[XTF1]

It will be the first "Overear Earphones" where the nozzle still in your ear but the shell covering your whole ear

Actually… this is what the Nuraphone was: an “Overear Earphones”, with the addition of a bass shaker.

 

[cobrabucket]

 

[fidgeraldo]

Hmm, no IEMs?
And no premium headphones ...ajajaj

 

[Vonbuddy]

That is organized to me lol!

 

[theintention]

never has “mid-fi hell” been more accurately portrayed, my god

 

[nraymond]

Hmm, no IEMs?
And no premium headphones ...ajajaj

If the Hifiman Ananda isn't premium, what's your threshold?

 

[fidgeraldo]

If the Hifiman Ananda isn't premium, what's your threshold?

SUSVARA

 

[cobrabucket]

Lol.
I should clarify that I found this on reddit and it's not me!
I have waaaaay too many IEMs...

 

[nikbr]

The TSMR-X is on my long range radar. But my current go to for the desktop, is one of your prior recommendations, the Penon 10th Anniversary. Just not comfortable walking around with a plus $500 IEM. For on the go iKKO OH10

Hmm, I have not heard it, but I'm quite certain Penon 10th has most likely been outdone by plenty of ~$500 sets since it came out. But if you love it, you love it.

Pilgrim gang. Thing is gonna sell like hot cakes.

The Pilgrim is going for 400 USD allegedly

What???? Shut up and take my money!!

Am I the only one that does not fully fathom what all the excitement is about?

As far as I'm concerned $400 is still quite a bit of money for 1DD+3BA. Now of course, a company like Elysian does not release low(er) priced IEMs often, but I can't help but wonder if we're getting caught in this high-roller name game where we think $400 is basically free since it comes from a high-end manufacturer whose TOTL costs, what, $3k?

First impressions definitely seem positive and so does the overall tuning, but I've heard a fair share of customer dissatisfaction with Elysian up to now too. Besides, going off the graph, is this really the best channel matching they can do? That's 3dB off left to right in some areas...

I might be too sceptical and negative, but never have I seen such frenzy in this thread over a $400 IEM before.

The MagicOne incorporates some fancy "Nautilus Acoustic Maze Technology", which in essence is a special rear cavity labyrinth acoustic tube.



This 3D-printed ultra-thin (77 mm x 0.91 mm) acoustic tube is inspired by the nautilus snail shell - thus giving it its namesake - and is deliberately extended in a maze-like design for tuning purposes. Think of it as an acoustic damper via air pressure to down-throttle certain frequencies, and essentially it results in an increased bass resonance, much more than what a standard single BA can execute.

Single BA types are usually very weak in sub-bass extension, but AFUL has managed to overcome this driver limitation with this novel tech.

Yes, it can be argued that why is the company incorporating some pricey exotic tech inside the shell to compensate for a single BA? Why not just use a hybrid or multi-driver setup to get rid of the deficiencies of a 1 BA IEM? But, yeah this proof-of-concept technology can perhaps filter down to a cheaper price point for other driver configurations, and maybe in the future we can get more IEMs for cheaper using this tech?

If we recall, planar IEMs were for a long time thought to be exotic and costly, but in the span of just 1.5 years, we have seen its proliferation evolve to sub-$100 planar IEMs that are very good sounding! So I don't mind new tech coming out, instead of companies resting on laurels by releasing sidegrade Harman spam weekly.










Perfect pitch AKA absolute pitch is where a note is hit on the piano (eg G#), and the musician can identify the G# frequency on the spot, without a prior reference note.

Relative pitch (which is way more common), is when a musician utilizes a reference note and counts (or hears) the next note to identify it. So a reference note is required prior.



In general, absolute pitch is mostly genetically inherited, but it can be trained from young in some individuals (usually before the age of 9): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4951961/. Once the brain is more developed and there is less neuroplasticity, then absolute pitch is much harder to be picked up unfortunately.

I have been playing the piano and guitar for about 30+ years now, but only started learning at 7 years old, which is actually a bit late for a musician. I never managed to obtain absolute pitch, but somehow ended up taking music for Cambridge O Levels. I realized most of the other students in my cohort had absolute pitch LOL, so I was quite disadvantaged for some aspects. But I picked up relative pitch, and now play in a band for some jazzy stuff on weekends for a hobby.

Interestingly, my wife and all her siblings have absolute pitch. Half of them are now music teachers, but the other half (my wife included) never had much musical training, but even today, they can identify notes hit on a piano. So definitely the genetic component of absolute pitch is there.

I realize in a band setting though, absolute pitch is not 100% essential. Relative pitch can help you play in any key, to improvise without scores etc. You can get by with muscle memory and scales without absolute pitch, just with a prior reference note/key. In fact, I have ever played with an absolute pitch pianist who went crazy when she was using an out-of-tune acoustic piano. She couldn't identify the notes as such, cause what she was hearing and what came out of the piano were not synced. Absolute pitch is definitely advantageous for soloists and perhaps in classical/orchestral settings. It is also useful if some singer just hits a particular key or melody singing ad lib, and as a musician you want to back the vocals up without knowing what key she is singing in, then absolute pitch is highly useful then.

The sad thing now is that 90% of modern day music is no longer played like the old days.

Nowadays for singers, most of them use "auto-tune", even for live performances. So as long as they don't sing too out of tune, computer software helps them hit the high notes correctly, both for live and recorded tracks. They can even do backend remastering to make these singers hit higher keys than what they can actually sing in real life.

Same for musicians, computer software can be used to remaster back-end stuff, such that all the complex riffs are done perfectly. Loops are used routinely nowadays with just a press of a button (in live performances too). As long as the musician plays semi in time or roughly at the correct pitch, software can be used to make everything sound perfect.

Previously, musicians didn't have all these crutches to fall back on. You are given 2 hours in a recording studio to make the recording. If the singer or musician keeps making mistakes and retakes need to be done, they won't hire that musician next time, as studio time costs money.

Love the knowledge and industry secrets (sssh!) you drop on us every now and again.

Ha, see how messy it gets with, what, 20 headphones, whereas 20 IEMs can fit into one medium-sized pocket! Much easier to keep 'em hidden from your significant other!

 

[theintention]

Am I the only one that does not fully fathom what all the excitement is about?

As far as I'm concerned $400 is still quite a bit of money for 1DD+3BA. Now of course, a company like Elysian does not release low(er) priced IEMs often, but I can't help but wonder if we're getting caught in this high-roller name game where we think $400 is basically free since it comes from a high-end manufacturer whose TOTL costs, what, $3k?

First impressions definitely seem positive and so does the overall tuning, but I've heard a fair share of customer dissatisfaction with Elysian up to now too. Besides, going off the graph, is this really the best channel matching they can do? That's 3dB off left to right in some areas...

I might be too sceptical and negative, but never have I seen such frenzy in this thread over a $400 IEM before.

An affordable option from a respected company known for their flagship treble tuning is exciting.

obviously I would wait for an official, released graph. It’s a prototype/not released, but the tuning they are going for is exciting based on that graph. Also, there could be a myriad of reasons why it graphed that way…

As far as hype goes… where you been?! this thread gets in a tizzy every time Penon toots out a new product lol.

Edit - at least we have a graph for this one lol! who knows, maybe Elysian will mark it as 700 dollars but put it on “special discount” for 400 too

 

[o0genesis0o]

Am I the only one that does not fully fathom what all the excitement is about?

As far as I'm concerned $400 is still quite a bit of money for 1DD+3BA. Now of course, a company like Elysian does not release low(er) priced IEMs often, but I can't help but wonder if we're getting caught in this high-roller name game where we think $400 is basically free since it comes from a high-end manufacturer whose TOTL costs, what, $3k?

If Effect Audio supplies an Ares, Eros or whatever cable (which is very likely), it’s a few hundred bucks out of $400 already. Let’s say the IEM is $200-$250 after the cable and accessories. For $200-$250, we have a nice IEM tuned by Lee of Elysian, and as far as I know (in my experience and all that disclaimers), Lee has not disappointed. I think all of us who are excited about this is expecting something that stands up to the entry-level kilobucks.

To be honest, I still don’t entirely believe that the price tag is only $400 to $450.

 

[nikbr]

An affordable option from a respected company known for their flagship treble tuning is exciting.

obviously I would wait for an official, released graph. It’s a prototype/not released, but the tuning they are going for is exciting based on that graph. Also, there could be a myriad of reasons why it graphed that way…

As far as hype goes… where you been?! this thread gets in a tizzy every time Penon toots out a new product lol.

Edit - at least we have a graph for this one lol! who knows, maybe Elysian will mark it as 700 dollars but put it on “special discount” for 400 too

If Effect Audio supplies an Ares, Eros or whatever cable (which is very likely), it’s a few hundred bucks out of $400 already. Let’s say the IEM is $200-$250 after the cable and accessories. For $200-$250, we have a nice IEM tuned by Lee of Elysian, and as far as I know (in my experience and all that disclaimers), Lee has not disappointed. I think all of us who are excited about this is expecting something that stands up to the entry-level kilobucks.

To be honest, I still don’t entirely believe that the price tag is only $400 to $450.

All of this makes total sense.

Maybe I am just a bit too cautious and quickly start thinking something smells fishy ... Manufacturers need to - and love to - make money. At $400 including a higher end cable and 4 high quality drivers tuned masterfully this would make close to no sense. Let's wait and see.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Nice tuning and great pinna gain at +8db from neutral point, but the lower trebles as you said can be intense without proper dip there. Still perhaps 1 of the finest tuning in single dd around, too bad they lack of the upper treble extension.

About DLC driver, they are very nice, while CNT can dive very deep in the sub bass region with great impact, its characteristic have smear that make mid and upper bass not so tight. As opposite, the Berrylium coated DD have very fast and tight characteristics but can't reach as deep as CNT drivers. Bio cell drivers are "soft" and smear. The DLC drivers is sit nice in the middle of CNT and Berry, so as you perfectly described, they are weighty, can reach deep and tight, just nice proportion between weight and speed, especially when tuned properly.

I can see this set will be a hit too. But why not Kefine Kelci after we got Kefine Klanar?

Kefine Kelci with an endorsement deal by Taylor Swift? LOL

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Price does not necessarily correlate with pefromance, but yes generally budget CHIFI has now aced tonality (graphs) but higher end gear usually gives better technicalities. There are exceptions of course, but in general, as you go up the ladder, you do get better imaging, layering etc, though of course there are diminishing returns.

Customers pay for tuning yes, but also higher end gear generally uses better quality drivers. Graphs may not show technicalities like imaging, soundstage etc, but some drivers have limitations. Tuners can only do limited stuff with some of these lower-end drivers before distortion or coherency gets warped?

This would have been my response. Though the tech is sometimes advanced, it's not quite as advanced quality wise as the high end stuff. Like the difference between bery plated and 100% bery foil. One can be bought cheaply, and one not so much. Same with the BA's. Some can be bought cheaply, and tuned to the best of that tuners ability, and some are more expensive, have better specs, and if in the hands of a capable tuner, it's going to sound better. Tuners are getting better (the Trio is living proof of this), but equal tuner skill with better quality tech is going to usually = better sounding and more expensive product.

 

[Jaytiss]

One question, not just for you but for all of us geeks in this thread.

What stops a cheap(er) IEMs from matching the technical performance (or just sound quality in general) of high-end / TOTL IEMs? Take the Jialai Carat and its fancy "Titanium-plated DLC" driver (which is still quite good sounding) as an example. Or the MagicOne (against AFUL P8, for example). Or the tribrid Kinera Celest Phoenixcall. Or the triple DD Trio. All of these sound good on their own, and they do have pretty fancy technology (on paper). Yet they simply don't resolve as well and don't have as good imaging as a high-end one (say, Symphonium Helios).

Yeah, before you bring the topic up, let's take bias out of the equation for a moment.

I think technicalities are kind of BS in a sense. Andrew Park came up with the statement that everything is a frequency response. I kind of agree but don't. Most of it is, but even the 50k 5128 doesn't really give a perfect understanding of an earphone's graph. So the issue is this, you need people to hear* it not just give graphs. There is stuff we can't measure at the moment, also user experience is 100% invaluable due to fit* and comfort of the iem.