[subguy812]

Has anybody combined the ODIN with a SP2000 ? Is it on the perfect „warmer“ side or very bright ?

Neutral to smoother, I guess you could say warmer.

 

[subguy812]

OK, after all the pain of the last 4 days-- staring blankly at the beautiful Odin and asking "Why? Why Odin have you forsaken me?" The McIntosh tube pre has turned things around in this love/hate relationship. I've been listening and jumping tracks for 3 hours. Need to go to bed -- but damn if I can only hear 1 more track first... and another...

I can't recommend adding a tube to the signal path enough. All the harshness is stripped. The bass and sub bass drivers are absolutely kicking-- that harsh, bright treble has given way to clear gorgeous rounded upper frequencies that tuck into the presentation. This is listening room stuff. If you're struggling with the Odin-- keep trying different pairings and sources. You'll be rewarded when you find the right combo. The sound is in these IEMs, you just have to work to unlock it.

I envy anyone who got there right out of the box-- because this has been a battle for me.

The Odin is not forgiving-- it's either annoying and bright-- or dead-on stunning. OK. 1 more then seriously-- bed time. I think.

And all the while time passes and the drivers season more....hmmm just coincidence?

 

[Skullar]

Does it still compete well despite its age, and does it synergize with EE offerings like hero, Orin, LX?

I owned Wm1a and one thing sure for me, It sounded rubish on warm iems. Dont know if that is low power output or just that warm signatute of it but it sounded very congested and unengaging. Bass?seems off, too much forward and the lack of space between notes just wasnt there at all and led me to sell sony and never look back.

I can see it working well with Solaris, or Odin if its sensitive and easy to drive and brighter.

But when it comes to LX it just loves power. My dx220 with amp8 is on high gain and improvements are well audible even compared to medium gain. And i always thought amp8 high gain is only needed for hungrier cans.

Just my 2 cents of course. As it seems lots of people have no such issues. But thought id drop my different feel to it too.

 

[subguy812]

I owned Wm1a and one thing sure for me, It sounded rubish on warm iems. Dont know if that is low power output or just that warm signatute of it but it sounded very congested and unengaging. Bass?seems off, too much forward and the lack of space between notes just wasnt there at all and led me to sell sony and never look back.

I can see it working well with Solaris, or Odin if its sensitive and easy to drive and brighter.

But when it comes to LX it just loves power. My dx220 with amp8 is on high gain and improvements are well audible even compared to medium gain. And i always thought amp8 high gain is only needed for hungrier cans.

Just my 2 cents of course. As it seems lots of people have no such issues. But thought id drop my different feel to it too.

I would try to feed the ODIN power as opposed to volume. Most of the DAPs I listen to ODIN with I am around 48-52 on the volume. LX does love power and ODIN does too.

 

[gLer]

And all the while time passes and the drivers season more....hmmm just coincidence?

I still find a kilobuck product that needs 200 hours to "season" unfinished. Given all the R&D and development time you'd think the IEMs could be plugged in and activated for 200 hours as part of the manufacture process before packaging? This could easily be done in parallel for dozens of IEMs at a time - not like it's going to hold up a product release by much. It will also eliminate any confusion or debate about whether or not the IEM has been 'burned in'. This goes for all IEM makers, not only EE.

I have personally heard the benefits of burn-in myself. What I don't like is having to do the burn-in in my own time, on a new product I just bought for thousands of dollars, and be told off if I have any issues with the sound until I do so. We shouldn't tolerate it, especially when vendors can so easily take the extra step needed to do it.

 

[gLer]

I would try to feed the ODIN power as opposed to volume. Most of the DAPs I listen to ODIN with I am around 48-52 on the volume. LX does love power and ODIN does too.

Needing power is one thing. As long as an IEM reaches its full potential with mobile sources that's fine, even if they need more powerful DAPs to do so. But if an IEM needs a desktop amp to reach full potential, that's just poor design in my book. The converse of that is an IEM needing too little power, and hissing like a snake with just about any source that has a touch too much power (looking at you Campfire Audio). Similarly poor design.

 

[mvvRAZ]

I find it weird how nobody in the entire history of audio liked an IEM better before it was burned in (considering some users are describing very significant changes as a result of burn in). Considering the amount of different preferences there would have to be at least one person who loved it out of the box, and then spent a bunch of time with it only to grow disappointed with what changed after 2-300 hours?

I’ve spent a considerable amount of time reading reviews, impressions and whatnot and I still haven’t seen a single case of that happening. I’d be genuinely curious to hear from someone who had that experience though

 

[subguy812]

Given all the R&D and development time you'd think the IEMs could be plugged in and activated for 200 hours as part of the manufacture process before packaging?

This....100%

 

[subguy812]

Needing power is one thing. As long as an IEM reaches its full potential with mobile sources that's fine, even if they need more powerful DAPs to do so. But if an IEM needs a desktop amp to reach full potential, that's just poor design in my book. The converse of that is an IEM needing too little power, and hissing like a snake with just about any source that has a touch too much power (looking at you Campfire Audio). Similarly poor design.

uh huh...seeing I only mentioned portable DAPs, I assume you were agreeing? As far as Campfire and their poor design, I am sure many would disagree. Loving power and needing it are two different things, by the way. I have heard many things that didn't need power, but excelled when fed. EM10 comes to mind.

 

[mwhals]

I still find a kilobuck product that needs 200 hours to "season" unfinished. Given all the R&D and development time you'd think the IEMs could be plugged in and activated for 200 hours as part of the manufacture process before packaging? This could easily be done in parallel for dozens of IEMs at a time - not like it's going to hold up a product release by much. It will also eliminate any confusion or debate about whether or not the IEM has been 'burned in'. This goes for all IEM makers, not only EE.

I have personally heard the benefits of burn-in myself. What I don't like is having to do the burn-in in my own time, on a new product I just bought for thousands of dollars, and be told off if I have any issues with the sound until I do so. We shouldn't tolerate it, especially when vendors can so easily take the extra step needed to do it.

So if you buy a brand new car for much more money than Odin, you think it should already have several thousand miles on it so it is already broken in for you? If you say that is why you buy used, then you need to apply that logic to IEMs too.

 

[RobSF]

I find it weird how nobody in the entire history of audio liked an IEM better before it was burned in (considering some users are describing very significant changes as a result of burn in). Considering the amount of different preferences there would have to be at least one person who loved it out of the box, and then spent a bunch of time with it only to grow disappointed with what changed after 2-300 hours?

I’ve spent a considerable amount of time reading reviews, impressions and whatnot and I still haven’t seen a single case of that happening. I’d be genuinely curious to hear from someone who had that experience though

I found the SOLARIS to be perfectly fine with the N8 and R6 Pro...)

 

[gLer]

So if you buy a brand new car for much more money than Odin, you think it should already have several thousand miles on it so it is already broken in for you? If you say that is why you buy used, then you need to apply that logic to IEMs too.

I'm not really a car guy, so don't know if your analogy is apt. What I'm saying is specific to IEMs (and headphones). If burning it in for 200 hours pre-shipping is analogous to putting several thousand miles on a car, them something is very wrong here. I'd also like to hear from anyone that likes an IEM less after burn-in. After all, if it's universally only positive, and the IEM sounds better after a burn-in period, shouldn't we be getting it from the manufacturer when it's 'ready', not when it's still cooking?

 

[Deezel177]

I still find a kilobuck product that needs 200 hours to "season" unfinished. Given all the R&D and development time you'd think the IEMs could be plugged in and activated for 200 hours as part of the manufacture process before packaging? This could easily be done in parallel for dozens of IEMs at a time - not like it's going to hold up a product release by much. It will also eliminate any confusion or debate about whether or not the IEM has been 'burned in'. This goes for all IEM makers, not only EE.

I have personally heard the benefits of burn-in myself. What I don't like is having to do the burn-in in my own time, on a new product I just bought for thousands of dollars, and be told off if I have any issues with the sound until I do so. We shouldn't tolerate it, especially when vendors can so easily take the extra step needed to do it.

I think the reason why manufacturers haven't taken that extra step is because it doesn't have big enough demand yet. More often than not, burn-in is a recommendation manufacturers give with a tone of, "It's not gonna hurt." The ones who tend to see burn-in as a requirement is usually the end-user/consumer. Logistically, I can see why the manufacturer wouldn't want to shell out the time and money for another step in the production process that not enough people say is "mandatory" and that'll naturally happen over time anyway. The only company I know who's publicly stated that they burn-in their products (IIRC for 50 hours) prior to shipping is Audeze. Their EL-8 headphones came with a signed card that said so.

My personal experience with burn-in is that it's mental most of the time, and the instances where I've noticed genuine differences after use haven't been too drastic. Then again, the funny thing about audio is that all it takes is a dB or so here-and-there to either make everything click or break the whole FR apart.

I find it weird how nobody in the entire history of audio liked an IEM better before it was burned in (considering some users are describing very significant changes as a result of burn in). Considering the amount of different preferences there would have to be at least one person who loved it out of the box, and then spent a bunch of time with it only to grow disappointed with what changed after 2-300 hours?

I’ve spent a considerable amount of time reading reviews, impressions and whatnot and I still haven’t seen a single case of that happening. I’d be genuinely curious to hear from someone who had that experience though

This happened to me pretty recently with DITA's Dream XLS. I preferred the bigger, looser, more soulful midrange of the IEM prior to run-in, which - to my ears - tightened and became more precise afterwards; less of a glow or decay. I mentioned it on my XLS review, but I didn't make it a point to mention that I didn't necessarily prefer the change, because that's more of a subjective thing.

 

[mvvRAZ]

I think the reason why manufacturers haven't taken that extra step is because it doesn't have big enough demand yet. More often than not, burn-in is a recommendation manufacturers give with a tone of, "It's not gonna hurt." The ones who tend to see burn-in as a requirement is usually the end-user/consumer. Logistically, I can see why the manufacturer wouldn't want to shell out the time and money for another step in the production process that not enough people say is "mandatory" and that'll naturally happen over time anyway. The only company I know who's publicly stated that they burn-in their products (IIRC for 50 hours) prior to shipping is Audeze. Their EL-8 headphones came with a signed card that said so.

My personal experience with burn-in is that it's mental most of the time, and the instances where I've noticed genuine differences after use haven't been too drastic. Then again, the funny thing about audio is that all it takes is a dB or so here-and-there to either make everything click or break the whole FR apart.



This happened to me pretty recently with DITA's Dream XLS. I preferred the bigger, looser, more soulful midrange of the IEM prior to run-in, which - to my ears - tightened and became more precise afterwards; less of a glow or decay. I mentioned it on my XLS review, but I didn't make it a point to mention that I didn't necessarily prefer the change, because that's more of a subjective thing.

+1. While there might be some stuff that's happening on the level of the drivers (and more often than not I've heard about DDs changing with burn in, not BAs), I'd say that considering just how much your brain can get accustomed to different things and signatures, any changes on the level of the tech would end up being negligible in comparison

 

[mvvRAZ]

I'm not really a car guy, so don't know if your analogy is apt. What I'm saying is specific to IEMs (and headphones). If burning it in for 200 hours pre-shipping is analogous to putting several thousand miles on a car, them something is very wrong here. I'd also like to hear from anyone that likes an IEM less after burn-in. After all, if it's universally only positive, and the IEM sounds better after a burn-in period, shouldn't we be getting it from the manufacturer when it's 'ready', not when it's still cooking?

A standard car has around 30,000 different parts. It's significantly more complex than an IEM with 5-10 drivers, a crossover and some internal wiring lul

The reason why they recommend engine "burn in" is because you have a ton of mechanical parts working together that might not be absolutely perfectly sized and fitted, and would end up causing significant issues if you overdo it. Considering modern engineering standards though and the kind of precision that machinery is capable of accomplishing, it isn't the end of the world if you don't perfectly follow the break in limits - on my car it was something like, keep it below 5000RPM for the first 2000km but even at the dealership they were pretty much like, it's not the end of the world if you do.