I would like to express my appreciation for being given the honor to be on the tour list. Although sometimes I feel certain things are sent to me for a reason. I know now that certain people wanted to send the K3003 to me for a reason. Counterpoint is good.
OK, so here's the deal. I still consider myself a relative noob when it comes to IEMs and such. I don't know what Sonare, Knuckles, CFUK, or TWEEB mean. No do I care. I also do not follow standard or accepted IEM review impression protocol. Again, mainly because I am an IEM noob and don't post in this area much. And don't care to write much.
I mostly listen to speakers. Then headphones. On occasional when I travel, my custom IEMs. I own the UERM. I may apply EQ to it. I may not. It depends upon my mood. I'm not necessary a a big fan of BA drivers, but the UERM sounds cohesive. It's sounds together. In fact, I've heard most of UE's range, and their stuff sounds "together" in regardless of frequency response. I have heard other IEM brands which do so not sound as "together" as UE. I will not name them because many of them are newer players and I don't want to be responsible for causing anything to die.
I wish I knew nothing about the AX60's relation to the K3003. I'm still not sure about the exact details because I immediately stopped reading. In fact, I still have not read anything in this thread with the exception of a small part of the introductory portion in the first post, and the tour list on the second post.
A few years ago, my assessment of the K3003 was "FAIL". This was based on testicles busting price, less than optimal integration of the dynamic bass driver, i.e. "slow, a step behind", and an annoying mid upper-treble peak (with the treble filter), or mediocre technicalities (with the reference filter). I think now in late 2013, I probably wouldn't be so harsh. Back then, I was really concerned with rapid escalation in prices. (I'm old-school Asian, so I never pay full price. Most Americans, unless they are the older ones who have gone to war, like to pay high prices. In fact, they insist on paying even higher prices because it shows they are "winners", just like Charlie Sheen.) It's clear in 2013 that I've lost that personal war.
So this is where it's suddenly going to get much less interesting. If I thought the K3003's bass was slow, a step behind - akin to the Martin Logan CLX speaker's subwoofer - which is kinda slow, but really not
that bad, the AX60's bass is on a whole 'nother level and universe step behind. No words can describe how disturbing and maddening this was to me. Hence my initial impressions:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/681403/astrotec-ax60-thoughts-reviews-and-tour-impressions/90#post_10040753
The frequency response was not to my preference, but I understand and even appreciate it's tuning. A nice warmth which reaches well into the mids, a tad sizzly and sibilant. A good smack on snares and bite on trumpets. At least the warmth helps balance the treble. One thing I did like was how the low-mid bass wasn't over-emphasized. Too much of a pounding from too many other IEMs with Bob Marley. I appreciate the AX60 for not overdoing the low-mid bass.
The silver lining is that I was eventually, after continued forced listening, able to get use to the slow bass which seemed to be like 1 second behind (I'm exaggerating, but you guys get the point). It's OK. As long as I don't compare it to anything else.
