SMSL SH-6 + 7hz Timeless sound too bright?

[pwn87]

I just got the sh-6 as my first headphone amp to connect my 7hz timeless to my SU-9n and it sounds very bright.
When i was using my focusrite soundcard the iems were already pretty bright but now it just sounds wrong.
Everything else i plug the IEMs into sounds pretty bright too but i thought they just didnt have enough power to deliver some bass. But i think they even have more bass/warmth than the sh-6.
Its probably the iems right?
or does the amp need burn in?
is the sh-6 really transparent?
which one of the two should i replace? don't really want to spend a lot more on a headphone amp but i can still return the IEMs too, just not sure how much they will refund..

 

[junki]

It's the Timeless. Not sure what research you did to inform your purchase, but the Timeless' frequency response is readily available:

As one can clearly see, the Timeless has a rather insane 7-9 dB 8Khz spike. That is probably what you're hearing.

If you relied on Crinacle's reviews to buy IEMs, it's good to keep in mind that Crinacle tends to not hear sibilance like most people. Part of the reason is that he writes his reviews upon a short, first impression. That's how he has the time to review >1000 IEMs.

 

[RandomEar]

As one can clearly see, the Timeless has a rather insane 7-9 dB 8Khz spike. That is probably what you're hearing.

If you relied on Crinacle's reviews to buy IEMs, it's good to keep in mind that Crinacle tends to not hear sibilance like most people. Part of the reason is that he writes his reviews upon a short, first impression. That's how he has the time to review >1000 IEMs.

As far as I know, the 8 kHz spike is an artifact of Crinacle's measurement setup and is present in most of his IEM plots. Also, anything above 8-10 kHz in the plots is hard to interpret and riddled with resonances of the measurement rig. That HF data should only be compared to data from the same rig and author (Crinacle, in this case) and never be interpreted as an absolute/standalone result.

Those points aside, I agree: If it sounds too bright, it's the Timeless. With IEMs, you have to try them out until you stumble upon one that fits your taste. Comparative measurements can be helpful. If you'd like something much "darker" than the timeless, I recommend that you try the Tripowin Mele.

 

[pwn87]

i have used an eq to get rid of that spike but no matter what i do i can't bring the bass up..
with my warm focusrite interface i didnt notice it so much but with this transparent dac/amp combo it sounds super thin...
i tried most of the eartips but none of them improves anything

 

[RandomEar]

i have used an eq to get rid of that spike but no matter what i do i can't bring the bass up..
with my warm focusrite interface i didnt notice it so much but with this transparent dac/amp combo it sounds super thin...
i tried most of the eartips but none of them improves anything

If you don't get enough bass, the seal of the tips is probably bad. You may have to try out third-party tips (or get some cheap KZ IEMs for <20 $, which come with a dozen different tips).

 

[pwn87]

in that case its probably the iem that is the problem because the tip is super thick and short..

 

[pwn87]

also no matter how i try to align it in my ear, no bass appears
i have some cheap sony mdr 450 that produce a lot more bass, kinda the same amount i'm used to from my speakers

 

[Jimbob54]

Useful seal test https://asiaudio.com/pages/audio-seal-test

Play the alternating tone - the two tones should have the same(ish) volume. If bass is noticeably lower, youre not sealing. Try it with fingers pushing them in vs with no pressure.

 

[pwn87]

i just tried one of the thicker tips and the bass improved a lot.
still needs a ton of eq but this is finally something i can work with.
just weird that pushing the thinner ones into my ear didn't work at all.
i think the audio seal test was also very helpful as that's where i first noticed the improvement.
before i was like "how the hell are they supposed to be the same volume?" but indeed they are.
thank you everyone for your help

 

[Jimbob54]

i just tried one of the thicker tips and the bass improved a lot.
still needs a ton of eq but this is finally something i can work with.
just weird that pushing the thinner ones into my ear didn't work at all.

Good seal is a combination of shell/ case shape and size w/ your ear shape plus tip size, texture and shape interacting with the shape of your ear canal.

In other words- a bugger to get right.

 

[junki]

Useful seal test https://asiaudio.com/pages/audio-seal-test

Play the alternating tone - the two tones should have the same(ish) volume. If bass is noticeably lower, youre not sealing. Try it with fingers pushing them in vs with no pressure.

The problem I have with that test is the 50 Hz is more of a physical vibration of the ear canal while the 500 Hz is an auditory tone. It’s difficult to judge relative volume of both.

 

[Jimbob54]

The problem I have with that test is the 50 Hz is more of a physical vibration of the ear canal while the 500 Hz is an auditory tone. It’s difficult to judge relative volume of both.

It's not ideal. But put it another way. If the 50 is "quiet" or absent something isn't right.

 

[Waz]

Afaik some units were sent out without filters which alters the sound significantly, check crinnacles twitter or YouTube community post. It’s likely you were affected by this

 

[raif71]

The Timeless when paired with desktop amps, one can really hear that it is too bright. I have paired it with Asgard 3 and Fiio K5 Pro. One track I tried was by Starship's Sara. When the hi-hat came in, whoa instant pain felt. Tried with hd600 and all was alright and natural. When I tried the Timeless with Mojo, it wasn't as bad and it was kinda tolerable but with the desktop amps, torture.