Soundz Flame High-End HiFi IEMs – Ignite The Dazzling Melody
Soundz Flame is a 990 Euro / $1101 USD pair of In-Ear Monitors designed for recording / mixing / performing artists, but also for music lovers who want to hear the accurate burning passion of a live musician. Today we will review the Flame and also compare them to similarly priced IEMs, including Sweear He-Live5 (899 USD), Campfire Bonneville (1399 USD), Spirit Torino Twin Pulse Beryllium (999 USD), Sennheiser IE900 (1499 USD), and Unique Melody Maven PRO (1799 USD).
Introduction
By now we know the friendly experts from Greece making IEMS and their excellent products made so far. Today we review the flame of passion, an universal IEM with as much customization available as all the other IEMs, but like always, we explore the universal version. With a beautiful shell and excellent build quality, Soundz always provides an excellent experience for their customers, and now that we got high-quality 4.4mm balanced cables included in the package, it is time to put their 2nd best IEM to the test. Don’t worry, that’s not a derogatory term, but their flagship is currently Soundz Avant. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases, and using the purchase links in my reviews helps me maintain this website and Youtube Channel. Huge thanks to Soundz for providing us with the sample for this review.
PROs – Complete package, with options for both customs as well as universal variants available. The sound is detailed and clean, offers excellent resolution, and you can get both a neutral tuning, but also a warm and romantic one, at the flip of a switch. The default cable is of an excellent quality, comfort is great, and passive noise isolation very strong.
Cons – Ultra revealing sound will show both the good and the bad in music.
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/4dX0aCg
Official Link – https://www.soundzcustom.com/flame/
Build Quality/Aesthetics/Fit/Comfort
I love confidence in the marketing and paperwork of a company, and Soundz dubs the Flame to have Bottomless Lows, Touching Mids and Soaring highs, so this indicates a likely V-Shaped vivid sound. Before we get there, Flame has the SoundzCore2 driver technology, featuring 8 Sonion Balanced Armature Drivers, configured in a 4-way configuration. The drivers are arranged in a configuration of having 4 Balanced Armatures playing the bass, lower midrange, and the sub bass, 2 Balanced Armatures playing the midrange, 2 Balanced armatures offering the treble and the high-end.
As we’ve seen with both the Soundz Avand and the Soundz Blade V2, we get the Immersive Mode switch, which is an electronic crossover switch that will either engage a bigger bass with more punch and impact, or lower the quantity of the bass, offering a more neutral tune and a flatter bass. You can engage it while using the Soundz Flame, and it has zero degradation, the sound has the same characteristics, besides the changes in tonality and bass quantity.
If you get the Custom version of the Flame, Soundz has the Flex Fit Pro, a special mechanism and design process that employs a revolutionary flexible resin material, which adjusts to your ear canal after warming up, feeling softer and cooler in your ears compared to traditional IEMS and monitors. The shells are made of 1.4mm thick resin, having high impact and drop resistance, and I can confirm that those are IEMs with zero scratches even after long hours of usage and after being taken outdoors to take the photos you’re seeing in my review today.
To match the performance of the IEMs, Soundz implemented the Complex crossover design, which is highly efficient, and helps eliminate the Phase difference, lower the THD and offers excellent L/R matching for the Flame. The new array of Sonion drivers includes an advanced Balanced Armature Woofer, and Flame uses a variant custom-tuned to offer the deepest, most realistic bass in their IEMs. You can design the Flame in any style you want, including the shell color, faceplates, and you can order them either with a full balanced cable, or with a single ended cable, to match with your source.
At the technical level, Soundz made the Flame with three sound bores, and a technical passive noise isolation noted to be up to -35 dB. The Impedance is rather low at 16.6 OHMs, and the SPL is at a medium level of 103dB, slightly lower than most IEMs, but not low by any means. During my subjective usage, Flame uses a high quality cable, the same we’ve seen in the Soundz Blade V2, it is a flexible and not springy or tange-prone cable, with excellent comfort. While I feel like it is a bit short for my usage, the 1.2 meters is perfect for monitoring and using thse live. The cable has a springy soft coiling around the ear which offers good support and a snug fit for the Flame without the cable feeling uncomfortable.
The passive noise isolation is ultra high, between 25 dB and 35 dB of passive noise isolation, it basically deafens all the noise in my room, including the sound of me typing on my keyboard, the sound of my air conditioner and all the other sounds around me. Wearing comfort is downright excellent, and Flame has a super low weight, and a comfortable, ergonomic shape, with biocompatible resin bodies that feel nice in my ears while I’m wearing them. The default eartips are basic but of a good quality, with an optionally good upgrade path being trying to use ddHIFI ST-35, which offer a softer eartip, and a slightly better comfort, but also changing the sound slightly.
Sound Quality
Pairings – To start the audio part of the review, I have paired the Soundz Flame with a wide selection of sources, including iFi hip-dac 3, KAEI TAP-1 DACs, HIDIZS S8 PRO, HIFIMAN EF400, iBasso D16, iBasso DX260, Dethonray Listening M1, FiiO K11 R2R, Shanling Onix Alpha Xi1, and Hiby R4. Soundz Flame is slightly sensitive to source noise, like most Soundz IEMs, but it is not an exaggerated high effect, so you’ll likely be fine using the Flame with most sources without noticing the noise floor. Pairing with most sources is good, although as the impedance is on the lower side, you will quickly notice if a source has a high output impedance, as the bass quantity and tonality will change with the impedance. The sound generally has a strong dynamic range, and excellent detail, with the best sources for the Soundz Flame being iBasso DX260, iBasso D16, and Dethonray Listening M1.
Overall Signature – Soundz Flame is an earphone made by a monitor company, so you will hear that ultra detailed midrange, slightly softer and smoother treble. While the sound is never fatiguing in the treble, it has a good amount of air, hard edges are smooth and textures are generally pleasing to the ear in the treble. The midrange is revealed as if it was placed under a microscope, you hear every single aspect of the midrange, including when clipping happens, when the sound is wide or personal and intimate, Flame basically will sound excellent with good music but will show every single issue with poorly mixed and mastered music. Female voices are sweet, brilliant and delightful, while male voices are slightly pushed back, clean and natural, with a strong texture and grain to them. Bass is generally neutral, but you can add extra sub-bass and especially mid bass by engaging the Immersive mode switch. I recommend allowing Soundz Flame 10 hours of burn-in to really get as good idea of how they sound like, and I typically do burn-in at high listening volumes while wearing them, but I noticed the sound settling in, the bass getting fuller and THD lower, PRaT and textures smoothing out in the first 10 hours of playing music. This is likely owed to the fact they are both using new generation drivers, and likely there’s an electronic burn-in happening as well.
Bass – Starting with the bottom, you really should engage the Immersive Mode button if you like a deep and powerful bass, and if you like a full, and lush bass, you will love the Soundz Flame. Bass reaches as low as 20 Hz, but most of the energy starts around 50 Hz, with a strong low bass and mid bass presence, a warm bass sound, slightly slower and satisfying. Bass is smooth and has very little grain or texture to it, being full and lush, with a long decay for each hit and musical note, creating a grand sound for the low-end. As the bass quantity grows with volume, it is good to keep in mind that at lower volumes, the bass is more neutral, while at high volumes, the bass gets more bloomy and even can reach bass cannon levels of impact and kick. An interesting effect with Soundz Flame is faithfulness to the source, as Flame presents exactly how much bass is present in the original song, rap music can sound darn beefy and full, punchy and powerful, while rock and metal, the bass is more neutral. As I listen to Soundz Flame more and more, they get more transparent and feel like a chameleon, having the ability to reproduce each song in a different tonality, quantity of bass and treble, while the midrange is always consistent – Perfect.
Midrange – The midrange of the Soundz Flame is clearly the highlight for their sound, as they render music with extreme clarity and precision in the midrange, showing very fine nuances in both male and female voices, showing where each instrument is coming from, and allowing you to hear every micro detail without glossing over it. Guitars, voices, all lead instruments are presented forward and close to the listener, while background layters are more distant and projected in the background, but the soundstage never scatters sound too far away from the listener. Clipping is evident for those wanting to use Flame in a studio, but clipping is presented as soft clipping instead of hard distortion, so you can work for a long time with Soundz Flame without them ever becoming fatiguing, and THD is ultra-low even at maximum volume, allowing you to enjoy music across all volume levels and styles while hearing only the song, and not the oversaturated parts. Both male and female voices have a perfect tonality, and I have tested this with multiple recordings, as there is just the perfect amount of texture and emotion in both female voices and male voices. Happy music will sound upbeat, while sad and emotional music will be emotional and sad.
Treble – The treble of Soundz Flame is smooth, relaxed, and has a peak around 10-12 kHz, after which it rolls off gently, producing a sound that is enjoyable with all music, but hiding some of the artifacts present in certain music. You get a strong sense of clarity and detail, and a strong sense of whether a song is bright or smooth, but the upper treble is rolled off softly above 10 kHz, so fatigue is never an issue with Soundz Flame. This being said, the 10 kHz peak is somewhat strong and good for revealing how each album sounds like. The treble gets much stronger with higher volumes, while it is laid back, relaxed and smooth at lower volumes.
Dynamics / PRaT / Textures – Dynamics are a strong point for Soundz Flame, it is an IEM that can render micro details and quiet sounding effects / instruments without compressing the dynamic range, while textures are soft, silky-waxy and musical. This means that you can expect grainy and grungy instruments like violins, synths and guitars to sound full, fluid and musical instead of grainy and textured. This is true for all frequency ranges and there is not a lot of texture in the bass, midrange or treble, but the treble is in particular extremely smooth, with almost zero fatigue and zero texture, but this also means zero metallic tinge and zero harshness, plus zero listening fatigue, so Soundz Flame stays enjoyable even after a couple of hours of listening to them.
Volume Control – Volume control is good when it comes to staying distortion-free at high volumes, but the sonic character changes heavily with the volume, at lower volumes the sound being more linear, laid back and relaxed, with a smoother treble and a more linear, neutral bass. The more you pump the volume, the higher the treble energy gets, the more bass and sub bass you will hear from music, but the midrange also becomes more forward and more aggressive. Sound stays well defined and has low distortion even at ultra-loud volumes, but the tuning gets intimate, revealing details really well in the midrange, while the bass gets the same level of presence and spotlight as the midrange. Overall, the sound is enjoyable for rock, pop and EDM, presenting music in lush and pleasing at all volumes. At loud volumes, it is far more obvious which mix is too bright and too sharp and which mix is smooth and laid back. The sound has that Studio quality and makes it very easy to point to what a good mix / mastering is and what the poor ones are.
Soundstage – Soundstage tends to be intimate at higher volumes, and wider at lower volumes. Width is limited, and sound is not scattered or projected far away laterally, although depth is excellent, and music is layered nicely, with a distinct definition of each layer. Separate instruments blend together in a cohesive style, everything is part of the final mix, and Soundz Flame does not cut instruments apart, it doesn’t destroy the musicality and final result of the song, allowing you to hear each instrument playing as part of the greater song.
Gaming / Music Production
Soundz Flame is the perfect IEM for both music production, recording, mixing, mastering and also for music listening. I like having the artists’s perspective when listening, a vocalist dreams of having an IEM that renders music the same way Soundz Flame does, and it is helpful when I work for sound design, mixing and mastering music, or when I work with recording and I need strong self monitoring, or instrument monitoring.
For gaming, I can recommend Soundz Flame easily for any setup, as they have a low impedance, high efficiency, being easy to drive and not scaling all that much with the source. On the other hand, the more intimate lead sound means that you hear most sounds close to you, with strong detail, but soundtracks or special effects never get fatiguing. If your game has a strong sub-bass presence, the sound will kick and punch, while for a more neutral sound design, you will hear most sound happen in the midrange. Imaging is good, and depth is excellent, so you will easily be able to approximate how far away each sound is from you.
Comparisons
Soundz Flame vs Sweear He-Live5 (1101 USD vs 899 USD)
Build – Both He-Live5 and Flame are made with a highly ergonomic design in mind, but Flame is lighter, and while the cable is simpler, and less fancy than the modular cable of HE-Live5, Flame ends up feeling lighter and more comfortable. Although both are rather sensitive to source noise and will reveal source quality easily, Flame is less sensitive to hissing, output impedance and source noise, and it relies less on the source quality to sound good, staying more consistent across varied sources. Both IEMs offer excellent passive noise isolation, between 25 dB and 35 dB of passive noise isolation, depending on the frequency, and both have a rich package. He-Live5 has more accessories included, especially the modular cable, but their cable is less flexible. Flame can be customized in any way you want, while He-Live5 comes with a single design available and currently there are no custom options.
Sound – Flame has a bright and sharp sound, and so does He-Live5, but you can engage a thicker, warmer sound with the Flame, adding much more bass and sub-bass, a thicker and warmer sound, which has the effect of softening the treble too. The resolution and detail is similar between the two, both reveal information and details sharply, but He-Live5 has more detail all across the sound, while Soundz Flame has that monitoring sound where they are ultra detailed in the midrange, but smoother in the treble. Soundstage is on the wide side for both, Flame can show a deeper sound, while it blends instruments a bit more, He-Live5 offering a stronger separation and a wider sound with less depth. Dynamics are good for both.
Soundz Flame vs Campfire Bonneville (1101 USD vs 1399 USD)
Build – Bonneville has a deeper fit, but the default cables are of an excellent quality, Bonneville can also be ordered in a custom version. Bonneville has, by design, a much deeper fit, but it still manages to be comfortable, with no driver flex, despite having a dynamic driver inside. The deeper fit for the universal Bonneville allows it to offer a slightly stronger passive noise isolation, but for some people there may also be a bit of void when interesting them and when pulling them out. While both IEMs are easy to drive and slightly sensitive to source noise, Bonneville is slightly more sensitive to source noise, and depends a bit more on the source to sound good, Flame being more stable across different sources. The resin Bonneville is made of is very similar to that of Soundz Flame and both have a similar biocompatible feeling to them, disappearing from my ears after using each for a while.
Sound – Sonically, the two would be ideally similar if you engage the immersive switch on the Flame, but in reality, Bonneville has a far more evident V-Shaped sound, the treble being far more bright and sparkly, having more energy and more edge too. The bass of the Bonneville is also far stronger, deeper and has more punch to it, while Flame sounds more balanced across all frequencies, it is less dramatic and brings the midrange forward, revealing more information, detail and clarity in the midrange, but being more of a monitoring IEM with a Monitor sound, while Bonneville is an impressionist, artistic and explosive sounding audiophile IEM to satisfy one’s guilty pleasure. I enjoy both very much, but if you know you like the most V-Shaped sound you can get, Bonneville will offer it, while for a more balanced, more colorful and detailed sound, you can rely on the Soundz Flame to deliver.
Soundz Flame vs Spirit Torino 900 Pulse Beryllium (1101 USD vs 999 USD)
Build – Once you replace the cable of the Twin Pulse Beryllium, it is an infinitely comfortable IEM with an excellent shape / design, and a reliable, handmade construction, just like the Flame which is handmade in Greece. Both IEMs are easy to drive, and both are about equally sensitive to the source, although Flame will scale a bit more with the source, while Twin Pulse Beryllium seems to filter out most of the source influence. The default cable of the Flame is much better, it offers better comfort and usage, while both have a complete, comprehensive package with a good selection of accessories. There is no passive noise isolation with the Beryllium as it is open-back while Flame is closed-back and will offer a strong passive noise isolation and will help you with a low leakage of the music to the outside. While Flame works well with the default tips, Twin Pulse Beryllium will improve its sound a lot with aftermarket tips.
Sound – Sonically, both are high-end IEMS with an excellent sonic performance, but very different in principle, and where Twin Pulse Beryllium sounds as open, wide, airy and natural as possible having a warm bass, and a smooth, full, voluptuous sound, Flame is precise, well-defined, clean and has a much more analytical midrange, not dry, but revealing with strong contrast and a strong detail revealing ability. Both IEMs have a really good performance with rock, metal and pop, but if you need a neutral-ish sound, Flame can offer it, and it is a much better monitoring IEM, while Twin Pulse Beryllium sounds much more airy and open, offering an atmospheric and dramatic presentation that fits well with classical music, Flame sounding punchier and more forward, better for rock, EDM and Metal music.
Soundz Flame vs Sennheiser Ie900 (1101 USD vs 1499 USD)
Build – IE900 is likely the IEM I have used for the longest period of time, thanks to its excellent build quality, superb design, and once you replace the rather dreadful default cable, excellent comfort. IE900 is one of the few IEMS that come with three sets of cables, but none of which offer a good comfort, so it is good to mention that Flame offers an excellent comfort and although the default cable looks bare and minimalistic, it is excellent for wear, and the accessory list / package is more comprehensive than that IE900 comes with. Sounds flame will offer a much stronger passive noise isolation, and while Ie900 does have some passive noise isolation, after using them for a long while, my wife kept complaining that they leak my music really loudly, so I am in a position where I often replace Ie900 with either Soundz Avant or a few other flagships to not be annoying around the house. Ie900 is not sensitive to source quality, not sensitive to source noise and does not scale with the source, while flame is sensitive to source quality, output impedance, source noise and will scale with the source more than Ie900.
Sound – Sonically, Ie900 sounds bright, airy and crisp, sharp in the treble, and has a stronger sub bass with a smoother mid bass, and a settled midrange that sounds natural, yet somewhat distant. In stark contrast, Soundz Flame will bring forward the midrange, create a pleasing, tonally enjoyable and sweet midrang,e but will also reveal more information in the midrange, which Ie900 seems to omit when rendering music. Ie900 makes a comeback in the treble where it reveals texture, special effects and information more easily than Soundz Flame, as Flame is smooth, lean and relaxed in the treble. Both are quite good with rock, pop and commercial music, but Ie900 is more impactful, more dramatic and more forward, providing a wider soundstage, while Soundz Flame sounds more natural, has a better tuning for monitoring, offering a flatter midrange response, a less exaggerated sub-bass and a smoother, more relaxed treble. Soundz Flame is more intimate, bringing the lead instrument and lead voice especially close to you, while Ie900 pushes everything farther away, creating more space between instruments in the process as well.
Soundz Flame vs Unique Melody Maven PRO (1101 USD vs 1799 USD)
Build – Maven PRO is a beautiful IEM made of metal, and while none of the competitors in the comparison list so far is not that heavy, Maven PRO is much heavier than Soundz Flame, and this stands out when comparing the comfort of the two. Maven PRO has a high-end cable which is thin and not very flexible, it can create a bit more microphonic noise than the cable of the Flame which has the advantage of being lightweight, flexible and also tightly coiled around the ear, effectively canceling handling noise. Maven PRO isolates less from the outside noise, while Soundz Flame isolates more, and Maven PRO is much larger. Maven PRO is more sensitive to source noise, while Soundz Flame is less sensitive to source noise, and both are easy peasy to drive from most sources, being highly efficient IEMS. Being made of a softer metallic alloy, Maven PRO will easily scratch and damage if hitting hard objects while Soundz Flame will be very resistant to wear, damage or even scratches.
Sound – Sonically, Maven PRO has one of the brightest, sharpest and most detailed treble sounds out there, while Soundz Flame excels in the midrange. Both have a warm bass, but Maven PRO has more sub bass, a higher amount of low-end impact, and a lower amount of midrange presence, rendering most voices as slightly distant, a wide soundstage, and excellent clarity. In stark contrast, Soundz Flame sounds detailed, somewhat intimate and brings the lead instruments as well as the background closer to you, painting a detailed and high-resolution sound, but having less treble fatigue, and aggressiveness, better resolution and better clarity in the mids, but having a more complete and blended sound for the instruments, while Maven PRO has the ability of surgically cutting instruments apart and showing where each is playing with more precision. Both are excellent purchase options, but Soundz Flame has a more natural, balanced and mid centric sound, while Maven PRO has an extremely bright treble, full bass and pleasing sound in general.
Value and Conclusion
I did not believe that an IEM at 1101 USD can be considered high value, but Soundz set out to prove me wrong, the value of the Flame is excellent, and it is a lightweight IEM with excellent comfort, a high-quality package, including a large set of accessories, and with the strong support of Soundz, you can be sure you’ll have an excellent experience regardless whether you order the universal or the custom version of the Flame.
Before the end of the day, I consider the Soundz Flame to offer such a high quality for its sound, and such a good fit that I will be awarding it the Audiophile-Heaven Hall Of Fame award, this is one of the best sounding IEMs I have had the honor to listen to this year, and an excellent choice for both music lovers, singers and anyone looking to get a strong price / performance ratio from their purchase.
At the end of the day, Soundz Flame really does kindle the flame of passion in my soul and I feel happy whenever I get to listen to the flame. While not exactly as refined and smooth as the Avant, it has an epic raw performance, with a strong dynamic range, and it will reveal absolutely everything present in your music, excellent for both music production, gaming, and audiophile-grade music listening, and a full recommended purchase.
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/4dX0aCg
Official Link – https://www.soundzcustom.com/flame/
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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