Linsoul XENNS Mangird Top 8BA+1DD Hybrid IEM in-Ear Earphone IEM with Detachable 2Pin OCC Silver-Plated Cable, 2.5mm/3.5mm/4.4mm Swappable Plug (XENNS Mangird Top, 3-in-1 (2.5mm/3.5mm/4.4mm Plug))

I had purchased the Mangird Top on the merits of Xenns Previous Hybrid Set, the Tea 2. I had fallen in love with the Tea 2 for its lifelike 3D staging and detailed yet relaxed delivery. What I expected in this new offering was a refinement of that signature Tea sound. So I’m disappointed to say Mangird Xenns tried something new for the Top. it seems they didn’t just veer off the path they were on, but sprinted in the opposite direction. This does not mean I hate the top – it certainly has merits – but if you are looking for a progression of the Tea line, this is not it. When analyzing this set out of context of Mangird/Xenn’s previous offerings, the Top is certainly an impressive earphone. The main headline here is “detail” – specifically in the treble. The precision and sparkle coming out of these supertweeters is truly marvelous, even potentially rivaling electrostatics, or at the very least it’s the best detail I’ve heard in a B.A. tweeter. The problem is that it doesn’t have a strong enough mid range to blend with, so it lacks grounding and it ends up sounding like an independent layer above the mids, rather than accentuating the the Mids.The Good:As mentioned above, the element that jumped out right away to me is the detail. There are things that irk me about this set, but the treble presentation and detail is truly worthy of praise. The B.A. super tweeters are excellent, offering a very fast, extended, comfortable and detailed edge to the sound. Outside of the context of the rest of the frequency response, the treble is just about ideal for me. It is precise without being aggressive. It’s well refined, airy, light and pours out tons of detail effortlessly.Another quality that jumped out immediately was the clarity of the midrange. If you find upper mids can be a problematic area for you (which they are for me), then you’ll have no trouble here. Mids are very pulled back, which makes for a very open and non-fatiguing midrange, and throws the spotlight more to the treble.The Bad:Unfortunately I find the negatives of this set outweigh the positives. This set is not cheap, and at $530 it is positioning itself to go against an ever growing field of tribrid earphones. But I think the biggest monolith the Top has to contend with is the existence of the tea 2. Which outperforms this set in just about every way but detail.The biggest problem with the Top is the tuning. While this set graphs like a mild V-shape, it sounds like a rather heavy-handed V-Shape. Because the bass and the treble are so elevated, the mid range is just inaccessible most of the time. I find myself continuously adjusting the volume to hear the mids better, but then being forced to revert to lower volumes to avoid hurting myself with the treble and bass. I can tell that there is something really nice happening in the mid range, but unfortunately, I can only appreciate it during the intros of songs before the bass and percussion ramp up. I feel like I’m squinting with my ears to hear vocals and lead instruments.The bass is another surprising deficiency of the Top – not in quantity – there is plenty of bass, but it’s weirdly mediocre quality, even verging on bad. It sounds overpowering in the sub range, lacks impact in the upper bass and lacks detail and texture. The overall character of the bass is mushy and overconfident. The bass overreaches, but doesnt seem to have the resolving power to back up its presence. It did develop a little when listening on a more powerful source, but not enough to impress. I had expected a much more capable and textured bass coming from a Beryllium coated driver.While I find the tuning rather problematic on this set. I find the biggest disappointment is the sense of space. The Tea 2 has a very round holographic soundstage, and very accurate imaging for a fully immersive listening experience. While the top has some impressive width to its stage and decent imaging within that, it lost the 3D depth of its predecessor. The Top has a rather wide stage, and sounds can be very convincingly outside of your head, but only to the sides. This is the real heartbreaker to me, because this feels like such a huge step in the wrong direction from something I loved so much about the previous hybrid set from Mangird/Xenns.Conclusions:To me, the appeal of this set was that Mangird Xenns might refine the near perfect sound they achieved in their previous hybrid model. But almost all of their previous tuning success gets thrown out in favor of an underwhelming bass and overzealous (though very detailed) treble. This product feels like it was released before they completed tuning it. The loss of the midrange, the holographic soundstage, the comfortable tuning, and the accurate tonality of their previous offerings, makes this a hard set to recommend. If you prioritize detail, this may be worth trying. It is a very fun set for short bursts, but I find it uncomfortable for long listening. The detail is truly beautiful and impresses me every time I listen, but the cost and compromises are too great.