Highly recommend the Acoustune HS1551 CU single DD IEMs. very lush, hefty sound, with just the right amount of gently boosted bass and also high end details.
I'm a dd kind of guy and have owned/auditioned/listened to most of the current high end. One of the major issues tends to be the housings, connections and cables - moreso than ba iems. These are due in part to the size of the drivers. Some like the Ditas are for medium to large ears - small ears ( like mine) are in a world of pain with these, this applies to the Sony Ex800 and 1000 and the Hifiman Re 2000 as well. The Campfire Audios have a comfy housing but suffer from a badly positioned equalization vent - outside in anything greater than a gentle zephyr you will hear wind noise. The Senn 800 cable issues have been discussed ad infinitum, as have the AK T8ie (mk 1) mmcx housings, though the latter are very comfortable in the ear. All in all practicality tends to be an overlooked factor for this class of iem.
Sound-wise (all using either a Cowon Plenue 1 or a Chord Mojo) - my musical tastes are very broad running from plainchant to Oneohpoint trix never.
The Sonys are beautiful bass timbre but lacking in the treble, the Hifiman is a midrange monster, rolling off a bit at the extremes, the CA Lyra is well balanced, but lacks a little punch,the Vega is IMO way too tilted toward the bass, moreso than the Sonys - its good bass but bleeds too much into the mids, Ditas are very well balanced but with a mild midband suckout, Beyer is punchy but with a mild disconnect between bass and mids. The AKs (mark II) are to my ears the most even handed across all genres, but may be a touch too warm for some ears.
Looking forward to trying both the Dream and the 800s.
Very little point. Still don't like the Vega and the Lyra II still has the equalization vent in the same place and so will likely have the same usability issue. Felt that the new(ish) Atlas was too similar to the Vega,more refined but overly bass heavy. Solaris may be an option but TBH I'm at the position that the CA sound just isn't for me. The RHA CL2 looks promising, though it is a planar magnetic driver. Still prefer the AK T8ieMkii.
The Vega is fun, its bass is like a bomb going off in your ear canal. EDM and Hip Hop sound incredible.
However, the vent is poorly ported, and it ended up hurting my ears. I returned them, but am open to giving them another shot in the future (after 400 hours of burn in). The recessed midrange and other issues I now believe are caused because of the SPC cable it is bundled with. A pure copper, or Silver cable will fix that.
Having said all of that, I am really enjoying the RHA CL2, it is a combination of the fastest BA and a the best DD.
Best of both worlds.
The planar technology will make both obsolete in the very near future. And for me it pretty much already has.
I am going to be trying out the Xelento this weekend, so will leave my impressions and comparisons on here
Hopefully 3-4. I'll be checking out the xelento and the KSE1500.
If I can snag the xelento on loan for a few extra days, I would love to do that.
Yeah the xelento is probably the highest regarded DD out there.
I am really looking forward to give it a go.
Hopefully 3-4. I'll be checking out the xelento and the KSE1500.
If I can snag the xelento on loan for a few extra days, I would love to do that.
Yeah the xelento is probably the highest regarded DD out there.
I am really looking forward to give it a go.
I've seen it suggested that in order to have sufficient information to leave impressions for an IEM, much more time is needed, even up to crazy numbers like 100s of hours. Maybe you should take more time before writing about them
I really thought a year and a half ago that I would be a hardcore DD enthusiast. But somehow I started to find BAs that went low and gave me what I was looking for in DD style bass. Not only did I get what I was after in the bass department, but the rest of the signature seemed to work. I have listened to the regular handful of DD only IEMs, but for whatever reason didn’t pull the trigger?
The qdc Anole V3 ($600) goes pretty low as well as the BGVP DM6 ($200). I also have the Sony N3 ($300) and Sony Z5 ($500) hybrids which use DD for bass. But to tell you the truth I don’t seem to notice a difference in bass quality like I thought I would? The DM6 (5 BA) and qdc V3 Anole (3 BA) both go pretty low, but there is a slight character difference if you concentrate on listening for it.
Listening to a lot EDM there is a certain tone that is required for the bass to be driving home; if it’s not there all is lost. I truly feel BA bass can deliver in that regard, but it’s rare at this point in time. IMO
So it seems they are still developing BA bass. It may never have the exact quality of DD decay and tone, but I feel BA technology is still progressing. It’s maybe not what driver style they use but how everything is utilized and tuned?
I don’t want to comment on other stuff that I have only had brief listens to, as really viewpoints for me only seem valid after time, like the previous post suggests, lots and lots of hours.
I've seen it suggested that in order to have sufficient information to leave impressions for an IEM, much more time is needed, even up to crazy numbers like 100s of hours. Maybe you should take more time before writing about them
The Vega is fun, its bass is like a bomb going off in your ear canal. EDM and Hip Hop sound incredible.
However, the vent is poorly ported, and it ended up hurting my ears. I returned them, but am open to giving them another shot in the future (after 400 hours of burn in). The recessed midrange and other issues I now believe are caused because of the SPC cable it is bundled with. A pure copper, or Silver cable will fix that.
Having said all of that, I am really enjoying the RHA CL2, it is a combination of the fastest BA and a the best DD.
Best of both worlds.
The planar technology will make both obsolete in the very near future. And for me it pretty much already has.
I am going to be trying out the Xelento this weekend, so will leave my impressions and comparisons on here
There are people running it straight through an iPhone, but these scale very well with source. I am running them balanced out of a sony NW-ZX300.
If you have an amp, use it.
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