22/02/2022
A full review after 100++ hours or burn in by our fellow headfi Dani Irwan
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BuduBuds v1: The homemade kick
My impressions of the Budubuds v1 prototype by Din:
Audio signal chain: 16/44.1 FLAC on Foobar2k/Apple Music on Cider for Win10 - Zen DAC v1 - Budubuds v1 prototype (has been burned in for >100 hours)
Test track: Cold, Cold Heart (Live) by Norah Jones
Excellent timbre for strings, slightly less so for piano.
Hi hats sound correct with good decay & sufficient airiness.
Lively, vibrant & upfront presentation of vocals & music. It feels like the singer is with you in the room and you're sitting upfront and centre.
Likewise, good for female vocals.
Very good soundstage too, immersive. This is almost a given for most earbuds, but not all. In any case, the Budubuds v1 excels here.
Test track: Pamit by Tulus
Good for male vocals as well. Same lively & vibrant presentation. In this manner, the Budubuds v1 is similar to my much much more expensive Blur PK32 266 (New Line).
Strings sound really great here, as does the piano.
Treble seems to be well extended and yet smooth with no perceivable peakiness, harshness nor sibilance. This may or may not have to do with the burn-in period.
Test track: Heavenly Day by Patty Griffin
Female vocals as mentioned before are great and sweet, lush-sounding. Very forward..perhaps even too forward at times (but still coherent). I like this kind of sound tho, it might or might not be your cup of tea.
Instruments sound to be well-separated with good imaging.
Details are good-to-great but if I'm nitpicking, it is not comparable to the detail levels afforded by Etys. This is, of course, to be expected and par for the course for earbuds.
Test track: Radioactive by Anna Lunoe
Bass is fast and tight with good thump.
Doesn't appear to bleed into the mids much if at all.
Good bass extension, this might even please some bassheads. But it still can't beat the Smabat M2S Pro in this department.
Test track: Limit to Your Love by James Blake
Likewise, here bass is very responsive with great speed. No hints of flabby/loose bass at all.I can certainly say that the bass on the Budubuds v1 is way above par compared to some of the other (and in some cases, way more expensive) earbuds that I have.
Test track: Street Spirit by Power-Haus feat Eivor Palsdottir
Good female vocals from Eivor. Everything else in the mix are coherent and well-represented.
Test track: Orpheus by Sara Bareilles (Live from the Hollywood Bowl)
Soundstage, imaging, separation & vocals...all these gets an A from me here.
Overall sound signature: Neutral-to-bright sounding set. Balanced with no overpowering emphasis across frequencies. Most earbuds lean to being more warm-or even dark-sounding, so the Budubuds v1 is a standout in this regard.
Driveability: Very easy to drive. I was never at more than 9 o'clock on the volume pot of my Zen DAC v1 (power match & truebass off).
Ok, time to wrap things up. I'll abstain from giving a numerical score as they can be quite arbitrary, imho. What I can certainly say is that the Budubuds v1 gets a very hearty recommendation from me, especially if you consider the price and that it's locally made & tuned by the maker. For a first foray, Din has done a fantastic job. I say this with conviction: for someone just getting into earbuds, the Budubuds v1 could be all you need until you're ready to step up into TOTL-land (with the accompanying deep pockets 😛); even for seasoned earbuds veterans, I believe the Budubuds v1 still has the potential to surprise you with it's excellent capabilities and technicalities. It might just be the something different that you're looking for.
I've tried to be honest here and have chosen my words with care. However, as we all hear differently, here comes the usual caveat of batuan anda mungkin berlainan (YMMV).
But really, all I can say is this: Go ahead, give Budubuds a try. For the asking price, it's a no-brainer. And btw...to the uninitiated, welcome to the rabbit hole.
