Symphonium Titan Review

Bass is bad.

If you have ever interacted with me online in Discord, Reddit, or Head-Fi, I have, for the longest time, jokingly said that bass is bad (relative to headphones). Bass is typically overdone, or really, focuses so much on mid-bass, that it bloats the frequency spectrum.

So now I may have to take back all the bad things I said about bass. Bass isn't bad. There's nothing to be afraid of.... Bass just never was done well until more recently (in the past couple of years) in the IEM world, at least in my opinion.

I've reviewed and owned IEMs that sound good and have an abundance of bass. Things like the Empire Ears Odin, which the version I owned had boosted bass compared to the normal one, or the recent review of the Elysian Annihilator, or the FatFreq Maestro SE. These are all products that have actually good tuning with big bass bumps.

When I listened to the Elysian Diva, I thought I would have preferred the minimum bass setting as its FR was closest to my beloved Viento. Instead, I always kept it on the maximum bass setting.

Hell, even a few years ago, I would have called the Subtonic Storm bassier than I would have preferred if I just looked at the frequency response. But now, I consider it a balanced neutral monitor. What happened to me?

So today, I review my latest purchase -- a Blind Buy, something I don't really recommend doing, but I did, so I am a hypocrite. Actually, all the IEMs and Headphones I own and love are blind buys, so let's just leave this for another day. 

Where was I? Oh yes, so today, I review my latest purchase -- the Symphonium Titan. This is the newest release from the Singaporean brand that brought us the Helios, Crimson, Meteor, and the similarly named Triton. They also manufacture the Subtonic Storm. This new IEM is their vision of a basshead product and sells for $999 USD (1 kilobuck).

The Titan is their blue pill. It has the similarly designed Symphonium shell shape, but in a smaller form-factor than the Helios, but larger than the Meteor (from memory), and it has blue trim around the front edges, with a marble-looking main face that is a mix of different shades of gray and gold.

The metal shells are lightweight and once I found the right tips with this small and shallow nozzled IEM, I had no discomfort wearing them. That said, I never felt that they were fully secured even with the best fitting tips that I've tried. I'm still tip rolling to find the most optimal fit, as I write this today, but this is just an issue I've always had with the Symphonium triangular-designs.

They included cable a blue 4-wire braided cable with OE-branded modular jacks and 2-pin connectors. Symphonium provides a 4.4mm and 3.5mm OE modular jack that should be perfect for the vast majority of audiophile audio players today. One thing I did not like about the cable is that the connectors are the standard 0.78mm 2-pin variety meant for a recessed slot in the shells, but the Symphonium Titan does not have recessed slots. Instead, it's meant for a flush connector, and so there's a visual mismatch here that I don't really like. I opted to use my own cables that are flush-fit either way.

Also in the box is a metal circular storage container with a screw on lid, several tips, a cleaning brush, and a bag with dessicant inside, which I am assuming is to dry out your IEMs if needed. They also included a Symphonium branded cleaning cloth.

Sound Impressions

Symphonium tuned the Titan to be Bassy, Clean, and Smooth, as stated on the box cover. And for the most part, I agree with that statement. It is undeniably bass-heavy, but the midrange and treble are not compromised in anyway. The upper-midrange and treble is similarly tuned to the Subtonic Storm, but of course, with the overwhelmingly large bass boost, they do not sound nearly as forward and in the spotlight.

If I was going to ask for anything more from the midrange, it perhaps would be to put it a little more  elevated in the pinna-range (upper-mids/low treble). Something similar to the Elysian-tuned Annihilator, which gives this area a little more dynamic and zest. But, despite that, it's well tuned that vocals are not impacted -- especially when I hear a bass-heavy hip hop track with female vocals, like music from Tinashe or Maeta, where their respective voices are not drowned out by the accompanying drum and bass tracks.

The Titan's bass presentation is the star of the show though, obviously. It’s pretty explosive and dynamic and I am quite enjoying it. It rumbles my skull on some tracks — “Hey Now” from London Grammar at around 1:21 when the bass kicks off is mind shattering. 

It can also be controlled in rock songs, where deep subbass isn't necessarily needed. On the National's Weird Goodbyes, the kick drum hits with authority, and Matt Berninger's deep vocals really shine with great body and texture. 

Jazz songs like Bill Laurance's Live at Ronnie Scott's recording is fantastic with it's bass guitar taking the lead giving the rhythm to Laurance's piano playing skills. Go Go Penguin's Kamaloka has thundering bass riffs from Nick Blacka.

The Titan's soundstage is small however. It's not that it's claustrophobic and tiny -- it's about average to most IEMs, but is probably on a smaller scale than other IEMs in the kilobuck range that I have heard. It's partially because the bass range is so elevated that music is banging at you hard, and you feel it each time it hits. It's also that  the mid-range isn't recessed and it still has vocals present without straining and it's just... well... a basshead IEM. It has some compromises after all.

Comparisons

The Storm is my favorite IEM (and perhaps headphone in general). The Annihilator is probably my 2nd favorite. The Titan is like taking the Annihilator low-end and mixing it with the Storm upper mids and treble and adding more deep sub-bass, so there is always a good chance I would have liked the Titan.

It's still a step behind both of these in my opinion, but it's quite fun to listen to when I just want to pretend I am 10-20 years younger and still going out to clubs/raves, except sitting on my couch like an old man.

I had the FatFreq Maestro SE on loan last week and just received my Titan this week so unfortunately didn't get to compare both side-by-side. They do have a lot of similarities though! The graphs obviously show the traits. I do think the Titan is smoother and intimate, but the Maestro SE has bigger soundstage and instrument separation. I also like the shell design of the Maestro SE a little bit more just because it fits my ears like a glove, but I can also see a lot of people liking the shallower and smaller fit of the Titan over the deep and large fit of the Maestro SE.

Final Thoughts

I have said quite a bit already to be honest. I never really thought that I would buy an ultra-bass heavy headphone and look at me now! I bought one! And I enjoy it! It's fun and it makes me feel young again.

This isn't just a one-trick pony either, as I did find it quite listenable to all genres, and it does really have a small club sound to it, so it does work well with live music surprisingly.

The quick hitter list of things I wish could be better -- fitment/shell design, recessed vs flush 2-pin connectors, and perhaps just a tad more upper mid-range to balance it out a little more. But overall, this is a nicely tuned basshead IEM and one of the best I've tried in this category, easily.

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