Cable pair-up.

I’m aware that some people are skeptical about cable’s contribution to the audio chain.  It’s not my intent to start an argument here.  Instead, I would like to share what I hear during my testing.  What makes sense to me is that a metal wire is a material with physical properties of resistivity, conductivity, and purity, all of which act as a filter between your source and earphones.  Variations in these physical properties can affect the conductivity of an analog signal, resulting in a change in sound ranging from subtle to noticeable.  If discussing cables bothers you, feel free to skip this section.

vs EA Ares 10 – The latest Ares 10 has a unique characteristic: it brings more warmth and smoothness to the mids, which it also exhibited with E1k.  But, as a result, it created a bit more contrast with the treble, making it crisper.  It’s a nice finetuning, but I wish it had smoothed out the treble as well.

vs HanSound Kunpeng – expanded the soundstage and improved the imaging by spreading the sound more 3D in space.  The sound is still very neutral, reference, vivid, and crystal clear.  Also, feels like the background is a little blacker.  Overall, the tonality of E1k didn’t change much, still very crisp and vivid.

vs HanSound Quentin – The soundstage was perfectly rounded and holographic, expanding wider to align with the height and the depth.  The tuning was still neutral, in reference to a clear, natural, transparent, resolving tonality.  However, the mids were more natural, with an added layer of texture and improved resolution, and treble was similar to stock cable, as energetic, still crisp and extended, maybe a touch less aggressive.  This was one of my favorite pair-ups.

vs PWA FT – a bit more expanded soundstage width, bringing the soundstage closer to a round shape.  The tuning is neutral, reference, revealing, very clean and clear, remaining natural, transparent, and resolving.  The mids were a bit smoother, not as smooth as with Quentin, a little more revealing, and the treble was as energetic, still crisp, and extended.  This was another example of one of my favorite pair-ups.

vs LL Venom – noticeably wider soundstage expansion, more holographic presentation of the sound, but the treble was way too crisp, on the borderline of my tolerance.

vs EA Centurion II – very crisp, reference tuning, big holographic soundstage expansion, more revealing tonality.

vs Eletech Ode to Laura – also, bigger and more rounded soundstage expansion, with added texture in mids and with the edge off the treble.  This was a pretty good pair-up.

vs Beat Audio Orbit Saga – the soundstage still has more height/depth, but the imaging is much more precise and holographic, with sounds placed in 3D space around you.  Also, a noticeably blacker background.  The mid-bass punch hits a little stronger, the mids are more natural, and the treble is slightly relaxed as well.  This was a very impressive pair-up.

Between all these cables, Quentin, FT, and Orbit Saga were my favorites with E1k.  You do need to consider pricing in mind.  I wouldn’t suggest buying a cable that costs the same as, or 2x as much as, the IEMs themselves.  So, if you already have FT and Orbit Saga, you know they will work well with E1k.  But if you don’t and find the E1k cable a bit stiff and microphonic, Quentin is a cost-efficient upgrade.  But in general, the stock cable has great synergy with these IEMs, and these IEMs were definitely meant to work best with copper cables.

Source pair-up.

With a sensitivity of 115 dB and an impedance of 45 ohms, E1k are not hard to drive from any source, even though impedance is a little higher than average.  For this test, I used these IEMs with Crystal eartips and the stock cable.

A&K SP4000 (DAR and HDR on) – neutral, reference sound sig with a very clean, transparent, and relatively natural tonality.  Fast, punchy bass, very clean and clear mids, crisp non-fatigue treble.  Soundstage had a good width and more height/depth extension.  In this pair-up, it is very important to enable High Driving Mode, which benefits the DD driver with more texture and smoother tonality in the mids, and also changes the perception of treble by taking the edge off its vivid presentation.

Hiby RS8ii (Turbo on and Adaptive AMP mode) – the same, neutral, reference sound sig with a very clean, clear tonality. The bass has a little more punch, the mids are very transparent, and the treble is crisp and detailed. Here, you absolutely need Adaptive AMP mode, which performs a drastic and very necessary transformation of mid-tonality by adding more texture, giving the sound a more natural presentation, and even adding a bit more resolving smoothness, which affects treble perception with less intensity as well.  The soundstage was similar to SP4k, even with a touch more width.

iBasso DX320Max Ti (Gain 4) – the soundstage expansion is similar to previous pair-ups, wide but with more depth/height.  The tonality here improved with higher gain, which is why I dialed it up to 4.  The sound is very neutral, clean, and clear.  The signature is quite referenced, very resolving, and the tonality is transparent and natural.  There is zero coloring, just a pure, clean, clear, neutral, natural sound flow.  The bass gains a bit of sub-bass-textured rumble, and the treble is also a touch smoother.  The tonality is very pure, clean, and natural, which I continue to repeat, but there is no other way to describe it.

L&P P6 Pro – to my surprise, the soundstage expansion here is more rounded, still a little more depth/height, but the shape of the sound expansion is more rounded.  The sound is still neutral, natural, reference-quality, with a very clean, clear, resolving tonality.  And while the sound is balanced, the mids come a little more forward in their presentation.  The bass is fast and punchy, the mids are naturally revealing, and the treble is crisp, but with the mids slightly more forward, the treble doesn’t sound as intense.  Overall, the sound was a bit more energetic here.

Cayin N6iii w/T201 (Classic Tube mode) – I dialed it up to the smoother/warmer Classic Tube mode.  The sound here was a bit too revealing, still a neutral, reference-sound signature with a very clean, transparent tonality.  But it was brighter in the treble, making the mids more revealing and, on a few tracks, even showing traces of mild sibilance.  Also, the soundstage was a little narrower in comparison to other pair-ups.  This was one of the few pair-ups I didn’t like as much.

Cayin N8iii (Classic Tube and Hyper mode) – since I have this DAP on a short loan now, figured to try this pair-up.  The sound is very clean, clear, neutral, transparent, very fast, and vivid.  The soundstage had more emphasis on depth/height than width, but what stood out here was the revealing, crisp nature of the sound, with a quite vivid presentation.  I switched it to Tube Classic, the warmest mode, and boosted the output with Hyper Mode, which puts it in optimized P+ and Class A+ settings, but the treble was still a bit too crisp for my taste.  Of course, it’s just a pair-up synergy, but similar to N6iii, not sure if it works with E1000.

NiPO A100 – very energetic and revealing sound presentation, even in high gain.  The soundstage expansion here was more rounded, being even wider than in many other DAP pair-ups.  The tuning is still very neutral, reference, zero coloring, more revealing, and quite crisp up top without crossing the fatigue level.  I was able to tolerate it, but it was quite a revealing tuning for my taste.

L&P W4 – here, the tuning was still neutral, reference, very clean and clear, with a more expanded, rounded soundstage.  The bass was a bit more laid-back; the mids were clean, resolving, and natural, with a bit more texture and musicality, while the treble was crisp, energetic, and non-fatiguing.  While treble was a bit more energetic, the balance with the more textured, natural tonality of the mids created a better synergy between this dongle and IEMs.  I enjoyed this pair-up better than with A100.

Conclusion.

Faith Audio E1000 was a great discovery, something I didn’t expect I would enjoy as much because I assumed it would have a colder and more analytical tonality like some of the other single DD IEMs.  It still has a neutral, reference-quality sound signature with a very clean, clear, detailed tonality, but it is natural, transparent, resolving, pure, and, most importantly, non-fatiguing.  The retrieval of details is on a micro-detail level, but I wouldn’t call it analytical.  On the other hand, U1000 tuning was more revealing up top, bringing you closer to that analytical level of detail extraction.  I’m sure there will be fans of either tuning, although U1000 carries a premium price tag due to the more luxurious design.  Either way, sound tuning is always subjective and a matter of personal preference, with some willing to pay a premium for the sound they desire.  Also, if you want more coloring in your sound and a bigger, heftier bass impact, the E1000 isn’t tuned that way.  But if you want a clear, neutral sound, fast retrieval of micro-details, and natural, revealing tonality, Faith Audio E1000 checks all these boxes.  Can’t wait to see what they are going to come up with next!