[Gavin C4]

In the current IEM business environment, there are literally tons of IEM releasing every month. So many IEMs come and go. In order to shine among so many IEMs, going for neutral tone or for natural tone isnt the way to go now IMO. It might be a popular tuning a few years ago with the Zeus and Phantom. But now we need something that truely have an soul in it. To me a huge part of the soul lies in the bass region. Though I owned a pair of custom Legend X and Custom Zeus. After trying out the EVO, I can feel the soul in it and it will be an lendary IEM and maybe a true successor to the Legend X.

 

[toaster]

I still find joy in iems that can impress me with natural tone and timbre, and I do believe there is a place for those that can do it best.

but, I agree with what you say about bass being important; it’s undeniable that a special part of the music lives in the low frequencies we can feel.

and so far, there are few who’ve been able to reproduce that part of the fr better than ee.

 

[jwilliamhurst]

I still find joy in iems that can impress me with natural tone and timbre, and I do believe there is a place for those that can do it best.

but, I agree with what you say about bass being important; it’s undeniable that a special part of the music lives in the low frequencies we can feel.

and so far, there are few who’ve been able to reproduce that part of the fr better than ee.

+1 I completely agree with all of this.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

@metaljem77 Sounds like I would also like the storm breaker combo! I’ll keep my eye on the classifieds! Thank you for your impressions. Very helpful. I’m hoping my buddy @Wildcatsare1 will let me demo his Socrates cable

You already have the 1960s, it's the same as the Stormbreaker.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

To throw another hat in the ring, my current cable pairing of choice for LX is EA Horus

I find it adds a bit of clarity and air to the top end which sounds amazing with the epic bass def one to try out if you’re on the hunt for a new cable

The Horus is fantastic with the LX, though I ended up switching to the OC Studio Frozen, of the Plato, Socrates, Iliad, or my Thor/Leo cables it's the best match with the OG LX. It's almost a U-shaped presentation, tightening up the bass and giving the upper mids and treble a lift.

 

[metaljem77]

You already have the 1960s, it's the same as the Stormbreaker.

I may be wrong but I thought jwilliamhurst has the 1960s 4-wire which I presume is the cable that he got from his Traillii?

 

[gLer]

I have not tried Socrates, although I’ve read that pairing is exceptional. Could you elaborate on what you did not like with the Iliad and LX? I also tried the traillii cable with LX and that was nice also, however recessed the mids even more.
How’s the storm breaker and LX combo?

Wait until you hear the LX with the 1950s. I'll go further and say wait until you hear the LX with a 2-wire "1950s" (Cardas Clear), but you can't...because @saltyfr0g and me have the only two such cables in existence. Take the tightness and punch of the 1950s and sprinkle in some warmth and musicality from the 2-wire 1960s. Can't wait to hear this cable on EVO too.

I still find joy in iems that can impress me with natural tone and timbre, and I do believe there is a place for those that can do it best.

but, I agree with what you say about bass being important; it’s undeniable that a special part of the music lives in the low frequencies we can feel.

and so far, there are few who’ve been able to reproduce that part of the fr better than ee.

So true. For me everything starts and ends with bass. Doesn't matter how good the mids or treble or technicalities, if bass is poor, if bass is meek or if bass is bloated, the IEM goes. Great bass can paper over many cracks too, but nothing can compensate for the absence of great bass. Just my 0.02 that drives all my purchase decisions and review opinions.

 

[riverground]

The punch and slam in the mid bass provides the realism that makes it sound like live music. It is very much like the IER-Z1R in that way.

I haven’t heard the EVO, so I don’t know how valid this comparison is, but that description reminds me of what I heard on EE’s Wraith. It’s got a quirk where its centre image is a bit wider than you might expect. The lead instrument expands with a bit more surface area, if that makes sense. So, it could just as well be an EE thing, rather than an effect coming from the BC driver. But, again, I haven’t heard it yet, so we’ll see.

Staaapphhh these two are like my two best IEMs… if their quirks exist in a single IEM my wallet or the lack of one will be sad

But man, if the treble completes the package, I’m not sure how to handle it

I had to let my Z1R go due to such an amazing trade deal, and the Wraith giving me ear air pressure due to how they fit and how well they seal had to be traded for something with APEX (I think I really do need something that has a vent of some sort).

The EVO having some of those two’s quirks is quite tempting and it does have two triple vents and I’m not sure how well those would work with ear pressure relief but I’ve never had problems with the Odin so we’ll see.

 

[SHOOTINGTECHIE]

Depending on what music you are listening to, vocals or instruments will reverb meaning you get an echoing like sound in the center stage. It's a really cool sound.

It's an excellent feeling , it's when i heard the local band team at a studio once , the reverb is there in slightest amount since it's acoustically treated , but gives a sense of room Now I am excited
Thanks a lot for pointing this out

 

[SHOOTINGTECHIE]

'Love the now-full-blown discussion that's literally stemmed from the use of one or two words; very Head-Fi. In all seriousness, though, I do mean that as a good thing. We're all ultra-nerds about this stuff and all this "fickleness" is simply a sign of passion. It's what makes the hobby and the community, really.

If I were to put my two cents into this, there is a difference between diffusion and reverb in my personal vocabulary. Reverb to me is echoes (or shadows) radiating out of a note, and the note itself is clear, solid and defined. Whereas, diffusion is when the note isn't clear, solid or defined, so it comes off hazy and spread-out, and it ends up blending with its own reverb. Take a light bulb, for example. If you looked at a light bulb with 20/20 vision, you could see that bright, crisp source of light, along with the softer rays emanating from it. Whereas, if you looked at it through smudgy glasses, there's that halo effect that makes the initial source more difficult to make out.

I don't know whether or not the same rules apply to audio reproduction, but in audio recording that typically comes down to phase. So, for example, when you listen to a drum recording, and the snare and overhead mics aren't in phase, it'll noticeably hurt the punch and the imaging precision of those hits. The snare won't punch nearly as hard, and the hits will sound like they're coming from everywhere (or a certain radius, at least), rather than a crisp, focused point in the middle. Again, I don't know whether or not the same rules apply to audio reproduction in IEMs, but it's food for thought.

Loved the explanation man !!! For me the reverb is the same as you feel from the mountains and diffusion is more of the notes slowly ending in the room giving way to the next note ... I resonated with your explanation a lot

 

[Layman1]

Yeah. I am trying to improve my audio vocabulary. It's getting slowly better, but far from perfect. I find it helps to explain things in multiple ways so people can triangulate on what you are trying to say.

I would have to agree! Through following various threads on Head-Fi over the last 12 months, I have absorbed quite a few new terms into my audio vocabulary.
I'd started out with 'holographic soundstage', 'imaging', 'TOTL' and 'resolution', and now have learned a plethora of new ones, such as 'firesale', 'kidney', 'second mortgage' and 'thank goodness it was reasonably priced at only $3k'

Humour aside, I can only say that despite all of the above, nothing short of deafness, fatality or bankruptcy is going to stop me from owning an Evo at some point

 

[Leviathant]

Anyone planning on using EVO with a desktop setup rather than (just) DAP/portable player? (Or any other IEM for that matter!)

I’m toying with the idea of keeping my Bifrost 2 DAC (which I haven’t used much since selling most of my over ear headphones) and getting a new (small/cheap) desktop amp to pair with it when I’m at my desk…. Not sure it’ll necessarily add anything extra to the experience though to be fair, but any amp suggestions that work well with IEMs? Maybe an amp with THX technology? Preferably with balanced out headphone socket too…

I may still end up knocking this idea on the head and sticking with my portable solutions (Shanling M8 mainly) but worth exploring nonetheless…

 

[MatW]

Anyone planning on using EVO with a desktop setup rather than (just) DAP/portable player? (Or any other IEM for that matter!)

I’m toying with the idea of keeping my Bifrost 2 DAC (which I haven’t used much since selling most of my over ear headphones) and getting a new (small/cheap) desktop amp to pair with it when I’m at my desk…. Not sure it’ll necessarily add anything extra to the experience though to be fair, but any amp suggestions that work well with IEMs? Maybe an amp with THX technology? Preferably with balanced out headphone socket too…

I may still end up knocking this idea on the head and sticking with my portable solutions (Shanling M8 mainly) but worth exploring nonetheless…

The Topping A90 is great for both headphones and IEMs.

 

[Darkestred]

Anyone planning on using EVO with a desktop setup rather than (just) DAP/portable player? (Or any other IEM for that matter!)

I’m toying with the idea of keeping my Bifrost 2 DAC (which I haven’t used much since selling most of my over ear headphones) and getting a new (small/cheap) desktop amp to pair with it when I’m at my desk…. Not sure it’ll necessarily add anything extra to the experience though to be fair, but any amp suggestions that work well with IEMs? Maybe an amp with THX technology? Preferably with balanced out headphone socket too…

I may still end up knocking this idea on the head and sticking with my portable solutions (Shanling M8 mainly) but worth exploring nonetheless…

I will be using the magni modi combo. I have always found a desktop experience to be better than a portable setup but maybe like cables ymmv.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Anyone planning on using EVO with a desktop setup rather than (just) DAP/portable player? (Or any other IEM for that matter!)

I’m toying with the idea of keeping my Bifrost 2 DAC (which I haven’t used much since selling most of my over ear headphones) and getting a new (small/cheap) desktop amp to pair with it when I’m at my desk…. Not sure it’ll necessarily add anything extra to the experience though to be fair, but any amp suggestions that work well with IEMs? Maybe an amp with THX technology? Preferably with balanced out headphone socket too…

I may still end up knocking this idea on the head and sticking with my portable solutions (Shanling M8 mainly) but worth exploring nonetheless…

Absolutely. My Bifrost 2 + THX AAA 789 outperforms all of my DAPs. Recently, I purchased a Chord Hugo TT2 and it is spectacular with my IEMs.