[Jalo]

Really? The Ref 1 and the Ref 1 Too has significantly more bass. The Plus 5 is similar in bass levels, but has much thicker mids, while still not sounding congested.

I have two, the stock silver gold (or is it gold silver?? Lol), and the uBer Too. On that Note, it isn't an ideal comparison. Also, I did try them both with the Whiplash cable (modular setup) so I did try to keep a fair comparison in that regard.

Which Tralucent are you referring to? If it's the 1p2 I could see you coming up with the Vegas having more bass, but again, it's been a couple of years since I owned the 1P2, so I can't speak with any certainty on that comparison.

May be it is the 1p2 with the Uber cable.

 

[Decreate]

Really? The Ref 1 and the Ref 1 Too has significantly more bass. The Plus 5 is similar in bass levels, but has much thicker mids, while still not sounding congested.

I have two, the stock silver gold (or is it gold silver?? Lol), and the uBer Too. On that Note, it isn't an ideal comparison. Also, I did try them both with the Whiplash cable (modular setup) so I did try to keep a fair comparison in that regard.

Which Tralucent are you referring to? If it's the 1p2 I could see you coming up with the Vegas having more bass, but again, it's been a couple of years since I owned the 1P2, so I can't speak with any certainty on that comparison.

I managed to try the Vegas a few days ago and my findings are similar to yours. Personally prefer the Plus5 more.

 

[tracyca]

Been away from head fi a while, now I'm intrigued by the vega, if they have the sparkle off the ie800 to go with the hard hitting bass DD are famous for. Well then I'm sold. Not sure my wife is going to like that.

 

[fzman]

I appreciate the above thoughts, I am very intrigue when you say you are "sensitive to time/phrase response" and that "they give you a realism". I am a neuroscientist and am doing some brainwave research at present with different emotional states and I can tell you each and every emotional states exist in a space define discretely by time/phrase/and frequency. In fact, my next project is to identify brain states when we listen to the same piece of music, for instance, Beethovan 5th. I think realism can be replicated when our brain states approach the same brain states as when we listen to the live music. To the extend that an iem is capable of recreating such three dimensional complicate brainwave state, realism can be the result of it and I think the Vega is able to do that better over many others.

...

. Realism also means a person has attended enough live performances or that a person plays a certain instruments such that there is a brain copy of what a real performance is like when compare to the auditioned sound. All music is doing is to create a state of mind and feel in a person and all we are doing is to chase after that certain state of mind such that we can satisfy that certain emotional need inside each of us. And as not all music with each moment in a piece can create that state, we keep chasing sometime with better equipment.

 
I agree that if the gear creates the same auditory brain (or nervous system) state, then you get 'realism'.  Some might argue that there should be quite a bit of similarity between the live and recorded stimulii, but I'm not sure, philosophically, that it needs to be so.  I am also amazed that I typed 'phrase', rather than 'phase'.  arrghhh!  I can't even blame auto-correct for that one.  I would like to hear more about your research-in my prior career, I taught philosophy-and love this kind of thing.
 
I think the quick response-time and low distortion of the Vega, given it is a single driver design, is largely responsible for the Vega's ability to provoke the correct brain states.  Other, who have different sonic priorites, or enjoy largely different kinds of music, may feel differently.  Likewise, those who do not attend performances of unamplified instruments may also have enormously different reactions to the Vega (and any other gear, for that matter).  I  say this, not in judgment, but simply as a matter of "fact".  We all have somewhat different receptivities, and this largely determines how we react to gear.

 

[warrior1975]

May be it is the 1p2 with the Uber cable.

I would tend to believe so. The bass on the Ref 1 is club like, no exaggeration.

I managed to try the Vegas a few days ago and my findings are similar to yours. Personally prefer the Plus5 more.

You and I both. But, if you put price into play, the Vegas bring you excellent value. My Plus 5 cost, what $1850? I forget, but I believe that was the number. I think the Vegas are very close in performance to the P5. The mids is the biggest difference I'd say, much thicker on the P5, but still crystal clear. What's your take?

 

[Decreate]

If I didn't already have the p5 I would have definitely bought the vegas.

 

[warrior1975]

I hear you. I think they more alike than not. The mids are the big difference. The bass, at least to me is scarily similar. Both fast and tight. I think the P5 sounds like a DD. When I abed the Vegas with the Ref, I thought they sound closer, especially since the Ref has the dynamic drivers, but I was wrong, P5 is more like it.

 

[ezekiel77]

 
Could you please compare Akazakura which you own (if i remember correctly) to Vega and Andromeda?

 
I believe Nathan from Headfonia (shigzeo) has the Andromeda and the black-tubed Sakura (but not the red-tubed Akazakura), if that helps.
 
BTW, I have both Akazakura and Andromeda, but not Vega. 

 Will try to compare them later.

 

[ehjie]

I appreciate the above thoughts, I am very intrigue when you say you are "sensitive to time/phrase response" and that "they give you a realism". I am a neuroscientist and am doing some brainwave research at present with different emotional states and I can tell you each and every emotional states exist in a space define discretely by time/phrase/and frequency. In fact, my next project is to identify brain states when we listen to the same piece of music, for instance, Beethovan 5th. I think realism can be replicated when our brain states approach the same brain states as when we listen to the live music. To the extend that an iem is capable of recreating such three dimensional complicate brainwave state, realism can be the result of it and I think the Vega is able to do that better over many others.

With regard to your brief audition with the Andro at RMAF, the old timers here on headfi used to have an unwritten rule about giving impression or review and that is we want to use a piece of new equipment at least for three to four months such that we are sure of the sound characteristic prior to offering impression. The problem with show audition or brief audition is that besides noisy environment, unfamiliar musical materials, and other idiosyncratic distraction, brief audition usually is just too brief such that one has never expose to the full range of sound characteristic of a specific phone. For instance, even when I listen to the Andro now on some new materials, there are instances on certain passages I never knew the Andro could do that and that is a revelation of what the Andro can do. So in a brief audition even if you can do it in a sound proof room, you are just not expose to enough variation of what a phone can do and thus not able to give a proper valuation of the capability of the phone.

Also for instance when Audio123 audition the Vega briefly, I believe he speaks his mind honestly, but all he can capture in that brief audition is that the bass is huge and the treble is grainy. He hasn't hear what the Vega can produce under all kinds of demands. However, when I own and listened to the Vega actively and discriminantly for over 100 hours, I can tell the nuisances and whether the bass and the graininess is inherent in the music or whether it is a effect of the recording/mastering etc. Realism also means a person has attended enough live performances or that a person plays a certain instruments such that there is a brain copy of what a real performance is like when compare to the auditioned sound. All music is doing is to create a state of mind and feel in a person and all we are doing is to chase after that certain state of mind such that we can satisfy that certain emotional need inside each of us. And as not all music with each moment in a piece can create that state, we keep chasing sometime with better equipment.

The above statements with regard to auditioning equipments are an excellent observation indeed. With regard to an unwritten rule (rule of thumb), I recently prepared an excel file pertaining to sound aspects during auditioning products. The factors are fairly simple but when I compiled them became much more interesting. The file consisted of IEMs of my interest. Almost half I have auditioned, the rest including the Vegas were inputs by a colleague he auditioned in Japan about 2 days ago. I trust his ears. As a matter of my requirement, I could take in first the Andros (as an annual upgrade) and get the Vegas hopefully next year. 

 

[Gurashieruro]

 

Agreed with the write up. I find it interesting how much psychoacustics plays a big role in our listening experience as well. Aside from that, I'm not too qualified to talk about that stuff since I don't know much about it and I'm a software engineering major.

As I stated prior about the Vega, I love them. They sound amazing. Since I can play guitar, violin, and sing, I have some point of reference to go off of. Very few IEMs can capture the essence of the violin. Just on sound texture alone, some always seem to catch it wrong. The Vega is one of the very small few I have listened to, which I also own, which can reproduce the same feeling I get when I play or listen to violinist live. On the non-scientific way of explaining it, I notice the bite of the strings. Its almost like I can tell the difference between a dark synthetic string set versus a steel. Kind of like telling the difference between "Pirastro Evah Pirazzi Gold" and "Obligato" string sets.
Since I actively play violin more than I do my guitar, I can definitely tell the texture difference. Even more so, it conveys the playing well too. I can sense how much the player is digging into their strings. The piccato is fast and precise.

Before the Vega, I had the Jupiter, Westone UM Pro 50 and W60, and Monster Turbine Gold Pro. The Monster was what got me into high-end audio. Out of the list, the UM Pro 50 was the only IEM to get me anywhere remotely close to the same "soul" feeling. But the soundstage and everything was just dark and closed in. The Jupiter sounds wonderful too. I'm not saying its bad, because its excellent. The only thing is that I get the feeling of music with all the technicality from the Vega, which wasn't present in the Jupiter.
Maybe, the Andro is more accurate or faster and detailed. In my eyes, music is about feeling it. Soundstage is never always everything, just so long as it is decently sized. Having good detail and soundstage is only half of the battle. Creating the world of music is the other half. They might be sound devices recreating something, be it a live event or something recorded in the studio. But its also capturing one other thing, the soul. So the question might be, for you at least, "What is the soul that I feel when I listen to music out of the Vega or when I play violin"?
I've always been curious about why I feel so intensely about certain IEMs but not the others.
 

 

[Jalo]

Agreed with the write up. I find it interesting how much psychoacustics plays a big role in our listening experience as well. Aside from that, I'm not too qualified to talk about that stuff since I don't know much about it and I'm a software engineering major.


As I stated prior about the Vega, I love them. They sound amazing. Since I can play guitar, violin, and sing, I have some point of reference to go off of. Very few IEMs can capture the essence of the violin. Just on sound texture alone, some always seem to catch it wrong. The Vega is one of the very small few I have listened to, which I also own, which can reproduce the same feeling I get when I play or listen to violinist live. On the non-scientific way of explaining it, I notice the bite of the strings. Its almost like I can tell the difference between a dark synthetic string set versus a steel. Kind of like telling the difference between "Pirastro Evah Pirazzi Gold" and "Obligato" string sets.

Since I actively play violin more than I do my guitar, I can definitely tell the texture difference. Even more so, it conveys the playing well too. I can sense how much the player is digging into their strings. The piccato is fast and precise.


Before the Vega, I had the Jupiter, Westone UM Pro 50 and W60, and Monster Turbine Gold Pro. The Monster was what got me into high-end audio. Out of the list, the UM Pro 50 was the only IEM to get me anywhere remotely close to the same "soul" feeling. But the soundstage and everything was just dark and closed in. The Jupiter sounds wonderful too. I'm not saying its bad, because its excellent. The only thing is that I get the feeling of music with all the technicality from the Vega, which wasn't present in the Jupiter.

Maybe, the Andro is more accurate or faster and detailed. In my eyes, music is about feeling it. Soundstage is never always everything, just so long as it is decently sized. Having good detail and soundstage is only half of the battle. Creating the world of music is the other half. They might be sound devices recreating something, be it a live event or something recorded in the studio. But its also capturing one other thing, the soul. So the question might be, for you at least, "What is the soul that I feel when I listen to music out of the Vega or when I play violin"?

I've always been curious about why I feel so intensely about certain IEMs but not the others.

 

Thanks for the post and you brought up so many good points that I enjoyed pondering on. Guitar, violin, and singing are three great musical instruments especially the last two. Think about it, if a person judges your singing or violin performance Strictly on bass quantity, treble quality and sound stage I'lll say he missed the entire performance as it is not those attributes that move us in a piece. Realism conveys much more than that. Somehow our brain can resolve all the things you talked about, piccato, texture, vibrato etc. And the more a brain is trained the more a person is able to observe these qualities. I agree the Vega has that ability to communicate very good sound image of the violin instruement. I was listening to a song with a viola passage in the introduction, I can feel the air wave pulsating through the Vega that carry that textural vibration and without any veil and that to me is awesome.

You say music is about feeling and that statement contains a lot of truth in it. Technically speaking music, as it is expressed through time, frequency, and phase, is only part of the ingredients that create an emotion that we feel. It is only after we mixed this sound energy with each of our own experiential repertoire we are able to attribute a unique feeling to it and I think that is what you call "soul".

I have just completed a study with newly wed couples in love where I asked them to hold their feeling of love toward their spouse and then switch to someone they dislike for a minute while I record their brainwave. And guess what, after randomly switching from one state to the next, I am able to classify and predict what state they are in. The point is every feeling that we experience is associated with a specific brain state just like a signature. And I believe each iem has its own signature and if that signature approaches to the signature of realism, we will find that to our liking.

 

[Jalo]

@fzman, thanks for your thoughts please see the above post.

 

[Jalo]

The above statements with regard to auditioning equipments are an excellent observation indeed. With regard to an unwritten rule (rule of thumb), I recently prepared an excel file pertaining to sound aspects during auditioning products. The factors are fairly simple but when I compiled them became much more interesting. The file consisted of IEMs of my interest. Almost half I have auditioned, the rest including the Vegas were inputs by a colleague he auditioned in Japan about 2 days ago. I trust his ears. As a matter of my requirement, I could take in first the Andros (as an annual upgrade) and get the Vegas hopefully next year. 

That excel file idea sounds like an excellent project. For the researcher in me and for my selfish desire, If you can further expand and refine by defining a comprehensive list of "sound aspects" and create appropriate scales for each sound aspect, then our community or owners of each individual equipment can rate each sound attribute from a more objective angle. This way we can create some consensus on a product. Interested in looking at what your excel file is like and how you rate the Andro.

 

[flipper203]

I didn't see any comparison with the oriolus mk2....

 

[audio123]

  I didn't see any comparison with the oriolus mk2....

oriolus to ?