7th Acoustics Supernova

7th Heaven Supernova

Ranking: S-

Pros: – Price
– Makes you want to listen to music
– Beautiful design

Cons: – Cable not my favourite aesthetically, no issues with the sound
– Limited Availability
– Not the most detailed

7th Acoustics Supernova

Intro
Thanks for 7th Acoustics for the Australian Tour of these. All thoughts are my own and not influenced in anyway. Rating is based on similar IEM’s around the same price point (or in this case + 50%).

I’ve been running from one review/impression to the next in the past few months and really had no idea what these were prior to receiving them. After not being blown away by some mid-fi IEM’s recently I was being to wonder if I’d fallen into TOTL territory where nothing under $2k would ever really do it for me. Thankfully, this wonderful IEM from Indonesia made its way into my hands to renew my enthusiasm for mid-fi market.

7th Acoustics operate from their Facebook page as far as I can tell, it only has a small following, but these guys certainly deserve the praise that it seems they have started to get. Without further ado let’s get into my thoughts.

Packaging

The full retail packaging came along for the tour which was nice! For it’s price the packaging is very nice, after opening the box you’re greeted by the (very pretty) IEM’s, underneath that there is a metal case which contains the braided cable (2 pin, terminated in 4.4mm balanced), the cable is a little stiff but gets the job done They’ve also includes two sets of tips, one set being the Final E tips, and the other BGVP silicone tips (apparently, I don’t know these). Final E are my go to so big thumbs up here. There is also a card to prove authenticity, nicely labelled ‘Aus Demo’ for this set.

Build and Specs

The build on the IEM’s themselves are quite nice, the shells are feel solid but light, the faceplate is very nice, and I had no issues with the nozzle. The tips do sit on the end of the nozzle, I was worried that they might slip off but I didn’t have an issue. The 2 pin was a little finicky to get the cable in but no issues once connected.

Specs:

– 6BA
– Dual Sonion vented bass balanced armature
– Sonion mid + uppermid balanced armature
– Knowles treble + upper treble balanced armature
– Impedance: 15 0 01kHz
– Frequency response: 5-24kHz
– Socket: 2pin 0.78m

Sound impressions

Bass

The bass here is nice, it’s about the right amount that I like (which I think it is a little lower than some like). It has an overall relaxed feel to it, quite pleasant, you would be forgiven for forgetting that it’s a BA at times, and is implemented better than some of the DD’s I’ve heard. Speed is great, good texture to it, hits decently. All around very good and no real complaints from me.

Mids

Smoothish, warm, presentation. Vocals sound great, but on bass heavy tracks you don’t have enough separation between bass and lower mids and lose the ability to completely make everything out on the track, this is the exception though, not the rule. The level of detail is also little lacking, on par with some IEMs in the bracket below. That aside, it’s extremely lovely to listen to, and while it isn’t a detail monster for the most part it’s enough. Male vocals are particularly great to me ears, with deeper vocalists really standing out with magnificent weight behind their voice, it reminds me of my Meze Advar with regards to this, and often surpasses. Superb timbre.

Treble

Very nice, sparkles when it should, no sibilance. Good feeling of air. Went really well against my treble test tracks. Overall, very pleasing to my ears, nothing more to say really.

Soundstage and Imaging

Decent, not the widest or deepest but large enough so nothing feels like it’s getting in the way. Not completely 3D, circle starts somewhere in my head then projects out in front in a circle. Imaging is decent, not pinpoint but I don’t think that’s what they are going for. Taken with the rest of the sound signature here it suits it well.

Subjective thoughts

Subjectively, I absolutely adore these. They’re extremely balanced across the board and everything I throw at them sounds great. Sure, I would prefer more detail for some music, but for 95% of what I listen to these were wonderful and more than enough.

I’d take these over quite a few IEM’s which sit above them in terms of price. Once they’re in my ears I just want too keep listening to music, not so much to experience what it sounds like on these IEMs (which I sometimes do with TOTL pairs), just because I know it’ll sound like what my brain remembers it sounding like, which to be honest is quite an achievement. They’re not going to blow you away, but they will make you enjoy your music the way you remember it, and that to me is the highest praise I think I could give them.

Overall

A magnificent IEM for the price. Enjoyment / musicality is very high, I never wanted to take these off. In terms of what you get for the money my only slight complaint is the cable, otherwise everything else is great. If I didn’t have two new IEMs on the way I’d be buying them right now, and I imagine that I will absolutely buy a pair in the not too distant future – my Meze Advar (daily driver’s) may finally have a challenger. A very strong recommendation for a blind buy for anyone remotely interested.

Edit: after another day of listening I am ordering one, I need these in my collection.