[Theogenes]

  I was gonna gift the Rockets to my brother-in-law, but you guys are making me consider keeping it...

 
Give him a tie or a pair of socks. The Rockets are keepers 

 

 

[Idsynchrono_24]

Cross post from the KS page:

Anywho, I did some A/Bing against my previous budget champ the Zero Audio Tenore and found that the Rockets would present the same songs with better depth and width compared to the Tenore. Back to back, the Tenore feels flatter, the musical elements sounding like they're aligned along a horizontal axis from left to right whereas the Rockets projected some of these elements forward and back in space; the layering/depth was better, to put it simply. Vocals in particular had superior forward projection on the Rockets, feeling more as though the vocalist was in front of you instead of an amorphous blob suspended between your ears. I'd say the sound stage feels kind of like a fan with the Rockets able to project sounds seemingly above and in front of you as well as to your left and right.

Midrange on the Rockets sounded more effortless than on the Tenore to me, where on busy passages (such as a song's chorus) the Tenore sounded ever so hazy in comparison. Bass on the Rockets is most definitely tighter than on the Tenore, but this quality seems to be at the mercy of Zero Audio's spotty QC. On the flip side, my Tenore has more bass amplitude from the sub bass on up, lending it a more "fun" sound. In spite of that the bass on the Rockets was about sufficient for every genre I've listened to thus far. The bass has a good sense of pitch to it, and it's definitely not one note. One listen to Daft Punk's Game of Love is all you need to be convinced. Perhaps a heavier bass might even come across as incongruous with the rest of the sig, all things considered. That aside, Rockets are a commendably flat phone, and I feel that the slight 6 kHz bump is practically negligible as it doesn't hamper the listening experience in any way - zero fatigue, no masking.

The treble on the Rockets sounded just a touch recessed compared to the Tenore to me, but it's otherwise similar in tone, and smoothness. It doesn't sound metallic, thin or peaky thankfully. I'd wager that some might find it too polite or smoothed over or whatever but I feel it's likely tuned to mitigate the effects of your typical brickwalled album. Whatever the case, I have no issues with it as it isn't excessively forward or biting on even the aggressive albums.

Lastly, I really have to emphasize just how great vocals on the Rockets are. They're fantastically detailed and lifelike. It's probably my favorite thing about them. I also have not noted any sibilance so far in the music I've listened to. The differences I've noted against the Tenore are not by any means night and day, but they ultimately manifest into a signature that I find to be tighter, more focused and superior in dimensionality. It's really the difference in the sense of depth and bass reproduction that's most pronounced going back and forth between the two

As an aside, I hope that this signals a seachange of sorts in AS' approach to consumer tuning. I really can't applaud their decision enough to not go the obvious route of MOAR bass. Ultimately, it's a pretty brave decision to tune them so flat, but I find it very exciting that someone's willing to sell what I find to be an honest sounding (and quite engaging) phone to your average consumer.

 

[jonnio]

Question for those of you who have them already, based on Dale's recent update, are you seating them in the "casual" or "deep" configuration?
 
I will be going for maximum isolation on these on airplane rides, so I'm curious to see how much better the isolation and bass are when worn deeper in the ear with the smaller tips.

 

[tinyman392]

  Question for those of you who have them already, based on Dale's recent update, are you seating them in the "casual" or "deep" configuration?
 
I will be going for maximum isolation on these on airplane rides, so I'm curious to see how much better the isolation and bass are when worn deeper in the ear with the smaller tips.

You'll want to use a tip that fits you properly...  If the tip is too small, the tip won't seal and you won't get proper bass, and treble, response regardless of how deep you insert them in.  Secondly, deeper insertion, with any IEM, will always result in better isolation.  

 

[Theogenes]

I'm using the smallest tips, and I believe I'm inserting them pretty deeply (I do the pull-up-on-you-ear trick to allow for deeper insertion). Need to see if there's any benefit to using some of the other tips (I have really small ear canals, apparently). 
 
Also, random note: the black cable will activate the capacitive touch screen on a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, but not on a Nexus 7 (2013). Don't know that this will matter to many people, but it's not something I'd encountered before, so I thought it was worth sharing. 

 

[Jobbing]

@Idsynchrono_24 - hope you can make a comparison Rockets vs Dita (Answer preferably)

 

[jrkong]

Quote:

  Question for those of you who have them already, based on Dale's recent update, are you seating them in the "casual" or "deep" configuration?
 
I will be going for maximum isolation on these on airplane rides, so I'm curious to see how much better the isolation and bass are when worn deeper in the ear with the smaller tips.

I've done both. M+ works well for "casual" for me. They don't isolate nearly as much and pretty much renders the Tritabs useless. When I use the small tips for "deep" they isolate a lot more and they stay in the ear a little better for me since the Tritabs properly relieve the pressure off of the tip. As for sonic differences I don't notice any yet.

 

[rocksarkar]

Cant wait to get mine...question how would this be coming from Monster Turbine PRO copper....I use them for my gym and running.

 

[Idsynchrono_24]

Hey bros and broettes, 
 
I'm currently in the midst of organizing a little tour of my Rockets to a few trusted ears on this forum. I really only ever seem to strongly endorse some of the cheaper stuff or the mid ranged stuff so I really do feel like the Rockets are an excellent set of phones that offer real versatility coupled with bulletproof build quality. Anyhow, my fellow friends will outline all the pros and cons to the Rockets so you'll all have a better idea of whether they're "for you" or not. 
 
The participants are as follows: 
 
GnarlSagan
Eke
LuisDent 
UnityisPower
Hiflight
James444
A certain muzakicalnoob123456 whose opinions don't really matter anyhow
 
I'll be posting the Rockets to Gnarl tomorrow so we'll all have some great evenhanded impressions coming soon!

 

[audiobot]

nice. 

 

[kyuuketsuki]

I should be getting mine tomorrow. There was apparently some miscommunication, but they got it sorted out and the rockets were shipped to me. I should have them in my ears tomorrow, and I'll be doing a lot of listening over the weekend. I'll try to post impressions ASAP.

 

[shotgunshane]

No tour until I receive my pair! Super steal is super tease.

 

[jonnio]

No tour until I receive my pair! Super steal is super tease.

Did you do black and gold?  I am still waiting and I was backer 17 or 18

 

[shotgunshane]

No tour until I receive my pair! Super steal is super tease.

Did you do black and gold?  I am still waiting and I was backer 17 or 18

Black and gray. It's hard being patient with such good impressions rolling in!

 

[rawrster]

I got the same order and it definitely is hard to wait when others are getting their Rockets. Good thing I have a few other iem's to make that wait easier.