[Fawzay]

Dayum! Alpha Delta D6! did not expect that good ranking though

 

[bukumurah]

Does anyone have a good EQ setting that works well to balance out the bass boost on the Sony MH755 without sacrificing too much of the other frequencies?
A setting for neutron player would be very nice.. thank you so much in advance!

 

[SilverEars]

I heard the Vision Ears Erlkönig



I was very impressed. I heard the other VE models, and they all sounded plain compared to this one. This is just my impression from the demo, and I'd have to hear longer, but the price is probably the most ridiculous out there. 4200 Euros. I'm mixed. I like the sound, but the prices are getting too much.

Probably the most transparent detailed I've ever heard. Like I said, it puts VE's other models to shame and probably what's all out there. It made my iems worse sounding, and I became sad. After I kept telling myself, why did I have to hear this(as it makes others sound worse)?

 

[FastAndClean]

I heard the Vision Ears Erlkönig



I was very impressed. I heard the other VE models, and they all sounded plain compared to this one. This is just my impression from the demo, and I'd have to hear longer, but the price is probably the most ridiculous out there. 4200 Euros. I'm mixed. I like the sound, but the prices are getting too much.

Probably the most transparent detailed I've ever heard. Like I said, it puts VE's other models to shame and probably what's all out there. It made my iems worse sounding, and I became sad. After I kept telling myself, why did I have to hear this(as it makes others sound worse)?

that is the earphone for you, its silver

 

[ngrd]

Hi Crinacle, would you try Shozy’s BG (5 BA - Knowles 22955 for bass BA, others are China-made)， cos its position in terms of spec and price is very close with BGVP DM6, I ‘be tried both, Shozy one wins a little bit in terms of bass and details level.

 

[koven]

I heard the Vision Ears Erlkönig



I was very impressed. I heard the other VE models, and they all sounded plain compared to this one. This is just my impression from the demo, and I'd have to hear longer, but the price is probably the most ridiculous out there. 4200 Euros. I'm mixed. I like the sound, but the prices are getting too much.

Probably the most transparent detailed I've ever heard. Like I said, it puts VE's other models to shame and probably what's all out there. It made my iems worse sounding, and I became sad. After I kept telling myself, why did I have to hear this(as it makes others sound worse)?

Did you like the fit? I recall it was the biggest and heaviest IEM I have ever used. Sounded good but couldn't get over the ergonomics..

 

[SilverEars]

Did you like the fit? I recall it was the biggest and heaviest IEM I have ever used. Sounded good but couldn't get over the ergonomics..

No issue with fit although the housing adds a bit of weight. It's not huge like JHA that sticks out. It fits deep and well with spinfit tips. It had extended nozzle that went in deep.

 

[superuser1]

No issue with fit although the housing adds a bit of weight. It's not huge like JHA that sticks out. It fits deep and well with spinfit tips. It had extended nozzle that went in deep.

I liked the fit and the sound was something i had never heard out of am iem.

 

[buonassi]

hey all, long time follower of this thread. got a question about 64 U10. It's ranked well according to @crinacle and I really like the sound. It's my favorite IEM at the moment. It is more coherent (less ethereal) and presents mids much better than my Jupiter. It has better resolution than my Angie (sold). It has more incisive and articulate bass than my Oriolus mk2. The imaging and stage width are good. However, I'm sure that IEMs get better.

When I take the next step up (to another neutrally tuned all BA monitor), what should I expect to hear (or no longer hear)? In other words, what does the U10 not do very proficiently that other IEMs can do better. I'm trying to understand what to listen for and imagine is missing. Deeper resolution? Faster attack? I just can't image it getting any better unless you guys point me to some technicality that may be lacking in the U10. For instance, "treble decays too fast" or "note thickness could be better" something like that.

Feel free to contrast the U10 with any IEMs you feel have better technicalities please. Thanks in advance for your guys' guidance.

 

[EagleWings]

U10 is a very nice IEM. While it doesn’t necessarily shine in any particular aspect, it doesn’t have any glaring defects. But compared to some of the recent flagships, it falls behind slightly in aspects such as timbre, transparency, resolution, layering, stage depth, imaging precision and dynamics.

As a result, taking all things into consideration, it belongs to a tier lower than those iems. For example, IEMs like Zeus and U18 are more transparent, resolving and have better depth in stage and have a more precise imaging in the stage with better layering of instruments. Due to these reasons, the sense of realism on these IEMs is slightly higher than on the U10.

 

[BulldogXTRM]

hey all, long time follower of this thread. got a question about 64 U10. It's ranked well according to @crinacle and I really like the sound. It's my favorite IEM at the moment. It is more coherent (less ethereal) and presents mids much better than my Jupiter. It has better resolution than my Angie (sold). It has more incisive and articulate bass than my Oriolus mk2. The imaging and stage width are good. However, I'm sure that IEMs get better.

When I take the next step up (to another neutrally tuned all BA monitor), what should I expect to hear (or no longer hear)? In other words, what does the U10 not do very proficiently that other IEMs can do better. I'm trying to understand what to listen for and imagine is missing. Deeper resolution? Faster attack? I just can't image it getting any better unless you guys point me to some technicality that may be lacking in the U10. For instance, "treble decays too fast" or "note thickness could be better" something like that.

Feel free to contrast the U10 with any IEMs you feel have better technicalities please. Thanks in advance for your guys' guidance.

Since I've owned the U10 and currently own the U18t, which hit's the top spot on crinacle's rankings, I'll compare the two from my memory.

Like @EagleWings said the U10 is a very good IEM, and it is very neutral. It does everything very well, but doesn't shine anywhere. It's not a boring IEM like I found the Angie 13V2 Pro to be and has some excitement to the sound.

Now imagine peeling back the layers of an onion in terms of sound clarity. IMO the entire JH line that I've heard is good, but they have too many layers that need to be peeled back. The 64 U10 peels back several layers and you get a little more snap, a little wider sound, a little better timbre, it sounds more like your sitting in front of the stage listening to your favorite band.
With the U18t compared to the U10, it's like peeling back several more layers and putting you on the front row with the loud speakers perfectly tuned for you listening position, just the right volume all around, just the right amount of sparkle, just the right amount of snap in the kick drums, the decay of the drums is the way it was recorded, the timbre of the singers voice is there and you can hear them at time take a breath. You can distinguish the slightest air being pushed by the bass guitar when it hits a deep low, the guitars are edgy but not too sharp.

That's the difference, it basically is sonic perfection. But that kind of perfection costs money. But when you get there, you'll find you can't go back to just OK.

Hope that helps.

 

[buonassi]

Thanks @BulldogXTRM and @EagleWings - those two posts make sense and are helpful. In summary, the next level is simply more precise in imaging, with better localization and separation of instruments AND more transparent which leads to more realism of being closer to the original recording (resolution). Take that and add in another injection of timbre accuracy and controlled decay, and that's it.

So the old diminishing returns rears its ugly head. But, I'm not one to settle - and paying another grand to have ONE IEM that gets me that 10% more than what I have now, is just fine by me. Hey, nobody said audiophiles were pragmatic.

But, before I jump into the 2K arena, I think I need a better source than my Hiby R6 (with IEMatch).

BTW - the U10 I have once belonged to @BulldogXTRM - he gave me a helluva deal on it!

 

[crinacle]

hey all, long time follower of this thread. got a question about 64 U10. It's ranked well according to @crinacle and I really like the sound. It's my favorite IEM at the moment. It is more coherent (less ethereal) and presents mids much better than my Jupiter. It has better resolution than my Angie (sold). It has more incisive and articulate bass than my Oriolus mk2. The imaging and stage width are good. However, I'm sure that IEMs get better.

When I take the next step up (to another neutrally tuned all BA monitor), what should I expect to hear (or no longer hear)? In other words, what does the U10 not do very proficiently that other IEMs can do better. I'm trying to understand what to listen for and imagine is missing. Deeper resolution? Faster attack? I just can't image it getting any better unless you guys point me to some technicality that may be lacking in the U10. For instance, "treble decays too fast" or "note thickness could be better" something like that.

Feel free to contrast the U10 with any IEMs you feel have better technicalities please. Thanks in advance for your guys' guidance.

I'm actually in the midst of cleaning up a lot of older models in my list that I haven't tried in recent times. Unfortunately that means removing things like the U10/U12 since I have largely forgotten what they sound like as well as the fact that it'll be almost impossible for me to demo one due to them being discontinued.

 

[crinacle]

iFi Micro iDSD Black Label: In the Hands of a Non-Believer​

It's been a good few weeks of my time back in Singapore, and in that time I've been back at trying my hand at all the new gear that I've missed out over the past half a year I was gone. In my new arsenal of testing equipment is the Micro BL, a unit that ifi has graciously granted me for review and subsequently for future review use at my request (I was personally looking for a Micro BL to play around with long before the community representative contacted me).

As most of my readers should be well aware, I'm primarily an IEM specialist and I hardly step outside this circle so this review will be from a perspective of an "agnostic" of source-end scaling rather than someone who rolls with tons of source gear (though make no mistake, I have my fair share of DAP experience as well). In this regard, the Micro BL isn't the one to prove to me that IEMs "scale" with power (as with every other DAP I've tried that is available on the market), but is still an immensely useful piece of gear to my work for other reasons.

The Sound

In terms of the technical nitty-gritty details, I shall defer to the venerable @earfonia and their ridiculously in-depth analysis. What I'll be writing about shall be mostly on the subjective listening and personal use side of things.

I primarily use the Micro BL on Eco mode and Ultra Sensitivity due to the relatively low volumes I listen at (I typically average at 10 o'clock on the volume pot, dependent on the IEM used of course). As an amplifier, the Micro BL is very clean and extremely powerful, never distorting audibly except in the rare cases where the knob is maxed out. Though in fairness, by playing around with the different power and output settings (Eco/Normal/Turbo power settings with High/Ultra/Off IEMatch settings) you can adjust to a setting that gives you a good volume at 12 o'clock with virtually any IEM.

The signature of the Micro BL is, on a scale of exciting to sterile, strays pretty far into the exciting camp of things (perhaps too far for some); and on the warmth scale, doesn't seem to exhibit too much warmth in its presentation if any at all. This makes the Micro BL a pretty energetic and textured "colouration" to the paired transducer, which works to the advantage of some IEMs but not to others. Most of my gear are pretty laid back, warm and/or bassy (see: UE18+ gen 2 or N8) so this sort of "opposite synergy" is my kind of match. On the flipside, the Micro BL would make things like the Etymotic ER4 or Hidition IEMs even more intense to listen to so it's certainly not a magic make-everything-better button.

That said, this hobby is all about preference so someone who's looking for extra definition and texture in their setup could certainly enjoy the Micro BL out of their already-sterile transducers. It really is all about the type of synergy that you prioritise as opposed to a source being always objectively better.

Versus the iFi Nano iDSD Black Label which I've bought mostly for the IEMatch function as well as something to use off my PC, it is a lot cleaner and more textured. The Nano BL is rather warm and smoothed over, which does make for a nice and non-fatiguing listen but also doesn't exactly have a lot of technical chops. The other plus point for the Micro BL is the volume pot of the Nano BL has massive imbalance at lower settings, which is quite a problem for low volume listeners like me. Having the option to limit the power output for a less sensitive volume knob is a pretty big pro that would be hard to overlook.

The "Gimmicks"

The Micro BL comes with a lot of extra bells and whistles that could be construed as "gimmicks" to those who just want a plug-and-play experience. For my uses, I find myself flipping switches and swapping outputs very often during testing and measurements, so I would consider at least most of them as very useful features.

The digital filter option would be one of those features that I'd consider as semi-useless, though it's still nice to have the option to swap them whenever you want. The Micro BL sports three filters; the "Standard" filter (also called the "Measure" filter in other ifi devices, it's basically a linear phase filter), the "Minimum Phase" filter (self-explanatory) and the "Bit-Perfect" filter. I always actively avoid any linear phase filters in any DAC I use so it's pretty much a toss-up between minimum phase and bit-perfect for me. The main difference I could really reliably hear was that the bit-perfect filter seems to blunt note attack slightly, which could somewhat help with reducing the intensity of the Micro BL's signature but was rather off-putting to hear. Thus I usually defaulted to minimum phase.

The bass boost (or should I say, XBass+) is a pretty sweet feature and was actually one of the main highlights for one of the people who tried my Micro BL. It is a rather potent boost but also very well done, not too much midbass emphasis and adds a lot of extra subbass rumble. It's permanently switched on for my desktop HD800 setup and is a nice guilty pleasure for my already bassy IEMs.

Then there is the 3D+ switch which I have almost zero desire to use and has been generally regarded by my peers as "bad". The Micro BL's 3D+ switch apparently increases crossfeed but all I really hear is that the overall sound gets brighter and harsher and that's about it. And on a side-note, the switch is so satisfying to flip.

On that note, the switches that aren't the XBass+/3D+ feel rather fragile and that's a little disappointing. I've actually had the IEMatch switch pop off on accident once. There also doesn't seem to be a tactile enough click per setting so there might be an issue with setting it to options in the middle of the switch given enough wear and tear.

Saving the best for last, the multitude of options to limit power and output impedance. It's a pretty nice feeling to go from a Campfire Andromeda to a AKG K1000 just by flipping a few switches. Too often do I run into the problem of powerful amplifiers being way too sensitive for IEMs and/or having too high a noise floor, or IEM-specific amplifiers being unable to drive even basic headphones. Speaking of Andromeda, the Micro BL also lets you play with impedance-sensitive IEMs with the IEMatch options (~0.5ohms on direct mode, ~4ohms on high sensitivity mode) along with the added function of killing hiss. Again, the Micro BL is unable to prove to me the scalability of IEMs by power, but it is an absolute treat by sheer versatility alone.

From the perspective of a measurement guy, the Micro BL helps me get that extra SPL out of difficult headphones, which is extremely useful especially in a shop environment. Any more power and I'll be driving them off desktop setups, which then goes against the point of my new measurement setup.

As another plus point, you can use it as a power bank whenever your phone or DAP runs low on battery so that's cool. Saved me quite a few times now.

Conclusion

To reiterate, I don't usually review source gear so my apologies if I'm not as critical of flaws than I usually am with my IEM reviews.

In my case it's less about how good the Micro BL sounds but rather the flexibility and power it provides to me. For what it does regardless of sonic quality (which it still has in spades!), it presents a value that I find is currently unmatched in the portable DAC/amp market.

 

[Fawzay]

Sometimes the ifi DSD BL volume knob attracts dust underside of it causing it crackling sound when turn up the volume and it is indeed very powerful causing one my iems burnt driver due negligence.
True about 3D+ it just elevate treble and may sometime sounded harsh.