[musofi]

Very interesting to read this thread.
I was fortunate to have the chance to be part of the Australian tour for the Gaea. It was a bit of a mixed bag.
First of all the appearance is stunning, the colour scheme, I love it. The build quality is also very satisfying.
I used Symbio "W" tips and Final E.
Symbio are my preferred tips.
Coming to the sound. First listening sessions were impressive. What caught me first was the spaciousness, the imaging. Very enjoyable sound. The core of this IEM is definitely the mid range and treble. It sounds beautiful. It hits definitely above its price tag.
But then..., I listened to piano music, Yiruma, the album "SOLO". At a certain frequency, I got hit with a terrible distortion in the right earpiece at about 2 o'clock. I was shocked. I tried different songs, but that distortion was present, more or less. I changed the cable to the Centurion, no luck. Changed the tips, no luck. Then I tried different sources (A&k SP2000T, IFI Gryphon, Lotoo Paw gold Touch Titanium, A&k HC2) no luck. I am not sure if that is a problem with this particular unit.
All in all, despite the distortion issue, I think it is a very enjoyable and engaging IEM. As some mentioned already it is very sensitive to source and tips.

 

[GiullianSN]

Very interesting to read this thread.
I was fortunate to have the chance to be part of the Australian tour for the Gaea. It was a bit of a mixed bag.
First of all the appearance is stunning, the colour scheme, I love it. The build quality is also very satisfying.
I used Symbio "W" tips and Final E.
Symbio are my preferred tips.
Coming to the sound. First listening sessions were impressive. What caught me first was the spaciousness, the imaging. Very enjoyable sound. The core of this IEM is definitely the mid range and treble. It sounds beautiful. It hits definitely above its price tag.
But then..., I listened to piano music, Yiruma, the album "SOLO". At a certain frequency, I got hit with a terrible distortion in the right earpiece at about 2 o'clock. I was shocked. I tried different songs, but that distortion was present, more or less. I changed the cable to the Centurion, no luck. Changed the tips, no luck. Then I tried different sources (A&k SP2000T, IFI Gryphon, Lotoo Paw gold Touch Titanium, A&k HC2) no luck. I am not sure if that is a problem with this particular unit.
All in all, despite the distortion issue, I think it is a very enjoyable and engaging IEM. As some mentioned already it is very sensitive to source and tips.

Hey mate,

I can test that for you. In which song / point you notice the distortion more?

 

[musofi]

That would be great. It is "river flows in you".
It is the album "SOLO".
Other songs I heard the distortion as well, but not as bad.
Thank you, much appreciated.
Rainer

 

[Gromu]

That would be great. It is "river flows in you".
It is the album "SOLO".
Other songs I heard the distortion as well, but not as bad.
Thank you, much appreciated.
Rainer

I decided to test it as well. I listened to the entire song and didn't hear any distortion. I'm using the stock cable into a JDS Element III and listening off of Qobuz.

 

[Zmey69]

But then..., I listened to piano music, Yiruma, the album "SOLO". At a certain frequency, I got hit with a terrible distortion in the right earpiece at about 2 o'clock. I was shocked. I tried different songs, but that distortion was present, more or less. I changed the cable to the Centurion, no luck. Changed the tips, no luck. Then I tried different sources (A&k SP2000T, IFI Gryphon, Lotoo Paw gold Touch Titanium, A&k HC2) no luck. I am not sure if that is a problem with this particular unit.
All in all, despite the distortion issue, I think it is a very enjoyable and engaging IEM. As some mentioned already it is very sensitive to source and tips.

Bro, I also tested on my Gaea with its cable from Effect Audio. I listened on the Shanling H7 DAC, via Qobuz. River Flows In You Yiruma - SOLO. Rather, you have something with the right earpiece. Because Yiruma just plays the piano with his right hand and what he plays sounds exactly in the right earpiece. But there are no problems in the sound, I turned it on loudly х3 time. The sound is very clear and precise. There are no distortions. Very detailed piano transmission, every keystroke. I graduated from the piano music school. It sounds like live. Great.

 

[musofi]

Hi all
Thank you so much for testing and clarification that it has to do something with the unit itself. I love Yiruma he is great.
Thank you again folks, happy listening

 

[Zmey69]

I decided to take the issue of choosing ear tips as seriously as possible. Since Gaea will settle for a long time in my main IEM. Therefore, I want to experiment and select the most suitable tips by sound for me. I found a table on tips from a wonderful man (many thanks to him for this). His assessment is very close to mine. Therefore, you can start from his statistics on tips. Yes, I put a little more emphasis on the bass, so that the high ones are not lowered too much. And the other parameters were also not strangled. Especially not to lose the stage and vocals.

What I ordered is highlighted in green. It's on its way to me. The yellow color highlights what you need to listen to, suitable to the peculiarities of the Gaea sound. The blue color is what I already have. The red color is what, in my opinion, did not fit 100% in sound. They make Gaea overly bright. And low frequencies don't have the right weight. Orange highlights what doesn't fit very well, where I would like to do it differently.


Final Audio Type E BLACK - They fit well at the moment. I listen with them. But I would like a little more openness, a little less clamped upper frequencies, a better sound stage and vocals. Perhaps transparent Type-E will be ideal, I want to order them.

Radius Deep Mount - so far, according to the assessment, I have left it for comparison. Since Gaea sounds great with them, but they are really a little too bright (but not as bright as on W1). If we could turn down their high frequencies a little bit and keep everything else, then these would be the best ear pads. And so it will be necessary to compare the others. I also have concerns that Radius, because of their specific shape, which should provide better noise insulation, very poorly outputs excessive sound pressure in the ear. Because of this, there may be problems with the ears, inflammation of the ear canal. You need to be very careful with this. Especially when listening for a long time...

As soon as I get what I ordered, I'll make a bigger comparison and write what I liked.

Download the table and take a look. There is a link to a website where there is a detailed assessment for each tips.

 

[musofi]

I decided to take the issue of choosing ear tips as seriously as possible. Since Gaea will settle for a long time in my main IEM. Therefore, I want to experiment and select the most suitable tips by sound for me. I found a table on tips from a wonderful man (many thanks to him for this). His assessment is very close to mine. Therefore, you can start from his statistics on tips. Yes, I put a little more emphasis on the bass, so that the high ones are not lowered too much. And the other parameters were also not strangled. Especially not to lose the stage and vocals.

What I ordered is highlighted in green. It's on its way to me. The yellow color highlights what you need to listen to, suitable to the peculiarities of the Gaea sound. The blue color is what I already have. The red color is what, in my opinion, did not fit 100% in sound. They make Gaea overly bright. And low frequencies don't have the right weight. Orange highlights what doesn't fit very well, where I would like to do it differently.


Final Audio Type E BLACK - They fit well at the moment. I listen with them. But I would like a little more openness, a little less clamped upper frequencies, a better sound stage and vocals. Perhaps transparent Type-E will be ideal, I want to order them.

Radius Deep Mount - so far, according to the assessment, I have left it for comparison. Since Gaea sounds great with them, but they are really a little too bright (but not as bright as on W1). If we could turn down their high frequencies a little bit and keep everything else, then these would be the best ear pads. And so it will be necessary to compare the others. I also have concerns that Radius, because of their specific shape, which should provide better noise insulation, very poorly outputs excessive sound pressure in the ear. Because of this, there may be problems with the ears, inflammation of the ear canal. You need to be very careful with this. Especially when listening for a long time...

As soon as I get what I ordered, I'll make a bigger comparison and write what I liked.

Download the table and take a look. There is a link to a website where there is a detailed assessment for each tips.

You haven't included SYMBIO eartips. That is my preferred tips. They fit nicely and are very comfortable. Give it a go.
Lots of the tips I never heard of.
I have a Spearlabs IEM (Triton Zero) so I tried their tips. Unfortunately I can't handle foam tips, even this is a hybrid, I couldn't bare it.
Definitely did a great job putting this list together.

 

[Exekuhtor]

What a fantastic IEM. I did manage to snag an Annihilator (i'm so hyped), and letting the Gaea go if someone is interested. Lets just hope i don't dislike the midbass of the Anni too much.

 

[GiullianSN]

My preferred tips are CP155, feels like Custom Gaea.

This weekend babies… will write impressions here later

 

[Ojisan]

Weekend with US tour GAEA here as well while others are at the big party

I read this thread for the first time now and I understand the mixed impressions. I threw music from various genre/age and I see what people are saying. More on this later when I finish my notes

 

[Zmey69]

The most important thing is not to forget that Gaea sounds very different with different tips and sources.
And it's very good that you can adjust the sound a little according to your preferences. Not all headphones will be able to do this.

 

[Gnofnaik]

I decided to take the issue of choosing ear tips as seriously as possible. Since Gaea will settle for a long time in my main IEM. Therefore, I want to experiment and select the most suitable tips by sound for me. I found a table on tips from a wonderful man (many thanks to him for this). His assessment is very close to mine. Therefore, you can start from his statistics on tips. Yes, I put a little more emphasis on the bass, so that the high ones are not lowered too much. And the other parameters were also not strangled. Especially not to lose the stage and vocals.

What I ordered is highlighted in green. It's on its way to me. The yellow color highlights what you need to listen to, suitable to the peculiarities of the Gaea sound. The blue color is what I already have. The red color is what, in my opinion, did not fit 100% in sound. They make Gaea overly bright. And low frequencies don't have the right weight. Orange highlights what doesn't fit very well, where I would like to do it differently.


Final Audio Type E BLACK - They fit well at the moment. I listen with them. But I would like a little more openness, a little less clamped upper frequencies, a better sound stage and vocals. Perhaps transparent Type-E will be ideal, I want to order them.

Radius Deep Mount - so far, according to the assessment, I have left it for comparison. Since Gaea sounds great with them, but they are really a little too bright (but not as bright as on W1). If we could turn down their high frequencies a little bit and keep everything else, then these would be the best ear pads. And so it will be necessary to compare the others. I also have concerns that Radius, because of their specific shape, which should provide better noise insulation, very poorly outputs excessive sound pressure in the ear. Because of this, there may be problems with the ears, inflammation of the ear canal. You need to be very careful with this. Especially when listening for a long time...

As soon as I get what I ordered, I'll make a bigger comparison and write what I liked.

Download the table and take a look. There is a link to a website where there is a detailed assessment for each tips.

Thanks for sharing. I've been listening in the Final Type E for few weeks, it sounds great. But when I tried to listen to the River Flows In You Yiruma - SOLO as the above suggest, I heard a slight residle of "thump" echo after each key notes. Then I changed to JVC Spiral Dot++ then it is gone.

 

[Gnofnaik]

Thanks for sharing. I've been listening in the Final Type E for few weeks, it sounds great. But when I tried to listen to the River Flows In You Yiruma - SOLO as the above suggest, I heard a slight residle of "thump" echo after each key notes. Then I changed to JVC Spiral Dot++ then it is gone.

Apparently it has to do with my source. The thumps dissapear after changed to a desktop setup. This IEM is really a different kind of beast to tame

 

[musofi]

Apparently it has to do with my source. The thumps dissapear after changed to a desktop setup. This IEM is really a different kind of beast to tame

Very interesting, I get another shot at the Australian Tour. Waiting impatiently what comes out.