[cn11]

I just got in a second-hand pair of FA-4Es today. Early on I am mightily impressed. I'll post more impressions in due time, but I can tell already this IEM will be getting some serious ear time even with the TG334 in the house. It's that good. Also, like everyone else has mentioned, it's easily the most comfortable IEM I've ever worn. Will be spending some time tip rolling, and trying to get the darn stock cable off the housing and replaced with the BTG. 

 

[purrin]

Posting this as part of the tour.
 
Subjective impressions (taken before measurements):

1. Keeping in mind that my reference is UERM:
2. Bassy. Lots of mid-bass extending into high bass and bleeding into lower mids. Would have liked to be able to hear sub and low bass better because I feel the mid/high bass emphasis is masking it. The bass was just way too much for Bob Marley Legend.
3. Mids seem sucked out, especially upper mids. Snares and trumpets lack bite. It's difficult to gauge overall coherency because of this gap in the transition between treble and bass. From memory, the 1p2 (earlier version) had better overall coherency with the dynamic+BA arrangement and still remains a gold standard.
4. Some sizzle up top around the "definition" region ~10k. Very interesting because of the way it's presented. Although the volume is up there, the presentation is soft rather than harsh. The treble does seem overly polite - so in that sense, the timbre is off to me. The TG334 by contrast had treble which is more difficult for me to handle (glare and sibilance that builds up over time).
5. Although the presentation / tonal balance is not to my personal preference, I find these quite a seductive listen.

 

[eke2k6]

  Posting this as part of the tour.
 
Subjective impressions (taken before measurements):

1. Keeping in mind that my reference is UERM:
2. Bassy. Lots of mid-bass extending into high bass and bleeding into lower mids. Would have liked to be able to hear sub and low bass better because I feel the mid/high bass emphasis is masking it. The bass was just way too much for Bob Marley Legend.
3. Mids seem sucked out, especially upper mids. Snares and trumpets lack bite. It's difficult to gauge overall coherency because of this gap in the transition between treble and bass. From memory, the 1p2 (earlier version) had better overall coherency with the dynamic+BA arrangement and still remains a gold standard.
4. Some sizzle up top around the "definition" region ~10k. Very interesting because of the way it's presented. Although the volume is up there, the presentation is soft rather than harsh. The treble does seem overly polite - so in that sense, the timbre is off to me. The TG334 by contrast had treble which is more difficult for me to handle (glare and sibilance that builds up over time).
5. Although the presentation / tonal balance is not to my personal preference, I find these quite a seductive listen.

 
 
Thanks Purrin! Adding to OP.
 
Looking forward to your measurements.

 

[vwinter]

Posting this as part of the tour.

Subjective impressions (taken before measurements):

• Keeping in mind that my reference is UERM:
• Bassy. Lots of mid-bass extending into high bass and bleeding into lower mids. Would have liked to be able to hear sub and low bass better because I feel the mid/high bass emphasis is masking it. The bass was just way too much for Bob Marley Legend.
• Mids seem sucked out, especially upper mids. Snares and trumpets lack bite. It's difficult to gauge overall coherency because of this gap in the transition between treble and bass. From memory, the 1p2 (earlier version) had better overall coherency with the dynamic+BA arrangement and still remains a gold standard.
• Some sizzle up top around the "definition" region ~10k. Very interesting because of the way it's presented. Although the volume is up there, the presentation is soft rather than harsh. The treble does seem overly polite - so in that sense, the timbre is off to me. The TG334 by contrast had treble which is more difficult for me to handle (glare and sibilance that builds up over time).
• Although the presentation / tonal balance is not to my personal preference, I find these quite a seductive listen.

Bah, I was gonna argue with you until I realized you may be using coherency differently. I use it to describe how well different drivers are tuned to have the same character as each other. In that way, I think the ASG-2 is better than the 1Plus2 in which I could very much hear the difference in the drivers. It's more difficult to delineate them IMO with the ASG-2. But then I think the UERM puts them both to shame so there's that lol.

Nice impressions btw. There's a lot of good information in a very concise compact post. Like Eke, I look forward to the measurements.

 

[xaddictionx]

Haha. I look forward to the new release..

 

[MoonYeol]

Deleted. I was mistaking on the iem in question. Sorry it's 6 am here and still no coffee.

I seriously envy you for saying the treble is soft and that there's a peak in the 10kHz area. I have mine all the way from 8-9kHz no matter how deep I try to fit them.

 

[Cotnijoe]

I can only suggest trying meelec balanced tips dual flanges. Your impressions are exactly what I would describe they sound like with the included and installed comply tips. Only I was a bit happier with the bass. But I'm not using UERM as a reference.

Coyld you describe the change in the sound teal quick? Ive been considering some different tips for the asg2 for a while now

 

[MoonYeol]

Sorry I was mistaking on the iems. I was still thinking of the FA's.

 

[eke2k6]

Oh, and purrin... just a heads up about the bass port if you haven't checked the position already.There's still a bunch of mid-bass with the ports closed, but the open setting may exacerbate the issue.

 

[lee730]

  Posting this as part of the tour.
 
Subjective impressions (taken before measurements):

1. Keeping in mind that my reference is UERM:
2. Bassy. Lots of mid-bass extending into high bass and bleeding into lower mids. Would have liked to be able to hear sub and low bass better because I feel the mid/high bass emphasis is masking it. The bass was just way too much for Bob Marley Legend.
3. Mids seem sucked out, especially upper mids. Snares and trumpets lack bite. It's difficult to gauge overall coherency because of this gap in the transition between treble and bass. From memory, the 1p2 (earlier version) had better overall coherency with the dynamic+BA arrangement and still remains a gold standard.
4. Some sizzle up top around the "definition" region ~10k. Very interesting because of the way it's presented. Although the volume is up there, the presentation is soft rather than harsh. The treble does seem overly polite - so in that sense, the timbre is off to me. The TG334 by contrast had treble which is more difficult for me to handle (glare and sibilance that builds up over time).
5. Although the presentation / tonal balance is not to my personal preference, I find these quite a seductive listen.

Damn purrin you sure our ears aren't relatives? lol. Even your description of the 334 is spot on in what I heard...

 

[Gintaras]

  Posting this as part of the tour.
 
Subjective impressions (taken before measurements):

1. Bassy. Lots of mid-bass extending into high bass and bleeding into lower mids. Would have liked to be able to hear sub and low bass better because I feel the mid/high bass emphasis is masking it.
2. Mids seem sucked out, especially upper mids. Snares and trumpets lack bite.
3. Some sizzle up top around the "definition" region ~10k. Very interesting because of the way it's presented. Although the volume is up there, the presentation is soft rather than harsh. The treble does seem overly polite - so in that sense, the timbre is off to me.
4. Although the presentation / tonal balance is not to my personal preference, I find these quite a seductive listen.

 
+1
 
a) mid-bass and bleeding into lower mids was exactly how i heard this, i just could not describe it so well in technical language, which caused some misunderstanding during my ramblings.
b) upper mids sucked into is what i also agree, there is a strange roll-off in upper mids as James444 mentioned in his impressions.
c) trebles were bit distant for me but never harsh and i found them so on purpose.
 
i agree ASG2 is very seductive sounding IEM. i personally called ASG2 "a hooligan" of IEMs because despite all the issues ASG2 sounds very immersive and sweet and brings that special intimacy to music, you either love or hate it. i liked it a lot, some others not. of course neutral is not the word to be used with ASG2, anything but neutral i would say.
 
still not answered question is IF some things were done on ASG on purpose or inadversely.
 
overall i liked ASG2 a lot for some genres, less so for others.

 

[crushnburn46]

+1 from the post above.

 

[Kurdt-bada]

  I just got in a second-hand pair of FA-4Es today. Early on I am mightily impressed. I'll post more impressions in due time, but I can tell already this IEM will be getting some serious ear time even with the TG334 in the house. It's that good. Also, like everyone else has mentioned, it's easily the most comfortable IEM I've ever worn. Will be spending some time tip rolling, and trying to get the darn stock cable off the housing and replaced with the BTG. 

cool we will be waiting in the thread meanwhile xD

 

[purrin]

  Oh, and purrin... just a heads up about the bass port if you haven't checked the position already.There's still a bunch of mid-bass with the ports closed, but the open setting may exacerbate the issue.

 
Yeah - checked the bass ports to make sure they were closed. I didn't want to touch them too much. One driver measured with slightly more bass (a few db), and I think it was because the port was slightly open / not closed all the way.

As for the design, it would seem that Aurusonics intended these to be on-stage monitors, so that makes a lot of sense. On stage, bass does tend to leak though more, so we want an IEM which is bassy and warm. I wish IEMs were around during my days as a bassist. Ironically, the selection of the dynamic bass driver, suitable treble BA, and overall more forgiving presentation make the ASG2 more suited as a tired-from-work-kick-back-on-the-couch IEMs for me. I feel the UE18 is much better tool for on stage monitor use though, but we are talking about tools vs. listening for pleasure. And the UE18 comes at a significant premium too.

 

[MoonYeol]

How do you feel about the balance of the mids in a (hypothetical) stage setting? Do the scooped out upper mids serve a purpose except keeping any fatigue to a minimum?