[esanthosh]

Quote:

In general, if I can get three lesser IEM with the same price as a top-tier, I tend to go with the first options, as to expend my collection

And I thought I was crazy for doing this. Good to know I'm not alone

 

[nunomeneses]

I really like this topic. Keep up the excelent work!
 
Having different sound signatures with a ranking really helps people from buying a wrong iem for their taste.
 
Thumbs up! And thank you for this!

 

[kingice10]

Great Review @ClieOS! This one of the best must-read topics of purchasing IEMs! Thanks!
 
Now I have a daily dose of headphone reviews from ljokerl and CleiOs.

 

[ClieOS]

NVM, system error.

 

[desilver]

excellent review. thank you ClieOS 

 

[jjmai]

I wish this thread was around when I first joined head-fi.
All this time I thought balanced means flat freq response, not V-shaped.
Great thread!  I am also surprised to find the IEM shootout link no longer in ClieOS's signature.

 

[Zephyron]

Clie, out of curiosity, do you find the Vsonic GR07 comfortable to wear?

Very curious about the sound of the Bio-Cellulose driver, but was turned off by the fact that the MDR-E888 is a non-canal-type bud.

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

Great thread!  I am also surprised to find the IEM shootout link no longer in ClieOS's signature.

I am trying to consolidate all of the shootout threads in a more manageable, and easy to read format. So this will be the way to go for now on. For more detail, I'll continue to post individual review and use this thread as a quick sum-up.
 
 
Quote:

Clie, out of curiosity, do you find the Vsonic GR07 comfortable to wear?

Very curious about the sound of the Bio-Cellulose driver, but was turned off by the fact that the MDR-E888 is a non-canal-type bud.

Quite comfortable. The thick cable can be annoying to some when it doesn't loop correctly over-the-ear, but using ear guide should solve the problem easily. I don't use the ear guide though, just use the chin slider to control the cable length so it stays secure.
 
 

 

[dilpal]

man i never cease to amaze at your work..

 

[piggys123]

Great reivew man!

 

[Lostcase]

clieos, thank you very much for taking the time to write up such a detailed guide.  I will definitely use this as a reference for years to come.  

 

[Inks]

Just re-read this and have some thoughts. The RE-Zero being in the v-shaped category and the X-capes being in the mid-forward category didn't make much sense to me, it's actually the other way around for me (Zeros in the mid forward section and Xcapes in the V-shaped one). Also aren't the Silver Bullets still available in a new revision?

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

Just re-read this and have some thoughts. The RE-Zero being in the v-shaped category and the X-capes being in the mid-forward category didn't make much sense to me, it's actually the other way around for me (Zeros in the mid forward section and Xcapes in the V-shaped one).

If you are referring to intimacy, then yes, ZERO is more intimate, or forwarded compared to Xcape. However, I am not looking for how forward they compared, but the distribution of energy within the overall sound (= what grabs my first attention). To me, ZERO has a very slightly u curved impression, more prominent on the lower mid / upper bass and slightly edgy treble - if you follow the forwardness, then it can be counted as mid focus. I am not going with that classification however, so it belongs to the Balanced category for me. As principle applies to X-capes as well - though it has a more distanced sound, the mid sticks out the most as far as the first impression goes, so it belongs to the Mid category.

 
Quote:

Also aren't the Silver Bullets still available in a new revision?

Since I have not heard of the new reversion yet, I don't want to confirm nor deny whether it sounds the same or not to the old version. Thus it is better to stick to what I can be sured of, which is the original SB has been discontinued.
 

 

[Inks]

Very well, I can see where you are coming from on-both accounts and agree to some extent. To be fair I think these two are hard to classify and our perceptions of the sound seem to vary. To me the Zeros biggest focus were the upper mids then with the treble and the bass taking a slight step back compared to it, resulting in a mid-focused sound. The Xcapes are one of the most balanced iems I've heard but I found the mids to be very slightly less-focused compared to other frequencies.
 
Good call on Rev.2 vs Rev.1, though my guess is that they most likely kept the sound. 

 

[ClieOS]

Phiaton PS20 added.