AFUL - MagicOne

I suggest the Aful MagicOne. The balance armature (BA) bass has less of a leading edge attack which in turn makes you focus on all of the string and wind instruments and vocals. The bass is nice and very present, yet the bass takes a bit of a back stage relative to all of the rest in classical music. I also love the way that BAs present the details. Note that the MagicOne, like other BA IEMs, is a non-vented IEM which might cause inner ear pressure issues. I and others have found that the Tangzu Tang Sancai Balanced eartips prevent inner ear pressure issues. Anyway, just my two cents for what they are worth.

I love the 7Hz Zero 2 for watching movies. The Zero 2 smoother bass since the leading edge attack of the bass notes is softened. Even though I hear all of the bass, the smoother bass makes it much easier for me to focus on and enjoy the midrange. There is a nice dip in the Zero 2's upper midrange / lower treble region. This dip makes the upper midrange and treble sound more enjoyable for me when watching movies since this reduces any harshness in the movie's audio mix. Once again, this makes it easier to focus on the midrange. The Zero 2 is a budget IEM which you might want to try. Another more expensive IEM which I really enjoy when watching movies is the Aful MagicOne.

You are mighty welcome! The best photo of Greta is your photo in which you did a fine job of capturing the somewhat ethereal sound quality which the Aful MagicOne adds to the overall listening experience. The MagicOne still is the only IEM which I have been able to fall asleep to while I am listening to it. I call that magic. If you wish, please contact me privately about my Cadenza filter mod for measurements. I am really interested in what you all think.

Yeah, I bought mine for 56 USD during last 11/11.

Pretty much anything in the 200+ market is going to have a significant bass boost. I think the most bass light of the mid fi hybrids is the Cadenza4. It is very bass light, and presents with lighter bass than the graph suggests. I wouldnt pay full price for it. Wait for it to go on sale, and use a 20% coupon on the official Amazon store, and you can get it for under $150. Going a lot cheaper, the EA500 (non LM) is also very bass light, but treble heavy. The DUNu Kima2 might be a better alternative, with slightly less treble energy. The Rosetechnics/Rose Elsa Star City5 is a very neutral IEM, but some have said they did a silent re-tune to it, and added, you guessed it, more sub-bass shelf. Thankfully they are not bank breaking. The AFUL MagicOne is also fairly bass lean. But its a single BA set, and its also non-vented, so it may be a bit uncomfortable to some. Also they regularly go on sale for about half off. Wait for that. As a collectors set they are SUPER unique. Also the AFUL Performer 8...its almost a flat line. Its also nearly $400. LOL! The BQEYZ Frost is another great bass light set that doesnt over emphasize the treble in an absurd way. Also most of the Softears IEM's are generally not overly bass emphasized. But I cant recall which model i listened to. OH! And i almost forgot, all things Etymotic. For a long long time they were the "studio meta". But the fit is...unique.

MagicOne are (one of) the most relaxing, easygoing IEM on the market, and I am gonna die on this hill!

Not the Wyvern Abyss actually. It looks so much better in photos than it does IRL in most lighting. Without a really strong light source, it just looks black. With a strong light it looks quite glittery and a bit cheap. Still an 8/10 in perfect lighting conditions though. It's hard to say which is my favourite. Some top picks are Aful MagicOne, Ikko OH10, Simgot EA1000 and EPZ Q1.

Do you notice a slight lack of cohesion to the sound of the Performer 5? I do and it's the one thing I dislike about them. I mainly use mine for monitoring because the extension both ends is excellent and they are pretty neutral (on the warm side), but I find when I listen to music on them for more than about an hour, I start noticing what I describe as a "thready" or "digital" kind of sound, where certain frequency bands stand out as more distinct from each other. It's not like instrument separation, but rather where a single instrument will sound separated from itself in certain frequency bands. I'm curious about the Performer 8, but wondering if it has this same characteristic. I noticed that the FR graphs for Afuls tend to have a characteristic waviness along the top of the eargain region, which I think comes from how they do their crossovers, and I suspect this is what I'm hearing. I also have the Explorer and the MagicOne. Possibly because they have fewer drivers and simpler crossovers, I don't notice this effect with either of those. I really like the MagicOne in pariticular. It sounds very different to all my other IEMs: very relaxing and midrange-oriented. Kind of like the QKZ HBB in character, except where that one is extremely warm/bassy with recessed vocals, the MagicOne is very neutral, but with quite a soft character to the sound. Transients are smoothed out, yet somehow it has exceptionally good imaging. I also thought it was a bit overpriced at launch so ignored it for a while, but it was absolutely my best buy of the 11/11 sales. Also agree that Aful are the most consistently comfortable IEMs. I have a few others with similarly good comfort like the EPZ Q1 / Q1 Pro, but Aful seem to do it very consistently. And especially they are far ahead of the competition when it comes to cramming lots of drivers into a small and ergonomic shell. Also, I'm fairly sensitive to unvented IEMs and the MagicOne is the first completely unvented IEM I've tried where it hasn't bothered me, and the pressure seems to equalise out fairly quickly. It's better than the Juzear 41t which actually *is* vented, just not fully.

I have both of these and they have basically complete opposite sound signatures. The MagicOne isn't bright. It's more midrange focused, slightly warm (but not bassy) and quite soft-sounding. It also has very good imaging despite not having fairly subdued treble. The S12 on the other hand is v-shaped with quite a lot of bass, which is very clean because of the planar driver, and a *lot* of treble. Overall it's very bright and highly resolving, but can get a bit fatiguing after a while. The MagicOne is very relaxing and neutral-sounding without being boring. The only reason it's not in my top 5 IEMs is that it's unvented, so can have some issues with air pressure in the ear canals. It's my 3rd unvented IEM and out of the 3, it's the least problematic. I find it generally comfortable, but I wouldn't use it walking around outside, as that would most likely cause issues with the seal leading to constant channel imbalances (which is what I've found with the other 2). On a graph, the MagicOne looks fairly similar to the Truthear Hexa, but the Hexa is simultaneously more of a boring-neutral sound, a bit peaky in the treble and lacking in bass incisiveness. The MagicOne is much smoother sounding, but it has a very noticeable "softness" to its timbre that isn't unpleasant, but does make it sound more coloured. The Hexa isn't a bright IEM either, but it's more incisive in the treble than the MagicOne is. If you're specifically looking for bright, the Moondrop Stellaris is like the S12 with flat bass, and sounds a bit more resolving. This is the one to get if you want a resolution beast and don't care about anything else. But it's far too bright for most people. Another good bright IEM is the Simgot EA500 (the original, not the LM), but again it's a bit too bright for most people, though more balanced than the Stellaris. It's also doesn't have any planar timbre, so it sounds a bit more organic and correct for acoustic music, but it's still a very fast and resolving driver for a dynamic. It has excellent soundstage and imaging. The Moondrop LAN is perhaps a more sensible all-rounder bright-neutral option that's bright without pushing it into fatiguing territory, although it doesn't get close to the technicalities of the Stellaris or EA500.

You can have soundstage and imaging without piercing treble, but in general, more treble will always enhance the effect, so brighter IEMs tend to have better imaging. An interesting counter-example I found is the Aful MagicOne has a very "soft" sound, especially in transients, with quite rolled-off upper treble. Transients are very important localisation cues. In spite of that, it has very good imaging. It just goes to show that these rules of thumb are simplifications of something more complicated, that just happen to work most of the time. BTW, the EA500 I was referring to is the original analogue version. Not the LM version either, which adds a lot more bass and ruins the soundstage effect with the stock tuning, though it still has good imaging. I haven't heard the DSP version. The EA500 is indeed very bright.

I like my MagicOne. It's good for when I want to listen to music in the background while I work since it has such a neutral, mild sound signature. Plus, the snowflake design makes it great for coordinating with certain outfits.

So, I clearly have a bit of a thing for Aful products! Their company philosophy is basically to provide the highest quality product for the lowest price possible, and in my opinion they do an excellent job. And while that makes me sound like a total shill, I’ve never spoken with Aful and all these sets were purchased with my own money. Another thing I’ve got a thing for is ranking stuff. So the album is arranged in order of my favorite set first. I’ll give a brief summery of my impressions here: 1. Performer 8- The best micro detail and tonality under $500. One of my favorite IEMs ever, they have a vocal forward sound with a touch of warmth. 2. Performer 5+2- Soft “v” sound, excellent for genres that rely on lots of subbass. Impactful midbass, and best soundstage on an Aful set. 3. Cantor- A bright neutral sound. Easily the best resolution with a unique, deep soundstage that allows for an “out-of-head” sound sensation. 4. Performer 5- An excellent option for those that may find the P5+2 a touch bright. I typically prefer BA treble myself. 5. Explorer- One of the best bassy, new meta tuned options around $100. 6. MagicOne- Well, it is magic to get that kind of range from one BA! A little overpriced at launch, but an excellent deal for $70 if you’re looking for a neutral set under $100. I’ll also say Aful makes some of the most comfortable IEMs on the market. If anyone wants to know anything else about the fam let me know!

https://preview.redd.it/2dpgxic909ee1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b72d203ed7b40c3ae2a17f222feb1e952d507f8a I use these tips for the MagicOne. They have amazing ventilation, but are a tad pricy. [Tanchjim T-APB T300 tips](https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_m0ucYD1)

tl;dr - I want an iem that is good for critical listening (staying true to mix) and live stage monitoring (good inst. seperation), under $150 budget if possible. Side grade is okay. I'm relatively satisfied with how Magicone sounds, but I'm nit-picking certain characteristics. I prefer Neutral-leaning warm. slight fun is okay but too much will ruin what's good. I've tried the MagicOne and I definetly love how these sound. Then I tried Hexa and now i'm somewhat dissatisfied with both of em lol, though I still slightly prefer the Magicone. I want essentially best of both worlds: Hexa's subtle sub-bass presence Magicone's mid-bass presence Hexa's mid detail (honestly tie with Magicone) Magicone's instrument separation (this might have to do with the piercy 6k-8k that the Magicone has, which I don't like too much, but it seemed to be the difference of instrument details and separation between the Hexa and Magicone) Hexa's volume capability (I say this because Magicone seems to be a bit harder to drive, and has lower volume upper limit before facing distortion, especially in the lower bass) I've set my eyes on Letshuoer S08 for my next play-testing, but I want to see what any of you have to say about other iems, that are more expensive but still has the tuning profile that the Magicone has. /// Some story, and my 2 cents on the iems I've tried so far So I posted about a week ago here getting recommendations for iem under $150 and asked you guys to chime in on the most popular iems recommendations I read in the subreddit: supermix4, mp145, and s12 pro I recieved over 40 comments on various opinions of the people, and I'm so thankful. But I realized that my taste is closely following the JM-1 target, rather than the Harman profiles of these iems. In the meantime, I was able to also put my hands on the following products: Aful Explorer Aful Magicone Aful Performer 5 Truthear Hexa Aful Explorer for me was just that. Awful. Hate the mushy bass on it. hated lack of presence of air. male vocals simply did not have any air. The whole iem sounded like an edgy emo teenager type of V-shape. I get that this may be fun for some people, but I prefer more neutral, boring tuning. It was good to listen to the sub-bass rumble on these, and that's about all I have to say for these. Aful Magicone was great. A-B comparison to Explorer made it feel so lack luster in bass and have piercy irritating treble, but when I refreshed my ears, they sounded great. The only real nit-pick I have for these were the piercy peaks around 6k-8k, and maybe, just need a tad bit more sub-low bass. Certain cymbal hits, and strings were piercing my ear canal, and so in order to maintain pleasureable listening experience, I'd need to put the volume around 60% to have it be acceptable. But then, I listen to music very loud usually, and there was the limitation of the one-driver system; It starts to distort as soon as it reaches certain volume threshold. Aful Performer 5 was basically mix of the Explorer and MagicOne. Great warm bass. slightly recessed mids (in comparison to bass). Much smoother treble (peaks not there, and more balance between the mid treble and high treble range 6k-8k & 12k16k). But the iems did sound more V then MagicOne, and it seems that I prefer the Magicone for my use case of critical, true to the mix listening and live stage monitoring. I can see and hear that the P5 is superior in terms of general music listening experience and enjoyment. Truthear Hexa was very neutral - I liked the general sound shape of these. But, It is quiet... body-less in comparison to the MagicOne. Sub bass is better but mid bass (around 200) was not there, so it sounded thin, albeit clean. Mids were pretty okay, but the lack of 200hz impacted the mids to sound light-weight and cheap. It's smoother in terms of peaks when compared to the Magicone, but that seemed to make the hexa lose out on detail and separation to it. Overall, I feel Magicone is the superior. These just sound cheaper in comparison, albeit being a good sound signature. If anyone wants to chime in suggestions, please go ahead. Those who want to ask me about the iems that I've tried, feel free to do so. Thanks for reading, and I hope to engage with you in the comments :D.

Got mine yesterday. Very comfortable and pleasing both to the ears and eyes set. The only issue is pressure in the ears from BA. Hopefully Sencai that'll come with Wan'er 2 will help. For $65 that I paid for them at Hifigo, an excellent set.

MagicOne, Orchestra Lite, Quintet, Hexa, and Origin are the ones that come to mind immediately. But generally speaking, I think any IEM that can pull off a decently mid-centric tuning can be good for classical music. Some bass is good but I would steer clear of the "contrast-y" bass rises you see on many harman-ish sets these days.

Spend a bit more and get the Tanchjim Origin, it's good enough to kill the itch for this kind of tuning, for 1DDs anyways. Another great one is Aful MagicOne. Cadenza 4 is good but the bass scooping make it very mid-focused and dry, so you either have to be ok with giving up that warmth or EQing it back, and if you're gonna EQ it back I think TRI i3 Mk III has more wow factor and better extension than the Cadenza 4, for hybrids anyways.

Neutral Warm, and my favorites with this tune are Origin, MagicOne, and Orchestra Lite. My favorite Targets are probably Super22, HBB, and the original IEF neutral. But I don't hard tune towards targets when I EQ, rather I use them as a reference and then filter manually by ear based on those targets and the IEM itself.

All are great, but for classical specifically I would get the MagicOne, Orchestra Lite, or even step up the P8 which is like endgame classical detail.

I felt that way about the magic one too and personally, some eq ( tweaked xbass simulated settings in equalizer apo which makes me not miss dd bass much + HeSuVi oal\_dflt for thrusting the stage out of the head) made it an addictive listen and it keeps making me close the hifigo buying tabs I have open lol. I only end up reopening them when some intense edm tracks come on that have some infrasonic bass which I can hear it missing which other sets like variations just effortlessly extends to and maintains that feeling of pressure in my ears where it disappears in magicone

I mostly agree with all of your rankings. I actually own three out of the five. But I mostly agree with you regarding the MagicOne. I wanted to like it so badly, but I couldn't. That said, I didn't get rid of it. I do enjoy classical music on it, but it was still a mild disappointment.

Aful MagicOne. These are about 70 bucks on AliExpress, probably the best under that sub 100$ price range, though you'll need a good dac, that'll cost you around 25-30 bucks, since these have higher impedance and power requirements. If you don't want to touch the 100$ mark and keep it relatively simple (no hassle of dac,etc) then Simgot Ew300 is a good shout. Apart from that when you access the community page, you'll find the post of list of top 5 IEMS in each category, that'll also help you explore further if you need more than these 2 suggestions.

I believe the Aful are better in my opinion since they have a wider sound stage and better in the mid range, since I listen to a lot of classical and vocal heavy songs. Though according to the community,they have always preferred the Hexa, as you might have seen in the tier list. Though probably one of the reasons might be that the Aful are generally going around 120-130 bucks on the Amazon and it's possible to get better under that price, but since the MagicOnes are under 70 for me these are the ones I prefer. Though I suggest you to still choose according to your brother's preference.

Aful MagicOne on sale is a solid choice.

I bought magicone over hexa because in my country hexa is 105$ and macigone 60$. How ever this will be main IEM and have tangzu waners for gym. I used original Sennheiser momentum IEM in gym like 5 years and no problems. I found waners fit pretty good because wire goes around ear (unlike sennheiser). Waners never dropped out of ear while working out. I think IEM’s are fine at gym if your ears dont sweat much. But there is still always risk they break so use only iem that you are ok with breaking.

You NAILED it with this review. I love my MagicOne for exactly the genres you described. Well done. One other quibble to mention: MagicOne needs a LOT of power to shine. Don't even think of running it straight from your phone or an Apple dongle. This baby craves power to sing.

True. But tip rolling really helps. Stock tips SUCK. I've squeezed a bit more sub-bass from either Final Audio Type E or Penon Liqueur black tips. Still, these NEVER should be depicted as sub-bass monsters. That's not their intent. They're midrange masters. The MagicOne reminds me a lot of the Sennheiser 600/650/6XX. A bit lean in the bass, not super-extended treble but incredible mids.

Neutral-warm, in general. In specifics, I can't stand the elevated upper mids of Harman tuning that make vocals shouty. I also don't like sibilant or icy treble. Need a bit of a roll-off there. I prefer mid-bass punch and slam over sub-bass, but a bit of grumble doesn't hurt, either. My favorite IEM so far is the Aful MagicOne. But the Kefine Delci is a hell of a lot of fun. More V-shaped, sub-bassy. 2023 was the year of Harman for IEMs. I'm glad to see recent tunings in 2024 deviate from Harman, as I'm not a huge fan of that target.

Have you tried the Aful MagicOne? It's a single BA with special sauce and cool engineering. Doesn't sound like the typical BA -- there's actually some mid-bass and sublime mids. Tip rolling helps them. I've found the Final Audio Type E to be excellent with the MagicOne.

I particularly enjoy his tracks with female vocals like aLIEz and DARK ARIA and out of all my IEMs so far, I've enjoyed the Supermix 4 the best. (My IEMs are the SM4, DaVinci, MagicOne, Simgot EW300)

Magicone has pretty good midbass but subbass rumble is almost non existent

It fits differently compared to the cheaper afuls I've tried. Explorer, Magicone, P5. Can't get a deep fit with the P7 but the other 3 fits me deep nicely. Not sure if it's the slightly wider nozzle or the contours of the shell not being compatible with my ears.

Dunu Davinci for me. It's the most immersive for me so far. Sounds like intruments are actually placed in 3d space. Can also listen at high volumes without it being sibilant. I also had Aful P5, P7, magicone, explorer, SM4, Deuce, Delci. Really like the rumble of the Deuce too. Have a lot of aful for their fit. Others feel "flat" to me. Like they do have some height to them but for very specific moments in some tracks only.

I do agree on not buying IEMs that I find "ugly". Tried the Letshuoer S08 before and the hidizs mp145 but man they were ugly. Also the mp145 was so huge. While it does fit me, I think I look goofy wearing those chonkers. Also the reason I have a lot of aful iems. They're pretty lol especially the magicone. I also prefer resin IEMs more than metal iems.

The Highsenior MEGA5EST s. Started with the ZERO Reds and the AFUL Magicone as my entry drug. After getting hooked on IEMs I decided to skip the next 3 priceranges and risked going all in. Never looked back. They are awesome!

I love mine, but it is a single BA, so slightly lacking bass. Absolutely clean and crispy bass for sure