[inventionlws]

Westone guys seems to hate presence and decide to eliminate it

 

[Francisk]

Westone guys seems to hate presence and decide to eliminate it

The Westone void

 

[james444]

And a cheapo yet strangely great sounding IEM from Woolies:

Philips SHE3595

Agreed. I've actually recommended these on several occasions, when being asked about decent sounding IEMs that come in all pink color.

 

[crinacle]

New measurements. Not mine but by a friend (reddit profile here as credit) back in SG with the same setup.

Fiio F3
Fiio F9

The F9 curve looks very nice. Definitely interested to hear it when I get the chance.

Notes and impressions (not mine)
F3: Fairly extended treble, reminiscent of the VSonic GR07. Decent bass quantity with mildly recessed midrange but balanced between the lower and upper mids.

F9: Unit used had a problem on the right channel. Visceral yet linear bass profile that doesn't bleed into the mids. Good note body that's not the most lush but compares well to the Ultimate Ears UE7 in terms of thickness. Treble has adequate quantity.

 

[crinacle]

As most of the IEM community should already be aware of the hype, I won't spend too much time on introductions.

A Polaris demo was just recently made available and I got a trusted friend to get some measurements and impressions. Unfortunately as I'm not in IEM paradise now, I won't be able to get a personal listen until they hit Aussie shores.

Spoiler: Campfire Polaris

<1ohm OI
3ohm OI

Disclaimer: While they are performed on the same IMM6 + tubing rig that I use, take the above measurements with a grain of salt as there are not mine and thus subject to subtle differences in equipment and/or technique. Will attempt to get measurements of my own as soon as possible.


First impressions (not mine)

• V-shaped signature
• Enhanced yet surprisingly fast bass
• Recessed midrange (particularly lower mids)
• Upper mid rise, reminiscent of Asian/Japanese-styled colouration a la FitEar/Pinnacle P1 that focuses on female vocals
• Polite treble, decent extension
• Average soundstage. Not as wide as Andromedas but not as compressed as Etymotics

 

[Cya|\|]

Any chance you can measure the Pionneer SE-CH9T?

 

[Glebuzzz]

Any chance you can measure the Pionneer SE-CH9T?

Yep, interesting one. Heard that they are v-shaped, but wanna see the graph.

 

[M3NTAL]

@crinacle - You have two different measurements for the Fender FXA7. The second one is here in post #219 https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cri...11-iems-measured.830062/page-15#post-13525108

Have you come across a VSonic GR07 Anniversary Edition? (GR09 drivers in GR07 shell)
Also, is there any chance you will be adding the Noble X to your list?

Thank you for your awesome list!

 

[SilverEars]

@crinacle

Have you measured iems with various bore sizes? The problem with iems to measure reliably is the fit(it's much more sensitive to skew the response, and this maybe the reason why a graph may not reflect what is heard).

 

[crinacle]

Any chance you can measure the Pionneer SE-CH9T?

Will try to get one when it's available in my area. Else, someone needs to send one to me or wait till I go back to Singapore (in about a year? Who knows.)

@crinacle - You have two different measurements for the Fender FXA7. The second one is here in post #219 https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cri...11-iems-measured.830062/page-15#post-13525108

Have you come across a VSonic GR07 Anniversary Edition? (GR09 drivers in GR07 shell)
Also, is there any chance you will be adding the Noble X to your list?

Thank you for your awesome list!

I do remeasures from time to time if I feel like a certain graph isn't good enough. The overall curve is the same but there's 50Hz bump that I'm guessing was due to microphonics.

Never heard of the Anniversary edition but it's an interesting model. Hope there'll be one in LMUE.

Noble X... same problem as above. I need to have someone either sending one to me or meeting up with me.

@crinacle

Have you measured iems with various bore sizes? The problem with iems to measure reliably is the fit(it's much more sensitive to skew the response, and this maybe the reason why a graph may not reflect what is heard).

I try my best to have the IEMs done with wide-bore tips to be as representative of the original sound as possible. Typically, foam and small-bore tips attenuate treble (with foam being moreso). However, every single measurement was performed in an "optimal-fit" environment that ensure minimal leakage, that much I can guarantee you.

I do experiment with tips but it's for more in-depth measurements that I'm half-sure the Head-Fi community want to have no part in

 

[castleofargh]

one issue I really hate personally is how I clearly feel like I'm getting 2 responses depending on sealed IEMs and vented ones, when compared to my subjective impressions. vented ones for example consistently feel to me like they have louder low end for the same measured response.
but then they're often also in a BA vs dynamic situation so I can't even isolate the cause correctly.
one of those issues where I have no practical answer :/

 

[headwhacker]

When dealing with u-iems, I notice that wide-bore tips are more representative of the iem's signature, small bore, foam, or deep-insert tip changes the sound too much and usually tends to sound overly warm with exaggerated low end and rolls off treble. a shallow depth with good seal is the best tip in my experience which the JVC spiral dots usually is the tip that I end up using.

 

[crinacle]

one issue I really hate personally is how I clearly feel like I'm getting 2 responses depending on sealed IEMs and vented ones, when compared to my subjective impressions. vented ones for example consistently feel to me like they have louder low end for the same measured response.
but then they're often also in a BA vs dynamic situation so I can't even isolate the cause correctly.
one of those issues where I have no practical answer :/

Same here. DD IEMs always have more bass response in subjective listening even when measured to have same (or similar) levels of boosting with another BA IEM. Consistent with hybrids as well.

I have a feeling that it's down to decay and transients based off my (very small) sample of measurements. DD IEMs always have extra linger in the lower freqs compared to BA woofers.

 

[james444]

one issue I really hate personally is how I clearly feel like I'm getting 2 responses depending on sealed IEMs and vented ones, when compared to my subjective impressions. vented ones for example consistently feel to me like they have louder low end for the same measured response.
but then they're often also in a BA vs dynamic situation so I can't even isolate the cause correctly.
one of those issues where I have no practical answer :/

Same here. DD IEMs always have more bass response in subjective listening even when measured to have same (or similar) levels of boosting with another BA IEM. Consistent with hybrids as well.

I have a feeling that it's down to decay and transients based off my (very small) sample of measurements. DD IEMs always have extra linger in the lower freqs compared to BA woofers.

Same here, although it's probably due to attack rather than decay, cause going by what I've read on temporal post-masking, it might even out perceived decay differences to a great extent.

Another reason might be subpar air pressure equalization of the ear canal, which is usually not an issue with vented IEMs, but sealed ones can create a vacuum and impair bass perception.

 

[crinacle]

Same here, although it's probably due to attack rather than decay, cause going by what I've read on temporal post-masking, it might even out perceived decay differences to a great extent.

Interesting theory that begets the question, what causes this increased initial "attack" and how does it differ from traditional SPL measurements?

I think I've done some burst-decay graphs as a small isolated test but got no exciting data of note.