Orchestra II

The question is, what exactly do you want out of your sound? The Astral are great. I have them and like them. I actually prefer the Orchestra II, though, which is more detailed, but it’s all BA, no dynamics, and while it has surprising bass, it’s still very tight and controlled vs the Astral which is a bit more expansive. I haven’t used the others, so can’t speak to them. I do know that I’m considering the Thieaudio Hype 4: I bought it a while ago and returned them, but that, I realize now, was a mistake. And they were 20% off then, too :-( I found them to be the best in-between to something like the Orchestra II vs the DaVinci.

I love my orchestra 2. They sound phenomenal and I really don't find the comfort an issue. I will regularly fall asleep with them in when I switch to audio books.

My Kiwi Orchestra IIs should be in here as well, but again, the sealed design can lead to some comfort issues and you’ll want to play around with eartip selection. I went with Tangzu Sancai Wide Bore, if you’re curious.

Have been using these for about 6 weeks now, and the comfort issues may be starting to get to me. Gonna need to try out more ear tips in the near future to get a more consistent seal in one ear.

I don’t even know what tips I currently use. They were a custom in-house eartip at a store in Hong Kong. They physically resemble the SpinFits and Noble, but have a dark grey color. They provided me with two types (same size, M): green tube for bass boost and blue tube for balance. I use the blue with the Orchestra IIs and with my old 1More Quads as well.

Quick follow-up after having tried out Dunu S&S, Tangzu Sancai Noble, and Tangzu Sancai Wide Bore. All three had better fit and seal from both stock warps and the unknown tips I’ve been using. Unfortunately, the Dunu tips really made the already V-shaped curve even more V-shaped. Both Tangzu tips sounded better, but the Sancai Noble gave low frequencies a strange reverb; like turbo-lag in a car engine, if you know what I mean. The Sancai Wide Bore really just better allows the Orchestra II to shine.

Having picked up the Orchestra II, can verify that comfort can be an issue, but I've gotten used to the pressure build-up from the sealed body (tip rolling helped here). Now left with its solid signature. Still gonna check out the Monarch IV at CanJam Socal in a few months. :)

Kiwi Ears Orchestra II is an option, but the sealed design leads to fit issues, with ear-tip selection a key concern. After trying a few tips, I found the Tangzu Sancai Wide Bore to be the best fit for me while interfering the least with the sound.

yip. Comfort is a common issue for every review of this iem.

I won a pair of kiwi ears orchestra 2 and I would describe them as natural sounding. Symbols are slightly wonky, but otherwise they’re amongst the most natural sounding iems I’ve heard.