Introduction

Hello and thank you for reading this article where I’ll be talking about another entry from Simgot. This is the EM6L which I have no idea how they came up with a name but boy it makes it difficult to remember but anyway, this is a 1DD 4BA driver IEM coming in at $100. Before we begin I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Simgot for sending this unit in exchange for my honest feedback but as always all thoughts and opinions are my own. Now that’s all out of the way, let’s talk about what you get in the box

Unboxing and Accessories

The unboxing experience is quite nice as you open the box you’ll be greeted with the logo, opening it, you can see the IEMs and a few boxes containing the accessories. The eartips accessory box is HUGE compared to what they give you which is just a set of interchangeable eartips. The other box contains the manual, a carry case which is similar to the likes of Raptgo Hook X carry cases, just really generic and inside houses the cable which is a QDC connection and this connection is often used in the budget range IEMs so that itself gives off a budget feel from the start but it’s good for pin security so it’s not a huge deal-breaker, but it’s something to note. The design of the cable terminates in 3.5mm and has this transparent wrap over a black and gold wire which I thought looks more like a bumble theme rather than a phoenix.

Design

The design of the IEMs are really plain and simple. Just a black gloss finish with the logo of simgot and the phoenix logo at each faceplates. I like the fact this IEM has its own logo to establish its own identity, but thinking of the phoenix I was expecting some fiery red or some flaming color schemes but I guess this is more representative of the ashes of the phoenix rather than the flames of the bird. Either way, if you like plain and simple, it doesn’t get any simpler than this

Fit and Comfort

For fit and comfort, this IEM has a compact shell so it fits in my ears no problem and I can wear them for hours no problem so I’d conclude that this IEM is relatively comfortable to wear.

Sound

Bass
Bass is the highlight of the phoenix. It’s not the most impactful bass note I’ve heard from a dynamic driver, but on most tracks I listen to with the EM6L, the bass is the most audible aspect of it. It accompanies the track, there’s sufficient punch and impact to keep the engagement of the music, the notes are full and there’s some weight behind it as well, there’s some rumble coming in from the deep end. All in all, it’s a pleasant bass experience and if you like a bit of bass emphasis from your track, the phoenix keeps the fire going

Midrange
However, like the phoenix it can be a bit overwhelming in a way that the bass does bleed ever so slightly into the midrange but it does contribute in providing a warmer, fuller sound to the notes. If you prefer a lean or clean midrange experience then that’s not something you’d get from the EM6L. It’s a bit of an all in one kind of presentation where the vocals and background music share the same plane, with maybe the vocals taking a small step forward. The overall presentation is on the forward side so it’s closer to your ears but it doesn’t sound shouty.



Treble
I’d be happy to recommend this to treble sensitive people. Maybe put a very very small caution but I wouldn’t think it would hurt because it’s really smooth. Air instruments does sound a little recessed. It’s missing a little bit of that sharpness in its attack. Trumpet is missing the openness to its sound and I lean towards the EA500 more on these regions as the EA500 presents them clearer. However as mentioned earlier, if you prefer or want something that won’t pierce your ears too much, the Phoenix will be gentle

Technicalities
Imaging and detail retrieval is about average on the EM6L, I feel the attack on the details is a little smoothed out and there’s more emphasis on the bass which I feel can sometimes mask some of the micro nuances in the track so I wish there was just a touch more emphasis on the details to cut through all that bass. Soundstage is on the narrower side as well with it’s slightly forward presentation but it’s not claustrophobic. All in all, technicalities of the EM6L is decent but nothing groundbreaking.

Power

The EM6L surprisingly needs power, for it to properly shine I’m on the 11 o clock dial on my Hifiman EF400 on the 3.5mm termination

Conclusion

So to sum it all up, Simgot has been on an impressive run lately and the EW200 and EA500 is some of my favourite release from Simgot. The Simgot EM6L presents a safe tuning presentation but at an affordable price compared to its competitors and I feel it’s adequately priced for what it offers. It didn’t wow me as the EW200 or the EA500 but I can see how many people will be able to pick these up and enjoy these. I’m very curious however on how the EA2000 sounds like but that’s another video, if the opportunity arises but until then, I’m curious to know your thoughts. Will you be flying with the phoenix or is there a 1DD 4BA IEM that you think will triumph over the EM6L, comment below, let me know and with that all said, thank you again to Simgot for this opportunity and to all of you for reading this article.



If you like to watch this article in the form of a video, feel free to check out the video below. Thank you!

Introduction

Hello and thank you for clicking on this article where I'll be sharing my impressions on the Simgot EW200. This is a single dynamic driver IEM coming in at $40. I'll try to keep this article short and hopefully sweet but before we dive into the EW200, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Simgot for providing this unit in exchange for my honest feedback however, they have no influence over my impressions and all thoughts and opinions are my own. With that all out of the way, let's talk unboxing and accessories

Unboxing/Accessories




As with any other budget IEMs, the unboxing experience is pretty standard. Just a simple cardboard box housing the IEMs, some interchangeable eartips, a carrying pouch (not all budget IEMs have this so this is a nice little addition), and the cable


The cable terminates in 3.5mm and has a transparent wrap over silver wiring which suits the design theme, but it's a simple cable, for a budget package and it does the job

Design


If you've seen Simgot's own EW100P, then it's pretty much that shape, but in a metal shell. There's simgot's logo at either faceplate with the tagline "Salute to art and science" and "Simgot High Resolution" going around in a circle surrounding the logo. I could've done with the taglines, but it's a very simple design and with the metal shell, it looks and feels a lot more premium than it cost. However, having a metal shell in that silver color simply means it'll attract a lot of fingerprints so something to be aware of if you're OCD about these kind of things

Fit and Comfort

Being a single DD IEM, the shape is relatively compact and small. It fits my ears no problem and it has enough curves to sit comfortably in your ears for hours so there're no complaints here.

Sound

For an IEM that cost this much, the sound presentation was quite surprising coming from the EW200.
Bass - The bass is enough to accompany your tracks and keep it engaging. There's sufficient punch and slam to make music sound fun but of course, if you're a basshead and you're looking for that concert-like soul crushing bass pound, the EW200 will not satisfy that aspect.
Midrange - There's some warmth coming through to the midrange and the vocal notes sound full. Vocals take centre stage while the instruments and accompaniments maintain their position in the background without overwhelming the vocals or take focus from it.
Treble - There's enough treble and extension to give vocal notes that open, clear sound and provides some sharpness to notes. Instruments like trumpets benefit greatly from this aspect of the sound, however, I'd put a very mild caution for treble sensitive people as it MAY pierce your ears a little depending on how sensitive you are.
Technicalities - are good, for something at this price range. It's not going to WOW anyone, but it's good enough that I feel it can stand toe to toe with some IEMs priced a lot higher than the EW200. You can tell the positions of the sound within the soundstage, details are overall quite clear within the track but when it comes to really busy tracks, specifically japanese pop/rock then as with a lot of IEMs with 1 DD or at this price point, the EW200 does struggle a little bit but I'm just nitpicking at this point because for it's overall sound presentation, again, at this price point... it's actually really great.



Conclusion

To sum it all up, the Simgot EW200 sets a very good bar on how a budget IEM should look, feel and sound like. If you're simply looking for an IEM that gives you an idea of what "high-res" sounds like but you're having budget constraints, the EW200 is a strong recommendation in that category. If you like to watch the short format version of the above impressions, do check out below's video. Thank you all very much for reading my impressions and I hope you'll have an amazing listening experiences in your audio journey. Take care - RNAR

Hello everyone

Please find video below on my impressions on the 7th Acoustics Supernova

Hope you'll enjoy the video!

Happy listening and have a great week everyone!

Vision Ears EXT (Elysium Extended)

Hello and thank you again for taking the time to read this post. We’re off to my second written experience on IEMs and we’re kicking it off with not one, but 2 IEMs from Vision Ears. The Vision Ears EXT and Phonix.

Disclaimer
Once again, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank @Damz87 for arranging this review tour in Australia and for allowing me to be a part of this journey. I am not paid in any way shape or form to write this review and Vision Ears or anyone involved in this review tour had any influence over my experience and all thoughts and opinions are my own. If you'd like to know more details about the Vision Ears EXT, you can check out them out at Vision Ear's website here - https://vision-ears.de/premiumline_en/ext . With that all out of the way, let's talk about Vision Ears EXT

For this post I’ll be specifically talking about the Vision Ears EXT, if you’d like to check out my written experience on the Vision Ears Phonix, you can check it out here

The Vision Ears EXT, a.k.a Elysium Extended, hence the EXT abbreviation, is a $4500 (AUD) IEM which has a driver configuration of 2 dynamic drivers and 4 ESTs. This is by far the most expensive IEM, I’ve ever tried or put in my ears, only to be trumped by the other brother in the lineup, the VE Phonix but that’s another post entirely. I wish I never googled how much this thing cost because it gave me a little bit of anxiety whenever I tried these IEMs on to the point I was tossing the idea of hiring my son as a 24/7 bodyguard to make sure nothing or noone, not even dust will touch this IEM but since my son is only 2, these $4500(AUD) IEM might probably end up in his belly instead which in a way is security in itself but that idea went out as fast as it came into my head.

With this kind of price tag, it was indeed a very interesting experience for me personally as not only do I get to test and listen to what a $4500(AUD) in ear monitor sounds like, but I also get to compare with lesser priced IEMs to see if that few extra hundreds or thousands will let me discover aspects of a music that I never knew existed. With that curiosity in mind, let’s first talk about the accessories first.



Accessories
Since this was part of the review tour, you might need to google how the retail unboxing experience would be like because for the tour, it comes with the box with a large emblem representing the IEMs, which I would make this into a magnet and stick it on my fridge if I owned this because, it looks really cool. It also comes with a lot of interchangeable eartips, the cable itself, a carry case, a leather pouch to put the IEMs in and the IEMs themselves.



For the case itself, if you’ve owned the EJ07M Kinda Lava it’s pretty much that case on steroids. It has a twisting mechanism, it’s heavy, it’s solid, aluminium made with a design matching the IEMs. If there’s any case I would want to protect my IEM’s in, it would be in this.The cable itself is pretty standard, you’ve got that weaving like design and it has a bit of thickness but not too heavy, overall a nice, light, solid feeling cable but I do have to note that the pins are quite short so while I may not have any issues with the IEMs falling out from my testing, I still wish it could’ve been a little bit longer.




For this tour, the cable that it comes with terminates in 2.5mm but there’s an adapter which you can plug in which terminates in 4.4mm but then it extends the entire plug so in terms of convenience, I honestly prefer the modern cable designs where we have interchangeable terminations instead of additional adapters such as these but to each their own.



Design
If Magneto was part of the X-men and he wears IEMs when he’s crushing people with metal, I feel that this would be the IEM he’d be wearing if we’re solely talking about looks. I think this IEM looks really sexy. It’s got a little bit of that futuristic cyberpunk look with the strong lines forming the letter “X” which is a representation of its name and you have a sneak peek of the grills inside. The purple on the metal faceplate is striking but it doesn’t scream “hey, look at me I’m PURPLE!”. It just catches your attention and when it does, you can’t take your eyes off it, or at least I couldn’t.

The shell also has a smoky like see through design where you see a sneak peek of the drivers but not fully seeing it all. Overall, not much more I can say about this IEM, it just looks really good. Purple rain should be playing in the background every time you’re putting on this IEM.



Fit and Comfort
Not going to deny it, this IEM is fairly large but it has some grooves and contours which for my ears personally, fit really well, but it feels like it goes in really deep so you have to wear smaller eartips which I’ll talk about later, otherwise you’re going to feel a lot of pressure and it’s going to get uncomfortable after a few hours of listening. However once this IEM is in my ears, there’s no moving it, I feel i could go jogging with these and it wouldn’t fall off but I don’t think I’d want to sweat all over $4000 (AUD). Shame though, would’ve been a fun jogging session.




Eartips
Due to how wide the nozzles are, I have to be on either the small or medium sized tips to get this to fit properly, without adding too much pressure in my ear. Moondrop springtips or stock tips seem to work best for me for these IEMs but I would suggest to tip roll to get the proper fit and seal because what I’m about to describe depends on this factor



Bass
If there’s one aspect of the sound that stands out the most, it’ll be in the bass. The EXT DOMINATES. When that bass beat hits from Billie Eilish’s Bad Guy, it pounded my skull. It’s a very deep, weighty, punchy, full bass note. It’s a bassheads dream sound for pound. Unfortunately I do not have my Maestro SE’s with me at the moment to do an in depth comparison but from memory, the EXT sounds like it has a litte bit more meat to the mid bass, a little thicker, a little fuller. There’s a lot of texture to the bass as well, I’m not hearing just the slam, I’m getting all the bass details, there are some tracks where I didn’t even know there was a kick drum playing in the background and the EXT brought it into focus. Another enjoyable experience for bass. Nothing more needed to be said.

Midrange
This is yet another IEM with an “overall” sound presentation whereby the background is on the same plane as the vocals. How the low end is tuned gives the vocals a little bit of weight, warmth and thickness. However I’d say there’s a little bit of bleed from the bass into the midrange, which I feel contributes to that heavier note weight, which depending on how you like your vocals, can be a good thing or it can backfire. For me personally, I feel when it comes to studio recorded tracks, that warmth in the tuning just makes for a lush and smooth music listening session, however with how the treble is presented, it’s probably not the best for live recordings or tracks.

Treble
Treble is smooooth on the EXT which is great if you’re sensitive to treble, however I feel for me personally, it needed more treble and treble extension to cut through all that bass because as of what they did for the Vision Ears EXT, all the air instruments and their micro details took a hit from this presentation. Trumpets sounded like it was on mute or muffled, and they’re somehow sounding a little further away.

Soundstage
Not the widest soundstage due to how the sound is presented. I would say they’re forward but never reaches the realm of shoutiness. The details in bass create an illusion of depth so while the soundstage is not necessarily wide, it is quite deep with how the sound is presented, most of it contributed by the bass

Resolution
From my experience thus far, the bass-treble ratio has quite an impact on the resolution. For this case and from my personal experience of the EXT, while you can hear most of the macro details, the micro details is not as clear or as sharp as compared to other lower priced IEMs I’ve tried. For example, hi hats, snares, even hand claps, I can hear them, but they sounded soft and a little far away, often being enveloped by the bass details. However they are separated well enough that it doesn’t become one big mash potato of sound, but for an IEM at this price point, I definitely expected a little bit more. There just this blanket over all these details and if you’re one to take notice of every little detail in a track especially tracks you’re familiar with, I think the EXT might disappoint you.

Imaging
Imaging is just about average for me. The left and right sounds are distinguishable, but the positioning within the space is not as well defined or distinct.

Source
On my Hifiman EF400 I get to about 8 o clock on the dial on the 4.4mm termination

VS Maestro SE
I think the best contender to the Vision Ears EXT would be the Maestro SE as I can’t think of a set that I own personally that presents this much bass without having too much impact on the rest of the frequencies. Unfortunately I do not have my Maestro SE with me at the time of testing the EXT which is a huge shame because in terms of bass I would love to do a head to head comparison because they both present bass at the highest level but I’m going off based on recent memory and familiarity of the Maestro SE since it was my daily driver.

Bass
The EXT hits harder than the Maestro SE but the SE reaches deeper in the sub bass. They both have a lot of bass detail and structure and bass is definitely the highlight of the two IEMs. It comes down to what you prefer, if overall bass quality and quantity is all you care about then the EXT edges out because of that slightly fuller mid bass punch, but do not be mistaken, they both hit really, REALLY hard.

Midrange
For the midrange, the EXT is a lot warmer and the bass extends to the midrange a little bit in a sense where vocal notes sound a lot fuller and thicker but the Maestro SE presents a much cleaner and leaner note weight which presents the illusion of a “cleaner” midrange. The SE is a lot more forward in its vocal positioning as well compared to the EXT so while they both have the “overall sound plane presentation”, the vocals are bit more focused on the SE.

Treble
For treble while they both present a dark presentation for me personally, the SE has more elevated highs especially when it comes to pronunciation of words but when it comes to treble extension or some would perceive that as “air”, both the EXT and SE suffers a little bit in this category. If we had just a little bit more treble extension it would open up the sound a little bit more but based on how it’s tuned currently, the air instruments sounded a little bit muffled and it’s note attack is a little softened.



Conclusion
So to sum it all up, I’m really glad I got to listen to these IEMs first because it proves a small point that just because something carries an exhorbant price tag does not necessarily means it’ll suit your sound preference. If bass is what you want in an IEM then the EXT brings that in spades but at the same time, the fact I’m comparing this with another IEM that is almost 1/2 the price is saying something so it is always, ALWAYS important to audition these IEMs at your nearest available store if able, prior to purchasing this, or ANYTHING for that matter especially when it’ll cost you a second hand car’s worth because you’ll never know what they’re going to bring until you’ve heard them for yourselves. The Vision Ears EXT carries a sound presentation that is smooth, warm and extremely engaging. You will not help but tap your toes or bop your head when listening with the Vision Ears EXT because when the first beat drops, the Vision Ears EXT will get you hooked, BUT, as I’ve cautioned many times earlier, it comes at a cost. Is summit-fi level of bass worth a few weeks of meals? Only you have the answer to that. Once again I’d like to thank Vision Ears and Damz87 once again for allowing me to be a part of this experience. I look forward to sharing my next experience which is this IEMs bigger brother and when i say bigger, i do mean in price and possibly in sound? Let’s find out here. Otherwise, happy listening and hope all of you will have an amazing week.

Effect Audio x Elysian Acoustic Labs Gaea

Disclaimer
Hello and thank you very much for reading my experience of the Effect Audio x Elysian Acoustic Labs Gaea. Before I begin I would like to take this opportunity to thank @Damz87 for making this review possible by arranging the Australian Head-Fi Tour for this unit to be experience by multiple people within Australia. This is a sample unit that will be passed on to the next reviewer once I have conducted my testing therefore I do not personally own this unit however I am not paid by any parties for my feedback and all thoughts and opinions are simply my own. This is also my first time posting a fully written “experience” therefore please forgive my grammatical errors as writing isn’t my strongest suit but I shall do my best but at the end of the day, I hope my experience will be able to help shed a light on this IEM.

Introduction
The Effect Audio x Elysian Acoustic Labs Gaea is a joint collaboration between Elysian Acoustic which is a one man company led by Mr.Lee from Malaysia so it has always been a personal goal of mine to own one of Mr.Lee’s IEMs because his IEM’s are extremely well known, namely the Elysian Annihilator and Elysian Diva, but they do not come cheap so when Gaea was announced I was very close to purchasing one blind but it was a toss up between the Maestro SE and the Gaea and I only had enough for one, but at the end of the day I had to let the Gaea go but I’m so glad and excited that I’m able to experience it now.

Accessories
Before I talk about sound, let’s talk about a few things first. Unfortunately since this was a review tour unit, there was no unboxing experience but there are a lot of videos on Youtube that you can check out if you’re interested in the unboxing but essentially you will get this carry pouch which is like felt? It feels very nice to the touch but it is also a HUGE dust magnet. So have your lint roller ready because you’re going to need it. The carry pouch does look very nice and well made. There’s a logo from both companies etched on the top. It’s subtle but it still looks and feels very premium



Cable
If you have not heard about Effect Audio, they’re a company from Singapore who specializes in producing cables, and when I heard they were pairing up with Elysian Acoustic it’s like a match made in heaven and boy do they deliver here because the cable is simply, beautiful. That blue and grey colour scheme intertwined to each other. Talk about a cable complimenting the design of the IEM and there’s nothing I would do to change this because, it’s just dead set perfect for each other. I wish they produced this cable on its own because it’s so gorgeous but effect audio can be really expensive, almost the cost of a mid-fi IEM itself but oh look at that. I’m almost glad they didn’t release this cable separately otherwise my wallet would be in big trouble.




Design
Let’s get this out of the way, I’m putting the Elysian Acousic Labs x Effect Audio Gaea as the IEM with one of the, if not, the most beautiful looking faceplate I’ve ever seen on an IEM. That marble like design with the color of the ocean, that muted blue with the gold logos of each company on each side. That’s how you make your IEM stand out. It’s simply gorgeous. With that cable, it’s simply a complete look. I almost purchased this IEM solely for its looks!




Fit and Comfort
No denying it, this IEM is CHONKY, BUT, you won’t feel it’s chonkiness due to how the nozzle is slightly extended, it sits slightly outside of my ears and due to its gentle curves on the sides it doesn’t apply much pressure to my ear so it was a relatively comfortable experience for me personally. However I can imagine the nozzle being a difficult fit for some people because it has a very wide nozzle.




Eartips
I don’t normally talk about eartips but due to how wide the nozzle is, I find it quite difficult to use any of the typical eartips that I’ve used. So most of my spinfits don’t really work in a sense that it’s really really tight even if you manage to put it on, and even if you do, it looks like it’s covering some of the holes so I’m just concluding that you would need eartips like the moondrop blessing or variations stock eartips to put on the Gaea



Now that we’ve covered all of that, let’s talk about the most important bit, the sound of the goddess!


Bass
I love the bass presentation on the Gaea. I’m not sure if the next portion of the frequency had some influence on how the bass is presented, but while it is forward, it is deep, it is impactful. It accompanies your tracks, keeps it engaging, but never taking the spotlight away. It’s like your best wingman, you know he’s there, but he never takes the girl away from you. He’s just dancing circles around the both of you to keep the energy going while you have your moment with the girl. That’s how it feels listening to the bass on the Gaea. One of the better examples of how to make the bass present while not overpowering the other frequencies in an IEM BUT I think this was only achievable due to what they did with the midrange. Let’s talk about it.



Midrange
Real talk here, Gaea has a very forward presentation, almost to a fault. If you’ve listened to the Tangzu Li Shimin, the OH10s and thought those were a little too forward, then this is one you should stay away from because it is about as forward if not a touch closer to your ears than those IEM’s I’ve mentioned. However, it’s all great information getting thrown at you. You have the rumble and the impact from the bass accompanying your track, you’ve got clear, powerful, weighty vocals however it’s within the same plane as the background music as you hear all the instruments in the track. It’s another vocals being in the same plane as the background music kind of presentation. Vocals are still a touch forward but they don’t sound like the highlight of the track. Best analogy I can think of is like French kissing your crush, it feels amazing, you’re loving each and every moment of it, but after about an hour of tongue swirling, you’re going to get tired because your tongue twisting stamina isn’t as good as you thought it would be, but your crush is still swirling around in your mouth, and you’re just getting tired by the minute and you need a break. Exaggeration? Probably but that’s how it felt like listening to the Gaea. I needed a break from it after a while because it’s just all coming at my face, all at once.



Treble
If this is a preview of how the Annihilator sounds, then I’m excited yet terrified because the treble on the Gaea is high enough to give female vocals it’s bite, but it borderlines on being sibilant or harsh. I would put a caution for treble sensitive people. However, once again, due to how the sound is presented being forward, with the amount of treble provided on the Gaea, vocals sounded open, airy and clear. There’s enough treble extension to give trumpets that powerful, clear sound that they carry. It gives some sparkle and sizzle to the high hats and cymbals. It’s great depending on how tolerant you are to treble. I’ve gotten used to the Hifiman He1000v2s treble so if you’ve heard that headphone then you know how famous or infamous the level of treble on that headphone can be so if you found that or any Hifiman headphones to be sharp or sibilant, you might want to stay away from the Gaea.



Soundstage
The forward presentation on the Gaea gives me a very, VERY intimate experience and the separation and imaging on the Gaea helps in giving the soundstage some depth, but due to how forward the sound is, it’s still a very closed in experience, at least for me.

Imaging/Separation
Despite having the amount of driver count, I’m getting a good amount of separation between each instruments and notes. Imaging between the left and right ear is great, the details are distinct and clear, which helps in a way in terms of that forward presentation because then, it’s not a big lump of mash potato of sound smashed into your ear but at the same time, as mentioned earlier, it’s a lot of information for you to decipher. I wouldn’t call it analytical as it doesn’t have the amount of resolution as the 64audio U12T has but it borderlines on that region.



Source
Unfortunately I’ve sold most of my sources and I mainly rely on my Hifiman EF400 dac/amp for all my testing and depending on what you read on this dac/amp, it may or may not have an impact on the sound I described earlier but in terms of volume, I get to about 10 o clock not he dial on my Hifiman EF400 on the 4.4mm balanced termination which is to say it does require a bit of power to make this IEM sing and sing well.



Quick Comparisons
VS U12T
U12T has a more laidback presentation compared to Gaea with slightly better resolution. Sounds more analytical and a little “soulless” compared to Gaea. Bass is as punchy but it doesn’t have the same rumble or engagement as the Gaea. Vocals and Bass goes to Gaea. Prefer U12T for everything else but price is also way higher.

VS Maestro SE
If you’re talking about bass, Maestro SE simply floors the Gaea. The Gaea is merely playing catch up but it still has more than enough to keep the track engaging. Much cleaner bass due to its quantity. Both has a forward presentation but Gaea is a lot more forward. Imaging and separation is about the same. Treble is more extended on the Gaea. Gaea for treble clarity. Maestro SE for Bass. Overall, I’d still pick Maestro SE any day of the week due to my own personal sound preference.

VS Z1R
Both have about the same bass with the Z1R sounding a lot “meatier” on the low end. Very recessed midrange, very wide soundstage on the Z1R, sharper treble than the Gaea for me especially for female vocals. Z1R for soundstage. Gaea for vocals and treble. Bass for both is fun and engaging.

Conclusion
So in summary, this is a match made in heaven for most. What Elysian Acoustic Labs and Effect Audio has produced is a breathtaking love child for all audiophiles to enjoy, however that beauty comes with a price because not everyone will be able to handle everything the Gaea has to offer. If you’re brave and tolerant enough to face the Gaea, you’ll be greatly rewarded. I miss the Gaea already…