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Truthear Nova IEMs

Nova is a lot closer to Harman if you want Harman. Blessing 3 the tuning is very different, it's very bass light and the brightness further accentuates that. It's perfect for someone who wants something bright with plenty of clarity and light bass, not nothing, but very definitely light. There are times and particular recordings I find Harman bass too much and the Blessing 3 is perfect then. It's not at all the one to go for if you want Harman bass levels though.

Nova to me is a big upgrade on the Hexa, it sounds much better out of the box. The one thing the Blessing3 does do better, subjectively, is the treble sounds smoother. Not that the Nova is bad but the B3 treble does sound particularly smooth. The lack of bass is very noticeable though, it really sounds like quite a bit less bass than the Hexa, I guess due to the lack of mid-bass, compared with the balance, the lower pinna gain on the Hexa emphasises its bass region, relatively. Subjectively, anyway- Hexa definitely comes across bassier than the B3. Timbre is much better on the B3 though.
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Aful Performer 5 and Gizaudio Chopin also worth a look if you want Harman-ish bass, both are good and more satisfying bass than the B3, although B3 wins on clarity, timbre, treble. Dusk is probably the one to go for to be honest over the B3, I haven't heard it, I do have the Hisenior Mega5-EST which is tuned similarly and it's great but more expensive than these options. The downside is Dusk is exclusive and never discounted while B3 you can often find much less than full retail, I got it for $222. B3 does take EQ reasonably well and doesn't need much to just get the bass sounding fuller.
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Another much cheaper option (dual DD) that is actually really good is the Tangzu HBB Xuan NV, I think I prefer this over the Red. It's certainly a lot more comfortable, much better fit with smaller nozzles.
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To me the idea of Aful P5's FR for the price of Nova is attractive. But I get that everyone isn't interested in hardware mods, even to the extent of Knowles damper swaps. Even more so attractive when Mega 5EST and Dusk appear to have a similar FR curve. Differences perceived when personally AB-ing all these sets is something won't know about unless given a chance to demo. I only know if the Nova post-mod resembles the Hexa in the mids and treble an educated guess is that I should enjoy it.

(Here I'm using EQ'd Nova to simulate the post damper swap response.)

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To me the idea of Aful P5's FR for the price of Nova is attractive. But I get that everyone isn't interested in hardware mods, even to the extent of Knowles damper swaps. Even more so attractive when Mega 5EST and Dusk appear to have a similar FR curve. Differences perceived when personally AB-ing all these sets is something won't know about unless given a chance to demo. I only know if the Nova post-mod resembles the Hexa in the mids and treble an educated guess is that I should enjoy it.

(Here I'm using EQ'd Nova to simulate the post damper swap response.)

View attachment 379952
This damper mod just brings down the upper mids a touch? That could be a positive.
 
Did someone here performed this mod. Is it basically replacing the now visible white damper in to green one carefully?
 
Did someone here performed this mod. Is it basically replacing the now visible white damper in to green one carefully?
Correct. I know of two Nova owners on Shenzenaudio discord server that performed the mod and are happy with it. I will perform the mod in 3-4 weeks when my Nova gets to where I am. Anyone who happens to own Etymotic IEMs can perform the mod, using the provided green dampers and tool included in the box.

It's really not that much of a mod as a damper swap, something you would do normally to maintain an IEM. The difference is that you use a different value damper only to change the frequency response. A green damper makes the response un-Harmanized versus the stock white one. A resulting response similar to a Blessing 2: Dusk, or something like a bassier Hexa.
 
Thanx for the reply. I have all colors from Ety at home from the past when I used them + tool. Didn’t knew they work the same. Will look into it maybe at the weekend.
 
Some quick subjective impressions of Nova after having listened to it for a short time. First stock, then I've continued listening to it with the Green Etymotic filter swap, credit to kr0mka.

I thought I would dislike the stock Harman tuning, but it's not bad, but also nothing special. At this point I though the detail retrieval was less than expected, even if not bad. The green Etymotic filter swap made almost everything better, the tonal quality, the staging, and the fun factor. Detail retrieval remained unremarkable, in the end Hexa is the more resolving set when compared to Nova. To be fair to Nova, Hexa is significantly leaner in the bass, and Nova post-filter mod is significantly more fun.

It only almost makes it as a good general recommendation IMO. If you though Hexa was boring Nova will be an upgrade. If you liked Hexas details it will be a sidegrade and then it's harder to justify the price increase. In the landscape of hybrid IEMs with a full bass response it's a decent value, but better if you get a discount.

EDIT: Spent some time gaming and listening to orchestral music. In these situations, Nova shines a bit extra, better than anything I've tried in fact.
 
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I picked up these https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B3JNLG71/ which claims 1.2m for $15.99.

I like the Zoe. A well-constructed lightweight cable. The iridescent look of the wires inside the clear cable is interesting and different than a lot of cables.

Most important, the Zoe cable is thinner, lighter, and more flexible than the "Zonie" cable I had bought for my Truthear Red (whose original cable I had destroyed). The Zonie 2-pin plugs don't fit as well, and have allowed one side of the IEM to fall out. The Zoe's 2-pin seems to stay in better on the Nova; the original old Nova cable is now on the Red, which also stays in better and the 2-pin fits better than the Zonies.

The original Nova cable does have a major advantage for me -- a skinny 1/8" plug that fits past the plastic housing of the large protective case I use on my V60 ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0868W4B48/ ) . Trying to trim the oversize plug of the original Red cable to fit the jack cutout of this case is how I destroyed (or at least mysteriously interrupted connectivity even though I only trimmed the plastic!) the original "red" plug, so it all worked out in the end.

Because I don't like wearing out the 2-pin connectors changing cables, I end up using the Nova's via my BTR15 because they have the Zonie 4.4mm cable.
And for just listening to videos, instagram, etc on the go w/o BTR15 dongle, I use the Red direct to my V60 audio jack because they have the skinny-plug-that-fits-past-the-case via the original Nova 1/8" jack.

I also used the old OG Blue and now the Red for DJing, mostly because I'm worried about blowing out the Novas or accidentally overpowering them via the ADI-2 PRO (DD's don't blow as easy as BA's right??). But at least since I have both the Blue and recently dethroned too-precious-to-use-for-DJing Red, I have spares in case that happens...
I've bought half a dozen of these. Very soft, comfortable and non-microphonic cables. I haven't noticed a difference to the more expensive ones. The downside is that only QDC is available. It can be found on AliExpress for 4-8 euros.

Just found this amazing item on AliExpress. Check it out!
€16.34 | Original QKZ T1 200 Core TC Silver Plated Hifi Earphone Update Cable MMCX/2Pin Connector Use For QKZ ZXN ZXT VK4 ZX2 ZAX2
 
The hexa had similar things in. I lost quite a bit of volume in one ear, yanked those filters out and back to proper levels. But obv with no filters doing whatever they were doing.

I had same issue with the hexa that one side lost volume. It's obviously caused by the filters.

Did you replace the filters or did you contact the seller for replacement?
 
I had same issue with the hexa that one side lost volume. It's obviously caused by the filters.

Did you replace the filters or did you contact the seller for replacement?
Well, bit of miscommunication between me and Shenzhenaudio.com on that one. They said replace the filters but think they were confused with another model that has the mesh over. But I have some etymotic and the filter removal tool so screwed them out. Iem still work without the filters and got a partial refund. No idea what that did to the FR though!

I'd ask for a refund though if you've lost output on one side. Or replacement.
 
Well, bit of miscommunication between me and Shenzhenaudio.com on that one. They said replace the filters but think they were confused with another model that has the mesh over. But I have some etymotic and the filter removal tool so screwed them out. Iem still work without the filters and got a partial refund. No idea what that did to the FR though!

I'd ask for a refund though if you've lost output on one side. Or replacement.

After contacting the seller I found some information about users with same problem. And someone of the affected users recommended to replace the old filters by new filters (yellow and green are the ones to choose) and posted the following link:
filters on Aliexpress

Edit:
This post is related to Truthear Hexa
 
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After contacting the seller I found some information about users with same problem. And someone of the affected users recommended to replace the old filters by new filters (yellow and green are the ones to choose) and posted the following link:
filters on Aliexpress
The stock equivalent part is the white one. You only experiment with brown, green and so on to change the original sound, it relaxes the vocal range and makes it more "fun".
 
The stock equivalent part is the white one. You only experiment with brown, green and so on to change the original sound, it relaxes the vocal range and makes it more "fun".
I was talking about hexa, you probably talk about nova.
 
Hello everyone,
on my Novas the contact on one of the earpieces has become loose, so it keeps falling off the cable easily. Can I fix something here myself?
 
I've bought half a dozen of these. Very soft, comfortable and non-microphonic cables. I haven't noticed a difference to the more expensive ones. The downside is that only QDC is available. It can be found on AliExpress for 4-8 euros.

Just found this amazing item on AliExpress. Check it out!
€16.34 | Original QKZ T1 200 Core TC Silver Plated Hifi Earphone Update Cable MMCX/2Pin Connector Use For QKZ ZXN ZXT VK4 ZX2 ZAX2


How is this cable only .99???
 
Just bought these as well. Hope the Nova and the Dusk IEMs will get me on my way down the IEM rabbit hole.
 
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