[cr3ativ3]

Unrelated to that—does anybody get quite noticeable oxidation on their Ares II?

I had my ares around 3/4 year .. and nothing like that ... meanwhile it’s sold .. and replaced with Thor silver 2 with 4.4mm

 

[olddude]

I've had an Ares for two years and no issue. Others for a year +. No issue. And I walk in daylight with them.

 

[BananaOoyoo]

Unrelated to that—does anybody get quite noticeable oxidation on their Ares II?

Might be the environment, since problems with EA cables is pretty common where I live. Glad it got worked out quickly though - Empire CS seems top notch.

 

[LegionWolf]

Really liking what I’ve heard of LX universal

Anyone have comparisons to Sony IER-Z1R?

 

[diadack]

Really liking what I’ve heard of LX universal

Anyone have comparisons to Sony IER-Z1R?

The LX is a hell of a lot smoother. There is a lot more bass impact of the Sony which I found a long with the treble to be fatiguing.

 

[LegionWolf]

The LX is a hell of a lot smoother. There is a lot more bass impact of the Sony which I found a long with the treble to be fatiguing.

What type of music and what source were you using by chance ?

 

[GiullianSN]

Really liking what I’ve heard of LX universal

Anyone have comparisons to Sony IER-Z1R?

I had the Z1r and couldn't handle the fit, loved the sound to the bone. The Lx was the closest I found to it, but with the amazing option of Custom.

 

[LegionWolf]

I had the Z1r and couldn't handle the fit, loved the sound to the bone. The Lx was the closest I found to it, but with the amazing option of Custom.

Did you try universal at all? Or just ciem version?

 

[BananaOoyoo]

Really liking what I’ve heard of LX universal

Anyone have comparisons to Sony IER-Z1R?

So I’d argue that the Z1R is the superior IEM in a vacuum - both are fantastic IEMs, but it avoids the bass bloat of the Legend X. I guess both have some shortcomings when it comes to the lower mids though, with it being recessed in the Z1R and overshadowed by the midbass in the LX.

If I could pick one to get though, I’d take the Legend X. Usually, I find IEMs tuned like the LX to suffer from a loss in resolution and bass quality (emphasizing quantity > quality), but it avoids doing either of those. In that sense, it feels more unique than the Z1R.

I also dislike the fit of the Z1R. It’s feels and looks like having two meat tenderizers sticking out of your ears... now if it were possible to get a Justear CIEM with the same tuning, then that’d be a game changer.

 

[GiullianSN]

Did you try universal at all? Or just ciem version?

I did try it universal first, together with Noble Khan and JH Lola. Ordered the LX CIEM straight away. Banana's comment are like mine, except I didn't think the treble was a problem.

I Love my LX and I'm looking forward for the Odin to become alive. But a Z1r Custom or a similar Legend X Universal fit, I would buy with no second thought.

 

[mr.karmalicious]

Might be the environment, since problems with EA cables is pretty common where I live. Glad it got worked out quickly though - Empire CS seems top notch.

That's our best guess so far... it's strange, though. I wear them for 4-5 hours a day at work (in an office) and put them away in their case, which then goes in my bag. Other that that, I'll bring them to coffee shops or whatever, but that's really it... probably just down to random engineering stuff, I dunno.

 

[duaned]

The LX is a hell of a lot smoother. There is a lot more bass impact of the Sony which I found a long with the treble to be fatiguing.

I disagree with your comment on the bass impact of the Sony. I found the bass impact of the Legend X to be more pronounced and with more output in the sub bass region over the IER-Z1R. But that's not to say the Sony is no slouch.

 

[diadack]

What type of music and what source were you using by chance ?

I tried a sample of songs from my whole music library that ranges from 80s new wave, industrial, dance to modern day electronic, darkwave, rock and metal. I went back and forth between my iPhone dongle, motherboard on my pc and my Woo audio WA8

 

[diadack]

I disagree with your comment on the bass impact of the Sony. I found the bass impact of the Legend X to be more pronounced and with more output in the sub bass region over the IER-Z1R. But that's not to say the Sony is no slouch.

The LX has more bass but the way the IER bass hits my ears just caused discomfort and fatigue. Like someone slapping my ears as apposed to the LX just rattling my skull with a more enjoyable and smoother tone.

 

[Deezel177]

They're not 3D printed, so... a mold is made from the impressions, and then resin is poured in, I suppose... adding and soldering and wiring all of the drivers crossover is done by hand by super-talented people; it seems incredibly difficult. The BAs aren't manufactured in-house; not sure about the W9 drivers (@ajyagle , @Devon Higgins ?). 3D printing would definitely be much easier, and is also easier to understand...

Also—if you schedule a visit with EE, you may be able to see the workspace!

edit: according to this, the W9 is manufactured in-house.

(though they may want to fix this typo!!)

3D-printing would be easier in some aspects - like repeat orders, being able to send impressions digitally, being able to undo any mistakes while trimming, guaranteed 100% translation between the trimmed impression and the final shell, etc. - but it also makes post-processing much, much more difficult. Jack told me one of the main reasons why they haven't been able to transition fully to 3D-printing is because it takes so long to buff out all of the print lines and imperfections. Plus, you'd be limited to a rather small range of colours. So, as always, everything has its pros and cons.

Unrelated to that—does anybody get quite noticeable oxidation on their Ares II?

Like everyone here, I've never seen that happen to an Ares II cable. I have couple-year-old EA cables used in a multitude of environment that still look pretty good.

I made a question on a couple cable manufacturers about PVC being used as outer shield and it reacting to UV light and becoming rigid and brittle as I read a few people around here had this problem after around a year. The only one that answered was EA, saing to take care of the cable.

But UV light is basicly sunlight, so take care would be not walk around with yoir IEM?

So Kids, PVC reacts with UV light and have that in mind when buying cables.

Yeah, PVC-based insulation stiffening up is pretty inevitable, but it does take quite a while if you take care of it, and by that I mean don't douse it in water and sweat on a daily basis. But, at the same time, almost all cable manufacturers use PVC-based insulation. One of the main reasons why is that even when it does stiffen up, it's still comparable ergonomically to alternative materials at their best.