[grokit]

 
Quote:

 
Of course you're right vs. the DDM, these are bass monsters if you wear them sealed. But he's claiming the e-Q7 have only half the bass of a CK10 and a quarter of the FI-BA-SS. And that's simply not the case with mine.

He only demo'd the e-Q7, probably didn't have a good seal.

 

[shane55]

Kind of late getting to this review, but I wanted to post a quick note of appreciation.
Great, thorough writeup. First class review. Thanks for putting the time and effort into it... it makes me want to hear these!
 
BTW... not being able to hear much above 16khz is not a great liability. You're in good company. 

 
shane

 

[james444]

Quote:

i dont have eq7. i have ddm and ck10. i auditioned it once when i had my eterna, a lot of times b4 getting my ck10, and about 3-4 times after. unless it requires burnin, which from what a few people told me so far, results are same. All of the tested units are different unit, since the shop sells them quite fast. all consistently gave me same result, airy bass without substance, and doesnt goes as low as ck10, much less than ddm. when i tried fibass, it does goes very low. its the kind of bass that u only get from ddm (from iem), or very good open cans with very good low end extensions.
one of the tracks i used to compare bass is from shikata akiko's album, haikyo to rakuen, track 3. MARE (Andante molto espressivo). when the bass came in during the intro, it starts very low and goes from sound to vibration. so far out of all iems i tried, only fibass and ddm delivers the sound up until the vibration, most just produce the sound. ck10 can produce the vibration if eq'd more than 5db, but already distorted at that amount.

 
Quote:

He only demo'd the e-Q7, probably didn't have a good seal.

x2.
 
@DaEMoNteNTAcLe:
I just listened to that MARE track volume matched with all four IEMs. All of them produce the vibration (low bass rumble) and the e-Q7 isn't much different from the FI-BA-SS. I did a low frequency sweep and all 4 phones go pretty much silent below 30Hz. The DDM can go down below 20Hz, so it certainly has the deepest bass. But my e-Q7 is about equal to my FI-BA-SS.
 
Did you audition the e-Q7 with stock tips? I wasn't able to get a good seal with them and thought the Ortofons were bass light, because I didn't notice it at first. Maybe that's what happened to you too.

 

[goodvibes]

Quote:

Kind of late getting to this review, but I wanted to post a quick note of appreciation.
Great, thorough writeup. First class review. Thanks for putting the time and effort into it... it makes me want to hear these!
 
BTW... not being able to hear much above 16khz is not a great liability. You're in good company. 

 
shane

I resemble that remark. 

I was just looking at headroom's graphs and the GR8 vs dynamics and BAs. The MA GR8 has really good Squares and distortion curves.

 

[rawrster]

There's no way the CK10 has better extension in the bass than the e-Q7 unless it was defective or had a bad seal. I suspect the latter. I really like the CK10 and the bass extension but I'll admit the e-Q7 is better.
 
I guess none of these FAD earphones will do it for me. I need the full package which includes good cables and build quality. I think you should get the e-Q5 when it comes out and the GR8 and GR10 (or at least just the GR10) to compare it to James

I'm not sure if I can demo the GR10 or not when it comes out at AC Gears here.

 

[goodvibes]

Anyone in the Chiago area can come and get a listen once I have mine.  

 

[rawrster]

If only I was in the Chicago area then! It would be cheaper to buy a pair or two than go to Chicago

 

[DaEMoNteNTAcLe]

interesting.
i was using stock tips on eq7..
i agree fit might be an issue, since i dont own them i dont really have much time fiddling them on my ears. >_<
i guess i'll have to go back and try them again.
thanks for making the effort, really appreciate it.
Quote:

 

x2.
 
@DaEMoNteNTAcLe:
I just listened to that MARE track volume matched with all four IEMs. All of them produce the vibration (low bass rumble) and the e-Q7 isn't much different from the FI-BA-SS. I did a low frequency sweep and all 4 phones go pretty much silent below 30Hz. The DDM can go down below 20Hz, so it certainly has the deepest bass. But my e-Q7 is about equal to my FI-BA-SS.
 
Did you audition the e-Q7 with stock tips? I wasn't able to get a good seal with them and thought the Ortofons were bass light, because I didn't notice it at first. Maybe that's what happened to you too.

 

[Dekimasu]

Quote:

 

He only demo'd the e-Q7, probably didn't have a good seal.

More than likely. In my case, I got great bass response from the e-Q7 and none from the A1 while demoing, and it took several people here complimenting the bass of the A1 for me to realize that the seal was the problem.
 
The comments on the stiffness of the A1 cord in cold weather have me leaning back towards the e-Q7 again, although I still wish they were smaller. Maybe I should wait and try out the GR10, since the GR8 is so nice and tiny.

 

[james444]

 
Quote:

james444, great review as always! Great to see it featured
 
Can you try the following EQ for the EQ-7 and see how they compare?
 
This is using Rockbox's graphical EQ and I think you got a rockbox'ed Fuze so:
 
80Hz: +0.5dB (0.7 Q)
3200Hz: -2.5dB (3.2Q)
4000Hz: 0.0 dB
10000Hz: -4.0dB (3.2Q)
10950Hz: +7.0dB (0.7Q)
 
Fantastic EQ setting that is. I've tweaked with it ALOT and I've found this setting to be the most detailed across the spectrum and improves the eq-7 quite a bit.

Sorry, it took me some time to try out your EQ settings for the Ortofons. IMO it makes them really appear more detailed and takes a little bit of chest from the vocals. But at the same time it makes vocals sound slightly dry to my ears. I haven't yet decided which one I like better, this or the lusher vocals without EQ. Anyway, thanks for your suggestion!

 

[kiteki]

Very nice review James444.
 
I especially liked the details such as stiff cable in cold weather and the brightness, contrast, saturation etc. in the pictures.
 
Looking at amazon.co.jp, seems like the A1 and SB have decreased to appealing prices now.  $307 for the FI-BA-SB, damn, I want to hear a pure brass housing.

 

[RedBull]

Interesting way of describing sound with picture James

 
Love it.

 

[james444]

Quote:

Kind of late getting to this review, but I wanted to post a quick note of appreciation.
Great, thorough writeup. First class review. Thanks for putting the time and effort into it... it makes me want to hear these!
 
BTW... not being able to hear much above 16khz is not a great liability. You're in good company. 

 
shane

 
Quote:

Very nice review James444.
 
I especially liked the details such as stiff cable in cold weather and the brightness, contrast, saturation etc. in the pictures.
 
Looking at amazon.co.jp, seems like the A1 and SB have decreased to appealing prices now.  $307 for the FI-BA-SB, damn, I want to hear a pure brass housing.

 
Quote:

Interesting way of describing sound with picture James

 
Love it.

Thanks shane, kiteki and RedBull. As for the pics analogy, I thought it would work for the newbies and expected some criticism (for oversimplifying things) from the pros, but so far everyone seems to like it. So thanks again.

 
Btw, I made another observation about the A1 vs. the SB lately. Took them for commuting and realized that the SB had noticably better isolation. Since they have the same vents and I also had similar tips and fit with both, this leaves IMO only the housing as defining factor. So it seems the SB's much heavier brass housing provides better isolation than the A1's lighter aluminium one.

 

[grokit]

Interesting; I wonder what an aluminum e-Q7 would sound like if it was made of brass. Brass is softer, aluminum is lighter, neither rust, hmm...
 

 

[Dekimasu]

Quote:

Interesting; I wonder what an aluminum e-Q7 would sound like if it was made of brass. Brass is softer, aluminum is lighter, neither rust, hmm...
 

The e-Q7 seems to have very good isolation already; but then, it doesn't have the vents.