[average_joe]

Quote:

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by brightness.   I don't think the 7Xs color the mid-range or low frequencies (although there is more mid-range there). The highs are more additive.  Something like a high cymbal comes through clearer and stronger. If you are listening to audio with highs you will hear it more.  You may or may not want this.  In my limited listen the 5Xs were really good.  I personally am happier with the 7X in both mid and treble range but I can see where the 5X sound might have a strong appeal to others.

 
Thanks for sharing.  How are they for extended sessions?

 

[liquidsword]

I'll have my 5X in a couple of days! These are going to be my first pair of CIEMs and can't wait to listen to them! I have to say that Mitch was really great throughout the process, he posted the finished IEMs only 9 days after receiving the impressions!!! 
 
PS: I'm quite new to high end CIEMs but thanks to Joe I've learned a lot and now at least I vaguely know what to expect from different phones.

 

[caracara08]

Anyone that has never had a CIEM and that was considering the Aud5x, 6x or 7x, contact me.  I am selling mine but in the spirit of the holidays, I will discount it greatly and work with you if you again, HAVE NEVER HAD A CIEM and wanted to try out the Dreamearz series.  Please dont lie either.

 

[rrosen]

I'll let you know about how they are for extended sessions as soon as I have a chance to use this pair (the one that fits) in that way.  I'll probably get my chance over the holidays...

 

[anoxy]

Just got back from vacation and stuck these (7X) in my ears for a little while. A little underwhelmed tbh. I'll have to listen more extensively tomorrow.

Edit: I'm really enjoying the sound, but they seem really unbalanced. It feels like 65% of the sound is on the right side of my head. I don't know if its a problem on my end (impacted earwax/bad fit?) or if its a tuning issue. I just don't think they are supposed to sound like this.

 

[wazzupi]

hmm anoxy for some reason I get that feeling too. I need to listen to mine a little more but I understand. 

 

[anoxy]

Glad I'm not alone here. What's strange is that when I listen to Dr. Chesky's binaural recordings, the left channel test sounds fine. It may be a tad louder or more present on the right but I think that's just my pre-concieved bias after listening to regular music for a while.
 
However, in terms of actual sound quality and impressions, these sound wonderful. The bass is fantastic. Definitely a mid-forward presentation though. There is a large and spacious soundstage, but the vocals are intimate...reminiscent of the ES5 (or descriptions i've read of them).

 

[flu_fighter]

Quote:

Just got back from vacation and stuck these (7X) in my ears for a little while. A little underwhelmed tbh. I'll have to listen more extensively tomorrow.
Edit: I'm really enjoying the sound, but they seem really unbalanced. It feels like 65% of the sound is on the right side of my head. I don't know if its a problem on my end (impacted earwax/bad fit?) or if its a tuning issue. I just don't think they are supposed to sound like this.

 
Give it about 2 weeks of burn in, if the problem still persists, it could be a bad fit or tuning issue.
 
I upgraded my 5x to 7x, it did not really come into optimal performance until about 2 weeks later and this was with intensive burning in (almost 20 hours a day for the first few days).
 
The first few hours, there was a channel imbalance, but it slowly balanced out with more playing time.
 
The bass texture did not really appear till like 10 days in.

 

[anoxy]

Yeah for sure. I do notice that my left phone slides into my ear slightly easier, but I think the fit is fine. After just 4-5 hours of burn-in/listening today, it has already begun to even out a bit. I wonder what the cause of this is? I've never before seen anybody mention such a phenomenon about other earphones.

 

[FlySweep]

Yeah for sure. I do notice that my left phone slides into my ear slightly easier, but I think the fit is fine. After just 4-5 hours of burn-in/listening today, it has already begun to even out a bit. I wonder what the cause of this is? I've never before seen anybody mention such a phenomenon about other earphones.

 
Some have mentioned that while balanced armatures typically don't have the ability to 'burn-in', the capacitors & resistors in multi-BA circuitry can benefit and/or change with time.  I'm not a dyed-in-the-wool guy who leans in one direction or the other on this highly contentious topic.. I can say that nearly every dynamic driver-based phone I've owned tended to sound better, more controlled, and cleaner after some (varying degrees of) time.
 
As for multi-BA phones, the W4 & Miracle both sounded different/better to me after a few hours of play.. the Miracle in particular.  The UM flagship sounded surprisingly 'washed out' and compressed for the first four or five hours.. then opened up beautifully.  I'm not trying to say the difference was night & day in terms of sound quality.. but I was pretty surprised/underwhelmed by the Miracle's sound when I got it.  What I heard after a few hours (of intermittent listening) was easily distinguishable from what I "heard" out of the box.  i actually liked how the W4 sounded ootb more than how it sounded after ten or so hours on it.  Ootb, it was very clean, crisp, airy.. the sound was noticeably thicker, more bassy, and warm after it 'burned in.'
 
I never DBT'ed this phenomenon, so it could be all placebo.. but I've become well aware of my biases after spending a fairly significant amount of time in this hobby.. and now tend to trust my ears and feel I can evaluate new gear with a comfortable degree of objectivity.

 

[anoxy]

Interesting. I have definitely experienced the burn-in phenomenon, but never from unbalanced to balanced. Usually it's just different sound characteristics. 
 
btw, do you have your 7X yet FlySweep? And your AS-2? How are you liking them? 

 

[flu_fighter]

Quote:

Interesting. I have definitely experienced the burn-in phenomenon, but never from unbalanced to balanced. Usually it's just different sound characteristics. 
 
btw, do you have your 7X yet FlySweep? And your AS-2? How are you liking them? 

 
The unbalanced sound is definitely strange. My first few hours with them, I noticed a ringing in my left ear once I took them off. 
 
They started out tilted to the left for me, in fact even gave me a scare as it mangled some parts of the music for a few seconds, but that eventually went away.
 
Subsequent use did not result in the ringing in my left ear after use, so it definitely balanced out with time.

 

[FlySweep]

Interesting. I have definitely experienced the burn-in phenomenon, but never from unbalanced to balanced. Usually it's just different sound characteristics. 
 
btw, do you have your 7X yet FlySweep? And your AS-2? How are you liking them? 

 
Yeah.. the "unbalanced to balanced" thing is odd.. are the IEM cable's pins seated properly?
 
Re: the 7X & AS-2.. I'm hoping to get the 7X back before Monday (like you, I'm taking off for vacation and would love to have them before I leave).  My impressions arrived at Aurisonics lab today, so I'm guessing a month (give or take a few weeks) for the AS-2.  Not in a rush for it, though.. I've got some other gear & phones to play with in the mean time.

 

[anoxy]

Well, I've decided the fit of my left phone is a bit off so I'm gonna get new impressions and send them back for a reshelling. Bummed, but it makes sense because the guy who did my impressions had me put the bite block between my right molars. Seeing as how my left phone is the one that feels a bit too small, that would explain it.

 

[average_joe]

anoxy, sorry to hear about your fit issues, but wow, this thread seems to be littered with people that have had bad ear impressions.  I wouldn't think that having the bite block on one side would affect the other side too much due to the way the jawbone joint works, but you never know.
 
There is a thread somewhere on here about ear impressions, and the most important thing with impressions IMO is the depth of the impression.  I do hear from manufacturers that my impressions look better than half the "professional" ones, so if it doesn't look correct, ask them to redo it.