Impressions: Ikko Opal OH2

This is actually my first time reviewing an Ikko product, and well, it's going to be a limited listening impressions at that. Audio pal, Infoseeker (who just started writing reviews on this blog recently), sent me a trio of IEMs to listen to. One of these is the Opal OH2 from Ikko, which retails for $79 USD. I've spent the past few days listening to this in-ear for a few hours at a time and this is what I've found so far:

Shell/Comfort

Since I didn't get the normal packaging, I won't and can't go into detail about what's in the box, because, well, I did not get one! But I will say that the Opal comes in a variety of colors to choose from, and the one Infoseeker sent me was in white.

The Opal is extremely light and one of the most comfortable in-ears I've ever worn. It feels like nothing is even in your ear: a perfectly shaped, sized and weighted in-ear that disappears. That's a wonderful thing. 

The cable it comes with has a nice springy feel, but is not annoying. In fact, it's also extremely lightweight, does not tangle, and has a fun two-colored braid look to it that I find very appealing. The IEM connects with mmcx connectors.

Sound

The Opal has a warm-ish tuning with a mid-bass focus, slightly recessed-mids, and a reduced treble range. There is some upper treble added back-in despite the lower treble being fairly dark that prevents this IEM from being overly dark. The Opal isn't my typical tuning preference and I do find it to sound a bit off in some music I played.

Vocal songs, especially ones with females sound quite a bit veiled and dark with a slight compression in the mid-range. Sometimes the mid-bass bump can be overpowering and bleed, but for the most part it is not too out of control.

Because there is a dip in the lower treble, followed by a rise in around 9-10KHz, I do feel like that area sounds just a tad bright, despite it may not looking so in the FR graph. Relatively speaking, the energy of the upper cymbals and snares can come off splashy, especially in poorly-recorded pop rock songs from my 90s collection (i.e. I heard it abundantly in Gin Blossoms).

Outside of the little nitpicks mentioned, I find the resolution of the Ikko to be quite acceptable and good for this price point. It competes directly with Moondrop's Aria, however, which I also find on the brighter end as well, but with more subbass and a more balanced tuning. 

The Opal the comfort king, but tuning isn't my cup of tea. I do think some people may enjoy this, as it has a more consumer-grade tuning, a little more reminiscent of some of the off-the-shelf brick and mortar headphones tuning, but much, much more refined.