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Heir Audio World Tour - Page 10

post #136 of 216
9/30/12 at 8:03pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JayMitch View Post

Excellent. That you note a sensitivity to high frequencies says a lot. That just leaves "fit anxiety" to tide me over until the 4.A's arrive. wink.gif

 

Oh yeah. If the fit is even a tiny bit off, it can be really annoying. You can keep feeding that anxiety until the blood pressure makes your temple veins explode. biggrin.gif

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post #137 of 216
10/20/12 at 9:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zloy loup View Post

Well, I finally got to audition the 4.Ai and 3.Ai on a meet this Saturday. bigsmile_face.gif Unfortunately, what could have been a more-or-less in-depth review was spoiled by a bad fit, so I'll just give a basic set of impressions.

 

First of all, here is the problem I had. The 4.Ai and 3.Ai have a pretty wide nozzle which mimics the design of customs in how it widens until it meets the body of the IEM. It is designed that way to fit snugly into your ear canal and create some nice isolation in the process, but in my case, this made it impossible to fit into my ear. Even with small tips, it wouldn't fit as deep as it was designed to. This resulted in two things: a shallow soundstage and sub-par isolation.

 

 

 

On this pic I am using the medium red tips with the 4.Ai. You can see how they hang out of my ear slightly. I have also used smaller tips. This isn't due to the tips but because of the nozzle shape. People with small ears, beware!

 

 

But let's move on to happier matters. Here are a few 4.Ai impressions. smily_headphones1.gif

 

Impression #1. They're tiny! Probably one of the smallest universals out there in this price range. I'd say they're about 2 centimeters in length.

Impression #2. They have more bass than I thought they would. This is subjective, but I almost found myself wanting less bass. I suspect that my fit problems contributed to this (I didn't have any problems with seal). Nevertheless, they extend quite well, in both directions.

Impression #3. As much as I could judge sound signature with the fit problems, they seemed to be pretty neutral with a little bass boost and maybe ever so slightly recessed in the upper midrange. This varied greatly with tips.

 

As a result of the fit problems, I will probably get the 4.A CIEM, but only if Heir Audio has some sort of refit policy, since I'm a young and growing person (I'm looking at you, FullCircle biggrin.gif).

 

 

 

EDIT: That's kind of odd, I could've sworn I wrote this in the 4.Ai thread. What a silly mistake. Hopefully a mod can move this post.

This is a good take and what I would expect them to sound like though a bit extra bass will sound more correct when on the go and bass is masked by ambient noise. It's a good description of a twfk plus woofer done well.

 

There was a post with specualtion as to why the 4.a and 4.ai sound different with the same bits. It won't just be the tips and fit. The customs will also have longer tubes of which the contained air mass will add some small resistance. TWFK may work better in that config.

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post #138 of 216
10/31/12 at 11:28pm

Do you think the A4i is a better purchase than the W4's?


Edited by icefalkon - 10/31/12 at 11:29pm
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post #139 of 216
10/31/12 at 11:28pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by icefalkon View Post

Question...has anyone else noticed that the Heir Audio website is down?

 

Was. It's back for me.

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post #140 of 216
10/31/12 at 11:34pm

And their website is down...again. How the heck do you order these things? lol

 

Does anyone have an email address or phone number?


Edited by icefalkon - 10/31/12 at 11:36pm
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post #141 of 216
11/1/12 at 12:09am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by icefalkon View Post

And their website is down...again. How the heck do you order these things? lol

 

Fast. Very fast.

 

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by icefalkon View Post

Does anyone have an email address or phone number?

 

 

Sure. It's on their webs... Oh.

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post #142 of 216
11/1/12 at 12:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sinocelt View Post

 

Was. It's back for me.

still out for me...hmmm

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post #143 of 216
11/1/12 at 12:14am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cotnijoe View Post

still out for me...hmmm

 

Out again for me too. Wait, no, back!

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post #144 of 216
11/4/12 at 12:31pm

I don't know about 4.Ai but 3.Ai is not my type.

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post #145 of 216
11/4/12 at 4:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by saclet View Post  I don't know about 4.Ai but 3.Ai is not my type.

 

Perhaps you prefer blondes? They have more fun.

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post #146 of 216
11/7/12 at 3:46pm

I've been away for a couple weeks.  I'm surprised not to see a little more action on this thread.  IJokerI get these yet?  Doesn't look like it.

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post #147 of 216
11/10/12 at 4:20am
As I feared I'm now dealing with this with my 4.A's that just arrived this week. They seem too long, coming right up against the bone or whatever anatomy is at the end of the ear canal. This seems to also affect seal, makes it somewhat tenuous, and one of the big reasons I went this direction was better isolation for travel. Don't know how correct fit is otherwise and if seal/isolation can be better. I actually didn't expect depth to be an issue; aren't the longer styles referred to as "musician's fit" and Heir standardized away from this because of too many related issues (perhaps just like mine)? Comfort long-term also iffy. As first pair of CIEM's don't know what to expect or how to evaluate. Working through it with Heir right now (who have been responsive).

Sound is very good despite above, plenty of bass and resolution and clarity and shimmer with no sibilance and a beautiful midrange for vocals. But at this point with fit issues to be resolved not good enough to make up for cost and time differences vs. a quality universal like the Westone 4R I also have.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sinocelt View Post

Oh yeah. If the fit is even a tiny bit off, it can be really annoying. You can keep feeding that anxiety until the blood pressure makes your temple veins explode. biggrin.gif
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post #148 of 216
11/10/12 at 11:00pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ethanw View Post

I've been away for a couple weeks.  I'm surprised not to see a little more action on this thread.  IJokerI get these yet?  Doesn't look like it.

 

IJokerI removed himself from the tour. frown.gif I updated the first post.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by JayMitch View Post

As I feared I'm now dealing with this with my 4.A's that just arrived this week. They seem too long, coming right up against the bone or whatever anatomy is at the end of the ear canal. This seems to also affect seal, makes it somewhat tenuous, and one of the big reasons I went this direction was better isolation for travel. Don't know how correct fit is otherwise and if seal/isolation can be better. I actually didn't expect depth to be an issue; aren't the longer styles referred to as "musician's fit" and Heir standardized away from this because of too many related issues (perhaps just like mine)? Comfort long-term also iffy. As first pair of CIEM's don't know what to expect or how to evaluate. Working through it with Heir right now (who have been responsive).
Sound is very good despite above, plenty of bass and resolution and clarity and shimmer with no sibilance and a beautiful midrange for vocals. But at this point with fit issues to be resolved not good enough to make up for cost and time differences vs. a quality universal like the Westone 4R I also have.
 

I've got four pairs of customs (including custom earplugs and custom sleeves) and my left side is always a problem, even with three different ear impressions made by three different people. So yes, it happens, and yes, you must work with Heir and have the problem solved, for if there's a bump, then seal and comfort will both suffer.

 

Note that, like you, I believed the extremity of the tip hit the bone; but in my case, I discovered it was the bend of the tip, not its extremity: It squeezed the place where the skin first meets the bone.

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post #149 of 216
11/10/12 at 11:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sinocelt View Post

 

IJokerI removed himself from the tour. frown.gif I updated the first post.

 

 

I've got four pairs of customs (including custom earplugs and custom sleeves) and my left side is always a problem, even with three different ear impressions made by three different people. So yes, it happens, and yes, you must work with Heir and have the problem solved, for if there's a bump, then seal and comfort will both suffer.

 

Note that, like you, I believed the extremity of the tip hit the bone; but in my case, I discovered it was the bend of the tip, not its extremity: It squeezed the place where the skin first meets the bone.

 

I have to say that I was looking forward to seeing what Joker said about these two :( 

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post #150 of 216
11/11/12 at 7:00am
we still have tons of great reviews though!
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