EPZ x Tipsy Star & One – Beautiful, But Does It Have The Sound To Match?

Disclaimer: The Star & One was purchased by me for review.

Personal preferences in audio gear may vary. This review is based on my own subjective experience.

If you prefer to watch a video review you can watch mine here

Pros –

  • Good all rounder
  • Cable is good
  • Bass has good detail
  • Nice energy from the upper mids
  • Midrange is clean with nice vocals

Cons –

  • Can come across shouty
  • Can be slightly thin sounding at times
  • Treble can be a bit sibilant/piercing
  • Congested on busy tracks
  • Okay technicalities
  • Accessories are a bit lacking

Gaming:

Pros –

  • Bass is nicely detailed and has good feel
  • Imaging performed better than expected

Cons –

  • Treble is lacking for higher frequency audio cues
  • Immersive gaming was missing something due to the treble

Build, Fit & Accessories:

The EPZ Star & One is priced at $90 and surprising to me has a fairly small accessory package that is quite basic compared to the other EPZ products I have had. It comes with a single set of tips, a soft carrying pouch, a long 2 meter cable (There is now a normal 1.2m cable option) and the IEMs themselves.

I do actually like the cable a fair amount especially at the desktop, it is fairly lightweight but wraps up nicely with little to no memory, I do test IEMs on walks and on my travels home from work and 2 meters of cable for me personally was much too long and had to be wrapped up in a certain way or jammed into a pocket or there was a large risk of it getting caught on something. If you plan on only using it at the desktop and want a pretty good long cable get the 2 meter version, if it’s for on the go or being used in multiple places I would probably say to stick with the 1.2 meter one as it will be more manageable.

The build feels quite solid and the fit is great for me and it has a beautiful faceplate in my opinion but I do wish EPZ had a bit more in the package here, it is everything you need but I expected more at this price from them.

Equipment Used:

  • FiiO Q11 on Windows and Android
  • MusicBee on Windows 11 with FiiO ASIO drivers for local FLAC and DSD files
  • Spotify Music Streaming
  • Hidizs AP80 Pro Local FLAC and DSD

Test Tracks used:

Sound Quality:

The EPZ Star & One uses a single LCP+PU composite diaphragm DD

This seems to me like a fairly Harman set with a bit more mid bass, I think it performs fairly well as a general all rounder.

Bass:

Bass is good with a decent amount of detail at this price, this is a decent level of bass for most of my tracks and preferences but bass heads will likely want more. It does have pretty good note weight compared to other harman like sets I have tried and helps it come across quite a bit punchier and overall makes the bass an enjoyable region for me. There are moments during tracks with lots going on that the mid bass does overpower a bit and results in a congested moment, I only experienced this on a couple of my test tracks and overall it did quite well considering it is a single DD with plenty of note weight.

Midrange:

The lower mids I find are fairly genre oriented, modern metal will sound nice and slightly warm tilting as I expect while older metal will sometimes come across thin and at times a bit too thin for my preferences. There is good clarity and detail here still. Upper mids are nice and energetic, not overly so for my taste but can at times come across a bit forwards and shouty depending on the genre.

Vocals:

I really like vocals on this set, both male and female vocals for me have great energy and detail, at times they can be forward and “shouty” I don’t mind the slight forwardness here as it doesn’t seem to overpower anything else too badly but makes for a more vocal oriented listen.

Treble:

The treble is a little unrefined for my taste and near sibilant for me, there is decent detail but cymbals can be on the splashier side for me and some flutes and violins and come across a bit piercing. The treble isn’t bad by any means I just find this to be the weakest region for the Star & One.

Technicalities:

The Star & One doesn’t really do anything special in the technicalities for me. It sometimes gets congested, has acceptable stage and imaging for the price but overall I find the techs to just be…okay. It is fairly resolving and dynamic that being said. I feel like if the stage felt a bit more open and grander this would be a really nice set for the price but as it stands it’s just okay here.

Gaming Performance:

Gaming on the Star & One felt okay, I feel as though the treble lacked sharpness and causes some misses audio cues. Overall it is alright for gaming but I would not be grabbing this set for only gaming. That being said if you do get the 2m cable version it could be nice for some nice desktop sessions due to the added length.

FPS Gaming:

Escape From Tarkov was alright, soundstage was presented in an acceptable manner and the imaging was better than I expected. With the treble not being the most refined it seemed audio cues were less apparent than I would have liked missing fairly noticeable ones that stood out on other less expensive sets.

Immersive Gaming:

Elden Ring felt good and was fairly immersive with decent note weight and oomph behind attacks, boss battle music sounded good and blended well during the fights, the world did sound good just walking around walking around and felt immersive but there is a sharpness that I am used to in the higher end that was missing, not that it ruined the experience or anything. It just felt different.

Comparisons:

I find Star & One to be sort of similar to the Dunu Kima Classic, I enjoy the bass region, mids and vocals more on Star & One but I feel that the Dunu Kima does a better job in the treble region as it comes across more refined. Personally if I were to pick one to keep as just and IEM I would be going with the Star & One. That being said if we throw in the full included accessory package the Dunu Kima Classic starts to look like a much better overall value and deal and definitely a safer pick for someone who has no extra accessories. So ultimately for me if it’s sound first Star & One is my choice. But for full package I might go for Dunu Kima Classic, especially if I needed the extras it comes with.

Conclusion:

The EPZ Star & One is a solid pick for its price point and does a good job as an all rounder albeit with a couple issues for me. If the treble was a bit more refined and the accessory package was a bit better it would make this an extremely good set in my opinion but I feel those two things hold it back a bit here. I do still give it a recommendation and suggest you try it or if it goes on a sale to pick one up as they are beautiful and would look nice in any collection. If you want good bass and a vocal forward experience these are quite nice.

Thank you for reading this review! Feel free to ask any questions if you have any. Also feel free to share your experience if you have been able to try the Star & One.

If you are interested in the EPZ Star & One it can be purchased at the links below.

Cheers!

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