Editor’s Note: Our thoughts are based on pre-production, prototype units of the Soranik Ion and may not necessarily be fully indicative of the state of the final production models. Pictures were generously provided by Soranik.
In the grand scheme of things, the financial requirements for becoming a custom IEM manufacturer are not all that stringent. You need some acrylic (or silicone), curing apparatuses, some cutting and polishing tools, a low-power field microscope, basic knowledge of circuit design, and some elbow grease — it’s no wonder several home-brew companies have popped up the past few years.
While these companies don’t necessarily have the marketing clout of, say, a Westone or Shure, they often have the charm of a singular purpose and philosophy, along with an assiduous moxie. If there is one major thing we here at CYMBACAVUM really care about when it comes to companies putting out new products, it’s effort. A product needn’t be “groundbreaking” or paradigm-shifting; what matters is that the company develop their products in a systematic, thoughtful manner, applying scientific principle and craftsman art to a new offering.
Soranik is such a company. It’s small, it’s new, and it’s looking to gain some recognition, with one unique feature — it’s from Vietnam. Few Vietnamese companies populate the world of head-fi; Sunrise Audio comes to mind as the one major OEM/ODM with aspirations to maintain its own brand, but none have arisen from the bottom-up until now. Thus, it’s no wonder that young, cosmopolitan guys are at the helm of Soranik — Hieu Tran, the head designer, grew up in Vietnam but studied in the United Kingdom at the University of Warwick for an advanced degree in statistics and applied mathematics. It was during this time that he developed his interest in IEMs and tinkering with circuits.
However, the sonic inspiration for Soranik is not English, but Japanese. A lifelong fan of anime and admirer of the kaizen spirit of the Japanese, Tran (and his partners) developed a penchant for Keita Suyama’s FitEar IEMs and wished to localize a similar kind of sound in Vietnam. They began a few years ago, in a quasi-stealth mode, creating custom in-ears on a by-request basis. But Tran noticed that most people preferred the convenience of a universal, and being an owner of a TO GO! 334 himself, embarked on designing what he considered to be an augmented version. The result is the Ion, the first model Soranik is offering to customers beyond the familiar circles of the Vietnamese audio and musician community.
On first glance at the Ion, the FitEar inspiration is striking. It uses large, keyed two-pin connectors in the same way and the default colorway is near-opaque black, just like the TO GO! series from FitEar. The nozzle exit is clear, and the milled titanium tubes can be clearly seen. The build quality is good — not quite as precise as that of FitEar’s, but decent all-around. Tran spent years doing remolds for his friends before being confident enough to begin designing his own universal mold. Don’t mistake the Ion for a bizarro-esque imitation of the TO GO! 334, however —- the guts of the Ion are completely different and engineered from the ground-up to be its own beast. Soranik is rightly proud of the sweat and tears poured into the conception of the Ion, as it is the culmination of about two full years of research and experimentation from Tran.
Undoubtedly, many people will end up listening to the Ion in the months to come. They’ll share impressions on the positioning of the vocals, the slam of the bass, yada yada yada. What they won’t often mention, is how laborious the R&D process was for Tran. He tried just about everything, going through multiple different prototypes and developing his own titanium tube milling process. Ready-made titanium tubes, he felt, were too thick and made the music sound coarse. Apparently, the thickness and smoothness of the tubing affect more than the size constraints of an IEM; sonic resonances are measurably and subjectively affected as well. Local CNC contractors didn’t have the skill or patience to process low-volume, high technical requirement orders like his. So he learned to mill titanium on his own.
His main goal, though, was to improve the molasses-like bass of the 334 while preserving its vocal richness. And like a good engineer, he attempted to rectify these shortcomings with precise control of acoustic low-pass filters and judicious, minimal use of passive components.
He first sent CYMBACAVUM a prototype in September last year — a dual-woofered, dual titanium tube behemoth. They were really tip dependent (though Taylor Swift always sounded awesome with them), ranging from caramel vocals in a deep fit to energetic highs in a shallow one, and while they shared common traits with the 334, the soundstage presentation was very different. The prototype Ion had a wider, flatter soundstage, and was less smooth sounding. Fit was also a little awkward, as the nozzle exits were a bit long, causing the prototype to hang loosely off the ears. We suggested that Soranik rework the Ion prototype — mainly for purposes of ergonomics.
Fast forward six months, and the new Ion is completely different. Not only is it now much more comfortable, the sound signature is reworked. Tran collected feedback from us and others to create a different, crowd-pleaser type of signature — a good deal of bass, but well done and without strangulating impact/stuffiness. It still maintains good clarity, but with a kind of fuzzy warmth that many people like, and with the treble being smooth enough such that extremely compressed music (e.g. K-Pop) doesn’t sound horrible, all while preserving good treble extension.
Variance in sound signature due to depth of insertion is now not as variable (but is an unavoidable feature of sound physics), and coupled with the vastly improved fit, the Ion is comfortable as can be. We love the performance-style braided cables as well — these type of cables are sorely lacking in FitEar’s staple of 000/001/002/003/004/005 cables.
The Ion is a labor of love from Soranik, built with the kind of effort we here at CYMBACAVUM can really appreciate; we can’t wait to see what others have to say about it!
For more information, please visit Soranik’s Facebook page.
CYMBACAVUM 