An interesting experiment putting together diverse technological features – 6 drivers per side (4 BA + 2DD) managed by 4-way crossover filters, and replaceable nozzles featuring different materials / grid shapes offering modest but perceivable tuning variations – in a very well built, smooth shaped housings.
At-a-glance Card
| PROs | CONs |
| Good highmids and treble | Uncontrolled, exhalted midbass |
| Sturdy build | Some sibilance |
| Highs details | Bass details |
| Imaging | Cable finish |
| Fit & comfort | Scratch-prone housing finish |
Full Device Card
Test setup
Hiby R5 – Single Ended port. Wide Bore stock tips. Lossless 16/44.1 – 24/96 – 24/192 FLAC tracks.
Signature analysis
| Tonality | V-shape, with midbass emphasis |
| Sub-Bass | Extended and even rumbly, it would be good if not too often shadowed by the midbass |
| Mid Bass | Exhalted. Slow, on the border to sloppy. Just a lucky wiff south of boomy. Often invasive vs sub-bass, yet not bleeding on the mids. Can get furtherly enhanced should (like in my case) vents get occluded against the crus |
| Mids | Recessed and a bit lean |
| Male vocals | Not meaty, yet of good quality |
| Female vocals | Definitely lean, and slightly but frequently sibilant. A no-go for a sensitive person. |
| Highs | Extended, present, detailed although not piercing – actually almost smooth. Hands-down the best part of the product. This is the section most impacted by the 3 filters. Silver filter exhalts highmids and trebles, adding air to the overall presentation, but makes them grainier. Adds frequency to female voices shrillings too. Gold filter tames highmids and trebles, which would be ok per se, if not that this removes any barrier to midbass flooding the entire presentation to darkish, dampened. |
Technicalities
| Soundstage | Above average |
| Imaging | Accurate and consistent |
| Details | Very good in the mids and highs, lacking in the bass and not only due to midbass coverup |
| Instrument separation | Very good when and where midbass-timbred instruments are not involved, otherwise shadowed |
| Driveability | Very easy in spite of the 4 BA’s. Sensitivity is there, no problem driving this appropriately even from a smartphone |
Physicals
| Build | Impressive, sturdy full metal body. Very nice-looking but highly scratch-prone matte finish. |
| Fit | Very good once you find the exact angle. A rare case where stock tips are actually OK |
| Comfort | Housings are not big and very well rounded. Comfort is just great, barred unlucky concha shapes of course |
| Isolation | Above average due to the housing “just right” size to fill the concha |
| Cable | Good internals (5N OCC SP), but the tangly and gummy finish makes it quite undesireable |
Specifications (declared)
| Housing | Metal, matte finish. Various colours available. |
| Driver(s) | 4 Balanced Architecture + 2 Dynamic Driver + 4-way crossover filter |
| Connector | MMCX |
| Cable | 5N OCC silver-plated, single ended, 1.2m. Available with or without mic+remote. |
| Sensitivity | 110dB/mW@1KHz |
| Impedance | 18 Ohm |
| Frequency Range | 15Hz-45KHz |
| Rated power | 10mW |
| Package / accessories | 3 pairs of narrow bore white stiffer silicon tips, 3 pairs of narrow bore black softer silicon tips, 3 pairs of wide bore black soft silicon tips, 3 pairs of alternative nozzle filters (gold, black and silver), 1 shirt clip |
| MSRP at this post time | CNY 699,00 (approx $ 99,00) |
Subjective opinion & considerations
Simply put, DMG’s midbass is a total game-breaker for my tastes.
Which is a pity, because the highmid+treble section is honestly quite remarkable, and in a different situation it might even lead me to forgive some if not all that female vocal sibilance.
The price has been recently reduced by the manufacturer to $ 99 (down from $125 which is what they are still listed for on AE today) but the $ 100 IEM market is very crowded, and just above that line contenders are pityless vs shortcomings like those shown by DMG.
Comparisons
| BGVP DMG | Senfer DT6 | final E4000 | final E3000 | |
| Driver(s) | 4 BA + 2 DD | 1BA + 1DD + Ceramic Piezoelectric | Single Dynamic Driver | Single Dynamic Driver |
| Tonality | V-shape, with midbass emphasis. 3-filter system offers modest, undecisive signature variations | Warm L-shape, well balanced overall presentation | Warm open-V shape, balanced musicality and a definite personal timbre. | Warm open-V shaped, mildly bass-centered. Personal timbre. |
| Bass | Extended, rumbly, very good sub-bass. Exhalted, slow, almost boomy mid-bass veiling sub-bass but surprisingly not the mids | Extended, textured, not particularly fast sub-bass and present, punchy, fast, relatively lean sub-bass. Very light bleeding on low mids. | Elevated, quite extended, fast enough sub-bass stands ground vs elevated, textured, harmoniously musical midbass | Clean, fast, rolledoff sub-bass. Less fast, mildly punchy, elevated midbass, quite invasive vs sub-bass and lower mids |
| Mids | Recessed and a bit lean. Unbodied but decent male, too lean almost thin and often sibilant female vocals. | Balanced warm clarity. Unrecessed, good, slightly veiled male vocals and good, forward, somewhat a tad lean females. | Full, detailed, wonderful. Vocals show a mellow, intimate, totally natural impact. Males even better than females. | Full, not excessive, detailed but rounded. Great vocals |
| Highs | Extended, present, detailed, not piercing. Actually very good. | Bright and sparkly, very fast, almost crispy, never harsh. Low trebles like snares are too lean at times. | Nicely fast and precise, very smooth, not very extended and not enhanced, masterfully calibrated to compensate bass and mids into a perfectly embraceful, delightful composite timbre. | Average extension, relaxed, lightly airy. Efficiently counterbalances lows in a greatly calibrated ensemble. |
| Soundstage | Above average | Very extended in all directions | Quite wide. Average depth. | Quite extended, wider than deeper |
| Imaging | Accurate and consistent | Very good | Very adequate, calibrated | Precise and consistent |
| Details | Very good in the mids and highs, lacking in the bass | Quite a lot in the highs, more than average in the bass | Average | Quite good considering the overall warmth |
| Separation | Very good when and where midbass-timbred instruments are not involved, otherwise shadowed | Very good layering | Masterful layering separates each single note and instrument | Quite good in all sections. |
| Driveability | A phone is OK in spite of the 4BAs | A phone is OK | A mid-powered DAP or portable AMP is required | Light amping recommended |
| Fit & Comfort | Very easy fit and comfort | Easy fit (cable down) and very good comfort | Extremely easy fit, subjective comfort | Extremely easy fit, subjective comfort |
| Other notes | Uncontrolled invasive midbass on one end, remarkably good trebles on the opposite of a typical V-shaped chifi IEM | Spectacular soundstage and imaging, well balanced signature, great sound quality at a supercheap price | Masterfully calibrated tuning resulting in spectacular, embraceful, lushy, addictive musicality. | Warm, musical, almost lushy strong identity in a vast soundstage |
| Economics | $ 99,00 | $ 19,00 | $ 150,00 | $ 53,00 |