CoiL
Member of the Trade: Wood Audio Accessories & Modifications
**** 4in1 impressions:
- WOOF are these hot on the treble. Like, pierce your eardrums with a sewing needle hot.
- Sub-bass, not bad but it seems like everything after 20hz up to 200 is lacking. No worries about any sort of midbass hump here.
- Switching to narrow bore tips (Trinity Kombi) helped tame some of the highs.
- After 30 hours of burning the sibilance I heard initially seems to have disappeared.
- Soundstage is above average, but sound is still "inside of the head"
- I find myself constantly fiddling with the volume level. Usually due to too much sizzle in the treble on various tracks or not enough bass on others.
- With the cable included from NiceHCK these are a little harder to drive than the usual IEM. I'm up around 45-60 on my LG V10. Most IEMs I'm never above 40 or 45 on the volume.
- Acapella music is fantastic with these. I hear overtones that other headphones don't accurately reproduce.
- Dance Music just isn't any fun with these. I need more bass.
- Rock...OUCH. I couldn't do it. The hi-hat and crash cymbals about sent me through the ceiling.
- Jazz...nice...very nice.
- Detail, instrument separation, aural texture, all are way above what I would expect for headphones that cost less than $30.
The **** 4in1 has all of the detail and treble of the Vivo XE800 without being so shouty in the mids.
----will edit my answer later----
Basically... I do not agree with most of points You posted. This is all of course subjective but here we go:
- WOOF are these hot on the treble. Like, pierce your eardrums with a sewing needle hot.
I`m very sensitive to treble region, especially 6-7KHz range and I can`t agree on these being "hot on the treble". While I can consider them being just on the edge of being "harsh" (with stock tips). But they aren`t "hot" with any of the genres/songs I`ve tried.
- Sub-bass, not bad but it seems like everything after 20hz up to 200 is lacking. No worries about any sort of midbass hump here.
Lacking what? Imho, bass is quite accurate and I can`t find it lacking anywhere.
- Switching to narrow bore tips (Trinity Kombi) helped tame some of the highs.
Imo, You are doing it totally wrong way and approach - slap on some very wide bore tips like JVC Spiral Dot`s and then treble will be "smoother".
- After 30 hours of burning the sibilance I heard initially seems to have disappeared.
Already 30h playtime changed them? Sibilance out of the box? I didn`t have any experience with them like that. OOTB there was no sibilance and neither did the sound change after 100-150h playtime.
- Soundstage is above average, but sound is still "inside of the head"
Agree on the soundstage being above average (imo quite noticeably above average) but "inside of the head" ? No no no and no - You should hear LZ A2S, HD-681 and some others that have some instruments/vocals presented "inside" or very close "inside headstage". 4in1 definitely ain`t one of them and not even close.
- I find myself constantly fiddling with the volume level. Usually due to too much sizzle in the treble on various tracks or not enough bass on others.
No problem here. They do have slightly larger impedance that I have been used to with budget IEM`s but require only 2-4 steps above my usual listening level (192-194 on DX50 @ high gain. max is 250). Nor have I notices any "sizzle in treble" nor "not enough bass".
- Dance Music just isn't any fun with these. I need more bass.
Even though dance music isn`t my cup of tea, I do listen to atmospheric EDM occasionally and there is more than enough bass. For example with Eskmo - cloudlight.
- Rock...OUCH. I couldn't do it. The hi-hat and crash cymbals about sent me through the ceiling.
Once again, I`m very sensitive to treble and hi-sax notes, hi-hat & cymbals are usually "hot area" for me - no problems with those with 4in1.
- Jazz...nice...very nice.
While jazz is very good sounding, I slightly wish sometimes more "analogue" sound and warmer mids (something like ATE has). But that`s the nature of BA`s in 4in1 and I can`t really complain about mids.
I really don`t know if You have different **** 4in1, source gear match is bad, different preferences and hearing, different cable(impedance), not enough juice or something else... but reading Your opinion about them makes me think You have different IEM
I do agree on this though:
- Detail, instrument separation, aural texture, all are way above what I would expect for headphones that cost less than $30.
I want to note out that I`m using JVC Spiral Dot tips (S size and deep inside ear-canal) + Tennmak SPOFC upgrade cable without mic with my **** 4in1 @ DX5X: http://www.head-fi.org/t/720776/ibasso-dx50-mods/285#post_12652071