crinacle's IEM Ranking List
Interesting, he finds the LX more technical as well.That Legend Evo ranking is gonna upset some people
Interesting, he finds the LX more technical as well.
for sure
Traillii and EXT are about where I expected, thought Elysian X may be higher
Nice update though.
Crin really liked the Monarch and he ranked the Monarch mkii as an S with S+ for tonality. I like my Monarch, I am going to buy it.
Elysian will be at CanJam New York. I need to hear both the Annihilator and X before I buy one.for sure
Traillii and EXT are about where I expected, thought Elysian X may be higher
How do you hear them? Since you own both, which do you like for what purposes?
Well my Annihilator CIEM is still in production but I had the demo for a while. I personally prefer the X, I think the bass tuning is better because Annihilator to me doesn’t do sub bass very well, but on the flip side X is mid bass light. I personally believe adequate mid bass is fundamentally more important than sub bass due it impacting instrument weight. Neither of these IEMs are about the bass though, they have good bass.. but you’re buying these for the upper mids and treble tunings/clarity/quality, everything else which is still done well just comes with it. Not to mention both are very technically impressive IEMS. I’m about 90% sure once I get my Annihilator CIEM I’ll let the X go as they overlap too much, and a CIEM fit just trumps universals for me because of my lame ear canals.
I’ll be surprised if you demo either and don’t end up buying one of them.
Yeah. I am looking for a treble focused IEM for Classical Music and Jazz. I have so many bass dominant IEMs that I need some diversity in my collection. If I like the annihilator better, I'll probably get the CIEM, too.
by then hopefully theres more options too , I’d love to see more manufacturers get on board with the ESTS and implement them “properly”
My opinion on Crin's opinion on Legend Evo:
This is should be common knowledge by now, but all Crin's opinion about tuning is based on stationary listening, in-door, in a dead silent environment. If you ever have to take your IEM out and about, say a walking along a quiet sidewalk, you will need more bass than what Crin considers adequate (due to cable rubbing against the back of your ears and your shirt, the fact that you can hear your own breathing, the bone conduction of your own footsteps, etc etc).
I have no problem with Crin's evaluation method; this is his job and he needs quick turnaround time. But keep in mind that when you use an IEM, most of the time you will not be using it sitting down in a dead silent environment (otherwise you should be buying headphones or speakers), and manufacturers take that into consideration when designing a product.
This is should be common knowledge by now, but all Crin's opinion about tuning is based on stationary listening, in-door, in a dead silent environment. If you ever have to take your IEM out and about, say a walking along a quiet sidewalk, you will need more bass than what Crin considers adequate (due to cable rubbing against the back of your ears and your shirt, the fact that you can hear your own breathing, the bone conduction of your own footsteps, etc etc).
I have no problem with Crin's evaluation method; this is his job and he needs quick turnaround time. But keep in mind that when you use an IEM, most of the time you will not be using it sitting down in a dead silent environment (otherwise you should be buying headphones or speakers), and manufacturers take that into consideration when designing a product.
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imackler
Headphoneus Supremus
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I think @crinacle has waited long enough. He should rank in the Dusk right where it belongs!
Crin is just one guy with an opinion. I like what he does because he ranks everything against each other according to his preferences and with consistent criteria and measurements. He is the only reviewer who has a proper distribution of rankings according to a normal distribution so his rankings are not inflated. I use his ranking list as a suggestion or for short listing product. I give a lot more weight to other head fi members who share tastes similar to mine. But, the ultimate arbiter of a good IEM is my own ears. To me, EVO is my favorite IEM because I love its bass and it gives me the presentation I like for most music I listen to. I recognize that it is very colored and I like it that way which is probably why Crin doesn't like it as much as others.
I own ZMF Verite Closed and I love that headphone. Crin ranks it a C+. I also own a Susvara which he ranks as an S and a Utopia which he ranks as an S-, but I prefer the Abyss 1266 Phi TC over all of those and he ranks that as a C+ (well I am not sure if he ranked the TC). So, it is what it is. I admire the work he has done. I don't think I could ever rank that many IEMs. I would get bored with it very quickly. So, I am happy he does it so I don't have to.
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Not at all. It's his opinion, and I know how he likes his sound. EVO is way off his preference curve. I used to go by Crin's ratings until I learned the differences in our preferences. All credit to him for staying consistent.That Legend Evo ranking is gonna upset some people
Yeah that's just daft. Opinion or not it's just not factual.Interesting, he finds the LX more technical as well.
I don’t believe his ranking list has anything to do with his target curve.
Well, there are a lot of different elements to technical performance. And priorities differ between people on what they want form a technical stand point. There are other variables in play too in how someone hears and evaluates something. It's never going to be an exact science, and technically grading gear will be to some degree subjective too.
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