This is Shuoer S12 review with the M sized black bored tips. Source is V30, Neutron, 80/100 and first track is Limehouse Blues from the Jazz at the Pawnshop.
Pros
Clarity
Strength
3d imaging
Speed
Cons
Slam
Tip Dependancy
Power need to sound awesome
Sound
Timbre is natural and bright. So natural and welcomingly smooth. Forward to laid back (like %60 %40) presentation. And transparency is leaving me breathless! Throughout the whole song I can hear the customers’ jazz club behaviours (they were eating / drinking / chatting) 3d imaging is probably the best I heard regarding this reference track. The 1 mic in the stage is catching all the details realtime and this iem is good at transmitting them.
But the need for power is obvious. An example is the slight boominess in bass guitar. However the stage is pretty large (not only wide) for a closed back iem with a few venting holes. Jazz band’s treble instruments extensions are solid.
The ambiance and electronics test track: Daft Punk Contact. The radio message of the tower is clear but not the clearest. Mids and the body factor are weak. I can’t deny it. Bass is lacking in slam in electronics where it is most needed. BUT after 03:00 and 80/100 volume I didn’t feel emotions I always lived the last with i3pro and v30.
I am rerunning the tests again with the completely grey eartips in it’s box. But I won’t be repeating it a third time with the foam tips because I don’t like foam tips as they add more low end than I like.
Now the sound is forwarder than the black bored eartips and the background is near pitch black with little transparency. The customer crowd is not completely silent but s12 is more focused on the mic. Besides the transparency, treble is slightly harsher now. Bass is reduced to a level to make the crowd applause lifeless compared to the black bored eartips sweet mid bass that gave them life and 3d. Now besides bass issue s12 lost it’s ability to waltz around notes with different highs and lows thus transformed the experience to rather linear.
Contact is shallower due to losing in mids. And it’s first casualty is the electro pipe organ. You know, it has to impress you 🙂 After 03:00 a complete dull and pale experience with no excitement.
Gaming
Gunshots resonate well in the air with somehow crispy sensation. But due to its incapacity of deep basses, I didn’t hear AQ4 or Little Q vacuum like basses. They are punchy at all. And positioning is better than average
Comparison
The only viable comparison subject was Salnotes Dioko due to its planar tech and similar prices yet S12 had %50 more price than recent Dioko. So take my following findings with a pinch of salt.
“And at the end of the VS of S and D, it seems that the eternal rule is still valid; You always get what you paid for. Even though there might be small variances in prices, S with a price of $150 is %50 better than D with 99$ price.
D can be considered as a wonderful buttery entry to the planar iem scene. But S is for serious bangers with some power.” Read the whole comparison here.
Shuoer S12 Review Conclusions
I didn’t expect the micro planar tech to advance this fast. Because now we are looking at a friggin good planar iem even without properly powered up. Best consumed with black bored eartips 😉