Great review and like the The Star Wars quote. Also enjoyed your comments in the Solaris thread.

Nicely put my friend, a very good read.

Just think.........free IEMs forever, and you can speak your mind about stuff! We need that here. Don’t sell out.

Oh my you're quick here @Redcarmoose I don't expect to be approached by any brand for reviews... And I won't ever sale out, that's not me. Look at it this way : if it was a sponsored review I am so enthusiastic about the product that people would have thought I sold out. I don't think the best reviewers out do sell out at all, I can vouch that I never regretted those I trust and who are sponsored reviewers.

@Redcarmoose I don't see sponsorship as evil though as long as you keep it real. Professionally I am known to be a straight shooter, did not always help my career but certainly helped strong and long lasting relationships as well as teams I managed knowing I got their back. I won't "sell out". Still I can't lie my wallet is stretched thin for sure and say I wouldn't be thrilled to be able to listen and possibly own more of the good stuff (and share it at meetups in Paris).

When you do a meetup inParis, can you do a comparison between the WM1Z and the AK SP1000M. On the CL2.
I am going to upgrade my player instead of buying another IEM. For now.

@Kitechaser Will definitely do if there is a SP1000M, right now in meetups a lot more SP1000 still.

Mm...nicely-detailed review. Lots of variables and details to analyze. But, if you were to zoom out, how would you score the Solaris with the other iems you compared it with? Overall, In a scale of 1 to 100, where does the Solaris lie? And the others? Tia.

You can’t tell, it’s a shimmering bobble of inquisitive spectacle. He’s enchanted with it.

@raypin Yes Redcarmoose is dead right Rating comparatively would mean I have a grid with a set of criterias that would need to be explicit for it to be of any value, like flinkenick did for the Shootout. The ranking would be highly based on the criterias which I have not set.

To me it's really more about the signature and X is not necessarily better than Y in absolute terms. At this level there is strong technical foundations on each IEMs I have compared the Solaris too. They're different way to experience music and I love the Phantom and VE8 just as much as the Solaris.

Hi @davidmolliere , firstly great review! One question - I have the polaris (which I love), nut my one criticism is, because the bass port sits on the faceplate, if it is windy you get a lot of noise inside the iem. Where is the bass port situated on the solaris? Did you take it outside/notice a similar problem?

Mm....unsatisfactory answer. I am sad! Let me try a different tack: if you were stranded in a desert island, which iem would you bring? The Solaris, the VE 8, the EX 1000, Phantom ciem or the LCD i4???????? You can only bring one. Don’t worry about food and water. My chopper will make regular deliveries.

Right now I would say Solaris, in fact if I had to only own one right now it would be Solaris. But take this with a grain of salt, it's the honeymoon phase

Mm...there. That wasn’t hard, wasn’t it? Lol! Because of your well-written review (read it 3 times already), the Solaris just made the cut on my very short list of iems to audition and pair with my upcoming Sony DMPZ1 purchase....together with the Erlkonig from VE and the upcoming revised Soundwriter (thanks @deezel177 for the valuable intel). Questing for the ultimate in-ear system, to complement my HE 1. My feel is we have the same sound preferences. Muchas gracias!

@raypin Quite the shopping list! I look forward to your impressions of those The Erlkönig I am only dreaming of auditioning at a meetup, I don't have that kind of cash... Soundwriter same deal. I'd love to get the SE6 as well but again, cash is drained now!

Fantastic review

Hey David, did you compare to LCDi4 on the cipher cable or without? Since it's also quite a neutral bright earphone without cipher...

@Piotr Michalak I didn't use the cipher or any EQ on the LCD i4, although it's flattering and very handy on the go I always prefered a DAP. I didn't ear the LCD i4 as neutral bright but maybe it's just different sources, DX200/AMP8 is not bright.

Excellent review @davidmolliere. I feel solaris as lcdi4 companion in noisy environment. Any impressions with desktop grade equipment (DAC/AMP).
I strongly believe lcd i4 when paired with a dedicated desktop DAC & AMP & Audeze Reveal Plugin/Roon presets takes a quantum leap forward in all areas as compared to my portable Sp1000cu + mass kobo 424 + EA Horus combo (all balanced) i.e. the scalability is impressive.