I was curious the other night, so I pulled out my Kaede V1s and gave them a quick listen. I preferred dynamic drivers for some time, but was seduced by the Shure 846 (with Sensaphonics full custom sleeves), then a series of acrylic customs, ending with the Empire Ears Athenas, with the "R" tuning....
So, the Kaedes freaked me out with their natural bass and the slam and wallop they have-and tremendous macrodynamics..... They can get a touch bite-y in the upper mids, but I was digging them. So, I also got out my Ditas and, likewise, they reminded me how much I value coherence, and really love what dds do for drums and bass......
Bought a pair of UM Merlin V2s, and really like them. Problem is, with my large and very curved ear canals, fit and seal is an issue, and I use iems for walking quite a bit, and have gotten spoiled by a good fitting ciem not needing to be prodded from time to time to get the seal and sound 'just so'.
All that said, I have heard a lot about the Oriolus and ordered a pair which have not arrived yet, since Amazon and UPS cannot explain whether they have really even shipped, or where they are, even though there is tracking info on the UPS web site. So......
Should I just take a refund, or should I try to (re)order the Oriolus? Should I try the Fidue A91s, which do not seem to be orderable from a USA vendor? Should I try to get a pair of custom AAW A1D? I want real dynamics (the volume swoings, no thte driver category), natural timbre and coherence - to be left in the presence of the musical performance-not the artificial hifi stuff...... The Kaedes made me spin my head around thinking someone was behind me talking to me (audience mumbling in a live recording)-- THAT's what I want, and it comes from proper phase response-i.e., time coherence. I listen to lots of acoustic jazz, but also prog rock and nu metal....
Your thoughts/recommendations?