Eartips selection.

The selection of eartips is crucial with any universal in-ear monitor and will affect the sound, especially the bass impact depending on the seal and the soundstage depending on insertion depth.  Due to a large opening of my earcanals, I usually go for the largest size eartips to get a better seal.  In this comparison I was using Nio with N0 module and stock cable.  Please, keep in mind, these impressions are subjective and relative to my ear anatomy which affects how I hear the sound.

Spinfit – natural balanced tonality with deeper bass impact, organic mids/vocals, and natural well defined treble.

Final Type E – very similar to Spinfit, except soundstage width shrinks a little, becoming narrower.

AZLA Sedna – very similar to Spinfit, except soundstage depth is a little more out of my head.

stock 64audio Foams – bass impact was softer, slower, and slightly attenuated, and treble was also a bit attenuated; the sound had more focus on mids.

Symbio F – a very balanced sound with mids having more focus and treble gaining extra sparkle, and even soundstage being a little wider and more holographic.

Symbio F and Spinfit were my favorite eartips to use with Nio.  During testing and comparison while constantly taking Nio in and out of my ears, I preferred Spinfit since Symbio F is a slower release foam, but during extended listening sessions I switched to Symbio F since I was not in a rush and could wait for it to form its shape inside my ear.

Cable pair up.

I’m aware that some people don’t believe in cables and have very strong opinions about it.  It’s not my intention to trigger the argument, and instead I would like to share what I hear during my testing.  What makes sense to me, a metal wire is a material with physical properties of resistivity, conductivity, purity, and unique geometry, all of which put together act as a filter between your source and headphones.  Variations of these physical properties can affect the conductivity of analog signal, resulting in a sound change, from a subtle to a more noticeable level.  If the talk about cables upsets you, please skip this section.

stock vs 64audio Silver/Copper hybrid – the changes which I found to be more noticeable in this comparison are the soundstage expansion which becomes more holographic with new Silver hybrid cable.  The soundstage with stock cable has a good width and more out of your head depth, but with this cable width now “matches” the depth to create more 3D space effect.  Also, mids/vocals are more transparent, with a little leaner body and higher resolution.  The tonality is still natural, but I’m hearing less coloring in mids.

stock vs Eletech Socrates (Copper) – in this pair up I hear a slightly different change relative to 64audio Silver/Copper hybrid cable.  Starting with soundstage expansion, it is stretching even wider, but the depth is not as much out of your head, bringing sound closer with a little more intimacy, giving soundstage an oval shape.  Mids are also leaner and more transparent, more resolving, and I’m also hearing the improvement in treble definition, not brighter, but higher res type of change which is quite noticeable.

stock vs EA Cleopatra (Silver) – an interesting change here as well.  While soundstage is closer to stock cable expansion, maybe just a touch wider, the difference here is more in tonality and the signature change.  The bass sounds a little bit softer and mids become more revealing, more forward, being a little brighter.  Also, treble gains a noticeable amount of sparkle and even some extra airiness.  The effect of this pure silver cable is noticeable more in upper mids and treble.

stock vs Linum SuperBax (SPC) – in this cable comparison, soundstage was just a touch wider with SPC.  But when it comes to tonality and signature, when switching to SPC sound became warmer, darker, and more L-shaped.  The change is quite noticeable where SuperBax attenuates down the sparkle of the treble, and pushes the mids/vocals a little more back, bringing bass more forward.  If you want a more balanced sound sig with better mids clarity and more treble airiness, SuperBax is not the best choice.  But if you want a big controlled bass slam, this cable packs a strong low end punch.

I tried not to go too crazy with cable rolling in this test, trying not to exceed 1/2 price of the Nio.  Within that bracket and for me personally, I really enjoyed pair up with Premium Silver hybrid and Socrates cables.

Page 5 – Comparison, Pair up, and Conclusion.