An update from yesterday...
After leaving office on my way home, I listened to the AR E10 (few tracks from Tidal) out from a Galaxy Note 8. And, these were my impressions::
1. Comfort wise is good
2. Isolation with the silicon stock tips is not sufficient
3. Cable felt rubbery, and the ear hooks do not bother me much, but, might not be ideal when wearing glasses
4. On less than optimal listening condition, the IEMs did not "wow" me with the first listen out of the Note 8, it did not sound right, it sounded too thin... (please don't jump to conclusion and read further)
Reaching home, I had my family duties... but before going to bed, I decided to have another go at the AR E10 but listening through the AR M2 (was thinking, maybe acoustic research tuned the IEMs to work best with their DAPs), and:
1. Now, with the silicon stock tips it sounded much better, could hear what i was expecting i.e. bass characteristic was what i expected from a DD and highs from a BA
2. Next, tips rolling... I was very surprised that the nozzles were so large, nonetheless, tried first with the Spinfits Twinblades (were not comfortable), second normal Spinfits CP100 (were alright, did not improve isolation), then moved on the RHA Audio stock tips (same results as the CP100). Last but not least, went for the JVC Spiral dot filled with Comply foam... best results, slightly improved isolation and diameter of the Spiral dot tips holes matched exactly the size of the AR E10 noozles (picture below).
This morning I have decided, to carry with me the AR M2 and AR E10 combo to the office (since I have the Naim Muso QB and Sennheiser HD700 set up in my office, carrying a portable audio is very unusual):
But, unfortunately was only able to listen to an album "Pure Heroine" by Lorde, I personally like this album because it has great female vocals, music with abundance in bass married by 3D sounding highs harmonics.
To: Signal2Noise, hope section below partially answers your curiosity:
The IEMs performed really well, sound stage and presentation was large enough that on certain tracks it did not feel congested (some other IEMs with narrower sound stage does not allow the 3D sound effect/harmonics to nicely fade away), bass was pretty tight and punchy, mids was not too recessed, and highs were pretty smooth. To my ears the sound signature was neutral.
Please note that, the above mentioned are just and only first impressions of the AR E10 in listening to an album. And, it probably does not mean much to anyone because, there is no basis of comparison in terms of the IEMs we own, how ours ears are accustomed to a sound signature preference and etc.
I do have few IEMs below USD$500 range, on top of my head:
Dynamic Drivers: Sony MDR-EX800 ST (with tape mod), Sony MDR EX600, , Sony XB90EX, TFZ King, JCV HA-FXT208se, RHA T10i, Sennheiser i8
Balanced Armatures: NuForce HEM4,
Hybrid: Sony XBA H3 & Pioneer SE CX9S
Some of the above list are packed and stored somewhere i.e. not been listening for a long time
, but if it is helpful to you to have a quick comparison. I will try to find sometime and do my best
.
Cheers