EarSonics' two flagships: the universal S-EM9, and new custom EM10.

[ezekiel77]

Looks amazing, but that price...

 

[Ivabign]

  Looks amazing, but that price...

Lands smack dab in custom territory - GOOD custom territory.

 

[jmills8]

9? Is 9 more than 5? Is 12 better than 9 ? Will I be happy and how long will happy last ?

 

[ezekiel77]

 
Lands smack dab in custom territory - GOOD custom territory.

 
And endgame headphones! But yeah, will withhold judgment until sound impressions are given.

 

[Mimouille]

Basically they say they have used all the know-how acquired during the EM32 and velvet development, to take things a step further, as faithful to the music as possible. It's a handmade acrylic shell.

The asymmetrical bores allow for optimal phase alignment and better treble extension.

Ergonomics have been optimized to fit 9 drivers in the most compact shape possible.

Their new 360D cable with MMCX connector allows properly locking the connection and avoid reversed polarity.

 

[oldschool]

Was kind of hoping they would start using the T2 connector developed by Linum. That's what i though the 360D cable had. The MMCX is more chunky

 

[flinkenick]

Is their 360D cable just a standard MMCX connector?

 

[davidmolliere]

9? Is 9 more than 5? Is 12 better than 9 ? Will I be happy and how long will happy last ?

 
Good question, the eternal chase
 
I found the 3 driver Velvet to sound way better than the 6 driver S-EM6, but I'd bet on S-EM9 to give the competition a run for its money given what they've done with the Velvets. The price will have to drop, competition is too fierce, even with rave reviews I don't see this working.
 
What I do find interesting is their choice 1 (big) driver for bass (probably the things they did right with the Velvet are going to be put to use), 4 for mids and 4 for highs. Those drivers have been developed in house too. Of course what matters is how they sound

 

[flinkenick]

Only the mid drivers were developed in-house from what I understand. I suspect it costs so much because of development of their own drivers, seeing as nearly all BA iems use Knowles (or Sonion) drivers..

 

[justrest]

Hope build and material quality is good. 

 

[ezekiel77]

Well the Velvet took 2 tries for build quality. If they learned from that then it wouldn't be an issue.

 

[davidmolliere]

  Only the mid drivers were developed in-house from what I understand. I suspect it costs so much because of development of their own drivers, seeing as nearly all BA iems use Knowles (or Sonion) drivers..

 
I stand corrected this is kind of implied (and not specified clearly) on their website that those are custom but it's marketing material
 

Well the Velvet took 2 tries for build quality. If they learned from that then it wouldn't be an issue.

 
At this price point, QA issues would be catastrophic they better not miss that mark...

 

[flinkenick]

Well if you take a look at the pics mimouille posted you'll see it says 'proprietary' under the 4x mids Treble will most likely be the usual Knowles TWFK's or something.

 

[davidmolliere]

  Well if you take a look at the pics mimouille posted you'll see it says 'proprietary' under the 4x mids Treble will most likely be the usual Knowles TWFK's or something.

 
You're right didn't catch that !

 

[zenpunk]

I very much doubt Earsonics is able to develop/produce drivers in-house. "Proprietary"  probably just means they are tweacked TWFK/Sonion drivers made to meet specific specs. But any CIEM manufacturer able to order quantities large enough is able to do that already.
As far as I know, Sony is the only company which had the know-how and enough cash to produce their own BA.