[raghunath]

Hi,
 
I am new here, and I have been following these forums for quite a few days now. I have learned much, but there is always this problem that very few people here listen to Indian Classical Music (ICM), so making your valued opinions related to my life has been hard, that's why I started this thread.
 
First, a few lines about ICM:
In ICM, there are at the most 4-5 sources playing at a time: Vocals or Instrumentals(highs), Tabla (bass), Tanpura (Constant Drone, Upper mids to highs) and Harmonium/Sarangi (mids/highs). Now this might sound like a noob, but in this very limited case of sources, does soundstage matter?
 
Now, about the IEM and portable DAC/Amp, currently I own Klipsch Image s4, and like their warm sound, but find highs a little lacking in detail. How does a choice of Fiio E7 with Ipod LOD Fiio L3 and RE0 sound for this kind of music and my taste?
 
Thanks,
 
Raghunath

 

[Kunlun]

 
Quote:

Hi,
 
I am new here, and I have been following these forums for quite a few days now. I have learned much, but there is always this problem that very few people here listen to Indian Classical Music (ICM), so making your valued opinions related to my life has been hard, that's why I started this thread.
 
First, a few lines about ICM:
In ICM, there are at the most 4-5 sources playing at a time: Vocals or Instrumentals(highs), Tabla (bass), Tanpura (Constant Drone, Upper mids to highs) and Harmonium/Sarangi (mids/highs). Now this might sound like a noob, but in this very limited case of sources, does soundstage matter?
 
Now, about the IEM and portable DAC/Amp, currently I own Klipsch Image s4, and like their warm sound, but find highs a little lacking in detail. How does a choice of Fiio E7 with Ipod LOD Fiio L3 and RE0 sound for this kind of music and my taste?
 
Thanks,
 
Raghunath

I listen to a ton of Indian classical, from khyal to dhrupad.  And I've owned the Klipsch Image S4, so you're in luck. A bass anemic phone like the Re0 is going to suck for Indian classical, you're going to miss the bass of the tabla (or mridangam, if you like carnatic music).
A lot of people's talk about soundstage is a fantasy, most of what we think of as soundstage is encoded with the original recording. A good soundstage in a recording adds a bit of atmosphere even to intimate ensembles like in ICM, but it's not the most important thing.
I like my Monster Turbine Pro Copper for Indian Classical, they are balanced and slightly warm with a great dynamic driver bass and a present, detailed treble with mids mostly in alignment with top and bottom. Nikhil Banerjee sounds fantastic! They do well with a bit of amping, I use an ibasso T3. I guess the coppers were my answer when I found myself in your situation. I'm quite happy with them.
 
The Ortofon were very nice, but slightly bass-shy in comparison to dynamic driver bass, they'd be fine for you. The Monster Miles Davis was quite warm and did very nicely with some older ICM recordings, beautiful, really. You might like them even more than the coppers if you like a warm sound.
 
I'm usually not a fan of armature iems, but the Klipsch custom 3 is a warm and cheap and a very nice option if you don't mind the cable. That might be the winner for you.
.

 

[raghunath]

Thanks Kunlun, I appreciate the quick and detailed reply. Well, I heard that the lows of re0 can be increased a little using a worm amp like E7. What do you guys think about that? The problem is I havent heard ICM through re0 or ATH AD700 to know how does that fare against something like Klipsch Image S4. Lets see if I can get an opportunity.