Origin

Have you tried the Thieaudio Origin? I have both and prefer the Origin when portable but Titan wins at home on proper gear. Great iems indeed, highly recomend powering them properly since they do like a bit of power to come alive, what amp/dac do you have?

I was in Tokyo and went to E\*Earphone and tested about 30 IEMs in the $750-$2500 range. I own the Theiaudio Origin along with several <$200 IEMs. At home I use DCA E3 and Hifiman Arya Organic. As far as IEMs I considered my Origins ideal and end game. I tested about 30 IEMs in the $700+ range. Nothing really stood out as considerably better than the Origin, there were several IEMs that sounded great to me including the Lucifers but nothing that I thought exceeded the Origin to the point where I would consider buying another IEM. Even the Monarchs III/IVs were meh. Until I tried the Theiaudio Valhalla. I’m all about soundstage and bass, and holy shit, the Valhalla sounded surreal. I have no idea how they managed this with just BA drivers but it truly sounded holographic, the closest thing to a 7.1 surround sound system in IEM format. Now here’s the rub: If I was in the US the price of the Valhalla would be far too high to justify the purchase since I already had the Origin, but they were 250,000 yen after the tax free reduction and with the current US-Yen exchange rate the price came to about $1560 out the door vs $2200 in the US after taxes, tariffs, and shipping. I pulled the trigger. They’re still in the case, sealed, as I can sell them in the US for an easy $400+ profit, but I’m seriously debating just keeping them and trying to sell the Origin (never sold/bought used gear before). After 9 hours of testing, these truly are the best of the best. Unless money is no object, I’d suggest the Origins instead, because they are 95% of what the Valhalla offers, but that last 5% isn’t just better clarity, fidelity, etc., it’s a truly unique experience, and one of a kind.

So I really wanted to carefully take a note of each IEM and what u thought. I wrote down a mini review of the first few you see in the photos I posted. After the first few I tried, the store got super crowded with people. One thing that may not be obvious, is that they provide wipes to clean the tips before and after each use. So the process got a bit overwhelming and I just went through them quickly. I thought I took a photo of the entire $750+ section, but I looked though my photos and I can’t find it. I had visually noted which ones I tried on the wall, as well as any standouts, but unfortunately I had no idea why the photo didn’t get saved. I recall trying the high end options from 64 Audio, Symphonium Audio, Thieaudio, Vision Ears, Sennheiser, and a few others.

Check their Japanese website, the in store price is about 5-10% less than what’s listed on the website. Then you get another 10% off for tax reduction with passport. Convert that final price from Yen to USD. It was hard to spot good deals, because pricing is in Yen and I couldn’t quickly do the conversion in my head to compare them to the US pricing. There were crazy deals on used (like new) IEMs tho

Thieaudio Origin is very highly recommended for bass. They implemented a bone conduction driver perfectly so you really feel the bass, while still having excellent performance with vocals and trebles. Mine arrives tomorrow, so I will see how they compare to the \~$200 basshead IEMs I have used so far. If I remember I will report back on my experience.

So I got them today. I would say they are definitely an experience. Previously I was using Punch Audio's as my top Basshead IEMs, and they are fantastic for the price. There are some clear differences though, with the Origin's being better in every area to my ear, though not always by that much. All review below is with the Fiio M21, no EQ, tracks from Tidal at highest setting. Edit: I forgot to add... The Origin is a very big IEM. The Portazo was already my largest, and the Origin is probably about 40% larger. 95% of that is greater depth, it's the exact same shape if you look at the faceplate side, and almost the exact size from that perspective... But then it just stick WAY further out of your ear with a very deep body. So not for people with small ears or who don't want the attention such an IEM might bring. Squiglink's for reference: [https://eliseaudio.squig.link/?share=IEF\_Comp\_Target,ThieAudio\_Origin](https://eliseaudio.squig.link/?share=IEF_Comp_Target,ThieAudio_Origin) [https://pw.squig.link/?share=IEF\_Comp\_Target,Punch\_Audio\_Portazo](https://pw.squig.link/?share=IEF_Comp_Target,Punch_Audio_Portazo) When comparing them (and consider that the Portazo is really good in every way, bass, voices, and treble, so we are comparing at a high level here), when it comes to the Origin, the sub bass has a bit more presence and is clearly cleaner. Both of them feel very full in the sub bass, but the Origin's slightly less overwhelm the rest of the song, which was a minor problem with the Portazo's on some songs. The mid bass is where the Origin's really stand out though. When you have really punchy mid-bass songs the Portazo's give you a more physical experience than other non-bass IEMs, but the Origin's hit a fair amount harder in those moments. It's a just a more physical and visceral experience. It is also cleaner. The Portazo's are already pretty clean for bass heavy IEMs, but the Origins raise that another level, making muddiness a complete non-concern, even at very high volumes with super active bass tracks. The main thing though is the physical presence just being more impactful.. It's the real experiential difference from other IEM's (but I don't want to oversell, it's not going to change your life or something). The vocal ranges are great with the Origin. As hinted before, the bass is so clean on the Origins that they don't overwhelm the vocals at all, especially given that ultimately the vocals ranges don't actually fall that far below the bass frequencies, and in addition stay pretty flat giving similar presence to all vocals. Trebles of course are also strong as you can probably tell from the squiglink. No drop off like you see with cheaper IEMs, and not overwhelmed by the bass or vocals so you can hear them clearly. For instance the finger snaps on "bad guy" disappear a bit on the Portazo... They are clearly there, but they don't stand out at all. They are noticeably crisper and clearer on the Origin, there is just more energy that adds something to the track. The soundstage is very good, just what you would expect from a high end IEM. The sibilance could be better controlled, but it is still pretty good. The track I chose is impossible to clean up entirely, but the Origin's handled it about as well as you could realistically hope for. Better than most of my cheaper IEMs. No surprise, these are fantastic IEMs. Are they truly worth the price difference over the Portazo's? Honestly, probably not.... The Portazo's will do a great job, and anyone with them shouldn't feel like they are missing out on a great bass-head experience. But are they also clearly better, and giving you more that if you have the money and want to have the best possible bass experience for under $1000... They might be the best (I haven't tried them all obviously, so I can't say). A few songs I listened to: Turn It Up - Armin Van Buren bad guy - Billie Eilish Clarity - Zedd, Foxes Born Slippy (Nuxx) - Underworld Sail - Awolnation Tom Tom - Holy Fuck Gimme Chocolate - BABYMETAL Chemical Bond - Rezz, Deathpact Backseat Freestyle - Kendrick Lamar Magnolia - Playboi Carti Mask Off - Future Killing Moon - Roman Remains Bubbles - Yosi Horikawa (soundstage) Junkyard Entrance - Marilyn Mazar (soundstage) Code Cool - Patrice Barber (Sibilance testing)

I’ve tried both Thieaudio Origin and RSV MK2, and I highly prefer RSV MK2. Origin is really disjointed sounding, and the bass at times feels like it loses control in a bad way. It sounds blurry and messy. Yes, RSV MK2 is not a “true” basshead set, but it has incredible slam and a really satisfying and natural tonality to its sound. I highly recommend tip rolling with it. I ended up settling on Tri Clarion eartips but I think it’s worth trying any sort of wide bore eartips. I’ve also tried Penon Archangel, which arguably has “faster” bass due to it having 2 BCD and 2 DD drivers, but I still prefer RSV MK2’s midrange presentation and tonality. Archangel could be the better pick however if you are less sensitive to timbre presentation and/or you want cleaner and harder hitting subbass.

I just snagged a pair of legend evos for crazy cheap bc they went out of business. I have high expectations. The thieaudio origins are amazing with their bcd, the symphonium titans are my goto sub bass set( origins with the bcd has rumble but more of a mid bass visceral slam). You just need high power to bring out the boom with the titans. Desktop btr17 mod got me vertigo the first week with them 🤣