communic
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2005
- Posts
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- 14
Not the biggest fan of audio technica as from reading, most of their armature based iems appear geared towards treble and I'm more a bass kinda guy
(though not at the expense of neutrality)! I, however, bought these as I was intrigued by their 'horn' shaped driver and its physical properties on increasing bass output. This, in addition, to my slight annoyance recently with my um3x;s which I will get into below.
Anyway, put these through their paces and I have to say they are pretty good. Signature is actually very close to the um3x with a bit of pfe thrown in for good measure. While this is no bass cannon, the 'horn' feature thus far seems pretty effective as it does extend deeper than the um3x with about the same levels of midbass quantity if not just a whisker more thunderous
. Vocals and treble are definitely smoother than on the um3x with a tone somewhere between them and the pfe;s. The um3x was starting to grate a little because it seems that there is a super high pitched shimmer that comes out to play on some of my vocal tracks. It's not traditional sibilance in any sense but to me it has an almost similar, perhaps even more, aggravating manifestation. I get none of this with the ck90pro as the vocals, whilst being almost as forward, are simply baby smooth! However, it does come at a cost as 2-4khz seems even more capped than it is on the um3x and it does detract from some music.
If the vocal issue didn;t bother me I think I would be sending the ck90pros back as the soundstage layering on the um3x's is just what i would expect on any decent closed can as it is so easy to pick out subtle background rhythmic sequences on them and I would consider that quite a feat for an iem. But alas, being super sensitive to higher frequencies means I will probably get rid of them as the ck90pros are comparably competant and with the added bonus of costing less too!
Anyway, put these through their paces and I have to say they are pretty good. Signature is actually very close to the um3x with a bit of pfe thrown in for good measure. While this is no bass cannon, the 'horn' feature thus far seems pretty effective as it does extend deeper than the um3x with about the same levels of midbass quantity if not just a whisker more thunderous
If the vocal issue didn;t bother me I think I would be sending the ck90pros back as the soundstage layering on the um3x's is just what i would expect on any decent closed can as it is so easy to pick out subtle background rhythmic sequences on them and I would consider that quite a feat for an iem. But alas, being super sensitive to higher frequencies means I will probably get rid of them as the ck90pros are comparably competant and with the added bonus of costing less too!