I think that the EAMT-3w are a mixed bag, which makes me sad at £1800 for a pair. They have an exceptional soundstage that is better than the ERIB-2a, which is saying something. The ERIB-2a has a special soundstage. They have the bass that the ERIB-2a were missing a bit. They do an amazing job with complex passages such as Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. However, on many tracks I found myself preferring the ERIB-2a. The mids on the EAMT-3w are slightly recessed, with a touch of saccharine. They just don't sound natural on rocking tracks like Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name or AC/DC - Highway to hell. The drum impacts are pushed down, and guitars don't sound as visceral. Attack is a little soft for me. It is a warm smooth signature that isn't my cup of tea for my musical tastes.
I think these would be fantastic for classical music and my listening backed this assertion up. They did a fantastic job defining the orchestral space and details were suspended in space with a coherent presentation. The smoothness was a benefit for classical music. Whether these are worth £1800 for you will depend on how much copper is in your coffers and your musical tastes. For me, these lack the attack and raw power on guitars and drums that I'm into. The vocals weren't exactly my flavour, either. For me the mids are where the music lives. These don't fully satisfy me on the mids. I've only had about 1.5 hours of listening on them at this point, and I'll have these for a bit longer, so may have more to report. Unfortunately, I won't have the ERIB-2a during this time period. I need to own the ERIB-2a. My headphone life feels incomplete without them.
The pair that were sent over are
@PhilW's personal pair, and he thoroughly enjoys the smooth sound of these. I asked him about the differences between the shells, as I thought that maybe the wood was the problem for me and this is what he had to say: "the wood is warm and smooth, the aluminum is balanced, and the ceramic is has tons of attack and detail with a big soundstage." I intend in the future to try out the whole line of oBravo's headphones, and at that point I'll add more impressions. Phil also had some more interesting info about the manufacturing process of the ceramics. Apparently it takes weeks to produce the ceramic headphones, and this is why they are expensive. I think that I'm going to end up liking the aluminum shells the most, which is great for my wallet if I'm going to be buying oBravo headphones. If the EAMT-3a retain the sound stage of the EAMT-3w but have more of the mid characteristics and attack of the ERIB-2a, I think they'll be just about perfect for me.
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@ClieOS, these don't fit my specification for my personal pinnacle IEM, but there may be some who these do. They have some really unique and special characteristics with regards to sound stage and detail, and some folks prefer the warm smooth sound of the wood.
On another note, these sounded similar out of every amp we put these through, from the Note 2, to the DX50, to the Chord Mojo, to the FirstWatt F6 w/ attenuator ("Mini Beast"). I think that the weakness on the ERIB-2a is something that a good pairing can attenuate, I don't have enough sources to say whether this is true of what I perceived as the deficiencies of the EAMT-3w.
However, my view is not the only one.
@Takeanidea found them spectacular, and loved them with just about everything he threw at them. He thought my perspective was crazy. Different strokes for different folks.... So it may be that there are plenty of people who will absolutely love these headphones; at this point, I'm not one of them. Here are some pictures of the headphones. They certainly are good looking.
