Some thoughts about my Anni23 I purchased 3 weeks ago from MT. Thanks Andrew again for getting your hand on a unit so short.
As everyone I was looking for some new toys. Originally I bought an VE Aura, which unfortunately wasn’t my cup of tea. I wished it has been more an EXT than a Phönix. But never trust your ears at a fair, always take a second chance to listen to the stuff before buying. But my next sentence counteracts this statement in a sec. … I bought the Anni23 completely blind.
This was the first IEM I bought new without any listening sessions. Crazy in way, if you keep in mind, how much it costs. It was a big risk and my decision only based on some reviews or statements from some established headfiers. And I was so lucky I could trust their experiences.
I need a while to find the best sound signature, that fits my taste. The music I listened to most is electronic stuff, so that you have a clue, why I think the Anni23 was the right choice for me. I can’t say that I ever thought I would become a treblehead. I am definitely sensitive for some upper mids frequencies, sibilants and peaks around 8-10khz. There are a lot of IEMs that I liked for their w-shaped tuning, but if it comes to treble, most of them show weaknesses.
I owned a Ragnar for a couple of month and was absolutely impressed by its technical performance. But after a while, I missed some bass with it. Don’t get me wrong the articulation of the subbass is superb, but Ragnar is often perceived as a bright IEM, because it’s lacking some bass quantity. But not the Anni23, it has a perfect balance between high and low frequencies.
Yes, the frequency response of the base looks like an EVO, but there has to be this kind of contrast to keep the highs in balance. EVO can’t do this (at least without eq). Okay, and I think this has to be mentioned, the biggest complaint is unfortunately the quality of the bass. It has lot of weight, particularly the subbass, but it can sound sometimes a bit mushy, not as precisely articulated and structured like for example the frontier series from FirAudio. But overall it’s still a very good bass, with some bloating from time to time. It’s very important to find the right tips to compensate this effect.
Otherwise I can give my biggest recommendation for the Anni23. Mids are absolutely gorgeous and treble is constantly impressive to me. The Anni23 can absolutely be a „one and done“, because it handles slow and fast music in the same way - with outstanding technical and musical qualities.
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Yes, the treble can be present at first listening, but let it go. It’s like an expedition with differences in tones you never heard before. So in that way it can be a bit fatiguing with the lot of new information, but there is always the wagging toe / foot / leg, that wants to make you dive deep into music without thinking about FR-curves, driver configurations or the price performance.
If you ever have the chance to listen to it, grab it. I don’t regret my decision in any way. Yes, I‘d like to hear the Grand Maestro for it‘s bass and maybe there is a bit more of salt in Traillii or Mentor Mids. But it’s a always a question of preferences and there is no *Eierlegende Wollmilchsau on this planet.
*German expression, that can’t be translated, only visualized
