Crisp trebles for a foam tip?
The crisps are there yet more tightened, thicker, and slightly rounded on the edges. You’ll still be able to enjoy the crispy bites from the trebles but with smoother edges and a warmer tone. Of course, trebles aren’t as clear and airy as Crystal, Xelastec, or AET07 would. Yet Foamax makes these adjustments natural enough that it feels more like a tune change than a performance downgrade. I’d say the brightness and detail levels are very similar to silicone while the heat is significantly reduced. Foamax retains good analyticity and texture details while transforming the trebles to cause zero fatigue.
Density of the vocals
I consider this significant. One of the many reasons I usually don’t use foam tips is what they do to the vocals – they usually always lose density, dynamics, and texture details. In short, vocals get weaker in power. Minimizing unwanted resonance or the “cave effect” is another key sound signature of Foamax. Foamax grasps the vocals tight together, making them sound dense and large.
This also leads to sound becoming more dynamic. Once reverting to other foam tips or silicone tips, the change gets more obvious as the sound would feel like it’s watered down. Foamax serves well with IEMs that have snappy or metallic vocals, as the sound naturally swifts towards sounding organic and universal, while carrying along a good portion of shine the IEM used to have. Sibilance is also effectively smoothed out while keeping an even mid-range flow.
A glimpse of dynamic driver
Improving the bass response is one major purpose of using foam tips. As for the quality of the bass, I’m confident to say that Foamax simply outperforms all pre-existing foam tips. Foamax steers away from a muffled, cloudy, or boomy bass. Instead, adds more of a dynamic-driver-like effect to the bass. Foamax preserves the sound’s rigidness, which is something that extends further than simply sounding tight. While most foam tips make the bass more fluffy in texture, Foamax’s bass kick has a more rigid, solid feeling.
The bass feels nearly as tight but with more thickness and warmth. These changes would be particularly effective if you’d like to add more flesh to the bassline and thicker thuds. The texture softens a little bit but within a reasonable range. Foamax creates a more in-closed headroom compared to the other line-ups (Xelastec, Crystal, etc). Not open-ended at least. However, it doesn’t get stuffy thanks to the good scale in size and treble extension.
Pinnacle of all Foams
AZLA is a brand that has been constantly stressing the importance of sound clarity, and Foamax achieves an impressive level of clarity for a foam tip. Throughout the review, I’ve mentioned why I and many others used to steer away from foam tips despite the benefits they had. After using Foamax for a while now I can say that Foamax addressed all the drawbacks foam tips used to have and I’m impressed about that. As all eartips would, you give up one to gain another. Foamax has made these gives and takes very well making it possible to convince foam tip haters like me, as well as those who generally stayed away from foam tips for their usual sound signature.
On the other hand, if you’re a foam tip protagonist, you don’t need me to tell you that you should try these – you must. For the last, Foamax would work fantastically for those who need smoother sound and better isolation. Unless you’re intending to keep “100%” of the treble heat, even if you’re a foam tip hater, Foamax has many ways to surprise you.
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