[doublea71]

I listen to jazz, rock and roll, country (the good old stuff), classical, you name it (all in flac)....I prefer a fairly neutral sound and great detail retrieval, but my GR07s are just too unforgiving of recordings that aren't on par with the work of people like Steve Hoffman (they sound great with the good stuff, though). I'm looking for a CIEM that is a bit forgiving of mediocre mastering that also pairs well with the venerable Cowon J3. The reviews have me jonesing for the UM Miracle, but that might be too much 'phone for the J3. If anybody has experience to pass along or sage advice, I'd appreciate it. In advance, I thank you kindly.

 

[mek501st]

I believe that high end custom iems. No matter what, are all unforgiving to mediocre recordings.

 

[outeirino]

Quote:

I believe that high end custom iems. No matter what, are all unforgiving to mediocre recordings.

I agree, bad recordings are the worst friend you can get

 

[kenman345]

Unlike the rest, and having never heard my AS-1b's yet, that they may be wrong with what they are saying about high-end customs being unforgiving to mediocre recordings. The fact is that most customs are Balanced Armature based, and they would be the reason to blame for this type of comment to be made. If you in turn looked into customs that were not BA based, but dynamic driver based, they you might not have that issue. Thought the main Dynamic driver based CIEM's I know of might lend themselves to more of a bass heavy or at least bass capable tendencies, which is not as neutral as you may want. Something to consider while making your decision, good luck with the search. 
 
Also, check out the 1964 Ears Triple driver. Don't know how forgiving it is, but i hear it's not that hard to drive