Honestly, the cable that comes with Raven is not doing it any favors. For the first time in awhile, I was gonna do my best to stay on the original cable and get it and my ears burned-in with it. But after a couple weeks, I felt like overall the sound was missing a little hi-end and especially sub low-end. Also mids low-mids seemed really congested so that I couldn't always tell what was going on in a more complex mix.
So I finally gave in and put the cable I normally used with EE LX, EVO, and Odyssey on the Raven... a DHC Symbiote OCC Silver Litz 8-wire. Wow, what a difference! Sub-lows came back big and super clean. Congested low-mids cleared up completely, and mids & highs are super refined, extended, and smooth.
Seriously, if you haven't tried a good pure silver litz cable, I think you may be missing out on how great Raven really is.
Overall, I think Raven sounds like a better Odyssey. It's got lows and sub-lows really close to as full and powerful as EVO, but with warm-ish lower-midrange. The mid-range & lower treble seems to have a more even frequency response than Odyssey. Odyssey seemed to have a little dip in the mids/upper-mids that was exacerbated by a bit of a peak in the lower treble, which made it seem to have a hole in the mids on some tracks. And then Raven for sure has much more extended highs, very smooth, and never peaky or shrill.
I noticed some early opinions about Raven's sound seemed to think it was a brighter IEM. I might've felt that way a little early on, but after it burned in for awhile, I don't hear that at all. It's a fun, engaging sound, but still layered and resolving, with the excellent sub-low end and lows you expect from Empire Ears. But this time it seems like EE got the warmth that was missing from some of their other IEMs. And definitely mids and highs are the best I've heard yet from EE.
I also remember some pre-release demo Ravens were described as being a much better, more refined Legend X. I'd have to say after burning in Raven and my ears for a few weeks, and switching to the DHC Silver Litz 8-wire cable, I can definitely hear it that way. It's like a super refined hi-def hi-end Legend X on hi-fi steroids, if it were "fixed" to be exactly what I wanted... with warm lower-mids, a much more refined, balanced and present mid-range, and an extended smooth high-end. For my sound preferences, that's an excellent trait.
Super happy with the Raven, and glad EE got it all sorted and back on track... ending up with what to me is by far their best IEM yet.
Caveat, though... you made need that pure silver litz cable to enjoy Raven as much I am!
;-D
I felt the same in terms of the stock being the bottleneck. Hybrid+ makes it very dynamic and even more spacious, Chiron leans it more technical and takes a way a little of the mid bass while emphasising holography.
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