I recently got to test the Gaea as part of the Australian Tour. Big thank you to Damz87, Effect Audio and Elysian Labs for arranging the tour. Appreciate the chance to check out the latest innovations in the audio industry. and the chance to share my thoughts on the Gaea below.

Kit:
I did my listening with the supplied tour kit including:

• GAEA IEMs – aesthetically, these looked nice, no complaints. Fit wise, they were comfortable in my ears.
• Spinfit tips – Although not typically my go-to tips, they complimented the GAEA nicely, accenting sub-bass and presenting treble sparkle. A little wiggle here and there and I was able to get a solid seal.
• Effect Audio 4.4mm balanced cable – Aesthetically nice cable. Chunky but not problematic.

Sources:
All listening was done on my Ibasso DX240 DAP, with AMP8 MK2S module (high gain). This was a fairly good match up, presenting good control over treble and air and good reach to sub bass.

I would have loved to try the GAEA with my trusty Ifi Hip Dac, but didn’t want to risk overpowering the sensitive GAEA IEMs on the supplied balanced cable.

Source material consisted of best available Qobuz FLAC files and self ripped WAV files.

Sound:
GAEA have an interesting take on a V shaped tuning. These are very clean and fresh sounding IEMs, with a big ol’ scoop taken out of the mids.

Bass: Bass dug deep into sub bass but always tight and controlled, it was a nice compliment to the airy trebles.

Mids: Lower mids were quite pulled back, which really gives the Gaea the “fresh” and “clean sound”. However the trade of for this is that music loses warmth, grit and “soul”.

Trebles: Trebles were wonderfully well presented, prominent and extended. They are well controlled however and didn’t come across as sibilant, with nice sparkle.

Impressions:
In my first listens, I spun an array of tracks from my Qobuz favourites. Chilhop lofi tracks had a nice fresh feel to them. Beats were nice and impactful. Kick drums dug deep with fair impact and the and bass melodies (e.g. bass guitar) reached into nice sub bass. All this owing to the Foster Dynamic Driver, which presented a tight and controlled bass, with a fair presence, but never the focus or over powering. Mir range/treble Melodies and percussion were light and airy. Again, very fresh and clean.

A couple of songs from Aphex Twin’s Drukqs is where I started to find some limitations to the unique V shaped turning of the Gaea, without a balance of lower mids, the complex sound arrangements were left sounding squeaky and hollow, with little variation in texture or detail.

It was then time I read the instructions and used the Gaea as intended. Effect Audio advise that “The acoustic focus for GAEA is undoubtedly Female Vocals”. I played through an array of my favourite female artists including by Beth Orton, Courtney Barnett, Norah Jones and Massive Attack tracks with female lead vocalists….

I was quite pleasantly surprised by the result of Gaea’s tuning.

Female vocals were wonderfully wispy, elegant and feminine. Lyrics were also clear and articulate. It finally clicked with me what the Gaea, and the teams at Effect Audio and Elysian Acoustic Labs, were trying to achieve. The trade off with the tuning however, is that female vocals now lacked a bit of growl and undertones and as such… less soulful.

I should also mention that although lower mids are notably pulled back, tracks with female vocals didn’t really come off as thin sounding. The deep bass extension and the impressive treble extension still left a fulfilling (but fresh) sounding soundscape.

I must confess however, after my musings with how well it presented female vocals, I felt that I’d had my fun with the Gaea and wanting to return to IEMs with more warmth.

Conclusion and final thoughts:
Although I was a bit sceptical at first, I was pleased to find that the Gaea achieved it’s goal of accentuating female vocals. Although I can appreciate the approach Effect Audio and Elysian Acoustic Labs took for tuning, and the skill to achieve the outcome, I found that the novelty of the IEM wore off on me relatively quickly. After a couple of days of seeing what the Gaea can provide, I found myself reaching for my daily drivers such as Campfire Audio Comet and Meze Neo 99. Drivers with more apparent lower mids and warmth. The Gaea hits it purpose well, but for me lacked the versatility to really shine with a variety of genres and soundscapes.

What are the comparisons?
The $1,000 to $1,500US range is admittedly uncharted territory for me, I would love to try some others in this price range to see how the Gaea compares.

Is it worth it’s price?
Research and Development takes time, resources and innovations. Of which need to be recouped in the cost of a product. I’d say these components are apparent in the end product Gaea. If you value an IEM that presents female vocals in the most elegant way possible, than the price may justify the cost.

I personally however didn’t find any more enjoyment in listing to music compared to $199 and $330US IEMs (being the Campfire Audio Comet and Moondrop Blessing 2 Dusk).

Would I recommend the Gaea?
You’d have to really, really love female vocal focused music for this to be a home run. I’m sure there’d be this market out there that the Gaea would resonate really well with. If female vocal focused music is your thing than by all means, the Gaea is your IEM. Otherwise it’s a hard one for me to recommend as a standalone IEM, or even an addition to a collection.

This was a lot of fun, big thank you again to Effect Audio, Elysian Acoustic Labs and Damz87 for the tour. Happy listening everyone.