With regard to unraveling all the details, I've put some time in with the new ALO Rx and Angie. Man, at times I can see what they're talking about over at Headfonia with the Rx...........
Sometimes there is so much going on at once it can be a bit overwhelming. Perfect if you want it all, and very musical at the same time. Just be ready for an onslaught of texture. Angie doesn't skip a beat though
Lieven's review was quite good. I decided to try out the RX. I'm coming from the Leckerton 6S mk II which I think is pretty excellent as well. If the RX is any better, I'm not gonna complain.
Just received my Angie's this morning. Initial impressions are overwhelmingly positive!! Had to fiddle with the tips and fit for a little bit - but once everything was optimized the sound is abso-freaking-lutely amazing. I got these as a compliment for my Westone W60 which I am entirely in love with, but these easily eclipse them and seem a notch above in performance. I'm a little dumbfounded right now as I thought the W60 were already amazing and didn't think the Angie's (or anything for that matter) would be THIS much better.
I received my Angie 2 weeks ago. First thing I did was terminated the 2.5 balanced to Kobiconn balanced coz Im using Ray Samuels Intruder.
It took me several weeks to finally decide and get Angie. I was like choosing from 2 totally different category. Full sized vs Angie.
I tested HD800 to be honest, Its true what they say it is less engaging.
then I tried the Beyerdynamic T1. Oh my! I was impressed. Sounds really fun it just made my muscles groove. Then comes the
small wooden Grado and Hifiman HE 560 which sounded really sweet too.
But the Angie is sooooooooooo good! The soundstage is soooo freakin wide! I cant believe its an IEM. I must forget the idea that something is sticking in my ear . It's the sensation that an object is sitting in our canals that kinda confuse our brains. But it is so engaging that i totally forgot I'm wearing IEM's.
It is sooo detailed! Details that I only hear or appreciate when I'm using my full sized open cans in a quiet room, I'm alone, no fan, no aircon, nothing ON, just me and the cans! No kids allowed, No one is allowed to talk! hahahaha
The Intruder also did a very good job for making it sound very open, very detailed, very good depth , very wide soundstage!
My only complain are the ear tips. They are not that comfortable. I'm still waiting for the Spin Fit ear tips.
Lieven's review was quite good. I decided to try out the RX. I'm coming from the Leckerton 6S mk II which I think is pretty excellent as well. If the RX is any better, I'm not gonna complain.
I start to develop a syndrome. I call it the Angie syndrome. Whatever iem I hear now start to sound tonally off and that includes my LCD X. . I dun know if it's just me. The Angie sound very real life. I have been paying a lot of attention to how people sing and talk in real life, and the Angie tonal come closet to real life. Problem with most iem is they add a ssss in speech and the Angie does not have that and yet have that immense clarity without sounding veil or recessed. Some iem avoided the ssss by reducing the overall mid frequency and that makes them sound veil or recessed. The Angie vocal does not sound veil, recessed or tizzy and sssss. It's just so right...
I hate to hype iem but this Angie is really something.. I will share more later with other comparison with other totl iem.
I start to develop a syndrome. I call it the Angie syndrome. Whatever iem I hear now start to sound tonally off and that includes my LCD X. . I dun know if it's just me. The Angie sound very real life. I have been paying a lot of attention to how people sing and talk in real life, and the Angie tonal come closet to real life. Problem with most iem is they add a ssss in speech and the Angie does not have that and yet have that immense clarity without sounding veil or recessed. Some iem avoided the ssss by reducing the overall mid frequency and that makes them sound veil or recessed. The Angie vocal does not sound veil, recessed or tizzy and sssss. It's just so right...
I hate to hype iem but this Angie is really something.. I will share more later with other comparison with other totl iem.
I'm about to pull the trigger on a pair but still torn between these and the Layla's.. I know it's a freaking massive jump in price but I still can't decide if they're worth the difference or not....
If I do the Angie's I could get some custom K10's later or just step straight to the Layla's. Not sure which path I should take...
I'm about to pull the trigger on a pair but still torn between these and the Layla's.. I know it's a freaking massive jump in price but I still can't decide if they're worth the difference or not....
If I do the Angie's I could get some custom K10's later or just step straight to the Layla's. Not sure which path I should take...
I'd say go for the Angie. I'm sure you've read the Layla & Angie thread where the comparisons are saying some prefer the Angie over the Layla and others say the Layla 10-20% better than the Angie. For the 2.5X price of admission of the Layla I'd save it and look at the custom K10's later. Plus, Angie's not as large and that helps when shopping for a new mistress. :wink_face:
I'd say go for the Angie. I'm sure you've read the Layla & Angie thread where the comparisons are saying some prefer the Angie over the Layla and others say the Layla 10-20% better than the Angie. For the 2.5X price of admission of the Layla I'd save it and look at the custom K10's later. Plus, Angie's not as large and that helps when shopping for a new mistress.
I've been tumbling the two over in my head for awhile and I keep coming back to the Angie's. I had this same issue awhile ago when trying to decide on the LCD2 vs LCD3. The 2's were much cheaper and lighter. I could feel more comfortable and not be as worried about having to baby them. Sure they are $1,000 headphones even for the 2 but still that doesn't give me a sickness in the pit of my gut if I put a microscopic ding on it vs the LCD3.
Off topic but I opted for the LCD2's because once my ears adjust to the sound sig the differences between the 2 and 3 just aren't that much. I ended up swapping them for a pair of LCDX's to compliment my XC's but now I'm thinking of changing the XC's to IEM/CIEM's. I just prefer the sound the X so much more than the XC even tho it's closed. I just figure IEM's would be better for what I need/want right now.
I have seen a few in-ear pics of both and the Layla almost looks comical. Like someone painted some Carmex tins black and stuck them in your ear kind of comical.
I do plan on using them in public and hopefully replace my XC's for respectful office listening. I think if I do grab some K10's and love them enough to get the made custom I'll be able to sell off the Angie's for a good deal.
Anyways, sorry if I'm rambling, just sharing some thoughts.
Most of the direct comparisons were spent with people who only had a few mins to compare and didn't have access to the bass adjustments to tune to their personal preferences. Another thought about their biased opinions is obviously if you had in your hands a $2.5k and a $1k IEM, your head is going to look for something better in the 2.5k than the 1k and find faults in the 1k (perceivably lesser) item in question. Not to mention comparing the two side by side isn't exactly fair. It's comparing a $500,000 porsche to a $200,000 porsche. They are both absolutely incredible and obviously the $500,000 is going to be better... Point of diminishing returns, etc, etc.
I'd say go for the Angie. I'm sure you've read the Layla & Angie thread where the comparisons are saying some prefer the Angie over the Layla and others say the Layla 10-20% better than the Angie. For the 2.5X price of admission of the Layla I'd save it and look at the custom K10's later. Plus, Angie's not as large and that helps when shopping for a new mistress.
The K10 is honestly whatevs compared to the Angie. I guess they're different signatures and whatnot, but I'm not particularly impressed by it compared to Angie. I just got the RX today. Need to do some comparative listening compared to the Leckerton just to make sure I'm hearing things right, but I'm liking it a lot so far. Gorgeous device, and excellent sound.
I've been tumbling the two over in my head for awhile and I keep coming back to the Angie's. I had this same issue awhile ago when trying to decide on the LCD2 vs LCD3. The 2's were much cheaper and lighter. I could feel more comfortable and not be as worried about having to baby them. Sure they are $1,000 headphones even for the 2 but still that doesn't give me a sickness in the pit of my gut if I put a microscopic ding on it vs the LCD3.
...
Most of the direct comparisons were spent with people who only had a few mins to compare and didn't have access to the bass adjustments to tune to their personal preferences. Another thought about their biased opinions is obviously if you had in your hands a $2.5k and a $1k IEM, your head is going to look for something better in the 2.5k than the 1k and find faults in the 1k (perceivably lesser) item in question. Not to mention comparing the two side by side isn't exactly fair. It's comparing a $500,000 porsche to a $200,000 porsche. They are both absolutely incredible and obviously the $500,000 is going to be better... Point of diminishing returns, etc, etc.
Not sure if this boils down to diminishing returns here, so much as the Layla is just plain tuned differently from the Angie. There's been talk of it, and a couple of people including Tumburu, Shotgunshane and Goodvibes don't feel that the Layla is a reference signature. The Angie, for all intents and purposes, actually seems to be a closer match to so called "reference" level audio since it doesn't possess that rich, and veiled midrange that I've seen the Layla described as. Love the Jimmy Jr. reference btw even if Darryl is secret best character lol
Not sure if this boils down to diminishing returns here, so much as the Layla is just plain tuned differently from the Angie. There's been talk of it, and a couple of people including Tumburu, Shotgunshane and Goodvibes don't feel that the Layla is a reference signature. The Angie, for all intents and purposes, actually seems to be a closer match to so called "reference" level audio since it doesn't possess that rich, and veiled midrange that I've seen the Layla described as. Love the Jimmy Jr. reference btw even if Darryl is secret best character lol
Thanks for the reply. Yeah, the more I think about it the more I lean toward the Angie. I love my LCD-X and I love the LCD-2 but at the end of the day my ears just prefer a cleaner more analytical sound with plenty of everything without being too sibilant in the upper mids.
And yeah, Darryl has good taste in headphones as well: http://i.imgur.com/qmvLT8U.png.
The K10 is honestly whatevs compared to the Angie. I guess they're different signatures and whatnot, but I'm not particularly impressed by it compared to Angie. I just got the RX today. Need to do some comparative listening compared to the Leckerton just to make sure I'm hearing things right, but I'm liking it a lot so far. Gorgeous device, and excellent sound.
Yeah, I only brought up the K10 as Jazic showed an interest in them. I haven't heard the K10 (would like to) but I did hear the Noble 6 and didn't like them as much as the Angie.
I'm still very impressed with the Rx. It brings musicality and opens up the soundstage a bit more with the Angie without taking away from what Angie brings. I also find it brings even more attack and a bit more weight to the notes. Not adding bass per se (I find it very transparent to the source) but all I can say is weight. I'm having a hard time pegging the special sauce in the Rx.
Thanks for the reply. Yeah, the more I think about it the more I lean toward the Angie. I love my LCD-X and I love the LCD-2 but at the end of the day my ears just prefer a cleaner more analytical sound with plenty of everything without being too sibilant in the upper mids.
Yeah, I only brought up the K10 as Jazic showed an interest in them. I haven't heard the K10 (would like to) but I did hear the Noble 6 and didn't like them as much as the Angie.
I'm still very impressed with the Rx. It brings musicality and opens up the soundstage a bit more with the Angie without taking away from what Angie brings. I also find it brings even more attack and a bit more weight to the notes. Not adding bass per se (I find it very transparent to the source) but all I can say is weight. I'm having a hard time pegging the special sauce in the Rx.
Yeah, the overall signature (of the K10) is thick, rich, and weighted towards mids/lows, so if you're into that sort of thing, I guess it's pretty good. It's crazily overpriced at $1,600 though so...
I feel as though the RX lends the Angie more stereo width, pushes the soundstage forward in front of your face such as in this image here (my source is Macbook to GO450):
And adds black space in between the layers such that you're able to more easily perceive the subtle nuances of decay in notes, drums, and low level detail. It doesn't sound smeared nor congested to me. I do have to listen to it compared to the Leckerton just to make sure I'm not just talking out of my ass though. I don't feel as though the RX adds weight to notes though, there may be more dynamic contrast to the overall sound though, as things do feel punchier, but I definitely don't correlate this to added bass or anything. I also feel as though the treble might just be a bit more present, but again, I have to compare to the Leckerton. There is the feeling that there's more air to the Angie's sound while running through the RX, but I'm not sure if that comes down to cleaner imaging/enhanced separation/space.
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