[Dithyrambes]

I have to say....Phantom really hits it out of the park. I get just as much enjoyment out of them as my massive Eve SC307 studio monitors. Of course they can't compare in the size and holographic staging/imaging, but the phantoms don't miss a single detail. They layer and handle the detail in its own way. I think the treble is perfect. Initially, I was also under the same impression as @audio123 coming from the andromedas(a bit north of neutral). I thought female vocals are slightly on the darker side, but its highly track dependent....its just showing you how the recording was tuned. Its the first time I felt that from an iem so I'm very appreciative its ability to accurately portray this. For people who like sparkle....they like more upper mids/treble. I think the trade off is a heightened sense of clarity for loss of depth in the sound which would take away from the phantom's layering ability/timbre. When auditioning them, I would give them a longer listen....for example just give about 2 tracks for your ears to settle into the sound instead of quick a-b ing. Then switch to your other iems, and find out what you are missing out. These will sound bassy for treble heads, but once acclimated, they are dead neutral...there is still enough bite in the sound. They make my studio monitors sound thinner and crispy...though they are known to be more on the laidback and some of the smoothest monitors around. If you want more hot treble, you can go for the spinfits which thin out the sound and give it a more "neutral" sound up top..(though I feel its v shaped and it emphasizes the bass as well). Currently using JVC spiral dots. Sounds balanced, but I think the Final E tips should be perfect for my preferences, given its more neutral, transparent tuning at the expense of a little warmth.

Don't know if other people have said this already, but the phantoms give me a sense of listening out of a good tube amp! Thats really something....makes it so that you don't have to get an ALO CDM in between your dap and earphones to get such a sound. Not just the timbre, but sometimes I get startled by the impact of the sound. Very punchy!

All listening was done with my Soekris dac1541 R2R dac so you can rest assured that these little suckers are gonna scale past all your golden bricks(WM1Z) . Will give further impressions once the zx300 arrives and I can get my hands on the tips from EE. I get more musical enjoyment out of these than the focal clears. Time just flies by when listening to these....I check back after listening and I find myself listening to whole albums at a time.

 

[crabdog]

Just got my impressions done for the Bravado. #nowthewait

 

[Rin1990]

Just got my impressions done for the Bravado. #nowthewait

congrats on the upgrade.

 

[Lucif6r6th]

Huge thanks to Eric at Effect Audio/Euphoria Audio for this opportunity!

UERR/ESR/EVR
DX200 AMP1 + Ares II 'lite' 2.5mm TRRS
Final Audio tips pushed all the way in to get as close to custom fit sound as possible.

UERR:
Has a wide but very flat sound-stage.
It has a warm tone throughout its sound signature, contributing to it naturalness but affects it transparency.
Bass impact is rounded and natural but yet lacks the rumble. The sub-bass disappears very quickly.
Mids have a natural tone with good amount of air.
Treble has a slight warm tone and is very smooth. Lacks in sparkle, cymbals are also a little splashy.

UERR excels with a natural tone and a non-fatiguing, smooth treble.
The rounded bass along with the natural mids makes it musical.
UERR has a natural sound signature with a slight focus on mids.


ESR:
Sound-stage is narrower but yet deeper than the UERR.
Bass has a more focused impact and has slightly more sub-bass rumble.
Mids are leaner. Laidback compared to UERR. A bit of warmth for naturalness.
Treble is a little laidback compared to UERR and has more sparkle which helps the clarity.
Clean, black background.

The leaner and balanced sound signature contributes to ESR's analytical nature but the bass response makes the it engaging.
It has a neutral/natural-ish sound signature that is analytical but yet somehow musical.


EVR:
Sound-stage is wider than UERR and equally as deep as the ESR, a more holographic feel.
Bass has the rounded impact feel of the UERR but with greater sub-bass rumble.
Mids are slightly warm, forward, leaner than UERR but fuller than ESR.
Treble is a bit forward, slightly brighter tone, smoother than ESR but has more sparkle than UERR.
Clean, black background though not as clean as ESR.

EVR focuses on the midrange, giving vocals clarity and weight along with a smooth treble

TL;DR
UERR: slight mid forward, natural, smooth, musical
ESR: balanced, lean, analytical, engaging
EVR: mid-focused, vocal clarity, musical

Conclusion:
The leaner, less warm sound signature coupled with a very clean background makes the ESR a better studio iem.

Both UERR and EVR are compelling choices for mid-focused sound signatures.
UERR having the more natural tone, fuller mids and smoother treble whereas the EVR for better bass response, slightly leaner mids and a bit more sparkle.

 

[moedawg140]

I somehow missed you at Canjam NYC last year, so hopefully this year we'll actually be able to meet each other at Canjam SoCal. I think I'm only going to be there for the first day of SoCal sadly, instead of both days.

I worked at a booth at CanJam NYC last year; but look for a Swagtron scooter at CanJam SoCal or just look around and it should not be difficult to find me.

See you soon!

 

[ShyamS]

Out of curiosity, i am using DX50 DAP and HTC U11 is that enough to drive ESR or will upgrading makes big difference? I will eventually upgrade but i dont know if i should upgrade sooner.

 

[tim0chan]

Huge thanks to Eric at Effect Audio/Euphoria Audio for this opportunity!

UERR/ESR/EVR
DX200 AMP1 + Ares II 'lite' 2.5mm TRRS
Final Audio tips pushed all the way in to get as close to custom fit sound as possible.

UERR:
Has a wide but very flat sound-stage.
It has a warm tone throughout its sound signature, contributing to it naturalness but affects it transparency.
Bass impact is rounded and natural but yet lacks the rumble. The sub-bass disappears very quickly.
Mids have a natural tone with good amount of air.
Treble has a slight warm tone and is very smooth. Lacks in sparkle, cymbals are also a little splashy.

UERR excels with a natural tone and a non-fatiguing, smooth treble.
The rounded bass along with the natural mids makes it musical.
UERR has a natural sound signature with a slight focus on mids.


ESR:
Sound-stage is narrower but yet deeper than the UERR.
Bass has a more focused impact and has slightly more sub-bass rumble.
Mids are leaner. Laidback compared to UERR. A bit of warmth for naturalness.
Treble is a little laidback compared to UERR and has more sparkle which helps the clarity.
Clean, black background.

The leaner and balanced sound signature contributes to ESR's analytical nature but the bass response makes the it engaging.
It has a neutral/natural-ish sound signature that is analytical but yet somehow musical.


EVR:
Sound-stage is wider than UERR and equally as deep as the ESR, a more holographic feel.
Bass has the rounded impact feel of the UERR but with greater sub-bass rumble.
Mids are slightly warm, forward, leaner than UERR but fuller than ESR.
Treble is a bit forward, slightly brighter tone, smoother than ESR but has more sparkle than UERR.
Clean, black background though not as clean as ESR.

EVR focuses on the midrange, giving vocals clarity and weight along with a smooth treble

TL;DR
UERR: slight mid forward, natural, smooth, musical
ESR: balanced, lean, analytical, engaging
EVR: mid-focused, vocal clarity, musical

Conclusion:
The leaner, less warm sound signature coupled with a very clean background makes the ESR a better studio iem.

Both UERR and EVR are compelling choices for mid-focused sound signatures.
UERR having the more natural tone, fuller mids and smoother treble whereas the EVR for better bass response, slightly leaner mids and a bit more sparkle.

i beg to differ on the ue rr, i felt that the uerr shouldnt be used with final tips as it obscured the bores, causing a warmer sound.when i used acoustune aet07 for all iems, the ue rr had a very dry sound and the bass lacks extension. but yea, most of my opinions echo yours

 

[Lucif6r6th]

i beg to differ on the ue rr, i felt that the uerr shouldnt be used with final tips as it obscured the bores, causing a warmer sound.when i used acoustune aet07 for all iems, the ue rr had a very dry sound and the bass lacks extension. but yea, most of my opinions echo yours

Well... i do have the UERR custom version. The final audio tips make the universal UERR sound more like the custom version albeit slightly brighter and leaner on the bass/mids. Insertion depth affects UERR sound a whole lot, it is where all the body comes from.
UERR does not really lack bass extension, more like lacks sub-bass.
Nonetheless, thank you for the input

 

[Deezel177]

Huge thanks to Eric at Effect Audio/Euphoria Audio for this opportunity!

UERR/ESR/EVR
DX200 AMP1 + Ares II 'lite' 2.5mm TRRS
Final Audio tips pushed all the way in to get as close to custom fit sound as possible.

UERR:
Has a wide but very flat sound-stage.
It has a warm tone throughout its sound signature, contributing to it naturalness but affects it transparency.
Bass impact is rounded and natural but yet lacks the rumble. The sub-bass disappears very quickly.
Mids have a natural tone with good amount of air.
Treble has a slight warm tone and is very smooth. Lacks in sparkle, cymbals are also a little splashy.

UERR excels with a natural tone and a non-fatiguing, smooth treble.
The rounded bass along with the natural mids makes it musical.
UERR has a natural sound signature with a slight focus on mids.


ESR:
Sound-stage is narrower but yet deeper than the UERR.
Bass has a more focused impact and has slightly more sub-bass rumble.
Mids are leaner. Laidback compared to UERR. A bit of warmth for naturalness.
Treble is a little laidback compared to UERR and has more sparkle which helps the clarity.
Clean, black background.

The leaner and balanced sound signature contributes to ESR's analytical nature but the bass response makes the it engaging.
It has a neutral/natural-ish sound signature that is analytical but yet somehow musical.


EVR:
Sound-stage is wider than UERR and equally as deep as the ESR, a more holographic feel.
Bass has the rounded impact feel of the UERR but with greater sub-bass rumble.
Mids are slightly warm, forward, leaner than UERR but fuller than ESR.
Treble is a bit forward, slightly brighter tone, smoother than ESR but has more sparkle than UERR.
Clean, black background though not as clean as ESR.

EVR focuses on the midrange, giving vocals clarity and weight along with a smooth treble

TL;DR
UERR: slight mid forward, natural, smooth, musical
ESR: balanced, lean, analytical, engaging
EVR: mid-focused, vocal clarity, musical

Conclusion:
The leaner, less warm sound signature coupled with a very clean background makes the ESR a better studio iem.

Both UERR and EVR are compelling choices for mid-focused sound signatures.
UERR having the more natural tone, fuller mids and smoother treble whereas the EVR for better bass response, slightly leaner mids and a bit more sparkle.

Great comparison, man! My main gripe with the UERR as a reference piece is a slight bloom in the lower-midrange, but it's a natural-sounding piece overall.

 

[Lucif6r6th]

Great comparison, man! My main gripe with the UERR as a reference piece is a slight bloom in the lower-midrange, but it's a natural-sounding piece overall.

Yes it does, which is why i pair the EOS with it
Makes it magical~...

 

[MikeRight]

I have searched along the thread looking for opinions about iFI attenuators like IEMatch and Ear Buddy.
I would like to know if anybody has tested them with Zeus XRA (or similar) and Hugo2.

As I said in the past, Hugo2 is by far the best mate for Zeus XRA I have tested, but I have the hiss problem.

Thanks for you comments!

 

[Jackpot77]

I have searched along the thread looking for opinions about iFI attenuators like IEMatch and Ear Buddy.
I would like to know if anybody has tested them with Zeus XRA (or similar) and Hugo2.

As I said in the past, Hugo2 is by far the best mate for Zeus XRA I have tested, but I have the hiss problem.

Thanks for you comments!

Not heard the Hugo 2, but own the Zeus-XR and have used with the QP2R, which hisses quite badly. It kills the hiss pretty effectively, and I didn't notice any degradation in sound - definitely worth looking at.

One point to note - don't know how it affects the FR, as the QP2R has the curious effect of "squashing" the two crossover modes closer together so there is minimal difference between them. Didn't notice any change in the signature though. Overran, a pretty good pairing.

 

[MikeRight]

Not heard the Hugo 2, but own the Zeus-XR and have used with the QP2R, which hisses quite badly. It kills the hiss pretty effectively, and I didn't notice any degradation in sound - definitely worth looking at.

One point to note - don't know how it affects the FR, as the QP2R has the curious effect of "squashing" the two crossover modes closer together so there is minimal difference between them. Didn't notice any change in the signature though. Overran, a pretty good pairing.

Thanks for your answer.

Hugo2 has the same effect over the switch. It is not possible to differentiate at all one from the other.
But in any case the sound quality, grain and detail is amazing.

Could you please tell me which attenuator are you using?
I read that maybe Ear Buddy could be enough...

Thanks again!

 

[Deezel177]

I have searched along the thread looking for opinions about iFI attenuators like IEMatch and Ear Buddy.
I would like to know if anybody has tested them with Zeus XRA (or similar) and Hugo2.

As I said in the past, Hugo2 is by far the best mate for Zeus XRA I have tested, but I have the hiss problem.

Thanks for you comments!

The IEMatch is an excellent product and it works brilliantly with the Zeus-XR. It removes hiss whilst also attenuating its slight lower-treble peak. I’d honestly highly recommend it.

 

[doctorjazz]

I like @Dithyrambes analogy of "tube" sound for the Phantom. When I listened, I was struck by not just the tone and texture of instruments (which were great), but the 3D quality of images. It jumped out at me after listening a lot, to lots of gear, then going back and listening to the Phantom again at CanJam NY