Audiophilepure

The braiding of the cable isn’t ideal, with some visible gaps, and it occasionally tangles. The cable has a minimal design with grey polished hardware, a small splitter, and a tiny cinch. You can change the adapters by unscrewing and pulling them out.

Overall, the cable feels functional, and you won’t feel the need to replace it, as it pairs well with the IEM. For a premium price tag, I expected a better build, but that’s just me nitpicking, as MOONDROP has done a decent job otherwise.

MOONDROP has built some decent cables recently, and for the Illustrious price, they could have included one of those.

The low end is the Top Pro’s most impressive trait. It reaches deep, has a satisfying amount of sub-bass elevation, and slams when called for. Thanks to the dual DD setup, there’s improved layering and authority compared to Tea Pro. This is not a neutral bass; it’s tuned for weight and energy, but it doesn’t go overboard and feels tight all around.

Midbass is tastefully restrained, preventing any bleed into the lower mids. Compared to Monarch MKII, the Top Pro has a slightly warmer, rounder low end. It may not hit as fast or clean, but it feels more natural and fun in tracks with rolling bass lines. I found myself gravitating toward electronic genres, and I suggest you give Islandman a listen with these. It’s great. The bass has good texture and dynamism to keep things moving, especially with well-mastered tracks.

PlusSound has a proven history and expertise with IEMs, demonstrating its knowledge of high-performance models. Therefore, it would be misguided to consider this merely another example of a cable manufacturer’s IEM. We examined Sonora’s performance and decided to give it a recommended buy award beforehand, so the Volta should not be a slouch either.

Overall, the PlusSound Volta takes a different approach to its Sonora counterpart. It offers a similar resolution, transparency, and layering qualities, but delivers them differently, which is less full-bodied and more neutral. The mid-range is the most different area (obviously), where it takes a lifted upper mid-range approach and less fullness in the lower mid-range.

The Axion has a balanced tuning that doesn’t place too much emphasis on any particular frequency range. It offers a spacious sound with a thick and warm bass and a natural midrange that prioritizes clean timbre.

The midrange exhibits a warm character with a lush and dense lower midrange. The treble has ample energy and extends well.

The Durandal aesthetics are very striking. This is a blend of blue and silver with a titanium nozzle tip, topped with an intricate blend of metals for the rim and faceplate.

At the center of the plate is a medieval longsword, which represents the historical Durandal (Excalibur in French), surrounded by a lattice-like weave and housed under a polished flat glass.

It is incredibly intricate and stylish, one of the more studied examples of good face plate work on an IEM, bested only by 3D-like creations I find favor with such as custom designs from the likes of JH Audio. 

Of course, Nostalgia Audio has a track record in producing unique plate designs with the Tesseract’s anodized aluminum plate and a 3-way angular grid pattern with UV reactive patterning underneath. So, should I be surprised they have not tried something cool with the Durandal? Probably not.

A sharpness in the upper midrange makes female vocals occasionally grating, which could be fatiguing for those sensitive to sibilance. While the added breathiness enhances airiness and liveliness, it can sometimes feel excessive, pushing the midrange into an overly bright presentation.

But vocal nuances are captured well, with clear note definition that highlights subtle details in the performance. The note weight is balanced, avoiding a thin or dry presentation while still keeping enough body for an engaging experience.

Clarity is a strong point, but the vocals can become overbearing due to the strong upper midrange emphasis. This added intensity possibly contributes to the metallic timbre, making the presentation occasionally shouty.

https://www.hifichoice.com/content/bowers-wilkins-pi8

The Pi8 shows that Bowers & Wilkins isn’t simply resting on its laurels – the sound quality is vastly superior to the Pi7, while also providing improvements to the battery life and noise-cancelling features. And, with that smart charging case, these earbuds offer versatile connectivity features that few of its rivals can match. 

The relatively high sensitivity also means the noisy sources will be easily revealed. Whilst an 11-ohm load facilitates high voltage sensitivity, it also means that the Maytak M6 are quite sensitive towards output impedance.

With loudspeakers, the rule of thumb is to keep output impedance 8 times lower than the load, so with the M6, this translates to 1.4 ohms.

One must also keep in mind that these are multi-driver IEMs with non-linear electric impedance, so high impedance drive will interact with them and cause shifts in the frequency response.