Edit: Might have defective pair, waiting for replacement unit.
Quick impressions
GR07 BE VS Altone 200
Song
Artist: Lorde
Album: Pure Heroine
Song: White Teeth Teens
Lows:
GR07 BE displays a more thunderous sub-bass rumble and stronger mid-bass thump. Both sound well controlled.
Reference @ 0:36-0:58
Mids:
GR07 BE has a touch of harshness with vocals. While the Altone sounds forward in comparison, it seems less susceptible(as in I'm yet to hear any). Both sound clear tho the Altone feels more spacious.
Reference @ 0:00-0:35
Highs:
While the GR07 has a nice glow up top that gives things like cymbals good presence, the Altone sounds stronger.
Reference @ 1:35-1:48*
Conclusion:
I prefer my GR07 BE
Because of the overall frequency balance, I'm found raising the volume on the Altone in a attempt to atleast match my GR07 BE low end prowess. What this produces is a high end that's way too hot(*1:48, painful as ****) and bass that still doesn't put out enough authority to meet my minimum requirement. This isn't a problem of quality down low but quantity gentlemen.
Listening at a vocal volume match, the mid to highs sound quite clear. Sadly, this is at the cost of a low end that can't help move the beat forward. EX1000 anybody?
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I personally rather deal with the KC06's lack of low end authority cuz that bad boy has clear sounding mid to highs without the fuzz up top.
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With music that has less dependency on the low end, the Altone gives a good sense of clarity tho I'm tempted to say(by memory) the KC06 did this better. I'm reminded of my experience between the Tenore/Ety in that the Tenore sounded about even between vocals presence and cymbal bite, while the ety pushes vocals, the Altone seems to pump cymbals.
Preference of phones mention in order(sonic package): GR07 BE>=Tenore, KC06, Ety, Altone.
Sound aside, I want to turn your attention to the IEM itself. Taking it out of the package, the earpieces look a bit dirty, not overly so mind you but enough to bug me; It's kind of like the reside left behind after you remove tape. The finish on the metal with the "A", as well as the "A" itself, looks a bit rough for my taste. Already, these two findings, when combined together, leave a bad enough first impression that it caused my excitement to waiver. This is something I wouldn't expect for the price, normal or special.
Moving further along, the stress relieves at the earpieces don't inspire confidence. They are quite short and stiff. While my GR07 BE also share in this design, close inspection displays better implementation. The marriage of cable to earpiece feels more solid and they also benefit from their over-ear design; This means that when worn, any puling of the cable gets some suppression from your ear before it reaches the connection on the housing. It's also noteworthy to mention you can wear the Altones over ear but the fitting is not as good as the GR07 BE, understandably so.
The Y-split on the Altone feels chunky enough when compared to my BE tho I would ask for better breakaway support for the cable. The 3.5mm jack sits a bit taller on my iPhone 4, besides preferring the lower BE plug, I also like its squared off design better then the Altones plastic pipe casting.
P.S. No driver flex so far
I needed to sleep like 1 hour ago