[claud W]

Never heard ear piercing. Sounds like someone made a judgment without breaking the Dorado 2020 in.

 

[Layman1]

I'm indeed in between the Vega2020 and Dorado2020 and wanna make up my mind before monday.
Vega is more laidback and warmer what i have read a lot in the reviews which i can find. On the side is the Dorado more fun and energetic and slightly less bass (i think because of the extra BA driver). Also i read some people mention that the treble of the Dorado can be too much --> this did scare me a bit because that's absolutely not what i want. How are your opinions about the treble of the Dorado, is this truly sometimes ear-piercing ?

Well, at least from my own personal experience, I find that pretty bizarre.. I mean, the one thing I'd say the Dorado 2020 is *not*, is piercing in the treble.
Like the Solaris 2020, it has a somewhat dark and intimate signature, and I'd say it's quite smooth as a result.

Indeed, for me the magic and mystery of these two IEMs is how they have this dark, warm, rich and intimate signature, but still manage to squeeze so much detail retrieval, soundstage, separation and general technical performance out of them

 

[Chill iLL]

I have both the Dorado and the Honeydew and imho yes they are. Dorado has a lot more clarity (in general) and sparkle (up top, thanks to the BA) and the bass is also denser, deeper better extended & more refined. Honeydew is great for the price but the Dorado 2020 is a step up pretty much across the board imho.

Are you still using the crystals? Trying out the campfire foams for the first time and I kinda like em!

 

[justsomesonyfan]

got the dorado, paired it with a liquid links venom, funnest iem i've listened to. such a shame it's design isn't as appealing to me as the solaris 2020 haha

 

[scarfacegt]

got the dorado, paired it with a liquid links venom, funnest iem i've listened to. such a shame it's design isn't as appealing to me as the solaris 2020 haha

Does it have large soundstage?

 

[justsomesonyfan]

Does it have large soundstage?

i'd say yes, maybe not as big as the ier z1r or solaris, but definitely not a slouch, and has more than enough. it's not a claustrophobic iem, far from it.

i'd say it hits a sweet spot in presentation.

 

[Tristy]

The Dorado 2020 and Solaris SE are my favourite CA IEM’s by a long shot.

 

[justsomesonyfan]

The Dorado 2020 and Solaris SE are my favourite CA IEM’s by a long shot.

definitely. a solaris SE with dorado's bass is a dream

 

[Rockwell75]

i'd say it hits a sweet spot in presentation.

+1

My favorite IEM, of any type. Nice to see it getting some love . I'm also secretly hoping that tonight's "Onyx" release is a refinement of the Dorado somehow...I'll be all over it.

 

[justsomesonyfan]

+1

My favorite IEM, of any type. Nice to see it getting some love . I'm also secretly hoping that tonight's "Onyx" release is a refinement of the Dorado somehow...I'll be all over it.

to be honest when i first got it paired with my cable etc i understood why you ranked them so highly

hell i'd take the dorado's bass over the z1r's haha, these are awesome

and yeah a special dorado would be awesome instead of 3 more solarises and andromedas.

i'll probably sell mine since i'm narrowing it all down to 1 serious pair.

i also got the softears rs10 today, couldn't bother with it much, it's just not a fun iem.

 

[Rockwell75]

to be honest when i first got it paired with my cable etc i understood why you ranked them so highly

hell i'd take the dorado's bass over the z1r's haha, these are awesome

and yeah a special dorado would be awesome instead of 3 more solarises and andromedas.

i'll probably sell mine since i'm narrowing it all down to 1 serious pair.

i also got the softears rs10 today, couldn't bother with it much, it's just not a fun iem.

The Z1R's bass and Dorado's bass are to me equivalent in quality though they each excel in different ways. I actually bought a second Z1R right after i got the Dorado just to see which of the two I prefer-- they're both excellent but for me it came down to preferring Dorado's FR, which is more mid-bass/lower mid focused, where the Z1R is more sub-bass/upper mid focused...YMMV.

What do you see being your "one serious pair"?

I had the RS10 on loan and it didn't resonate with me at all...it's like they deleted the whole mid-bass region out of the FR. And it needs a small nuclear reactor to power apparently.

 

[justsomesonyfan]

The Z1R's bass and Dorado's bass are to me equivalent in quality though they each excel in different ways. I actually bought a second Z1R right after i got the Dorado just to see which of the two I prefer-- they're both excellent but for me it came down to preferring Dorado's FR, which is more mid-bass/lower mid focused, where the Z1R is more sub-bass/upper mid focused...YMMV.

What do you see being your "one serious pair"?

I had the RS10 on loan and it didn't resonate with me at all...it's like they deleted the whole mid-bass region out of the FR. And it needs a small nuclear reactor to power apparently.

my plunge audio customs, got upgraded lately with an added planar tweeter.

dd woofer, planar mid tweeter, planar tweeter.

it's a wild iem that really pushed the limits with the sound of iems for me, with a wood custom shell that's back vented it just sounds otherworldly huge

 

[sleepdeprecation]

Reading through most of this thread and seeing all the excitement and love people have for their dorados, it's definitely on my list of IEMs I'm thinking about getting.

But I do have a couple questions about them that hopefully someone can answer. My current go-to IEMs are the Polaris v2, which I mostly like, but the bass can definitely be a little too overwhelming and drown out everything else (especially on rock tracks from the 70s and early 80s, listening to some older Bowie and ELO the vocals seem incredibly recessed). The impression I've gotten from the reviews in this thread is that this is less of a problem with the Dorados?

The Polaris is my first real "basshead" IEM, and the first visceral kick I got from the bass listening to them is super addictive and I think I want more of that, but also with a little more upper mids/treble.

The other IEMs I have are the Campfire Holocene, which I like for critical listening, but they don't have the same sort of "fun" factor, and the highs can get a little fatiguing I think, and the Moondrop Starfields, which I've found I can leave in my ears all day without noticing, and are super easy to listen to, but I think I'd like a little more punch in the bass.

As for what else I've been looking at, the Sennheiser IE900s seem like they might also get close to what I'm looking for, though without the same deep bass kick (and from their thread they also seem to have a very dedicated group of fans), the Vega 2020s, though I fear that they might be more of a direct upgrade from the Polaris, with the same weaknesses in the upper ranges, or maybe one of the Drop/JVC collabs.

 

[Tristy]

I've heard the Dorado and Vega 2020 so I can give you some pointers there if you tell me what you're looking for? Unfortunately I haven't heard the Polaris II or IE900 though. From all of my perusing on the forums and my reading from when I had the Vega and Dorado 2020, the Atlas is a direct upgrade from the Polaris II, and to my ears, the Dorado 2020 was a direct upgrade from the Atlas that I also owned. The Vega positions itself as something different and I'd argue that it is actually more of a bass heavy upgrade to the Lyra II which I had back in the day. The IE900 goes for a different signature from what I've heard but its DD is said to be extremely competent. I'd say the tuning philosophy of the IE900 is likely more in the vein of the Andromeda (albeit DD) than all of the others mentioned here, with more of a sub-bass bias.

 

[sleepdeprecation]

Thanks for the help Tristy! I didn't know the upgrade paths, so that's useful.

I think what I'm really looking for is DD or hybrid (I feel like I'm pretty covered with full BA with the Holocenes), and has a pretty nice bass hit without completely ignoring the treble, hopefully more V-shaped than the more L-shape of the Polaris. Most of my music falls under rock or electronic, with an emphasis on stuff produced in the last twenty years.

From the reviews in this thread it feels like the Dorados excel under those parameters, which is why they're currently at the top of my list compared to the other options.