Tralucent Audio 1Plus2 IEM Appreciation/Impressions Thread

post #586 of 2442

11/25/12 at 8:10pm

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Very excited being selected to try these, they look wonderful. Now to keep my wallet hidden from me.

Thanks for the update Lee!

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post #587 of 2442

11/25/12 at 8:50pm

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Quote:

Originally Posted by lee730

lol don't temp me :P. Do you have a USB power hub to plug into? I'm wondering if you PC will have enough power from the USB port to power the LX... I think it should lol. I'd rather bring less stuff :P.

Yup, I believe I do......I will double check at the office.

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post #588 of 2442

11/25/12 at 9:29pm

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Here's a read while we're awaiting the new revised 1Plus2 impressions soon to come. These are my thoughts on the T1 versus the Objective2 amp, which most should know that it is one of the top portable amps available.

Sonically they are both pretty much on par which is saying a lot since O2 is among the top. However, the O2 outputs much more power so it's more sensitive, meaning the T1 gives me better volume tuning.

Now with the T1, the sound is more centre focused and instruments are all coherent and "continuous" for lack of a better word, in the soundstage. The O2 is the opposite where the soundstage is wide but has a bit less depth than the T1, meaning it's less intimate. The T1 wins with mids because of this as well, being slightly warmer, but not any less detailed. This makes the T1 more appealing to me than the O2 with its straight-transparent sound. The depth of soundstage, the layers, and the centre focused sound is so much more appealing because... well... vocals.

So here we run into the issue of synergy, and this is precisely why I cannot say one is better than the other since both performs so well. With stock cables with my ES5, it sounds quite muffled, and listening to the T1, it can make listening unbearable because it's mid centric and therefore isn't so "clear" and "open" sounding as the O2. However, with aftermarket cables, it really opens up the sound of my ES5s, making it match quite well with the T1, unexpectedly, because the centre focused soundstage matches so well with the lush vocals of the ES5. The O2 definitely has its pros too with its "airy" presentation. It's clean, clear, and utterly transparent; I'm hearing my cans, nothing else. This makes for a quite nice amp for listening to classical.

Now there's the matter of power. The T1 can definitely 'drive' the LCD2s, but I can see that the O2 drives it better which is expected since the O2 isn't necessarily meant for IEMs, unlike the T1.

I won't really do an "impression" for the 1Plus2 since it's already been done by many others, so I'll leave that for a small section in the 1Plus2 Revised review. However, one thing I just want to mention is the instrument placement, as well as the dynamics, of the 1Plus2 is outstanding, sometimes giving me the chills. It just sounds so 'real.' I'll leave it at that.

Edited by Girls Generation - 11/25/12 at 9:34pm

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post #589 of 2442

11/25/12 at 9:55pm

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Awesome GG so you know what I mean by the balance the T1 brings to the sound presentation. It has great width and depth to the sound. This fleshes everything out even more (the treble mids and bass). The O2 was way too distant and aggressive to my ears. The sound stage was stretched thin to the point it lacks much of any depth. It's a very dry amp. But did excel very much at rock music in general. But I find the T1 to be a great all arounder amp that really doesn't do anything wrong and is more musical overall, thus why I sold the O2. I listen to music for pure enjoyment. I could care less about analyzing although I do this while listening as well but from the enjoyment factor it brings opposed to critiquing. I only critique when I hear something I don't like ;). Then I fix it :P.

Yeah I agree the 1Plus2s presentation spells "realism" like you are there. This is even made more apparent with high end sources to power them properly (they scale extremely well and are like chameleons from source to source). That is why I am so hard pressed to believe it will get any better. I demoed the 334s and for sure I do not feel they are better than the first version of 1Plus2.

Edited by lee730 - 11/26/12 at 10:36pm

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post #590 of 2442

11/26/12 at 12:46am

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just been looking at tralucents website and I obviously have a lot to learn about IEM's as I had always assumed that these boutique manufactures made their own drivers but i see they use a Knowles BA driver.

Is that generally the same for most boutique designers and their points of difference is the layout and tuning ?

Is Knowles the only other 3rd party manufacturer or are there plenty others ?

I think i just discovered a whole new field of technology to learn :)

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post #591 of 2442

11/26/12 at 12:52am

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Quote:

Originally Posted by hedphonz

just been looking at tralucents website and I obviously have a lot to learn about IEM's as I had always assumed that these boutique manufactures made their own drivers but i see they use a Knowles BA driver.

Is that generally the same for most boutique designers and their points of difference is the layout and tuning ?

Is Knowles the only other 3rd party manufacturer or are there plenty others ?

I think i just discovered a whole new field of technology to learn :)

There's a lot more than just Knowles. But Knowles seems to be quite popular in the Hybrid IEM designs. Even AKG is using a form of one in their AKG3003. So yea pretty much every manufacturer purchases drivers from various companies and tunes them to their own specifications. So far I think only Future Sonic makes their own drivers and produces the MG6 Pro which is a Dynamic Custom IEM not BA. :)

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post #592 of 2442

11/26/12 at 12:58am

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Quote:

Originally Posted by lee730

There's a lot more than just Knowles. But Knowles seems to be quite popular in the Hybrid IEM designs. Even AKG is using a form of one in their AKG3003. So yea pretty much every manufacturer purchases drivers from various companies and tunes them to their own specifications. So far I think only Future Sonic makes their own drivers and produces the MG6 Pro which is a Dynamic Custom IEM not BA. :)

If I remember right Sony also decided to do everything in house when they were developing their XBA line.

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post #593 of 2442

11/26/12 at 1:03am

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Quote:

Originally Posted by DigitalFreak

If I remember right Sony also decided to do everything in house when they were developing their XBA line.

Well I know they did their own design as well of their EX series. It's a first regarding the BAs (the first time I heard this that is :). I was more so referring to Custom IEM makers in general though.

Edited by lee730 - 11/26/12 at 1:27am

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post #594 of 2442

11/26/12 at 6:25am

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Girls Generation

Here's a read while we're awaiting the new revised 1Plus2 impressions soon to come. These are my thoughts on the T1 versus the Objective2 amp, which most should know that it is one of the top portable amps available.

Now there's the matter of power. The T1 can definitely 'drive' the LCD2s, but I can see that the O2 drives it better which is expected since the O2 isn't necessarily meant for IEMs, unlike the T1.

Ha! Surprised me about the LCD2 comment - definitely plenty of juice on the T1 it seems even though the bigger (mainly desktop) amps can drive those "harder to drive" cans better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hedphonz

just been looking at tralucents website and I obviously have a lot to learn about IEM's as I had always assumed that these boutique manufactures made their own drivers but i see they use a Knowles BA driver.

Is that generally the same for most boutique designers and their points of difference is the layout and tuning ?

Is Knowles the only other 3rd party manufacturer or are there plenty others ?

I think i just discovered a whole new field of technology to learn :)

Is the website updated to reflect the changes made to the 1Plus2 that is going to be sent out for demoing soon? I'm sure it was mentioned that smaller drivers are being used??

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post #595 of 2442

11/26/12 at 6:42am

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Quote:

Originally Posted by lee730

Yeah I agree the 1Plus2s presentation spells "realism" like you are there. This is even made more apparent with high end sources to power them properly (they scale extremely well and are like chameleons from source to source). That is why I am so hard pressed to believe it will get any better. I demoed the 334s and for sure I do not feel they are better than the first version of 1Plus2.

Now that is the perfect word to describe the phones..Realism. Agreed!

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post #596 of 2442

11/27/12 at 1:17am