crinacle's IEM Ranking List
Jan 26, 2019 at 11:15 AM Post #1,621 of 3,338
As for the R1, I'll be making a post about that shortly. I love the bass response on them but the midrange tone can be a little iffy even on what I feel to be the best filters (blue or orange I think?). Overall resolution also wasn't quite up to par.

Still planning to post extended notes on the R1? Would love to hear your thoughts.
 
Jan 28, 2019 at 2:06 PM Post #1,622 of 3,338
@crinacle can i ask for a suggestion for next universal headphones? :) I love etymotics er4xr and Sony ex800st/7550 but I would like something much, much higher end.

I've owned, still own or auditioned so far.

Inear prophile 8 - great technical abilities but the sound in general is too polite for me.

Campfire Vega - I like the warm midrange and treble sparkle but the upper midrange is too subdued and it has way too much bass

Campfire Andromeda - very good but i'm not fan of how technical midrange is and also bass could be tighter

64audio Tia Fourte - incredible clarity, great bass, very wide soundstage but it has way too much treble for me. I've auditioned it very briefly but it was barely listenable for me.

64Audio U18t - that I liked alot. Great midrange, incredible resolution, very wide soundstage, great bass but at the same time i dont think it's worth the asking price. It's great but not 3000$ great

Shure KSE1200 - these are the closest to my holy grail sound. Incredible resolution, speed, detail great imaging, impactful bass. Treble is the best that I've heard from but only with perfect seal on foams which isnt all that easy to obtain with my ears. Cable is quite heavy and it needs to be used with amplifier which also isnt all that convenient.

Which other universal fit iems can I like?
 
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Jan 28, 2019 at 2:41 PM Post #1,623 of 3,338
@crinacle can i ask for a suggestion for next universal headphones? :) I love etymotics er4xr and Sony ex800st/7550 but I would like something much, much higher end.

I've owned, still own or auditioned so far.

Inear prophile 8 - great technical abilities but the sound in general is too polite for me.

Campfire Vega - I like the warm midrange and treble sparkle but the midrange is too subdued and it has way too much bass

Campfire Andromeda - very good but i'm not fun of the to technical midrange and bass could be tighter

64audio Tia Fourte - incredible clarity, great bass, very wide soundstage but it has way too much treble for me. I've auditioned it very briefly but it was barely listenable for me.

64Audio U18t - that I liked alot. Great midrange, incredible resolution, very wide soundstage, great bass but at the same time i dont think it's worth the asking price. It's great but not 3000$ great

Shure KSE1200 - these are the closest to my holy grail sound. Incredible resolution, speed, detail great imaging, impactful bass. Treble is the best that I've heard from but only with perfect seal on foams which isnt all that easy to obtain with my ears. Cable is quite heavy and it needs to be used with amplifier which also isnt all that convenient.

Which other universal fit iems can I like?
Most people, naturally, prefer an iem with flexibility to use with all equipment. Fourte is excellent, but with foam tips, and a warmer DAP ( I use 1Z). My old ears don't have a problem with the treble. Though I can totally understand the opinion that an iem this expensive should sound good regardless of what you use it with, the Fourte just is what it is, but I happen to love it. Frankly, IMO, no iem is $3000 great, but such is the industry and it is afterall, a hobby.
 
Jan 28, 2019 at 2:59 PM Post #1,625 of 3,338
Most people, naturally, prefer an iem with flexibility to use with all equipment. Fourte is excellent, but with foam tips, and a warmer DAP ( I use 1Z). My old ears don't have a problem with the treble. Though I can totally understand the opinion that an iem this expensive should sound good regardless of what you use it with, the Fourte just is what it is, but I happen to love it. Frankly, IMO, no iem is $3000 great, but such is the industry and it is afterall, a hobby.

I didn't mean to bash anyone elses favourite headphones :wink: I've compared my KSE1200 with the Tia Fourte and u18t head to head at the same time from my Sony WM1A and only Fourte hit me with very accentuated piano notes. Ofcourse, maybe it was unfortunate pairing with wm1a or a fit issue, cant really say. The u18t 3000$ price tag is kinda big beucause, yes sure they are different but for me KSE were slightly better, especially in the treble departament for almost half the price.
 
Jan 28, 2019 at 4:33 PM Post #1,626 of 3,338
I didn't mean to bash anyone elses favourite headphones :wink: I've compared my KSE1200 with the Tia Fourte and u18t head to head at the same time from my Sony WM1A and only Fourte hit me with very accentuated piano notes. Ofcourse, maybe it was unfortunate pairing with wm1a or a fit issue, cant really say. The u18t 3000$ price tag is kinda big beucause, yes sure they are different but for me KSE were slightly better, especially in the treble departament for almost half the price.
Oh no, I took absolutely no offense at all. I was just offering my two cents on my experience with the Fourte'. And it's certainly not everyone's cup of tea. It's all good, and these threads should always be open to all ideas and opinions.
Cheers!
 
Jan 28, 2019 at 4:42 PM Post #1,627 of 3,338
and what about obravo :)
Funny, I actually owned the eamt-1c for quite awhile. No way you could audition it and form an opinion, because it was so very tip sensitive and truly required an amp to make it sing. IMO.
 
Jan 28, 2019 at 9:56 PM Post #1,628 of 3,338
Most people, naturally, prefer an iem with flexibility to use with all equipment. Fourte is excellent, but with foam tips, and a warmer DAP ( I use 1Z). My old ears don't have a problem with the treble. Though I can totally understand the opinion that an iem this expensive should sound good regardless of what you use it with, the Fourte just is what it is, but I happen to love it. Frankly, IMO, no iem is $3000 great, but such is the industry and it is afterall, a hobby.
Overpriced tonally off in the mids iem. Might as well go for the iSines/LCDi4 and SE5U while you are at it. Probably floats your boat those ears. All tuned tonally off.
 
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Jan 28, 2019 at 11:02 PM Post #1,629 of 3,338
Fourte sounds a bit odd to me too. It had that wow factor when I first tried it, but the more I listened to it, the less I liked it.

It almost sounds like it tries to do too much?
 
Jan 28, 2019 at 11:13 PM Post #1,630 of 3,338
Fourte sounds a bit odd to me too. It had that wow factor when I first tried it, but the more I listened to it, the less I liked it.

It almost sounds like it tries to do too much?
When I tried it out, mids sounded wack, and after looking at the graph, you'll see why.

Fourte, look at it, no wonder the mids sounds odd.

NZTCLCN (1).jpg

And, here is the SE5U. Mids sounded so off with this one as well (below is why). This is what flinkenick ranked as #1 :anguished:

mo0ikp8102521.jpg
 
Jan 28, 2019 at 11:25 PM Post #1,631 of 3,338
When I tried it out, mids sounded wack, and after looking at the graph, you'll see why.

Fourte, look at it, no wonder the mids sounds odd.



And, here is the SE5U. Mids sounded so off with this one as well (below is why). This is what flinkenick ranked as #1 :anguished:


I actually really want to try the SE5U. I don’t know what kind of black magic ****ery is used to make that graph sound good, but if it wasn’t $2k, I’d be tempted to give it a shot.
 
Jan 29, 2019 at 6:39 AM Post #1,635 of 3,338
But, it doesn't sound good. You're only interested because it's been hyped beyond what it's worth.

I’m also curious where you got to try it! You’re the first one to explicitly say that they’re not good.

That said, I doubt I’d actually ever end up getting a Spiral Ear iem given the lack of demos.
 

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