7TH ACOUSTICS SUPERNOVA: Bursting With Smooth & Lush Sonic Bliss
Supernova is a cosmic phenomena where a star will end its life cycle with its violent and catastrophic explosion due to intense rising temperature of its core via continuous nuclear fusion for billions of years that was also affected by gravity, and with this final phase, it will undergo into a gravitational collapse that also cause an enormous intensity on its luminosity across the space. The last ever recorded supernovae event in history was in 1987 where a blue supergiant star in a dwarf galaxy called Large Magellanic Cloud exploded, and for more information, this particular galaxy also happens to be a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way where our solar system is situated.
What I have here is an introductory product of an audio boutique brand from the Land of The Emerald Tropic, Indonesia and the audio brand's name is 7TH ACOUSTICS. This company was established in 2021 by an audio enthusiast with some deep interest in IEM acoustic engineering. They previously released some entry-level models, the PROXIMA which is a single driver set-up consisting of one full range BA driver and STARGAZER which is a hybrid configuration consisting of one dynamic driver and two balanced armature drivers. At first, it appears that they cater towards their own audio market due to their booming local audio industry as Indonesian audio enthusiasts are one of the fastest-growing audio communities in the region, and this company seems to be more focused on that regard. But last year, they decided to pivot their business approach that they are now aiming at the bigger international audio market.
What I have here is their midrange model, The 7TH ACOUSTICS SUPERNOVA and this one is priced over US$800/£600. This model was released as a prototype in the last quarter of 2021, and it was showcased at PAPI (Portable Audio Party Indonesia) which is probably Indonesia's biggest audio exhibition event. In 2023, it made its debut towards the international market and then this year, it made its first appearance at CANJAM Singapore which is Southeast Asia's biggest audio exhibition event.
This set has an all-balanced armature driver configuration with a total of 6 on each shell transducer and 7TH ACOUSTICS meticulously chooses the best premium balanced armature drivers from reputable audio solutions.
It uses a SONION vented dual woofer BA driver for its low frequency and I can attest this type of BA driver type (either its a SONION 33 series or 38 series) as it delivers some of the best bass response in a balanced armature driver due to its proprietary AcuPass Technology. The midrange frequencies were handled by a dual full range balanced armature driver from SONION of unspecified model for a detailed and rich sound on vocals and instruments while the high frequencies were operated by a dual Knowles tweeter balanced armature drivers as it delivers a clear, smooth and high fidelity resolution on its treble response.
The drivers were encapsulated in a 3D-printed medical-grade UIEM-type medium-sized resin shell chassis with a lacquered abalone-like pattern on its faceplate panel. The overall design is quite an aesthetically- pleasing to look on it and for an all-BA set, it has vent hole near at the connector area in which allows to escape some air pressure (most likely from the vented dual woofer BA drivers) and to lessen any possibility of occlusion effect in our ears. As this set has an interchangeable feature that you could a detach/attach the cable and replaced it with other third-party cable with different build, material or a type of a termination plug, and it utilises a 0.78mm bi-pin connector as its interlocking mechanism which is proven more stable and easy to fastened.
The stock cable itself is of a high quality and it has premium feel on it as it is a 4-core braided 6N OCC Cryo High Purity Copper with a 4.4mm balanced termination plug provided by CEMA. The cable itself is quite thick, flexible and supple with no microphonic issues at all.
With its UIEM-type profile of its shell's structure, it offers an excellent sealing and comfortability to my lugholes that it is able to block some external noises from the outside. Therefore, I put up a high mark on its passive noise isolation score.
The 7TH ACOUSTIC SUPERNOVA is fully-packed with quality accessories inside of its packaging box.
Here are the following contents that we can find inside:
- Pair of 7TH ACOUSTIC SUPERNOVA IEM Transducers.
- Stock cable.
- Circular metal storage case
- 3 pairs of balanced bore silicone ear tips of different standard sizes.
- 5 pairs of Final ear tips of different standard sizes.
- Cleaning cloth
- Warranty card
With an impedance of 15 Ohms, this set is quite sensitive that it can be amplified optimally by devices with normal gain mode power output but this one scales well even more on better devices with better power output like headphone DAC/Amp dongles, DAPs (Digital Audio Players) and Desktop DAC/Amplifier given that its termination plug is a 4.4mm balanced. Even in optimal power output, this set can deliver a dynamic and a full-range sound quality.
To determine its tonal profile, this one has a mild U-shaped sound signature with a touch of warmish-balanced tonality on it. The low and high frequencies are slightly elevated on the overall sonic performance while the midrange remains to be neutral in presentation.
(This FR graph was provided by [USER=554565]@kesobie[/USER] a.k.a. OBIODIO, credits to him)
LOWS/BASS:
SONION vented woofer BA (Balanced Armature) drivers are known for their singular performance and these dual drivers have those qualities. For a woofer BA driver, it delivers a punchy, clean and has a slam sound that gives some sense of physicality and ample tactility on its general bass response. For sure that it won't still be able to match the depth, density and impactful bass quality of a good quality dynamic driver but the vented woofer BAs’ performance are notably an improvement compared to other BA woofer drivers of previous generation.
There's some perceivable sub-bass presence. I decently felt some of its sub bass presence as there were some reverberations generated from instruments like synthesisers, drum machines and low tuned bass guitars and double bass. The mid bass section of this one has a texture that will give an ample note weight on some bass-clef instruments and vocals. Bass kick drums have a thudding and sustaining sound while bass guitars have resonant and rasping sound, and double bass have a more sombre and also resonant sounding though it is lacking a bit of weight on it. On male vocals, bass vocals have enough roundness and has a ringing presence albeit it has a little bit lacking of dark tone, volume and depth in which which bass-baritones fares a bit better on this one as it has an almost exact colouration and vocal register to sound at least smooth, rich and weighty with enough deep on their almost dusky voice quality.
MIDRANGE:
While the midrange of this one is just a little bit recessed on its overall presentation across its frequency range, but it has a smooth, well-balanced with ample texture on its note weight due to some warmth presence and lushness to sound very natural with some energy enough to highlight some vocal types and instruments to sound a bit more airy and crisp. This is probably one of the most organic sounding all-BA driver configuration sets that I've ever listened to for a long time as it gives that almost natural tonal colour on both vocals and instruments.
On male vocals, baritones have smooth, warm and plushiness on their vocal bearing that is quite versatile to all types of baritone vocals from noble baritones up to the light baritones. Tenors have that brassy, dazzling with plumpness on their vocals as it portrays the agile and lightness of the leggeros, a tad bright and graceful sound of lyric tenors, the rich and brassiness of spinto tenors (Luciano Pavarotti is a prime example that possesses this kind of vocal register), a powerful and ringy sound on dramatic tenor and even a richer, more powerful and well-modulated sounding heldentenors. Countertenors sound emotive, tender and velvety as it is an exact sound characteristic that these types of vocals should have. Concurrently on female vocals, contraltos have its deep, warm and rich dark tone from their chesty vocals while mezzo-sopranos have its velvety and golden voice with some smoothness on them. And as sopranos, coloraturas have clear and lofty vocals but in an ideal timbre, it should have a bit gleam on them in which SUPERNOVA seems quite limited on this one but on the rest of other types of sopranos, lyric sopranos have bell-like sound and dramatic sopranos have silky vocals with some metallic presence on it.
Regarding instruments, on the strings, guitars have a balanced and at the same time, a midrange-y sound with some enough richness and even tone with an articulate clarity on every strumming and plucking on its strings, violins have a lustrous and sensuous sound on every motion on its bowstrings, and cellos have full, sonorous and sweet sound on them. As for brasses, trumpets have a sonorous and full sound, trombones have a solid and powerful sound and horns have that resounding and full sound with some mellowness on them. On woodwinds, concert flutes a more mellow and rich sound rather than light and airy, while piccolos sounds a graceful and yet eerily as it has a less brilliant sounding, clarinets have lustrous and mellow sound and saxophones have warm and sombre sound on them. The percussion instruments like snares, tom-toms, field/tenor drums and kettledrums, snares have hard and clear sound while tom-toms have warm and resonant sound, field drums have sonorous and full sound, and then kettledrums have substantial, mellow and round sound.
Apparently, pianos seem to be on the mellow tone as it has dark, rich and sweet notes on its note articulation. As if that you listened to antique German grand pianos which are known for their richness and warmth on its resonance notation.
HIGHS/TREBLE:
The treble response on this one is definitely pleasant, inoffensive and smooth with sufficient clarity. It appears that it sounds less peaky as if the upper-mids and presence section appears to be smoothen down that the terms “sibilance”, “shrill" and “stridency" will be out of question regarding the treble register of this one. Although there's a noticeable accentuated upper-mids and presence treble to give some emphasis for clarity and definition, crisp attacks on instruments and pointing up vocal rendition.
The brilliance part of the SUPERNOVA appears to have a moderate airy extension with enough intensity on its sparkle. While this is not the most airy treble extension that I have encountered for an all-BA set, I think it's quite decent that I can enjoy its overall sonority. As for instruments, cymbals sound lustrous and soughing while hi-hats have a short buzzing sound but it produces less sizzle, glockenspiels have bell-like and lustrous sound, and then celestas sound mellow and velvety.
SOUNDSTAGE, IMAGING AND OTHER TECHNICALITIES:
The SUPERNOVA is relatively very competent that it can project a fairly spacious sound field dimensions as I perceived its lateral width span as above-average to wide one, good height reach and an immersive depth. Overall, this one gives me that moderate roomy head room within my aural sphere.
The stereo imaging of this one is quite an atmospheric and omni-directional one as I was able to panned out the placement of vocals and instruments in a sonic canvas. While it has an excellent stereo imaging performance, its layering and separation aspects might be its less stellar if I compared to other sets with similar driver configuration as it's not the most well-defined layering and its separation is rather decent in terms of spacing that I've listen upon to but acceptable enough as it was able to execute a satisfactory playback from some of the complex multi-instrumental tracks like jazz and philharmonic orchestra.
Cohesiveness of its multi-BA driver configuration is excellent as it executes effortlessly without any phasing issues nor distortions on its overall sonic performance. The resolution capabilities of this one is sustainable on how it highlight the macro-dynamics to have a solid note weight albeit its micro-detail definition is rather less sharper and incisive to extract some nuances, details and other subtleties from an an audio track like vocal ends, reverb tails and notation attacks.
PEER COMPARISONS:
DUNU SA6 MK II
- DUNU's all-balanced armature driver set-up IEMs for their midrange segment in the audio market and it is a second model of the SA6 series.
- It is also arrayed with 6 premium balanced armature drivers and encapsulated in a resin shell chassis.
- It has a bass switch option for improving its bass’ quality and quantity.
- While it's also pretty stacked with quantifying amounts of accessories, its stock cable has a modular termination plug option.
- It has balanced-neutral sound signature if the bass switch was deactivated, it has punchy and tactile bass response, a more neutral but well-textured and natural-sounding midrange that makes it more versatile on vocal and instruments just like the SUPERNOVA and a tad brighter and more airy treble response.
- On technical aspects, it has a tad wider sound/speaker stage projection, better layering and separation, and also, it has more resolving as it has better micro-detail rendering.
SYMPHONIUM AUDIO METEOR
- Another boutique brand and it happens that it also has similar driver configuration like the SUPERNOVA but a bit less pricey.
- It has a quad balanced armature driver configuration and it is encased in solid aluminium alloy.
- This one is quite nifty in terms of the amount of inclusions inside of a compact packaging box, and its stock cable is also a premium one as it was provided by Nightjar Acoustics which is also a boutique audio company from Singapore.
- The sound profile of this one is a U-shaped warmish-balanced tonality.
- Compared to the SUPERNOVA, this one is less punchy as it has less mid bass texture, similar warmth but it has tad more energy on its midrange, and also smooth but apparently a bit more airy treble response.
- Technicality-wise, it projects an average to above average sound/speaker, a bit separation and layering but its stereo imaging presentation is rather a typical 2-dimensional, and a bit blunted on its micro-detailing definition.
- And also, it is a bit harder to drive compared to SUPERNOVA.
SOFTEARS STUDIO 4
- This is SOFTEARS’ initial-level midrange model and it is much cheaper than SUPERNOVA.
- It has 4 balanced armature drivers that were encapsulated in a more compact UIEM-type medical-grade resin shell chassis.
- In terms of inclusions, while including some quality accessories like pelican case and good quality stock, it only has a single type of ear tips that we can only inside from its packaging box.
- This one has a neutral-reference type of tuning which is almost uncoloured tonality.
- It has a well-balanced bass response, a neutral yet well-balanced, natural and detailed midrange, and a sufficiently crisp, lustre and decent air extension on its treble response.
- On its technical capabilities, while it has an above-average sound/speaker stage size, its separation and layering capability are a bit superior compared to SUPERNOVA.
CAMPFIRE AUDIO ANDROMEDA (Old Variant, Pre-2020) (DEMO)
- It has a cosmic-theme model name on it, and it also has a similar driver configuration like the SUPERNOVA.
- It has 5 balanced armature drivers and CNC-milled aluminium shell structure along with their proprietary TEAC technology inside.
- It uses a LITZ silver-plated copper cable with a 3.5mm termination plug.
- It has a mild U-shaped sound signature with some added warmth on its overall tonality.
- It has a punchy bass response but less impactful, a warm and a bit energetic midrange, a brilliant and a tad edgy treble response but more airy sounding.
- Technicality-wise, it has a wider sound/speaker stage, well-layered soundscape with good separation on them and also, pretty-well resolving.
- This one is quite picky in terms of source due to sensitivity and also the perceived “BA-timbre” is evidently more present that might be detrimental to some listeners wanting a more natural and not too digitally-enhanced sounding one.
NOBLE AUDIO KATANA (DEMO)
- An old flagship model from Noble Audio, and it also has an all-BA driver set-up.
- Inside of its well-crafted light aluminium alloy shell chassis, it has 9 custom-made balanced armature drivers along with cross.
- Its stock cable is rather too average for TOTL-flagship IEM as it's a bit leaner in terms of texture but it is less prone from entanglement.
- It has a balanced-neutral tonal profile which is also less coloured sounding compared to SUPERNOVA.
- It has a more rumbly but tighter bass response, a more neutral and a bit leaner midrange presentation but it has good transparency and energy which is good for some vocals and instruments, and it has a bit brighter, more clarity and it has a more airy extension on its treble response compared to the SUPERNOVA.
- On its overall technical performance, the KATANA has a perceived above-average sound/speaker stage, it also has a good separation and well-defined layering on its soundscape.
To sum up my overall assessment about this product, the 7TH ACOUSTICS SUPERNOVA certainly has its own tonal character that stands out among its contemporaries as it is one of the few sets that sounds natural yet coloured and fun sounding that truly captivates our ears. Another strong asset of this one is how organic and almost accurate tonal colour on how it renders most of the vocals and instruments as if they sound almost life-like that give me that harmonious feel within my listening session.
While this set has some of its limitations like treble quality and some technical capabilities, its remarkable tonal qualities will outweigh those concerns to some listeners who just want a smooth, natural and engaging sounding set with some fun factor on it with good physical aspects like build quality and a substantial amount of premium inclusions.
7TH ACOUSTICS SUPERNOVA is now available on selected online audio shops worldwide, I'll provide some links below.
ELISE AUDIO
BLOOM AUDIO
THE HANGOUT
SPECIFICATION:
MODEL: 7TH ACOUSTICS SUPERNOVA
IMPEDANCE: 15Ω
SENSITIVITY: **UNSPECIFIED**
FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 5Hz – 24KHz
CABLE LENGTH: 1.2m
PIN TYPE: 0.78mm 2-PIN CONNECTOR
PLUG TYPE: 4.4mm
DRIVER UNIT(S): (6) BALANCED ARMATURE DRIVER(S)
CONS:
● Its hypoallergenic resin shell structure is well-built as it feels quite solid.
● That abalone design on its faceplate panel looks aesthetically-appealing.
● Despite its size, it offers a comfortable fitting and also, it seals well.
● Inclusion of a premium CEMA cable as its stock cable.
● Pretty well-stocked with accessories inside of its packaging box.
● It has a well-done fun and coloured tuning that makes it pleasurable to listen.
● Perhaps one of the most tonally well-balanced sounding for a set with some colouration of its tuning.
● A punchy and impactful bass response for a woofer BA driver-equipped set.
● Natural sounding bass-clef instruments.
● Sufficient warmth on its midrange presentation.
● Relatively smooth, lush and rich sounding male vocals.
● Excellent timbre rendition on most instruments especially on brasses, percussives and most string-type ones.
● Smooth and gentle treble response, a good recommendation for treble-sensitive folk.
● Not a hint of sibilance, piercing, shrill and harshness on its overall sound quality.
● Good with lateral span and depth on its perceived sound/speaker stage size.
CONS:
● Bass volume might be unsatisfying to some adherent bass heads.
● Absolutely not for tonal aficionados who want a neutral sound profile.
● Treble heads might find its treble response a bit veiled and lethargic on their own liking, and also less airy extension.
● Less impressive or just a passable layering and separation capabilities for a midrange set.
● Wishing for a modular feature with its stock cable.
TRACKS TESTED: ( * = 16-bit FLAC, ** = 24-bit FLAC, *'* = MQA, '*' = DSD, *'= .WAV)
Alison Krauss -When You Say Nothing At All *
Jade Wiedlin - Blue Kiss**
Led Zeppelin - When The Levee Breaks **
Mountain - Mississippi Queen *
Queen - Killer Queen **
Guns N' Roses - Patience *'*
Eric Clapton - Tears in Heaven '*'
Sergio Mendes- Never Gonna Let You Go '*'
Pearl Jam - Daughter **
Roselia - Hidamari Rhodonite *
Assassin - Fight (To Stop The Tyranny)*
Celtic Frost- Visual Aggression *
New Order - Blue Monday *
The Corrs- What Can I do (unplugged version) *
Jimi Hendrix Experience - Voodoo Child *
The Madness- Buggy Trousers *
Metallica - Motorbreath **
Mariah Carey- Always Be My Baby *
Destiny's Child - Say My Name *
Malice Mizer- Au Revoir *
Mozart - Lacrimosa *
New York Philharmonic Orchestra - Dvorak- Symphony 9 " From the New World." *
Eva Cassidy - Fields of Gold (Sting cover)*
Michael Jackson - Give In To Me *
Exciter - Violence and Force *
Diana Krall - Stop This World **
Debbie Gibson - Foolish Beat *'*
The Sisters of Mercy – Lucretia My Reflection**
Suzanne Vega – Luka **
Lauren Christy – Steep *
Ottoman Mehter - Hucum Marsi *
Diana Damrau - Mozart: Die Zauberflöte*
Type O Negative - Black No.1 *
Felix Ayo - Vivaldi: Presto **
Three Tenors - Nessum Dorma *
Mercyful Fate - Witches' Dance *
P.S.
I am not affiliated to 7TH ACOUSTICS nor receive monetary incentives and financial gains as they provide me a review unit for an exchange of factual and sincere feedback from yours truly.
Once again, I would like to send my gratitude to MR. STEPHEN SYNANTA of 7TH ACOUSTICS and also, NEIL NIÑO CLARK a.k.a. Practiphile for providing this review unit. I truly appreciate their generosity and trust towards me and other reviewers.
Comments
Post a Comment