look what just landed!
Could not wait and while finishing up work had to slip them on my current daily driver IEM's and took a listen.
And now 2 hours in (and work still not finished) on the Plussound Allegro's which to date have been the most sensitive to tip changes I've experienced with any IEM I've owned, its been all positive.
Until the Baroques arrived my tip of choice has been the Azla Crystal's on the Allegro's as usually silicon material based tips, I find they do a great job of enhancing bass, at the expense of clarity in the highs (IE Azla Max) and sometimes muddy mids.
So far the Baroque's have met and exceeded expections. but intend to sit down after CanJam Socal this weekend and do some real critical listening along with other IEM's in my inventory
but so far....Great solid clear bass and sub bass with nice speed/decay, nice warm and smooth mids, and did not change the highs vs the Azla Crystal
And VERY comfortable, immediately noticeable as soon as they went into my ears.
Thank You Eric and team, as it seems you've given the hobby a winner with the Baroque tips!
As promised following up with my early thoughts of the Baroque Tips from last week.
Between all of the IEM's I was putting in my ears at CanJam So Cal, and a nice quiet extended time over the past 3 days with the Baroque tips and my personal IEMs, I can tell you the Baroque's are the real deal.
As I mentioned above, generally most silicon material tips are comfortable, and enhance the bass (sometimes not in a good way) at the expense of putting a veil back on the highs.
Foam tips for me have been hit or miss from both a comfort and Sound Quality standpoint. sometimes good, many times bad
I do try new tips as they come out. Even went as far as contacting a friend still living in Japan to go to E-Earphone and send tips like the Pentacon Corrier (did not like them - both fit and sound) to see if a tip change can breath life into an older IEM, and extend the life a little.
Having said this, the Azla Crystal's or Xlastics have been my go to up to getting the Baroque's, as they do a good job of not killing artifacts in the highs I look for, and cleaning up the bass, but with some IEM's the Xlastics did odd things, so lately its been the Crystal's as my go to tips.
The Baroque tips have surprised me.
The bass has extended down a little and getting a nice sub bas rumble (kind of expected this from Silicon Based tips) but the surprise was the mid high to the highs.
the Baroque tips actually IMO (and what I am hearing) have cleaned up the highs and perhaps extended them out a bit. On one of my test tracks (a VERY old Classic Rock track, Suite Judy Blue Eyes from CSN) at the beginning there is tambourine in the background to the right that is faint with the most tips on good IEMs (it disappears with not so good IEMs or bad tips). the Azla Crystal did the best to let me hear it. With the Baroque tips there is NO question it is there. and louder on the same IEM's than with the Azla Crystal's. My worry was will it take the IEM's towards sibilant? Nope. Using a more current "pop" track ( Levitating by Dua Lipa - I use this track to see IF a monitor will go immediately to sibilant) they did not, but again IMO it cleaned up the highs on this track.
Mids with male vocals were also pleasant surprise. I used Mark Knopfler/Chirs Botti's remake of "Its a wonderful world", and found myself just enjoying the track instead of listening for changes. A testament to the Baroque's influence on the sound
I have a Playlist for testing monitors (IEM's, Over the ears and even free standing floor or desktop monitors) that ranges from Classical to Jazz (classic and modern) Rock (60's 70's and 80's) various 3-4 part harmony vocals (Like CSN mentioned above), R&B and some modern pop. Several times over the past few days I found myself just again enjoying music instead of critically listening to what the Baroque tips were doing.
Walking around CanJam SoCal and trying it with IEM's I specifically when to CanJam for and wanted to hear, (IE: EE Raven, Prototype UM, Noble Ronin and Spartacus, Canpur 622B, and a few more) I carried a selection of tips but found I kept going back to the Baroque tips as they didn't color the sound and let me hear the IEM's signature and allowed me to also do some cable rolliing with those IEM's without adding their own influence.
Are they without any faults? NO.
Got to spend some time with Eric this past weekend at CanJame, and he mentioned he thought that the isolation was not quite what he wanted
Yes when music is NOT playing, they do not isolate as well as some tips I own. I was worried that would this allow outside sounds to "bleed into" the sound and alter/ruin the experience? As noisy as CanJam floor can be, I can honestly say NO this did NOT happen. Whatever Voodoo Eric put into the structure, when the music starts, they do a great job of funneling sound to your ears, and the outside distracting "noise" goes away.
The real test is in a few weeks I'll be flying, nothing MORE distracting than the noise inside a jet crusing at 35000 feet and the cigar smoking crying baby sitting the row behind you (I joke about the baby, but we have all had that experience of the distracting plane noise or the passenger who wants to distract you).
Something I'm going to keep on eye on as I use these
The other thing that concerned me was how "thin" the material is used on the Baroque's
When you first feel them they feel like they will NOT standup to constant use and might tear. They do feel that thin.
Eric assured me in our conversation that the silicon material is sourced from an industry not known for being "nice" to its devices, and has a high level of resistance to tearing and wear. He assured me I don't have to worry about it, and all of the put on, put in my ear, take out of my ears, change to another IEM I did at CanJam the Baroques do NOT show any adverse wear or effects. Thumbs Up here.
The comfort of the Baroque tips is second to none
The material used (type and thinness) and the shape of the tips themselves, I can say are hands down the most comfortable tips I have used to date. The "Flexion" triangular skirting on the outside Eric calls in his marketing materials "Origami" seems to allow the tips to easily confirm to your ear canal shape, and combined with the shape of the tip, I had NO "hotspots" causing irritation or pain while using the tips for extending time.
If you've made it this far in my write up, your probably wondering WHY is this guy gushing so much on ear tips?
No, I'm not being paid for this write up. I paid the expedited shipping so I could have them in time for CanJam SoCal (and glad I did)
I have paid full retail for the tips I have now, and another order I placed after CanJam with Bloom to get additional tips for the other IEM's I own.
I went to CanJam to look at new IEM's. Change in this hobby is inevitable and what we think is our end game today often gets destroyed with the next release.
I can't afford to keep switching out IEM's and even if sell some I never recoup what I paid. So ANYTHING small like a tip change that can breath new life into what I already own is welcomed and sought out. These tips have done this and now I'm questioning do I need to get new IEM's.
Changing tips is an easy way to get that final tuning of what you own, or to extend the life of your existing investment (have a similar philosophy with cables, but cables these days is in the same price range or more as changing out monitors) so spending a little on tips that can get you that extension of usable life to me is WELL WORTH the investment.
But this is IMO, and as I always like to say YMMV.
Thanks for reading my opinions!
