[shotgunshane]

Anyone else have thoughts on the nozzle angle of the U series? It angles away from the body and I often have issues getting a proper seal with that type of design. Would like to see what the consensus is. Another head-fier expressed some fit difficulty earlier in the thread.

 

[eldss]

Anyone else have thoughts on the nozzle angle of the U series? It angles away from the body and I often have issues getting a proper seal with that type of design. Would like to see what the consensus is. Another head-fier expressed some fit difficulty earlier in the thread.

I initially complained about not getting a good seal and the tips being uncomfortable, but I got some Spinfits and those did the miracle for me. If your OCD about color like me, Earwerks sells the Spinfits in a black color which matches the black U-series nicely. I've also seen some of the translucent red IEMs and those look better with the traditional white tips that you can get from another Head-fier on this site. 

 

[music-meister]

I initially complained about not getting a good seal and the tips being uncomfortable, but I got some Spinfits and those did the miracle for me. If your OCD about color like me, Earwerks sells the Spinfits in a black color which matches the black U-series nicely. I've also seen some of the translucent red IEMs and those look better with the traditional white tips that you can get from another Head-fier on this site. 

Encouraging to hear. I ordered some spinfits and now I'm just waiting for the U12 to be delivered. I generally prefer a tip that can go pretty deep into the ear canal, but comply doesn't make their Professional series in the 500 size. If the Spinfits don't work for me, I'll just keep trying.

 

[Nytewatch]

I received my A8s.  I haven't seen a lot of reviews yet of the 8's (mostly 12's, 10's and some 6's), so I thought I would post a few initial impressions here.   First of all, these are my firs IEM's.  I'm a bass player, a singer, and I've got a degree in music.  I would say I have fairly good ears - at least I used to have good ears when I was younger.  Despite playing in bands back in the day probably at volumes a little louder than we should have been, I managed to exit without doing much damage thankfully.   Back then though, I could recognize a change in pitch of 2 cents - i.e. 2 100ths of a semitone - so with that bragging done, and with the caveat that my hearing and pitch recognition probably isn't as good as back then, on with the impressions.  
 
First of all I freaked out when I first put them in and played some music through them - and not in a good way.  I am feeding these directly from a Focusrite Saffire 6 USB.  Listening to lossless via Tidal music service.   When I fired these highly anticipated monitors up listening to The Blenders (acapella group who's sound engineer is one of the best I know) - I heard nothing but mud.  I mean - I was really upset.  These things sounded terrible.   The bass was there, the mids were ok but not stellar (I expected them to be somewhat receded) but the highs and mid highs were absolute garbage.   I was shocked and stunned, and I thought maybe the IEMs had accidentally skipped quality control and one of the drivers was turned off or out of phase or something.   I started cycling through a ton of music - all with the same results.  
 
I went to bed very dissapointed, got up the next morning and started trying again.  Then it dawned on me that maybe the ports on the IEMs had gotten plugged up with wax on the first insertion (yeah I know - gross, but my ears evidently produce a lot of wax).  So I popped them out, and used the little tool that came with them to give them.  Sure enough there was a bunch of wax plugging the ports.   So I inserted them carefully (after a good ear cleaning too), turned on The Blenders again and BLAM now THAT is how they are supposed to sound!   Whew.  
 
Now I can hear what people are talking about.  The bass is heavy on these 8 Driver IEMs I will say that.  But the bass is also extremely tight with fantastic extension.   I hooked up my custom 5 string bass and the low B doesn't even phase them at full volume (actually these are so sensitive/efficient that I can't turn them up all the way - way too much for healthy listening).   Turning up the treble on the bass the high notes sound good, but it would be nice to have a little more on the high end in my opinion. Everthing is very responsive and tight, but just not as much presence in the high range.  However I can hear harmonics when chording so the frequency response is there. Mids are a bit recessed, but that is just the nature of the frequency curve.  The overall tone I would say is extremely warm, a little bass heavy, with recessed mids.  Basically what I was expecting.   
 
One surprise is how good spoken or sung vocals sound.   They really come to the front of the mix - and that is really perfect for my application where I am singing backup vocals and listening intently to the lead vocalist.   In addition, the Bass stands out from the very low range up through low mid range - and truly I was shocked at how much "feel" I got from the bass.  I was really worried about moving away from big bass amps on stage because I like the kick of the bass on my chest when I'm playing to get a feel for the rhythm and to experience the music physically.  But the drivers in these IEMs convey some serious bass to my head - and I think I'm going to have no problem getting into the music  
 
I'm curious to hear what the manual Adel modules will sound like, and how I can tailor the sound a bit.  I might dial back the bass just a touch if that is possible.  Overally though, I am so relieved and happy that my initial concerns were easy solved.  I've been feeding these acoustic music on repeat at night, and I'm noticing the mids and highs are improving after more break in time - so we will see how it goes in the next month or so.  

 

[justinmakhk]

  I received my A8s.  I haven't seen a lot of reviews yet of the 8's (mostly 12's, 10's and some 6's), so I thought I would post a few initial impressions here.   First of all, these are my firs IEM's.  I'm a bass player, a singer, and I've got a degree in music.  I would say I have fairly good ears - at least I used to have good ears when I was younger.  Despite playing in bands back in the day probably at volumes a little louder than we should have been, I managed to exit without doing much damage thankfully.   Back then though, I could recognize a change in pitch of 2 cents - i.e. 2 100ths of a semitone - so with that bragging done, and with the caveat that my hearing and pitch recognition probably isn't as good as back then, on with the impressions.  
 
First of all I freaked out when I first put them in and played some music through them - and not in a good way.  I am feeding these directly from a Focusrite Saffire 6 USB.  Listening to lossless via Tidal music service.   When I fired these highly anticipated monitors up listening to The Blenders (acapella group who's sound engineer is one of the best I know) - I heard nothing but mud.  I mean - I was really upset.  These things sounded terrible.   The bass was there, the mids were ok but not stellar (I expected them to be somewhat receded) but the highs and mid highs were absolute garbage.   I was shocked and stunned, and I thought maybe the IEMs had accidentally skipped quality control and one of the drivers was turned off or out of phase or something.   I started cycling through a ton of music - all with the same results.  
 
I went to bed very dissapointed, got up the next morning and started trying again.  Then it dawned on me that maybe the ports on the IEMs had gotten plugged up with wax on the first insertion (yeah I know - gross, but my ears evidently produce a lot of wax).  So I popped them out, and used the little tool that came with them to give them.  Sure enough there was a bunch of wax plugging the ports.   So I inserted them carefully (after a good ear cleaning too), turned on The Blenders again and BLAM now THAT is how they are supposed to sound!   Whew.  
 
Now I can hear what people are talking about.  The bass is heavy on these 8 Driver IEMs I will say that.  But the bass is also extremely tight with fantastic extension.   I hooked up my custom 5 string bass and the low B doesn't even phase them at full volume (actually these are so sensitive/efficient that I can't turn them up all the way - way too much for healthy listening).   Turning up the treble on the bass the high notes sound good, but it would be nice to have a little more on the high end in my opinion. Everthing is very responsive and tight, but just not as much presence in the high range.  However I can hear harmonics when chording so the frequency response is there. Mids are a bit recessed, but that is just the nature of the frequency curve.  The overall tone I would say is extremely warm, a little bass heavy, with recessed mids.  Basically what I was expecting.   
 
One surprise is how good spoken or sung vocals sound.   They really come to the front of the mix - and that is really perfect for my application where I am singing backup vocals and listening intently to the lead vocalist.   In addition, the Bass stands out from the very low range up through low mid range - and truly I was shocked at how much "feel" I got from the bass.  I was really worried about moving away from big bass amps on stage because I like the kick of the bass on my chest when I'm playing to get a feel for the rhythm and to experience the music physically.  But the drivers in these IEMs convey some serious bass to my head - and I think I'm going to have no problem getting into the music  
 
I'm curious to hear what the manual Adel modules will sound like, and how I can tailor the sound a bit.  I might dial back the bass just a touch if that is possible.  Overally though, I am so relieved and happy that my initial concerns were easy solved.  I've been feeding these acoustic music on repeat at night, and I'm noticing the mids and highs are improving after more break in time - so we will see how it goes in the next month or so.  

Thank you for your impressions! Are there any photos that you could share with us?

 

[Mimouille]

/Beginning of rant

I can't picture how someone can let himself have so much wax that they can clog an iem UPON FIRST INSERTION. I mean, that is at least 6 month of no q-tip.

And the second thing I can't fathom (among many other things on his planet) is how someone could admit to it, be almost proud. What does it bring to the table. Could you have not just given you impressions without the wax part?

To summarize: this is gross and who cares? /end of rant

 

[tourneychamp23]

/Beginning of rant

I can't picture how someone can let himself have so much wax that they can clog an iem UPON FIRST INSERTION. I mean, that is at least 6 month of no q-tip.

And the second thing I can't fathom (among many other things on his planet) is how someone could admit to it, be almost proud. What does it bring to the table. Could you have not just given you impressions without the wax part?

To summarize: this is gross and who cares? /end of rant

Q tips are terrible for your ears and shou NEVER be used. just an fyi

 

[Smurfs2010]

  Q tips are terrible for your ears and shou NEVER be used. just an fyi

 
What's worse for your ears, Q-Tips or IEMs?

 

[tourneychamp23]

   
What's worse for your ears, Q-Tips or IEMs?

qtips not to mention they don't even do a good job of getting wax out either

 

[Mimouille]

qtips not to mention they don't even do a good job of getting wax out either

then use other means.

 

[Nytewatch]

My other love is fly fishing - that is a brook trout pattern

 

[Nytewatch]

/rant on
 
What I hate is people who tear down a post that was meant to be helpful, and instead of taking the good from it (initial impressions) - they decide to tear into someone's personal hygene and focus on that.  I guarantee other people have had a build up of wax and have had issues with their in ears, and I shared this somewhat personal issue so that others could benefit - and ensure they had cleaned out their ears before insertion.  My ear canals are very small (according to the audiologist), and therefore the 3 smaller port holes were drilled VERY small.  I can only barely fit the cleaning tool in them.   I couldn't even have the recessed cable option due to my anatomy.   So it stands to reason that if you have very small ports, they could EASILY be plugged a bit by wax.  Were they totally packed?  Absolutely not.  I am talking about a very small amount of material - but that's all it took.  And what the $#%^ are you talking about - I am proud of this fact?   Dude - you seem like a troll who is just trying to get a rise out of me.  Point out in my post where I say I am proud that I had wax in my ears???   
 
So I'm a new member, I try to post initial impressions - and some long time veteran comes and attacks me.  Really nice.   Oh before you say anything there is a hair in the picture of my IEMS.  I laid them out on a black balaclava we use for skiing.  I am sooooo sorry there is a hair in your picture.  That bother you Mimouille?  *******.  
 
/rant off
 
Now if anyone has any LEGITIMATE questions or concerns, please feel free to ask.  If I get more abuse, I'll just leave and go back to listening to my amazing new A8s.

 

[Nytewatch]

Oh and one final point - when I went in to the audiologist to get my impressions, she specifically commented on how little wax I had in my ears.  That was about 6 weeks ago.  So there goes your 6 6 months of build up theory.  Seriously I am just pissed right now.  I'm super excited after a long wait and careful planning and saving for these IEMs, and this this jerk comes in and rains all over my parade.  

 

[BobFiggins]

A6 just arrived (Sold the A4 after a few weeks). I really like it!  Looks almost exactly the same as my old one, but a little bit different. Was too excited to get them in and listen to music, so didn't really get any fancy shots.
 

 
I accessorized this time:


 
 
For comparison, here's the old A4. Much darker purple heart wood:

 

 
While I don't want to give out my thoughts yet (They will be very good!), I must say that these fit way better than the A4. I think the A4 did fit really well, but it was small enough that the cord pressed on my ear where it connected to the earphone. This caused it to fit a little strangely. This time around this isn't happening, and it feels incredibly good. Absolutely no discomfort. Either that or they changed something else with my impression. Either way, awesome!

 

[Nytewatch]

The wood looks really nice.