[Jack Vang]

@Jack Vang, just wondered about the above ...

Great question! We ship based on what passes the final QC inspection so what's shipped may not always be in chronological order. I hope this makes sense.

Still not clear to me what the bass levels on Hero will be like (sounds like quality is excellent though). If it is a mini-Odin, I'd expect it to be less than the Legend X, but how does it compare to the others in the X lineup, like Nemesis, Vantage, Valkyrie, and Bravado?

Less overall impact than Legend X and Nemesis but more slam, depth and extension than Bravado and Valkyrie. Definitely a different signature as it's more mid-forward than any of the 4 mentioned models. Really pays homage to Zeus and the original EarWerkz Legend with some X-series bass love

 

[kalsonc]

@Jack Vang
will there be a legend X mk2?

 

[mangler]

Great question! We ship based on what passes the final QC inspection so what's shipped may not always be in chronological order. I hope this makes sense.



Less overall impact than Legend X and Nemesis but more slam, depth and extension than Bravado and Valkyrie. Definitely a different signature as it's more mid-forward than any of the 4 mentioned models. Really pays homage to Zeus and the original EarWerkz Legend with some X-series bass love

Thanks @Jack Vang !

 

[Jack Vang]

So just to shed a little light as someone who knows an independent custom cable manufacturer... a small roll of about 100 feet of the Level 4 SPC litz cable retails to him for around $1,200. A 4 foot cable requires 4-4 foot strands equaling 16 feet. After the cost for buying the connectors and other material and using the whole roll to make various cables he nets about $500 profit. When you factor in the time it takes for him to make each one, mail it out, etc.. $500 isn’t much in actual time spent aka labor and logistics. The stuff isn’t cheap anyway you slice it. Now just imagine that on a larger scale... you have to charge enough to maintain production and pay your people.

Edit... To be clear, do I think it's bull? Absolutely. Being bull however doesn't make it any less reasonable. It is what it is.

Now imagine getting anywhere between 30-60% off of MSRP, as a manufacturer, and having to stock and pay for 400-500 cables upfront. Fun times but totally normal! lol

@Jack Vang
interested to know how is the valky different to valky 2?

Valkyrie MKII Updates:

1. Revised synX crossover network
2. Updated electrostatic driver & transformer
3. Updated W9+ driver
4. Updated housing. The Valkyrie MKII shares the same housing as Odin in order to accommodate a revised driver positioning schematic.

The Valkyrie MKII has more bass impact and depth while the treble gets tamed for less harshness and more overall extension.

@Jack Vang
will there be a legend X mk2?

Not at this time.

 

[olddude]

Sounds like perhaps those of us with Zeus might enjoy the Zeus-like Hero quite a bit. Looking forward to more info about it. I'm not sure I want to replace my Zeus with an Odin (you never know) but I might enjoy having a secondary iem that is cost effective (as the Hero certainly is) with a bit more bass.

 

[Metalomaniac]

Valkyrie MKII Updates:

1. Revised synX crossover network
2. Updated electrostatic driver & transformer
3. Updated W9+ driver
4. Updated housing. The Valkyrie MKII shares the same housing as Odin in order to accommodate a revised driver positioning schematic.

The Valkyrie MKII has more bass impact and depth while the treble gets tamed for less harshness and more overall extension.

Now that sounds quite promising, and closer to my price range than Odin! I couldn't handle the harsh highs of Nemesis so traded it with someone who could to a Phantom. Valk MkII may be a more "musical" IEM than Phantom, which might fit my needs when I want less of a reference sound.

Speculating here. Dreaming

When can we expect the release so I can start saving?

 

[KuroKitsu]

Valkyrie MKII Updates:

1. Revised synX crossover network
2. Updated electrostatic driver & transformer
3. Updated W9+ driver
4. Updated housing. The Valkyrie MKII shares the same housing as Odin in order to accommodate a revised driver positioning schematic.

The Valkyrie MKII has more bass impact and depth while the treble gets tamed for less harshness and more overall extension.

Nothing about the mids, but the point about the revised crossover gives me hope. Will the mids become more prominent overall with this revision? Or just bass and treble related tweaks?

I'm also assuming the updated estat setup mean it needs less power to drive? I needed high gain on the WM1A at the same volume level compared to the Phantom.

 

[Barra]

There have been some very interesting discussions in the past about the use of tiers or scoring. Personally, I am of the opinion that it makes most sense in a one time "shootout" (or whatever you want to call it) type of format with clearly predefined criteria, rather than lists that are continually updated. The great advantage of the shootout format is that you are directly comparing IEMs to one another in accordance with the predefined criteria, which means the scoring is consistently applied across all IEMs. The main downside of it is that it is an incredible amount of work even with a relatively small number of IEMs. Continually updated rankings have the advantage in that they make it possible to get a global overview of a large number of IEMs. The main downside though is that the comparisons are not as rigorous because you can't compare that many IEMs directly to each other each time a new one is added, which means you would have to go by memory or old notes and that introduces an element variation in the application of any criteria that were initially set. To me (again, just my opinion) that variation is undesirable if I am to give a score or a rank to IEMs because that number would imply a level of exactness that is not really there. Of course I am being very picky here and it does not mean that rankings or tiers aren't useful, it is just to add some nuance.

This is why I like putting together my US tours - so HEADFIers can hear and rank them for themselves using their own audio gear and music in the comfort of their own homes. Then we all have something to discuss.

I like doing reviews as well, but tend to limit my reviews to only gear I like respectfully declining to review things I do not. Unfortunately, this comes across as me liking everything, but this is not the case. As for tiers and preferences, I definitely believe in tiers, low/med/top tiers then exotic for the best of the best. However, another dimension is use case - audiophile (resolution focus), fun (emotional, textures, holographic), bass (speaker/subwoofer-like), as well as "scale down" for on the go (sounds great on iPhone), or scale up for nice systems (SQ keeps rising with source). This extra dimension makes personal rankings difficult as I use different CIEMs for each of these use cases. However, I will likely have a CIEMs of note section in my new website to show off special cases as well as what I listen to most right now - but this section would be a moving target.

Right now my three most listened to CIEMs are the LX for fun, ELY for textures, and my Valkyrie for on the go as it sounds incredible on my iPhone. My Burson C3R takes all three to the next level with the LX and ELY going into the exotic range edging out full-sized exotic headphones.

 

[Spidermanxd]

This is why I like putting together my US tours - so HEADFIers can hear and rank them for themselves using their own audio gear and music in the comfort of their own homes. Then we all have something to discuss.

I like doing reviews as well, but tend to limit my reviews to only gear I like respectfully declining to review things I do not. Unfortunately, this comes across as me liking everything, but this is not the case. As for tiers and preferences, I definitely believe in tiers, low/med/top tiers then exotic for the best of the best. However, another dimension is use case - audiophile (resolution focus), fun (emotional, textures, holographic), bass (speaker/subwoofer-like), as well as "scale down" for on the go (sounds great on iPhone), or scale up for nice systems (SQ keeps rising with source). This extra dimension makes personal rankings difficult as I use different CIEMs for each of these use cases. However, I will likely have a CIEMs of note section in my new website to show off special cases as well as what I listen to most right now - but this section would be a moving target.

Right now my three most listened to CIEMs are the LX for fun, ELY for textures, and my Valkyrie for on the go as it sounds incredible on my iPhone. My Burson C3R takes all three to the next level with the LX and ELY going into the exotic range edging out full-sized exotic headphones.

Because of Barra tour, I has bought more than 6 sets of EE iem, that not counting many other iem from tour he put together

 

[ctsooner22]

what a thread the last few pages have become. I have to catch up, sorry as I don't want to take us off topic.

First off IRT reviewers. I respect all of them who do this for fun and who are honest. Yes, many have an agenda, but the ones I've met because of this board are great guys who don't seem to be shilling by any means. I have become friends with Nic because of his shootout. We still stay in touch occasionally. He and I look for something similar in our sound. The other one I have met in person and respect the heck out of is Twister. I also love Deezel's reviews.

Folks just need to read the interviews and try to figure out which person/s are most similar to your own ears. One of my best friends now writes for a publication called The Absolute Sound. It's the granddaddy of rags for 2 channel and now some portable gear. He's a plastic surgeon, but does it for fun and to access even more cool gear. It takes a LOT of time to do a thorough review. He's entertaining and as detailed as it gets. It's fun as I used to write a lot of reviews and now do mostly soft ones (just long posts about my thoughts with various gear), but like my friend Matt, I always say what I personally like, but like the ones over here, I believe they just say what they hear. they talk about sound signatures, boosts, suck outs, stage size etc... That's so folks can make their own decisions. We all have some things that we hear more than others. I fixate on leading edges adn overhangs of notes. Soundstage is IMPORTANT to me, while some I know, don't give a darn. To me, if it doesn't have the proper tambre, I can't enjoy the gear. I listen to enough live music, so maybe that's why this is so important to me.

What Barra is doing with his tours just helps the whole industry and even though he isn't doing this for congratulations, he surely deserves it if anyone does.

I really enjoy this community as I've gotten to meet some of you and love your passion. Kubig, when this is all over, I still need to get to the city to meet up wiht you. I"m going to bring you to one of my 2 channel stores in Verona!!! Get ready to be blown away . Thanks to all for letting me play. Can't wait to get my Odin's and talk about them.

Also, as was posted, cables are NOT cheap to make.

 

[gc335]

The Nemesis seems to be really underrated in the EE lineup. Many people forget it also has dual W9 drivers although not tuned the same as in Legend X. Curious how the Nemesis bass will compare to Odin's bass.

I totally agree! I love the Nemesis! I really liked the LX but sold it because I prefer the Nemesis.

Actually, Nemesis has a bit more subbass than Lx which has a bit more midbass

Agreed! It comes across as tighter in IMO! The Nemesis assigns different frequencies to each w9.

 

[Flappy]

Less overall impact than Legend X and Nemesis but more slam, depth and extension than Bravado and Valkyrie. Definitely a different signature as it's more mid-forward than any of the 4 mentioned models. Really pays homage to Zeus and the original EarWerkz Legend with some X-series bass love

Oh man, the Hero is sounding like it will be the best IEM for my ears. I found the bass on the Legend X to be too much. Looking forward to getting mine.

 

[IEMusic]

I’m in the process of researching the EE X Series IEMs, for a great bassy sound. I know the EE LX has been the king, with a very well balanced overall sound, but with insane yet well controlled bass. This is clearly what I’m most interested in. But how do the others compare? From my limited research, it seems that:
- Vantage - comparable bass to LX, but with a much darker overall sound signature. Very thick and lush sounding.
- Nemesis - comparable bass to LX, with similar midrange, but with a huge treble peak around 6-8KHz. I doubt I’d be able to tolerate it.
- Bravado - so, how does this one fit in? I realize it has one DD, but how does the bass compare overall, and how are the mids and treble?

Thanks for any input.

 

[KuroKitsu]

A video showing ALL of the new models including the MkII's... would be great if someone was able to translate.

Impressions weren't a long part of the video. Copied this from my Discord translation for a fellow Headfier

• Bravado is balanced/neutral
• ESR/EVR had noticeable improvements with the Estats added. In HQ music ofc. EVR has mids more forward and the bass and treble are slightly spaced out from the mids.
• Hero is aggressive, very lively and impactful. LX low end with the mids and treble of the Zeus XIV. Overall agressive and exciting. They specifically mention an example of Hero being the iem you want it if you're waking up groggy in the morning and want to walk into the office fully alert.
• Valk is not as aggressive as Hero, but lively bass. Upper mids focused still, mids are generally more forward, so not much change it seems.
• Odin is uh really good, really good. Soungstage, seperation, but still lively and intimate of sorts
• The 1960 cable match is really good, don't need to cable roll for Odin. Also apparently they call PWA just P W.

 

[proedros]

Impressions weren't a long part of the video. Copied this from my Discord translation for a fellow Headfier

• Hero is aggressive, very lively and impactful. LX low end with the mids and treble of the Zeus XIV. Overall agressive and exciting. They specifically mention an example of Hero being the iem you want it it you're waking up groggy in the morning and want to walk into the office fully alert.
• Odin is uh really good, really good. Soungstage, seperation, but still lively and intimate of sorts
• The 1960 cable match is really good, don't need to cable roll for Odin. Also apparently they call PWA just P W.

lucky us , still no custom version for both (if i had money , i would probably buy both....)