingly little content in that region for most contemporary music, and anyone older than a teenager is unable to hear it anyway.

 

[Jochen]

Besides the fact that above 10kHz the readings are unreliable, there's surprisingly little content in that region for most contemporary music, and anyone older than a teenager is unable to hear it anyway.

As for Sharur, the guy appears to have a personality disorder.

View attachment 286231

Well, I am 54 and hear still to14kHz. There are higher harmonics. The rise is so steep, it represents most likely a real elevated treble plateau.

 

[simonlarry739]

Have a look how Sharur enjoyed the stingy treble:

He is an hater, It can be seen from his previous videos

 

[simonlarry739]

我必须抵制炒作：哎呀：

我认为这是对的，作为消费者

Translated to English by Moderator: “I think that's right, as a consumer”

 

[FredTaylor]

I'm still waiting for him to prove that he validated his virtual reviewing process. It's his claim BTW that it sounds the same using EQ matching functions, I only asked about his process and his answers became increasingly defensive, but no more substantial. He often likes to question whether others have untrained hearing. He spends minutes in near every video reacting physically to products he's reviewing(mostly virtually). He doesn't come off as an objectivist to me, more a theory junkie subjectivist. He has made unproven claims that absolute phase reversal "increases soundstage".

I remember one time when he didn't get the IEM. He didn't listen. But he knows the pros and cons and is even able to tell us how this earphone sounds in certain songs. I don't know how he did it.

 

[BillG]

Well, I am 54 and hear still to14kHz. There are higher harmonics. The rise is so steep, it represents most likely a real elevated treble plateau.

I'm 60 can reliable hear up to 12Khz. I'm listening to music with PR2 right now as I type this; there's no discernable elevation of its treble presentation and I am sensitive to it.

Regarding harmonics, their SPLs are very low and only add ambience.

I'm not sure whose measurements you've been looking at, but other than two outliers I'm not seeing anything particular unusual regarding the PR2. Even if there was a discernable elevation in the region, that's what EQ is for as there are very few IEMs that adhere 100% to the recommended target.

There will come a time in the future when all quality IEMs will contain a DSP chip to correct their responses; as a matter of fact, a few have already started to appear on the market. Until then, we've got external DSP in the form of EQ in whatever software or DAC-AMPs we're using to drive the things. Anyone serious about their listening experience is already making use of these tools.

 

[Sharur]

I'm still waiting for him to prove that he validated his virtual reviewing process. It's his claim BTW that it sounds the same using EQ matching functions, I only asked about his process and his answers became increasingly defensive, but no more substantial. He often likes to question whether others have untrained hearing. He spends minutes in near every video reacting physically to products he's reviewing(mostly virtually). He doesn't come off as an objectivist to me, more a theory junkie subjectivist. He has made unproven claims that absolute phase reversal "increases soundstage".

It was validated in an AES peer reviewed paper by Sean Olive, Todd Welti, and Omid Khonsaripour https://www.aes.org/e-lib/online/browse.cfm?elib=18462:

The one reservation I have with this is that acoustic impedance differences between earphones is not considered, but I qualify this in my EQ impressions. I do not claim that EQ'ing the magnitude response of one IEM to another using minimum phase filters based on 711 coupler measurements results in the two IEMs having the exact same magnitude response at my eardrums. The point is that the two IEMs will sound pretty similar, assuming a good seal. I find it easier to EQ an IEM with a smooth magnitude response to an IEM with a rough magnitude response rather than the other way around, likely due to acoustic impedance variances. If my Moondrop Variations EQ'd to another IEM has obvious issues, then I do not consider demoing the IEM in person worthwhile. However, if my Moondrop Variations EQ'd to another IEM sounds good, then I consider demoing the IEM in person worthwhile as there could be issues I did not identify, such as poor fit.

Regarding absolute polarity, I made several "informal" observations through both sighted and blind listening tests. I have successfully ABX tested absolute polarity with several commercial songs to confidence intervals exceeding 99.999%, so I can certainly tell the difference. For how I was able to tell the difference, one of the things I observed is that the soundstage appears to be "stretched" in a sense with inverted polarity, resulting in a "wider" presentation even though it sounds less accurate.

 

[Sharur]

Now, if I can just get some distortion measurements

My SPL readings in REW are not accurate, but the THD% is. I was surprised to see that second harmonic distortion was quite high in upper midrange and treble frequencies.

 

[Sharur]

anyone older than a teenager is unable to hear it anyway.
View attachment 286231

Tested with Moondrop Variations. Not claiming I can do this test with normal music at normal listening volumes though.

Blind Testing a 20 kHz Upper Hearing Limit

Discover the highest frequency you can reliably hear.

www.audiocheck.net

 

[Tarnith]

My SPL readings in REW are not accurate, but the THD% is. I was surprised to see that second harmonic distortion was quite high in upper midrange and treble frequencies.
View attachment 286502

What's your test setup here?

Are you sure that isn't capsule distortion? (Also, if you don't know SPL then at what level is this THD measure? 84db? 120db?)

 

[Sharur]

What's your test setup here?

Are you sure that isn't capsule distortion? (Also, if you don't know SPL then at what level is this THD measure? 84db? 120db?)

Using an aliexpress 711 clone coupler + apple dongle adc + rew. It's not the limitation of the capsule since I have measured IEMs with notably lower distortion than the PR2.

 

[Vini darko]

Mine arrived today sound is good. Had them up too loud for a while , turns out all this talk of needing power had caused cognitive bias on me. They are now running at normal volume wich is 15 on my LGV30
Got no complaints about the wire but the silicone tips are a little stiff.

 

[khensu]

Mine arrived today sound is good. Had them up too loud for a while , turns out all this talk of needing power had caused cognitive bias on me. They are now running at normal volume wich is 15 on my LGV30
Got no complaints about the wire but the silicone tips are a little stiff.

Mine are on the way. Looking forward to hearing them. Do you feel like they need any EQ? I haven't found an IEM yet that doesn't (although my settings for both TCZ and Khan are very minor corrections). That's not critical, but it would be a nice to have.

 

[Vini darko]

Mine are on the way. Looking forward to hearing them. Do you feel like they need any EQ? I haven't found an IEM yet that doesn't (although my settings for both TCZ and Khan are very minor corrections). That's not critical, but it would be a nice to have.

They don't need EQ however I do have a preference for excessively warm sound so may add a bit extra there sometimes.
Edit: forgot the ymmv

 

[amadeogt]

I got mine today, have been listening to them for a couple of hours (with a Topping L30 II).

The treble is a bit emphasized to my ears. And I'm not sensitive to treble, rather the opposite (can't hear a thing above 11k, with hearing loss starting around 7k). The treble is not sibilant, not unpleasant. Just a bit accentuated relative to the rest. Seems fixable with EQ.

 

[amadeogt]

The foam tips do tame the treble a little bit. Overall, I am happy with the PR2. Good IEM to listen to those muffled Mark Knopfler albums ("Down the Road Wherever" doesn't sound as congested through the PR2).

 

[TimW]

Got mine a couple of days ago. At first I was impressed with the midrange and bass response. It sounds pretty well tuned although I can't say I hear any special planar qualities compared to my DD IEMs. After further listening I started to notice the elevated treble which can become fatiguing with harshly mixed material. My listening has been with the standard foam tips. These are slightly less efficient than my DD IEMs but nothing crazy. I usually listen with my Shanling UP4 in low gain and the same applies for these, but I can max out the volume in that gain setting for some songs rather than being a few volume clicks lower.