The Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite can been seen as “just another neutral-ish” IEM in the market, but taking a step back, it’s a marvel that we have so many options for so many people to get pretty good sound. The Orchestra Lite doesn’t break any ground and has flaws, but it’s hard to complain too much for the money. What flaws does the Orchestra Lite have? Read here.

"Fast forward...a few years and we've reached the point where we've actually reached the point where we can argue we have too many options."

I relate to this so much. It feels like with the in-ear market, the options available are overwhelming. The way I used to narrow the products down was by frequency response graphs vaguely adhering to some target. Eventually, it felt like every other in-ear I was considering was measuring somewhat close to IEF neutral, to the point where I couldn't narrow down options any further than the selection available in one weekend's CanJam visits.

Wow I haven't seen ALO amp and anything Cypher Labs in a long time, nice setup you got there.

Damn, that's quite a setup you got there! Can you tell more about it please?

The picture, sadly, is mostly for show. I couldn’t get the iPod to turn on but the point of the Cypher Labs AlgoRhythm Solo was to bypass the internal iPod DAC to use the AlgoRhythm’s DAC or, even better, use an external DAC connected via coax. It’s hugely nervosa and the internal DAC doesn’t sound very good. The amp is an ALO Continental V2, which uses a mini tube. It seems to emphasize overtones in an interesting way but isn’t very resolving. Both these are about 12 years old by now which is ancient for portable equipment. My Q7 is definitely more competent.

Thanks!

Whew, never seen that Q7 thing before, it sure does look like a beast. Do you strap it to your phone too? I was thinking about a similar setup, but I'm concerned with the cables, being usb on one side and headphones on the other, like, how can such a setup be pocketable with cables on either side?

Yup, connects to my phone with angled USB-C cables.

It’s not…really pocketable. It’s quite heavy so it’s more crossbody bag-able. I haven’t used it for day to day IEM use but it’ll be nice on a plane or hotel room.

I see, what do you use for day do day IEM use then?

AirPod Pros lol

My work commute is a mile walking to the subway and a 15 minute subway ride twice a week at most. I love the Subtonic STORM and Letshuoer Cadenza but spending that much money for…two hours of use a week that I can barely appreciate hasn’t been something I can justify. I bought the Q7 in preparation for more IEM reviews and general lazy use since I think I’m done with my headphone and speaker chains for the foreseeable future.

If there are good and affordable options, it's always a good idea to support local (or close-by) products and manufacturers.