It even feels surreal that we are finally updating the Billow after seven years, and I’m often amazed by the vitality of our products as there are still customers buying the first generation after so many new products have been released on the market by numerous brands. This time, the Billow MKII is coming with a three-layer design, surpassing its predecessor in nearly all aspects. The innermost core is made up of a solid rod of silver alloy, which is not only thicker than the first generation but also has a new composition that sonically performs better. The middle layer is made up of alloy threads that have also been updated in terms of their material composition, and now they offer better conductivity with an updated sound signature. The outermost layer, which looks like a spiral, is in fact a sonically polished 24-karat gold foil running up each wire. This single helix is multi-function in that it serves isolation, tuning, and aesthetic purposes at the same time. I would call it the soul of the Billow MKII. The new structure found in Billow MKII results in more powerful bass, beautiful and round vocals, and better details in the high region. One can immediately hear the difference between the MKII and the first generation after seconds of listening, at least I did. Appearance-wise, the Billow MKII looks better as each wire is now thicker due to its complex structure, but it still feels surprisingly soft thanks to our newest isolation sheath that provides a comfortable touch.
Here's the description of the original Billow:
It is definitely not an easy task to write this description as the sonic performance of the Billow is ineffable, and we feel the effort is definitely worthwhile even though it has taken us around one year to develop this new flagship cable. The Billow is the first cable in our products to use gold alloy as thread material. Sparing no cost and effort in its ingredients and design, we took advantage of the most expensive material and the best cutting-edge technologies. Of course, we did not simply throw gold, silver, and other metal ores into a melting pot at random. Repeated trials were conducted with the aid of knowledge in metallurgy for producing these beautiful cables in terms of both appearance and sound. The performance in all frequency ranges is spectacular without any interference from neighboring frequencies. This means that the Billow can accurately conduct all signals in the original records regardless of how high quality the soundtracks are. Due to production difficulties, the Billow is only available in limited quantities, which is unfortunate because not everyone has a chance to get their Billow for the ultimate listening experience.
Customers have been asking us why we call it the Billow. I feel this question is worth answering. The Chinese name of this cable is called 金澜, where 金 means "gold" and 澜 loosely translates to "big wave". This name has good meaning because of the feeling of a "big wave of gold" coming at you, just like the sound of music, and it also sounds very cool in Chinese. However, there is no direct translation in English, but "billow" is the closest word we can find although it looses the gold part, which we believe is obvious from its look. As you guys already know, "billow" means big wave, which is very spectacular, so it can describe the "wow" effect of the cable's sound.
Moreover, some customers were asking us about why the Billow is what it is, and how it came about. In fact, we have put some great innovations and technology into this cable from our previous experience. There are three key points we learned from previous models and used on Billow:
No. 1: Metallurgy. When we were designing the Signal, which is made of a special metal alloy, we used silver, copper, and some rare minerals (around 3%). Imagine putting a bunch of basketballs together in a large box. There would be lots of empty spaces among them. To fill in these empty spaces, we can use smaller balls, and then even smaller balls to fill the remaining gap. Analogically, the same concept holds true for the molecular structures of our metal alloy, which is very stable and special for better conductivity and tuning. However, due to budget constrain, although Signal is a fine cable, it is not the best we can do. For the Billow, we are using a much more costly and complex procedure with different steps of purification and alloying, using gold, silver, copper, and other rare minerals to achieve the best tuning we can do.
No. 2: Thread design. Our Oslo III has a design that we call coaxial conductivity, meaning materials are wrapping around each other rather than the traditional twisting design. Billow uses small threads to form bigger threads and then uses bigger threads to form the final threads, which is a hybrid of coaxial and traditional conductive thread braiding methods. This makes the contacting surface area about 300% more, which greatly improves conductivity.
No. 3: Isolating sleeve. We are using the same isolating outer sleeve as the ever-popular Prima Donna to ensure the Billow is soft and flexible while being nicely isolated from outside interference. To achieve this, the sleeve material has been highly pressurized, which is quite expensive to do, to form a denser molecular structure, and this also minimizes the unwanted rubbing noises while moving.
The 4-wire option has the advantages of being more economical and lighter in weight.
The 8-wire option has fuller sound, larger soundstage and punchier bass while still feels amazingly soft and easy to use.
The default length of our IEM cables is about 1.2 meters.
Key Materials: Gold, Silver
Sound Signature: The energy is leaning towards mid-range and bass with a very smooth treble.
I'm a recent newcomer to the audiophile scene but I've been lucky enough to listen and try some amazing gear thanks to a dear friend of mine. My first experience was the Sony WM1ZM2 paired with the Oriolus Traillii. This is a great way to be introduced into this world. Well as you can imagine I was immediately hooked. I couldn't afford my dap at first so I bought myself a nice L&P W4. Which is an amazing dongle paired with UM Fabled Sounds I was in a dream world. But I knew I wasn't getting the best I could. So I did some research and settled on the hiby r8 ii. Man, I thought the L&P was doing a decent job and it was. But the Hiby makes everything sing. Every sound is more expansive, clearer, and detailed. And while I liked the Sony, the hiby has a lot more powerful features. There is a lot more control. Also, Andrew really is the best. Now I must get back to listening to music.
Let's start off with CONS:
1) Oriolus only grace the world with only 199 sets.
2) Heavy. It's heavier than OG Traillii and UM AP combines.
3) Pricey.
Love the L shape terminal from new cable. Cable looks very familiar to the PW1960. New cable material consists of pure silver, gold-silver alloy, copper vs 1960 pure copper.
I thought Traillii was perfect. Oriolus somehow manage to improve the vocal and treble. Traillii TI sounds like an open back headphones...very airy.
Warm natural sounds when pairing with Sony M2.
Turn on Hyper and let the bird with titanium wings sings to you if you have Cayin N30LE.
Por el precio que tienen son insuperables y a decir verdad son mis IEMs favorito, no venia con la case Dygnis pero a decir verdad no es importante para ml
It’s been 5 weeks since CanJam NYC. My mission, try as many IEM’s
I left the Grand Maestro until the end of the day.
Sound Impressions:
BASS: Thick, Fast and Deep. The GM has what they call NOAH modules that can be swapped out to change the Bass frequency response, without impacting the upper frequencies, bringing the mids and treble appear to be more forward, through less bass (blue module). This impacts the sub-bass most and leaves the slam of the mid bass region intact. The black module, which comes stock, gives the most sub-bass. This is what many reviewers consider a “Basshead” sound. Having listened to the Scarlet Mini in comparison, I would say the Mini is a “Basshead” set. The GM is, however, not…just a Basshead set.
MIDS: I found midrange to be very well balanced, with both female and male vocals very clear and engaging. Giving the sound signature a slightly warm feel. But this is where Fatfreq has another trick up their sleeve. There’s a toggle switch just behind the 2pin connector. It sticks up about 1mm and allows the listener to turn the bass down on the fly and bring the midrange and treble slightly forward. My listening preference is always slightly warm, but for certain tracks and artists this setting is preferred.
TREBLE: The treble is crystal clear and very well extended, but never fatiguing.
TIMBRE: This is where the GM sets itself above all others I’d heard. The quality of the sound across the entire frequency range was best in class. Every instrument could be isolated with all the details present. 10/10
TONALITY: The balance of the instruments to the vocals is, again, the best I’ve ever heard. It’s like some little man (the crossover) inside working his soundboard, and making the IEM completely in control of the concert in my head. Getting the most out of every last bit of sound detail and making sure no part over powered another. 10/10
SOUNDSTAGE: Ok, this is some next level shit! We’re not talking about a soundstage that was ultra wide. Rather something I’d never experienced before and directly related to the timbre and tonality. Instead of having visualisation of the instruments playing on a stage, it feels like I’m sitting on the stage and Stevie Nicks is singing next to me, Mick Fleetwood is playing behind me and on my other side is Lindsey Buckingham playing his guitar with smooth precision.
SIBILANCE: I’m ultra sensitive to sibilance and have test tracks I use to see just how controlled an IEM is to lower it. Without a doubt the GM is the least sibilant of any IEM I’ve heard.
MASKING: This was probably the biggest and single most distinguishable difference between the GM and anything else I’ve heard on the market. Similar to the experience in soundstage, the instruments and isolated to themselves, making all the details present. On busy tracks that would normally sound like a bunch of different things happening on top of one another, but GM has a magical way of creating a space or protective zone around each musical element. If I could explain this another way, imagine hearing a track recorded in the late 60’s, with its hiss and imperfections, where it sounds like there’s a fog or layer of pollution present that makes everything sound just a bit layered into everything else. Now imagine you take the full stage in dip down into a pool that cleans all of that away, raise it back up and now you hear only the instruments as they were originally intended. The GM takes old tracks and “remasters” them. And takes remastered tracks and makes them even better! 10/10
BUILD QUALITY: Just look at the photos. I was also lucky enough to get the gold upgrade cable thrown into the deal for free! 10/10
CUSTOMER SERVICE: I had heard some stories about problems in the past, but after reaching out to Fatfreq post sales and asking for certain things that were missing from the sale, because it was a floor model and being contacted by Ben himself, I was very happy with how they handled everything. I used to live in Singapore and can tell you the people are amazing!!!
I think some of this has to do with just how much power these IEM’s really need. More than any that I’d tried on the day. Now remember I was driving these with a FiiO M17, a BEAST of a DAP that puts out round 1,500mW on the 4.4mm plug @32ohms. These IEM’s are power hungry! They take every bit of that and deliver it with surgical precision. I spoke with Ben, the CEO of Fatfreq and he told me the M17 is a great pairing for the GM and that they have a few at their HQ in Singapore. They also have a technology called Linear Impedance, which I believe levels the playing field for the different drivers in the set. I think the impedance of this set is 32ohms, but it sure seems like it takes more to drive it than other 32ohm sets I have. This higher impedance and power requirement also contributes to eliminating the background noise, giving a cleaner listening experience.
Tighter bass. Black background.
