Me too (LX and expense for an IEM so far). I have paid attention to the admonition of reviewers to let LX burn in for about 200 hours before forming a settled opinion about it. In tbe meantime I have rolled tips (Comply isolation plus TX-500 L works best especially with a bit of ear gel), and an audio chain that includes an Audiosensibility Statement silver USB cable (tightens up the bass). Looking forward to an Eletech Socrates when I can get my hands on one (backordered), a pairing which @twister6 and @ngoshawk both raved about. I will not go for an Evo because my ear anatomy is wonky (narrow entry to external canal then big inside) raising concerns about the bone conduction driver. Not (so far anyway) for Odin since as you say @mwhals $2000 remains a sort of mental upper limit for me. I realize that increasingly this defines the “upper mid-fi” region or at least not TOTL but given I am 64 years young and have persistent tinnitus for frequencies above 8500 Hz, that feels right for me.
I alternate between the Comply foams and large size Azla Sedna Xelastics, depending on the type of music I am listening to and also how long I’ve had the foams in (ears can get a bit sore and itchy after a couple of hours with foams though much better since I started to use ear gel) . EDM is better with the Xelastics, music with physical drums better with the foams. I’m a bit of a bass-head so I dont mind a bit of bloom at times - though as I mentioned the USB to my ears tightens up the bass (meaning shortens the decay, improves detail retrieval). It’s not much but I can hear the difference. I tried Spinfits that others suggested but the fit was not so good for me.
I find having 2 iems gives enough variety without veering into iem indecision. You do not want to spend half an hour of your listening time trying to figure out what iem you want to listen to that day. I'd be careful about declaring anything an all-rounder though, that kinda stuff starts wars here.
The problem I had with multiple flagships was that they tend to have a lot of overlap. With most of them aligning to your preferences and small areas of uniqueness. I really can't justify that personally. Odin and A12t solves all my problems.To be honest I can't think of too many true all rounder flagship IEMs these days (that's not to say there aren't any, I can still list a handful). Most seem to want their flagship to stand out and have a unique identity that's tied to the brand. A lot of flagships can co exist in a collection and that's what makes this hobby so damn expensive. I'm the kind of guy who usually prefers all rounders so it's nice that I get to save some cash that way since they're usually priced lower
That being said I'd happily fit a custom Odin in my collection...
HF needs an automatic filter that converts "all rounder" to "signature you enjoy the most"
Clearly the anwser is that there is no conflict between Mc Donalds and a Michelin Star meal. My finances on the other hand....
The fact that Odin is a resolution monster is also what makes it oddly dislikable part of the time. It passes quickly though
The Genesis definitely tames the treble, in the vein of the LX I'd probably throw a warm silver on the Evo, Definitely will be hitting the shop to try that out once I get one.
That bass, oh lord. If the treble wasn't so tamed, I'd be building a slush fund into the renovations for it.
Agreed. I have owned/tried a good variety of iems since i owned EVO. Nothing comes close to that bass quality. Admittedly i have moved away from my Basshead preferences so i would probably like few dbs off the entire bass shelf to make it more all rounder, but hey its not what Legend is about. My real deal breaker was lack of upper treble presence on it in relation to bass.
I have been force feeding EE this. Jack is on board so save your coins.
This isn't entirely true because Wraith (with the right source and enough power) was a treble monster. But yes definitely a shift in directiion since the Olympus line.
