[aquietlull]

Hi guys new to head fi, sure you guys get this all the time but want some IEM recommendations that are good value for technicals looking for something that is a slight upgrade of the stellaris which I found to be really good in detail imaging and seperation but lacking soundstage.
I want something around 0-10% better in the first 3 categories but more like 20-30% better in soundstage.

Does anyone know any good reviewers with a heavy focus on technicalities that is semi up to date with newer iems.

I tend to find most people review based on fr but tend to not really care that much since I eq the sound. And at least my belief is that an iems potential is mostly in the technicals rather than the tuning which is the reason I got the stellaris to begin with.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Hi guys new to head fi, sure you guys get this all the time but want some IEM recommendations that are good value for technicals looking for something that is a slight upgrade of the stellaris which I found to be really good in detail imaging and seperation but lacking soundstage.
I want something around 0-10% better in the first 3 categories but more like 20-30% better in soundstage.

Does anyone know any good reviewers with a heavy focus on technicalities that is semi up to date with newer iems.

I tend to find most people review based on fr but tend to not really care that much since I eq the sound. And at least my belief is that an iems potential is mostly in the technicals rather than the tuning which is the reason I got the stellaris to begin with.

I have Stellaris. If you EQ the IEM anyway, it’s gonna be a pure driver’s spec. Of which sure, Stellaris isn’t shame when it comes to technicalities.

That 20-30% increase in sound stage, you may actually considering changing the ear tips to ones that alter the sound signature and image depth. My recommendation is to try one of SpinFit CP360 from Stellaris’s stock Softears UC tips.

Ofher than changing ear tips. It is hard to beat Stellaris’s technicalities because it already has 80/100 class spec.

To further push that to 90/100, you may need a serious investments, the diminishing return for that may require 10x more.

If you can EQ, I may have one candidate.

GS Audio ST10 has top-notch ($1k+ TOTL class) driver spec. That comes with one of the most miserable (oddly) tuning.
You may refer the chart below for GS Audio ST10’s section.

As you may see, ST10’s technicalities across all frequency bands are S and A class. If you EQ it to your preference, ST10 is a spec beast.

It’s a copy of Vision Ear’s flagship IEM (that costs $$$$).

The stock tuning does come with very wide staging, so all you may need is to boost rolled off treble, and reduce ridiculously boosted bass floor.

Here is raw FR I obtained from the manufacturer.

 

[aquietlull]

I have Stellaris. If you EQ the IEM anyway, it’s gonna be a pure driver’s spec. Of which sure, Stellaris isn’t shame when it comes to technicalities.

That 20-30% increase in sound stage, you may actually considering changing the ear tips to ones that alter the sound signature and image depth. My recommendation is to try one of SpinFit CP360 from Stellaris’s stock Softears UC tips.

Ofher than changing ear tips. It is hard to beat Stellaris’s technicalities because it already has 80/100 class spec.

To further push that to 90/100, you may need a serious investments, the diminishing return for that may require 10x more.

If you can EQ, I may have one candidate.

GS Audio ST10 has top-notch ($1k+ TOTL class) driver spec. That comes with one of the most miserably (oddly) tuning.
You may refer the chart below for GS Audio ST10’s section.

YOU ARE AWESOME! thank you so much for the recs, ill try out the ear tip change, and if it doesn't really feel good enough yet ill go grab these.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

YOU ARE AWESOME! thank you so much for the recs, ill try out the ear tip change, and if it doesn't really feel good enough yet ill go grab these.

You are welcome We are the very last breed of the wired audio gadgets enthusiasts Take care mate!

 

[aquietlull]

You are welcome We are the very last breed of the wired audio gadgets enthusiasts Take care mate!

if its not too much can I ask if there is somewhere where I can see the charts with the ratings you have? or are they like personal spreadsheets?

 

[AmericanSpirit]

if its not too much can I ask if there is somewhere where I can see the charts with the ratings you have? or are they like personal spreadsheets?

Yea It’s my personal charts. I update those out of whim. Here are some other ones I’ve updated recently. Some comments are old, but scores should be accurate.

For those chart, you can trust me because I spent tons of time notingthe scores. It’s all my private collections obtained with my hard earned disposable income, so I don’t give a random score like some youtuber you see on the internet. They receive a free sample and depending on their mood the evaluation could fluctuate. As a long time audio enthusiast, my personal view toward “appraising” is a very time and energy consuming one. I had lots of objections from notable reviewers when I mentioned that, being bashed “No, it’s easy to tell the sound”. Of which I have another view.

The true value of the IEM could only be obtained from day-to-day usage. As a part of your life. That’s my virtue as a geek.

Back to topic, I guess I have most of your signatures IEM/headphones, so I guess you probably would get my languages.

Here is Wan’er ‘s detailed walk-thru
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-discovery-thread.586909/post-17284198

CRA/ Sal Zero quick comparison
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-discovery-thread.586909/post-17292774

And my head-gear reviews: only for exceptionally good or exceptionally terrible ones
https://www.head-fi.org/members/americanspirit.77463/showcase-reviews

 

[aquietlull]

Yea It’s my personal charts. I update those out of whim. Here are some other ones I’ve updated recently. Some comments are old, but scores should be accurate.


For those chart, you can trust me because I spent tons of time notingthe scores. It’s all my private collections obtained with my hard earned disposable income, so I don’t give a random score like some youtuber you see on the internet. They receive a free sample and depending on their mood the evaluation could fluctuate. As a long time audio enthusiast, my personal view toward “appraising” is a very time and energy consuming one. I had lots of objections from notable reviewers when I mentioned that, being bashed “No, it’s easy to tell the sound”. Of which I have another view.

The true value of the IEM could only be obtained from day-to-day usage. As a part of your life. That’s my virtue as a geek.

Back to topic, I guess I have most of your signatures IEM/headphones, so I guess you probably would get my languages.

Here is Wan’er ‘s detailed walk-thru
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-discovery-thread.586909/post-17284198

CRA/ Sal Zero quick comparison
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-discovery-thread.586909/post-17292774

And my head-gear reviews: only for exceptionally good or exceptionally terrible ones
https://www.head-fi.org/members/americanspirit.77463/showcase-reviews

hi, so after looking at all the information(which is amazing) I was wondering how the Stellaris compare, reading your review

you gave the Stellaris:
Overall: B
Tonality: B-
Technicality: C+
Wow Factor: C

I was wondering how the technicalities break down here so if the technicals are c+ would any IEM with A or B resolution and soundstage be better than Stellaris?
sorry for the many questions. the Stellaris has fully driven me into a deep iem rabbit hole that I'm not sure I'm going to recover from.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

hi, so after looking at all the information(which is amazing) I was wondering how the Stellaris compare, reading your review

you gave the Stellaris:
Overall: B
Tonality: B-
Technicality: C+
Wow Factor: C

I was wondering how the technicalities break down here so if the technicals are c+ would any IEM with A or B resolution and soundstage be better than Stellaris?
sorry for the many questions. the Stellaris has fully driven me into a deep iem rabbit hole that I'm not sure I'm going to recover from.

The drag down of overall coherence is due to the lack of imaging consistency due to their stock tuning. If you EQ’d to natural didfusion field neutral, imaging coordinations, and image’s geo-dynamic articulations will be fixed accordingly. Tuning and those geo-dynamic technicalities has correlations.

For a simple driver’s spec I do believe Timeless and Stellaris is on par. 78-80 /100 level.
Also, Planar IEM has its limited capabilities in image separation/ layering. Of which from my long time experience, that could be only solved by having a highly cohesive multi-BAs.

It’s hard to alight multi-BAs, so you may want to have properly designed ones with a solid cross-over network, and legit BA’s preferably from Denmark’s Sonion.

 

[superuser1]

Yea It’s my personal charts. I update those out of whim. Here are some other ones I’ve updated recently. Some comments are old, but scores should be accurate.


For those chart, you can trust me because I spent tons of time notingthe scores. It’s all my private collections obtained with my hard earned disposable income, so I don’t give a random score like some youtuber you see on the internet. They receive a free sample and depending on their mood the evaluation could fluctuate. As a long time audio enthusiast, my personal view toward “appraising” is a very time and energy consuming one. I had lots of objections from notable reviewers when I mentioned that, being bashed “No, it’s easy to tell the sound”. Of which I have another view.

The true value of the IEM could only be obtained from day-to-day usage. As a part of your life. That’s my virtue as a geek.

Back to topic, I guess I have most of your signatures IEM/headphones, so I guess you probably would get my languages.

Here is Wan’er ‘s detailed walk-thru
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-discovery-thread.586909/post-17284198

CRA/ Sal Zero quick comparison
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-discovery-thread.586909/post-17292774

And my head-gear reviews: only for exceptionally good or exceptionally terrible ones
https://www.head-fi.org/members/americanspirit.77463/showcase-reviews

Did you try truthear zero?

 

[aquietlull]

The drag down of overall coherence is due to the lack of imaging consistency due to their stock tuning. If you EQ’d to natural didfusion field neutral, imaging coordinations, and image’s geo-dynamic articulations will be fixed accordingly. Tuning and those geo-dynamic technicalities has correlations.

For a simple driver’s spec I do believe Timeless and Stellaris is on par. 78-80 /100 level.
Also, Planar IEM has its limited capabilities in image separation/ layering. Of which from my long time experience, that could be only solved by having a highly cohesive multi-BAs.

It’s hard to alight multi-BAs, so you may want to have properly designed ones with a solid cross-over network, and legit BA’s preferably from Denmark’s Sonion.

I see so if the Stellaris was tuned well it would be a 78/100 this means if the the st10 would also have a higher score than 73/100. it took me a little while to understand what you said sorry because I'm still pretty new to especially the IEM hobby.

if I am to understand you properly you are saying the right list of tech represents what you think they could sound like and the below list like resolution and coherence is the resulting score of the left and right fields combined,

if this is the case where would you rank the Stellaris would you say it has technicals closer to B or more like something near A across the board? sorry if I'm misunderstanding. I'm kind of wondering since obviously, you wouldn't recommend me something less technical but just want to know exactly how much more technical we are talking about, apologies for being sort of unclear in the first message
for example ,you list the hexa to have b's across the board would that even be on par with Stellaris? I would assume the answer is no which would put the Stellaris closer to having a's across the board?

also thank you for explaining this to me I appreciate your help immensely.

 

[Lobarkaine]

Yea It’s my personal charts. I update those out of whim. Here are some other ones I’ve updated recently. Some comments are old, but scores should be accurate.


For those chart, you can trust me because I spent tons of time notingthe scores. It’s all my private collections obtained with my hard earned disposable income, so I don’t give a random score like some youtuber you see on the internet. They receive a free sample and depending on their mood the evaluation could fluctuate. As a long time audio enthusiast, my personal view toward “appraising” is a very time and energy consuming one. I had lots of objections from notable reviewers when I mentioned that, being bashed “No, it’s easy to tell the sound”. Of which I have another view.

The true value of the IEM could only be obtained from day-to-day usage. As a part of your life. That’s my virtue as a geek.

Back to topic, I guess I have most of your signatures IEM/headphones, so I guess you probably would get my languages.

Here is Wan’er ‘s detailed walk-thru
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-discovery-thread.586909/post-17284198

CRA/ Sal Zero quick comparison
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-discovery-thread.586909/post-17292774

And my head-gear reviews: only for exceptionally good or exceptionally terrible ones
https://www.head-fi.org/members/americanspirit.77463/showcase-reviews

Great helpfull informations full of passion for our hobby AmericanSpirit!

Thank's for sharing!

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Did you try truthear zero?

I just received a $50 amazon giftcard as a xmas gift, great! Crin’s Truthear Zero is $49 Order Placed.

My xmas gift will be Truthear Zero. Eta 24-29.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

I see so if the Stellaris was tuned well it would be a 78/100 this means if the the st10 would also have a higher score than 73/100. it took me a little while to understand what you said sorry because I'm still pretty new to especially the IEM hobby.

if I am to understand you properly you are saying the right list of tech represents what you think they could sound like and the below list like resolution and coherence is the resulting score of the left and right fields combined,

if this is the case where would you rank the Stellaris would you say it has technicals closer to B or more like something near A across the board? sorry if I'm misunderstanding. I'm kind of wondering since obviously, you wouldn't recommend me something less technical but just want to know exactly how much more technical we are talking about, apologies for being sort of unclear in the first message
for example ,you list the hexa to have b's across the board would that even be on par with Stellaris? I would assume the answer is no which would put the Stellaris closer to having a's across the board?

also thank you for explaining this to me I appreciate your help immensely.

Yes you nailed my interpretations perfectly!
I personally feel resolving capabilities shall be separated from so-called technicalities because of its independence. Resolutions are hardly impacted by FR tuning unless you have 20db of bass floor with negative mid and upper. Resolving capabilities shall be there, it’s just a matter of relativity.

It’s less-elastic and shall be considered as independent technical aspect of an IEM, aside from geo-dynamism related expression skills.

Taking one of my another hobby, car as an example.

Resolving capabilities are like the horse power of your drivetrain, it’s a constant value, however, in order to let that horsepowers to kick the earth, you have very long way to let the power travel through complex mechanical & electrical systems to the contacting surface of the tires.

I tried to picture raw horsepower of an IEM, but as nobody is perfect, the horsepower is a guesstimate from the perception from what I felt from the vibrations from the steering wheel, and my body’s G sensors. That’s an ouput from the interactions of tire’s contacts (perceived resolution)with the roads (music).

Meanwhile, those geo-dynamic skills are more like drivability/cornering handling / steering agility/ acceleration & deceleration/ etc etc. It would impacted to some extent by how driver would handle the car (tonality & timbre)

If you EQ Stellaris to your personal HRTF preference, I can foresee near A geo-dynamism technicalities, aside from A- resolving capabilities.

 

[christianfps]

Such a nice chart of comparisons! Where can we find those? I'd like to see one for the Hook-X. Been having a hard time tip rolling with them recently haha.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Such a nice chart of comparisons! Where can we find those? I'd like to see one for the Hook-X. Been having a hard time tip rolling with them recently haha.

Sorry! I have no hook-X. I found myself satisfied with Planars, Timeless, Wu Zetian, and planar hybrid i3 Pro. If only Raptgo released Planar IEM a bit earlier..
But I know some experts have completed most of Planar series.
You may hit up @Dsnuts @Redcarmoose @NymPHONOmaniac