Here goes initial impressions:
Wraith:
One thing was that, I drove it at a much lower volume that the Valks. From my usual, Wraith was -10 ticks where as Valk was +10 ticks. Very surprising given the 4 ESTs had me expecting the Wraith requiring much more power to drive the Valkyrie. It's definitely a Zeus sucessor: Mids are plucked straight from the Zeus, while up high the treble is silky smooht but without the hotness that plague the Zeus. Mid and upper base were definitely a welcome change, however sub bass is still lacking, you'll hear the thump, but it's the sound ends up dissipating when you expecting some physicality. Overall as an entire package, it's an inoffensive resolution monster, and everything comes together perfectly in a cohesive soundscape.The interesting thing is that nothing really stands out about the Wraith that really grabs you compared to other TOTLs, as a result the Wraith really doesn't lend it self to audition well, you'll have to spend time with it and you either grow to love it or not. All in all it wasn't my cup of tea, but hey it doesn't hiss like the Zeus on my WM1A
Valkyrie:
@Vitaly2017 This one's for you: It does NOT hiss on the WM1A!
Given that my first tribrid was the Khan and I was impressed enough to flip my Phantom to offset the costs. I expected great things with the Valk. Single W9? No problem, the dual W9s on the LX were too much for me. Single EST? No problem, Khan's pizeo sounded great. Single BA mid? Better than the Bravado, that might be a problem. Nevertheless I was enough of a Empire shill to order one terminated in 4.4.
So naturally the first thing I did was go for the mids:Lauren Daigle, Darlene Zarzesch, Kim Walker-Smith for the females, TobyMac, Matt Maher, Mack Brock for the males. So far so good, not an overly thick and warm lower mids, upper mids are not veiled and come across as balanced. Both male and female vocals are done equally well. Check!
Next up, the bass. So I hit Skillet, TobyMac, some Elevation as well as Hillsong, for King & Country. I swear my toes were curling when I heard the W9s.Not overly gutteral viscerak dual W9s LX bass. But sufficient authourity when required, you heard AND felt the bass. Not overly thick bass unlike the Phantom. Check!
How would the EST hold up? I've never heard a EST before. Darlene Zarzesch, Hollyn, some Britt Nicole, Definitely none of the wetness the pizeo on the Khan had, smooth and that sparkle was a nice touch. Check!
So as whole how does it hold up? It's not the Wraith level of resolution, but definitely adequate for it's price point. There's none of the mid/upper bass bleed into the mids, unlike the LX. Mids are slightly forward, but don't steal the show nor drowned out by the lows and highs at any point. Treble doesn't run hot but is smooth and sparkle. Now onto the most impressive part, the soundstage: The Valkyrie definitely doesn't sound like a 3 driver IEM when you take it into account. The soundstage is not so wide that gaps appear like the Zeus, but also not just enough for the sound like the A6t. The soundstage adapts to and gives the prefect amount of room needed for the track at hand.