Reviews by SHOOTINGTECHIE
VISION EARS is a small and owner driven company in the heart of cologne/Germany. They are well known in the audiophile community and other sound enthusiast communities and have been making iems (mostly customs) for the past decade. The Best thing, their office is always open for people to try out their iem which is big + in my book. Given my interaction and the wonderful nature of one of their Owners, @AminKarimpour , I am awed by the humble nature and friendliness of the person. His dedication and fast response to any questions I had during the review tour, I am have become a fan of him. Their VE Premium line which includes the EVE 20 and ELYSIUM and their VE custom line consisting of VE2-8 (now having Universal options too) have created a great deal of name and fame for their wonderful Sound Signature and looks.
DISCLAIMER- Today I am getting to review the VE 6XC- Vision Ears 6 X-control. This has been provided to me by Vision Ears in exchange for my honest opinion for which I am grateful to both Vision Ears, Amin Karimpour and @suman134 for including me in this tour.
VE 6XC- Vision Ears 6 X-control (Wish I could write this in purple)
VE 6XC- It encompasses two different iems all together with a switch on its faceplate. Its two different iems VE 6X1 and X2 in one iem (A proverb here- “One arrow two targets”) and for the first time for me, the switch makes a good enough difference between two sound signatures.
TECHNICAL DATA-
Driver count of Six balanced-armature drivers- 2 x Bass; 2 x Mids; 1 x High Mids; 1 x Highs
Impedance: 20Ω @ 1kHz
Sensitivity: 122dB @ 1mW
A SWITCH - Two switchable signatures via the XControl switch system (X1 and X2)
PRICE- 1750- € for universal and 1950 € for custom.
UNBOXING EXPERIENCE-
Now given the price of this iem and the atrocious Indian customs (which we still had to pay) this was sent in a small packet and a M size Spinfit tips.
On opening the packet, I am greeted with carry case- written VE all on top of it and Zip puller with wonderful rubber VE written on it.
Opening the carry case -
A beautiful looking IEM which has Purple Vinyl faceplate filled with those golden and purple small foils or something really small pieces of painted aluminium (seems like purple looks like a fav colour of VE, I like purple too MY PC CASE has purple lights ha-ha).
Attached is a thin 4 strand black plastic coated 3.5mm cable and a black stock ear tips of M size.
Inside the case- I also found a pair of M size Spinfit ear tips.( forgot the pic
)
BUILD & FIT-
The iem seems to be built of a bluish tinted transparent acrylic shell with the lovely golden and purple foil filled Vinyl face plate.
All the BA drivers can be seen through easily and No R/L written on the iem. The manufacturing date is written on the IEM – IN RED ON RIGHT IEM AND IN WHITE ON LEFT IEM denoting R and L iem. The attention to detail is so mind blowing; wow!!
Weight of the iem- It is really non-existent. Its light as a feather. There’s a switch on the front of face plate and really satisfying click when switching on the iem.
Nozzle- Its 0.9cm long from the body and has a diameter of 0.6cm. It has no grill and has a two-hole design. It has those machined cut marks on the nozzle head really adds to the reality of the iem.
Connectors- Now these are two pin connectors but these are so tight that I could not open them at all haha. Hair dryer did not do the trick too. I don’t want to break them so did not use any force at all (May the Force be with you- You will need it to remove the 2pin connectors
).
Coming on to the cable- The cable is 4 strand, black soft plastic-coated ending on a 3.5mm connector. The cable is soft, non-microphonic and really vanishes with the iem (has the weight of hair haha). The connectors are 2pin and have a small red circle and a small blue circle on either of them to indicate right side and left sides connectors respectively.
Now the cable is all good but given the price of this iem, I would want a little thicker cable that would add a certain degree of confidence and yes a easy to open 2pin connector haha.
FIT- Now this iem had kinda avg fit for my small-medium size ears. I achieved perfect fit with using M sized tips but somehow was not comfortable for my ears. I could wear it for only 1-2 hours max and then my ears would ache.
Since they got CIEM version I would highly suggest to go for it.
POWAH REQUIRED- Even if you blow on it, it will play music haha
. Its really easy to drive even phones are sufficient to drive it easily.
NOTE- This IEM is used with
NOW COMING ON TO THE SOUND OF THE VE 6 XControl.
BASS AND SUB BASS-
DARKER SIDE- JONNY LANG- Feel the kick bass drum in just below the vocals- punchy, accurate and enough tight with a slight reverb to add a realism to it. The snares are perfect, accurate and the wonderful extension at the end makes it more natural aka excellent timbre. Cymbals felt more hard like a steel plate being hit not too sharp but having enough energy to it, fast and just had a good thick sound and Hi- Hats were just awesome that you can hear the plates crashing hitting on to each other and having that reverb feel to it, much better to listen to and perfect extension so as to no overtake any other instrument (used Dream Theater-"Pull me under" for last two).. In other words, the Bass is really tight with slow decay, good timbre and really awesome thick tonality. It is voluminous, punchy and good extension in to the upper ends of the bass segment but there is no bleed to mids. Bass notes are thick throughout, its good thick not too thick for my taste. The notes have really the perfect depth, dynamics and imaging of the drum instruments present and for me “It’s really perfect” (compared this is FOCAL CLEAR FOR PLACEMENT OF INSTRUMENTS AND IMAGING).
In another word it’s just too goood in low end ... Still, it’s not bass head level though... Ohh I forgot bass guitars are awesome too. They have excellent timbre and tonality that I haven’t heard in any iem yet (Am I listening to an iem/ a Band Group I forget sometimes haha).
SUBASS- NYCTERIS- HANS ZIMMER AND JAMES NEWTON HOWARD – From 0.30min the simple hits of the synth and the timbre from it is really good. Then the 1:37min the further hits and the slow receding sound makes it awesome song to test your sub-bass and bass atmospheric feel here.
Subbass is great, its well extended to the lower end, has textured feel, has a slower decay and really good dynamics. It’s well defined in the notes from beginning to the end but sometimes the excessive thickness kinda gets mixed with the end. It’s great with above tracks and does have that surrounding feel but not the rumble feeling.
HERE COMES THE ESSENCE OF THE SWITCH- Now bringing the switch towards the front, add a energetic rumble that moves you. It adds a slower decay to the bass and more lingering presence. There is lot of added warmth really nicely done since it doesn’t bleed in to the mids. There is more bass presence here which makes it feel a little bit too much but that rumble led me to choose this haha (Since I am in a good mood to party haha). There are more changes added which is gonna be later on in this review (Patience-bears fruit or learn from DUNU – ZEN
)
MIDS-
VOCALS:-
1) MALE VOCALS-
NOW USING THE SWITCH- This adds more thickness to the vocals and add a good amount of timbre/ reverb to the instruments (especially guitars and piano). On tracks like EARTH SONG- MICHEAL JACKSON- the added warmth in the vocals and the instruments reverb feel really good. The slight forwardness to the vocals also feels really good.
2) FEMALE VOCALS-
SUPER SAIYAN MODE ON (AKA SWITCH ON FOR THOSE WHO DON’T WATCH ANIME)- Just add warmth and power to the vocals that’s what I feel. Its much more forward in presence and the added reverb not just to the voice but also the instruments feel real live music type essence. The trumpets and all feel more realistic and the violin strings add that lingering presence which feel epic.
MIDS- HUNTING GIRL-JETHRO TULL; THE WOLF AND THE MOON-BRUNUHVILLE; BONFIRE HEART-JAMES BLUNT; LA BELLE ISLE-GEORGE DAVIDSON; HOTEL CALIFORNIA (LIVE ON MTV)-EAGLES – These are few of the tracks I tried for testing the mids of this iem. The mids have a forward sound signature and have a thicker presence than any iem I have tried. They are dynamic, well textured, thick and have that beautiful timbre and presence that can fill anyone’s heart.
The lower mids have a higher presence compared to the higher mids and this is well felt from George Davidson’s excellent piano play. Now I won’t say the higher mids are any bad but they feel a tad less thick than the lower mids and have an excellent well detailed texture. The string instruments have excellent timbre and a little slow decay which makes them feel real and guitars especially acoustic guitars benefit from this. The violin is also one where the slow decay makes them feel more realistic. The only thing I miss from this iem is the air in the instruments which portray a sense of space around them. They are well separated nonetheless. This given a BA iem has the BA timbre to them which is not bad in any sense but must be mentioned.
The wind instruments consisting of flute, trumpets etc have a sense of wholeness to them and are not at all sharp and smooth all over. They also show a bit of air when being played but not enough to give them an edge. The overall energy is great but I would have loved to see more energetic presence to the overall signature of the upper mids and lower treble. Notes here are well extended towards the lower treble and have a dynamic feel to them. They have a full-bodied beginning till the end of the notes where they linger for some time and give that definition of presence or atmospheric feel to them. The ends of the notes are also well defined that make this iem super resolving.
TOO BORED HERES ONE WARM EYECANDY
TREBLE-
STEAMBREATHER – MASTODON; CIGARETTES IN THE THEATER - TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB and DO IT AGAIN- STEELY DAN- I use these tracks extensively to test the treble tonal accuracy, positioning, speed and separation.
The treble is really detailed and defined in a smooth manner. The tonality is thick and timbre is excellent . The lower treble is more / less similarly in volume or loudness as upper mids , but there's a clear differentiation between their respective positions with mids being more forward. It though lacks enough airiness to satisfy me but that's going for personal preference. The treble extension is really good extending well into the higher frequencies. The lingering decay though is excellent albeit is a little more than what I prefer. The crispiness of the treble is what's missing I felt like. It needs a bit more energy here. The timbre is excellent and the added reverb really helps to make it feel more energetic. The best thing is that there's no added brightness be it Death metal tracks or even electrifying Rock songs , everything just glides smoothly like butter.
IMAGING, SEPARATION AND RESOLUTION- BUBBLE/ LETTER - YOSHI HORIKAWA AND TOOLS -CHOCOLATE CHIP TRIP- These are excellent tracks to check for checking the cue placement of different things and also the Separation.
The number of times I have looked around to hear the marble balls or the gong in the above tracks just says everything. It has a great placement of instruments and the directional cues for each is very easy to pin point. The separation is also top notch. Each of the gong, the marble hits , the tings and the rest even though all going on at the same time , its really easy to separate them. Even each note separation is nicely brought through. Albeit in some fast tracks especially with multiple instruments in the mids the slower decay kinda made it feel a little more congested. But then this is very rare instance and very few tracks showed this. One such example is Paranoid or 15step - Radiohead .
Resolution of this iem is on another level all together and helps a lot in busy tracks . Every hit , small flurry gets registered and easily heard without even looking for it. Every detail of guitar hits , piano strikes , lips smack etc comes through and makes this one of the most resolving iem I have ever ever tried. Hence making it easier to listen to songs with lower volume too. But this has an side effect you can't use it for longer periods of time, makes you feel fatigued at least I did after 2 hours of continuous listening. But then one should not listen to songs for so long in a continuous manner.
SWITCHING ON TO THE CHEAT MODE- The bass definition in busy bass heavy tracks takes a hit, it becomes a bit bloated for my taste. The texture , detail , imaging etc remains the same but the added warmth takes the treble down a bit too. It doesn't affect it much but it makes a bit less energetic but adds more reverb to compensate. I would stay away from the switch if you would be listening to electronic music with lots of bass and fast paced nature of the track.
STAGE- It's not a very wide iem , not too tall either but the depth perception is pretty good. By any means this is not an narrow iem , it extends just beyond your ears and goes deep near your chin , but the tallness is limited. It's a mid foreword signature iem period .
MOVIE WATCHING EXPERIENCE- This I discovered suddenly when I switched on YouTube too see the BANE escape scene from the plane. The amount of details retrieved with the excellent tonality wew what an amazing experience. What I felt missing was the rumble in the airplane rotors and a holographic feel with the sound surrounding you. The midbass from bomb blasts were excellent and the subass was also really good but still didn't win me over. The voice was very easy to hear and understand too . What an experience all together
. I went on to watch the entire movie (Hence the small paragraph here, in this review).
COMPARISONS-
VS UM MEST MEST MKII
PROS OF VE6XC-
PROS OF MEST MKII-
VERDICT- This is a really musical iem with excellent details, resolution and imaging. The amount of notes thickness and ability to run off any source is a plus in my book. But the addition of the switch is a choice to make it more warm and thick , which is sometimes good and sometimes not great. I really love this iem and given if I haven’t heard many similarly priced iems this is the one of the best I have heard.
If you love thick tonality, slow punchy bass, great timbre, a mid-forwards presentation and can manage with a little small soundstage this iem is for you.
Now why just a 4.5/5- Cable, price and the tips is something VE needs to work upon.
DISCLAIMER- Today I am getting to review the VE 6XC- Vision Ears 6 X-control. This has been provided to me by Vision Ears in exchange for my honest opinion for which I am grateful to both Vision Ears, Amin Karimpour and @suman134 for including me in this tour.
VE 6XC- Vision Ears 6 X-control (Wish I could write this in purple)
VE 6XC- It encompasses two different iems all together with a switch on its faceplate. Its two different iems VE 6X1 and X2 in one iem (A proverb here- “One arrow two targets”) and for the first time for me, the switch makes a good enough difference between two sound signatures.
TECHNICAL DATA-
Driver count of Six balanced-armature drivers- 2 x Bass; 2 x Mids; 1 x High Mids; 1 x Highs
Impedance: 20Ω @ 1kHz
Sensitivity: 122dB @ 1mW
A SWITCH - Two switchable signatures via the XControl switch system (X1 and X2)
PRICE- 1750- € for universal and 1950 € for custom.
UNBOXING EXPERIENCE-
Now given the price of this iem and the atrocious Indian customs (which we still had to pay) this was sent in a small packet and a M size Spinfit tips.
On opening the packet, I am greeted with carry case- written VE all on top of it and Zip puller with wonderful rubber VE written on it.
Opening the carry case -
A beautiful looking IEM which has Purple Vinyl faceplate filled with those golden and purple small foils or something really small pieces of painted aluminium (seems like purple looks like a fav colour of VE, I like purple too MY PC CASE has purple lights ha-ha).
Attached is a thin 4 strand black plastic coated 3.5mm cable and a black stock ear tips of M size.
Inside the case- I also found a pair of M size Spinfit ear tips.( forgot the pic
)BUILD & FIT-
The iem seems to be built of a bluish tinted transparent acrylic shell with the lovely golden and purple foil filled Vinyl face plate.
All the BA drivers can be seen through easily and No R/L written on the iem. The manufacturing date is written on the IEM – IN RED ON RIGHT IEM AND IN WHITE ON LEFT IEM denoting R and L iem. The attention to detail is so mind blowing; wow!!
Weight of the iem- It is really non-existent. Its light as a feather. There’s a switch on the front of face plate and really satisfying click when switching on the iem.
Nozzle- Its 0.9cm long from the body and has a diameter of 0.6cm. It has no grill and has a two-hole design. It has those machined cut marks on the nozzle head really adds to the reality of the iem.
Connectors- Now these are two pin connectors but these are so tight that I could not open them at all haha. Hair dryer did not do the trick too. I don’t want to break them so did not use any force at all (May the Force be with you- You will need it to remove the 2pin connectors
).
Coming on to the cable- The cable is 4 strand, black soft plastic-coated ending on a 3.5mm connector. The cable is soft, non-microphonic and really vanishes with the iem (has the weight of hair haha). The connectors are 2pin and have a small red circle and a small blue circle on either of them to indicate right side and left sides connectors respectively.
Now the cable is all good but given the price of this iem, I would want a little thicker cable that would add a certain degree of confidence and yes a easy to open 2pin connector haha.
FIT- Now this iem had kinda avg fit for my small-medium size ears. I achieved perfect fit with using M sized tips but somehow was not comfortable for my ears. I could wear it for only 1-2 hours max and then my ears would ache.
Since they got CIEM version I would highly suggest to go for it.
POWAH REQUIRED- Even if you blow on it, it will play music haha
. Its really easy to drive even phones are sufficient to drive it easily.NOTE- This IEM is used with
- N6ii and T01 module for portable on chair listening experience for the most part of the review.
- On desktop- D50 and A30s (Burson V5i D) and N6ii with A30s and Burson playmate 2 has been used.
- Sometimes LG G8x as phone source.
- With soft stock tips of SHOZY POLA and BGVP E01 and W01 Tips and reverse KZ starline. The best for me was Reverse KZ starline and W01 tips. Spinfits did not fit me with this iem well enough.
NOW COMING ON TO THE SOUND OF THE VE 6 XControl.
BASS AND SUB BASS-
DARKER SIDE- JONNY LANG- Feel the kick bass drum in just below the vocals- punchy, accurate and enough tight with a slight reverb to add a realism to it. The snares are perfect, accurate and the wonderful extension at the end makes it more natural aka excellent timbre. Cymbals felt more hard like a steel plate being hit not too sharp but having enough energy to it, fast and just had a good thick sound and Hi- Hats were just awesome that you can hear the plates crashing hitting on to each other and having that reverb feel to it, much better to listen to and perfect extension so as to no overtake any other instrument (used Dream Theater-"Pull me under" for last two).. In other words, the Bass is really tight with slow decay, good timbre and really awesome thick tonality. It is voluminous, punchy and good extension in to the upper ends of the bass segment but there is no bleed to mids. Bass notes are thick throughout, its good thick not too thick for my taste. The notes have really the perfect depth, dynamics and imaging of the drum instruments present and for me “It’s really perfect” (compared this is FOCAL CLEAR FOR PLACEMENT OF INSTRUMENTS AND IMAGING).
In another word it’s just too goood in low end ... Still, it’s not bass head level though... Ohh I forgot bass guitars are awesome too. They have excellent timbre and tonality that I haven’t heard in any iem yet (Am I listening to an iem/ a Band Group I forget sometimes haha).
SUBASS- NYCTERIS- HANS ZIMMER AND JAMES NEWTON HOWARD – From 0.30min the simple hits of the synth and the timbre from it is really good. Then the 1:37min the further hits and the slow receding sound makes it awesome song to test your sub-bass and bass atmospheric feel here.
Subbass is great, its well extended to the lower end, has textured feel, has a slower decay and really good dynamics. It’s well defined in the notes from beginning to the end but sometimes the excessive thickness kinda gets mixed with the end. It’s great with above tracks and does have that surrounding feel but not the rumble feeling.
HERE COMES THE ESSENCE OF THE SWITCH- Now bringing the switch towards the front, add a energetic rumble that moves you. It adds a slower decay to the bass and more lingering presence. There is lot of added warmth really nicely done since it doesn’t bleed in to the mids. There is more bass presence here which makes it feel a little bit too much but that rumble led me to choose this haha (Since I am in a good mood to party haha). There are more changes added which is gonna be later on in this review (Patience-bears fruit or learn from DUNU – ZEN
)MIDS-
VOCALS:-
1) MALE VOCALS-
- 1) FLY ME TO THE MOON !!- FRANK SINATRA (I am waiting to go to MARS before I die, GO DO IT ELON HEHE) -The starting drums and then the voice coming suddenly from 0:08min, feel the clarity and presence of his voice with the little roughness. It’s really thick like how would hear Frank on the stage. It carries the thickness from the start of his voice to the end with slight extension when he ends it. It feels so textured that it can be felt when the IEM (aka Frank says) to your ear “I Love You”. But the trumpets and other instruments that come up from 0.57min don’t affect the vocals at all, the vocals are still shining through with enough presence and separation, Enjoy the rest of the song its great without any vocals till 1:42 min..
- 2) WHIRLWIND - SAM RYDER- This vocalist has a less thick voice but more extension. More air in his voice and the accompanying bass really adds to the essence of the song and also shows that the bass is really nicely separated form the mids. The thicker presence of the vocals really helps in producing the emotions of the vocals. The extension he creates while saying “WHIRRRRRRRRRLLLLWIND” really sounds great and his soul comes through there. Something to note here is there’s no sibilance with the s or other consonants. What I would love here is more air in his voice which I kinda missed that I felt on the speakers and Focal clear but this is being preference now rather than being a disadvantage.
NOW USING THE SWITCH- This adds more thickness to the vocals and add a good amount of timbre/ reverb to the instruments (especially guitars and piano). On tracks like EARTH SONG- MICHEAL JACKSON- the added warmth in the vocals and the instruments reverb feel really good. The slight forwardness to the vocals also feels really good.
2) FEMALE VOCALS-
- SKYFALL-ADELE – A Fav of mine, the excellent reverb that you hear in her voice starting at 0.32 min, with the piano in the mid-right side makes me a fan of this iem. The texture in her voice, the balance of the words and the slight roughness in here voice is all felt and runs through your heart like an arrow. The sudden thickness that she imparts is voluminously felt in this iem and this feels really great. Add the drum plate slow strikes with the sticks on the beginning changing to right side from left at 0.58min and also the instrument at left side (can’t recognize it though XD) and then the whole song hits with all the instruments, WOW!! What a feel, I forgot to even analyse the voice haha (This has happened 4 times now). The change in the pitch of the voice is imparted with precision and felt wonderful and so easy to listen to that I loved it. The whole time I was able to hear all instruments with enough separation from the vocals-WOW JUST WOW !! I am a fan of this iem ...Now I did feel a teeny meeny bit of sibilance in her voice but given the recording I would love to hear this sibilance for more realty feel rather than not having to feel it.
- Now to check sibilance I bring this next song – MIDNIGHT AT THE OASIS-RENEE OLSTEAD- This vocalist has really sibilant voice but really lean and beautiful voice. This shows that even some of my iems that I thought which had no sibilance, has some sss to them. This iem has similar sibilance to my focal clear so I think this much is enough to add a certain type of realism to the song. The airiness of the voice is easily felt here and more in line of how much I like it.
SUPER SAIYAN MODE ON (AKA SWITCH ON FOR THOSE WHO DON’T WATCH ANIME)- Just add warmth and power to the vocals that’s what I feel. Its much more forward in presence and the added reverb not just to the voice but also the instruments feel real live music type essence. The trumpets and all feel more realistic and the violin strings add that lingering presence which feel epic.
MIDS- HUNTING GIRL-JETHRO TULL; THE WOLF AND THE MOON-BRUNUHVILLE; BONFIRE HEART-JAMES BLUNT; LA BELLE ISLE-GEORGE DAVIDSON; HOTEL CALIFORNIA (LIVE ON MTV)-EAGLES – These are few of the tracks I tried for testing the mids of this iem. The mids have a forward sound signature and have a thicker presence than any iem I have tried. They are dynamic, well textured, thick and have that beautiful timbre and presence that can fill anyone’s heart.
The lower mids have a higher presence compared to the higher mids and this is well felt from George Davidson’s excellent piano play. Now I won’t say the higher mids are any bad but they feel a tad less thick than the lower mids and have an excellent well detailed texture. The string instruments have excellent timbre and a little slow decay which makes them feel real and guitars especially acoustic guitars benefit from this. The violin is also one where the slow decay makes them feel more realistic. The only thing I miss from this iem is the air in the instruments which portray a sense of space around them. They are well separated nonetheless. This given a BA iem has the BA timbre to them which is not bad in any sense but must be mentioned.
The wind instruments consisting of flute, trumpets etc have a sense of wholeness to them and are not at all sharp and smooth all over. They also show a bit of air when being played but not enough to give them an edge. The overall energy is great but I would have loved to see more energetic presence to the overall signature of the upper mids and lower treble. Notes here are well extended towards the lower treble and have a dynamic feel to them. They have a full-bodied beginning till the end of the notes where they linger for some time and give that definition of presence or atmospheric feel to them. The ends of the notes are also well defined that make this iem super resolving.
TOO BORED HERES ONE WARM EYECANDY
TREBLE-
STEAMBREATHER – MASTODON; CIGARETTES IN THE THEATER - TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB and DO IT AGAIN- STEELY DAN- I use these tracks extensively to test the treble tonal accuracy, positioning, speed and separation.
The treble is really detailed and defined in a smooth manner. The tonality is thick and timbre is excellent . The lower treble is more / less similarly in volume or loudness as upper mids , but there's a clear differentiation between their respective positions with mids being more forward. It though lacks enough airiness to satisfy me but that's going for personal preference. The treble extension is really good extending well into the higher frequencies. The lingering decay though is excellent albeit is a little more than what I prefer. The crispiness of the treble is what's missing I felt like. It needs a bit more energy here. The timbre is excellent and the added reverb really helps to make it feel more energetic. The best thing is that there's no added brightness be it Death metal tracks or even electrifying Rock songs , everything just glides smoothly like butter.
IMAGING, SEPARATION AND RESOLUTION- BUBBLE/ LETTER - YOSHI HORIKAWA AND TOOLS -CHOCOLATE CHIP TRIP- These are excellent tracks to check for checking the cue placement of different things and also the Separation.
The number of times I have looked around to hear the marble balls or the gong in the above tracks just says everything. It has a great placement of instruments and the directional cues for each is very easy to pin point. The separation is also top notch. Each of the gong, the marble hits , the tings and the rest even though all going on at the same time , its really easy to separate them. Even each note separation is nicely brought through. Albeit in some fast tracks especially with multiple instruments in the mids the slower decay kinda made it feel a little more congested. But then this is very rare instance and very few tracks showed this. One such example is Paranoid or 15step - Radiohead .
Resolution of this iem is on another level all together and helps a lot in busy tracks . Every hit , small flurry gets registered and easily heard without even looking for it. Every detail of guitar hits , piano strikes , lips smack etc comes through and makes this one of the most resolving iem I have ever ever tried. Hence making it easier to listen to songs with lower volume too. But this has an side effect you can't use it for longer periods of time, makes you feel fatigued at least I did after 2 hours of continuous listening. But then one should not listen to songs for so long in a continuous manner
.SWITCHING ON TO THE CHEAT MODE- The bass definition in busy bass heavy tracks takes a hit, it becomes a bit bloated for my taste. The texture , detail , imaging etc remains the same but the added warmth takes the treble down a bit too. It doesn't affect it much but it makes a bit less energetic but adds more reverb to compensate. I would stay away from the switch if you would be listening to electronic music with lots of bass and fast paced nature of the track.
STAGE- It's not a very wide iem , not too tall either but the depth perception is pretty good. By any means this is not an narrow iem , it extends just beyond your ears and goes deep near your chin , but the tallness is limited. It's a mid foreword signature iem period .
MOVIE WATCHING EXPERIENCE- This I discovered suddenly when I switched on YouTube too see the BANE escape scene from the plane. The amount of details retrieved with the excellent tonality wew what an amazing experience. What I felt missing was the rumble in the airplane rotors and a holographic feel with the sound surrounding you. The midbass from bomb blasts were excellent and the subass was also really good but still didn't win me over. The voice was very easy to hear and understand too . What an experience all together
. I went on to watch the entire movie (Hence the small paragraph here, in this review).COMPARISONS-
VS UM MEST MEST MKII
PROS OF VE6XC-
- THICK TONALITY
- WIDER AND DEEPER SOUNDSTAGE
- GREAT BA TIMBRE
- SWITCH ADDS FLAVOR
- VOCALS ARE LUSH
- BETTER DYNAMIC FEEL
- SMOOTH TREBLE
- LESS SIBLIANT IN COMPARISON
PROS OF MEST MKII-
- TALLER SOUNDSTAGE
- BETTER SUBBASS
- MIDBASS MORE PUNCHY
- MORE AIRY
- MORE ENERGETIC TREBLE
- BETTER FIT FOR ME
VERDICT- This is a really musical iem with excellent details, resolution and imaging. The amount of notes thickness and ability to run off any source is a plus in my book. But the addition of the switch is a choice to make it more warm and thick , which is sometimes good and sometimes not great. I really love this iem and given if I haven’t heard many similarly priced iems this is the one of the best I have heard.
If you love thick tonality, slow punchy bass, great timbre, a mid-forwards presentation and can manage with a little small soundstage this iem is for you.
Now why just a 4.5/5- Cable, price and the tips is something VE needs to work upon.
Attachments
eclein
Thanks for the review but honestly the price is ridiculous. I find pricing lately way to high from so many companies, 6 BA’s with a switch for over 2K USD is not close to reasonable to me but I could be wrong, thanks again for your thoughts!
SHOOTINGTECHIE
Pricing has gone way too high , with tech becoming better I thought this would decrease the pricing , but alas to no avail , hopefully VE finds a way 
, I have high hopes for them
, I have high hopes for them
BURSON AUDIO- Founded by a small team of audio engineers over 20 years ago, Burson Audio is based in Melbourne, Australia. They design benchmark setting audio equipment and premium quality audio design building blocks for fellow audio enthusiasts and manufacturing partners alike.
Today they are well known for their Party series- Class A Dac-amp – Burson Playmate 1, their Reference series , Performance series and their discrete OPAMPS ( The V series of OPAMPS).
Given I use their V5i Dual OPAMPS on my A30s amp and having seen the difference it makes, I am really excited to review this Party series DAC AMP, the second version of burson play mate -Theeeeeeee Bursonnnnnn Play mateeeeee 2 (really tried to say it the way how WWE host announces the wrestlers haha ).
DISCLAIMER- THIS UNIT IS PROVIDED TO ME BY BURSON AUDIO IN EXCHANGE FOR MY HONEST OPINION AND I AM HONORED FOR THIS OPPURTUNITY.
SPECS-
Class A operation With SABRE32/ESS9038Q2M DAC, XMOS USB Input and supports native DSD upto 512.
Power is-
Headphone jack POWAH SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO SEPARATION
16 Ohm 3.5W 96db 99%
32 Ohm 2.5W 97db 99%
100 Ohm 600mW 98db 99%
150 Ohm 400mW 96db 99%
300 Ohm 150mW 95db 99.50%
Unboxing experience
It’s a pretty heft box weighing at around 2.625kg.
On opening the box, you are greeted with a foam of how to use the power brick to switch on the DAC-AMP. On removing this we see the MC of the show the playmate 2 in a big aluminum chassis with a beautiful silver colour on one half side and grey colour on the other half side..
Nothing else whattt !! Wait there’s another small box hidden nicely at the back written in full glory Burson Audio.. check above pic
Inside this, I found –
Now on the very last 2 days of this review I found a small red box inside the brown packaging and had no idea that something was there. I was abacked to see two V6 vivid dual in sealed box just sitting there waiting to be unleashed , Burson you should give a headsup if you add such surprises inside the box
NOTE- The review is against my OLD D50 and A30s (Modded with V5i D) and N6ii with A30s as my setup.
BUILD- This thing is enough to last World War 3 and come out with a may be a few scratches. It is built of machined aluminium or stainless steel in a heatsink design to dissipate more heat. I think its made up of 4 pieces of machined aluminium – The front, The back and two 2 pieces of top and bottom half.
The front has-
I was a little sad that other input options were not available but since I use either TOSLINK or USB its fine for me and I would have loved to see this with balanced output for HPs but alas next time …
Next time I would like to see even Bluetooth added as a functionality since I could not figure why leave it at this price point...
Now coming on to the characteristics of the BURSON PLAYMATE 2
BASS AND SUBBASS- Songs used are :-
Coming to the second song , especially focusing on the Bass here , wow the eerie music with the simple rumble of the bass ohh my , this depicts a really good presentation of how it should sound like if you are listening in a studio. The midbass here has a good decay, maybe a tad bit more would be my preference for that room surrounding feel that I feel with my N6ii and A30s. There isn't any midbass bleed if that’s what you are worried about. The Subbass rumble though hits a nice point , its not overly done but has a faster decay , a little more would have been perfect but that’s what I like and its entirely subjective and nitpicking at this moment.
MIDS- VOCALS-
MALE VOCALS- RESOLUTION – MATT CORBY- The male vocals here is wonderful. Here the singer is right on the mic and singing with the instruments surrounding him.
The Male vocals on the play mate2 is lean but not mean , not a hint of sibilance, even with my Sundara it seemed less bright haha which with a ESS DAC, I wasn’t expecting. The Male vocals have a certain texture to them and continue in the same pitch from beginning to the very end excepting where they are extending the ends. It has an air around it which you could feel for sure. Its feels more controlled here though , like something is holding it back from extending even more when compared to N6ii with T01 module. But a little more thickness that I felt from using the N6ii is what I would prefer. But compared to my desktop Dac D50 and amp A30s combo this is way better with the more controlled nature yet extending beyond the ends of the notes.
FEMALE VOCALS-
Now coming on to the amp - Really good presentation , they have an real air around them which makes them more realistic. It's a bit on leaner side but the emotions still come through. The notes reach a little higher throughout and gives a better presentation of the high pitch voice in females. Texture is really good. Would I like it more thicker here , yeah and no
. For female vocals this might be just up my alley. I just love it.
MIDS -
This DAC-AMP is wonderful. All the instruments have an excellent tonality that made me think what was I listening to
. The amount of timbre is a little less than my preference but man it's like 90% of what my N6ii does ( that's a 1200$ DAP). But the amount of air this thing moves with each string pull of the guitar and violin is more than real , you really feel the reverb in case of acoustic guitars. The violin strikes hit right at your heart. Each string instruments benefit at providing that excellent strike then slowly receding feeling with a lingering reverb that just hits the right spot in my brain . The piano strokes are excellent , the have the same thickness and separation right from the beginning to the end of each note. But I would loved a bit more thickness from the piano strokes , they seemed a little less thick for my taste. The air moving instruments like trumpets , flute etc. has a nature of them that made them feel musical, yet get raw enough to know that it's being blown into for the effective sound it makes. More energy here especially the trumpets would have made it more awesome but then it might make it sharp for others.
TREBLE -
STEAMBREATHER - MASTODON , CIGARETTES IN THE THEATER - TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB and DO IT AGAIN- STEELY DAN- I use these tracks extensively to test the treble tonal accuracy, positioning, speed and separation.
This was way beyond what I thought, the excellent details and the tonality even with the fast paced music is damn accurate and not a single note is missed. The texture , the dynamics and the timbre is not lost at all . The timbre was a little less for me but the faster decay of this really helped to pave way thought such busy tracks. I would have liked a little more thickeness while some would want some energy here , for me I am happy with this much.
IMAGING ,SEPARATION ,STAGE AND RESOLUTION - YOSHI HORIKAWA - BUBBLES AND KANEDA - GEINOH YAMASHIROGUMI.
The imaging is as expected wide and accurate like a DD driver. Even the subtle sounds have a place that is well seen or felt in the direction from where it is coming from. There's no grouping of instruments but they have a definite place in the stage.
The separation is out of this world . Forget the instrument separation, even the damn notes have separation and air that makes them feel distinct. I would just like to say it's way beyond my expectations.
Staging- on the X axis - It makes everything really wide even with my iems, I felt this feeling, like wow it's makes the stage really big
On the Y axis -
There's definitely a cue placement change of instruments that makes them feel more different from others. The have now a parabolic feel infront of the listener and more better differentiation felt between instruments placed on slightly infront of you to something placed far infront of you.
RESOLUTION-The resolution is pretty great for its price. The every nuance is really felt and heard properly but an effort has to be given for the same. N6ii has better resolution than this .
POWAH PROVIDED -This thing is sufficient powerful to even run the 300 ohm HPs with ease.
My A30s is like half of this thing power at 16 ohm.
My Sundara and focal clear are like nothing for this amp , high gain vol 30 is sufficient for me on my Sundara which is the hardest to drive HP that I own.
I did not hear any noise with my HPs or iems like UM Mest 2 , Shozy pola or even the VE Ve6xc. It's dead silent all the way.
MODDING-
Now how to check the orientation while changing the opamps, I have described in my previous post please check here or you can even use the manual here
Using discrete opamps against the Ne5532D in the I/V Stage Dual OPAMPS X2
Using V5D - changes that I felt - Better dynamics , Better/ nearly equal clarity , Treble energy increased , More lean bass , More taller Soundstage, a little more musical
Using V6 vivid dual - changes that I felt - Better dynamics , Musical and sparkly treble , A slightly increased punch in bass , More taller and wider soundstage , more musical presentation.
Comparisons- Between My topping D50 and A30s
Pros of Playmate 2 - Staging , Separation , Bass definition , Subbass , Treble airyness , Nearly equal energy , Resolution tiny bit better , powahh
Cons of Playmate 2 - Less tall , Less timbre , lean vocals and mids
Between N6ii with T01 module / A30s (burson v5i D)
Pros of Playmate 2- Stage , Separation nearly equal , Powah
Cons of Playmate2- Resolution, height , thickness of vocals , mids and dynamics , less timbre
Summary - This is an neutral, slightly musical DAC - AMP with class A power and at the price it's being sold for, at its a steal deal. The option of easily modding the opamps to change the sound is a really easy and imo worth the money . I would highly suggest to use the v6 vivid if there's an option to add it or get the V5D otherwise, (since they are cheaper) as they are quite near to each other.
Though - Why 4/5- The Addition of OPAMPS are a nice touch but they add extra cost, No Bluetooth and No balanced output or Other input options And they cost 544$-744$
Today they are well known for their Party series- Class A Dac-amp – Burson Playmate 1, their Reference series , Performance series and their discrete OPAMPS ( The V series of OPAMPS).
Given I use their V5i Dual OPAMPS on my A30s amp and having seen the difference it makes, I am really excited to review this Party series DAC AMP, the second version of burson play mate -Theeeeeeee Bursonnnnnn Play mateeeeee 2 (really tried to say it the way how WWE host announces the wrestlers haha
).DISCLAIMER- THIS UNIT IS PROVIDED TO ME BY BURSON AUDIO IN EXCHANGE FOR MY HONEST OPINION AND I AM HONORED FOR THIS OPPURTUNITY.
SPECS-
Class A operation With SABRE32/ESS9038Q2M DAC, XMOS USB Input and supports native DSD upto 512.
Power is-
Headphone jack POWAH SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO SEPARATION
16 Ohm 3.5W 96db 99%
32 Ohm 2.5W 97db 99%
100 Ohm 600mW 98db 99%
150 Ohm 400mW 96db 99%
300 Ohm 150mW 95db 99.50%
Unboxing experience
It’s a pretty heft box weighing at around 2.625kg.
On opening the box, you are greeted with a foam of how to use the power brick to switch on the DAC-AMP. On removing this we see the MC of the show the playmate 2 in a big aluminum chassis with a beautiful silver colour on one half side and grey colour on the other half side..
Nothing else whattt !! Wait there’s another small box hidden nicely at the back written in full glory Burson Audio.. check above pic
Inside this, I found –
- The Power brick and the connector for Indian power plug (will vary upon different region) ;
- A 3.5male to mic and 3.5mm female adapter ( airline adapter like) and
- a hex tool to remove screws when you wanna open this baby up for OPAMP modding/Switching and I will highly recommend it ;
- and a small fuse
- A USB type C to C cable for user who wanna use this with Phone/Iphone/DAP…(forgot to take pic )
Now on the very last 2 days of this review I found a small red box inside the brown packaging and had no idea that something was there. I was abacked to see two V6 vivid dual in sealed box just sitting there waiting to be unleashed
, Burson you should give a headsup if you add such surprises inside the box
NOTE- The review is against my OLD D50 and A30s (Modded with V5i D) and N6ii with A30s as my setup.
BUILD- This thing is enough to last World War 3 and come out with a may be a few scratches. It is built of machined aluminium or stainless steel in a heatsink design to dissipate more heat. I think its made up of 4 pieces of machined aluminium – The front, The back and two 2 pieces of top and bottom half.
The front has-
- One is power button and the other is menu button.
- A never stopping revolving volume dial which is also a button if you press on it
- A tiny non intrusive blue LED that shows when it’s on or off .
- This also has a lower resolution display but the FONT is big enough that it wont be a problem for anyone.
- And another blank dark spot probably which houses the IR receiver for the remote.
- A USB C connector with XMOS chip handling the USB input
- Two RCA output
- One TOSLINK connector
- And A Power pin connector
I was a little sad that other input options were not available but since I use either TOSLINK or USB its fine for me and I would have loved to see this with balanced output for HPs but alas next time …
Next time I would like to see even Bluetooth added as a functionality since I could not figure why leave it at this price point...
Now coming on to the characteristics of the BURSON PLAYMATE 2
BASS AND SUBBASS- Songs used are :-
- BOTTOM OF THE RIVER-DELTA RAE- Watch the big drum hits from 0.19mins
- NYCTERS -HANS ZIMMER AND JAMES NEWTON HOWARD – From 0.30min the simple hits of the synth and the timbre from it is really good. Then the 1:37min the further hits and the slow receding sound makes it awesome song to test your subbass and bass.
Coming to the second song , especially focusing on the Bass here , wow the eerie music with the simple rumble of the bass ohh my , this depicts a really good presentation of how it should sound like if you are listening in a studio. The midbass here has a good decay, maybe a tad bit more would be my preference for that room surrounding feel that I feel with my N6ii and A30s. There isn't any midbass bleed if that’s what you are worried about. The Subbass rumble though hits a nice point , its not overly done but has a faster decay , a little more would have been perfect but that’s what I like and its entirely subjective and nitpicking at this moment.
MIDS- VOCALS-
MALE VOCALS- RESOLUTION – MATT CORBY- The male vocals here is wonderful. Here the singer is right on the mic and singing with the instruments surrounding him.
The Male vocals on the play mate2 is lean but not mean , not a hint of sibilance, even with my Sundara it seemed less bright haha which with a ESS DAC, I wasn’t expecting. The Male vocals have a certain texture to them and continue in the same pitch from beginning to the very end excepting where they are extending the ends. It has an air around it which you could feel for sure. Its feels more controlled here though , like something is holding it back from extending even more when compared to N6ii with T01 module. But a little more thickness that I felt from using the N6ii is what I would prefer. But compared to my desktop Dac D50 and amp A30s combo this is way better with the more controlled nature yet extending beyond the ends of the notes.
FEMALE VOCALS-
- ENOUGH FOR YOU- OLIVIA RODRIGO - Her voice is a wonderful , the slight sss at the ends and her breath in between will be a really good way to compare.
- I EAT BOYS - CHLOE MORIONDO - Now here we find the difference between the vocalist above and the here ,it's more balanced , controlled less ssss and less breaks..
Now coming on to the amp - Really good presentation , they have an real air around them which makes them more realistic. It's a bit on leaner side but the emotions still come through. The notes reach a little higher throughout and gives a better presentation of the high pitch voice in females. Texture is really good. Would I like it more thicker here , yeah and no
. For female vocals this might be just up my alley. I just love it.MIDS -
- WRITING'S ON THE WALL- SAM SMITH - The lovely amalgam of music mostly piano , violin and Guitar and occasional trumpets etc make this an awesome track to go for ..
- BONFIRE HEART- JAMES BLUNT - The awesome bass , with the guitar going on and then the chorus in between and some instrument going on both sides that I can't define makes this a good way to find the separation on the mids..
This DAC-AMP is wonderful. All the instruments have an excellent tonality that made me think what was I listening to
. The amount of timbre is a little less than my preference but man it's like 90% of what my N6ii does ( that's a 1200$ DAP). But the amount of air this thing moves with each string pull of the guitar and violin is more than real , you really feel the reverb in case of acoustic guitars. The violin strikes hit right at your heart. Each string instruments benefit at providing that excellent strike then slowly receding feeling with a lingering reverb that just hits the right spot in my brain . The piano strokes are excellent , the have the same thickness and separation right from the beginning to the end of each note. But I would loved a bit more thickness from the piano strokes , they seemed a little less thick for my taste. The air moving instruments like trumpets , flute etc. has a nature of them that made them feel musical, yet get raw enough to know that it's being blown into for the effective sound it makes. More energy here especially the trumpets would have made it more awesome but then it might make it sharp for others.TREBLE -
STEAMBREATHER - MASTODON , CIGARETTES IN THE THEATER - TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB and DO IT AGAIN- STEELY DAN- I use these tracks extensively to test the treble tonal accuracy, positioning, speed and separation.
This was way beyond what I thought, the excellent details and the tonality even with the fast paced music is damn accurate and not a single note is missed. The texture , the dynamics and the timbre is not lost at all . The timbre was a little less for me but the faster decay of this really helped to pave way thought such busy tracks. I would have liked a little more thickeness while some would want some energy here , for me I am happy with this much
.IMAGING ,SEPARATION ,STAGE AND RESOLUTION - YOSHI HORIKAWA - BUBBLES AND KANEDA - GEINOH YAMASHIROGUMI.
The imaging is as expected wide and accurate like a DD driver. Even the subtle sounds have a place that is well seen or felt in the direction from where it is coming from. There's no grouping of instruments but they have a definite place in the stage.
The separation is out of this world . Forget the instrument separation, even the damn notes have separation and air that makes them feel distinct. I would just like to say it's way beyond my expectations.
Staging- on the X axis - It makes everything really wide even with my iems, I felt this feeling, like wow it's makes the stage really big
On the Y axis -
- Height - Height is more than average but not too great
- Depth - Now this is something different , there is a good amount of depth added to the dynamics of the instruments especially the kick drum. They have now a more deeper 3D presentation. Now for those iems or HP (like Sundara) which has a like 2D presentation , you won't find added depth though.
There's definitely a cue placement change of instruments that makes them feel more different from others. The have now a parabolic feel infront of the listener and more better differentiation felt between instruments placed on slightly infront of you to something placed far infront of you.
RESOLUTION-The resolution is pretty great for its price. The every nuance is really felt and heard properly but an effort has to be given for the same. N6ii has better resolution than this .
POWAH PROVIDED -This thing is sufficient powerful to even run the 300 ohm HPs with ease.
My A30s is like half of this thing power at 16 ohm.
My Sundara and focal clear are like nothing for this amp , high gain vol 30 is sufficient for me on my Sundara which is the hardest to drive HP that I own.
I did not hear any noise with my HPs or iems like UM Mest 2 , Shozy pola or even the VE Ve6xc. It's dead silent all the way.
MODDING-
Now how to check the orientation while changing the opamps, I have described in my previous post please check here or you can even use the manual here
Using discrete opamps against the Ne5532D in the I/V Stage Dual OPAMPS X2
Using V5D - changes that I felt - Better dynamics , Better/ nearly equal clarity , Treble energy increased , More lean bass , More taller Soundstage, a little more musical
Using V6 vivid dual - changes that I felt - Better dynamics , Musical and sparkly treble , A slightly increased punch in bass , More taller and wider soundstage , more musical presentation.
Comparisons- Between My topping D50 and A30s
Pros of Playmate 2 - Staging , Separation , Bass definition , Subbass , Treble airyness , Nearly equal energy , Resolution tiny bit better , powahh
Cons of Playmate 2 - Less tall , Less timbre , lean vocals and mids
Between N6ii with T01 module / A30s (burson v5i D)
Pros of Playmate 2- Stage , Separation nearly equal , Powah
Cons of Playmate2- Resolution, height , thickness of vocals , mids and dynamics , less timbre
Summary - This is an neutral, slightly musical DAC - AMP with class A power and at the price it's being sold for, at its a steal deal. The option of easily modding the opamps to change the sound is a really easy and imo worth the money . I would highly suggest to use the v6 vivid if there's an option to add it or get the V5D otherwise, (since they are cheaper) as they are quite near to each other.
Though - Why 4/5- The Addition of OPAMPS are a nice touch but they add extra cost, No Bluetooth and No balanced output or Other input options And they cost 544$-744$
Sennheiser is a German privately held audio company founded in 1945, specializing in the design and production of a wide range of high-fidelity products, including microphones, headphones, telephone accessories and aviation headsets for personal, professional and business applications. Its famous for their impressive line of Headphones like HD6 series and HD800s. For me they have a special place in my heart since it’s their HD558 Headphone that started me on my audiophile journey. I have never heard any Sennheiser IEMs except the cheap ones so this is my foray into their iems segment.
So today I will be reviewing the Sennheiser IE300 a single DD iem with their proprietary DD driver. It has a impedance of 16ohm and a sensitivity of 124 dB (1 kHz / 1 Vrms).
Disclaimer : The unit was provided to me by Sennheiser India as a part of review tour in exchange for my honest opinion and i am very grateful for this opportunity. You can buy the Sennheiser IE300 here...
UNBOXING EXPERIENCE
Let’s begin from the packaging and as well all know from the headphone segment of Sennheiser, this is usually not a great experience except Massdrop HD6xx and 58x(Now they are just-DROP) and now probably the HD8xx. But this time it’s Different!!! The unboxing was really good, I was expecting just a cardboard box
It comes in a decent phone like package which slides out slowly like an ice cream melting from the cone YUMMY. Inside we find the Iems in their bed waiting to be awoken and a cable attached to them slowly receding into another box. Inside the other box, oh my ,
Now coming on to the accessories-
BUILD OF THE IEMS AND THE CABLE
1) Cable- The terminations-
2) IEM- now the iem is made out of plastic but wow Sennheiser even with their plastic built feels so solid that I could run a jeep on it easily and it would survive (please don’t do that LOL). But somehow with this shape Sennheiser has cracked the code of comfort, it just vanishes once its inside the ear. This is by far the most comfortable iem I have ever tested period. I love the black colour and few sprinkles of multiple colours dots, this makes it really beautiful..
NOTE- 1) My testing equipment- N6ii with T01 module, BTR5 and LG G8x on the portable side
Topping D50 and topping A30s (modded with burson v5i) on desktop side.
2) Ear tips used - Since the stock ear tips did not give me a good fit and they had foam in them (somehow which made the iems too much bassy and less wider) , I changed to BGVP E01 tips and Azla Sedna Xelastic tips.
3) These are my subjective opinions so your mileage may vary.
POWAHHH REQUIREMENT
- This having a sensitivity of 124db and impedance of 16ohm , even my LG g8x was enough but I did run it through N6ii for most of my review and then with my desktop stack again to see if any changes comes, it didn’t so this is a easily drivable iem. Pick your source weapon haha !!
Let’s jump on to the sound analysis-
1) OVERALL SOUND SIGNATURE- With stock eartips- Its a V shaped FUN and WARM sound signature. With the stock tips its a V shaped signature with mids being too recessed for my preference and too much mid bass which seemed artificially enhanced and the timbre was a little off and also the Treble seemed artificial. Tonality wise it accurate like a kingfisher.
With AZLA Sedna Xelastic / BGVP E01 tips- The mids come back to life , not too far away now and the vocals have regained a sense of energy unlike the stock tips where they felt a little mean and dry in comparison. The midbass becomes more controlled and treble seems less artificial now. The Iem becomes wider with these tips but this is very minute, no changes I could hear in depth or height of the soundstage.
2) BASS AND SUBBASS- Nycteris- Hans Zimmer And James Newton Howard- From 0.32min you really hear what the subbass is like if you have a home speaker setup with a subwoofer. This iem didn’t disappoint, I felt the rumble in my ear and that was really satisfying. It had the texture and depth to make it reach your soul. It also had good reach and had a shelf that didn’t go into the other bass segment and kept the whole spectrum clean. The only thing, I missed in this subbass is the decay which I felt is a little too fast and needs to prolong more for much more effect.
Los Angeles- BLINK-182- The drums were my representation for bass here. The bass is really well done , its dynamic, thumping and has that DD feel but it seemed a bit overdone. There was many instances where I felt like that’s too much bass and it felt like it’s been artificially enhanced. Bass shelf is good so it doesn’t enter the mids (which I found in some tracks with stock tips). The decay is absolutely fine though, a little slower decay would have added a good realistic feel to the hits but then that’s my personal preference.
3) VOCALS and MIDS- FEMALE VOCALS-Tonight Tonight- Celestee & Skyfall - Adele - The vocals here are really good, I did not feel any sibilance at all with them. They were taught, had the same thickness from beginning to ending of the note and were neither lean nor lush but balanced. They had wonderful texture with her sometimes throat sounds coming up at the end of her breath is also felt. The only thing I missed is the energy, I felt the vocals lacked a bit of energy but then again, it’s all personal preference here and it’s a V shaped IEM so it’s to be expected.
MIDS- These are a different thing. The lower mids are good not great. They have faster decay but enough travel to make them feel real life notes. Dynamics are really good, they aren't thick or lush but balanced like the vocals. The starting edges of the notes are really nicely defined (in both Piano and Guitars) but the ending of the notes gets mixed a bit or rather I thought so, giving more focus on them makes the differentiation pronounced (my brain works wonders I guess LOL).
MALE VOCALS- Fireflies- Owl City- The male vocals are really where they make me feel like yeah this isn’t a dark iem, it somehow brings them to more emotional level than the female vocals. They are well textured, have the weight of his voice (Use Frank Sinatra any song here) and feels brilliantly expressed. This still needs a little more energy here but given the upper mids and treble are nicely presented, you kinda ignore the flaw and go with the flow of music.
3) TREBLE- Champions - James Blunt, At Dooms Gate- MIKE GORDON and DO IT AGAIN- STEELY DAN- These iems have somehow a better definition in treble range, the instruments are easily seen/ felt different from others. They aren’t bright per se but do have that energy that makes you wanna enjoy it. Its smooth for sure and really more transparent. It has better dynamics here too. It’s not metallic in nature but seems like a little artificially enhanced a bit mostly the hihats and the trumpets is where I felt this more.
4)SOUNDSTAGE AND IMAGING-The soundstage is neither wide nor tall but given the depth, it makes you feel a spacious presentation. Imaging also helps in this regard and given the great transparency of this iem , it is really good in busier tracks like Fever- Bullet for my Valentine. The treble resolution is good but still not great.
SUMMARY- This is a really good iem , Sennheiser hit the ball out of park with the comfort of this iem. The sound signature is not that different from typical Sennheiser brand but with a lot of warmth added in the lower end and mids pushed a little further back than HD6 series (depends on what tips you use imo). This is a great fun warm iem where you can enjoy music for hours but for critical / analytical listening its okay but there are better options. Sennheiser has now cracked the code for best comfort in a iem now they need to adjust the tuning more and they have a GEM sitting right Infront of them.
So today I will be reviewing the Sennheiser IE300 a single DD iem with their proprietary DD driver. It has a impedance of 16ohm and a sensitivity of 124 dB (1 kHz / 1 Vrms).
Disclaimer : The unit was provided to me by Sennheiser India as a part of review tour in exchange for my honest opinion and i am very grateful for this opportunity. You can buy the Sennheiser IE300 here...
UNBOXING EXPERIENCE
Let’s begin from the packaging and as well all know from the headphone segment of Sennheiser, this is usually not a great experience except Massdrop HD6xx and 58x(Now they are just-DROP) and now probably the HD8xx. But this time it’s Different!!! The unboxing was really good, I was expecting just a cardboard box
It comes in a decent phone like package which slides out slowly like an ice cream melting from the cone YUMMY. Inside we find the Iems in their bed waiting to be awoken and a cable attached to them slowly receding into another box. Inside the other box, oh my ,
- There’s a Hard-shell case ( fabricated on top ) and damn looks and feels great (more on it later)
- Few paper work
- The Cable terminating into a rather uninspiring 3.5mm right angled connector . Then, I wondered where did the tips go haha, on opening the hard-shell case, lo and behold, I see
- Small semi opaque paper bag (Environment conscious Sennheiser NICE) containing three SML sizes silicon tips and three SML sizes Foam tips
- An iem cleaning tool.
Now coming on to the accessories-
- The three silicon Tips SML sizes are soft and comfortable and somehow have a foam inside them . Now I did not find a seal at all with those silicon tips( I am an M size guy mostly but not even L gave me a good seal but it was super comfy) , but the seal is subjective so have your own pick of tips.
- The three foam tips SML sizes are a whole different story, these are one of the best foam tips I have ever seen , super comfy , easily comes back to its original state and gave a perfect seal . But they also had a foam inside them , which leads me to think Sennheiser did some extra tuning with these foam inserts added. Hope you can see the foam inside in the pic
- The earphone cleaning tool seemed nicely built of plastic and looked great.
- The Hard-shell case is really tough , can really take a beating and protect the iems even if its the END OF WORLD scenario and its small enough to fit my stingy formal wear pocket (Blackberry clothes company are stingy with their formal wear pocket sizes
) which means it will fit everyone (water might leak into it though and I did not want to test that , for obvious reasons).
BUILD OF THE IEMS AND THE CABLE
1) Cable- The terminations-
1)It’s a gold plated, right angled 3.5mm connector on the source side. Now paying 299 bucks for this, at least an option should be provided for 4.4mm or something else and the plastic build of the connector doesn’t inspire much confidence into the longevity of the connector. The impact though won’t be much in the daily life of an audiophile but it might not last long..
2)Recessed MMCX connectors on the iem side. Now these are solid, yet very easy to remove and reattach too. They inspire a good deal of confidence and hopefully they will last a long time. But being recessed none of my mmcx cables work with this which is a bummer as I can’t cable roll and you have to buy this specific cable for the iem otherwise it won’t work unless your 3rd party cable makers make it.
3)The cable itself- can’t say its thick but its not bad either given the fact I don’t know how many cores it has but it feels great. It is light weight and completely covered in plastic or some kind of elastic material making it super flexible and easy to use. The T connector is quite big and shaped like a rocket per se (ELONS INFLUENCE haha… JK) and then goes into to form a long ear hook.
These ear hooks are made of thick plastic and retain shape once you wear the iem and press onto the hooks. I am not a fan of ear hooks but this is comfy so its a okay in my book. But the earhooks give a constant reminder that its there which is not felt with the iem . The cable slider is really good though , its smoooth and yet retains the place where it is left. The cable is microphonic though a tiny bit.
2) IEM- now the iem is made out of plastic but wow Sennheiser even with their plastic built feels so solid that I could run a jeep on it easily and it would survive (please don’t do that LOL). But somehow with this shape Sennheiser has cracked the code of comfort, it just vanishes once its inside the ear. This is by far the most comfortable iem I have ever tested period. I love the black colour and few sprinkles of multiple colours dots, this makes it really beautiful..
NOTE- 1) My testing equipment- N6ii with T01 module, BTR5 and LG G8x on the portable side
Topping D50 and topping A30s (modded with burson v5i) on desktop side.
2) Ear tips used - Since the stock ear tips did not give me a good fit and they had foam in them (somehow which made the iems too much bassy and less wider) , I changed to BGVP E01 tips and Azla Sedna Xelastic tips.
3) These are my subjective opinions so your mileage may vary.
POWAHHH REQUIREMENT
- This having a sensitivity of 124db and impedance of 16ohm , even my LG g8x was enough but I did run it through N6ii for most of my review and then with my desktop stack again to see if any changes comes, it didn’t so this is a easily drivable iem. Pick your source weapon haha !!Let’s jump on to the sound analysis-
1) OVERALL SOUND SIGNATURE- With stock eartips- Its a V shaped FUN and WARM sound signature. With the stock tips its a V shaped signature with mids being too recessed for my preference and too much mid bass which seemed artificially enhanced and the timbre was a little off and also the Treble seemed artificial. Tonality wise it accurate like a kingfisher.
With AZLA Sedna Xelastic / BGVP E01 tips- The mids come back to life , not too far away now and the vocals have regained a sense of energy unlike the stock tips where they felt a little mean and dry in comparison. The midbass becomes more controlled and treble seems less artificial now. The Iem becomes wider with these tips but this is very minute, no changes I could hear in depth or height of the soundstage.
2) BASS AND SUBBASS- Nycteris- Hans Zimmer And James Newton Howard- From 0.32min you really hear what the subbass is like if you have a home speaker setup with a subwoofer. This iem didn’t disappoint, I felt the rumble in my ear and that was really satisfying. It had the texture and depth to make it reach your soul. It also had good reach and had a shelf that didn’t go into the other bass segment and kept the whole spectrum clean. The only thing, I missed in this subbass is the decay which I felt is a little too fast and needs to prolong more for much more effect.
Los Angeles- BLINK-182- The drums were my representation for bass here. The bass is really well done , its dynamic, thumping and has that DD feel but it seemed a bit overdone. There was many instances where I felt like that’s too much bass and it felt like it’s been artificially enhanced. Bass shelf is good so it doesn’t enter the mids (which I found in some tracks with stock tips). The decay is absolutely fine though, a little slower decay would have added a good realistic feel to the hits but then that’s my personal preference.
3) VOCALS and MIDS- FEMALE VOCALS-Tonight Tonight- Celestee & Skyfall - Adele - The vocals here are really good, I did not feel any sibilance at all with them. They were taught, had the same thickness from beginning to ending of the note and were neither lean nor lush but balanced. They had wonderful texture with her sometimes throat sounds coming up at the end of her breath is also felt. The only thing I missed is the energy, I felt the vocals lacked a bit of energy but then again, it’s all personal preference here and it’s a V shaped IEM so it’s to be expected.
MIDS- These are a different thing. The lower mids are good not great. They have faster decay but enough travel to make them feel real life notes. Dynamics are really good, they aren't thick or lush but balanced like the vocals. The starting edges of the notes are really nicely defined (in both Piano and Guitars) but the ending of the notes gets mixed a bit or rather I thought so, giving more focus on them makes the differentiation pronounced (my brain works wonders I guess LOL).
MALE VOCALS- Fireflies- Owl City- The male vocals are really where they make me feel like yeah this isn’t a dark iem, it somehow brings them to more emotional level than the female vocals. They are well textured, have the weight of his voice (Use Frank Sinatra any song here) and feels brilliantly expressed. This still needs a little more energy here but given the upper mids and treble are nicely presented, you kinda ignore the flaw and go with the flow of music.
3) TREBLE- Champions - James Blunt, At Dooms Gate- MIKE GORDON and DO IT AGAIN- STEELY DAN- These iems have somehow a better definition in treble range, the instruments are easily seen/ felt different from others. They aren’t bright per se but do have that energy that makes you wanna enjoy it. Its smooth for sure and really more transparent. It has better dynamics here too. It’s not metallic in nature but seems like a little artificially enhanced a bit mostly the hihats and the trumpets is where I felt this more.
4)SOUNDSTAGE AND IMAGING-The soundstage is neither wide nor tall but given the depth, it makes you feel a spacious presentation. Imaging also helps in this regard and given the great transparency of this iem , it is really good in busier tracks like Fever- Bullet for my Valentine. The treble resolution is good but still not great.
SUMMARY- This is a really good iem , Sennheiser hit the ball out of park with the comfort of this iem. The sound signature is not that different from typical Sennheiser brand but with a lot of warmth added in the lower end and mids pushed a little further back than HD6 series (depends on what tips you use imo). This is a great fun warm iem where you can enjoy music for hours but for critical / analytical listening its okay but there are better options. Sennheiser has now cracked the code for best comfort in a iem now they need to adjust the tuning more and they have a GEM sitting right Infront of them.
Evshrug
Nice review, and I really liked that you included song tracks to illustrate your points. Speaking of illustration, I have to admit I found your colored lighting really fun in your photos... and isn’t fun what this is all about??
Elon Musk influenced, LOL!
Nice review, and I really liked that you included song tracks to illustrate your points. Speaking of illustration, I have to admit I found your colored lighting really fun in your photos... and isn’t fun what this is all about??Elon Musk influenced, LOL!
SHOOTINGTECHIE
Thanks man!! I really loved the comfort of these iem and what fun to review and use them all together !! Thanks a lot for this opportunity !!
A little Fun in reviews make them woderful to read haha !!
A little Fun in reviews make them woderful to read haha !!
