Which customs have the most out of the head soundstage (like ie8 or better)?

In my opinion, the EarSonics SM3 had a more 3D soundstage than the IE8.

JH13 or JH16 will easily exceed the IE8 soundstage, as will most customs above the $500 price range.

Subscribed. Interesting topic, though not an easy one, since people usually don't distinguish between soundstage size and forward projection. The IE8 have the most forward projected soundstage I've heard in IEMs so far. Not the best match for intimate music, but pretty impressive with almost everything else.

I think the forward projection of the IE8 was too artificial sounding and did not sound realistic.

The senn mx980 has more of a headstage than many of the closed full sized cans I've come across.

Which custom would beat their headstage???

Quote:

Originally Posted by SolidVictory 

 

JH13 or JH16 will easily exceed the IE8 soundstage, as will most customs above the $500 price range.

i dont find that the case with my jh13. ie8 soundstage is bigger.not deeper but larger.

i tried explaining that once in ie8 thread so ill try my best.

due to the very shallow fit of ie8 and the very airy presentation and light housing,i feel as if there are no boundries to the soundstage.sometimes i completly forget about the ie8 presence and only feel the huge soundstage.

with my jh13 i never feel that way first because soundstage is not bigger than ie8,second because of the weight and the feeling of the acrylic shell in my ears so i never get that dissapearing effect.

the jh13 soundstage is more accurate and true,but i never felt that the ie8 soundstage was artificial even in comparison.

the ie8 forward projection as james described and the light airy spacious feeling effect,i never experianced in anything but ie8.

one day,ill get the ie8 again.i regret selling it the most since it was my first iem and because it is very special in its sound.

Quote:

Originally Posted by james444 

Subscribed. Interesting topic, though not an easy one, since people usually don't distinguish between soundstage size and forward projection. The IE8 have the most forward projected soundstage I've heard in IEMs so far. Not the best match for intimate music, but pretty impressive with almost everything else.

By forward projection do you mean how far away from the stage it sounds like it is coming from? ie: IE8 is like in the middle row of the concert hall, e-Q7 is the first few rows, etc?

anyone with um mage here? 

here's a quote from mike's review about the soundstage 

http://www.headfonia.com/um-mage-customs/3/

Quote:

Originally Posted by midoo1990 

i dont find that the case with my jh13. ie8 soundstage is bigger.not deeper but larger.

i tried explaining that once in ie8 thread so ill try my best.

due to the very shallow fit of ie8 and the very airy presentation and light housing,i feel as if there are no boundries to the soundstage.sometimes i completly forget about the ie8 presence and only feel the huge soundstage.

 

with my jh13 i never feel that way first because soundstage is not bigger than ie8,second because of the weight and the feeling of the acrylic shell in my ears so i never get that dissapearing effect.

the jh13 soundstage is more accurate and true,but i never felt that the ie8 soundstage was artificial even in comparison.

the ie8 forward projection as james described and the light airy spacious feeling effect,i never experianced in anything but ie8.

one day,ill get the ie8 again.i regret selling it the most since it was my first iem and because it is very special in its sound.

 

I respect your opinion but I've got to disagree with you on this. I've owned the IE8 for over a year and though it has a very wide soundstage and good forward projection, I think the JH16 easily beats it in those two attributes. The IE8 has a large soundstage, but the soundstage only appears that way because of a lack of cohesiveness in the imaging. I think this makes it more susceptible to "wow" at first but the IE8 has a lot of difficulty with the resonance of sound in a hall where sound bounces off the walls. I found that with good jazz or classical recordings, the IE8 does not even recreate the actual sound resonating within the soundstage. What I mean by this is, where the sound is actually supposed to stop resonating the IE8 cuts that very short where the JH16 extends it completely to the outer edge of your right, left, or front.

I think because of this lack of precision in soundstage, sometimes the IE8 sounds like it has a bigger soundstage, but when you listen carefully with very good recordings it is apparent that the IE8 soundstage is not as wide as the JH16. Because of the precision of the JH16 in rendering the position of instruments in a soundstage, it may not sound like it has a wider soundstage on just "OK" recordings. It takes a really good recording or a binaural recording to show that the JH16's soundstage is indeed larger than the IE8. The airy/spacious feeling that you experienced with your IE8 is definitely there on the JH16/JH13, it just takes very good recordings/binaural recordings to bring it out. If the audio signal does not require a sound to be positioned all the way in front of you, then the JH16 will not position it there whereas the IE8 will position it farther than it really is--thus creating a constant larger soundstage than the JH16 until a recording actually calls for the JH16 to position the sound all the way in front of you (60 feet or farther out), this is where it is very apparent that the JH16 soundstage is larger than the IE8.

All this being said, I respect your opinion and I do agree that the IE8's soundstage is very large.

From the customs I have heard, the EP-10 Plus has by far the biggest soundstage, which is close to the size of the LCD-2.  Like the IE8, there is a lot of mid-bass and not the best isolation.  There is probably more mid-bass and the isolation is probably worse for the EP-10 plus vs. the IE8.  But just on soundstage it is huge.  Now, if my JH16 reshell will ever arrive...

UE11Pro, UM Miracle.