Quill Audio Karma

Sound Analysis w/Eartips selection.

I analyzed Karma sound performance using SP4000, while playing a variety of test tracks, such as Agnes Obel’s “The Curse”, Sandro Cavazza’s “So much Better” (Avicii remix), C-Bool’s “Never Go away”, Ed Sheeran “Shape of you”, Alan Walker “Darkside”, Galantis “Hunter”, Iggy Azalea “Black widow”, Indila “Boite en argent”, Dua Lipa “Love Again”, Counting Crows “Big yellow taxi”, Bob Marley “Jamming”, David Elias “Vision of her”, Michael Jackson “Dirty Diana”, and SaberZ “Without your love”. Out of habit and given its use of DD driver, I had Karma on burn-in for about 150 hours before I started collecting my impressions.

Unlike the majority of my previous IEM reviews, I was told ahead of time that Karma tuning is highly dependent on the eartips selection, and that the Eletech Baroque Stage and Symbio Orange Peel eartips included with the brand were not randomly selected and play a very important role in shaping the sound of these IEMs. It’s true with all IEMs: the selection of eartips is always crucial for any universal in-ear monitor and will significantly affect the sound, particularly the bass impact and treble energy, depending on the seal. The insertion depth, often controlled by the eartips’ design, will also affect the soundstage expansion and imaging. And while eartips impressions are subjective and will be based on the anatomy of your ears, I heard from others whose impressions aligned with mine. So, let me first dive into the sound analysis of Karma using its stock eartips, and then a few others.

Karma w/Baroque Stage (wide bore opening)

I hear a U-shaped sound signature with a smoother, warmer tonality. Deep, well-controlled bass, with a more rounded, average-speed attack, and slightly extended and still well-controlled decay, giving the low end a very authoritative and non-exaggerated weight, with a textured, more emphasized rumble, and softer, fuller-body impact. Mids are neutral, smooth, naturally detailed, with plenty of body without being too thick, and still offer plenty of detail despite a slightly pulled-back presentation. The neutral, naturally colored, softer presentation of the lower mids is compensated by a more forward presentation of the upper mids, balancing to give vocals and instruments their natural, fuller-bodied tonality without compromising detail retrieval. The treble has more presence in the mid-treble, which gives the upper frequencies a more relaxed presentation while still carrying a delicate sparkle that, along with the upper-mids, helps retrieve details.

The technical performance still stands out with a big, rounded, immersive soundstage expansion that makes you feel like you are at a live concert a few rows in front of the stage, with rather impressive 3D-like imaging, despite the sound being smoother and warmer. With these eartips, and due to a more laid-back, relaxed sound presentation, the layering and separation are average, rather than offering more air and precision in the sharper separation of sounds, vocals, and instruments. There is absolutely no congestion or muddiness in the sound, especially given the fantastic soundstage expansion and imaging, but the layering itself still has average separation, with everything easily distinguished in the mix.

Karma w/Symbio Orange Peel (narrow bore opening)

The sound now shifts more toward a W-shaped sound signature, with more transparent, revealing tonality. It was almost like someone flipped a crossover switch, changing the tuning and overall sound presentation. The bass remains deep, well-controlled, but it sounds tighter and faster. Its deep, extended, textured rumble is now complemented by a stronger, punchier, faster mid-bass attack, giving the sound a faster pace and improved low-end layering and articulation. Mids are still neutral, natural, but with tighter decay of bass notes, the perception of lower mids is literally “more neutral”, with a bit less coloring and more transparency. Upper mids remain the same, but have improved clarity. Resolution and detail retrieval improve due to greater transparency in the sound and a slight change in treble. Don’t expect a boost in treble, but you gain more sparkle and a bit more airiness, which also helps with layering and separation of the sounds.

The soundstage remains the same, as expanded, immersive, and with excellent imaging relative to how sounds spread in space. But the layering and separation of sounds did improve, giving you tighter presentation and more precision. Overall, with these eartips, the sound is a bit less colored than with Baroque Stage, which changes the overall tonal balance and creates a more W-shaped sound signature. The sound won’t become harsher or more analytical, but it is more technical for those who like to analyze the music, vs. being more natural and smoother with Baroque, for those who want to relax and feel the music.

Next, I wanted to try a few other eartips to see which direction they would shift Karma’s sound tuning.

AZLA Origin (wider bore opening) – these have become one of my favorite eartips lately, due to their wider-than-average bore opening, longer stem to push IEMs a bit out of my ears, and average-softness cap to provide a great, secure fit and seal. With these eartips on Karma, I hear a “hybrid” performance between the Baroque Stage and Orange Peel eartips. First of all, with the shells pushed slightly out of my ears, the soundstage expanded, becoming more holographic and reaching a 3D level of spacing. The sound signature was closer to W-shaped, with just a slight hint of mild U-shaped tuning. Sub-bass remains deep and textured, with plenty of weight, and the mid-bass has the speed and decay that are literally smack in the middle of what I hear with the other two eartips. The attack of notes is faster, and decay is a little shorter when compared to Baroque, giving the sound more speed and the bass more articulation, but it is not as fast and snappy as I hear it with Orange Peel, which still gives you a hint of that laidback presentation. As a result, lower mids gain a little more transparency while retaining smoothness, with improved clarity in the upper mids relative to Baroque but a bit more coloring relative to Orange Peel. And the same with treble: I hear a similarly relaxed presentation of the treble as with Baroque, but a bit more sparkle and airiness, like I hear it with Orange Peel. So far, these are my favorite eartips with Karma.

AZLA Crystal (wider bore opening) – these have not just a wider bore opening and wider cap shape, but also a more springy, wider cap, which created a tighter seal in my earcanal. In this combination, I hear a deep bass rumble and a slightly faster bass attack, creating a faster sound pace. But at the same time, the decay of bass notes was a bit longer, creating the perception of fuller-bodied lower mids, with more coloring and a closer-to-U-shaped sound signature with smoother mids, similar to what I heard before with Baroque eartips. Treble had extra sparkle and airiness here, giving upper frequencies more definition, which, along with deeper bass, helped shift the sound signature more toward a U-shaped profile. The soundstage was as big and holographic as I’ve heard it with Baroque Stage and Orange Peel eartips, but I still find Origin eartips give me the most 3D space expansion.

SpinFit W1 (narrow bore opening) – with a softer silicone material and a different olive-shaped cap tip, I was curious how these narrow-bore eartips would affect the sound relative to Orange Peel. W1 introduced its own unique sound characteristics and flavor to Karma. The sound is definitely faster, snappier, and more articulate, being very similar to Orange Peel. The bass is deep, with extra rumble and stronger, faster mid-bass impact, with shorter, snappier decay. These definitely improved and added more low-end impact. Mids sound more neutral, less colored, having a similar level of transparency, which I found with Orange Peel eartips. I would even go so far as to say that vocals with W1 sound a bit drier and more revealing, showing improved detail retrieval due to more resolving upper mids. The treble here was more relaxed, similar to Baroque Stage eartips. That combination also made layering and separation of the sound closer to what I’m hearing with Baroque eartips, but not as precise, with extra layers of air, the way I heard it with Orange Peel. Furthermore, the soundstage expansion gained a bit more depth, with a tiny reduction in width. The overall sound tuning was closer to a W-shaped, balanced sound.

Either way, the most important point of this sound analysis is that Karma is very sensitive to eartips selection, and this is not just a part of the difference in our ear/earcanal anatomy, but as intended by design. The AERO chamber design is sensitive to the selection of eartips and the size of their bore openings, which noticeably affect the sound signature and tuning of these IEMs. Without a doubt, eartips selection is very important for the comfort of IEMs wear; material selection, which affects the absorption and reflection of sound waves; and insertion depth, based on the shape of the cap and the depth of the stem, which affects the soundstage expansion. But in the case of Karma, more than ever, the bore opening of eartips will also directly affect the sound signature and tonality of these IEMs, creating two unique tunings.

Cable Pair-up.

I’m aware that some people are skeptical about cables’ 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.

Eletech Ode to Laura – I hear improved imaging, while the overall soundstage expansion remains the same. Also, a little more transparency in mids. But overall, the changes are not drastic.

PWA FirstTimes – I hear some improvement in the transparency of mids, with a bit less coloring and better detail retrieval, but again, nothing drastic.

HanSound Kunpeng – After OTL and FT, this was the next cable I tried, and the changes were more noticeable with this one. Aside from a more 3D imaging, and more clarity and higher resolution of mids, the bass performance scaled up with more textured, physical rumble I was able to “feel”, and also improvement in layering and separation of the sounds.

HanSound Quentin – Here, the sound was nearly identical to the stock cable, and even the L/R separation got a bit narrower. This wasn’t the best pair-up.

LL Venom – Based on the pair-up synergy of Kunpeng, I was expecting a similar level of improvement. And, indeed, I do hear more clarity and less coloring in mids here, and more rumble in sub-bass. But the imaging didn’t improve over the stock cable, and I didn’t hear the same level of improvement in layering and sound separation as with Kunpeng. This is a good pair-up, no doubt about it, but I preferred Kunpeng better.

EA Ares 10 – This pair-up was too similar to the stock cable. I’m just hearing a little more rumble with Ares 10; otherwise, not much of a difference.

EA Dionysus – Very similar to the stock cable as well, except for the soundstage shrinking in the width, with the sound becoming more intimate in space “expansion”.

Personally, I was more than happy with a stock cable pair-up when testing Karma. If you already have Kunpeng, try it; this pairing was very impressive. But if you are on a budget and want the best bang for the buck, you don’t need to spend 2x-3x as much on an upgrade cable; I would rather recommend getting more eartips instead.