my aud5x has about 100 hours burn in on them now. thought id share my impressions now.
coming from Beyer T1, FX700, FXT90
amps: o2 and unamped via DAPs
daps: J3 and Clip Zip (stock)
cable: stock
short and sweet.
Build Quality: if you've ever had a fisher reshell, you know they do good work. this is my 2nd and the fit is good, finish is good.
they sounded horribly thick out of the box. not dark, just thick. the treble was there, its just the low end was thick sounding.. i dont know how else to put it really. i really didnt like it at all but burned it in more. i think around 30-50 hours, it did open up and sounded much better, but still had a hint of thickness as Joe mentioned. I guess at this point it could be termed as full sounding.
separation and space is really really good for an iem. the soundstage seems pretty 3d and envelopes you in the music. i think this is one of the aspects the aud5x excel at and offers the biggest difference to my other iems. the 3d'ness of the sound. the separation of the fx700 was good too but it just feel more crisp on the aud5d. the transparency is great.
the low end as i said is on the thick side, but has good quantity, quality and impact. nothing over the top at all but offers a clean sound. im actually surprised and find them on the bass neutral side for having 3 drivers down there. i have a great fit too. no sound leakage.
now something that bothers me and could just be me. i really feel the timbre is off. it seems on the bright side. these are no means bright but it just seems the tone of voices, etc are slightly off. its kind of hard to explain since im not a musician or singer or CIEM reviewer. i wonder if that makes sense. i could be totally wrong but thats just my impression. the timbre on the fx700 sounds natural to me. voices seem more properly toned.
Overall, these are very interesting. clarity is very good, bass is better quality than quantity for me, mids are forward which is fine, but brighter than they should be. i think they will appeal to a lot of people out there since, in my experience, many headphones are slightly bright. Mitch is a great guy and answers all my questions etc. most of Joe's review is spot on except my personal preference with the tone. is it the end game CIEM under 600$? i have no idea since i havent tried the 1964Q or any of the other lower to mid end CIEM offerings. but having had a wide range of IEMs including the JH16, i think these are very very good for the price.