I posted initial impressions earlier, not sure if here or on the dedicated thread, but I think it was there. I had them a short while, was wowed at the sound, particularly that SOUNDSTAGE we keep mentioning, so I did the only thing a consciencious geek can do: I sat down with a pad, a few iem's (AT CKN 70, JVC FX70, Sony XBA3, Westone 4) and picked some songs I liked and took notes comparing the 5 iem's (had my wife rolling her eyes, but what else is new). I didn't hear things exactly as the general consensus calls it on these phones. First, let me say, I really like them (when I say something negative, it's relative to some really good challengers), and I've been listening to them more than my other iem's for a while. Now, my impression (drum roll please): they have nice, tight, focused bass, enough for me, but the Sony's is slightly more in quantity, while not losing tightness. I felt the Sony's had more detail, and richness of timbre (as did te AT's and the Westones), but this was in direct comparison, I don't find anything missing listening just to the Tenores. The soundstage of the Tenores was wider than all of them, and made for fun listening (why I've been listening to them a lot), but the Sony and the Westone had more micro detail, air between instruments.The AT's had more bass, more treble energy as well (I don't mind, some may find it tizzy), definitely not the same soundstage (I like the AT's a lot as well, but I despise the cable...I think it's Japanese revenge on the US for WW II). The JVC's don't compare the the Tenores, flabby, unfocused bass, more forward but less detail in the midrange, highs that again some will feel are tizzy. The Tenores don't match up to the Westone 4's (which cost, what, 6 times as much, something like that), which have more air around instruments, more microdetail (can pick out different vocalists in group of backup singers), richer tone, but the Tenores still out-soundstage them as well. My main negative was that I felt, in direct comparison to the other iem's, tone color/richness was slightly less on the Tenores, like a picture that has faded slightly. Again, this is early listening, against mostly much more costly challengers. Gonna go through my bag of tips and do some burning in (mostly by listening), and can update more (if anyone is interested) after some more break in and tip rolling. (whew).
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