The tale of a young, up and coming Singaporean brand in the IEM world!
PROS: Excellent build with minimalistic design, different sound signatures across the lineup, very good quality stock cables and accessories. Helios has segment leading performance which makes it standout in the market and Meteor presents a very nice, slightly coloured alternative to reference tuning.
CONS: Helios and Triton shells could be a tricky fit for smaller ears. Sound wise, Helios could use a bit more ear gain and lower-treble to nail TOTL tonal perfection, Triton needs more ear gain too and some spark for competitiveness and Meteor could’ve done with slightly lesser mid-bass boost and a bit more ear gain.
About Symphonium Audio.
Symphonium was conceptualised in 2015 as the founding members were dissatisfied with the state of the personal audio market. They thus set out to design and manufacture their own IEMs from the ground up focusing on sound quality, reliability, premium materials and innovative designs. As per them, their founding journey has not been an easy one with countless failed prototypes and manufacturing difficulties in the initial years. Since then they’ve built strong relationships and partnerships with fellow brands and their team has grown considerably, evolving from their founding members to a fully capable team that now manufactures each earphone entirely in-house, from start to finish.
Official Website – Symphonium Audio
Technical Specifications.
Meteor ($599).
- Drivers – 4BA
- Driver Crossover – Custom Tuned True 3-Way Crossover with PHAT Technology
- Frequency Response – 12Hz – 21kHz, ± 3 dB
- Sensitivity – 111dB/Vrms @ 1 kHz
- Impedance – 9.7 Ohms @ 1 kHz
- Socket – Spring Loaded 0.78mm 2-Pin
- Cable – 26 AWG OCC Copper
- Cable Impedance – 0.18 Ohms (3.5mm), 0.17 Ohms (4.4mm)
- Limited 1 – Year Warranty
Triton ($899)
- Drivers – 1DD + 2BA
- Driver Crossover – Custom Tuned True 3-Way Crossover with FLAT Technology
- Frequency Response – 11Hz – 21kHz, ± 3 dB
- Sensitivity – 107dB/Vrms @ 1 kHz
- Impedance – 8.3 Ohms @ 1 kHz
- Socket – Spring Loaded 0.78mm 2-Pin
- Cable – 26 AWG Silver Plated OCC Copper
- Cable Impedance – 0.20 Ohms (2.5mm), 0.25 Ohms (3.5mm), 0.28 Ohms (4.4mm) @ 1kHz
- Limited 1 – Year Warranty
Helios ($1099)
- Drivers – 4BA
- Driver Crossover – Custom Tuned True 4-Way Crossover with FLAT Technology
- Frequency Response – 12Hz – 24kHz, ± 2 dB
- Sensitivity – 104dB/Vrms @ 1 kHz
- Impedance – 8.5 Ohms @ 1 kHz
- Socket – Spring Loaded 0.78mm 2-Pin
- Cable – 26 AWG Pure OCC Copper
- Cable Impedance – 0.20 Ohms (2.5mm), 0.25 Ohms (3.5mm), 0.28 Ohms (4.4mm) @ 1kHz
- Limited 1 – Year Warranty
Included in the box.
Meteor.
- 2 Types of Silicone tips (SML)
- Foam tips (SML)
- 2-pin cable (3.5mm or 4.4mm)
- Plastic Case
- Bigger Leather Case
- Cloth Sack
- Cleaning tool
Helios and Triton.
Helios and Triton have identical packaging. Helios and Triton’s ear tips are nicely place in a pull out drawer in the original box. Here’re all the things that come stock with the IEMs –
- Azla SednaEarfit Standard tips (S, MS, M & L)
- Azla SednaEarfit Short tips (S, MS, M & L)
- Symphonium silicone tips (SML)
- Metal case
- 2-pin cable with choice of 3.5mm or 4.4mm jack
- Metal card with serial number
- Cleaning tool
Build quality.
All the Symphomium IEMs have excellent build quality as the shells are all made using AL6061 aluminium alloy. They all have a simplistic but attractive shell design with the Meteor going with a red and black paint scheme and Helios and Triton a no-BS all black scheme.
Cable – Symphonium include really nice cables with their IEMs and it’s no surprise if one knows about their association with cable brands – NightJar Acoustics and Altatune Audio. I myself didn’t know of NightJar or Altatune before coming across Symphonium but from what I’ve read, they’re both Singapore based cable brands like Symphonium. NightJar makes Meteor’s Type 2 Litz OCC copper cable while Altatune makes Triton’s 26AWG Type 2 Litz OCC Silver-Plated Copper based cable called Luna as well as Helios’ 26AWG Type 2 Litz OCC Copper based cabled called Nova. Both Luna and Nova are available for purchase separately on Altatune’s website, priced at $119. All of them are really nice stock cables – they’re all very supple, have hardly any downward pull and all have very good hardware. Meteor’s NightJar cable has ear hooks while Helios and Triton’s Altatune cables don’t.
Case – Meteor comes with two cases, a small plastic clip lock case and a very nice leather flap case that’s a bit big in size and can accommodate the smaller case as well as the eartips case. Symphonium even include a cloth sack but I don’t really see much use for it.
Helios and Triton on the other hand come with very nice metal hockey puck cases that have a premium brushed finish – ones that have now become my favourite travel cases along with the everyone’s love Pelican 1010 case. As the Altatune cables are extremely supple, the IEMs and cable fit in the hockey puck cases very nicely.
Fit, Comfort and Isolation.
Helios and Triton have quirky shells – they’re on the larger side, have an abnormally long nozzle and don’t have as carved out semi-custom contours on the back, which make them a bit tricky for a snug fit. They fit me (who has average sized ears with deep concha) fairly well and have excellent isolation but I’d advise people with small ears to be vary.
Meteor on the other hand has much smaller shells and the nozzle is the right size, which allows the shells to disappear in ears like mine. So, they’ll surely be comfortable for people with smaller ear sizes.
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