Another audio collaboration has landed, this time with YouTuber Gizaudio and Binary Acoustics. These new earphones promise a sound that’s full, rich, smooth, and detailed — perfect for music and gaming alike. At $199, they deliver in sound quality but won’t be a good fit if you have smaller ears. The tuning is impeccable, however, providing a high-res listening experience that’s bassy, fun, and detailed.
Specifications
- Current Price:
- Key Features
- Designed in Collaboration With Gizaudio
- Four-Driver Hybrid Setup
- 8mm Ceramic Diaphragm Dynamic Driver
- Customized Mid-Range Balanced Armature Driver
- Customized Composite Dual Balanced Armature Driver for High-Frequency (2BA)
- Stunning Design With Stainless Steel Facepanels
- 3D Printed Resin Material Cavities
- Comfortable Design
- High-Purity OFC SIlver-Plated Litz Cable
- Available in 3.5mm or 4.4mm Termination Options
- Impedance: 12Ω@1kHz
- Sensitivity: 122dB/Vrms
- Effective Frequency Response Range: 5Hz-20kHz
- THD+N: <1%@1kHz
Gizaudio × Binary Acoustics Chopin - First Impressions and Key Features
It seems like every month, we have a new collaboration earphone to consider. It can border on fatiguing, but the simple fact is that these earphones are often crowd-pleasers. The influencers partnering with these brands know what it takes to develop a sound that will resonate with their audiences… who just so happen to be made up of mainstream consumers like you and I. If they didn’t hit so often, people would stop buying, but here we are with another in-hand, and after listening to it: yeah, I’m on board with this continuing.
The Chopin comes to us courtesy of a collaboration between YouTuber, Gizaudio, and Binary Audio. Timmy, the lead host and tuning expert behind the Chopin, is a well-loved member of the audio community and has been active for many years. Binary Acoustics, on the other hand, I had never heard of but has apparently been operating in the eastern market since 2017.
The Chopin is a four-driver hybrid, consisting of a single dynamic driver and four balanced armatures. The dynamic driver is especially interesting here as it is said to use a metal-ceramic composite diaphragm. The diaphragm is the vibrating portion of the speaker and is responsible for the majority of its sound characteristics. Ideally, you want a lightweight material that is also rigid and strong, allowing it to vibrate with speed and precision. This effect can be heard throughout the frequency spectrum it’s responsible for (it can be split between drivers) but is especially noticeable in the bass regions where small elements like texture come to the forefront. Likewise, a fast dynamic driver is able to “punch” with its bass notes, allowing for realistic and sometimes tactile impact that immerses you in the sound. This is beneficial in both gaming and music for obvious reasons, and the use of ceramic and metal coating is intriguing.
The mids and highs are covered by three balanced armatures. These are custom-designed by Binary Acoustics and are said to be impedance-matched to the components in each earpiece. They’ve been tuned to deliver clarity and a natural timbre (presentation of sound). The dynamic driver and BAs have been designed to not interfere with each other, so there is no muddiness for the bass bleeding into the mids and so on.
The earphones come in a unique box where the lid lifts off and the case and documentation are all positioned vertically. The come inside a small hardback case with each earpiece held inside its own velvet bag. The other two boxes hold the manual and warranty docs, as well as the cable, silicone ear tips, and a cleaning tool. The case isn’t very pocketable with how bulky it is but it protects the earphones nicely. Otherwise, it’s a pretty sparse package with only a single set of small, medium, and large tips. To assist with this (and most likely a fit issue I’ll discuss in the next section), HiFiGo is also including a set of premium SoftEars ear tips with every package. My own came with a set of Divinus Velvet tips, which felt borderline necessary to make these earphones comfortable for any length of time.
The earpieces are made of resin and have a unique teardrop shape. The faceplates appear to be metal but may be plastic; it’s very difficult to tell. They have the model and brand name printed on what appears to be an audio spectrum. They’re fairly simple but have a minimalist look that I like, especially when so many brands go the opposite direction with colorful, jewelry-like shells.
The cable is also nice, though a bit thinner than most of what you’ll find from the competition at this price. It uses high-purity oxygen-free copper strands coated in silver for a look that matches the earphones very well, in my opinion. It’s soft and smooth and not microphonic.
Overall, it’s a sparse package, but what really matters is fit and sound quality, so let’s move on.
Gizaudio × Binary Acoustics Chopin - Fit and Comfort
The fit on the Chopin was problematic for me. Even though the shells are fairly small, the nozzles are quite long and have a wide diameter. With the included tips, I wasn’t able to find a comfortable fit where it didn’t feel like they were pressing uncomfortably into my ear canal. I have what I consider to be average ears (my build and features are all middle of the the road in size), so this could certainly be an issue for others. If you have smaller ears, you could certainly have issues using the Chopin.
I was able to alleviate this using a set of Divinus Velvet eartips that HiFiGo included in the box. They’re still not the most comfortable earbuds with such wide nozzles, but this shows that the issue can be helped if you have tips of your own from another pair of comfortable earbuds or if you don’t mind using foam tips.
Gizaudio × Binary Acoustics Chopin - Listening Impressions
In the graph above, you can see the tonal balance represented across the range of human hear. Bass is on the left, treble is on the right. The far left bottoms out in the sub-bass, which is the tactile quality of bass: rumble, vibration, reach. The opposite end is the upper treble, which doesn’t sound much like notes at all and instead gives an impression of air and spaciousness within the sound. Vocals and most instruments exist in the 1k to 4k region with harmonics (the higher frequencies that make them sound true to life and not underwater) occur higher. Bass guitars and kick drums live in to 80 to 300 region.
The Chopin is a very well-tuned pair of IEMs. They have a big elevation in the sub-bass that lends them a much fuller sound than you might expect from their outward appearance. Electronic music sounds amazing on these, as do action games with gunshots and explosions. Orchestral music, ala game and movie soundtracks, also reach low into this section. Hans Zimmer’s Interstellar soundtrack really highlights why low-bass is important. The tactile qualities of its bass bring the sound to life.
The mid-bass is a bit less but I still found it very pleasant. Bass guitars have enough presence and body to fill out songs very well. NF’s My Stress evidences this, as does Sleep Token’s Take Me Back to Eden. The elevation of the sub-bass, especially when viewed on a graph, can make this look like less than it actually is. They sounded great with my very varied library of metal, prog rock, math rock, folk, and chillstep.
The mids play nicer with women’s voices than mens, but I found both to sound very natural and smooth. The crossover to the mid-BA is very smooth without any bass bleed that can make this range sound husky or muddy. In fact, vocals have a nice edge to them that’s not sharp but does make them stand out in the mix.
This range is also where most of the key instruments in music live. Acoustic and electric guitars and pianos, violins and cellos, most brass. The instruments are dependent on the upper mids and treble to make them sound accurate, and they absolutely do. It’s the interplay between the mids and highs that really bring the Chopin to life. There’s a clarity here akin to going from 480p to 1080p for the first time (a reference I realize writing it may not make sense to younger readers… oh, time, how you remind me).
This same quality is what allows games to feel immersive. The tuning here pulls the sound out of the haze and into clarity, allowing you to hear everything in your surroundings with newfound refinement. The positional accuracy is also decent, so playing competitive games with these is perfectly possible, should you want one pair of headphones for all of your listening.
The soundstage is also pretty good. There’s decent width and depth to the sound that’s in keeping with its price point. They’re definitely more spacious than a $100 pair, like the Moondrop Starfield, but are just about on par with the Kato, which is around the same price. They won’t leave you saying “wow” when you hear them for the first time, at least in this area, but they’re not likely to disappoint either.
The detail retrieval is really quite good, though. The frequency balance draws out details in the listening experience and presents them in well-defined layers of sound. They don’t hide very much, such that you might find yourself surprised at how well background details come forward. The separation in layers isn’t exceptionally wide but it’s enough that you can really perceive exactly how your song comes together, or in the case of gaming, everything happening in your environment at a given time.
Should You Buy the Gizaudio × Binary Acoustics Chopin?
As a “one earphone” solution to all of your daily listening, the Chopin makes a very strong case for itself. The tonal balance and detail retrieval are very good, such that I’m left looking to more expensive sets like the Mangird Tea 2 for a comparable value in sound quality. That earphone is still selling for over $300 if that gives you any idea of the quality of the tuning the Chopin has to offer. Timmy nailed it.
At the same time, the fit issues really are a concern. Knowing that these have long, wide nozzles, Binary Acoustics really should have included additional ear tips in the box. As it stands, supplying your own or receiving a gifted pair from HiFiGo feels necessary. That’s a tough pill to swallow from a $200 pair of earphones.
Still, when you do find the right fit, there’s a lot to enjoy about this pair set. They sound great for just about anything, which is a testament to why these collaborations continue to be so much fun within the hobby. Whether you’re a gamer or a music lover, these are worth considering, understanding you may need to try different tips.
The product described in this article was provided by the manufacturer for evaluation purposes. Articles may include affiliate links from which we may earn a small commission to help support the site. Authors do not earn affiliate revenue or commissions.
