Good day friends and readers. As promised earlier today, my impressions of the Legend X. Listening impressions were made after 200 hours of burn in. Stock Ares II cable used, source is my K-modded Sony WM1A, which has a meatier, more detailed, spacious and slightly warmer sound signature compared to stock WM1A.
So far I've listened to Hell Freezes Over, Macklemore's the Heist, MJ's greatest hits collection, and the XX's debut. Mainly because I'm familiar with certain passages of songs where serious bass kicks in.
Just a slight note on burn-in. I used MJ's Beat It to compare OOTB, and at 50-hour intervals of burning in. At the end of burn in the bass tightens up and the stage opens up marginally. Nice, since OOTB the bass was too flabby for my tastes.
So let's start with the obvious. How's the bass? It's thunderous and impactful and well-rounded and reverbs with the skill of a well-tuned speaker system. The dynamic drivers are large and in charge. There isn't an overflow of subbass so you don't feel giddy or have bass headaches, but they move so much air the bass atmosphere shapes the tracks, lending a omimous/grandiose tone to them, and the bass air helps spaciousness by not congesting the soundstage. It's at times trippy, at times tricky, but most times fun.
The midbass and upper bass and unabashedly elevated. They raise the pulse and make you fist pump, being superbly energetic and engaging, and yet magnificently detailed. The bass body is superb, although the notes are well-rounded the note texture is still there to be heard. I'm hearing all my pop and rock and hip-hop albums with this, bcos it's so damn fun. When the bass hits in Hotel California, in Billie Jean, the Macklemore track Can't Hold Us, it's visceral and gut-punching, a tour-de-force of power and showmanship. I can finally enjoy modern tracks without worrying about IEMs being clinical all the time. Flamenco, Gemini, SE5U... They have different qualities but all lack the reach and utter power of the Legend's bass. So is the bass everything I dreamed of it to be? Yes and more.
The bass lays the foundation for the mids to flesh out. They have a 2-3KHz region bump for a nice presence, but that's just the start. The notes are rooted in organicity, they have a somewhat realistic analog sound following the DD characteristic, but at the same time it has layers upon layers of detail waiting to be heard. It's not apparent as the digital detail-extractor IEMs, but once your attention shifts from the bass, all the details are there.
Male vocals carry superb authority and heft, pianos sound weighted and guitar riffs have a delightful crunch. Lower to middle mids are done so well. The upper mids are smooth and controlled, nothing peaky and over-accentuated, with a good dose of realism and some excitement. Female vocals are euphonic and trumpets avoid any harshness. Note weight is impressive, makes every note stand up and be counted. Attack and decay is not hurried and the organic signature makes up most of the meat of the music. There is a real sense of being there with the musicians as they perform around you. Class.
Treble is neutrally tuned, again no harsh peaks or sudden dips. Notes are lighter and airier and have a nice sheen and shimmer to it. I would have liked more excitement and sparkle but what that might throw the signature off to a V-shape. Nothing harsh, just pure enjoyment. Notes are well-rounded and full of detail. Best part is it plays nice with the mids and bass too. The image formed as a whole is realistic and gives off a live music feel, like attending an outdoor festival, with a friendly and fun atmosphere.
The soundstage complements the signature as a whole. With such a big bold bodied bass, it needs a big playground to show off in. And the stage width is really wide, as wide as my W900. Where it surpasses it is in stage depth. It's generously deep. Layers are better defined and organised despite the ample bass weight, you hear a lot of things going on around you. The Legend does not have the airiest stage or the most obvious dynamics. But the natural stage dimensions put you at the heart of the music, with its ever-present bass as the pulse. It's a lot of fun, and also a lot to take in.
The only con I can think of is, you can't ignore the bass. While there is no bass bleed I can hear, the bass air permeates throughout the signature, even in passages where you don't think there's a lot of bass. It's part of Legend's DNA, for better or worse.
TLDR BASSSSSS. Glorious magnanimous bass.
