[Damz87]

Cross-post from the watercooler with some context amendments

I spent some time comparing the Annihilator 23 and Raven. Some folks on the watercooler thread mentioned that they find Anni 23 and Raven to have some tuning similarities, and I agree that they are both rather comparable and occupy a similar tuning signature albeit with a few key differences.

My conclusion is that I prefer Raven for bass and technicalities across the board (soundstage, imaging, detail retrieval, dynamics and transient speed), but I prefer Anni’s treble. That said, I think Raven’s treble is very good and competes with Anni 23, but its balanced tuning takes the treble away from the spotlight and it blends a little better within the overall sound presentation. Anni's treble sticks out more and is a more captivating, exciting treble that I can easily get lost in hearing all that air and sparkle.

The mids is where I’m undecided. I’m leaning more towards Anni’s because they have a touch more fullness to their notes. At times I’m finding Ravens mids to sound a little thin for my preferences, but only slightly. Both have a fairly V-shaped sort of tuning so I don’t expect either of them to sound super bodied and rich, but I think Anni’s midrange tonal balance is a little more realistic having a slightly warmer edge.

Ravens bass quality is absolutely sublime and up there with the best I’ve ever heard. It reminds me of Odin’s bass in terms of quality, but with just the right amount of extra oomph to make it a much more fun and engaging listen (for my prefs). Bass is a no-contest win for Raven over Anni IMHO.

Raven has really grown on me over the last few days and it will now sit in my top 10 favourite IEM’s, most likely above Anni 23 for its superior technical performance and bass. Anni 23 is still one of my all-time favourites as well and still the for treble to my ears. I’d happily own both if money was no object. But if I had to pick between the two, my choice at this point in time would be Raven.

 

[nioh]

Cross-post from the watercooler with some context amendments



I spent some time comparing the Annihilator 23 and Raven. Some folks on the watercooler thread mentioned that they find Anni 23 and Raven to have some tuning similarities, and I agree that they are both rather comparable and occupy a similar tuning signature albeit with a few key differences.

My conclusion is that I prefer Raven for bass and technicalities across the board (soundstage, imaging, detail retrieval, dynamics and transient speed), but I prefer Anni’s treble. That said, I think Raven’s treble is very good and competes with Anni 23, but its balanced tuning takes the treble away from the spotlight and it blends a little better within the overall sound presentation. Anni's treble sticks out more and is a more captivating, exciting treble that I can easily get lost in hearing all that air and sparkle.

The mids is where I’m undecided. I’m leaning more towards Anni’s because they have a touch more fullness to their notes. At times I’m finding Ravens mids to sound a little thin for my preferences, but only slightly. Both have a fairly V-shaped sort of tuning so I don’t expect either of them to sound super bodied and rich, but I think Anni’s midrange tonal balance is a little more realistic having a slightly warmer edge.

Ravens bass quality is absolutely sublime and up there with the best I’ve ever heard. It reminds me of Odin’s bass in terms of quality, but with just the right amount of extra oomph to make it a much more fun and engaging listen (for my prefs). Bass is a no-contest win for Raven over Anni IMHO.

Raven has really grown on me over the last few days and it will now sit in my top 10 favourite IEM’s, most likely above Anni 23 for its superior technical performance and bass. Anni 23 is still one of my all-time favourites as well and still the for treble to my ears. I’d happily own both if money was no object. But if I had to pick between the two, my choice at this point in time would be Raven.

What about fit and comfort ? Which one of these would you pick if comfort was the key, given that both of these have fairly large shells.

 

[Skullar]

Cross-post from the watercooler with some context amendments



I spent some time comparing the Annihilator 23 and Raven. Some folks on the watercooler thread mentioned that they find Anni 23 and Raven to have some tuning similarities, and I agree that they are both rather comparable and occupy a similar tuning signature albeit with a few key differences.

My conclusion is that I prefer Raven for bass and technicalities across the board (soundstage, imaging, detail retrieval, dynamics and transient speed), but I prefer Anni’s treble. That said, I think Raven’s treble is very good and competes with Anni 23, but its balanced tuning takes the treble away from the spotlight and it blends a little better within the overall sound presentation. Anni's treble sticks out more and is a more captivating, exciting treble that I can easily get lost in hearing all that air and sparkle.

The mids is where I’m undecided. I’m leaning more towards Anni’s because they have a touch more fullness to their notes. At times I’m finding Ravens mids to sound a little thin for my preferences, but only slightly. Both have a fairly V-shaped sort of tuning so I don’t expect either of them to sound super bodied and rich, but I think Anni’s midrange tonal balance is a little more realistic having a slightly warmer edge.

Ravens bass quality is absolutely sublime and up there with the best I’ve ever heard. It reminds me of Odin’s bass in terms of quality, but with just the right amount of extra oomph to make it a much more fun and engaging listen (for my prefs). Bass is a no-contest win for Raven over Anni IMHO.

Raven has really grown on me over the last few days and it will now sit in my top 10 favourite IEM’s, most likely above Anni 23 for its superior technical performance and bass. Anni 23 is still one of my all-time favourites as well and still the for treble to my ears. I’d happily own both if money was no object. But if I had to pick between the two, my choice at this point in time would be Raven.

I think Anni23 tuning was one of the best in iems released last year. But it slightly fell behind other 3k+ offerings in technicalities. Still pretty good though.
Raven is defo more technical along with being best tuned EE iem to date.
So i think our findings kind of align.

 

[haci]

Cross-post from the watercooler with some context amendments



I spent some time comparing the Annihilator 23 and Raven. Some folks on the watercooler thread mentioned that they find Anni 23 and Raven to have some tuning similarities, and I agree that they are both rather comparable and occupy a similar tuning signature albeit with a few key differences.

My conclusion is that I prefer Raven for bass and technicalities across the board (soundstage, imaging, detail retrieval, dynamics and transient speed), but I prefer Anni’s treble. That said, I think Raven’s treble is very good and competes with Anni 23, but its balanced tuning takes the treble away from the spotlight and it blends a little better within the overall sound presentation. Anni's treble sticks out more and is a more captivating, exciting treble that I can easily get lost in hearing all that air and sparkle.

The mids is where I’m undecided. I’m leaning more towards Anni’s because they have a touch more fullness to their notes. At times I’m finding Ravens mids to sound a little thin for my preferences, but only slightly. Both have a fairly V-shaped sort of tuning so I don’t expect either of them to sound super bodied and rich, but I think Anni’s midrange tonal balance is a little more realistic having a slightly warmer edge.

Ravens bass quality is absolutely sublime and up there with the best I’ve ever heard. It reminds me of Odin’s bass in terms of quality, but with just the right amount of extra oomph to make it a much more fun and engaging listen (for my prefs). Bass is a no-contest win for Raven over Anni IMHO.

Raven has really grown on me over the last few days and it will now sit in my top 10 favourite IEM’s, most likely above Anni 23 for its superior technical performance and bass. Anni 23 is still one of my all-time favourites as well and still the for treble to my ears. I’d happily own both if money was no object. But if I had to pick between the two, my choice at this point in time would be Raven.

posted this in cooler as well.

Does anyone, by chance have RS8, Anni and Raven?

There is a setting on RS8. Mastermind -> A4499. It considerably extends treble and enlarges soundstage to the sides. Might be too much for Anni but fits Raven nicely. I haven't heard Anni and I'm guessing with Raven this might be what Anni's treble sounds like. Anyone can try this and share impressions?

 

[KuroKitsu]

For all those snide comments about not having skin in the game that happened with this fiasco, I've ordered a Raven.

 

[Beh0lder]

For all those snide comments about not having skin in the game that happened with this fiasco, I've ordered a Raven.

How many "just cancel the pre-order, d'oooh"s can you take on a daily basis? I especially liked the one said to a poster who sent his Raven for V2 upgrade

 

[Visceral]

What about fit and comfort ? Which one of these would you pick if comfort was the key, given that both of these have fairly large shells.

Not that you asked for my opinion but I have both and would give comfort to Raven. I don’t have a fit issue with either but the Ravens insert slightly further into the ear canal, thus providing a bit more support and natural ‘seat’.

 

[nioh]

Not that you asked for my opinion but I have both and would give comfort to Raven. I don’t have a fit issue with either but the Ravens insert slightly further into the ear canal, thus providing a bit more support and natural ‘seat’.

Cheers !

 

[Damz87]

What about fit and comfort ? Which one of these would you pick if comfort was the key, given that both of these have fairly large shells.

I’d probably choose Anni for comfort, but I have to say Raven is surprisingly comfortable given its huge size. Odyssey and Evo were both quite uncomfortable for me, so whatever EE have done to Raven’s shape has really gone a long way to improve the way it sits in my ear. With Odyssey and EVO, I could feel their weight and size in my ear canal. Whereas with Raven, the weight seems to be well distributed and I can’t feel any pressure at all on my canals.

That said, I find Anni extremely comfortable too and I know lots of people have issues with Anni’s thick nozzle so I don’t know if it’s just my big ears or what lol.

 

[duas2noites]

I have ferrum oor and hypsos, I'm thinking about buying the empire ears evo and using it with the oor, can I use it on the amplifier's xlr output, or the 6.35mm?

 

[Auricon]

I have ferrum oor and hypsos, I'm thinking about buying the empire ears evo and using it with the oor, can I use it on the amplifier's xlr output, or the 6.35mm?

You'll need a XLR M 4-pin to 4.4 balanced F

Something like https://bloomaudio.com/collections/ddhifi/products/ddhifi-xlr44b-pentaconn-xlr-adapter

 

[Frainen]

I have not spent enough listening time, but I most likely will agree with @Damz87 .
Disclaimer: I never listened to stock cable, I paired with OdeToLaura from the first moment.

Quick summary:
Bass are very good. It sounds natural and decent amount. When listening after an UM indigo or even Fir xenon6, I tend to prefer the bass from the Raven.
Comfort: Sure... it is "comfortable" but it is big outside the ears and you need to accept it. It doesn't match the comfort of UM.
Driver Flex: It is worse than usual. While I somehow liked the driver flex with Odin or LegendX, for Raven it tends to be too often, even when I move my head.

Mids and Vocal is where I need more listening. It alters a bit how vocals sound to me and it is a bit annoying for the songs I use as benchmarks.

However, it is a very good set. It is how I wanted Odin to sound.

 

[nioh]

The more impressions I read about Raven, the more it sounds closer to the Odyssey. Thank you all for your impressions so far and keep em coming.

I think I’ll stick with my Odyssey for now.

 

[tjzurlaaa]

The more impressions I read about Raven, the more it sounds closer to the Odyssey. Thank you all for your impressions so far and keep em coming.

I think I’ll stick with my Odyssey for now.

Yeah, if you have Odyssey, you should go for a more contrast of an option

 

[samuraix920]

The more impressions I read about Raven, the more it sounds closer to the Odyssey. Thank you all for your impressions so far and keep em coming.

I think I’ll stick with my Odyssey for now.

When i heard it at canjam sg and what was available for demo at zeppelin and co, i did feel that raven was somewhere between odin and odyssey in terms of tonality and presentation so you may be on to something.