[ctsooner22]

Awesome thread. I am excited about this launch. My wife even got excited about the lower priced ones in her color of metallic purple with clear Swarski crystals in the left ear and the purple ones for the right ear. She has the Sure 500's I think they are called, but doesn't love them or their 'look' lol.

So many of us in 2 channel audio spend our lives and money trying to find a system that will be the MOST neutral and have the sound that the Phantom seems to offer. I'm SOOOOO excited about this, because so far I have yet to see or hear anything in headphones that will give me all of this. My Ori's come semi close, but there is still no sub bass. I have an incredible 2 channel system that does give me sub bass that is accurate (I was a drummer before the MS took hold) and not rolled off. I get down to a legit 25hz in my room. I will hear them for the first time in NYC and I promise that won't be the last time. I'm also excited about the lower priced X line ones think it is for the wife in IEM (Phantoms will be CIEM). I promise to review both if I get them as I'm going to run them off the AK380cu, but also I'll use my soon to be The Memory Player with integral DAC via a yet to be named Headphone amp (I'll probably get one at teh show in NYC, so any suggestions are helpful. Also have a couple of designer friends who are making headphone amps right now and want me to audition their prototypes when they are ready. I will keep my Ayre QX5/20 until I get the CIEM so I can use that as the DAC/AMP combo to really max out what these can do. This is teh best sounding DAC/amp combo I've ever heard and you have to understand I have auditioned most of the 10k plus DAC/amps that are offered world wide as that's what I love doing and have been blessed to be able to as folks send their gear all the time for auditions. It's a blast and fun to share. This is the perfect extension of my hobby wiht audio and now with such a line as the Phantom one, it really is exciting as heck. Thanks to Jack and Nic and others who still care about the accurate reproduction of music. I also would love to get something that's on the fun side like so many of you guys/gals.

Sorry to drone on, but it's an exciting time in the IEM world.

 

[NaiveSound]

What is the best way store cables without damage coiling it up in a circle sucks

 

[ctsooner22]

I just roll it round my fingers. Top two adn bottom two. It's like you weave the wire in a figure 8. The last few inches are used to wrap around the middle of the 8 so the wire stays stored neatly and will unfurl without any tangling regardless of how thin or thick it is. No stress on the cable either.

 

[subguy812]

All silliness aside and ignoring the story behind them (which let's be honest, is pretty bloody amazing), the Phantom present a very compelling proposition that for me as an audiophile, reviewer and someone who uses music for health reasons, sets them apart from most TOTLs. Not many IEMs prioritise a natural, accurate tonality and harmony within the signature.
.

I forget...you have heard the Phantom?

 

[Deezel177]

@flinkenick what type of cables you find paired best with Phantom ?

Nic recommends the Eos for the Phantom. But, considering it's limited quantities nowadays, the Ares II would work fine as well.

What is the best way store cables without damage coiling it up in a circle sucks

The best way to coil a cable with minimum wear and zero tangle is the Over/Under Method. This video illustrates the method with much longer cables and much larger bundles, but the same principles apply to an IEM cable.

 

[olddude]

olddude
No sting here. I don't operate on hype. If I did I would have bought a Mojo when that was the favorite flavor (anyone notice how many many many of them appeared on the For Sale boards after that rush waned?).

Mython
Meh... that's simply a matter of statistics - if a product sells 10x more units than others, then one might very reasonably anticipate 10x more units being offered for sale on the secondhand market, the percentage of resales remaining proportionally similar to lesser-selling competing products.

Olddude
Don't really agree in this case. WHY they are for sale is just as important as that they ARE for sale. I have the feeling from watching the flow that lots of folks got swept up in the hype rush, bought Mojos, thought, what, why?, and sold them. I felt the urge myself, but fought it off.

 

[Lucif6r6th]

Nic recommends the Eos for the Phantom. But, considering it's limited quantities nowadays, the Ares II would work fine as well.

Good thing I have the EOS, although i would've to re-terminate it

 

[Mython]

What is the best way store cables without damage coiling it up in a circle sucks

Forgive me for saying this, but your question seems a little peculiar - if you don't want to coil your cable, then there's not many alternative shapes you can bend the cable into, for storage, so maybe you should just keep them straight, instead...

 

[flinkenick]

@flinkenick what type of cables you find paired best with Phantom ?

Nic recommends the Eos for the Phantom. But, considering it's limited quantities nowadays, the Ares II would work fine as well

Well to clarify, the Phantom 'should' be listened to with Ares II, it has the most accurate timbre. As an alternative I like to use Eos for genres like pop and EDM, as it becomes a more musical neutral. I would say I've listened to Ares II 70% of the time, and Eos 25%. If you happen to have a Silverfi IEM-R5 lying around then def check that out as well hehe.

 

[proedros]

what cable will Phantom come packaged with ?

 

[flinkenick]

All EE iems will come with Ares II.

 

[Wyville]

I forget...you have heard the Phantom?

While I would usually always insist on a demo, in this particular case I did not need to. Nic and I have been discussing signatures for over a year and we know each other's preferences and biases really well, so when he mentioned the "5-driver" (Phantom) to me a while back, he knew how well those fit the criteria I had set out for my TOTL purchase. As he explained the tuning to me in great detail it was indeed just going over my checklist to check every box. It is just a really fortunate coincidence that Nic and I prioritise many of the same things and that is what makes it so exciting. Although I would have seriously considered buying them otherwise as well, because I think it is the coolest thing that a friend of mine drew his ideal FR curve and Empire Ears had the guts to make that curve a reality.

 

[Wyville]

Well to clarify, the Phantom 'should' be listened to with Ares II, it has the most accurate timbre. As an alternative I like to use Eos for genres like pop and EDM, as it becomes a more musical neutral. I would say I've listened to Ares II 70% of the time, and Eos 25%. If you happen to have a Silverfi IEM-R5 lying around then def check that out as well hehe.

NOOOOOOOOOoooooo!!!!

Oh, you wuss! ​

 

[goodvibes]

If I have a cable that's prone to memory, I simply wind it the other direction intermittently. Free hang the cable to allow it to rotate itself on wind if needed, 3 finger wind and start it the plug end one time and the IEM end the next time. Might as well do something that you are willing to repeat (easy) and be compact which is a part of having an IEM. I never wrap wind power cables etc and do the loop and gather but with a 4' thin cable, it's unreasonable, especially when it's short enough to hang out on unravel.

 

[Tanjiro]

Well to clarify, the Phantom 'should' be listened to with Ares II, it has the most accurate timbre. As an alternative I like to use Eos for genres like pop and EDM, as it becomes a more musical neutral. I would say I've listened to Ares II 70% of the time, and Eos 25%. If you happen to have a Silverfi IEM-R5 lying around then def check that out as well hehe.

How about with 1960s?