Heir Audio 4.Ai - Appreciation/Impression/Review Thread - Page 141

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swimsonny 

if you really what to ooze clarity out of the Heir 4.Ai and do not want to spend a lot then i do not think you can go wrong with the hippo cricri which is a lovely tiny amp and just adds a bit more high mids and really does great things for clarity! Its also really cheap, Jaben sell it!

 

My review is here:

 

http://www.inearspace.co.uk/inearspace/Hippo_cricri.html

It seems like a great amp, thanks for the recommendation. Do you think it has more battery life than the fiio e11? Only bad side is I can't use it with my iphone.

can anyone here who's heard both the Heir 4.ai and SM3 make a comparison please?

Got mine delivered yesterday (01.02.13, 13:00 GMT), however I was at work and at the time of delivery and the courier delivery company UPS was asking my family to pay £70.50! :O

I found out when I received emails from UPS that the delivery failed. Phoned up my family, they explained hat happened, and I was very shocked and upset.

On a break at work, I rang UPS and organised to pick up the parcel as soon as my work ended (work finished at 19:00, UPS Customer Depot finished at 20:00).

Drove down, asked about the fee, and found out that it was HM Revenue Customs that asked for the amount. I paid the £70.50 charge so that I could get my parcel, and will phone HMRC after my early shift work today (about 15:00) about this excessive cost.

>_<

Anyway, I have the Heir Audio 4.Ai's at home. I was shocked by the size, and as is the case with any product I pay a huge amount for, the small size of the IEM's did make me think if I had made the right choice...

At the moment, my JDS Labs c421 (AD8620 op-amp) headphone amp is out for repair, and all I have is my 6th Gen Apple iPod Classic 160 GB (2007), which I have yet to use, and my un-rooted Android Samsung Galaxy Note 2.

I used my Note II with an app called Neutron to play a few songs from Flying Lotus' Until the Quiet Comes. I also raised the bass on the EQ just a few dB's up (1.85 dB), but I can't wait for my c421, or my next mysterious amp, to come back home for some real listening. (I also can't wait to use the CEntrance HiFi-M8 too in the short future!).

Later, I watched the recent new season of Top Gear Episode 1 through my Xbox 360 and my Turtle Beach EarForce 7.1 DSS connected to a 1st Gen NuForce Icon (23W).

Yes, the latter is not a great way of doing quick tests, but I can say that the isolation is by far better than both my Etymotic Research ER-6i's and my Ultimate Ears Triple.Fi 10 Pro's.

I also discovered that my left ear, which has a slightly larger canal than my right ear canal, actually works better with the Heir Audio supplied small red ear tip than my medium sized red ear tip. How very odd...

Will do some more listening tomorrow evening.

Goodnight!

^_^

Just asking which would you choose personally , 

shure SRH-1840 

or the

Heir audio 4.Ai ?

cuz i cant get either of them at the same price. 

i got a bassy amp ( C&C XO2 ) and i love clarity but hate sibliance 

i like uncoloured music , so if the mids are to forward it feels noisy ? 

i need bass , but nothing that starts to overwhelm the other freq. this is coming from 

a DT880 250 ohm .

thanks guys !

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nukeshock 

Just asking which would you choose personally , 

shure SRH-1840 

or the

Heir audio 4.Ai ?

cuz i cant get either of them at the same price. 

i got a bassy amp ( C&C XO2 ) and i love clarity but hate sibliance 

i like uncoloured music , so if the mids are to forward it feels noisy ? 

i need bass , but nothing that starts to overwhelm the other freq. this is coming from 

a DT880 250 ohm .

thanks guys !

One is an open-back full sized headphone, the other is an IEM.

That's like comparing a motorcycle and a van. Sure, both are for driving but one of them sucks for getting around town in a hurry and the other one sucks if you need to move a lot of stuff...

ok but based on accuracy and clarity ? and bass control , i dont really have an affinity for soundstage or isolation =)

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheOneInYellow 

Got mine delivered yesterday (01.02.13, 13:00 GMT), however I was at work and at the time of delivery and the courier delivery company UPS was asking my family to pay £70.50! :O

 

I found out when I received emails from UPS that the delivery failed. Phoned up my family, they explained hat happened, and I was very shocked and upset.

On a break at work, I rang UPS and organised to pick up the parcel as soon as my work ended (work finished at 19:00, UPS Customer Depot finished at 20:00).

Drove down, asked about the fee, and found out that it was HM Revenue Customs that asked for the amount. I paid the £70.50 charge so that I could get my parcel, and will phone HMRC after my early shift work today (about 15:00) about this excessive cost.

>_<

 

Unfortunately, thats how customs charges work dude.

Back in the day, when you could still buy knives on ebay ( in the UK ) I got a lovely Kershaw damascus folder on import from the USA. Cost was about $45 and I got charged £18 by the tax man. Another headfier I know who got a pair of customs got charged £95 on top of the $600 + shipping for the customs.....

I think you get charged import duties on anyhting over the value of $30, and the amount you pay is proportionate to the overall value of the item.

The only valid reason for appeal is if an item was valued and/or categorised incorrectly by customs. Otherwise this should be old hat for tech importers. Paid around £40 customs + courier fee importing my old ESW9

What type of cable connectors are used by Heir? The Magnus 1 cable is fantastic of course but just wanted to know. Thanks

Hi, thanks guys for the comments.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cogsand gears 

Unfortunately, thats how customs charges work dude.

 

Back in the day, when you could still buy knives on ebay ( in the UK ) I got a lovely Kershaw damascus folder on import from the USA. Cost was about $45 and I got charged £18 by the tax man. Another headfier I know who got a pair of customs got charged £95 on top of the $600 + shipping for the customs.....

 

I think you get charged import duties on anyhting over the value of $30, and the amount you pay is proportionate to the overall value of the item.

I remember in the past about such HMRC charges for items over about $40 (may have changed since then), but never, ever, this high. I had not budgeted for it, and my family were shocked, so I was not well pleased.

However, I don't always get charged for items that come from other countries that go over that threshold...

The Kershaw knife look lovely, but I bet you were unhappy with the customs tax. I was a fan of the Spyderco knifes for looks only when I was younger, but I have no interest in knives at all now. (I have zero practical knowledge of knifes outside of normal use, but I understand some logical thought behind the hobby, including weight/power/ergonomics/durability, and the principles of great knife designs, especially from the camping/cooking worlds, but that's it).

In the next coming weeks/months, I will have another two amplifiers coming my way and possibly a new IEM cable; a portable amp I have yet to formerly order but will continue a long partnership with a great amplifier maker, the über expensive CEntrance HiFi-M8, and a possible crazy Moon Audio Silver Dragon V1 IEM Headphone Cable with Furutech Rhodium Plated Dual 3-Pin XLR's (FP-601) for my Heir Audio 4.Ai's. I dread the latter items in terms of customs tax, and will be setting aside nearly £200 just in case to cover (hopefully) all these upcoming audio gear.

:/

Quote:

Originally Posted by LFC_SL 

The only valid reason for appeal is if an item was valued and/or categorised incorrectly by customs. Otherwise this should be old hat for tech importers. Paid around £40 customs + courier fee importing my old ESW9

 

What type of cable connectors are used by Heir? The Magnus 1 cable is fantastic of course but just wanted to know. Thanks

Yep, as I replied to 'gears', I should have expected it, but the actual price is still OTT as far as I am concerned. I haven't contacted HMRC yet, but I know I am on losing ground for an appeal/refund/partial refund. :'(

Heir Audio IEM's use a standard JH Audio/UE/Westone two-prong connector.

In Christmas just gone, Heir Audio had two discounted sales going on, and I went for the Heir Audio 4.Ai+ variant, which is also known as the Premium Package; this included a wooden faceplate of choice, black mamba shell (dark purple translucent shell), the 'Wizard' logo on the shell, and the Magnus 1 IEM cable.

The cable is very thin and delicate looking, but easily bests my FiiO RC-UE1 recable (for my UE TF10's), and I want to say that it beats my AKG K 701 standard cable, but I cannot fairly say that as I cannot compare headphone cables in two different systems.

The Magnus 1 is also very pretty (as are the 4.Ai's), and the kevlar sleeving and the silver/copper mix make the cable supremely AWESOME!

The Y-split is very small/almost non-existent, and the ear loops have a transparent plastic sheet and expose the bendable metal, which I don't like, but otherwise for the price (or included at a discounted price as part of the Premium package bundle with certain store options, such as the 4.Ai+, and not including the holiday discount) is a fantastic upgrade. A great price/performance/aesthetics!

Hope that helps LFC_SL!

I'll post pics when I can, but I am waiting for my JDS Labs c421 amp to come back from servicing first.

:D

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheOneInYellow 

Hi, thanks guys for the comments.

 

 

I remember in the past about such HMRC charges for items over about $40 (may have changed since then), but never, ever, this high. I had not budgeted for it, and my family were shocked, so I was not well pleased.

 

However, I don't always get charged for items that come from other countries that go over that threshold...

 

The Kershaw knife look lovely, but I bet you were unhappy with the customs tax. I was a fan of the Spyderco knifes for looks only when I was younger, but I have no interest in knives at all now. (I have zero practical knowledge of knifes outside of normal use, but I understand some logical thought behind the hobby, including weight/power/ergonomics/durability, and the principles of great knife designs, especially from the camping/cooking worlds, but that's it).

 

In the next coming weeks/months, I will have another two amplifiers coming my way and possibly a new IEM cable; a portable amp I have yet to formerly order but will continue a long partnership with a great amplifier maker, the über expensive CEntrance HiFi-M8, and a possible crazy Moon Audio Silver Dragon V1 IEM Headphone Cable with Furutech Rhodium Plated Dual 3-Pin XLR's (FP-601) for my Heir Audio 4.Ai's. I dread the latter items in terms of customs tax, and will be setting aside nearly £200 just in case to cover (hopefully) all these upcoming audio gear.

 

I have not been charged that much on anything either to be honest - yet. Im currently waiting on one of these: http://www.billetboxvapor.com/#  and am not looking forward to the charge on that! No idea how high it will be as yet :C Not audio related as you can probably make out!

I have not always been charged import fees either. Seems to be mostly on items from the USA.

I got a few Kershaw knives a while back. I thought it would work out a good deal on the damascus steel one, but not so much after the customs tax. I dont have much interest in knives now to be honest, but am not sure where to look for a buyer. Dont want to give them away as there worth a little bit now....

I aquired a moon audio IEM cable from a fellow headfier. Ended up repairing ( loose earth connection ) and selling it. The Furutech connectors are georgeous! Hope you manage to dodge the import tax on those items dude! It does happen sometimes :D  You can buy some excellent IEM cables in the UK if you want to avoid the tax on that one.

mark

How are these against the W4 and SE535 without an amp?

I'm thinking about buying these, but i'm not sure about the shipping; do they ship after receiving the money etc.?

yes