Afraid not, I haven't heard any new IEMs in nearly a year now. No access to them. That situation may change in a few months, but I won't promise anything unless I'm absolutely sure, and regardless I'm uncertain if I'd be interested in attempting to catch up with every semi-relevant IEM that's come out since my last update instead of just ones that catch my interest.
Aminus hates everything (Or, Aminus rants and reviews stuff)
- Thread starter aminus
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I definitely took my time in responding to this, but I'm slowly but surely warming up to the idea of returning to doing reviews, though they'll be less adhering to any sort of ruleset or format and definitely moreso at my own leisure. I strongly suspect my old style of writing a structured format and then following it up with a numbered score will be eschewed entirely in lieu of whatever comes to mind and whatever is worth talking about. As for context regarding this sudden return from my indefinite hiatus, I will be returning to Singapore this summer and for the rest of the year I will be taking a leave of absence from school until I figure out exactly what I want to do with my academics. Given the amount of spare time on my hands it seems like a good opportunity to get back into writing the way I used to.
Though fair warning in advance, my tastes have significantly changed in the last year, and standards will be higher than ever. I will be surprised if very many IEMs will get ranked above merely average given my current preferences and requirements. It also bears mentioning, as such, that essentially every review I've written prior is more or less deprecated, with exceptions possibly being the last handful I wrote. I suppose there is a greater than zero chance of this alienating the average reader, but I think this thread passed that threshold a while back, so I'm not terribly concerned about it.
In the meantime, before I fly back, I'm open to suggestions as to IEMs worth reviewing. I've not kept up with the IEM scene by any stretch of the imagination, beyond vaguely having heard some names thrown around like the 7hz Timeless and the Sennheiser IE600. If there's anything the few remaining readers of this thread would like to see covered, now's the time to throw some names out so I know what to seek out upon touchdown.
Oh yes, and I do have one last review I wrote last year (final touches were completed on May 16th 2021, almost exactly a year ago) but never published. I suppose there's no better time than to do that now, dated as it may be.
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Symphonio VR1:
This IEM was loaned to me by @Infoseeker, who I never got the chance to thank or even tell him about my impressions on it, but am grateful to nonetheless for making this possible.
The single dynamic driver. At this point, I have largely given up in my search of a competent one and resigned to the harsh fact that is the incompetence of the IEM industry. Something that's a seeming constant and basic fact of headphones is apparently impossible for IEMs to achieve with any degree of competency. The reasons why are numerous and obvious: lack of access to bespoke drivers amongst makers, having to work around venting and reflections in a closed design, so on and so forth. At the same point, it's difficult to describe how disappointing it is that with decades of existence, the industry has failed to put out even one single DD IEM that has truly stood the test of time without caveats or disclaimers. There is no HD6X0 of IEMs.
The single DDs that occupy the IEM world can thusly be split into two categories: the peaky, bright and painful, and the overdampened, dull and dead. The former manifests most extremely in the likes of the Dita Dream or Acoustune at their worst, and on the same side of the spectrum stands the likes of the at this point famous (and infamous) EX1000, or the Dunu Luna, or even the FAudio Minor. All these IEMs can simply be described as having numerous treble and timbral issues that make listening to them difficult at best, absolutely intolerable at worst. The opposite side attempts to work around this issue, but in doing so causes more of its own. Acoustune's HS1551 is the most famous amongst the worst offenders of this, as as Moondrop's numerous attempts at single DDs both budget and high end. On a less extreme end is the FDX1 and the ER2, both great budget IEMs, but they also achieve their sound through dampening that arguably kills transient bite and dynamic range. Acceptable when you're paying $100, but not beyond that.
Where does the VR1 fit into this? It's a cost-no-object single DD that sets off quite a few red flags for me. Firstly, brand. Symphonio are a brand with nearly no presence beyond this IEM. In reality, they have 2 earbud models and another single DD IEM at the budget range called the Xcited2, but no one talks about any of those. Nonexistent lineup presence beyond flagship gimmickry is never a good sign. Secondly, their marketing. They seem extremely reliant on their diaphragm material, size and their use of a single DD, as well as the... CNC aluminum they use. Nothing is said about what they've actually done to that driver. The housing and chassis of a driver is just as, if not arguably more important to the final sound than the material of the driver or what have you. The primary reason this is an alarm to me is because it's essentially no better than the excessive marketing speak employed by the rest of the IEM industry, except for a single DD instead of some 20 driver quadbrid abomination.
But this isn't a crash course on marketing, this is about sound. I'll quit critiquing their product blurbs and get to talking about, you know, the actual product.
The lowend of the VR1 is fairly midbass emphasized with decent, though not amazing, extension. Bass impact is about moderate with slightly rounded transients, though not to the point of sounding pillowy. Decay transients are a little bit loose; while they're never sloppy and ploddy, the VR1 is also never really tight and muscular. Texture is decent, maybe somewhat below average. And as for nuance... forget about it. No IEM does nuance right. As a whole, the VR1's bass is pretty average with not that much to write home about.
The midrange of the VR1 does suffer a bit from the mild bass bloat of the VR1 with a lower mid emphasis that's more than I'd like. Despite this, the upper mids are not particularly recessed. The result is a midrange balance that is a little bit thick without too much oddness otherwise. I do feel that harmonics get choked out a bit by the VR1's general lower mid emphasis, instruments simply lack a degree of bite and edge that they otherwise should have. This may be related to the next point, the VR1's treble response. As is, I find the VR1's midrange... inoffensive. It's not horribly thick and dense like many other IEMs are, but it's also not the most tonally accurate set of mids I've heard, nor the most pleasing. It almost sounds correct, but fails at getting the upper midrange and its respective harmonics right the way it could have.
From about 4khz onwards, the VR1 takes nosedive in treble response that picks up around the insertion resonance before dipping even further, but not before one final peak at around 12khz. The result is a treble response that is one note and relatively muted throughout, and severely lacking in treble extension; quite ironic given their talk of "perfectly reproducing the huge information brought by DSD in the secondary era" on their product pages. I wouldn't call it dark, but it's definitely lacking a lot of mid and upper treble, which may contribute in large part to a seeming lack of clarity and upper harmonics with the VR1. From a tonal standpoint, this is the VR1's greatest weakness; this IEM could actually have been quite good in this department with reduced bass and less dampening on the treble, but as is it's simply too tonally imbalanced.
The overdampened treble of the VR1 reflects in its overall intangible performance as well. Overdampening has one consistent and noticeable effect on intangibles, and that's in dynamics. The VR1 shows that downwards compressed overdampened sound that mutes dynamic impact and kills dynamic peaks, which leads to a somewhat dull and soft sound (matching the general lack of treble it has). Despite this, I don't find the VR1 mushy or gooey sounding, it's timbrally dry and clean enough in the transients that it still sounds relatively normal, just lacking in dynamics and general clarity. As a whole, the VR1 very much fits into the mold of the overdampened DD as was discussed earlier, which I suppose explains why the pinna gain is actually quite competent. Beyond that, the VR1 is pretty average. It's not particularly microdynamically nuanced (no IEM really is), its resolution is kind of middling, stage is nothing worth mentioning, you get the point. The VR1 is, as a whole, pretty mediocre.
The real killer with the VR1, at the end of the day, is price. 2 grand for a single DD that essentially achieves its sound by overdampening to hell is insane. This thing would probably be worth the price if it were $100 or $200, at $2200 it's completely noncompetitive with other flagships (which in and of themselves are kind of poor value in the first place), let alone in the grand scheme of IEMs. I suppose it's somewhat commendable that Symphonio are chasing the single DD angle instead of the usual BA spam or worse, some mangled tribrid quadbrid abomination, but the results are simply not acceptable given the hefty price tag they're commanding. Philosophy means nothing when performance is left wanting.
Listening was a mixture of the WM1A's 4.4mm output and the Jot 2 BF2 stack's 4pin XLR output.
The VR1 is an IEM that I really went into having no expectations, and it seems I was vindicated in my nonchalance at it. It's not horrible like one might assume going into it, instead it's just... milquetoast. Beyond its gimmick status as a grossly overpriced single DD that received little coverage from anything one might consider a reputable source up until now, there is really no reason to talk about the VR1. It will most assuredly be forgotten as the industry chugs on and something else replaces what little space it occupies in the collective consciousness of the market. And to quote myself quoting myself without sounding like I'm tooting on my own horn:
Score: 5/10
This IEM was loaned to me by @Infoseeker, who I never got the chance to thank or even tell him about my impressions on it, but am grateful to nonetheless for making this possible.
The single dynamic driver. At this point, I have largely given up in my search of a competent one and resigned to the harsh fact that is the incompetence of the IEM industry. Something that's a seeming constant and basic fact of headphones is apparently impossible for IEMs to achieve with any degree of competency. The reasons why are numerous and obvious: lack of access to bespoke drivers amongst makers, having to work around venting and reflections in a closed design, so on and so forth. At the same point, it's difficult to describe how disappointing it is that with decades of existence, the industry has failed to put out even one single DD IEM that has truly stood the test of time without caveats or disclaimers. There is no HD6X0 of IEMs.
The single DDs that occupy the IEM world can thusly be split into two categories: the peaky, bright and painful, and the overdampened, dull and dead. The former manifests most extremely in the likes of the Dita Dream or Acoustune at their worst, and on the same side of the spectrum stands the likes of the at this point famous (and infamous) EX1000, or the Dunu Luna, or even the FAudio Minor. All these IEMs can simply be described as having numerous treble and timbral issues that make listening to them difficult at best, absolutely intolerable at worst. The opposite side attempts to work around this issue, but in doing so causes more of its own. Acoustune's HS1551 is the most famous amongst the worst offenders of this, as as Moondrop's numerous attempts at single DDs both budget and high end. On a less extreme end is the FDX1 and the ER2, both great budget IEMs, but they also achieve their sound through dampening that arguably kills transient bite and dynamic range. Acceptable when you're paying $100, but not beyond that.
Where does the VR1 fit into this? It's a cost-no-object single DD that sets off quite a few red flags for me. Firstly, brand. Symphonio are a brand with nearly no presence beyond this IEM. In reality, they have 2 earbud models and another single DD IEM at the budget range called the Xcited2, but no one talks about any of those. Nonexistent lineup presence beyond flagship gimmickry is never a good sign. Secondly, their marketing. They seem extremely reliant on their diaphragm material, size and their use of a single DD, as well as the... CNC aluminum they use. Nothing is said about what they've actually done to that driver. The housing and chassis of a driver is just as, if not arguably more important to the final sound than the material of the driver or what have you. The primary reason this is an alarm to me is because it's essentially no better than the excessive marketing speak employed by the rest of the IEM industry, except for a single DD instead of some 20 driver quadbrid abomination.
But this isn't a crash course on marketing, this is about sound. I'll quit critiquing their product blurbs and get to talking about, you know, the actual product.
The lowend of the VR1 is fairly midbass emphasized with decent, though not amazing, extension. Bass impact is about moderate with slightly rounded transients, though not to the point of sounding pillowy. Decay transients are a little bit loose; while they're never sloppy and ploddy, the VR1 is also never really tight and muscular. Texture is decent, maybe somewhat below average. And as for nuance... forget about it. No IEM does nuance right. As a whole, the VR1's bass is pretty average with not that much to write home about.
The midrange of the VR1 does suffer a bit from the mild bass bloat of the VR1 with a lower mid emphasis that's more than I'd like. Despite this, the upper mids are not particularly recessed. The result is a midrange balance that is a little bit thick without too much oddness otherwise. I do feel that harmonics get choked out a bit by the VR1's general lower mid emphasis, instruments simply lack a degree of bite and edge that they otherwise should have. This may be related to the next point, the VR1's treble response. As is, I find the VR1's midrange... inoffensive. It's not horribly thick and dense like many other IEMs are, but it's also not the most tonally accurate set of mids I've heard, nor the most pleasing. It almost sounds correct, but fails at getting the upper midrange and its respective harmonics right the way it could have.
From about 4khz onwards, the VR1 takes nosedive in treble response that picks up around the insertion resonance before dipping even further, but not before one final peak at around 12khz. The result is a treble response that is one note and relatively muted throughout, and severely lacking in treble extension; quite ironic given their talk of "perfectly reproducing the huge information brought by DSD in the secondary era" on their product pages. I wouldn't call it dark, but it's definitely lacking a lot of mid and upper treble, which may contribute in large part to a seeming lack of clarity and upper harmonics with the VR1. From a tonal standpoint, this is the VR1's greatest weakness; this IEM could actually have been quite good in this department with reduced bass and less dampening on the treble, but as is it's simply too tonally imbalanced.
The overdampened treble of the VR1 reflects in its overall intangible performance as well. Overdampening has one consistent and noticeable effect on intangibles, and that's in dynamics. The VR1 shows that downwards compressed overdampened sound that mutes dynamic impact and kills dynamic peaks, which leads to a somewhat dull and soft sound (matching the general lack of treble it has). Despite this, I don't find the VR1 mushy or gooey sounding, it's timbrally dry and clean enough in the transients that it still sounds relatively normal, just lacking in dynamics and general clarity. As a whole, the VR1 very much fits into the mold of the overdampened DD as was discussed earlier, which I suppose explains why the pinna gain is actually quite competent. Beyond that, the VR1 is pretty average. It's not particularly microdynamically nuanced (no IEM really is), its resolution is kind of middling, stage is nothing worth mentioning, you get the point. The VR1 is, as a whole, pretty mediocre.
The real killer with the VR1, at the end of the day, is price. 2 grand for a single DD that essentially achieves its sound by overdampening to hell is insane. This thing would probably be worth the price if it were $100 or $200, at $2200 it's completely noncompetitive with other flagships (which in and of themselves are kind of poor value in the first place), let alone in the grand scheme of IEMs. I suppose it's somewhat commendable that Symphonio are chasing the single DD angle instead of the usual BA spam or worse, some mangled tribrid quadbrid abomination, but the results are simply not acceptable given the hefty price tag they're commanding. Philosophy means nothing when performance is left wanting.
Listening was a mixture of the WM1A's 4.4mm output and the Jot 2 BF2 stack's 4pin XLR output.
The VR1 is an IEM that I really went into having no expectations, and it seems I was vindicated in my nonchalance at it. It's not horrible like one might assume going into it, instead it's just... milquetoast. Beyond its gimmick status as a grossly overpriced single DD that received little coverage from anything one might consider a reputable source up until now, there is really no reason to talk about the VR1. It will most assuredly be forgotten as the industry chugs on and something else replaces what little space it occupies in the collective consciousness of the market. And to quote myself quoting myself without sounding like I'm tooting on my own horn:
Score: 5/10
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64Audio Duo please mate. And say its absolute crap, so I can maintain my image of you.
newworld666
Headphoneus Supremus
Yes It should be fun to see what you think around the German IEM "sound" like Sennheuser IE600 & IE900, Vision Ears Phönix & EXT and maybe even an updated opinion on Beyerdynamic Xelento .... Of course, all based with a WM1A DAP as source.
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illumidata
100+ Head-Fier
Good.
For someone who can't demo anything this thread has been absolutely golden, it would be great to see it revived.
chickenmoon
1000+ Head-Fier
Symphonio VR1:
The single dynamic driver. At this point, I have largely given up in my search of a competent one and resigned to the harsh fact that is the incompetence of the IEM industry. Something that's a seeming constant and basic fact of headphones is apparently impossible for IEMs to achieve with any degree of competency. The reasons why are numerous and obvious: lack of access to bespoke drivers amongst makers, having to work around venting and reflections in a closed design, so on and so forth. At the same point, it's difficult to describe how disappointing it is that with decades of existence, the industry has failed to put out even one single DD IEM that has truly stood the test of time without caveats or disclaimers. There is no HD6X0 of IEMs.
The single DDs that occupy the IEM world can thusly be split into two categories: the peaky, bright and painful, and the overdampened, dull and dead. The former manifests most extremely in the likes of the Dita Dream or Acoustune at their worst, and on the same side of the spectrum stands the likes of the at this point famous (and infamous) EX1000, or the Dunu Luna, or even the FAudio Minor. All these IEMs can simply be described as having numerous treble and timbral issues that make listening to them difficult at best, absolutely intolerable at worst. The opposite side attempts to work around this issue, but in doing so causes more of its own. Acoustune's HS1551 is the most famous amongst the worst offenders of this, as as Moondrop's numerous attempts at single DDs both budget and high end. On a less extreme end is the FDX1 and the ER2, both great budget IEMs, but they also achieve their sound through dampening that arguably kills transient bite and dynamic range. Acceptable when you're paying $100, but not beyond that.
Where does the VR1 fit into this? It's a cost-no-object single DD that sets off quite a few red flags for me. Firstly, brand. Symphonio are a brand with nearly no presence beyond this IEM. In reality, they have 2 earbud models and another single DD IEM at the budget range called the Xcited2, but no one talks about any of those. Nonexistent lineup presence beyond flagship gimmickry is never a good sign. Secondly, their marketing. They seem extremely reliant on their diaphragm material, size and their use of a single DD, as well as the... CNC aluminum they use. Nothing is said about what they've actually done to that driver. The housing and chassis of a driver is just as, if not arguably more important to the final sound than the material of the driver or what have you. The primary reason this is an alarm to me is because it's essentially no better than the excessive marketing speak employed by the rest of the IEM industry, except for a single DD instead of some 20 driver quadbrid abomination.
But this isn't a crash course on marketing, this is about sound. I'll quit critiquing their product blurbs and get to talking about, you know, the actual product.
The lowend of the VR1 is fairly midbass emphasized with decent, though not amazing, extension. Bass impact is about moderate with slightly rounded transients, though not to the point of sounding pillowy. Decay transients are a little bit loose; while they're never sloppy and ploddy, the VR1 is also never really tight and muscular. Texture is decent, maybe somewhat below average. And as for nuance... forget about it. No IEM does nuance right. As a whole, the VR1's bass is pretty average with not that much to write home about.
The midrange of the VR1 does suffer a bit from the mild bass bloat of the VR1 with a lower mid emphasis that's more than I'd like. Despite this, the upper mids are not particularly recessed. The result is a midrange balance that is a little bit thick without too much oddness otherwise. I do feel that harmonics get choked out a bit by the VR1's general lower mid emphasis, instruments simply lack a degree of bite and edge that they otherwise should have. This may be related to the next point, the VR1's treble response. As is, I find the VR1's midrange... inoffensive. It's not horribly thick and dense like many other IEMs are, but it's also not the most tonally accurate set of mids I've heard, nor the most pleasing. It almost sounds correct, but fails at getting the upper midrange and its respective harmonics right the way it could have.
From about 4khz onwards, the VR1 takes nosedive in treble response that picks up around the insertion resonance before dipping even further, but not before one final peak at around 12khz. The result is a treble response that is one note and relatively muted throughout, and severely lacking in treble extension; quite ironic given their talk of "perfectly reproducing the huge information brought by DSD in the secondary era" on their product pages. I wouldn't call it dark, but it's definitely lacking a lot of mid and upper treble, which may contribute in large part to a seeming lack of clarity and upper harmonics with the VR1. From a tonal standpoint, this is the VR1's greatest weakness; this IEM could actually have been quite good in this department with reduced bass and less dampening on the treble, but as is it's simply too tonally imbalanced.
The overdampened treble of the VR1 reflects in its overall intangible performance as well. Overdampening has one consistent and noticeable effect on intangibles, and that's in dynamics. The VR1 shows that downwards compressed overdampened sound that mutes dynamic impact and kills dynamic peaks, which leads to a somewhat dull and soft sound (matching the general lack of treble it has). Despite this, I don't find the VR1 mushy or gooey sounding, it's timbrally dry and clean enough in the transients that it still sounds relatively normal, just lacking in dynamics and general clarity. As a whole, the VR1 very much fits into the mold of the overdampened DD as was discussed earlier, which I suppose explains why the pinna gain is actually quite competent. Beyond that, the VR1 is pretty average. It's not particularly microdynamically nuanced (no IEM really is), its resolution is kind of middling, stage is nothing worth mentioning, you get the point. The VR1 is, as a whole, pretty mediocre.
The real killer with the VR1, at the end of the day, is price. 2 grand for a single DD that essentially achieves its sound by overdampening to hell is insane. This thing would probably be worth the price if it were $100 or $200, at $2200 it's completely noncompetitive with other flagships (which in and of themselves are kind of poor value in the first place), let alone in the grand scheme of IEMs. I suppose it's somewhat commendable that Symphonio are chasing the single DD angle instead of the usual BA spam or worse, some mangled tribrid quadbrid abomination, but the results are simply not acceptable given the hefty price tag they're commanding. Philosophy means nothing when performance is left wanting.
Listening was a mixture of the WM1A's 4.4mm output and the Jot 2 BF2 stack's 4pin XLR output.
The VR1 is an IEM that I really went into having no expectations, and it seems I was vindicated in my nonchalance at it. It's not horrible like one might assume going into it, instead it's just... milquetoast. Beyond its gimmick status as a grossly overpriced single DD that received little coverage from anything one might consider a reputable source up until now, there is really no reason to talk about the VR1. It will most assuredly be forgotten as the industry chugs on and something else replaces what little space it occupies in the collective consciousness of the market. And to quote myself quoting myself without sounding like I'm tooting on my own horn:
Score: 5/10
Simphonio has another single DD, the RX10 which I happen to have and like quite a bit and currently prefer over my other similarly priced DDs despite its flaws (aren't they all flawed in a way or another?) and some planar whose name I forgot.
Yep, dated is dated. Of course, I can't speak at all to how their new stuff sounds, but at the time of writing their lineup was legitimately just one kilobuck flagship and a bunch of throwaway stuff which definitely did not impress me from 1 year ago.
Infoseeker
Headphoneus Supremus
In 2020, Simphonio vr1 had an excuse for existing. (Cause a8000 & Dunu Luna were what came out at the same time)
Everything was a bad value & flawed that generation.
A8000 = peaky treble cursed & need EQ
Dunu Luna = kind of cursed. Uppermids/lower treble could benefit from EQ. More noticable quirks before EQ than the VR1's later treble. But great iem to EQ, or accept Luna's quirks.
Beyer Xelento & Sony Ex1000 = also dark like VR1 but peaky in a way you may not ignore. Way more musher mids.
Now VR1 probably isn't as competitive in 2022.
But like you, I definitely still like my Simphonio. It is my laidback all-rounder iem.
It's flawed in being a little dark, that some brain burn-in will compensate for. Not flawed in ways that need serious EQ fixes or its unusable/painful.
I don't EQ it when I use it. I would still rec the VR1 if it wasn't for its value.
Warm but not mushy. Really resolving and dynamic I'm my opinion; doesn't need to depend on a treble tilt for imaging.....but that is in context for the frequencies it covers.
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helljudgement
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
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Good to see you making a comeback. Any chance of reviewing headphones and desktop setup? Interested in hearing your views on that as it's a totally different genre of gear with wildly different tuning and experience compared to iems.
You know, I would love to do that. If I could never write another article on IEMs again in exchange for being able to write about all the desktop crap I want, I'd do it in a heartbeat.
The problem is twofold: accessibility and reputation. While I can indeed walk into any store in SG and pick whatever headphone I feel like writing about, the problem is that I can't listen to it with my regular upstream stack. The more I go to private meets or just listen to gear in general, the more I am convinced that whatever you're feeding your headphones with is unquestionably absolutely integral to the sound, and no impression or review can be fully understood without some comprehension of the reviewer's chain. This means I'm unwilling to simply go out and demo headphones with whatever gear the store might have; I have to use the equipment I'm familiar with. That necessitates actual loaners, not just store demo units.
The second problem follows up on this one partly. My reputation as a writer can be easily summated with 3 key aspects:
1. An IEM reviewer
2. Not terribly well known
3. Terribly critical
I have looked (albeit briefly and without attempting to pursue the angle too much) into potentially having some partnership with headphone retailers for the sole purpose of acquiring loaners for review purposes, without any luck. And quite frankly, who can blame them? Financially speaking they stand stand next to nothing to gain and a decent amount to lose by giving me access to more gear that I will likely find some way to criticize. There is a very good reason why few critics (and I say critics, not reviewers) exist in audio, to say nothing of "making it" as one (and to be entirely clear I don't have any interest in this either; this is just something I do for fun).
There are other minor issues as well, like availability (what is the point in telling someone that something is awesome but they can't actually buy it anywhere?), unit variation (already a problem with IEMs, but unquestionably a bigger issue with headphones), and just the sheer fact that past a certain point in headphones, it all comes down to taste. Just today I got back from a meet with some friends, in which I criticized a headphone the rest of them liked for timbral and tonal issues they didn't hear. Not because they're bad listeners (they might be better listeners than me in some ways honestly), but because I listened to a Bruckner symphony through it while they were listening to the Cranberries. Not knocking either them nor the Cranberries of course, but it's just a simple fact that certain genres of music or certain kinds of listeners will necessitate certain things that others don't.
This is more or less what I was talking about earlier regarding potentially alienating readers, but the difference really is that the margin for error or improvement is so much smaller in IEMs than in headphones that it's rare for something to do really well in some specific fields and flop really hard in all the others, and even if it does, it's really obvious. In other words, I can get away with it here, but not so much with headphones.
Long story short, reviewing headphones and desktop gear is definitely a pipe dream of mine, but not something I think I will be able to do anytime soon. A shame, because it's definitely the listening system scale that I have the most enthusiasm for at the moment. I love talking about this stuff with the right people, just like I did with IEMs when I first started this thread.
helljudgement
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2009
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I often find sources to be the least of my worries with regards to portable gears in general. Save for a few IEMs that are impossible to be driven well with most conventional daps, I'm fine as long as I'm familiar with the source file and artist. That train of thought doesn't seem to translate well into desktop gear in my experience. Desktop gear are simply in a different playing field when it comes to amps and source as the quality of it are leagues beyond what I've experience at the time when I was into portable gear. They are integral to your whole experience with the whole headphone listening experience. Whilst you can get a general idea of how a certain headphone sounds like in a demo and often times we will have to make purchasing decision based on the source that was used on that day's demo, you can't really draw conclusion to how it will sound in your system. Impedance swings, types of amplification, driver types, timbre etc all react differently to your own amplifier and dac. (e.g. A hd800 coming off a Stratus sounds wildly different from one that comes off GSXmkii.) Certainly doesn't help that some of the best amps are boutique and often take months and sometimes years to make. All these factors do apply to portable gear but somehow, at the risk of alienating an entire sub genre of audio gear, I feel the source and amplification are severely limited by the size which in turn doesn't have as much impact on sound as a full on desktop amps and dacs. Granted I've only heard daps up to sp1k-wm1z/a level so take it with a pinch of salt. So I definitely understand your inclination to only properly review gears with your own reference equipment.
Welcome back, your merciless judgment was sorely missed!
As you will be back in SG, I hope you will review Subtonic Storm, which should soon be released. Let's see if there is any hope in competent multi BA designs.
I would love to read your headphone reviews, even on inferior chains. Hope you find some way that works for you.
The two main factors I see that lead source equipment to simply not matter as much in IEMs are that portable source gear simply isn't very good and that IEMs themselves are neither very good nor scale particularly well. Actual good sounding equipment is already rare enough at a desktop level; trying to squeeze it down to a portable scale borders on impossible, to say nothing of what happens when you need to add a screen, an operating system, and make the whole thing run off a battery. All the stuff from $100-$10000 suffers from this fundamental problem; none of them can really surpass it because it's literally just physics. I've already talked about this to some extent in one of my older articles, and my entrenchment in this position has only deepened since with better understanding of what actually makes amplifiers and DACs sound good. Given my current knowledge I have my doubts that it's possible to make a portable source sound truly good; maybe acceptable at best. We're certainly not going to get anywhere close to it if manufacturers keep chasing spec sheet numbers with SINAD chaser D/A chips and opamps that rely on high negative feedback to get low distortion figures.
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