[563236]

MMCX cables do rotate and not fixed like 2-pin.

Beautiful. I can't imagine CIEMislife without rotation anymore. I have PTSD of neck stiffness with 2-pin as I can never swivel my head.

 

[Skullar]

So... After careful deliberation maybe some sleepless nights.... I am placing my order tomorrow for the Supermoon through Bloom Audio (I bought my Hero from them and they are highly responsive/professional in their dealings). I basically was down to choosing between the mest mk2 or the supermoon with it just edging the mest mk2 for me by the tiniest of margins. To be clear I actually liked the tuning for the mest mk2 over that of the supermoon, but for detail retrieval and the overall sense of stage the supermoon had was just enough over the mest mk2 to give it the edge. That said my impression of the UIEM Supermoon was it leaned a bit bright in the upper mid and treble, but foam tips did enough to let me settle right into it and the bass as it is was just chef's kiss. If I have any complaint lower mids don't seem to carry as much weight, but it isn't like they aren't clear in the presentation or that you aren't getting the full detail you would want out of them. I definitely can say that if you want a lively presented IEM that is very technical for the price it feels like you can't really beat the supermoon. I honestly think below the 2k range the only thing that really stands up to it is the mest mk2. Anything past that I feel like you are going to have to jump to 3k or higher for the same amount of clarity?

At any rate what else is there to say? Maybe something like curse you Rockwell75 for talking me out of a mest mk2 and a12t! I kid. Next step is searching for a good replacement cable and that is down to the Effect Audio Eros S, PWAudio Monile, Effect Audio Cleopatra, and the Eletech Plato....

Yeh Mest is one of my all time favorite iems too.
But after spending some good time with Supermoon and going back to Mest i realised that Supermoon is ahead technically to the point where i just no longer want to go back to Mest.
In fact i would bet that Supermoon beats Indigo too but its been ages since i owned it. The sheer size of staging and imaging accuracy on SM is just amazing.

 

[Schugar]

Yeh Mest is one of my all time favorite iems too.
But after spending some good time with Supermoon and going back to Mest i realised that Supermoon is ahead technically to the point where i just no longer want to go back to Mest.
In fact i would bet that Supermoon beats Indigo too but its been ages since i owned it. The sheer size of staging and imaging accuracy on SM is just amazing.

That is ultimately what edged it out for me to go with the Supermoon. I still prefer the tuning of the mest mk2 and who knows maybe I'll revisit also grabbing those down the road although I have a feeling something else new will have grabbed my attention by then.

At any rate in other news my order is submitted to Bloom and my impressions will ship Thursday. Soon comes the waiting game...

 

[ngoshawk]

Is this something you can request? I have UE digital laser impressions, but I never considered asking for physical molds.

I’m not sure. Since UE did the laser digital impressions for my Live and Drop, I didn’t feel like asking for the file. My thought is that the file is a UE proprietary and I also wanted to try the actual molds.

My review is almost finished, and into the eCoustics editing queue. What I will say is that the Supermoon is really quite good. And while I may not necessarily agree with the review out there, which states detail and resolution are the best yet; I will add that this is a wonderful melding of CFA technologies to produce a signature, which the Supermoon can call its own. And it’s good.

 

[Schugar]

I’m not sure. Since UE did the laser digital impressions for my Live and Drop, I didn’t feel like asking for the file. My thought is that the file is a UE proprietary and I also wanted to try the actual molds.

My review is almost finished, and into the eCoustics editing queue. What I will say is that the Supermoon is really quite good. And while I may not necessarily agree with the review out there, which states detail and resolution are the best yet; I will add that this is a wonderful melding of CFA technologies to produce a signature, which the Supermoon can call its own. And it’s good.

I probably could have answered that if I wasn't so consumed with my current endeavors, but when I went to schedule for my impressions they too offer digital impressions, but with a catch. They employ people whom are licensed vendors with specific companies that are the ones whom actually do the impressions not the audiologist themselves, but they will only do them if you buy from the vendor they are representing. An example would be the one I'm going to has an agreement with Vision Ears to do digital impressions, but I wanted to buy a Supermoon instead so they told me I have no other option outside of your standard silicon molds.

That said I'm sure not all audiologists operate this way, but it just means you may want to research a bit on which one you're going to because some don't own the tech necessary to do it themselves so they outsource and gain product portfolio to sell to their clients in the process. It is actually kind of surprising to me being that I live in the "country music capital", but there are less than a handful of audiologists here that bother to have this stuff offered in their portfolio of services and to some degrees it makes sense because their bread and butter is hearing aids not IEMs.

 

[gLer]

I sent my moulds into CFA and they were happy to send me my STL files afterwards. Audiophile fit Supermoon fits perfectly. Exemplary service from CFA I have to say.

 

[Skullar]

I sent my moulds into CFA and they were happy to send me my STL files afterwards. Audiophile fit Supermoon fits perfectly. Exemplary service from CFA I have to say.

Oh so you bought one as well?

 

[Lemondante]

I sent my moulds into CFA and they were happy to send me my STL files afterwards. Audiophile fit Supermoon fits perfectly. Exemplary service from CFA I have to say.

Congrats? Hopefully I can get my own one before the end of the year

 

[gLer]

Oh so you bought one as well?

Yes I got one as part of a two-article project for The Headphone List. Click the THL link in my sig to read the first article. I should have the full SM review published next week.

 

[563236]

I’m not sure. Since UE did the laser digital impressions for my Live and Drop, I didn’t feel like asking for the file. My thought is that the file is a UE proprietary and I also wanted to try the actual molds.

That was my thought too, but since I'm old school, UE kicked me down some STL files. But I'm quite unsure how physical molds woud come in handy from UE since CFA can print their own. Maybe I'm mixing molds with digital impressions. Maybe I initially overestimating because UE physical molds versus CFA physical molds should turn out the same if extracted from the same STL files.

Anyways, I was one of the first 25 on this site to get CIEMs back in 2001 before IEMs became a thing so I'm not sure if that factors into why I was easily able to get STL files. I thought for years that it was UE proprietary especially since they are the only ones with a exclusive expensive laser digital impressions machine. Fortunately, my 16-wire was too heavy for 2-pin and broke the 2-pin socket so I had to go IPX. After that I got lucky I guess with the right contact to authorize STL files release.

I will test this theory when the next UE Reference is released since I'm trying to get Rob Watts of Chord fame into CIEMs. He had a bad experience with traditional impressions and since he visits Irvine once a year, I figure he could swing by UE HQ.

I will have to coordinate with UE to make sure that this is possible after Rob Watts gets digital impressions that he would get kicked down the STL files.

Rob Watts enjoys Planar Headphones so after the UE Reference, I figure he might be interested in the CFA SM. It makes a nice one two punch with a Professional Reference monitor and a Planar CIEM. John Franks of Chord fame is already running a UE Reference, so Rob Watts has mild interest. Of course he's timid with the inital bad traditional impressions experience. Personally, I will never get traditional impressions again so super happy to have digital impressions STL files from the laser. But this is out of everyone's control since it's better to wait on the next UE Reference rather than jumping on a outdated CIEM.

This will only happen if:

1. UE Reference released.
2. Rob Watts gets digital impresssions
3. Rob Watts gets UE STL files
4. The digital impresssions work out in that they are comfortable for him enough to proceed further down the rabbit hole.
5. Then maybe CFA SM or CFA SM2

I'm quite estatic too as yesterday I found out I'm running similar high performance external clocks as the dCS Lina years before it was released. There's nothing like the experience of high performance external clocks + 16-wire with CIEMs. Well, I guess maybe the dCS Lina now, but I don't like traditional amps in the mix. I still would take my CIEM stack over the dCS Lina stack even though our clocks are on par with one another. I underestimated dCS and thought they would use cringy straightjacket external clocks, but they surprised me so massive respect to dCS for knowing what's up and how to build a somewhat proper stack.

I do hope to have a planar CIEM in the mix one day for it's resolution and coherency once I return from overseas in a few years. As of now, my listening rig is all in storage since I'm on call overseas so glad to enjoy the listening experience before a break while it lasted.

 

[Skullar]

Yes I got one as part of a two-article project for The Headphone List. Click the THL link in my sig to read the first article. I should have the full SM review published next week.

Very very cool read man. Great insight into ciem order process.
Lets see what your ears have to say about the sound of these babies

 

[rantng]

Campfire Fall Equinox sale - https://campfireaudio.com/product-category/custom/

All CIEMs are $1100 including the Supermoon.

 

[Schugar]

Campfire Fall Equinox sale - https://campfireaudio.com/product-category/custom/

All CIEMs are $1100 including the Supermoon.

I'm not going to lie I almost crapped a brick when I got the notification on this earlier this morning because I was having my impressions done today and had just purchased the Supermoon Tuesday this week. A few quick emails to Bloom Audio though and they had me squared away and I had my eyes on potentially purchasing an Eletech Plato to go with it so I went ahead and grabbed that from them as well to compliment my Supermoon. Feeling pretty happy and can't wait for everything to come in.

Also can't say enough good things about Andrew whom has been assisting me with my purchase and Bloom Audio. Awesome group to do business with for anything audio and highly recommend them because I honestly haven't had a better customer service experience out of anyone else I've bought gear from (and I've bought a lot of gear from different places). Not to say there aren't other retailers out there that are awesome, but they've been awesome since I bought my Hero from them and I keep coming back because they continue to be awesome.

 

[1adam12]

Just wanted to chime in about the sale. I'm kinda on the fence about buying and wasn’t sure how long this would last. They usually only do 24 hours for CIEM sales. I just emailed CFA and the sale is active until Sunday.

 

[parawizard]

Tempting. Not sure about tuning opinions yet. Any new comparisons vs Equinox?