[haci]

It would be really great if someone would finally write something detailed about Raven (ideally with comparisons). What I've read so far is extremely vague and not useful for me personally. Ultimately, for me nothing really exciting was said about this IEM, which has already been heard by some. Oh yes, except that the launch was a disaster - still is, actually. My current impression is that Raven is somehow a good IEM but not at TOTL level, nothing groundbreaking like Odin back then. Is my impression correct or does Raven really have more (… than a Rn6 or Mentor for example) to offer?

I know you have seen this before, so more of a data point for others:

Transitioning from EVO, I have a/b/c'd Raven with Ronin and Mentor, and decided to buy the Raven (V1). Note I mostly listen to highly melodic electronic music, so the way sounds travel within the stage is pretty important to me, and this is a bit different from instrument placement. The memory of the test has been fading, so I don't have much detail to share but I remember all three being pretty decent with Raven having the edge on stage and bass, and treble. Source was RS8.

As my only IEM, I'm still enjoying it. It's very reactive to tips and settings on RS8, so I can focus it on bass or treble and it performs pretty well on both. I think it's on an efficient boundary (any finance folks? -), i.e. at a point where any addition to the sound would prevent you from hearing something else. At least that has been my impression so far. Please note I am way past critical listening stage with this, and just looking for ways to enjoy it even more, so take it that way.

In the future I could explore to complement it with something better at vocals.

 

[Exekuhtor]

Ooof, i'm actually thinking of selling my Annihilator, do i really need three TOTL IEM's when i'm a headphone user first? The Trifecta is going nowhere since its sound is something that nothing else does. The Anni has that too, but to a lesser degree. The Canpur is behind the Anni in the treble and better at everyhing else. On the other hand there is no other product at the moment that i really want (maybe the E3, but idk). I'll give it a few more days...

 

[Valrhona]

Enjoying a purple sunset thru the trees listening to these gems, yes, with the difficult, but sonically superior Code 23 as I wait for the blue of Code 24 to arrive. Quattro and Code 24 are a perfect match, IMHO, and I can't wait for it to arrive.

A man yearns.

 

[maegnificant]

Ooof, i'm actually thinking of selling my Annihilator, do i really need three TOTL IEM's when i'm a headphone user first? The Trifecta is going nowhere since its sound is something that nothing else does. The Anni has that too, but to a lesser degree. The Canpur is behind the Anni in the treble and better at everyhing else. On the other hand there is no other product at the moment that i really want (maybe the E3, but idk). I'll give it a few more days...

If you would like to donate it to a noble cause, that is my daily enjoyment, I promise to say a prayer for you and your loved ones each day for a year straight. Take a nights' sleep on your decision.

 

[Valrhona]

I want to test the silver concept version of the Tsuranagi,

Could you kindly elaborate more on that please?

 

[RonaldS86]

Could you kindly elaborate more on that please?

IIRC it's Tsuranagi but the wiring is using their silver concept cable

 

[LFC_SL]

A perfect unit for high-end IEM owners, the Brise Audio Tsuranagi is the subject of today's review:

https://www.headfonia.com/brise-audio-tsuranagi-review/

It is a greart litle unit, however those input switches really handycaps the amp. I didn't they were that impactful of the sound until I tried a modded version where it was pure 4.4mm in and 4.4mm out, and boy did that made a difference!

A news version based on their silver line cable is coming out soon. I hope they reconsider their design, as despite its insane 3,500 AUD price, which i frankly think in the age of DAP is really not needed, I can see myself buying.

What about the opposite, a modded unit with pure single ended input / output, what was the experiment outcome then. Is there a middle ground of pursuing optimal sound quality for both single and balanced ended input/output on the same amplifier

 

[KrólArtur]

I'm probably going to make myself very unpopular now. If that's the case, I can deal with it. As a person who has been involved in scientific research, I have learned to deal cope with something like this. I have also learned to question everything and to make sure of things that intuitively make little sense to me like the assumption made here that music played locally sounds better than streamed.

I've compared identical tracks of various qualities (from normal FLAC to Hi-Res 192kbps) both locally and with Tidal in streaming. I bought these tracks in Qobuz and also downloaded them through Tidal in master quality (FLAC of course, and please don't ask any further questions here, it's best to google). I played these files both locally on the DX320Max and N30 and again in the corresponding Tidal apps. I have compared everything meticulously and attentively.

The result? Everything sounds exactly the same! Guys, there are absolutely zero sonic differences, really nothing at all. I have done my best to convince myself that this is not the case. But I had to give up. I'm a purist myself and I want the best possible audio quality. However, my test proved to me personally that there is no difference in sound quality between local and streamed. Everything else is part of misbelief, or rather of "audiophile esoterism" - to give myself a nice expression of a headfier.

Feel free to ask for more test details if you like, I'll be happy to answer your questions. This test can be reproduced by anyone, you don't need anything special to carry it out yourself. But in view of my personal results, I see no reason that I discuss this any further unless something in my test was not executed correctly. For me, the fact is certain.

I respect your opinion and the tests carried out, in my opinion, the Usb Audio Player Pro application after logging in to Tidal sounds better than the original Tidal application. Let's stick to our opinions and it will not change my opinion that I like and respect your opinion in the thread.I respect every opinion, even though I don't have to agree with it.

 

[CodenameBK201]

If you would like to donate it to a noble cause, that is my daily enjoyment, I promise to say a prayer for you and your loved ones each day for a year straight. Take a nights' sleep on your decision.

Actually, that reminds me: January 18th marks the beginning of this year's Destiny rewards and twitch streaming event for the Bungie Foundation:
https://bungiefoundation.org/

I try to donate every year, but essentially they provide ipads and video games for sick kids in hospitals. Having been one of those sick kids, I can personally say that gaming was a massive help for me in terms of distraction and healing, as was music. It'd be cool if we had something like that for audio gear, especially given that most members' decade-old audio castaways are probably still lightyears ahead of most kids' listening setups. Not sure if Bloom Audio, Musicteck or maybe even the cooler would consider doing such a program.

 

[subguy812]

The synergy between the Gold brick, and he1000se is so beautiful

I have the HE1000 Stealth and drive it with incredible synergy with the SP3000

 

[kajetanjazz]

It is a greart litle unit, however those input switches really handycaps the amp. I didn't they were that impactful of the sound until I tried a modded version where it was pure 4.4mm in and 4.4mm out, and boy did that made a difference!

A news version based on their silver line cable is coming out soon. I hope they reconsider their design, as despite its insane 3,500 AUD price, which i frankly think in the age of DAP is really not needed, I can see myself buying.

Are you talking about full NPAudio mod? Or just the switch removed from the signal path?

 

[1oad3r]

Cross-posting from the Campfire Audio Chromatic thread....realise I'm quite late to this party but wanted to post impressions here in the unlikely event anyone is sleeping on these....
---
About 8hours listening with the Bonneville over the past 2 days. What an absolute joy to listen to, I’m genuinely overwhelmed with how great these are. Initial impressions were good but it took a few sessions for me to fully comprehend everything they were offering. At first I was floored by the volume, control and quality of the bass, then the detail and wonderful timbre of the midrange, then the airy presentation up-top. When it all came together I’m not embarrassed to say I had quite an emotional reaction - this is what I've been searching for!

Some notes I took while listening, in no particular order;

• Lively, musical, captivating, immersive
• Warm, textured, full sound and yet airy, huge soundstage
• Incredible balance, coherence across the board
• Detail, texture, timbre of the midrange is particularly intoxicating
• Substantial, impactful bass that is never overwhelming or bloated, always controlled

For context, I have numerous other IEM’s in the 1.5k-2k range and the Bonnevilles are a significant upgrade on all of them. I think this makes them incredible value for money. Lastly, I love the unit design, a beautiful hybrid of organic and technical lines, which in many ways aligns well with its sound.

 

[Visceral]

It would be really great if someone would finally write something detailed about Raven (ideally with comparisons). What I've read so far is extremely vague and not useful for me personally. Ultimately, for me nothing really exciting was said about this IEM, which has already been heard by some. Oh yes, except that the launch was a disaster - still is, actually. My current impression is that Raven is somehow a good IEM but not at TOTL level, nothing groundbreaking like Odin back then. Is my impression correct or does Raven really have more (… than a Rn6 or Mentor for example) to offer?

I’ll spend some time today and try and collect my thoughts on paper. Raven is 100% a TOTL offering, but what do you mean by ‘does it offer more’? It offers a unique tuning and configuration just like any other flagship? RN6 has an incredible low end, Mentor has its renowned holographic presentation, Anni has its treble. Are you asking what are its stand out features are?

 

[phiemon]

Yes, I know about that. This is most likely either a "bass and treble boost" setting or it normalizes music in custom playlists, so they have exactly the same dynamic range. Nobody has to lower the annoying louder song in a playlist that runs in the background anymore, yey!

However, streaming services have certain requirements that must be met for the music to sound good, because it does get processed. And even if stuff like Tidal doesn't have them, Spotify sure does and 99% of all music is mastered for Spotify. And before streaming services there was also a time where producers and labels tried to master music as loud as possible.

I can recommend reading this blog post I have linked or comparing the dynamic scores of modern (re-) releases to older masters.
There are many articles regarding this topic. So while some of the normalization is "in the artists intention" because the artists masters the music themselves, they mostly do it because they have to or because they don't know better anymore, since this has been a standard for quite some time now.

Music released (note that re-releases do not count, as they get processed for streaming before release) until the early 80s is often much more dynamic in its production than music now.

Yes, that is indeed interesting, thank you for posting!

I know you have seen this before, so more of a data point for others:

Transitioning from EVO, I have a/b/c'd Raven with Ronin and Mentor, and decided to buy the Raven (V1). Note I mostly listen to highly melodic electronic music, so the way sounds travel within the stage is pretty important to me, and this is a bit different from instrument placement. The memory of the test has been fading, so I don't have much detail to share but I remember all three being pretty decent with Raven having the edge on stage and bass, and treble. Source was RS8.

As my only IEM, I'm still enjoying it. It's very reactive to tips and settings on RS8, so I can focus it on bass or treble and it performs pretty well on both. I think it's on an efficient boundary (any finance folks? -), i.e. at a point where any addition to the sound would prevent you from hearing something else. At least that has been my impression so far.

In the future I could explore to complement it with something better at vocals.

I must have forgotten, please excuse me. So as a fan of electronic music, I might quite like Raven.

I respect your opinion and the tests carried out, in my opinion, the Usb Audio Player Pro application after logging in to Tidal sounds better than the original Tidal application. Let's stick to our opinions and it will not change my opinion that I like and respect your opinion in the thread.I respect every opinion, even though I don't have to agree with it.

That's exactly what I wrote: it's perfectly okay to have a different opinion. I respect that and don't judge it. What I didn't think was that other devices might not really be bit perfect or something similar.

I’ll spend some time today and try and collect my thoughts on paper. Raven is 100% a TOTL offering, but what do you mean by ‘does it offer more’? It offers a unique tuning and configuration just like any other flagship? RN6 has an incredible low end, Mentor has its renowned holographic presentation, Anni has its treble. Are you asking what its stand out features are?

It was related to the idea of Raven being more than just a "good" IEM. I would even be happy if it is on TOTL level, so comparable to others you mentioned.

 

[Valrhona]

Cross-posting from the Campfire Audio Chromatic thread....realise I'm quite late to this party but wanted to post impressions here in the unlikely event anyone is sleeping on these....
---
About 8hours listening with the Bonneville over the past 2 days. What an absolute joy to listen to, I’m genuinely overwhelmed with how great these are. Initial impressions were good but it took a few sessions for me to fully comprehend everything they were offering. At first I was floored by the volume, control and quality of the bass, then the detail and wonderful timbre of the midrange, then the airy presentation up-top. When it all came together I’m not embarrassed to say I had quite an emotional reaction - this is what I've been searching for!

Some notes I took while listening, in no particular order;

• Lively, musical, captivating, immersive
• Warm, textured, full sound and yet airy, huge soundstage
• Incredible balance, coherence across the board
• Detail, texture, timbre of the midrange is particularly intoxicating
• Substantial, impactful bass that is never overwhelming or bloated, always controlled

For context, I have numerous other IEM’s in the 1.5k-2k range and the Bonnevilles are a significant upgrade on all of them. I think this makes them incredible value for money. Lastly, I love the unit design, a beautiful hybrid of organic and technical lines, which in many ways aligns well with its sound.

Nice pictures.