Remember the Softears Turii I reviewed in the middle of the year? In fact, it also has a sister product, namely the protagonist of this article: Shuiyueyu Illumination "Light".
The reason why they are sister products is because Shui Yueyu also participated in the development of Turii, and the two products share some of the technology. The most obvious thing is that the cavity shape of Illumination and a row of parallel pressure relief holes are exactly the same as Turii. In terms of time, this patented acoustic coupled cavity structure was first developed for Illumination, and later was also adopted by Turii. Yes, although Illumination was launched several months later, the project was launched earlier than Turii, and the total development time was naturally much longer.
However, the common point in appearance between the two is limited to the inside of the cavity, and it cannot be seen when worn on the ears. Unlike Turii's unique "thousand-layer" shape, Illumination's styling design is relatively conservative (just relative) and is obviously developed from our KXXS. What's special is that its radial sections seem to imply the radiation effect of light, which is commensurate with the product name. However, based on the color matching, Illumination is much more prominent than Turii. Jin Chengcheng's coating shines like the sunlight at noon, and the rate of turning back is naturally extremely high.
is eye-catching. Whether this rich golden color looks good or not, the opinions are not so easy to unify. After all, Chinese people generally have a bit of PTSD in gold. Some people think that gold or rustic is normal - I personally don't think so. The meaning of highlight golden coating and "Illumination" are quite consistent. What's more, this layer of gold is not achieved by the common gold plating process. It is the true color of TiN titanium nitride coating. The titanium nitride coating has extraordinary hardness. Basically, only gems can leave scratches on it. Daily use does not require a headache for color quality like other mirror-appearance headphones. However, if the color of the Illumination coating can be a little more rose gold/copper, I think it will be more beautiful than it is now, and the criticism of its appearance will be reduced. In theory, this can be achieved by changing the nitrogen content of the coating.
not only has outstanding scratch resistance, but the shell strength of Illumination is also excellent because its material is titanium alloy - it is just that the golden TiN coating is too eye-catching, which makes it easy to ignore. Generally speaking, products that use high-processing cost materials such as titanium alloys will choose not to apply coatings and directly expose the iconic silver-gray texture, such as the Campfire Audio Ara that I reviewed before and the upcoming LeTut PAW Gold Touch LIMITED TITANIUM EDITION. So what Illumination chose to use titanium alloy diagram is its high-strength, low-density characteristics and acoustic performance, without any gimmick.
The relative conventional shape and the use of titanium alloy materials make the auricle fit and weight control significantly better than Turii, and the wearing comfort and stability are better. In fact, the actual wearing experience of Turii is far better than the psychological expectations given by that strange shape. Most people don’t have a problem wearing it. However, the weight advantage of Illumination is too obvious. It is impossible for Turii to fall off even if it shakes its head and does not fall off easily. The original distribution line of
Illumination looks very familiar - this is the same as my RS10. Indeed, this line is the copper-plated silver-shielded single crystal copper wire of the same RS10 model. The silver-white smooth appearance and Illumination have a pretty good visual effect. The difference between it and the original RS10 cable is that the Illumination uses the popular replaceable plug, and comes with one 3.5mm single-ended, 2.5mm balanced and 4.4mm balanced plug each, which is convenient for adapting to the current quite chaotic interface standards. What needs to be complained about is that compared with competitors, this set of replaceable plugs is neither made of metal nor locking mechanisms such as lemo. The use of plastic glue-hanging shell and hard-pulling method is slim and makes people unable to completely worry about reliability.
Although the plug with a slightly poor texture and the headphone bag of the same material and color as the KXXS portable bag made me complain about the Illumination's accessories lineup, the exquisitely designed packaging has made me feel a lot of grade.Compared to Turii's packaging, which was full of ambitions and was quite successful in realization, Illumination's packaging structure is more pragmatic and the prints are more textured. It is very good to integrate with the product design, and it is very outstanding.
Before evaluating the sound quality of Illumination, I think it is necessary to declare a premise: My evaluation of Illumination's sound quality is mainly based on the performance under the state of removing the filter. Because during use, I found that the effect of Illumination's filter on sound quality deterioration is more obvious, and Shuiyue himself admitted that the impact of the filter exceeded his estimate. As for dust protection, when I use final headphones, I am very keen to remove the filter for a brighter and more transparent high-frequency performance, so this operation is not unfamiliar to me. I am not very worried about dust and other foreign objects falling into the cavity, but users with rough usage habits should pay more attention.
After emphasizing the conditions for use, let’s get to the topic. First of all, Illumination does not conform to the stereotype of "water-style tuning" such as low frequency light and shallow fast. Shuiyue once said that he added an additional 2dB low frequency gain to make the product more in line with the preferences of most people. In addition, I have heard that he completely let himself go as a comparison. I am very sure that Shuiyue has worked very hard to make the low frequency in line with your taste. Of course, we can't expect Shuiyue to make a pair of very powerful low-frequency headphones. Compared with Turii, which has a collateral blood relationship, Illumination's low-frequency energy sense is still a little more restrained. With the overall market, Illumination's low frequency, diving depth and rebound sense are of a very moderate type, natural and comfortable, and can provide enough delicate and atmosphere without leaving a deep impression on people.
Illumination also expresses high frequencies similar to low frequencies, and pursues absolute natural comfort in listening. Although Illumination's extremely high frequency is excellent and its overtone is rich, smooth and delicate, the moderate suppression of high frequency makes it extremely effective in hearing. The advantages of this not only weaken the extremely sensitive sounds of the human ears, such as the teeth sound, to obtain a loose and soft listening feeling, but also make Illumination have an extremely high tolerance and a very transparent and clear tone. Among the mid-to-high-end earbuds I have experienced, Illumination's tolerance for inferior recordings is definitely one of the best, and it is not achieved by increasing the thickness of tone and weakening the sense of line and transparency.
requires transparent tone and sufficient line feel, and also has a high demand for recording inclusiveness...What kind of music did you think of?
That’s right, it’s ACG music that often fails in quality. The ACG albums lying in my player, either from CD tracks or purchased from Hi-Res Mall (no matter how much money I spent, it was still unsuccessful) were redeemed like a dead tree on Illumination. The timbre, rough and dryness were almost wiped out, and the lines and sweetness of the female voice did not make any sacrifices. Even if Illumination is the best "ACG music headphones" I don't think it's exaggerated (but this is a praising or a dark one, I fell into melancholy).
Well, in short, it's worthy of the painstaking efforts of the dead home boss.
But don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that tuning paths like Illumination are specially designed for ACG music. The relatively restrained high-frequency energy sense maintains hearing tolerance and extends excellent high-frequency transparency. This combination of punches is not only seen in Illumination products. The main models such as KXXS, SSR and Softears products also have this feature. It can be said that this tuning method is just an inevitable choice for the Shuiyueyu team as a fundamentalist HRTF believer to pursue high naturalness. The soft and moisturized listening and excellent transparency can also benefit most types of music (except those that pursue restlessness and even "rough flavor" music such as metal music).
Illumination's almost paranoid pursuit of naturalness has also been implemented in its mid-frequency adjustment.Illumination's mid-frequency is not an infinite stacking density and thickness that pursues ear-catching type. Although it has excellent density and vividness, it also has a perfect grasp of the size and distance of vocal imaging. Illumination's voice is not only beautiful, but also has a highly natural texture. The appropriate push forward rather than placed in the imaging position in the head also gives Illumination's sound field a good sense of depth. To me, the sound field that attaches importance to three-dimensional is more valuable than simply widening the horizontal "big sound field". The highly stereoscopic sound field is also an advantage of Turii. After all, they share the sound cavity design, so Turii users will probably feel a certain intimacy with its sound field structure when they hear Illumination. Both have first-class sound field expressions in earplugs and are similar in appearance. I think the comprehensive quality and sound completion of
Illumination are very high in my opinion. If you have to find a problem in the eggs, so that the article doesn't seem to be too much, it can only be said that its dynamic performance is not as impressive as Turii - but the official price difference between them is 4,000 yuan. Compared with most competitors with the same price, Illumination's dynamics are still good, but the pursuit of natural and smooth tuning paths determines that it will not show an extremely powerful sense of power. In terms of
easy driveability, Illumination does not require high driving force. My usual volume on the SP2000 balance port is 75-85, which will neither become a noise floor detector nor require a miracle level of easy driveability. Of course, if you choose a flagship portable player with abundant driving power such as KANN CUBE or PAW Gold Touch LIMITED TITANIUM EDITION, it can also give back more dynamic performance; for users with less budgets, it is not a problem to buy a portable player with a similar price to it.
again emphasized, the above evaluation is based on Illumination with the filter removed. So what happens if I stuff the filter back? This will significantly reduce the transparency of Illumination, which means it is "blurred". Describing such Illumination "natural" and "loose" will be more like a spring and autumn brushwork that excuses it. I personally don’t like Illumination with filters installed, and I also recommend that you remove the filters and use them. If you encounter a foreign object falling into the cavity, go to the after-sales service - who told them not to consider this thing carefully when designing this thing, right?
Overall review (removing the filter) Illumination, this is a product that I am extremely satisfied with. highly smooth and stretched tone and three-dimensional sound field make Illumination give a very natural and realistic expression in the face of various types of music. It is no exaggeration to say that even if you look at products of different prices in the entire earbud market, it is difficult for you to find models that are more natural than that. Old players who have seen many products and are looking for "fire-reducing plugs" should understand the cleverness of Illumination and are willing to pay for it. But on the other hand, even if the market is still in the market with balanced sound, mainstream users at mid-range prices are more likely to be attracted by products with moderate personalities. Therefore, few brands are really capable and dare to pursue absolute Zhongzheng and naturalness. The last product like this is called Softears RS10, yes, it has nothing to do with Shui Yueyu.
Therefore, although Illumination is objectively excellent, I can't completely relieve my market performance. Although Shuiyue has made some compromises to the mainstream audience (such as 2dB low-frequency gain), Illumination is still a product dominated by the brand philosophy - the "concept" here is not "no low-frequency", but the pursuit of real natural sounds. Illumination seems to me to be very well-educated and well-founded, but it is difficult for ordinary consumers to feel the "cost-performance ratio" that is overwhelming because it is not arrogant, does not emphasize "analytical sense" and slightly simple accessories. Illumination's pricing determines that its audience generally does not have particularly rich experience to appreciate its "internal strength".
But when I think of Shuiyue's pride when talking about Illumination, I feel worried about how many "sincere" Illumination can have, I really worry about eating carrots and worrying about it. After all, being able to complete a work of this level is a thing that is enough to make people feel proud and full of pleasure.
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