So I received my pair of Hexa’s today (on sale for $67.99 on Amazon) and gotta say, I am quite blown away by the liveliness, detail, sub-bass texture and extension, treble extension, soundstage, imaging/instrument separation, build/fit/comfort, and more.
For reference, I own quite a few other IEMs (Final E5000, Honeydew, Fiio FD3, QKZ x Hbb Khan, Blon Bl-03, Truthear Hola, KBear Rosefinch, Dumpling and Little Q [extremely underrated btw, I own three pairs since they’re $10 and are truly amazing for the price, but that’s for another post]). As you may notice, those are all warm and/or V-shaped, and single dynamic driver IEMs (with the exception being double DD Khan). I wanted a hybrid IEM that would provide with more detail/airiness than what I have already, thinking that I would be sacrificing bass in exchange. And as someone who owns Honeydew’s and loves them for certain music, then you know I love my bass.
I listen to everything from post-punk/art punk, synth pop/dream pop, new wave, neo-psychedelia/classic psychedelic music, ambient, folk (including free folk, avant-folk), experimental rock and other experimental music like Musique Concrete, all kinds of electronic (excluding EDM), jazz, classic rock/prog, trip hop, new age, minimalism, classical, etc. The Hexas can DO IT ALL. In particular, I have been extremely in love with Asia Menor’s new album Enola Gay which I listened to twice with the Hexas and noticed a lot of new details I hadn’t before.
To my great surprise, the bass is still there on the Hexa’s, but they do basically everything else better than the rest of my IEMs. Note I am using the included foam tips because I found the others uncomfortable and difficult to get a good seal, but with the foam tips they seal perfectly and I have been wearing them for 8 hours without fatigue or discomfort, most of the time forgetting they’re on my head. I don’t feel that the foam tips sacrifice much detail since they have a large hole. Isolation is also comparable to ANC.
Take note I am using a +3db low frequency shelf at 220hz for some added midbass/thump through my Qudelix 5k, although the bass boost is really not necessary for everything, mostly just electronic and some rock, and I can pretty confidently say these are my new favorite IEMs and daily drivers. It usually takes me some time to get used to/appreciate IEMs, so I can only deduce that these will continue to sound better and better for me. It is really incredible what you can get in low price ranges these days (Little Q and Rosefinch and Hola for $10, $13, and $16 respectively, the QKZ Khans for around $35 as a sort of modern upgrade on the Bl03 which i still enjoy for it’s timbre, and for less than $80 the FD3 and now, HEXA’s, as well as stuff like the Aria which I owned once but returned even though they were decent).
I may write up a full review once I have spent some more time with them, but I thought I’d contribute another post praising the Hexas. As someone who has stayed away from bright/neutral tuning, I was afraid they would be shouty/fatiguing and/or have anemic bass, but instead they are extremely smooth, musical, with great sound all across the frequency spectrum and finally, more detail that I was looking for, to hear the finer intricacies of a lot of the music I listen to.
Can’t recommend the enough, especially at the discounted price right now. They actually remind me a lot of my HD6xx’s, my all time favorite headphone, even more so than my LCD-2c. The only IEMs really left on my bucket list are the Sony XBA-N3 and Letshouer s12 pro, but I’ll wann sell my E5000 before that because they keep sounding worse and worse to me (extremely dull and way too dark) even though I really liked them at first.
The Hexa sounds like an average In Ear compared to my fav sets. IEMs have come a long way. Really good IEMs with a good source chain will rock your socks off.
There are lots of people who tend to disagree with you. I have final e5000 through a Schiit stack and I think the Hexas sound better, so I’m going to sell the former. Until then I don’t have the money to splurge on anything crazy right now and I definitely think diminishing returns is a real thing after the $50-100 price bracket, not to mention 200-300 which is the most I would ever spend on IEMs, and I just don’t believe there’s anything out there that’s really worth $233 more in sound quality than these $67 Hexas, they really sound near perfect to me, all I ever wanted from IEMs as I use headphones more often anyway and love my Hd6xx, feel free to give your suggestions though.
If you are happy with this, you dont need to upgrade. I have found my optimal tuning and learned to EQ and then upgraded to my perfect IEM.
I mean HEXA is truly great and I can appreciate despite having Anni23 and other multi kilobuck sets.
Money and value are not dependent and hifi has no price
I’m pretty impressed with them.
They are my first of these chi-fi in ears (most of my 'phone listening is a DT880 through a tube amp or DT770 when mobile).
Response across bass frequencies is dead-on for me. The only thing I do for EQ is a small bump around 6-7k (from memory) that balances out the upper mids and treble to my taste.
I liked the foam tips and small hole silicon, the big hole ones lost all bass no matter which size. Bought some spinfit CP155 and they fit my ears better which seems to have increased detail while maintaining a nice frequency balance (this stuff is probably all anatomy dependent).
They’re definitely good enough that I don’t feel any great desire to seek out anything better.
I may try some different tips as well even though the foam ones give me a great fit I probably am missing a bit of detail. I’ve got a bunch flying around, I figure some of the ones from my FIIO FD3 would be worth trying out since they send a huge tip selection. I usually like final e series the best though so I might need to get some more of those, however everyone keeps talking about spinfit for the Hexas, I hear both the W1 and the CP155. Not sure which of the two choices would be best.
Enjoy! I recently got myself a pair of Kiwi Ear’s Cadenzas and I share the same excitement. I am preferring them over everything else I have now, in the honeymoon phase now.
The only IEMs really left on my bucket list are the Sony XBA-N3 and Letshouer s12 pro
I have had both. N3 is one of my all time favourite! s12 pro was impressive but not for me.
How would you describe the N3? I’ve wanted to try it forever but I gotta wait till I save up some cash or sell the E5000, plus you can only get them imported from used resellers from Japan on eBay. But so many people seem to think they’re some of the best ever. And I do like the Sony house sound though I haven’t tried any of their serious audio products, only the mdr-7506 which I have for tracking instruments and consumer stuff (wf and wh-1000xm3s), I enjoy the wh set if I absolutely need ANC which is basically never especially with my iem collection.
I see some listed for sale in head fi. I sold mine to get money which wasn’t a smart decision in itself.
N3 has the sony house sound and very delicious bass. And enough details to not miss out on anything. The fit is bullet which wasn’t the best for me but everything else including the accessories are great. I suck at describing sound but they made me love base, and also discover so many details that I didn’t before, even with er2xr.
Also if I remember well, the stage is narrow n layering of instruments isn’t great. I think it will be noticeable if you get to compare with s12.
Love my cadenzas - for the money, really great all-rounder
My main rn, it’s so damn great value
got the hexa on amazon on the same deal, was a little underwhelmed when I tried it on my laptop, then I thought to use it on my phone and got the conclusion that my laptop’s dac is bad as it sounds way better on my phone
They sound even better through my Qudelix and especially my Schiit than they do through my Apple dongle so I reckon they scale up decently well.
How wide are the nozzles on the Hexa? I have the Truthear Zero’s and they do not fit in my ears at all.
6.5mm. They are wide so I’ve heard it’s an issue for some people unfortunately
Yeah even if you’re not into the balanced sound these get better every time i listen to 'em. huge bass head[here], but everyone said these were amazing and they’re not wrong. got 'em for $64 which seemed like a decent price.
If you haven’t, you should try and eq a bass shelf. Since the dynamic driver is solely dedicated to bass, it takes EQ really well. At least that’s my thinking lol. But it doesn’t sound bloated or distorted at all to my ears when I add some thump and just opens them up even more and makes them much more enjoyable
I made a post about these some weeks ago. I agree, they are amazing and do literally everything so well. I changed the tips and cable and they will be my daily’s for a long time! Whenever you get the s12 pro. Post and let me know your thoughts!
I listen to all those genres you named and I’m intrigued. Guess I’ll give em a look
I just received a pair of these today off an eBay seller, £40 currently playing the Whiplash soundtrack via Tidal - I pad Pro - Dragonfly Cobalt… superb performance value
Looks like you use Qudelix 5k, you mind screenshoting your EQ settings?
And what tips do you use on them? Sometimes I feel like the bass is muddy or it doesn’t seal properly.
I have DESPERATELY tried to enjoy them, mainly because they’re my most expensive IEM’s, but I have enjoyed the CHUv1 must more just because of how comfortable they are.
That’s another question, if you can lmk how you insert them.
And really man, don’t they hurt you :-/
They’re good indeed. Truthear rarely miss. The Hola are the go-to Harman budget set that’s a bit warmer than the 7hz Zero, and both the Truthear Zero models are great too.