It is very strange indeed. And you would think we were all deaf or stupid, but we seem to all agree on certain things like the sound of the ER4S for instance. Not only do we agree on the sound, but the exact differences in lacking bass, filter response, etc. So we know we have a point of reference, and yet some earphones leave drastically different impressions on us.
To be as clear as possible though, I'm not saying the altone is perfect. It is V-shaped, like the kc06. I find the kc06 is almost less V-shaped, but more uneven in the minute areas of response. The altone is extremely smooth in response to my ears but a stronger V-shape. I wouldn't listen to ANY of these earphone without EQ though. haha. They all are too far from that ideal neutral balance. I might listen to the kc06 more without eq than some, but really the only thing I've found un-EQ-able would be the er4s with red filters on a good day or perhaps the UERM, but even that begged me for a bit of correction.
But what the altone is great at is that is is so smooth in response the corrective EQ is very simple. I'm still experimenting and my eq point is moving around a bit, but overall it is still one mid range point up roughly 5db with a wide Q width. What i get more than the kc06 is crystal clear depth. But the kc06 has a bit more body in the thickness of its sound.
So the question is what IEM doesn't require EQ based on my impressions? haha. There must be someone out there that has heard something similar to the kc06 and altone with more mid range or more even treble...
I have a feeling people are going to point out the akg 3003 behemoth. Or perhaps the shure 846 if it worked for my ears, but both of those are crazy expensive compared to a $200 earphone.
