[martel80]

So has the title suggest, I took a big plunge in the IEM world earlier yesterday and just received my first High End IEM today.

The famous 64 Audio U12t.

Thanks to Nick at Noteworthy Audio, I was able to get me a brand new set for a fair price.

The shipping from GTA Ontario to Montreal took less then 24 hrs to arrive and was packed like a brand new product of this class should be. Bubble wrap and noodle in a box at least 4 time as big as the U12t packaging. There was no way this thing was going to receive any sort of hit or scratch from mishandling by a courier. Kudos for that.

Dealing with him was also extremely fast and efficient. Good business like we all want.

It came in 2 pieces at my biggest surprise.

A ''I could kill a man with that'' very sturdy and heavy metal puck and the wrapped box.

I won't lie, taking all those pictures was a torture before even being able to listen to those but I thought, at that price point, if I'm not making this an event for myself, what will?

So endure, haha. Sorry but I'm poor like that.

As you can see by yourself, the little Murder puck contain a brush, a dehumidifier, a cable clip and enough space to put a dead mouse in case an emergency occur.

And then it was time to finally open the coffin and investigate the victim and the crime scene.

Again, everything was just as expected.

Wonderful satin box with printed shiny logo and serial number at the bottom for extra personalization.

And when you open the box, you get greeted by a beautiful message from Vitaliy, the Chief Designer.

Definitely suspect number one in this bloody case.

On the right side you get presented with a very beautiful and ergonomically placed set of IEM and 9 set of ear tips, of 3 different types and 3 different ear opening size, disposed to pick at your convenience.

Underneath the inspiring cardboard messages on top of the IEM, you will find the Apex modules. By default, my U12t were loaded with the m20 (Pale grey/silver ones).
If you lift the ear tips rack, you will find the cable. Black, pretty basic with a 64 Audio logo on the termination.

Underneath the IEM puck, you'll find a 64 Audio sticker.

In all aspect, the packaging is stellar and everything is very well presented.

If I was to find some '' I'm a princess and I deserve better '' type of sentiment in me, I could probably say that at 2000$, I would expect the box containing all the different elements to be in something else then printed cardboard. A wood or fake leather box maybe?

But yeah, we're not here for visual aesthetic to be honest. We're here for the U12t stellar sound quality, aren't we !?

It took me a moment to realize that the actual container of both the ear tips and the IEM was in fact another puck. This one in leather ( or fake leather? ).

Anyways, It's my favourite puck of the 2 but I wouldn't put a dead mouse in this one. Maybe a cut finger at most.

Now lets got to it, shall we !?

First, the assembly of the IEM, cable and ear tips felt tight in all aspect. Not too tight where you're scared of breaking something but just enough to be sure that everything is secured and won't fall off even if you're fleeing from a crime scene.

As this was my first real IEM experience, I must say that I struggled for a minute or two to get those installed correctly in and around my ears.

I first chose the foamy small tips (the ones in the inside ring of the ear tips rack).

Here, that was the last picture. I had to put my bubblehead in it just because. Good thing the picture is blurry cause I swear I'm one hell of a ugly mothermayor.

So went down in my home studio and plugged them into my U.A. Apollo Twin-X and put them at low level as an introduction.

I was shocked at the amount of gain those small thingy needed to get a decent listening level. I was barely putting in any gain and it was already up there. Great optimization right there. Good job. It was unexpected.

I opened Tidal and put the first song that was there. It was a Wu-Tang song I was talking about to another audiophile yesterday night. Shame on a Ni**a to be precise.

I listened to the first verse and was blown away by the bass....but not in a good way. It was WAAAAAY too much.

So I removed the IEM, removed the m20 and installed the mX module (the black ones) which are supposed to be more neutral. It brought them back to a more acceptable bass level even though it was still too much to my liking.

So to come back to the guy I was chatting with yesterday, we were talking about instrument separation and depth and the difference between his Beyers 1990 and his Sennies HD600 and I asked him to pay attention at the layered snare on top of the sample. It is clearly audible how bad it was layered and not hitting on the groove at all and with a decent monitoring solution, it's very easy to discern between the layered snare and the snare in the original sample. Both get very different depth in the mix.

It's so obvious that once you hear it you cannot unhear it and it ruined that song for me forever.

Again, sadly, I was expecting a lot more depth from the U12t and the instrument separation was not impressive at all. I would like to say 2D but not exactly. Still, they are not impressive at all compared to what I'm used to in my Studio headphones.

If I compare them with my AKG Q701, the sound-stage, depth and width are falling extremely short.

First time I heard my Q701, I was amazed as I felt the width was almost 270 degrees. Like if something was placed behind me sometime or I was in the middle of a whole orchestra / band.

The U12t in comparison feel like I'm sitting in front of my studio monitors but with the centre of the stereo image extremely strong but with about the same stereo width...about 120 degrees or such.

I mean, its not bad but I was expecting something else I guess.

I also directly noticed that the tonal balance was on the dark side. I would like to say muffled but that's not it. I would say that the upper mids and presence were...shy. Yeah, shy is the word.

Just for the sake of this review, we will use REW definition of frequencies so we are all on the same page.

And again, that's really just my opinion. Nothing scientific about it.

Before going further in this review, I need to point out that I am a Mixing Engineer but I now do that as a side line. I was very active when I was in my 20's but I now have a family and my priorities have changed a lot.

So I bought those U12t thinking they would be a great analytical tool. I was searching for something clinical, something neutral, something that would gives me so much detail I would have all I need to make some precise and advised mix decision.

Well, I was about to discover that I was wrong about every level of my expectation.

So after being disappointed about that Wu-tang song rendition on the U12t, I decided to give them all the chance to shine in the upper mids and played Bad Bunny - Moscow Mule.

Again, there was no details popping out in that department. I also notices an extremely strong snare hit in the lower mid frequency range at 1:03 or about. Like if the Snare was waaaaay louder then everything else in the mix. It was shockingly obvious at very low volume.

After a minute, In the song, I started to panic.

So I switched it to a reference song I always use when testing new studio monitors. Bob Marley - Is This Love.

Again, where were my percussion details ? Where's the sparkle ?

Again, panic attack, stop the song at the one minute mark or about and put on Chan Chan from Buena Vista Social Club. Instantly I hear an overwhelming amount of 100hz to 400hz.

To me it was extremely shocking as those 2 last song are considered perfect mixes in my opinion and I use them a lot to get a sense of balance when I mix popular music.

At that point I decided to remove my U12t and went to drink a glass of water and wipe out the blood coming out of my nose and eyes.

I started to think what the hell was going on. How can the Hi-fi community reviewers have such different taste compared to neutral analytical tools in regards to a target curve for an ideal IEM/Headphones/Monitoring solution.

And I just stayed there looking at the wall.... Trying to figure out where the details were and how I could even remotely think about using those for mixing purposes.

I decided to change the ear tips and put on the small silicon one. The one with the smallest excursion.

So I got back in front of my monitors, Put on the IEM again and decided to play Jacqueline Du Pré - Elgar Cello Concierto...the one conducted by John Barbirolli.

And there it was. The whole body of that cello came alive like the phoenix was reborn. It was great, magnificent as I was expecting it to be.

But then in the middle of Op. 85 1 Adagio Moderato, when it became busy at 2:30 mark until the 2:45 mark , the U12t just straight crapped out like if the driver saturated completely and were not able to reproduce that much energy at that level.

So I played it again at a very low level and again, it failed horribly. It just become a big mess of frequencies with absolutely no resolution.

I still kept on listening to the whole Concerto noticing the same issue over and over again and when Janet Baker entered on Slumber-song, it really hit me. I understood the worth of the U12t.

It's all about the mids. that's it. That's all there is to it. The mids. The details between 500 and 2khz are spot on but sadly it is muffled by saturated mid lows that are constantly overbearing the whole mix when there's a tint of high energy in the mix.

So I decided to put on Bill Evans - You Must Believe in Spring.

The piano sounded good. The bass was straight up in my face on B Minor Waltz like if the bass was at 1 meter from the only mic there was and the piano was just 2 meters behind. The details about the squeaking of Bill on the bench and foot on the sustain pedal were completely absent.

The high pitch bass note at 1:35 on The self title song You Must believe in spring completely monopolized the whole groove to the point where it become ridiculously out any sort of balance. And that's until 2:55. That shows just how much saturation there is in the mid lows and bass frequencies.


So to resume my Day 1 listening experience:
-Unlistenable on m20 Apex module. The bass sound like a young kid that got his first cheap car and throw a 15 inch sub in the trunk. The bass itself doesnt distort but it is completely overwhelming the whole mix and that makes everything sound muddy.
-mX module give them a good chunk of clarity that is more then expected at this price point. Still its lacking a ton.
-The Stereo field seem limited to a 120 degree angle and the centre position of the stereo field is extremely strong. Almost a Mono experience sometime.
-Its is extremely disappointing to see such a lack of details and resolution in such an expensive IEM.
-It is not worth using for micro nor macro detail focus in comparison to my APS Aeon 2, My ATC SCM20 or my DMAX Super Cubes 5.
- Centre field of the stereo field is laser beam precise and have no subtlety.
- 200hz to 400hz is over saturated which make the mid lows pop out way too much. It is the driving frequencies of those headphones and as much as it can be emotionally comforting, it is not realistic for one tiny bit.

All in all, a VERY disappointing first experience. It almost feel like someone sold me a set of Beats by Dr Dre at 10 time the price point and told me those were the best there is in the IEM world.

I'll still give them a few more hours of listening but so far, this is definitely not the analytical tool I was looking for. Its completely uneven frequency wise and almost absent of any details that would make me work on my mix and get them to sound better. Not to point out the very weak sense of depth.
I know this review will pis off a lot of audiophile ( even though it's really not my intention) but I would lie to myself saying otherwise. So my apologies for hurting your 2000$ feelings but so far, those are not a tool I would rely on for ANY mix engineering task.
I'll make a 2nd day review tomorrow after coming back up from my hurtful enormous disappointment and hopefully I will see them under a different light.

Again, my apologies if anyone felt annoyed by this review. This is really my first impression.

See you tomorrow.

 

[KinGensai]

That's interesting. I don't own a U12t, but I had a chance to try it and ended up going with the QDC V14, which is IMO better than the U12t in the treble & resolution departments.

My main contention with most of the market's tuning decisions is in the bass region; it is far too elevated and overbearing most of the time for my taste and library. Like you, I notice mid bass bloat directly affect the fidelity of the mids in most of the music I listen to, especially modern jazz.

Before getting into IEMs, my go to option was my DT 1990 Pro, which I find tonally correct and accurate enough for me to not use an EQ to compensate for HRTF. So far, I haven't found an IEM that is similar, although the V14 isn't too far off and IMO beats the 1990 Pro in resolution making it worthwhile to bother with.

I think it's likely that elevated bass levels are here to stay because that's where the money is. While sets tuned like the OG Oracle have a place (bass is tuned the way I like), sets with elevated bass like the Monarch Mk2 are more popular and generate more sales. At least we have EQ to adjust to preference, these multi-driver sets seem to adjust readily to my ears.

As for resolution & imaging, not sure what to think about that. IEMs naturally have a more difficult time rendering a convincing image because the engineers have to use a generic HRTF compensation curve, so it's not going to beat monitors or good open back overears for now. But lack of resolution is an interesting observation because I find the opposite in a comparison of my Anole V14 to my 1990 Pro. U12t from what I remember wasn't that extremely far behind, so I'm curious what you think about the 1990 Pro.

 

[martel80]

That's interesting. I don't own a U12t, but I had a chance to try it and ended up going with the QDC V14, which is IMO better than the U12t in the treble & resolution departments.

My main contention with most of the market's tuning decisions is in the bass region; it is far too elevated and overbearing most of the time for my taste and library. Like you, I notice mid bass bloat directly affect the fidelity of the mids in most of the music I listen to, especially modern jazz.

Before getting into IEMs, my go to option was my DT 1990 Pro, which I find tonally correct and accurate enough for me to not use an EQ to compensate for HRTF. So far, I haven't found an IEM that is similar, although the V14 isn't too far off and IMO beats the 1990 Pro in resolution making it worthwhile to bother with.

I think it's likely that elevated bass levels are here to stay because that's where the money is. While sets tuned like the OG Oracle have a place (bass is tuned the way I like), sets with elevated bass like the Monarch Mk2 are more popular and generate more sales. At least we have EQ to adjust to preference, these multi-driver sets seem to adjust readily to my ears.

As for resolution & imaging, not sure what to think about that. IEMs naturally have a more difficult time rendering a convincing image because the engineers have to use a generic HRTF compensation curve, so it's not going to beat monitors or good open back overears for now. But lack of resolution is an interesting observation because I find the opposite in a comparison of my Anole V14 to my 1990 Pro. U12t from what I remember wasn't that extremely far behind, so I'm curious what you think about the 1990 Pro.

The Beyers 1990 are phenomenal cans for the price. I would also use them for referencing purposes. Yes they can be a bit agressive in the mid highs sometime but that's nothing any Mix engineer cannot figure out and work with as the resolution and details are there from top to bottom.
I will not be going back the esoteric brand path anymore. I learned my hard lesson. I'm going back to the professional monitoring solution path. If in a few months I feel like throwing some money by the window, I might think or trying the Etymotic ER4XR.
Today, I will listen to 4 more albums on the U12t and report back here. If my first impression still stand, I will offer them for trade for a set of Sennies HD800 or Focal Clear (MG) or put them for sale and ask for a significant discounted price as they will be used for about 10 hours.

 

[KinGensai]

Hmm... If you think the U12t is lacking, the ER4XR will be much worse. Unlike the U12t, I do own the ER4XR, and I find it adequate for non-music purposes (mainly for binaural tones or whatever) but completely unable to render music with proper imaging. The stage is like a curved piece of paper with no depth. It's tonally accurate I guess, but it struggles with dynamic range and busy tracks. For a 1 BA set it's good, but multi-driver offerings generally far surpass it IMO. It's old and it shows it's age.

For what it's worth, I took about a week to really appreciate what the V14 is capable of compared to the moondrop variations, although the difference was more readily apparent vs the 1990 pro.

Out of curiosity, you say this is your first real IEM experience. Is that literal? As in your first IEM is the U12t? Or your first non-budget IEM? There are some good IEMs for less than 1/4th the cost that contend, sets like the Mangrid Tea or the Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite or the previously mentioned Thieaudio Oracle mk1.

Just a thought, have you considered the Shure KSE1200? It's a bit exotic, but this is the only true electrostatic IEM I can think of. Maybe that's more your speed? Unlike the IEMs using Sonion ESTs, this one is a real deal electrostat.

 

[martel80]

Hmm... If you think the U12t is lacking, the ER4XR will be much worse. Unlike the U12t, I do own the ER4XR, and I find it adequate for non-music purposes (mainly for binaural tones or whatever) but completely unable to render music with proper imaging. The stage is like a curved piece of paper with no depth. It's tonally accurate I guess, but it struggles with dynamic range and busy tracks. For a 1 BA set it's good, but multi-driver offerings generally far surpass it IMO. It's old and it shows it's age.

For what it's worth, I took about a week to really appreciate what the V14 is capable of compared to the moondrop variations, although the difference was more readily apparent vs the 1990 pro.

Out of curiosity, you say this is your first real IEM experience. Is that literal? As in your first IEM is the U12t? Or your first non-budget IEM? There are some good IEMs for less than 1/4th the cost that contend, sets like the Mangrid Tea or the Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite or the previously mentioned Thieaudio Oracle mk1.

Just a thought, have you considered the Shure KSE1200? It's a bit exotic, but this is the only true electrostatic IEM I can think of. Maybe that's more your speed? Unlike the IEMs using Sonion ESTs, this one is a real deal electrostat.

That's funny you're saying that about the KSE1200 because it is literally the first one I looked out for before starting to read all those reviews and rankings.

I was just about to buy them when I got lost in the ranking and reviews and decided to go with what seemed to be the holy grail. Oh was I mislead haha.

But now that I have those, I need to find a way to part ways with them without losing too much.

But I might have found something today that could imply that the issue that I am experiencing might actually be due to an issue with wiring at the termination end of the cable and the slack there is in the adapter.
When i move the cable, it creaks.

Luckily, I bought a Moon Audio Silver Dragon V2 IEM Cable with a 1/4 TRS jack termination and it is set to arrive tomorrow.

So finger cross that this cable will fix the uneveness in the frequency response that I am currently experiencing.

If not, I might consider a trade for a Focal Clear MG or Sennies HD800.

But before running to conclusion, I really need to give them a proper run with a proper cable as mine seem to be defect.
And yes, it is my first set of IEM, literally. I mean, I spent 6 month mixing on MPOW x3 but those were bluetooth cheap ear buds.

 

[LFC_SL]

Interesting review, 2 comments:

i) writing "apologies for your $2000 hurt feelings" comes across as unnecessary sarcasm. Everyone has an opinion, the snark is off putting

ii) subject to another photo, looks like the m20 and m15 Apex modules are shown, no mX Apex module (black)

https://www.64audio.com/collections/apex-modules

 

[martel80]

Totally agree with you. I guess the 2000$ hurt feelings was aimed at my own self for feeling butthurt about feeling scamed.
The picture of the modules was taken after I changed it on my IEMs as when I was writting the review, I was going through the picture and the one I took before starting my listening session was blurry. So the one you see here is after changing the m20 for the mX. You can also see that the background is not the same as what you see there is my acoustic panel in my studio while on all other ones, its my living room where I keep most of my wax.
But great observation Sherlock. haha !!

Interesting review, 2 comments:

i) writing "apologies for your $2000 hurt feelings" comes across as unnecessary sarcasm. Everyone has an opinion, the snark is off putting

ii) subject to another photo, looks like the m20 and m15 Apex modules are shown, no mX Apex module (black)

https://www.64audio.com/collections/apex-modules

 

[daveoo]

Hi martel80;

Could one of your 2 pin connectors be reversed so as to give you out of phase presentation? That would sound wonky to many listeners.

As a newbie I am guessing only.

 

[martel80]

You got me doubting for a moment so I double checked on which side they inserted the cable on their website and I seem to be conform to the picture I see there.

Hi martel80;

Could one of your 2 pin connectors be reversed so as to give you out of phase presentation? That would sound wonky to many listeners.

As a newbie I am guessing only

 

[martel80]

You got me doubting for a moment so I double checked on which side they inserted the cable on their website and I seem to be conform to the picture I see there.

Hi martel80;

Could one of your 2 pin connectors be reversed so as to give you out of phase presentation? That would sound wonky to many listeners.

As a newbie I am guessing only

 

[KinGensai]

Wow, talk about diving into the deep end first try lol. My first set was a Moondrop Aria, though I did end up going to more pricey pretty quick.

My strategy for figuring out what to audition to expedite the process is to survey a range of different reviewers and pick an IEM that they have all reviewed to buy first. In this case, that ended up being the Aria. I then listen and cross-reference to each reviewer to get a feel for how they judge what they are hearing and what their standards are, and if the reviewer is consistent you can learn what their lexicon actually means when translated into sound... roughly.

That's how I ended up at the QDC V14. While I'm ok with the rest of the IEMs I now own and use occasionally, the Anole V14 really pushes the capabilities of current tech and produces the cleanest sound I have heard thus far. It's still not tuned exactly how I want it (low end is too high, pinna gain region is a bit subdued 2.4k~2.9k for me), but that's readily fixable with EQ. At this point, the only sets I might have interest in now is a direct upgrade from QDC using some new technology or something like the Elysian Annihilator. I have been thoroughly spoiled by quality lol.

Good luck man, I hope you find what you're looking for.

 

[Meejay]

I find U12t one of the best all-rounders and certainly not limited by resolution, detail and soundstage (compared to IEMs, mind you!). I suggest you demo your IEMs before any further purchases. You might find IEMs with better characteristics than U12t, but there will be other trade-offs...
Saw you were considering KSE1200 too. I would be very carefully with that IEMs as it has quite intimate soundstage. Although layering and detail is best bar none. Quite hard to describe because if significantly different compared to other IEMs. Sounds a bit cramped but you discern everything, would be the best way to put it. But I honestly enjoy other IEMs more, because I can't be annoyed lugging energizer and EQ'ing KSE1200 (I don't like its tuning).

 

[martel80]

Wow, talk about diving into the deep end first try lol. My first set was a Moondrop Aria, though I did end up going to more pricey pretty quick.

My strategy for figuring out what to audition to expedite the process is to survey a range of different reviewers and pick an IEM that they have all reviewed to buy first. In this case, that ended up being the Aria. I then listen and cross-reference to each reviewer to get a feel for how they judge what they are hearing and what their standards are, and if the reviewer is consistent you can learn what their lexicon actually means when translated into sound... roughly.

That's how I ended up at the QDC V14. While I'm ok with the rest of the IEMs I now own and use occasionally, the Anole V14 really pushes the capabilities of current tech and produces the cleanest sound I have heard thus far. It's still not tuned exactly how I want it (low end is too high, pinna gain region is a bit subdued 2.4k~2.9k for me), but that's readily fixable with EQ. At this point, the only sets I might have interest in now is a direct upgrade from QDC using some new technology or something like the Elysian Annihilator. I have been thoroughly spoiled by quality lol.

Good luck man, I hope you find what you're looking for.

I was really thinking that there was some seriousness and accuracy comparable to the professional studio headphones and studio monitoring system when shopping for a set of IEM as I had great result mixing with a very cheap set of Bluetooth earbuds but then got told by a community that the measuring graphs we can find here and there is accurate until 3khz and that a new system of ranking and measurement was under going. That was about 8 hours AFTER buying the U12t i thought was seen as an holy grail of IEM's. Now, while my expectation are still really high and I hope that the new cable coming in today will fix the distortion issue I'm experiencing and that it will feed them the power it need on a constant level, I now understand that the IEM world is still not or most probable never will be as accurate as a great set of cans.
Will see. for now, I can't put the absolute axe down on them until I give them a fair chance to shine with all proper component to work as intended.

----------------------------------------

64 audio U12t - Review day 2 (written yesterday night)

So I was expecting to wake up and go about my day and in the afternoon try to listen to about 4 albums I know very well to try and test those and give me the chance to get used to their sound signature.
It didn’t took 30 minutes after my morning shower and coffee that I had the IEM in my ear canals but this time with a different ear tip, the big open one .
So I pulled them out of the leather puck set them up and connected them to my Universal Audio Apollo Twin-X headphone amp.
I started by listening to the album Where we come from by Popcaan. An album I must have played from beginning to end about a 100 time in my life.
“Hold on” started very smoothly and I was really not overwhelmed by the bass this time and I let it go without really paying attention. Good vibe and nothing was bothering me. I was still half asleep I guess.
Then when “Everything nice” started, I instantly noticed a lot of Air and brilliance which really caught my attention as yesterday it was completely absent.
I started to actually pay attention at that point and I instantly noticed that the overwhelming bass and sub frequencies were gone and almost nowhere to be seen like the presence was yesterday.
That got me extra confused and started playing with my gain knob on the Twin-X. Cranked it up at Party level and noticed that the bass and sub frequencies stayed very shy but that the whole mid came all the way up front. Still the mid highs stayed very polite and the presence stayed shy. No sparkle. But to be fair, it’s not something I’m after on that specific album.
I kept on paying attention and obviously brought the level back to a very conservative level to see what was up with the dynamic range that the drivers would reproduce and still, it was pretty flat. I did notice that the stereo field kind of opened and got a good chunk deeper. When “The System” synth line started I noticed that the stereo field also got a lot more defined. It was not about a laser beam centre and a full right and full left anymore. There was some contrast appearing.
When “Hustle” with Pusha T started I thought, let’s see how those IEM fair with ultra low sub frequency bass line from this bass sweep so I decided to crank it up but every single kick drum hit started to distort but not like if the driver was cramping but like if the sample itself sounded like crap. So I skipped the song confused and the same phenomena happened on “Waiting so long”.
So I decided to search for Dr Dre - Chronic 2001 and put on Still Dre and again, a weird distorted kick appeared. At the point I started to play with the cable and adapter as it made no sense whatsoever. Well, another surprise appeared, the whole centre position of the sound-stage completely disappeared leaving me with only the instrumental with a few percussion and no kick nor snare and obviously no vocals hahaha. It’s at that point I started to understand that I had a cable issue. So I played with the cable from top to bottom , left and right , front to back. Yeah, there it was , the cable was radically changing the sound width, depth but also tonal balance .
I was a bit scared that I had an issue with my headphone amp output so I connected my beloved AKG Q701 and there was no issue at all. Played with the connector to make sure it was not an output problem and nothing. Not a single creaking.
Plugged back the U12t in its full metal adapter and noticed that it was kind of loose. Not enough to pull it out without pressure but just enough to feel like I could move it through the adapter Input.
So I plugged them back to the Twin-X and played the latest Gang Starr - Family and Loyalty but also the good old Above the clouds. and they both had that weird distorting kick. If you know Gang Starr, the distorting kick sound I'm describing sound like the one in You know my steez.
At that point it was clear that I was not only experiencing some technical issue but that in all of that, my ear was getting used to the IEM’s.
I put back “Chan Chan” by Buena Vista Social Club and realized that something had clearly changed.
Same thing on “Is This Love” by Bob Marley.
No more overwhelming bass nor sub frequencies.
So for not totally ruining my experience I decided to put them aside for the rest of the day as tomorrow there’s a little Santa Claus gift coming in.
A Brand new cable from Moon Audio. Precisely, a 2 pin at 0.78 spacing terminated with a 1/4 TRS jack. So no more disgusting adapter and one less thing to worry about.
Let’s hope that tomorrow will be the day for the U12t because if they don’t start to deliver, I’ll have to start to think about asking him to resign and go back playing in the high school yard .
I still keep hope. I heard some very promising things today through all those issues.
Fingers crossed.

 

[martel80]

I find U12t one of the best all-rounders and certainly not limited by resolution, detail and soundstage (compared to IEMs, mind you!). I suggest you demo your IEMs before any further purchases. You might find IEMs with better characteristics than U12t, but there will be other trade-offs...
Saw you were considering KSE1200 too. I would be very carefully with that IEMs as it has quite intimate soundstage. Although layering and detail is best bar none. Quite hard to describe because if significantly different compared to other IEMs. Sounds a bit cramped but you discern everything, would be the best way to put it. But I honestly enjoy other IEMs more, because I can't be annoyed lugging energizer and EQ'ing KSE1200 (I don't like its tuning).

And I believe that's where I completely misjudged my purchase. Thinking I would get something of great analytical capacity in a very small driver compared to my Studio monitors and studio Headphones. Again, I might be surprised today when the cable come in and I start getting a sense of what they are really worth but as you pointed, what I was after was micro details and resolution. Something the lack of presence in the U12t fail to deliver astonishingly right now.
In that approach, the KSE1200 might have been a better option for me as I really need something that will help me hear the issues I might be facing when mixing the high end of the spectrum and the transient response that need balancing in a mix.
The dynamic range of the U12t, so far, is under-delivering but again, it might just be because of the broken connection in the cable or the jack being loose in the adapter which cause a lot of inconsistencies in the sound-stage and the tonal balance.
Also, important to note that the manufacturer has gone M.I.A. for my last 2 emails and won't answer when confronted with a mislead and disappointed customer asking for accommodation for resolving his issue. This is completely unprofessional. So far, on par with the quality of that specific product I have in hand.

 

[martel80]

64 Audio - U12t - Day 3 Review

Today's finding were pretty basic to be honest.

It was confirmed that the stereo field issue and the distortion was coming from a faulty cable or adapter.

The new cable work as intended and both issues are gone.

I also found out that changing the ear tips change the tonal balance massively.

I first tried the Foam ones again (the first one I tried when I said it sounded like a kid with a 15 inch sub in his cheap car) and the bass was again overwhelming but the highs were not muffled anymore. Lacking a bit yes but not muffled.

So I changed the Ear tips and the modules quite a few times until I found a decent in-between.

I'm using one of the silicon one but with a small opening....the ones that have a pointy tip. Not the wide open ones.

That with the mX modules deliver the flattest response in my opinion.

Yet, the sense of depth is still to be found as is.

So what I did is I applied a good amount of pressure on the ear buds to keep them enter further in and kept applying a pressure and there it was !!!

All became full and well represented.

Still, there is no micro details to be found as we speak. It is still a lot less blurry then my 2 previous day but this is still a ''fun'' set of IEM.

The panning is great and a few tracks confirmed it but the centre field of the stereo field is like inside your head and it really move in 2D. As I said previously, the feeling of depth is pretty much absent. I mean there's a tiny bit of it but boy is it difficult to judge the instrument separation.

I also found out that the different module only add some saturation to the bass signal. The bass is not louder. Its just more and more saturated. So to me, the mX module is the only one usable.

By applying pressure to the ear buds and getting a better experience from them, I understood that some custom ear tips is a necessity if I want to even think of using those.

I think I now understand why the Customer service at 64 Audio highly advised against using custom tips with the U12t. It seems evident that it is for the same reason they didn't answer when I told them I needed the Custom ones.

Anyways...

Tonight I'm also testing a new monitoring system here. It's called VSX and it's a bundle that come with a set of Headphone with beryllium drivers and a spatial plugin to use in a DAW to simulate different mixing environment.

So the U12t are going back in their leather puck for the rest of the night.

So to resume. A very productive day.

The biggest issue was resolved with the new cable and the rendering seem to beg for custom ear tips, which I will provide an ear print to a custom ear tip company next week.

Oh, and before I forget (and that will make most of you happy), I did apply an EQ and lowered the digital output accordingly to avoid clipping and it did help a bit, I can't lie.

But nothing like the correct ear tips or applying the proper pressure on the ear buds so they can fit properly inside of my ears. Those 2 things alone change the rendering massively.