ctsooner22
1000+ Head-Fier
I really like the sound of CA Andromeda and Focal Utopia, will I like the the EE Phantom?
It depends. The Phantom to me is much warmer. Focal tunes their gear and tips the high end giving the sense of more openness etc... It's their sound signature. I also found the Andromeda to be tipped a bit in the lower highs if I recall correctly, but I haven't spent much time with them to be totally sure, so some slack if you will.
I feel the Phantom, right now, is the most 'reference' turned IEM. That's on purpose. If you listen to live music and let them burn in for over 100 hours and listen for a month, you will love them. They will give you most of what's on a recording. It took me awhile to get used to teh BA bass, but once I did, I realized how fast it can be and how accurate it is. It does give you the correct quantity. So many want and are used to the tipped up quantity of bass in headphones and IEM's (manufactures give you what you buy), but that's not reference or what true live music sounds like. If you go to heavily amped rock shows etc.., it may not be what you want. That's why they have teh Legend X. Let those burn in and the bass goes down a few DB and they tighten up greatly I was told. That may be closer to the Utopia sound. Headphones are just different than speakers or IEM's to me.
I own and love the ZMF Ori's (selling them as I don't listen to headphones anymore and I have lesser ones for playing around) due to their tonality. That's my ear though. YMMV....
Oh, I do have a friend (just remembered) who has Utopia's and LOVES teh Phantom's. He said that he can only listen to Utopia's for an hour or so as he can get fatigued depending on what he's listening to and he can keep the Phantom in for hours (he has the CIEM's like I do). Not sure if that helps or not.
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