[Review] Impressions of the Sony EX1000 versus the FX700, GR10 and e-Q5 - Page 64

Quote:

Originally Posted by i2ehan 

Thanks you the track mention music. Going back and forth between the 3, in direct comparison, the JVC's sound as though you're in a closed room, while with the Atrio's, the signature isn't as warm as the JVC's, and my ears find it easier to appreciate each distinct note. The Sony's offer better imaging, coupled with the much wider stage (than the Atrio's) and a pleasant out of head feel, albeit the overall presentation is lighter than the Atrio's. The Atrio's powerful rumble can be felt throughout the entire spectrum, and is the reason why each note carries with it greater body than the Sony's, making the Sony's, in comparison, overall lighter sounding (strictly comparitively speaking of course). Confispect and I went between tracks since I too happen to currently own each, and it was quite obvious to me why the Atrio's appealed to him as the realest sounding of the 3. Of the 3, the reverb and feel off of each snare or symbal (or any instrument for that matter) is best 'felt' with the Atrio's, owing to their overall powerful/impactful presentation. While the same instruments don't go any less noticed with the Sony's, they don't carry the same 'feel' the Atrio's do, though they both manage to impress in their own right, and the Sony's out of head presentation alone makes me set aside the Atrio's, more often than not.

Wow I love this crap this is what makes me set the Sony's aside damm.

Anyhow those tracks are phenomenal.

Guitar: Atrio > Sony - No contest.

Treble Atrio > Sony.

Drums Atrio > Sony

Snares Atrio = Sony - It's a toss-up on this song the snares on the Sony shines but I prefer the Atrio this is again rare the Sony either sounds good with snare's or bad it depends on song.

I definitely prefer the Atrio's now my pronouncement is what can customs bring I am seriously curious. Kunlun please appear.

Quote:

Originally Posted by imackler 

This is exactly the kind of advice I expected. If only the wallet acquiesced...

 

 

I sent you a PM with more of my thoughts between the two.  I'm not sure if it will be helpful or just muddy the waters even more for you.
 

...Unrelated side question, any demo pairs of the EarMonitor mg6pro? Once I get the EX1000 on hand I'll need to determine whether I should save for an EarMonitor in the future, currently my goal to end the entire headphone thing once and for all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by i2ehan 

Thanks you the track mention music. Going back and forth between the 3, in direct comparison, the JVC's sound as though you're in a closed room, while with the Atrio's, the signature isn't as warm as the JVC's, and my ears find it easier to appreciate each distinct note. The Sony's offer better imaging, coupled with the much wider stage (than the Atrio's) and a pleasant out of head feel, albeit the overall presentation is lighter than the Atrio's. The Atrio's powerful rumble can be felt throughout the entire spectrum, and is the reason why each note carries with it greater body than the Sony's, making the Sony's, in comparison, overall lighter sounding (strictly comparitively speaking of course). Confispect and I went between tracks since I too happen to currently own each, and it was quite obvious to me why the Atrio's appealed to him as the realest sounding of the 3. Of the 3, the reverb and feel off of each snare or symbal (or any instrument for that matter) is best 'felt' with the Atrio's, owing to their overall powerful/impactful presentation. While the same instruments don't go any less noticed with the Sony's, they don't carry the same 'feel' the Atrio's do, though they both manage to impress in their own right, and the Sony's out of head presentation alone makes me set aside the Atrio's, more often than not.

i2ehan, It's interesting that the JVC's sound intimate to you, which is really surprising to me.  They definitely make me feel like I'm at a large open venue.  Not that they are airy sounding like the Sony's but the sound stage if pretty darn wide for me.  Now the Atrios definitely felt smaller; like Confispect said in a recording studio

^ I think he means mids.

Also the Atrio soundstage has the ability to shrink or grow just like the Sony the only difference is the Sony throws cues wider and more out of the head.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kunlun 

Totally agreed about the marketing! Marty mentioned that they are doing things behind the scenes to prepare for growth, hopefully marketing can come then.

 

Back to the Ex-1000, a lovely iem for quiet listening and people who'd like a delicate, slightly treble-centric sound.

 

 

Couldn't have said it better what do you mean by delicate btw?

A couple of things.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaxwellDemon 

When I tried listening to certain scores from games (FLACs from Final Fantasy X Soundtrack and Mass Effect Soundtrack), I found the piano and violin lifeless due to how fast the drivers in EX1000 goes and how the EX1000 dealt with the decay. For me, the presence of the piano and the violin disappeared because listening those instruments through these earphones would cause them to disappear almost as soon as you hear them. The echo of the strings and the ring of the piano keys are almost gone due to this one fault. So, listeners to any genres that heavily features any sort of string instruments and piano should be wary to these earphones.

I do not agree I feel as if something like this happens to snare's and snare's only and partially bass until you reach higher volume. Which is when you say hi again to the snares. 

Since we have been talking about mastering quality recently and in some of the gadget blogs I read they've been mentioning loudness wars a lot, I thought I'd share this amazingly simple and depressing video explaining the loudness wars.  Unfortunately a lot of the music I enjoy is affected by this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ

Quote:

Originally Posted by shotgunshane 

i2ehan, It's interesting that the JVC's sound intimate to you, which is really surprising to me.  They definitely make me feel like I'm at a large open venue.  Not that they are airy sounding like the Sony's but the sound stage if pretty darn wide for me.  Now the Atrios definitely felt smaller; like Confispect said in a recording studio

It's only when in direct comparison to the Atrio and Sony's that it's made apparent to my ears. Otherwise, it's not to say that they're lacking in width/depth; just as our friend Confispect has mentioned time and time again, they differ only in their presentation. For my taste, strictly speaking in regards to trance, to my ears the EX1000's are the most pleasant sounding of the 3, able to keep pace with even the fastest trance tracks, followed closely by the Atrios in that regard. Much like the Atrio, the JVC is a powerhouse, albeit a different presentation. When all is said and done, it's always down to subtleties when having to select one from amongst three very competent monitors such as these.

Just a random idea, but it seems like some users have had minor fit issues with the EX1000.

You could buy the EX600/800 and then get a custom IEM sleeve done, perfect fit and then perhaps the sound quality would exceed the EX1000 with the EX600 for less money, Alien Ears for example does a silicon sleeve for really cheap.

I'm going to get a custom sleeve done from them, but first I have to decide what my favorite IEM is Lol, and that's going to take a while, I still have a lot to go through, but it seems like some people in this thread have found their favorite with the EX600/800/7550/1000.

I could also just skip the buying another 5 IEM's process and just save up for a high-end custom now instead, not really sure which path to take, but if anything, I don't think we'll be seeing a custom IEM with a liquid crystal polymer dynamic driver and sub-bass/super-tweeter armatures inside of it anytime soon. If Sony's LCP offers a certain sound-quality not available in other materials and the EX1000 is your favorite IEM, seems like the only upgrade available would be the Z1000, or the SS-AR1 which are causing quite a stir right now, but meh, headphones and speakers, who wants that?  The visual imagery of looking out a train window or lying in a park is one of my favorite experiences when using IEM's.

I just bought the Yulong U100 desktop DAC/Amp and part of me hopes when I receive it I won't find it improving my IEM's on a significant level beyond my DAP's, for the reason stated above.

When some users are "hearing things differently" in respect to transparency, spaciousness etc. in the EX1k it might help to quickly note which gear you are using with them and if you think you have found a weak/exceptional synergy.

I met an old chess friend today that happened to have a Sansa Clip on him, so I finally got to hear it, I can't say I was very impressed at all with how it sounded on my EX700's, but the size difference compared to my Teclast T51 was pretty amusing, one aspect I love in the EX700's is "what you put in, you get out" a.k.a. [equipment-]transparency so I find it pretty good for judging DAP's or PCDP's! I suspect the EX1000 should be exactly the same here.

Moving from cheap soundcard to T51 on the ck10 was only a 10% increase or so, with the EX700 I'd say more like 20~25%.

One reason I just ordered the U100 DAC/Amp recently is because it's quoted as to having a "very transparent, natural, delicate, almost organic" type sound, which are huge plusses for me in what I'm after, but again I'm hoping it's only a 5% increase or so in sound compared to my DAP's.

I want to buy the EX600/800 and join in the joy, but I can't quite justify it because I'm one of the [few] people that really like the EX700, and I already have the ER-4P, RE0, A2000X and U100 Dac/Amp waiting for me at the post-office when I'm back in Australia, add a desired EX800ST, FI-BA-A1 and silicon sleeve to that list and I'm thinking this is silly why don't I just get a custom? -shrug- I suppose a fascination with IEM's has a touch of satisfying curiosity that's more difficult to escape than just jumping to the high-end, take a motorbike enthusiast, if their finances allow $15k, would they prefer 5 motorbikes worth $2,500, or just 1 worth $12,500?  |joker| is reviewing one such high-end bike right now and will probably say it 1up's all the $2,500 bikes he's used, then all that's left is to decide is what kind of riding you're into and brand favoritism, for me the best custom I've read up on is the chameleon SA-43.

And at $27,000? I'll pass :D :D :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by Confispect 

 

I definitely prefer the Sony's now my pronouncement is what can customs bring I am seriously curious. Kunlun please appear.

 

Yes?

Your wish is in the third post of my MG6Pro review thread.

Short answer:

It's law of diminishing returns, but with that understood, the MG6Pro takes the Atrio sound and adds better balance, extension above and below, even more natural reproduction of subtle nuances in instrumental and vocal music, a bit more detail than the Sony Ex1000 (although the treble shift of the sony's tends to mask this), better soundstage than the Sony Ex1000 with the open Low Frequency Vent settings (low-frequency is adjustable to one's taste with this system--or use the closed vent and gain better isolation if needed) and perfect fit--although that may take a re-fit or more. The MG6Pro is a very versatile custom fit earphone, it's hard to compare with it, but then the Sony costs quite a bit less so it's not really a fair comparison.

It's all off-topic, but Confispect asked. He (or you, gentle reader) can pm me if you have any question about what I've written above.

Back to topic:

I actually listened to the Sony using custom tips and the tube-amp-tuned ttvj slim, so I think I got a very good sense of just how good it could be. I missed the sub-bass and naturalness (and isolation) of the Atrio. However, I really enjoyed the Sony and I could see how they'd be the end of the line for some audiophiles. In fact, I think for many audiophiles, they could be just that. Futher, I could see how Mike from headphonia could find that the Sony Ex1000 actually competes with the Jh16 http://www.headfonia.com/japanese-flagship-sony-mdr-ex1000/.   

So, there's no need to go further if one loves an earphone like the Ex1000.

He even goes on to say the EX1000 sounds better than the JH16 with high quality classical and jazz recordings[!!]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiteki 

He even goes on to say the EX1000 sounds better than the JH16 with high quality classical and jazz recordings[!!]

Yes, yes he does!

 

Not to take the excitement away from the above two posts, but I recently bought one of these on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270772252163

If you want to add 75 ohm to your EX1000 cable, retain the 7N OFC in the japanese cable, and effectively turn it into a 107 ohm IEM [potentially] improving the sound even further, that's how!

You only need to search for an Etymotic ER-4P/ER-4S comparison, and those will be the [vague] expected results.

And altered frequency response curve of the driver. Because Vishay Dale or not, resistors are not linear.

Yep. "Improved" sound.

The FR on EX1k is all over the place anyway :)  Etymotic are the ones proclaiming flat FR.

You're right though, no guarantee it'll improve the sound, but a cheap experiment for someone that already has the EX1k and decent amplification, I don't think Sony would ever release a 107 ohm IEM when most of their DAP's have 5mW+5mW output Lol.