[Redcarmoose]

@https://www.head-fi.org/members/aminus.516215/

When you get a chance try the new 3.02 firmware update with the Walkman 1Z and IER-Z1R. It’s a fairly big change. Where 3.01 was slightly heavy (with the 1Z) making the 1A/IER-Z1R combo maybe better....... now the 1Z is a new experience.

 

[riverred105]

Unfortunately I don’t have any experience with the Abyss stuff. Would have tried my hand with the 1266 if the dCS Bartok were capable of reading USB output from my WM1A but no such luck. In the case of the Audeze TOTLs, the HEDD is not nearly as tonally imbalanced (thank god it’s not the shadow realm stuff someone said it would be), has much better decay, and has more realistic sounding bass in the timbre and slam departments. The LCD4 feels like a joke in comparison.

wow, that is quite impressive sounding....

 

[aminus]

Pears SH3:
This CIEM was graciously lent to me by @toranku to try at a meet. Thanks!

Pears is a company I know practically nothing about, short of this being toranku’s current daily. Needless to say his endorsement has me curious.

On first listen the SH3 does feel a little bass light. Tonal focus is towards the upper mids and treble, making it a tad strident, to borrow a word from Crinacle’s ranking list. It surprisingly enough is not piercing or harsh, and I do find myself able to crank the volume on my WM1A up quite a bit. It’s just thin on bass. A track like Krallice’s Wretched Wisdom does feel a little unsatisfying down low, and the massive bass drum sound on this track which I’ve jokingly referred to in private as “helicopter bass” doesn’t quite feel as present as I like. The song however is quite enjoyable due to the SH3’s general good sense of attack. It feels snappy and fast, which I suppose is to be expected of a 3BA setup, though it does feel a lot better at transients than many other BAs I’ve tried. Switching over to a less dense rock track like Guapo’s Five Suns II however and the quick and slightly unnatural decay of the SH3 becomes apparent too. Timbre is slightly plasticky, though texture is better than other BA woofers I’ve heard.

Midrange response presents itself as somewhat thin and upper midrange focused, though in a more hot and energetic manner than the likes of the Z1R. The guitarwork on King Crimson’s Red is slightly more scooped and digital sounding than a record of its time would imply. Mark Hollis’ vocals on Ascension Day have quite a bit more vocal reverb and spaciousness than I usually hear on other gear, which is interesting. As someone who generally does like upper midrange focused tunings, I don’t quite think this one’s for me, as it feels slightly forced and unnatural. It can sound pretty damn good on the right recordings though.

The SH3’s treble response appears peaky on paper but is surprisingly alright in practice. It does have a bit of mid treble focus but is not piercing, at least to me. Time domain stuff is just as snappy as with the bass, and decay is clean as well. Extension does feel lacking but which BA doesn’t have that problem? All around quite decent.

The SH3’s true strength is its sharp and punchy attack. This does aid its technical ability and puts it ahead of other low BA count IEMs in terms of resolution. The flavor of upper midrange emphasis also gives it a good sense of staging and space with vocals, which is quite nice. Staging is typically CIEM, which is of course standard. The overall sound signature may seem excessively aggressive and maybe slightly harsh to some, but personally I find it enjoyable enough.

All listening was done out of the WM1A’s 3.5mm port.

Recommended? I don’t see why not. If you like a slightly more forward, clean and aggressive sound, this could totally be up your alley.

Score: 7/10

 

[aminus]

Oriolus Percivali:
This review was requested by @BananaOoyoo

This was requested way back. Like waaaay back, and I never got around to it. Well now I have. The Percivali is a 5 driver tribid (oh boy) from IEM company Oriolus, sporting 2 of the cursed Sonion electrets that I love to hate. Let’s see how well it fairs on the bench.

The single DD running the bass on the Percivali is fairly well extended and boosted. Rumble is satisfying and deep. Texture does feel a little lacking but it’s not the worst bass response I’ve heard. Attack is also be slightly blunted but it doesn’t feel like a glaring issue to me. Average is what I’d call it.

And then the proverbial fan is hit by... you know what. The midrange response on the Percivali is absolutely bizarre and not in any good sense. Lower mids border on phasing out of existence and the response is almost entirely dominating by the upper midrange. This sound is unsurprisingly ridiculously fatiguing and borders on unlistenable. I took the Percivali out of my ears after about 5 minutes of eartime with it, which is not exactly common for someone who’s heard and tolerated as much heinous stuff as I have. The tonality of the general midrange just sounds wrong with anything I play on it. String quartets have an almost amplified roughness to string timbre. Guitars sound like they have the tone knob turned all the way up (or down depending on your distortion pedal of choice) for maximum harshness. This is just bad. Bad bad bad.

Treble response on the Percivali sounds unusually lower treble focused before rolling off out of existence. Cymbals don’t have much in the way of decay, just mostly some stick impact. Combine that with the absolutely overbearing upper midrange response and everything just sounds wrong with it not having a lot of treble at all.

Technical ability is nothing of noteworth. Staging ends where the IEM’s shell ends. Everything about the Percivali just sounds screwed and wrong. I would write more but that would involve listening to this more, which is out of the question. Anything to get away from this, the further the better.

Christ.

Score: 2/10

 

[Colors]

Nice new content!

 

[aminus]

Acoustune HS1655CU:
This review was requested by @TooPoorForHiFi

The 1655 is an IEM I’ve had access to for quite a while but never got around to hearing until as of late. Despite their popularity in Singapore I can’t say any of their products have ever enamored me. Not even the reputed 1551 managed to impress, sounding hazy, warm and low resolution to my ears. Their higher end models the 1650 and 1670 both had problems with metallic timbre and aggressive tuning. However recent praise for the 1655 and the 1695 have piqued my interest, with claims that the infamous metallic timbre of the past has been done away with. Let’s see.

The first thing I hear on the 1655 is bass. Pounding heavy bass, and lots of it. It didn’t quite get the texture of the bass guitar on After the Flood perfect but it came admirably close, with good amounts of extension and slam to show it means business. With Krallice’s Wretched Wisdom, the initial kickdrum hit reminds me of my Z1R, which is a pretty damn noteworthy feat. However it doesn’t appear to be the best at separation, with the kickdrum and bass guitar on this very track being slightly difficult to tell apart. It’s quality bass in tuning and slam but falls short in the technical department. I give it good marks for getting the right kind of tactility and subbass down.

And my praise ends here. The 1655’s midrange is shrill. Not on the level of the Percivali but damn, it really forces me to turn the volume down on stuff I would normally be able to tolerate at a higher SPL. The snare on King Crimson’s 21st Century Schizoid Man (the recent 50th anniversary remaster for this album is amazing and highly recommended) is incredibly overwhelming and the constant sharp hits are nothing short of fatiguing. The guitar solo on Wretched Wisdom had me cringing at just how forward and peaky it was. Brass on Le Sacre du Printemps is rough, thin and just plain unpleasant. Yes’ Close to the Edge goes straight past thinness and straight into sibilance and consonance. A damn shame considering I like the bass on this a lot.

Treble is not much better either. The lower treble on this is far too much even for me, and I generally like healthy amounts of lower treble for cymbal stick impact. This is an overdose. The organ section on Close to the Edge manages to soar past being merely shrill and right into being metallic and resonant. Despite this violins have a fairly nice and full tone to them, which is a plus. The general overbearing nature of the treble tuning drowns out what little treble extension there is. Cymbals can also be somewhat splashy, with the general lower treble emphasis seemingly contributing to a level of ringing. A CSD of this would be interesting. Nonetheless I find it hard to enjoy.

The 1655’s technicalities are significantly better than the 1551’s, which I found generally smeared over and hazy. Some of this may be due to the significant lower treble emphasis but it does perform fairly well at bringing out surface level detail and presenting it in a clean and clear manner. It does have some minor issues with separation but it’s hardly the most inarticulate there is. It also has an expectedly wide soundstage, being an Acoustune, though staging does lack a bit of depth and headroom. Not particularly egregious but just a note.

I want to like the 1655. It has solid likable bass and passable technical ability. This could have been a decent sub-$1000 proposition had it been tuned right. But the overall shrill tonal balance and lower treble harshness makes this a tough one. A real shame.

All listening was done out of the WM1A’s 4.4mm port.

I can’t recommend this unless you are absolutely sure you can tolerate fairly shrill upper mids and lots of lower treble. A shame because I do think it’s otherwise good.

Score: 4/10

Note: After writing this review I discovered while listening to the 1695 that it was actually quite palatable at low volumes. While I don’t listen at low volumes generally I did find it tolerable enough to give it the thumbs up. Probably something to do with the Fletcher-Munson curve. Either way consider this statement a mark of recommendation for low volume listeners. Everyone else would do better to stay away though.

 

[TooPoorForHiFi]

ReQuest

Final Audio A8000
&
Final Audio A7000
Vs.
Z1R

 

[papa_mia]

ReQuest

Final Audio A8000
&
Final Audio A7000
Vs.
Z1R

Jesus man calm down, the thing just got announced like 10 minutes ago.

 

[aminus]

Acoustune HS1695TI:
I’ll tell you what, the Z1R sounded like aural silk after the beating that was the 1655. The comparative smoothness in treble, the emphasized yet restrained upper midrange, damn it was worlds apart. Wait, this isn’t the Z1R review...

Right. So the 1695 is the new Acoustune flagship, succeeding the infamous 1670. I’ve heard that the metallic timbre has been greatly fixed, and that it’s placed itself as one of the better if not one of the best single DDs on the market. If you’ve kept up with my reviews you’ll know that I greatly prefer DDs to BAs, and that a good single DD is always something that piques my curiosity. Let’s see how this stands up next to the legendary benchmarks of the EX1000 and Xelento.

At first glance the bass on the 1695 is quite noticeably less in quantity than the 1655. This isn’t quite a bad thing however, as it’s recognizably more technical. The same Krallice track where the 1655 fell short, the 1695 expresses the bassline effortlessly while delivering similarly slammy and delicious bass. Good amounts of texture have me fairly happy with what I’m hearing. Slam and rumble is consistent with the quality I liked on the 1655. Maybe this could be the EX1000 killer...?

Or maybe not. Similar to the 1655, the 1695 is fond of the upper midrange side of things, but it likes it even more. The 21st Century Schizoid Man snare is even more apparent and obnoxious than before, and the resonance that comes with more upper mids is still there, if not worse. The thin and shrill brass with the 1655 is even moreso thin and shrill with the 1695, and is almost unlistenably harsh. Unlike the Percivali it’s not a throaty kind of shrill harshness, it’s far thinner, and affects a much smaller frequency band, making it sound far less unnatural. Despite this it’s difficult to enjoy, and I really dislike it.

The treble response on the 1695 is again, similar to the 1655. It does appear to have less lower treble, giving it more general breathing room. It also sounds a good amount less splashy, which is a welcome change. Not too much to say here as aside from the lower treble quantity it’s quite similar.

Where the 1695 truly excels is as a highly technical DD. It beats out the 1655 in this department by quite a bit with raw resolution and separation. Individual instruments are also fairly well articulated in dense ensembles. Soundstaging and presentation is about equal to the 1655 but the technical ability is far and beyond what the 1655 was capable of. I don’t know if it’s truly good enough to beat out the EX1000 but it certainly sounds more detailed than the Xelento to me. Consider than an achievement. In either case, let this be an example of technical ability being able to help one IEM outstrip and outscore a similar one.

All listening was done out of the WM1A’s 4.4mm output.

Unlike the 1655, I can recommend this... somewhat. I think the 1695 is technical enough to warrant itself being recommended over its younger brother. If you can stomach the tuning I think this is a considerable option for a capable single DD.

Score: 5/10

Note: While writing this review I discovered that the 1695 was actually quite palatable at low volumes. While I don’t listen at low volumes generally I did find it tolerable enough to give it the thumbs up. Probably something to do with the Fletcher-Munson curve. Either way consider this statement a mark of (stronger) recommendation for low volume listeners. Everyone else would do better to stay away though.

 

[aminus]

Dita Dream XLS:
Dita is a company I haven’t really touched on, probably for good reason. Nothing they make appeals to me. That and their rather unsightly channel matching has me apprehensive about their products. However such appre-

We interrupt this program to bring you a special report

oBravo Cupid:
This review was requested by @TooPoorForHiFi

It’s been a while since I’ve heard an IEM as memed as the oBravo Cupid. From the rabid oBravo fanbase viciously defending it to the death, to the fiasco of Crinacle’s 2 consecutive out of phase units, this IEM has been nothing short of covered in endless controversy. And it’s no surprise. oBravo are not exactly well known for good measurements, with Tyll’s now infamous HAMT-1 graph being a stain upon their reputation. However, certain circles still worship the oBravo sound, and a $300 entry tier model gives the common man a chance to hear oBravo’s coveted planar/dynamic hybrids at a sane price.

In either case, one cannot help but hold extreme skepticism against claims of transcendent sound towards any oBravo model. The HAMT-1 measurements seem to prove that oBravo have made a career of stuffing exotic drivers next to bog standard full range dynamics and overcharging excessively to a crowd of audiophiles none-the-wiser to the shilling. Claims of balanced soundstage or amazing punchy bass are hard to believe when oBravo have had little time under a truly critical spotlight, eternally shying away from the manufacturer’s trial by fire that is the Singapore audio community.

But no more. No more shall oBravo escape the prying eyes of judgement. No more shall oBravo hide behind the review unit groveller shillsites and their cultists. The Cupid has now been dragged out of the darkness and into the sun, laid bare and naked for all to see. And what a sight it is to behold.

The Cupid’s bass is incredibly muffled, like a curtain over a woofer. It has some semblance of slam but due to the extremely blunted attack it’s akin to getting hit by a very heavy pillow. On top of that, definition is terrible, with the most basic timbre and textural detail barely being rendered. I can hear the notes, they just sound so smeared over in resolution that it sounds closer to a dollar store earbud than any sort of release from a self proclaimed boutique company. Oh bravo, for reminding me dollar store earbuds sound like.

The low resolution bass on the Cupid would be a standout achievement in its own right, if not for the even lower resolution midrange. Again, heavy blankets or other similarly dampening effects over a speaker come to mind here. This effect can range to bad with active rock music to absolutely goddamned atrocious and unholy with classical music. This is what dollar store earbuds sound like. This is not far from what free airline earbuds sound like. Oh bravo, for trapping all my music in a thick blanketed haze.

The Cupid has no treble worthy of speaking of. Not in the Roland (review coming soon) or Wraith way where it simply has no treble, no, the Cupid is special. The treble tonality is wonky and again, muffled and veiled. The pervasive blunting throughout the bass and mids of the Cupid leaves the treble equally smothered and shadowed. There is nothing I can tell you here other than that the Cupid has no genuine treble to speak of that hasn’t been mutated by the shadows of Mordor. Oh bravo, for plunging the frequency response into darkness.

Normally I’d go into intangibles in this section. Dynamics, soundstaging, technical ability, yadda yadda. The problem is that the Cupid is so muffled and so blunted that I can’t. It has the technical ability of the dollar store earbuds that it sounds like. Want to demo a Cupid? Run down to your local gas station or Pasar Malam (that’s a roadside market in Singapore) and buy one of the plastic Earpod knockoffs hanging off the shelf at the counter, it’ll sound the same.

This all reminds me of something. A couple months back I went on a work organized tour of a local museum. Due to the large size of the tour group, the tour guide handed out these small radio-like devices with blue single sided earpod knockoffs so we could hear him better. The Cupid reminds me of the earpod knockoff. The horrible resolution, the smothered tonality, the failure to pull off even the most basic texture or timbre. This personifies the Cupid. This and phase incoherency in all its many forms, from phase cancellation between the dynamic driver and the planar tweeter crossover to multiple instances of both drivers being wired out of phase. This is the Cupid. A $300 dollar store earbud with worse QC than most of them.

All listening was done with me groaning in agony at the aural sight of my test tracks being defiled with such audacious heresy.

No.

Score: 1/10

 

[BananaOoyoo]

Score inflation incoming

 

[papa_mia]

@aminus Man I'm starting to think you gon get rid of that "A" in your name and give the rest to next thing as a score.

 

[aminus]

Alright, so here’s the deets. Due to how bad the Cupid was I’ve had to reevaluate some of the lower ranked IEMs I’ve covered. The following IEMs have had their scores bumped up:
Audio-technica ATH-CK2000Ti: from 2/10 to 3/10
64 audio Fourte Noir: from 2/10 to 3/10
Fearless Roland: score will be released when the review finally is, but I think you can more or less guess what it is based on the previous 2 IEMs.

From now on there will be some minor rating scale compression; that is to say, 2 things with the same score may not necessarily be equally as good (or bad) in my eyes. Perhaps I should implement decimal places. We’ll see. But for now some transparency, so you know you’re not crazy if you’re wondering what happened to the scores.

In the meantime, some people have requested I do a recommendations list by price tier as well as a clarification of the scoring system and how the numbers work. Those two articles will be coming out soon. Let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to read.

 

[aminus]

Aminus Recommends:
Or, “so what DON’T you hate?”

Here is the curated list of things I generally recommend to people who ask me. Stuff that I would personally use at its price tier for a daily driver will be marked in bold. All tiers are sorted by quoted price. All prices quoted are in USD at the cheapest possible new price.

Sub-$100 tier:
So you either have no money or want a beater. Unfortunately for you, nothing here is really that good. But here’s the stuff that’s not as bad as everything else out there.

Sony MH755 - $8
Starting with the obligatory. Yes, it has shouty upper mids. Yes, it has kinda bad treble.Yes, the detail is not remotely good. No, it’s unrivaled at the price. Having damned good bass is a plus too. Recable it and you have an unbeatable beater IEM.

Tin HiFi T2 - $50
Incredibly boring. But the only thing in this price range that makes any sort of attempt to be neutral. Front vent seal is not recommended as you’re just turning lacking bad bass into lots of bad bass. Not much to say aside from that.

Sony MDR-AS800 - $60
Good tonality. Minor warmth. Treble is not quite my flavor of lower treble but close enough. Main problem here is that it has no bass slam, and like everything else in this tier it has no real technical ability either. But it gets the main tonality stuff right, very right, which is a rarity in this bracket, to say the least.

$100-$500 tier:
Fancy yourself a little better than some budget Made in China stuff? Good for you, there’s a wide variety of choices here. This is the tier where things really start becoming acceptable.

Tin HiFi T4 - $110
New kid on the block showing off good dynamics, nice detail and well tuned midrange. Treble can annoy some, but that applies to anything with treble peaks. No bass, as was the case with the T2, but what else did you expect from Tin?

Etymotic ER2SE/XR - $120
The first thing on this list with actual bass that doesn’t compromise everything else. The only problem now is that you have no soundstage and no treble extension. Still has damned good detail and is way less intense than the ER4 and ER3. Strong recommendation for this one. Basslets stick to the SE, normal people go for the XR.

Sony MDR-EX800ST - $200
Kinda low in resolution and veiled, with distant presentation. But this baby has decent detail retrieval, good slam in the bass (though not enough if you ask me) and pretty inoffensive mids and treble (unlike the EX1000). Extremely EQable, if you’re into that. The problem, just like the EX1000, is that it’s open back. Otherwise this is an acceptable choice.

Drop + JVC HA-FDX1 - $280
Unlike the modded FD01 I heard and criticized, the FDX1 is way less boring and doesn’t feel as dark. Dynamics are also better (my trusted ears tell me the brass nozzle, the one on the modded FD01 unit, is for whatever reason incredibly boring compared to the other 2), though it’s still very laidback, perhaps unusually so. Thanks to not being as dark, the FDX1 displays good technicalities over its original. It also still has no treble extension past the resonance peak. The plus side is that you get an actual soundstage, unlike the ER2. Also has more midbass than the XR. YMMV.

Moondrop Blessing 2: Dusk - $330
A decent improvement over the original Blessing 2. Less shouty, better treble transients, more even overall tonal response. Goes from slightly v-shaped to neutral or bass boosted neutral. Extremely well tuned regardless of price, and has decent macrodynamics and staging. Major flaws are an overall mediocre amount of detail and slightly dull microdynamic response, as well as minor coherency issues. The treble resonance is also still present, though not to the same degree as the original B2. Possibly the default recommendation at this price point, unless one is seeking something specific.

Sony IER-M7 - $370
First BA on the list goes to Sony, unsurprisingly. It’s free of the usual disgusting BA timbre but is one of the worst offenders of the sonic wall staging I’ve been complaining about a lot these days, and has kinda bad bass transients. On top of that, it has kinda garbage dynamics and is a little dark. But you get some damn good technicalities and a likable sound signature, with excellent imaging as well. Also not as bassy as the IER-M9 for whatever reason, even though it appears that way on the graph. A worthy consideration for someone who wants a taste of the Sony IER sound but doesn’t have the dosh for it.

Sony MDR-EX1000 - $400
The legendary one and only. The peak of single DD engineering. Has good staging (duh) but similarly distant presentation to the EX800. This may trigger some. Even worse is the peaky treble, which is absolutely unbearable to many. But it’s still the most technical single DD in the world. May have flat bass but don’t underestimate its slam. EQs extremely well, if you’re into that kind of thing. Remove the filter to remove the slight veil and you’re gucci. Oh yeah, and it’s unusable outside.

$500-$1000 tier:
Slowly but surely building up to the big boy prices. This stuff is generally pretty technical. Hard to go wrong in this tier.

Dunu SA6 - $550
Despite being billed as a mini-VX or a "studio" oriented IEM, it's actually much better at being an enjoyable listen than it is any sort of reference monitor. Good timbre and microdynamics offsets a somewhat lean tuning, with the biggest issue being slightly splashy treble. Aside from that, a pretty good full BA all around.

FAudio Minor - $570
Excellent bass, great dynamics, open soundstage, slightly dry and lean but otherwise neutral mids. The main problem here is that the treble peaks like an Acoustune, though in practice it doesn’t quite have the same treble tonality and timbre as one. If you can handle the treble, put some Sony Hybrid tips on it and you have the best single DD you can attain in this price tier (or any price tier really) with few major flaws to boot. Just good all around.

Moondrop S8 - $700
A more refined sounding Blessing 2 that fixes the treble and coherency problems, but loses out in bass and macrodynamics. Still a well-deserved step up from the B2, mostly because it's the best IEM that I would really consider to be part of the whole VSDF tuning (no, Viento is too different to really count). Usurps the qdc 4ss as the "neutral" option of the bracket.

Hyla CE-5 - $900
Extremely colored tonality. Horrible mids. Polarizing treble. But the bass is incredible. It too has a flavoring to it, though this one is more of a sweetness than anything really potentially offensive. Technically the best bass in this tier, but I prefer the tonality of the Minor’s bass for most things. Excellent recommendation for electronic music, kinda lousy recommendation for everything else.

Beyerdynamic Xelento - $1000
Listed as $1000, but you can get this used at $600. Extremely V shaped but also extremely well controlled in transients. Slams like a truck and has the treble to not have everything plunged in darkness. The problem is that the mids on it are horribly recessed and the treble extension sucks. Otherwise this is one of the top players at this bracket thanks to its relatively low used price.

Sony IER-M9 - $1000
Also goes for around $1000 new but often goes for way cheaper used. Similar dynamic, staging and transient issues to the M7 but now with more bass, more treble, and better technical ability to boot. I would honestly recommend for any prospective M7 buyers to top up for a used M9, but not everyone can do that. Both are similar enough so I’ll leave it at that.

$1000+
So you think you’re a big boy. Let’s see just how big you are.

Hidition Viento-B - $1200
4BAs that do more than most double digit multi-BA setups. Bass is surprisingly well controlled for a BA (still has timbral issues and a lack of slam so don’t get your hopes up) and it extends extremely well on both ends. Can be shouty and bright to some, but I’m usually the one whining about stuff like that and I don’t have any problems with it. One of my DIYer friends calls it black magic and rightfully so. The only mid-centric IEM I truly like.

Fearless x Crinacle Dawn - $1400
Very likely the best tonality I've heard in any IEM. Incredibly balanced midrange, and fairly smooth and nonfatiguing treble. Unfortunately it also has plenty of flaws to go with it as well, between the blunted transient response which is particularly noticeable in the bass response and the usual issues with electret treble and extension. That and it's not that resolving for a kilobuck IEM. But for someone searching for tonal balance above all else I'd say it comes down between the Viento and this, and not as many people are going to like the bright, upper midrange focused tonality of the Viento compared to the darker and bassier Dawn.

64 Audio Nio - $1700
Essentially a universal N8 released to the mass market. Not great with the M15/20 module, pretty good with the MX module. Not a specialist in any particular field, but a fairly well rounded jack-of-all-trades that does everything serviceably. Is unique on the market in being a hybrid that's relatively neutral/lower mid focused, where most hybrids are lean or V-shaped to some degree.

64 Audio U12t - $2000
Don’t do what I did and fall for the trickery that is the A12t. The universal is very well tuned, and has a slight lower midrange tilt that works excellently with most instruments. Bass is well extended and has good slam but is not a DD substitute. Tia driver may be slightly fatiguing due to upper treble peaks. This IEM is one of the best multi-BA setups in the world.

Sony IER-Z1R - $2000
The undisputed king of the hybrid. You already know my thoughts on this one. Go for it above all else if you appreciate good bass. That is all.

Vision Ears VE8 - $2700
Extremely expensive, but also the only warm IEM that has truly good technicalities. Warmth does away with most of the BA timbre, though it is still an issue. Small staging, but most CIEMs don’t have any staging worth speaking of anyways. If you like warmth, you will either eventually end up buying this or quit audio before you can afford it.

And that’s it. These are the IEMs I give my stamp of approval to. Hope you enjoyed the read.

 

[OverlordRush]

qdc Anole VX - $2100
This has the same problems as the 4SS, but make no mistake, this is one of the best “neutral” IEMs money can buy. Excellent technical ability with little to no real FR related flaws. Main drawbacks are the weird bass imaging and, of course, BA timbre.

I feel like u put it on ur list just not to piss me off... But no1 talk crap about VX but me... Get rdy for a clapping by lordVX...

Jk pretty ok list