New (borrowed) toys today. Thanks
@Damz87 and
@JordonEA for arranging.
My first impression:
These IEMs are tuned for clarity and soundstage. All the "mud" and "veil" are kept to bare minimum. It's crisp, with high-mid and treble pushed forward. All of these high frequencies seem to be equally and smoothly emphasised rather than peaking here and there ("cat ears" or "ice pick").
The bass is tucked to the sub-bass and the rumble is more than what I imagined. (To be fair, I imagine these to by larger Etymotic ER2SE, so any bass response is better). Despite the tucked bass, it does not feel like the odd sounding bass of Monarch Mk II. Commercial music and blood pumping battle music from games sound energetic and exciting.
Complaint? Yes. The timbre can be odd sometimes. And the sense of micro-detail does not seem to be top notch. I was shocked by how good Gaea sounds with Goldberg Variations performance by Glenn Gould. And then I was immediate disappointed by how Gaea renders Bach's Violin Sonata performance by Itzhak Perlman. I'm still trying to put my fingers on what is off with the violin timbre. More listening is needed.
Still, (at least at this moment), Gaea is a clear step up from high-achievers sub $500 IEMs that I have been reviewing, including the amazing AFUL P5.
(Would I pick this over Andromeda 2020? Hard to say. Gaea is no doubt a more "correct" IEM, so it competes against other IEMs that try to be "correct" (which are plenty nowadays). Andromeda 2020 is just a weirdo that somehow works. That "holographic" soundstage of Andromeda? It's pretty much real, and the bloated lower midrange seems to contribute a great deal to that effect.)
(Against my beloved JD7? Gaea stomps the JD7 in imaging accuracy and clarity, but I still like the "organic" rendering of Bach's Violin Sonata of JD7 more)
Btw, the EA cable. I have no comment about the sound, but the design of the cable itself is lovely. Everything looks deliberate and "designed." Someone has worked hard to match the aesthetic of the cable to the design of the earpieces.
Edit: this is just early impression, btw. I'll write a full review of these ones after careful A/B tests (and working through the current backlog of other products
)
