o0genesis0o
Headphoneus Supremus
I tried, I can hear a little difference but it is not like either of the IEMs made it sound bad or that it felt like a huge difference? I tried with the Aurora song and also with Little Lies from Fleetwood Mac. In the end I felt the Delci sounded a tad more natural to my ears. There were no cringe moments and the difference didn't seem huge either. I didn't notice any differences in the positioning but to tell the truth I already have difficulty matching the volumes of the IEMs so maybe this analyzing is not for me? But at the same time it is still highly interesting.
Now I am going to try and AB test some tracks between my Shanling M3U and Hiby R6P2, see if I can pick up anything there. I only played around a bit trying to see if I could hear the difference between class A and AB mode on the R6P2 after receiving it yesterday and while I feel I could pick up on it, it is also not a shocking difference.
Lemme tell you a secret.
Most IEM tuning is fine.
The brain can EQ itself pretty effectively as well. There might be a time when a natural tonal balance is a rare treat, but I don't think we are in that time anymore (well, certain parts of the market is still in that time, but not here). If the brain cannot EQ the sound to be somewhat natural, that's when we need to talk. For me, it's usually when the IEM FR has significant imbalance or a series of peaks and dips. Other than that, it's just colouring, which might or might not contribute to a better perceived "technical performance"
IMHO, we should aim for sustained difference, enjoyed over a period of time rather than in AB tests, because when we AB, our ears are primed to intensify the differences. That's why I personally try to postpone AB and measuring as much as possible, to "let the IEM speak for itself", if you will.