keanex
Keeper of The All-New Headphone Buyer's Guide
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
- Posts
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Pros: Great Fit, build quality, cable quality, resolution, clarity, overall sound quality, removable wax filters
Cons: Lack of tips, potential fit problems, cable is hard to remove
Style: Over-Ear shallow to medium insertion IEMs.
Tonal Balance: Mildly warm leaning balanced
Listening Set-Up: MusicBee (WASAPI) -> Oppo HA-1, Sansa Clip+ (Rockboxed), Sansa Clip Zip (Rockboxed)
Cost at time of Review: $449 at Otojoy.
Reviewing Process
The SD-2 have had music played through them in 10 hours sessions for two weeks before I began to make any judgement calls on them sound wise. In addition to 140 hours of burn-in I have listened to the SD-2 for 3 weeks of at least 2 hours a day in multiple settings from walks in a quiet neighborhood to home use. During my time with these I have listened to a wide variety of music genres and feel that I have become accustomed to the sound enough as to comment on them from experience. The views expressed here are by no means scientific or based on graphs, just my ears. They are simply an opinion and should be used in conjunction with other reviews before making an informed decision.The review is written as listened to on the Oppo HA-1.
Headphone Background
The SD-2 are the second in the StageDiver series by the German audio company InEar Monitoring. They utilize two drivers which are tuned for “bass, middle and high tones.” The housing of the SD-2 has been created through combining more than 500 ear impressions to create a custom universal feel. The SD-2 are the original housings, not the newer and smaller versions that are now available.Accesories
Included with the SD-2 is a hard plastic carrying case, ¼’’ stereo jack, cleaning wipes, and s/m/l single flanged tips.
Build and Fit
(I find that the build quality and fit (despite the difference in size) remain the same as the SD-1s to my examinations. Therefore I am copy and pasting the same information from the SD-1s for the SD-2)
TL
RThe SD-1S are an easy IEM to insert correctly into the ear, sitting at a medium depth, while providing great isolation and comfort. The build quality is top notch, not one alarm goes off under my scrutiny, these appear like they will last with proper care. My one complaint is that the cables are difficult to remove, I’m afraid to remove them because it requires more force than I feel comfortable exerting on them.
Build
Starting at the top the SD-1S are made of a seamless acrylic housing that is lightweight and molded to look as a custom IEM would. The housings offer no reason worry and are cleanly finished and glossed. The nozzle looks a little rough and could use a proper finish, but I have no reason to believe that it is a weak point*. This has been pointed out to me to be purposeful as to allow the tips better grip as to not come off when removing the IEMs.
The cable is entered into an indent of the housing which hides the prongs of the removable cable. The cable itself is very hard to remove though and I don’t feel comfortable attempting more than I have for fear of breaking the prongs. The positive in this is that once inserted the cable is secure.
The cable itself is a thing of beauty, braided with a clear protective coat over the silver internals. The cable feels wonderful, slightly flexible and super high quality with a tendency to avoid tangling. It reminds me of a rope chain actually. The cable has a y-split with a simple clear plastic cinch. The cable terminates in a 90 degree angle and feels sufficiently protected from stress.
Fit
The SD-1S are rather easy to insert, sitting at a medium depth in the ears. They block out a great amount of noise to my ears, conversations are incredibly difficult for me to have with no music playing, for instance. I find the SD-1S to be rather easy to position and to put into place, it only takes a second or so for me to insert each into my ear optimally. Comfort is great, I’ve had no issues wearing these for 2+ hours. Once inserted though, the SD-1S sit firmly in my ears with absolutely no signs of microphonics.
Sound Quality
TL
RTo my ears the SD-2 are a slightly warm leaning IEM that strives to be balanced. The mids shine here, coming off accurate and detailed with bass extension capable of satisfying me on even incredibly bass heavy tracks; the mids have minor flaws and I wish that the highs had slightly more brightness though. Overall the SD-2 are detailed and clean with good balance, capable of carrying the energy of a song through to the listener with great ease.
Bass
As a whole I find the bass to be punchy, clean and well extended with a mild mid-bass hump that likely extends into the lower mid range. I find that the bass exerts itself just a smidge too much when listening to classic recordings like The Beatles Rocky Racoon, but not enough to dampen the experience. The bass is damn near perfect and incredibly tuned, highly satisfying with almost everything that I’ve listened through the SD-2.
The sub-bass is clean and extended nicely with enough presence to give a soft illusion of a sub-woofer, but not enough to fully immerse me in extremely bass heavy music. That’s okay though, the SD-2 aren’t supposed to be bass monsters. The strength of the SD-2 in the sub-bass region is how cleanly they present the big bass notes with a fantastic grimey texture. One note is not a word that could be used to described the sub-bass by any means.
I find that the sub-bass shines with big boomy sub-bass notes while also having the quickness to keep up with fast moving sub-bass lines. As an example, in Jay-Z’s Holy Grail the sub-bass provides just a hint of rumble, acting as a base for the vocals and instruments to cruise over. It’s a soft pleasant growl, executed nicely, like driving a car on a dirt road. On the same token the SD-2 handle the quickly moving sub-bass line in James Blake’s Limit to Your Love with absolute ease. No sense of sluggishness, quick and unimpeding. The sub-bass won’t likely suit bassheads, but it’s more than satisfactory as someone who prefers a wide variety of music.
The midbass is lean, punchy, and textured nicely, while being slightly forward. The mid-bass is done almost perfectly, accurately portraying the bass guitar and the tom hits from an acoustic drum kit. Energetic and driving, the midbass works wonderfully for many genres I’ve put it through. During the phenomenal drum solo of Steely Dan’s Aja the toms hit with authority and decay quickly while the bass line accents the complicated rhythms and the energy is carried through astonishingly. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the midbass is a huge driving force for Above & Beyond’s Air For Life, a lively trance track dependent on a hard hitting kick drum to drive the song.
Mids & Highs
When looking at my notes for the mids a few sentiments pop up. Overall I find the mids to be slightly warm, slightly forward, extremely clean, and detailed. Male vocals sound full and warm, one of the highlights being a Bright Eyes track called Land Locked Blues, I had goosebumps with how natural and intimate the vocals sounded. If I closed my eyes I could trick myself into thinking I were in the room during the recording. Listening again I get the same exact feeling when listening to this track. Guitars sound rather great as well, from the grungy dark guitars of Electric Wizard that sound fantastically fuzzy and dark to the blaring and energetic guitar solo during The Mars Volta’s L’Via that bursts through the quiet intro like a rhino running through a wall. Unfortunately I haven’t found many female vocal forward tracks that I’ve fallen in love with. I find that female vocals come off a tad thin while lacking the energy that male vocals and other instruments within lower mid frequencies carry. In general though, instruments within this frequency range sound rather great, male vocals and guitars absolutely shine though.
The upper mids have a mild edge to them, in a good way. Bright electric guitars have a bright jagged tone to them, with the energy carried through wonderfully. No sibilance is added either, even my most sibilant heavy tracks are able to be listened to without any wincing in pain. The highs are clean and well textured, but I feel that they are just a tad underrepresented at times. I feel that the mids and mid-bass have a tendency to dull the energy from the highs, making them seem softer than I like. The highs are certainly detailed though.
Presentation
The SD2 have a presentation that really satisfies me when viewed as a complete entity. The SD2 offer no sense of air, nor are they incredibly wide, but the instrument separation is top notch, there’s not been a moment of bleed of one instrument into the other in my listening. The width is average in the IEM world, but the depth is rather great. I get a real sense of depth when listening to most tracks, instruments come off layered beautifully. Imaging is another strong point, there’s no confusion to my ears as to where the instrument is placed in the sound stage.
For an IEM I really have no complaints. I doubt I’ll find an airy IEM and the width is acceptable, giving me a near 180 degree field from ear to ear.
Overall
Despite the $450 price tag I feel that the SD2 are one of the best value IEMs that I’ve ever heard. To this day I haven’t listened to an IEM that sounds as complete as the SD2 and many full-sized headphones struggle to sound this good. I haven’t found one genre that sounds bad on these, not even in the least bit, and I’ve found many tracks that sound phenomenal enough to give me goosebumps. The only people that I find myself not considering recommending me these to are bassheads and those adamant about customs. These are a rare gem in the headphone world, a headphone that is as detailed and clear as it is fun to listen to. A headphone that is worth every penny paid for it.Come see more photos here.
