ACS T2: A Thorough Review

[jlingo]

Originally Posted by kichu1979

Welcome back,

well what can I say, the eagle has landed, and I am just listening my new T2 While it's yet too early to write a review, or do some A-B comparisions... because I need to get used to putting on customs quickly first, I think I can write few first impressions.


Questions ?

Congrats hehe.
Well I guess think of your next upgrade as UE11 then you will get the bass you need without sacrificing the mid and top.

[milkpowder]

kichu1979, congrats.

Your impressions are indeed pretty darn similar to mine. I personally wouldn't give up the T2's superior clarity, highs and detail for more bass. A lot of music I listen to has complex textures and muddy, undefined attack/decay results in total sonic chaos. I also find the T2 more refined than the E500. Now I didn't have the UM moulds so maybe they improve the clarity a bit?

[kichu1979]

Originally Posted by milkpowder

k I personally wouldn't give up the T2's superior clarity, highs and detail for more bass. A lot of music I listen to has complex textures and muddy, undefined attack/decay results in total sonic chaos. I also find the T2 more refined than the E500. Now I didn't have the UM moulds so maybe they improve the clarity a bit?

milkpowder, neither would I... referring to your first sentence. When I was talking about the ABBA/Gimme I meant the song where drums with bass defines the tempo of the song... it's just dance song.... main beat and the other parts are not that complicated... that's where bit more of bass punch gives the song some more character. There are just 2 or 3 tracks where I would appreciate that effect. And that's it. I would not sacrifice that bass for the mid/highs section, just as you.

The more I listed to T2 today the more I appreciate it... those midrange/highs give many of my old songs new sparkle

The most significant change with UM56 were related to soundstage,
everything was bit more forward and close to the listener. On UM56 it seems to be closer to the listener and less spacious in terms of distance from max left to max right. After the direct comparision the E500+flex set seems to be a little bit distant and wider in terms of soundstage. UM56 give E500 bit more bass, the midrange was more "full" / closer (sorry for words my english is limited as you can see). The closer effect was also promiment in highs, hence I would call them bit sharper with UM56 than on gray flex tips (more distant and with rounder edges).

Now after few more hours of T2 testing, E500 seems to lack a lot in highs, have darker bit congested midrange, too dark sometimes, not as natural as T2, still like the bass however. No, definately not going back

[StevieDvd]

Andy from ACS told me the fit affected the bass the most, so much so without a good fit the bass was disappointing for me. When my T2s were redone the bass was indeed much better. I constantly harp on to new custom users to check out the fit/seal using the Sensa test tracks.

I used these to compare the bass from my UM2, E500s and the first fit of the T2s. The second fitting of the T2 was way better and I could not envisage going back to either the E500 or UM2 unless my T2s broke and were being repaired.

[milkpowder]

Sorry for the late reply. Read your message yesterday but only got round to answering now

Originally Posted by kichu1979

When I was talking about the ABBA/Gimme I meant the song where drums with bass defines the tempo of the song... it's just dance song.... main beat and the other parts are not that complicated... that's where bit more of bass punch gives the song some more character. There are just 2 or 3 tracks where I would appreciate that effect. And that's it.

The E500 is great with "simple" music. By that I mean music with limited complexity. I understand where you're coming from and I completely agree. The T2 is technically superior, but doesn't necessarily mean it will be more enjoyable to listen to. Dance music is probably one area where the E500 may actually sound more "fun".

Originally Posted by kichu1979

The more I listed to T2 today the more I appreciate it... those midrange/highs give many of my old songs new sparkle

Twinkle twinkle little star...

Originally Posted by kichu1979

The most significant change with UM56 were related to soundstage,
everything was bit more forward and close to the listener. On UM56 it seems to be closer to the listener and less spacious in terms of distance from max left to max right. After the direct comparision the E500+flex set seems to be a little bit distant and wider in terms of soundstage. UM56 give E500 bit more bass, the midrange was more "full" / closer (sorry for words my english is limited as you can see). The closer effect was also promiment in highs, hence I would call them bit sharper with UM56 than on gray flex tips (more distant and with rounder edges).

The better bass w/ the UM56 is probably attributed to the better seal. I preferred the Comply thin-size foamies to any of the universal tips. They had the best highs.

Originally Posted by kichu1979

Now after few more hours of T2 testing, E500 seems to lack a lot in highs, have darker bit congested midrange, too dark sometimes, not as natural as T2, still like the bass however. No, definately not going back

Ha! It is those properties that make the E500 personally unlistenable having "seen the light"

[kichu1979]

Originally Posted by milkpowder

The better bass w/ the UM56 is probably attributed to the better seal. I preferred the Comply thin-size foamies to any of the universal tips. They had the best highs.

Yes, you are definately right. There is however one point we tend to miss here, which also attributes to general impressions of both E500 and T2. It is the our portable player - earphones synergy.

When I first received my E500 (at the time they showed on sale, I pre-ordered them), I used to have Sony MZ-RH1 minidisk as my portable player and had all the music converted to ATRAC at highest bitrate available (~ 500kbps). Now comparing MZ-RH1 to our iPod, RH1 had definately brigther more analitycal sound signature. I remember comparing E500 (gray flex tips) with ER4 on my MZ-RH1. And for me E500 were very similar to ER4 + bigger soundstage, bit more bas, and bit recessed highs. Adding UM56 to that mix, made E500 less analytical more musical earphones, while still retaining rather bright sound signature.

I sold E500 and MZ-RH1 then, bought iPod 5.5G and SE530 some time ago, and now the Shures are definetely more darker, low midrange, bass orientated than the E500+MZ-RH1 setup.

Now coming back to our T2 I did a quickie with Tomahawk - around 10 minutes listening. No much A/B comparision, still have to get used to putting them on/off quickly... sometimes it takes a flash, sometimes much longer

With Tomahawk the soundstage seems to be a bit wider, but farther from listener. You move back from the sound, scene seems to be bit wider and more distant from left to right. THe sound signature seems to be a bit clearer for a price of losing some intimacy. Perhaps a bit sharper highs and bit stronger bass. Midrange bit more clear, but also distant. Remember those are very quick first impressions. I plan to stick with T2 and iPod only for a while to get used to their sound signature. Then switch to Tomahawk setup to get used to this sig, and go back to plain T2 to see any differences. Overall at this stage the differences are rather subtle ones. Amp also give better dynamics at lower sound levels... I am not sure but those new european iPods seems to be more quiet than ie. the old 5g 30GB one
I used to have more than a year ago.

I am also considering iModding my iPod but still has doubts wether to wait untill my factory guarantee expires.

SteiveDvd: I did Sensa tests in both E500 and T2, so I think I get a good seal. But talking about putting on
and off hard silicone of UM56 seems to be easier to put on than the softer T2 silicone. I just push UM56 without
worrying about anything, however I tend to be very cautios about T2... afraid to break anything

## edit

Indeed Stevie was somehow right. Please disregard all my previous thoughts on the "Abba - could have
more bass" thing. I did not put the T2 on as I should have. Despite putting them completely inside
of my ears, the part that sits in the outside ear was not sitting perfectly inside my outside ear's
anatomical shape, hence giving less than perfect isolation. A slight turn made a big difference here.

[milkpowder]

Originally Posted by kichu1979

Yes, you are definately right. There is however one point we tend to miss here, which also attributes to general impressions of both E500 and T2. It is the our portable player - earphones synergy.

~snip~

I have had very limited experience with DAPs. All the DAPs I've ever owned have been white-coloured. The white wizard of Pod has me in an ineluctable death grip

Now coming back to our T2 I did a quickie with Tomahawk - around 10 minutes listening. No much A/B comparision, still have to get used to putting them on/off quickly... sometimes it takes a flash, sometimes much longer

With Tomahawk the soundstage seems to be a bit wider, but farther from listener. You move back from the sound, scene seems to be bit wider and more distant from left to right. THe sound signature seems to be a bit clearer for a price of losing some intimacy. Perhaps a bit sharper highs and bit stronger bass. Midrange bit more clear, but also distant.

~snip~

That's good news. I was hoping for a slightly wider soundstage even if it is at the expense of some intimacy. Stronger bass is welcome, but I am hoping for the bass to clear up a bit too

[kichu1979]

Originally Posted by jlingo

I wish you order UE10/11 down the road. I really would like to hear your comments between UE10 and ACS. I am hoping that ACS to have a better sound quality than UE10 since I really miss the soft silicone type which I find very comfortable.

jlingo, I haven't heard neither UE10 nor Sensa, however when reading old T2 review here on head-fi I remember owner who had heard both UE10 and Sensas saying:

"I will only say that I completely stopped using UE-10 Pro’s, and spend my time only with ACS’ IEM’s. They are that good. T2PRO and T2i combine great, pinpointed characteristics of UE-10 Pro’s and Sensaphonics ProPhonic 2XS and amalgamate them. Such a blending and tuning takes them even further. I wish I could have ever had a chance to listen to some HE-90 or something and compare . All this doesn’t, however, mean that UE-10 Pro’s and 2XS are way, way behind."

UM2 and Iaudio U3

[jinx20001]

apart from the lack of comparison to some other customs that was a fantastic review,i really liked reading it,i also am a se530 owner and ue10 owner and i prefer the warmer se530,so i would have loved a ue10 comparison,but apart from that its a great review,also a livewires comparison would be superb if anybody is willing

[milkpowder]

Thanks for the compliments I'm pretty sure I made the right decision going for the T2. I'm glad you find the SE530 pleasing to the ear. Unfortunately, I can't really stand them. The highs are simply not sufficient and the overall sound a bit too undefined. I give 'em credit for very nice midrange and stupendously "fun" bass! I've given them two chances already: gave the first pair to a good friend and decided to get another pair shortly afterwards... It just goes to show how diversified listening tastes can be

All in all, I prefer a more analytical, cold sound than a warm one. I think I would really like the sound of the UE10Pro. It's on my shortlist of what to buy next