Dear Diary,
* * * SUPER CUSTOMS II CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION * * *
There are far too many customs out there to try to make sense of. I give up. Or maybe I'll just draw slips of paper out of a large prop hat. Or hide under my bed.
The EarSonics EM4 seems very nice. I'm now infatuated with the SM3v2, so I naturally find myself drawn to the company's top tier offerings like a moth to the flame. There's a certain rugged but refined quality to the EarSonics brand, a certain Franco-osity not unlike smoking in bed after intercourse. If characters in Godard films wore earphones, they'd surely be EarSonics.
I'm currently awaiting the Rooth LS8. If ever there was a CEIM brand that speaks to my particular brand of peculiarity, it would surely be Rooth. What sort of name is 'Rooth' for an audio company anyway?**
Due to the particular bent of my madness, I find myself disposed to a certain mindset that favors synergistic union, and because of this, thoughts of the Gui Ling CX8 have been ferrying about my head's peripheral space with not-infrequent regularity. Boths CIEMs are the byproduct of one enigmatic genius, one replete with super tweeters while the other gets super woofers. Quite a pair to my mind. The proverbial yin to a yang.
Gui Ling is a difficult prospect though, unfortunately. They have next to no representation outside of China, and doing business with them would surely prove to be an ordeal. Consider myself an explorer in this hobby I do, so in a comically misguided way I find the prospect of doing that sort of business enticing. I feel some ill-delineated urge to provide an account of the hitherto unknown, to travel new waters and chart distant lands. Sharing new findings with this community is satisfying in a way.
In the event that Gui Ling doesn't pan out however---or just maybe, even if it does---I'm considering other options. My second choice until this morning was the Heir 8.A, an enticing prospect with its smooth and uniquely musical sound made all the sweeter by the Wizard's borderline OCD attention to detail. Some of the latest findings though are a cause for concern.
Other customs I've just learned about today include the Minerva Mi-3 (I love the name Minerva) and the weirdo dynamic driver bass monster Wan Xuan i9 Pro.
I'm really interested in the Canal Works brand. I'm not sure what it is, but they just really appeal to me. Maybe it's the cartoonish dayglo shell colors; maybe the fact that they're from Japan. Whatever the reason, I've thought about contacting them, but I'd probably need to open up a translator to try to communicate in horribly broken Japanese. As with Gui Ling there's that element of the unknown that surrounds the brand. I'm just not entirely sure how to go about first contact. Maybe Tomscy and I can team up and figure something out between the two of us.
Spiral Ear is definitely an intriguing prospect, but their refusal to deal directly with foreign customers is unfortunate. ACS is a more accessible alternative for silicone ear monitors, though I haven't bothered reading up on them much. They weren't particularly friendly or willing to talk to me when I inquired directly about their products.
Last on my list of considerations is the Thousand Sound TS842. It's relatively inexpensive compared to its competition, thoroughly exotic, slightly more difficult to obtain, and has an intriguing signature by all accounts. Regardless of whatever else ends up by the LS8's side, the TS842 seems like a worthwhile consideration given all of its charms.
That's enough of that at any rate.
XoXo
**An awesome sort, that's what.
