I made a pretty epic post over on the Empire Ears thread, following up about my CanJam London 2019 experiences with them and with Effect Audio too.
Here's a link to that post, chiefly talking about their Legend X and Nemesis IEM's for those who might be interested: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/emp...merly-earwerkz.786335/page-1262#post-15106993
I made other posts today there regarding other Empire IEMs too, such as the new Valkyrie and Wraith.
But for Effect Audio fans, and the more skeptical or simply curious readers, I'm going to post here an edited version of the segment that dealt with the Effect Audio cables I tried and what I heard when trying them with IEMs (and goes into more detail than my previous post on this thread about them):
I already have the Stealthsonics U9 IEM, which offers TOTL sound and which is impressing me more and more as I continue to listen to it.
It's a hybrid IEM with 1 DD for low end, BA's for the rest; 2 mids, 2 highs, 4 super highs (!!).
My review of it is here for anyone interested: https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/stealth-sonics-u9.23772/reviews#review-22211
It's got outstanding soundstage and separation, treble that reminds me of Zeus in detail and extension. The low end is tuned slightly north of neutral with a reasonable amount of impact and sub-bass, but fairly light on the mid-bass, with a slight weakness (relative to the rest of the excellent sound) in male vocals due to the tuning of the mids and low end.
I mention this to make the point about where I'm coming from in terms of existing sound signature.
So, for acoustic, jazz, classical, opera, soul, Motown etc I find it a constant joy to listen to.
However, sometimes I'm in the mood for rock, pop, hip-hop, or generally just want to physically *feel* the basslines in the songs ('Midnight Train to Georgia' is a Motown classic which benefits greatly from this).
So I wanted an IEM that would give the most visceral, physical, tactile slam and rumble to the drums and bass on my favoured tracks that merit such treatment, but which would also tick all my other 'audiophile' boxes too.
Finally after trying most of the Empire Ears line-up and settling on Nemesis (with Legend X a very close second), I spoke with Suyang, illustrious bossman of Effect Audio at the stand next door.
I outlined my very specific mission and asked him which alternative cable he would recommend to get an even more ideal result (maximising low end slam and impact). Again, based on prior Head-Fi reading and reviews, I imagined he would suggest the Ares II 8 wire or Thor II (in some variant or other).
However, he proposed the Ares II+, 4 wires with a thicker gauge.
I tried it (as well as the other cables mentioned, which brought their own excellent tweaks to the sound signatures) with the Nemesis and the slam and impact which had been 9.5 out of 10 was now a solid 10. Or even, the dials were turned up to 11
The difference was significant enough to be immediately noticeable, and it was love at first listen.
The same with the LX, but still not quite enough to elevate it for me to the levels of low end power of the Nemesis. With the LX, and bearing in mind the more general purposes for which I'd be buying it in future, I'd probably go for Ares II or Thor II in the 8 wire variants.
It also occurs to me that I haven't tried an Ares II+ 8 wire!
I'm annoyed I didn't think of that and have decided I must check that out with the Nemesis in future!
Any descriptions on what changes I might expect compared with Ares II+ 4 wire? Aside from an increase in soundstage I assume; anything else?
PS: thanks to the extensive listening time I had at CanJam and the outstanding service I had from EE and Effect Audio (Suyang at the stand, and @Hana Yu prior to Canjam), I ordered a custom Empire Ears nemesis with a 2.5mm Ares II+ cable. Many thanks to you all, and I'm so excited to hear them when they arrive!
Here's a link to that post, chiefly talking about their Legend X and Nemesis IEM's for those who might be interested: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/emp...merly-earwerkz.786335/page-1262#post-15106993
I made other posts today there regarding other Empire IEMs too, such as the new Valkyrie and Wraith.
But for Effect Audio fans, and the more skeptical or simply curious readers, I'm going to post here an edited version of the segment that dealt with the Effect Audio cables I tried and what I heard when trying them with IEMs (and goes into more detail than my previous post on this thread about them):
I already have the Stealthsonics U9 IEM, which offers TOTL sound and which is impressing me more and more as I continue to listen to it.
It's a hybrid IEM with 1 DD for low end, BA's for the rest; 2 mids, 2 highs, 4 super highs (!!).
My review of it is here for anyone interested: https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/stealth-sonics-u9.23772/reviews#review-22211
It's got outstanding soundstage and separation, treble that reminds me of Zeus in detail and extension. The low end is tuned slightly north of neutral with a reasonable amount of impact and sub-bass, but fairly light on the mid-bass, with a slight weakness (relative to the rest of the excellent sound) in male vocals due to the tuning of the mids and low end.
I mention this to make the point about where I'm coming from in terms of existing sound signature.
So, for acoustic, jazz, classical, opera, soul, Motown etc I find it a constant joy to listen to.
However, sometimes I'm in the mood for rock, pop, hip-hop, or generally just want to physically *feel* the basslines in the songs ('Midnight Train to Georgia' is a Motown classic which benefits greatly from this).
So I wanted an IEM that would give the most visceral, physical, tactile slam and rumble to the drums and bass on my favoured tracks that merit such treatment, but which would also tick all my other 'audiophile' boxes too.
Finally after trying most of the Empire Ears line-up and settling on Nemesis (with Legend X a very close second), I spoke with Suyang, illustrious bossman of Effect Audio at the stand next door.
I outlined my very specific mission and asked him which alternative cable he would recommend to get an even more ideal result (maximising low end slam and impact). Again, based on prior Head-Fi reading and reviews, I imagined he would suggest the Ares II 8 wire or Thor II (in some variant or other).
However, he proposed the Ares II+, 4 wires with a thicker gauge.
I tried it (as well as the other cables mentioned, which brought their own excellent tweaks to the sound signatures) with the Nemesis and the slam and impact which had been 9.5 out of 10 was now a solid 10. Or even, the dials were turned up to 11
The difference was significant enough to be immediately noticeable, and it was love at first listen.
The same with the LX, but still not quite enough to elevate it for me to the levels of low end power of the Nemesis. With the LX, and bearing in mind the more general purposes for which I'd be buying it in future, I'd probably go for Ares II or Thor II in the 8 wire variants.
It also occurs to me that I haven't tried an Ares II+ 8 wire!
I'm annoyed I didn't think of that and have decided I must check that out with the Nemesis in future!
Any descriptions on what changes I might expect compared with Ares II+ 4 wire? Aside from an increase in soundstage I assume; anything else?
PS: thanks to the extensive listening time I had at CanJam and the outstanding service I had from EE and Effect Audio (Suyang at the stand, and @Hana Yu prior to Canjam), I ordered a custom Empire Ears nemesis with a 2.5mm Ares II+ cable. Many thanks to you all, and I'm so excited to hear them when they arrive!
)
((( otherwise it would go on the M5 no brainer
