Having recently covered a $2000 and a $3000 set of IEMs, this $1500 set from ThieAudio seems like a relative bargain. It's also telling that these relatively young Asian brands tend to be laughed at if they price products similar to Western brands, although that has not stopped some from putting out even $6000 to $8000 sets. IEMs these days are as much an extension of your personality as they are purely for listening, so much so that every aspect of the product matters when it comes to such expensive products as the ThieAudio V16 Divinity. The accessories and cable are as important as the aesthetics, build quality, and fit and comfort when installed.

The V16 Divinity generally does a very good job across those facets, including with the handsome case and modular cable. However, there remain points ThieAudio could improve upon, including the cable being bulky and the ear-tip selection stingy by comparison to others. Likewise, the aesthetics can be a hit or miss, as well as the fit. Such is the nature of this 16-driver beast of a set though, and it was a technical challenge to tune, no doubt. In fact, the generally very well done job can be extended to the listening experience, where I maintain the V16 Divinity makes for a fun all-rounder that specializes in a couple of genres, but lacks in others where even less expensive sets do better. At $1500, expectations are admittedly quite high, and the one thing I would like to see now is a longer warranty period that is more on par with headphones at this price range—a minimum of three years would be a good start, especially if it is meant to retain its flagship status for a few years.

The tonality of the V16 Divinity is ThieAudio flexing what it can do, having shown off several iterations before with the hybrid-driver Legacy and tribrid-driver Signature series without bringing it to the all-BA driver Voyager series. I do wish I had the ThieAudio Monarch MKII on hand for a comparison, but it seems to be doing quite well since paying customers have to wait for their orders to be fulfilled, and I would want those to be prioritized over review samples. Indeed, it could also be my inexperience with expensive IEMs speaking, but as it stands, the V16 Divinity is the most impressive overall from the ever-growing set of IEMs I have here, including several kilo-buck and multi-kilo-bucks sets. There will always be a market for high-end IEMs, and I can recommend the V16 Divinity in that regard. Just make sure to read the entire review for a better understanding of whether this set is for you or not.