AFUL - Performer 8 (P8)

I felt this about Studio 4. It is sparkly and present but not harsh, which I feel is the case with Aful P8.

I can't comment on the others you mention, but I have the Hexa and the Performer 8 and I think the P8 fits the bill per your outline. Slightly better bass (but not excessive at all) and not shouty, either. Decent details.

Bonus is they are about as comfortable a fit as you can find. Good luck with your decision.

Aful performer 8 with the Qudelix 5k

1. Hekse (best overall) 2. Softear Studio 4 (best sounding iem for my music) 3. He6se V2 (more dynamic than Hekse but nostalgic as comfortable. Less spacious and open) 4. Aful Explorer (like a lesser Studio 4 for commuting. Very easy listening) 5. HD6XX (comfortable and the baseline benchmark but not my go to) 6. Aful P8 (most boring sounding. Used to like it but not these days. Might be a good gaming iem but I don’t game anymore) 7. EW300 (it’s meh. Use for monitoring)

Moondrop Chu, and no. The Kato is the only Moondrop iem I still have and use. I liked the Aria but gave it to a friend to try to get him into iems (I failed). The Chu was good enough to get me into iems, but not good enough to keep me listening. I don't even know where they are now, lol. Of the early iems that I bought, I only have and listen to the Truthear Hexa (lifeless but decent, with wonderful imaging) and that Truthear Harmon-tuned one that Crinacle did with the subwoofer (I forget the name). It is fatiguing, but it is exciting until it wears me down. Good for techno. I listen mostly to the Aful P5, the Chopin, the Letshour S12, and the Kato now. Sometimes at home, I listen to the P8 and the Xenn Mangrid Top (they are too expensive to lug around with me--I have a $200 limit on iems that I'm willing to take in my backpack).

Told ya! Nice collection, I’m a complete shill for Aful, the Explorer and P8 are some of my favorite IEMs. I actually prefer the Explorer to the P5 in terms of resolution. Can’t wait to try the Cantor.

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!

I think I experience what your describing as the timbre of the micro planar drivers. The air and treble do indeed take on a digital characteriatic I find common with these types of tweeters. P7 is actually my favorite implementation so far, but I would have been much happier with BA or EST treble (though the price would likely shoot up $200 with ESTs). It still ranks second due to its overall sound signature. The treble is much improved on both the P8 and Cantor. And tanchjim at T apb t300 tips help me with unvented sets.

I’m currently using the Aful Performer 8 as my daily driver for everything from music to gaming, but I feel like the P8 lacks bass (even though I can tweak it with Peace EQ). I’ve noticed that the Hype 4 has been getting a lot of attention and seems to be great for PC gaming and music with its V-shaped sound signature. Do you think the P8 is good enough, or could the Hype 4 offer a noticeable improvement?

P8 for sure

I’d be very interested in learning what you decide on and your thoughts after using. I’m a classically trained pianist, professional musician, but I listen to and perform many styles of music. I use my iems both for pleasure and on stage. My favorite all-rounders in a reasonable price range (for me) are the Aful Performer 8 and the Dunu SA6–MKII. I find them to be neutral with a slight bass boost. I listen to a lot of piano concertos and jazz trios and they’re great, although a true classical music aficionado may think differently. Hope to hear your thoughts

If money is not an issue tea pro. But on a limited budget you can’t go wrong with s12 pro 2024. Infact, when I went to an audiophile meet-up. I tried around 30-40 iems. Ranging from couple hundreds to thousands of dollars iems. Out of all these if I remember how the s12 2024 sounded then it must be good. Other most notable iems that day were hexa, mystic8, u12T, performer8 there was one from campfire but I don’t remember it clearly. Some iems that didn’t live upto my expectations were supermix4, davinci, butterfly 61T may be i was expecting too much. I liked the performer 5 but it was a bit underwhelming after I listened to perfomer 8. I hope this gives you perspective on how subjective this hobby is

Umm, honestly this is going to be very difficult. I mean I don't own the P8. I had tried it in a meetup. But I loved it really. If not for the sturdy build quality of Tea Pro (or price). I don't think any reason not to buy the P8.

I think Pilgrim is the best for detail and clarity here. I loved them but the nozzle is way too big for my ears. Studio 4 is the safest and smoothest, and with the lushest vocals, but they don’t have venting so be aware of that if you’re sensitive. P8 has rather recessed midrange, I like that but it leads to a sense of distance and less clarity that some don’t like. Fit is great and venting is great as well. Don’t have experience with dusk. For my money, if I had large ear canals, I’d go with the Pilgrim, really endgame tech for not much. P8 is the most comfortable for me.

I'd say get the aful performer 8 or get the new performer 5+2 as it's more technically advanced than the 8 and it's probably cheaper. Already people say it's better.

I personally find the Performer 8 to be ass. No bass, shrill treble.

+1 for the AFUL Performer 8

P8 is good enough. Switch to 4.4 mm balanced I find the P 8 to be a bit more power hungry then you'd think It scales great with more power

Yeah the p8 is pretty bass lite, but it has very good quality bass. That set has some really good detail too.

I noticed the treble sounding incoherent and artificial when I had my set of P5's and I sold them for that reason. Not sure if it's a tuning or driver issue, but it's not something I've noticed with other sets out there. So just commenting to say you're not the only one who has noticed that. The P8 didn't have that treble issue for me, but I didn't decide keep it in my collection either.

The Studio 4 is the most "shouty" of the bunch and it's BA bass is rather lean in the mid bass (albeit still good for BA bass). My vote would be on the Pilgrim since it is (to me) the most detailed but it's hard to go wrong with your other choices too. If comfort is a factor though the P8 and Dusk are better.

The Performer8 is the best performer (pun intended) for orchestral music, but considering anime OSTs can often incorporate numerous other genres, you may want to consider something that's more of an all 'rounder. The P8 is the king of clarity and detail under $500. It's still one of the best IEMs in its price range for that use case. The Studio4, which is also a stellar set, is a little more mid-forward and will be more suitable for tracks with vocals and midrange instruments (strings, guitars, etc.). The Origin is one of the few sets I passed on so I can't comment on its performance as I don't like to recommend IEMs I haven't tested myself, but if you were considering the Dusk, I'd also look at the Elysian Pilgrim. It may be the best of both worlds; it has slightly more emphasized bass than the Studio4, but it is well-controlled and will add some additional energy and dynamics to OST tracks with electronic and percussive instruments. The Dusk is still a good option. This is one of the few cases where I would argue for using it in its analog tuning. The default DSP tuning wouldn't be suitable for your preferences anyways; and you could still use the DSP cable for those times when you wanted additional tunings available, or to experiment with other genres. People forget the analog tuning of the Dusk was still a very solid effort. It often gets criticized in relative comparisons to its DSP tuning, as the DSP tuning catered to a wide range of listeners, but if you remove those relative comparisons it can still stand on its own against other IEMs on the market.

I use the P8 on 2.5 mm balanced (Q5k). I added a tiny bass shelf, and personally feel like the bass is really nice with just that little adjustment