Well, as some of you know from the InEarz thread, I recently got a pair of Quads remolded. I was told by ericr that I should post a review of them once I received them. A misdelivery (and subsequent call to FedEx) later, and I finally do.
This is not my first custom experience -- that would be the 1964Ears custom sleeves I ordered this past winter (right as they were discontinuing them). They seemed to fit alright at the time, but I now realize that they were probably too tight -- the remolded Quads by InEarZ are more comfortable and seal just as well. That said, I suspect 1964Ears was not to blame in this case, as I've since realized that silicone products typically work best with closed-mouth impressions, and the impressions I sent in were open-mouth ones.
So the fit and finish is great! The sound? Well....
This is where things get complicated. I never heard a universal demo of the Q/Qi, so I don't know if what I'm hearing is because of a bad remold (sound-wise) or if it is accurate. That said, there's enough mid-bass and upper-bass encroachment into the midrange that I have trouble enjoying these. Don't get me wrong: the bass, though a bit bloated, is very powerful and textured. It's just that the midrange seems congested or, at times, even canceled out. If there's one word I'd use to describe my remolds, it'd be muffled. (Though switching from my Galaxy S3 to the FiiO E10k helped slightly.)
So, what's so complicated about this? Besides the ambiguity of remold quality mentioned above, it's also worth noting that I'm using a Noble Audio cable, not the stock 1964Ears or InEarZ cable. My understanding is that Noble's cable, being based on the original Heir Audio Magnus 1 cable, contains more silver than stock cables usually have. Not sure if that would negatively impact the sound of the Quads, but I figured it'd be worth mentioning.
The bigger issue is one I thought of after I sent the Quads off to be reshelled: If I'm honest with myself, my preference in sound signature has changed over the past couple of years. I started off as a basshead, then worked my way to being more of a "warm and smooth" type of guy. If anything, in fact, I'm still moving more and more toward neutral as my Head-Fi journey goes on. It's something I didn't really account for when I bought these Quads in the B/S/T forum, and I suspect it may be skewing my opinion of these CIEMs at least somewhat.
So, I guess, I'm less reviewing my pair of Quads as much as trying to ask for advice, to be honest. Do you guys think I have a botched remold (in terms of frequency response)? Or do you think my expectations were off? (For the record, I suspect a combination of the two is at play.)
One last thing I will ask: were the Qi's being produced a year ago, or just the original Quads? The marking on the remolds seem to indicate that InEarZ treated these as Qi's, but the seller of the CIEMs listed them as Quads. Not sure if they were Q's or actually Qi's, though.
Thanks in advance!
PS. If there's one thing that surprised me about these CIEMs in a more positive way, it'd be the soundstage -- the 3D effect is unlike any other IEM I've heard. I just wish the layers sounded clearer to me.
