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TOUR CLOSED - CUSTOMART US CIEM Demo Lineup Tour - Including Harmony 8.2 and Ei.XX
Aug 24, 2016 at 3:11 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 246
Barra

Barra

Headphoneus Supremus
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Thread continued from: http://www.head-fi.org/t/741770/customart-us-ciem-demo-lineup-tour-including-harmony-8-pro

Given the performance I am hearing from these two new CIEMs from CustomArt, I felt that this tour deserves its own thread. Besides, it makes it easier to follow.



http://www.thecustomart.com/index.php

US CIEM Demo Tour, Featuring:

  • Harmony 8.2 ($1155*) – Solid Fill Silicone, 8BA , 3-Way, Musical: Harmony series combines best features from each series – musicality and accuracy to create top-tier sounding CIEMs.
  • Ei.XX ($TBD*) – Solid Fill Silicone, 3BA, 3-Way, Balanced: TBD

*Converted from Euros, US pricing will fluctuate.


Tour Instructions (7 Day Audition):
The participant list is organized logistically to minimize shipping costs starting from Seattle. The the tour will begin with the first in the list for a 7-day audition. Thereafter they will be responsible to deliver or ship the demo kit to the next participant in the list.


  • Upon Receipt:
    • Post: Please immediately post on the thread both receipt and condition of the demo kit.
    • PM: Please immediately PM the next participant on the list to arrange delivery (if local) or shipping. This step is critical to avoid delaying the tour. It is each participants responsibility to keep the tour moving. If the participant is unresponsive for all three days of your audition, it is your responsibility to move on to the next in the list so the tour does not get stalled. Please PM Barra with any issues.
  • Issues: Please PM Barra with any issues.
    • Dropping Out: Please PM Barra if you feel you cannot fullfil your tour responsibilites and I will pull you from the list.
  • Optional Review: Reviews are completely optional, but greatly appreciated by all Head-Fi members.
    • Thoughts/Impressions: Feel free to post your thoughts, initial impressions, pairing results, or even informal reviews or comparisons right here on this thread.
    • Formal Reviews: While you are welcome to post formal reviews on this thread, they are often more manageable if you use the Head-Fi review fuctionality and post a link here for people to follow.

Tour Participant List:
While we have already gathered and organized our tour participants, we may add more as it makes sense. The good news is that we will do our best to accommodate all US Head-Fiers that wish to participate. Feel free to post your requests here.

US Tour:

Name: Location:

  1. @twister6 Jersey
  2. @Barra Seattle, WA
  3. @barrasr Seattle, WA
  4. @ericr Seattle, WA
  5. @Soundsgoodtome Seattle, WA
  6. @alpha421 Seattle, WA
  7. @vaed Fremont, CA
  8. @kitaoji San Francisco, CA
  9. @MXRaia Berkeley, CA
  10. @EagleWings Austin, TX
  11. @faithguy19 Lexington, KY
  12. @The Dan of Steel Tampa, FL
  13. @chef8489 Asheville, NC
  14. @nmatheis Portland, OR
  15. @drbluenewmexico Albuquerque, NM
  16. @Aleatorius Garland, TX
  17. @Capmad03 Portland, OR
  18. @wormsdriver South TX
  19. @seamon Lafayette, IN
  20. @cellarbro Ridgewood, NY
  21. @Ike1985 Elizabethtown, KY
  22. @rantng Brooklyn, NY
  23. @Finatic Old Monroe, MO
  24. @warrior1975 Delray Beach, FL
  25. @ExpiredLabel Portland, OR
  26. @gearofwar Flushing, NY
  27. @mrstrangeguy Chicago, IL
  28. @SleazyC Boston, MA
  29. @shenshengkafei Bothell, WA
  30. @highwind2008 Atlanta, GA
  31. @muffins - Ladson, SC
  32. @ngoshawk - Warrensburg, MO
  33. @flashbak - Phoenix, AZ
  34. @eldss - Omaha, NE
  35. @linux4ever - Metro DC
  36. @SilverEars - Boston, MA
  37. @guani360 - Port Saint Lucie, FL
  38. @hattrick15 - Palo Alto, CA
  39. @datranz - Fontana, CA
  40. @kubedzero - San Francisco, CA
  41. @Barra - Anthem, AZ
 
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Aug 24, 2016 at 3:16 PM Post #2 of 246

AND IT BEGINS:

Actually, we are beginning with the third on the list as I as well as twsiter6 have already had our turns. The kit is on its way back to me from twsiter6 and will be handed off on Saturday to Barrasr to begin the Seattle leg. Given the number of Seattle participants, we will be starting here and moving South, then East to keep shipping costs low as possible. We may be adding more to the end of the list so feel free to post your interest here.
 
Aug 24, 2016 at 3:41 PM Post #3 of 246

Barra's Quick Impressions:

 
  1. H8.2 - A perfected H8pro:
    For me, the H8pro has always been about the world class mids - seductive, lush, detailed, juicy mids that are very, very cohesive as a whole rather than layered and dissected in a sterile lab. The treble never bothered me as it was integrated into the mids. If I could ask for one thing, that would be more bottom end extension. That is what the 8.2 feels like to me - the Pro, with an incredible bottom end extension and even more sound stage plus even smoother treble. However, the cohesion between the parts makes the music pop as a whole, not a sum of the parts - music as it is supposed to sound. Don't get me wrong though, it is extremely detailed and transparent, but it makes you forget about analysis due to too much toe tapping.
  2. Ei.XX - Quality Bass:
    The Ei.XX captures a lot of the H8.2's excellence, with a larger helping of bass. For a fraction of the price, it gets you most of the way to the H8.2, but side by side, I want the H8.2 because I am greedy. The H8.2 is very balanced where the Ei.XX is more V shaped with more treble and more bass. What is special about the Ei.XX, is that it still has great transparent mids which typically disappear in V shaped signatures. So for those that are all about the V shape response for EDM or the like, they could possibly like the Ei.XX better for the boost in the end frequencies without hurting the mids. However, I am more about reference response and balance and the H8.2 is more natural sounding when listening to acoustic music. In the end, I am probably splitting hairs and those less picky than I am may not hear much difference. 
 
Aug 24, 2016 at 4:41 PM Post #4 of 246
@Barra, thanks for this wonderful opportunity. I look forward to reviewing the IEMs. I will be travelling out of country for a few weeks from Oct 12 to Nov 07. It appears that my turn might coincide with my travel window. 
 
Aug 24, 2016 at 5:13 PM Post #5 of 246
eaglewings said:
  @Barra, thanks for this wonderful opportunity. I look forward to reviewing the IEMs. I will be travelling out of country for a few weeks from Oct 12 to Nov 07. It appears that my turn might coincide with my travel window. 
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No worries, we have flexibility and can adjust as needed. Given varied shipping times, it is hard to predict the date it will be coming your way, so it may be easier to adjust as we get closer.
 
Aug 24, 2016 at 5:14 PM Post #6 of 246
barra said:
  No worries, we have flexibility and can adjust as needed. Given varied shipping times, it is hard to predict the date it will be coming your way, so it may be easier to adjust as we get closer.
Click to expand...

 
Great. Thanks!
 
Aug 24, 2016 at 9:21 PM Post #7 of 246
Since I was the 1st stop of the tour, I wanted to drop a few lines/links in this wonderful thread started by Bill (@Barra).
 
My situation is a little different since I already reviewed Ei.xx when it was first introduced on MassDrop (Ei.xx review) and just recently reviewed Harmony 8.2 (H8.2 review).  Both were CIEM versions, and @piotrus-g and I had a very interesting discussion where he explained to me the differences in sound perception of CIEM vs IEM relative to my ear anatomy, especially when it comes to his monitors.  So, my participation in this tour was with a main purpose of having an opportunity to compare my review pairs of Ei.xx and H8.2 to universal pairs from the tour.  I posted this impression in CustomArt Harmony 8.2 thread, but I think it will be a good idea to re-post it here.  Besides, it never hurts to have a few extra eye-candy shots of Piotr's masterpieces
wink.gif
  Also, it will give people an opportunity to take a closer look how CIEM and IEM versions of Ei.xx and H8.2 compare in size next to each other.
 
I had a very unique opportunity to listen and to compare the universal versions of H8.2 and Ei.xx to my review pairs of custom H8.2 and Ei.xx (thank you Piotr and @Barra !!!)
 
If you remember, we had a little discussion about the difference in soundstage perception and the influence of ear anatomy which affects the distance between eardrum and drivers.  I do have a weird ear canal, being wide and short until the sharp turn which results in me having short nozzles with all CIEMs.  When it comes to universal iems, I go for the largest eartip with a longer stem, extending the distance of sound traveling from the drivers to my eardrum.
 
While a number of people mentioned about having a very wide soundstage, I found it to be just wide but not super wide.  As soon as I tried universal version of H8.2, driving both from PAW Gold and using the same test track at the same volume - I noticed right away the soundstage being wider.  I also noticed a deeper low end impact with more sub-bass, but that could be due to my eartip selection and corresponding seal.  I also have to say, considering 8 driver design, both universal and custom Harmony 8.2 are among the smallest shells I have seen to accommodate so many drivers.
 
 

 
When it comes to universal vs custom Ei.xx, I found exactly the same difference in soundstage, where universal version of Ei.xx had noticeable more width.  Furthermore, i found universal version to have slightly more forward mids and a touch more sparkle in the treble.  But one thing I found to be quite surprising is that universal version of Ei.xx was a lot smaller then a custom version.
 
 

 
I just want to make it clear, the effect of soundstage width difference is only applicable in this case due to my inner ear anatomy with a short earcanal which results in a short nozzle of CIEM.  This explains why majority of other people, whose CIEMs shells have a longer nozzle, hear soundstage wider in comparison to me.  Now, it makes a perfect sense!
beerchug.gif

 
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Sep 7, 2016 at 3:18 AM Post #9 of 246
If you get an open spot i would love to join in. I live in Nc so would be last on the list.
 
Sep 8, 2016 at 8:46 PM Post #10 of 246
chef8489 said:
If you get an open spot i would love to join in. I live in Nc so would be last on the list.
Click to expand...


Welcome to the tour, you are lucky 13. Will add you to the list as soon as the editor starts working again. They seem to be having technical difficulties right now. Please remind me if you don't see your name there by Monday.
 
Sep 12, 2016 at 2:04 AM Post #12 of 246
I am in Asheville, nc
 
Sep 26, 2016 at 8:12 PM Post #13 of 246
Tour kit has finally left the Pacific Northwest and is here in the crazy Bay Area!
 
I've only had the kit for less than an hour, so no comments on the sound just yet.  Everything is great, BTW - I'm using my own Spiral Dot tips and I think they stretch better than the included tips (of which there are a lot).
 
Oct 1, 2016 at 5:38 PM Post #14 of 246
Just met up with @kitaoji and received the tour kit! Everything looks good. I'll test the Ei.xx and 8.2 for a few days and leave my impressions here.
 
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