[xyloc]

The adapter is just to avoid switching cables.

Nice setup dude, mind to share impressions on how well does SE6 handle vocals? Would also appreciate comparsion between SE6 and Erlkonig

 

[Mimouille]

Nice setup dude, mind to share impressions on how well does SE6 handle vocals? Would also appreciate comparsion between SE6 and Erlkonig

Never heard it sorry.

 

[DeepGroove]

My answer to members pointing out "Spiral Ear bashing":
1. If you look at other TOTL CIEMS, you can find people critical of their performance, price and service (remember JH five years ago, with their carbon fiber shell?)
2. Bashing means being unfairly critical. I don't think critics about Spiral Ear are unfair.

Two aspects deserve to be discussed:
1. How SE is treating their customers
2. SE's policy of no demo / no reshell / etc.

1. How Spiral Ear is treating their customers
Well... clearly not like a company charging 10x the average market price for the category. They terminated ownership transfer last August, making existing owner's SE5 resell value go from $800 to $0. Any decent company would have at least sent an email to their customers saying something like:

"Dear customer, thank you for being a Spiral Ear owner. We would like to announce that starting September 1, orders will not be eligible for ownership transfer. For orders placed before that date, we will of course continue to honor our commitment. Please note though that due to high demand, this will take 2-3 months."

That wasn't so hard, was it? So what did Spiral Ear do? A Facebook post, casually mentioning below the fold: "Ownership transfer service has been discontinued." Come on! Really? Is the 6-year old cousin in charge of business decisions?


2. SE's policy of no demo / no reshell etc.
It's up to the company, and I respect it, but very old-school (old like the 1850's, not the 90's). Let's not forget that a few years ago, SE threatened to take legal action if customers tried to reshell their earphones somewhere else... Totally pathetic. I know that other CIEM companies might not be doing much better, but that's no excuse.


Bottomline: Spiral Ear is like a 3-starred restaurant with McDonald's-level service. The product is fantastic, the experience crap. I stand 100% behind the product, but not behind the management. Those who do probably suffer from the Stockholm syndrome

 

[papa_mia]

Wait a minute, back in the day they would sue your ass if you took their products to anywhere else for a re-shell but them?
Hilarious.

 

[davidmolliere]

@DeepGroove That's quite accurate if you look at it as a company... but you have to view SpiralEar as the company of a genius artisan in a way, more or less a one man operation technically there is no "management" in the sense that you imply. Now this is quite sensitive for such expensive products, and without reshell and transfer that's a big commitment to a product... you either take it as is or not at all... You need to bet 3.5K and be ready to loose it.

I certainly do get why people would not make that leap, it's a leap of faith really, no demo and very very scarce if no impressions from owner not to mention a review... So yes the SE5U clearly is a good indication that the SE6 is probably to die for and that itch is there in a corner of my mind

 

[DeepGroove]

@davidmolliere Yes it's probably a small operation, in some ways it reminds me of Altmann players... However trust is broken here. You don't retroactively cancel ownership transfer. What's next?

SE in-ears used to be relatively affordable. If the SE5 was not your cup of tea, you would lose ~800 euros after resell. That was fair enough. Now you'd lose 3,500 euros. It's as much a risk as three LCD4. That makes no sense unless you're trying to curtail demand.

 

[subguy812]

@DeepGroove That's quite accurate if you look at it as a company... but you have to view SpiralEar as the company of a genius artisan in a way, more or less a one man operation technically there is no "management" in the sense that you imply. Now this is quite sensitive for such expensive products, and without reshell and transfer that's a big commitment to a product... you either take it as is or not at all... You need to bet 3.5K and be ready to loose it.

I certainly do get why people would not make that leap, it's a leap of faith really, no demo and very very scarce if no impressions from owner not to mention a review... So yes the SE5U clearly is a good indication that the SE6 is probably to die for and that itch is there in a corner of my mind

I have always had the itch as well. It is a process to have them produced and for some it is a large expenditure. I am easily able to talk myself out of purchasing them.

 

[Simon T]

Hi all,

Have been listening the SE6 for more than a week now.



Do not want to give any premature impressions, but, what I can state for now is that; it took few months for the SE5 Ultimate to earn the deserved appreciation from me, back in 2015/16. Compared to the few days on the SE6.

This is attributed by extensively listening to the SE5 Ult, and recognizing the Spiral Ear house sound signature from the beginning. Likewise, it happened to me when I moved from the LCD-3 to the LCD-4, you are able to identify the Audeze house sound.

Cheers

 

[papa_mia]

Hi all,

Have been listening the SE6 for more than a week now.



Do not want to give any premature impressions, but, what I can state for now is that; it took few months for the SE5 Ultimate to earn the deserved appreciation from me, back in 2015/16. Compared to the few days on the SE6.

This is attributed by extensively listening to the SE5 Ult, and recognizing the Spiral Ear house sound signature from the beginning. Likewise, it happened to me when I moved from the LCD-3 to the LCD-4, you are able to identify the Audeze house sound.

Cheers

Nice design choice m8. Looks cool. What is it, blue marble or smth?

 

[davidmolliere]

Hi all,
Have been listening the SE6 for more than a week now.
Do not want to give any premature impressions, but, what I can state for now is that; it took few months for the SE5 Ultimate to earn the deserved appreciation from me, back in 2015/16. Compared to the few days on the SE6.
This is attributed by extensively listening to the SE5 Ult, and recognizing the Spiral Ear house sound signature from the beginning. Likewise, it happened to me when I moved from the LCD-3 to the LCD-4, you are able to identify the Audeze house sound.
Cheers

Nice thanks can’t wait fro some additional impressions
How long did it take to reach you, approx 2 months lead time is that it?

 

[Simon T]

Nice design choice m8. Looks cool. What is it, blue marble or smth?

Thanks papa-mia.

Spiral Ear did a great job, especially considering that, since they still stored my SE5U impressions, i did not need to send new impressions and i had no issues with fit.

As for the colours, i remembered that on the SE5U they issued new colours combinations, and I asked whether they could mix titanium white (outer silicone housing) with blue filling silicone. All in all, very satisfied with the end results.

Nice thanks can’t wait fro some additional impressions
How long did it take to reach you, approx 2 months lead time is that it?

Hi davidmolliere,

Well, reading the general feeling of this thread, I am still thinking how much of an impression I should post ...

Mine took slightly longer, if not mistaken, because of the above mentioned colour combination request.

Cheers

 

[davidmolliere]

Well, reading the general feeling of this thread, I am still thinking how much of an impression I should post ...
Mine took slightly longer, if not mistaken, because of the above mentioned colour combination request.
Cheers

Thanks for the feedback

Spiral Ear controversy notwithstanding, the SE6 deserves at least some feedback to the community and if everyone keeps the lid shut it's going to remain a mystery wrapped in an enigma but maybe this has become a thing here?

 

[Simon T]

Thanks for the feedback

Spiral Ear controversy notwithstanding, the SE6 deserves at least some feedback to the community and if everyone keeps the lid shut it's going to remain a mystery wrapped in an enigma but maybe this has become a thing here?

Totally agree with you davidmolliere.

Soon i will be going on vacation, and, will have time to properly do some more listening and post some comparison impressions. In the meanwhile, would like to share something to the community "food for thought".

In the reviews I previously read on the SE5U, if i do not wrongly recall, reviewers did not state enough on the benefits/difference of Silicone shells vs. Acrylic shells on Customs; thus, i would like to provide you with my 2 cents worth of opinion.

I own a whole lot of audio gears (IEMs, headphones, DAPs, amplifiers and etc.), but, only have 3 CIEMs including the SE6, one of the reason is because I find the Acrylic shells less comfortable compared to the Silicone shells, when listening to music, while, munching something or lying side ways on a pillow. Although, the Acrylic shells allows much cooler plate designs.

Also, this is just pure speculation, as I do not have any proof; but, when i auditioned the EE Phantom which from my understanding takes some cues from the SE5U. Although they were similar in sound signature, the SE5U presentation was still more laid back with better 3D imaging compared to the EE Phantom. Based on deductive reasoning, because both IEMs, have 5 drivers and 5 way crossover design, the difference would most likely comes from either tuning and/or type of shell material (which includes the amount of hollow space inside the housing).
Does anyone have an opinion on this?

Cheers

 

[davidmolliere]

Totally agree with you davidmolliere. Soon i will be going on vacation, and, will have time to properly do some more listening and post some comparison impressions. In the meanwhile, would like to share something to the community "food for thought".

Well, yesterday I actually had an opportunity to lay my ears on @Mimouille SE6...
I posted some very rough and first impressions

So... I have been very lucky to get a little time with @Mimouille SE6, as did a few people from the French community who joined us. Even luckier that I got an eerie great fit on the left and a good one on the right.

I did my audition with the stock cable single ended both on the 1Z and the ALO CV5.
First surprise, those babies need a lot of power, probably just like the SE5U (which I have never heard). One of the rare instances where I needed to switch to high gain, even on the CV5.

I didn’t get much time as many people wanted in on an audition but enough to get a glimpse. These definitely deserve more time, as there is a lot going on there, and 15mn was not enough to grasp what they have to offer. Still, I do value first impressions nonetheless, gut feeling if you will... Note that I expected to be dazzled so there is that but I wasn’t wowed at first listen like I did for the Solaris and KSE1500. I suspect they probably require a different cable to fit my taste better and also to be plugged balanced to the 1Z.

The bass are great with very good extension down low and just the right amount of impact to provide a nice kick and very clean with a lot of detail and nice textures definitely among the best BA bass I have heard, a bit more snap than the VE8 from what I heard and cleaner presentation with less mid bass quantity and leaner upper bass. I expected mids to be fuller sounding, but maybe my ears are skewed by listening to a lot to the Solaris, Phantom and VE8. I wished for more lower mids. The mids have great separation, very articulate and layered but I missed a bit of body and warmth (to my taste, with the stock cable). I am fairly confident with cables I could get closer to my tastes. The highs are well extended with a lot of detail, but I found myself wishing for more sparkle, again maybe influenced by my extensive time with the Solaris. I like the VE8 treble better.

Don’t get me wrong I liked the SE6 and they have very strong technical foundations that I could hear on such a short audition in a public space (not ideal). Again, while the fit was eerie (almost perfect on the left really and pretty good on the right) it’s obviously not custom to my ear so take all this with a grain of salt.

 

[Simon T]

Well, yesterday I actually had an opportunity to lay my ears on @Mimouille SE6...
I posted some very rough and first impressions

Thanks for sharing your impressions davidmolliere.

I can relate to your comment "Note that I expected to be dazzled so there is that but I wasn’t wowed at first listen like I did for the Solaris and KSE1500" ... As mentioned in my previous post, it took me few months to really appreciate the SE5U... the SE6 and SE5U do not come across as exceptional from the first listen. The beauty of these IEMs is the overall package in presenting the music naturally and lively, which might require more quiet impressions time.

Having said the above mentioned, I cannot comment on the Solaris as I never heard them. But, on the KSE1500, from what I recall when auditioning them, they sounded amazingly transparent; did not pull the trigger then, because i was/am hoping for its successor with improved DAC/Amp. Maybe should audition the KSE1200 now (KSE1500 without DAC) for $1k savings ...

Cheers