Mojo Review
First ImpressionArtpical Blue Planet
Plump oceanic interstellar pearls — do they sound as good as they look?
The Verdict
Product links: https://artpical.com/index.php?c=show&id=16
Headfi.org: https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/artpical-blue-planet.28914/
Conclusion:
You may already know how this will play out.
These are BY FAR the best iems I have ever reviewed and up there with the best I’ve ever heard.
Packaging and accessories (with the thicker cable) – 5/5
Aesthetics -5/5
Fit, comfort- 5/5
Sound overall – 5/5
Value – subjective to every single person out there.
To someone who enjoys $99 iems, then value will no doubt be 1/5.
To an avid affluent collector, then no doubt 5/5.
Thanks to Michael for this opportunity- you’ve opened up my aural eyes to how good iems can get at much higher price points.
Works Best With
Blues
Classical / Orchestral
Country
Dance / EDM
Drum & Bass / Breakbeat
Electronic (general)
Folk / Singer-Songwriter
Hip-hop / Rap
House / Techno
Jazz
Latin
Reggae
Metal
Pop
Punk / Hardcore
R&B / Soul
Rock
Trance / ProgressiveReggae / Dub
World / GlobalListening Journey
Preamble:
The good gentleman Michael at Artpical has kindly sent out the Blue Planet iems for review with no expectations of a positive review – and that’s exactly what he’s getting.
These iems retail for $1199 USD and employ a 12mm aluminium ribbon planar driver unit, with an impedance of 16 ohm and a sensitivity of 98 dB/mW.
I know this goes without saying but (yep – gonna say it anyway….).
Iems have to fit perfectly to get the best from them. That means the iem can’t be too big for your outer ear canal (Concha, I believe) The tuning nozzle and subsequent tip need to fit perfectly without sound leakage, or being too large to squeeze into small ear canals (and vice versa).
Tips come in 3 sizes (generally) but ears come in a PLETHORA of sizes and shapes which honestly makes it difficult to get a“perfect” fit.
I have seen reviewers take away completely different sounds and sonic experiences from the same pair of iems, and that’s fine – we all hear differently (we also listen on different gear).
I have friends who have tiny ear canals and need bespoke tips on EVERY pair of iems they listen to.
That’s great for them, as they have the best chance of hearing the iem as it was designed to be heard.
This does make it hard for the rest of us to get consistency across the board and this is why some reviewers or listeners or consumers will experience a completely different sonic experience, to others.
If I move a pair of iems around in my ears, I can get a completely different sound. A smidge this way and bass reduces by half, a smidge that way and treble is in my face and unpleasant, or soundstage diminishes, or they become slightly muddy.
My key takeaway here is we all hear differently and iems are fickle little things. I might not have them placed correctly for my review or someone else might have the wrong size tips for their ears and not realise it.
This will COMPLETELY change the outcome (and score) of the review.
Headphones (over-ear) have this issue but not to the same extent.
There is a ton of aural information spewing into our little sonic side sponges and it needs to get there, as the manufacturer intended.
So we all need to really take the time, before reviewing, to ensure that the fit is correct, the tips are comfortable and the right size, and the iems are sitting right in that sweet spot to get the absolute best out of them.
Food for thought, that’s all, please read on.
I like to add on all my reviews –
I’m listening with my Cranial Frequency Funnels, not yours.
I’m listening with my gear, not yours.
I’m listening with my love of audio, and not yours. YMMV…..
Now let’s get our aural hands dirty!
Gear:
For the review, my portable gear consists of the new Hiby R6 Pro II 2025,streaming Tidal. Review up very soon – get excited!!!
Unboxing and first impressions:
It’s Artpical. It’s a 3 course ocular meal with matched Champagne and Bordeaux…………..
Inside a cardboard box with Artpical written on top, we get a very nice looking solid cork box with a metal Artpical nameplate. Open the flaps like the gates to Gehenna and a darker brown cork houses the iems, a box of 2 sets of tips and a smaller cork pouch which houses not 1 but 2 balanced 4.4mm cables. 1 is a nice 4.4mm balanced thinner grey cable but there is a 2nd. It’s thick braided, has a termination and V-splitter reminiscent of a Colosseum pillar. Very nice.
I’m unsure of which one is shipped with the iems – the 2nd may be an optional upgrade.
These iems, like everything Artpical does that I have reviewed – (https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/artpical-lunar-ring.28885/reviews#review-41131
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/artpical-lucifer.27556/reviews#review-39846), are simply stunning (in my opinion of course!).
They are huge blue alien whales. Plumper than my cousin Zita’s left……never mind.
Up close, they look like continents ( I honestly see Australia), surrounded by deep blue oceans. Smooth, heavy intergalactic pearls. Just striking.
So I’m not being a hypocrite, I swapped out the tips and tried both pairs. The clear silicon pair were lovely. The white and black pair maybe a fraction more forward in presentation. Not good or bad, but different.
I stuck with the white and black pair.
The nozzles are fat like a Ruben sandwich but the tips are easy to swap out.
Well, I’m as ready as I’ll ever be- fit - tick, correct size tips - tick, correct in-ear position – tick.
Let’s do this……
The Important Stuff:
The reverberation of the Hammond organ at the start of the song is so real, so lifelike, so resonant.
Polachek’s vocals are enchanting. Detail and resolution is simply excellent. There is a bass guitar in the middle about a minute in. It’s deep and powerful. Drums come in to the right, clean and punchy with no harshness.
Sounds all around inside my flesh‑tuned binaural hub.
Staging is holographic and separation is some of the most spacious and open I have heard from an iem. Period. Cowbells are all around me and at 3:30, I swear she sings “A fart comes”………..I guess even stars need to pass wind.
Great song on the Blue Planets. And kudos to the Hiby R6, doing a great job obviously.
A little different next “kiddies, can you spell A.C.I.D”????.
Sounds all around, and they are ALL around. Separated very well and everything is clean, detailed and spread out everywhere.
Vocals are bright and very lifelike. The timbre is excellent.
Then the bass hits. Wow. It goes deep, really deep and the quality and quantity of it is excellent. It’s separated completely from the flute, the vocals and other sounds but it’s all cohesive at the same time.
The vocals are right in the middle of my head and the bass is all around me. Quite the aural juxtaposition.
Paramore up next. Clean guitar and Hayley’s voice is ever so clean, crisp (in a good way) and hyper-resolving. I can hear the gentle smack of her lips as she presses them closed, and opens them.
Then the bass guitar comes in and it is so clean and palpable amongst the rest of the mix.
The song is all throughout my head.
The drums hit cleanly and precisely.
Ok, so far, these are clearly the best sounding iems I have ever heard.
And I am not going to take anything away from what’s driving them. The Hiby R6 is pushing them with power, authority and clean resolution.
It will be an interesting review in itself……
One of my all time favourite tracks next – vale Ozz-man.
A simply sonic balladic masterpiece by the God of Metal……This is crisper than other tracks but not sibilant. There’s a ton of detail and staging and separation are out the wazoo. But the cymbals and higher notes on synth are bordering on sibilance without actually getting there.
It is the recording as this has not been the case on any other track so far.
War drums, big bass beats. Valhalla Calling comes out fighting like a horde of drunken, angry Norsemen.
Big bass drums and instruments dig deep and strike with authority and command. I can feel the beat as if it’s playing live in front of me.
Sounds are all around my up-top cephalo‑acoustic interface. And it all just sounds palpable.
And physical. Huge. Bombastic. Wonderful.
Make Us Stronger is next for reasons I have given in many of my recent reviews.
Right from the start, I know this will be colossal.
The bass has such slam and precise control. It digs Earth’s core deep and doesn’t come up for air……..
The synths snap without crispy pangs and the vocals are so resolute. There is detail and clarity aplenty but no sibilance.
The mids which I’ve hardly mentioned in this review, are just right (like Goldilock’s porridge).
The staging is huge and the separation is as already mentioned, one of the biggest and best I have heard in an iem.
EDM lovers rejoice, you will LOVE the Blue Planets.
Bass-heads, you will be SALIVATING.
Technically-focussed boffins – you’ll be ripping off your cardigans (well, unbuttoning as quick as you can), skolling your luke-warm peppermint tea and shoving cruskits with vegemite into your pie-holes, and high-fiving each other with your lab-gloved tiny little hands……….very gently of course…
I can’t see many people not liking these beasts.
And if I was driving them on a $50 dongle, these would no doubt still sound great, but on the Hiby R6 Pro II 2025?? Outstanding!!
On One, the helicopters fly out wide left to right. Jame’s guitar is clean and punchy. Lars’ drums are crisp but not sibilant and Newstead’s bass runs are deep (vale Cliff – hard act to follow!!!!).
Everything is just so cohesive and sounding EXACTLY as it should.
The frenetic cacophony rolls in and the Blue Planets separate everything like a Bouncer at a 4 year old’s party, and nothing becomes muddled or distorted. AT ALL!
This is one of the best versions of One that I have ever heard, certainly on iems.
Old man is an acoustic wonderland. Beck’s vocals are natural and life-like. Neither forward, nor recessed.
The guitar is clean, detailed and you can hear every strum with ease.
Staging is simply wonderful, all around my cranial chord-cranker.
Dance Monkey follows. I love this song. I love Tones’ vocals and that crazy, infectious beat.
This song can be a tad harsh or sibilant on some gear. Is it on this Artpical/Hiby combo??
Of course it’s not. It’s super-resolving, clean, natural, punchy with a huge and clean bass run.
It stages wide and round and separates all throughout my nut.
It sounds the best I have ever heard it.
I’m finishing with a song I don’t know but once I heard it, knew it had to be included on this playlist.
Dua’s vocals are lovely and sound great here. Clean, snappy and resolving.
But it’s the bass run that got me sucked it. It’s not ocean-floor deep, but damn, it sounds great. Punchy, still quite deep and well controlled, with just no bleed anywhere. Dua’s vocals are natural and ethereal and the cowbells and clapping are out wide left and right.
Did I mention the bass run???
A quick comparison (or 2):
At this stage, I don’t have anything to compare the Blue Planets too.
I have the Artpical Lucifer and Lunar Rings, both $499 USD, less than ½ the price.
I will be getting some more iems similar in price, to these soon, so I can come back and compare at a later stage.
MO
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