[HisoKa]

Anyone tried any of their earphones? i found their site not long ago and the looked pretty cool..

Atomic Floyd - The New State of Sound

 

[logwed]

I like the heavy look to them, but I can't say I've ever seen them in person. Do you know how long they've been around?

 

[tivoklr]

I know I'm bumping an old thread but maybe there are more people that have had a chance to try/buy the Atomic Floyd IEM's, or would like a completely subjective review...
 
I was in Amsterdam a few weeks ago, and sadly, I lost my e4c's in Heathrow on my way to the Dam. I found an Apple reseller near Dam Square, and browsed their extremely expensive selection. I decided there was no way I was spending >200 Euros on anything, as I detest paying retail, and knew I was already going to get killed on the exchange rate.
 
Enter the Atomic Floyd HiDefJax AcousticSteel IEM's. With the exchange rate, VAT, etc. I payed just under $200 for them, but I was in a pinch.
 
First impression, pretty underwhelming. Really, really thin sound. However, after a few hours of burn-in, they began to open up a little, and after a full day and a half of use, the sound became very thick and flushed out. Lots of bass, much more than the e4c's, which I used to use with Shure yellow foamies, with a healthy dose of mids and highs. I was pretty happy, especially given the long flight back I where I knew I'd get an opportunity to enjoy them more.
 
Fast forward a few days to home and I remember the freebie Monster Super Tips sample pack I had tried to use with the e4c's. I replaced the medium stock silicone tip with a set of the medium sized silicon Monsters. Holy crap. It was as if I'd bought a different pair of monitors, all of the sudden, I'd never heard anything quite like it. Upon inspection, the stock tips have huge airspaces between the nozzle portion of the tip and the actual silicon that makes contact with the ear. The Monsters on the other hand, are solid (meaning there are no voids), and the magic must be in that solid connection between the earbud and the ear. Regardless, the tips MADE the headphones come alive, and I couldn't be happier. I honestly have not heard more bass from an IEM, but at the same time it's not obnoxious, just much more present and balanced than any other IEM I've tried.
 
As for fit, comfort, etc, they are surprisingly lightweight feeling considering all the mass present, and the monster tips seal infinitely better with the AF's vs. the e4c's.

Am I happy? Yes. Would I buy them again? Yes. Would it help their sales if somebody sold them here in the US (besides the Apple store)? For sure.
 
Complaints: Carrying case is too small, the packaging and website are completely devoid of any useful technical information. I like numbers, and I think the majority of potential customers willing to drop significant money on iem's wants real information.

 

[tivoklr]

Other MAJOR complaint. There is no easy way to tell left from right, and darnit, I'm getting older and sliver print on silver metal is hard to read.

 

[ljokerl]

Quote:

Other MAJOR complaint. There is no easy way to tell left from right, and darnit, I'm getting older and sliver print on silver metal is hard to read.

Aren't the earpieces asymmetric? Why do you need L/R markings at all?

 

[tivoklr]

Yes, the IEM's will fit either ear. Surprisingly, they fit very comfortably and don't feel as heavy as they look.
 
However, I want the same audio channel to be in the same ear each time. I will probably put a daub of touchup paint on one side to make it easier to identify.

 

[goodvibes]

Are these front vented? That seems odd if it's actually the case.

 

[logwed]

Quote:

Are these front vented? That seems odd if it's actually the case.

They actually look identical to the PS210 in design, yet it says that they are designed for noise isolation. Can you comment on the isolation, tivoklr? Also, I really like your impressions, I'm glad that they worked out for you!

 

[Onza]

 
Quote:

Aren't the earpieces asymmetric? Why do you need L/R markings at all?

 


Quote:

Yes, the IEM's will fit either ear. Surprisingly, they fit very comfortably and don't feel as heavy as they look.

 
I think by asymmetric he meant both earpieces are different! From your comments I'm guess they are symmetric...
 

 

[tivoklr]

They are symmetric, I didn't feel the need to point out the mistake...They are front vented, there are 11 holes on the upper portion of the larger disk. I am not familiar with the PS210's sound qualities but they do look similar in design.
 
The sound isolation with the MC gel tips is acceptable to me, not as extreme as the e4c's with the yellow foamies, but that honestly was a pretty isolating experience.
 
The cloth cord makes horrible noise when moving (I know there's a term for this I can't remember it), when there is silence, but is mostly imperceptible when there is music.
 
I only have a few to compare to but they definitely outperform my ER6i, they have better bass than the e4c's, and are driven well by the iPhone4, which is important to me. I did listen to them after using my ancient v900's (gasp) and they couldn't keep up with the cans in the bass category but were still respectable. I'm hoping to pick up a set of fischer bullets in the near future so one more thing to compare with.
 
Given how buying IEM's is often a total crapshoot based on subjective reviews one can pull from the internet, and the dearth of information I found while researching these versus a couple of other, more expensive brands, I thought I'd chime in with a positive outcome.

 

[moseymoose]

I've got the HiDefDrum's which are supposed to be even MORE bass, and yes, they're great for bass, though in my personal opinion they can sound a bit mushy with some genres of music, I'm listening to a 24-bit Vinyl rip right now with them (although now 16bit because iTunes doesn't support 24bit audio). They're good with things that are simple and clean, like house music, dance, r&b, and acoustics. They're totally useless for activity like running etc as they quickly drop out with the weight of the metal button on the cord with the HiDefDrum's but they're not marketed as sporting 'phones. 
They're not that expensive and for the money, they're excellent, and dude, they are LOUD. I only use in ears on the move anyway so it doesn't matter so much about them being acoustically perfect. But I don't think I'd go for anything else if I was to buy again unless I was going to get customs. They look good, feel better than anything else cause of the alloy used to make them and the cable feels real nice, and they sound good.

 

[tinyman392]

LOL, I did a review on the Darts a while back.  They are good quality, but if you are looking for bang for the buck, definitely look elsewhere.  I honestly do believe you do pay for some stylings when you pay for these.  Great mids, good bass, good highs.  But nothing to really chase after.