[Ollie the bear]

I'm very much in wait and see mode with Fearless cables. You might consider purchasing a replacement from one of the more reputable cable makers. I prefer Electro Acousti or Gu.Craftsman. They both make GREAT cables.

If you're looking for something less expensive, here are a couple options:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33004747860.html?spm=2114.12010615.8148356.17.77254b275WvWki

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1000007909452.html?spm=2114.12010615.8148356.13.77254b27VzlUTS

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32985591610.html?spm=2114.12010612.8148356.4.c03110f6er96AL

Thank you for those links! I’m going to wait and see what cable comes with my Roland. Hopefully won’t need to upgrade it

 

[warriorpoet]

Warriorpoet, could you comment on how Gu Craftsman connectors fit in the Roland recessed slots? Also, how sound changed with copper, compared to original SPC? Thanks!

They fit fine. They're a little taller than the half height stock ends, but don't stick out far enought to be ugly. Pretty much any aftermarket cable will have the same look.

My biggest issue with the Fearless cable is that it doesn't seem very well assembled. The type of distortion I heard on my one good cable (before it eventually failed) typically results from bad soldering. Comparing anything properly assembled to the stock cable, in my experience, is an improvement. The Gu.Craftsman cables just happen to be VERY well constructed, and the copper cable, in particular, seems to match the Roland very well; it's smooth, detailed and balanced with anything I've ever paired it with, to varying degrees depending on how sensitive the IEM is. With the Roland, cable differences are easily noticeable, but my Alclair Studio 4, with an input impedance of 32R, is far less affected. FWIW, that's one reason my Alcairs are getting a thinner, lighter cable and my CIEM Rolands will have a big beefy hybrid cable

 

[Owludio]

@Owludio I am using right now budget iems to listen to that music like zhiyin z5000 ( heavily aged) and jbl t205 of alumni streets it works well

I'm listening to Late night Alumni on se846, N3ap and Roland. All good, TFZ No.3 is good option, direct upgrade for z5000 also very well built and about $90. N3ap is superior with its magnesium super twitter but $300.
Oh well, Roland is $1K but it's a masterpiece. I might be biased by now. I'm used to its sound signature and to me it's sounding the best... with everything. Until BGVP , or Fearless (or anyone) comes up with more affordable options of EST IEMs TFZ or Sony would be my recommendation.
Interestingly, that the only IEM completely devoid of sibilance on these tracks is Tin P1 planar. This is my analytic tool. With its 1 micron diaphragm it leaves CL2 (15 micron) behind IMO, I can hear details in voice, instruments background reflections, On good recordings I can hear when cymbals slide, splash, zing... It's very bright and overwhelming amount of details is everywhere. I'm sure even Twiceboss would find plenty of voice texture with P1, but the FR is so unnatural, not very musical and I don't anticipate someone coming with DSP correction to it (like cipher or SXFI).

 

[twiceboss]

Hey, out of topic i got my CL2 today and my very first impression, this sounds good without eq for my vocals and mids hungry. But i just tried with s10plus. Not yet with other amps. Just a quick 3.5mm copper cable that comes with it. Nice resolution.

 

[warriorpoet]

Roland questions from someone who is really interested in getting these.

How is the isolation on the Roland? Do you hear outside noise? Would they isolate enough for use on a noisy NYC subway commute? Are there any vent holes in the shells for the dynamic drivers?

How are the shells in size compared to the S6 Rui? I already have this model and they are boarding on just being a bit too big for my small ears

Thanks in advance for the help

Isolation is on par with my CIEMs. No vents.

Shells are smaller than S8Pro, not sure about the S6Rui, but I've heard those are smaller than the S8 as well. They are light as well, so fit shouldn't be a major issue for most.

 

[Owludio]

They fit fine. They're a little taller than the half height stock ends, but don't stick out far enought to be ugly. Pretty much any aftermarket cable will have the same look.

My biggest issue with the Fearless cable is that it doesn't seem very well assembled. The type of distortion I heard on my one good cable (before it eventually failed) typically results from bad soldering. Comparing anything properly assembled to the stock cable, in my experience, is an improvement. The Gu.Craftsman cables just happen to be VERY well constructed, and the copper cable, in particular, seems to match the Roland very well; it's smooth, detailed and balanced with anything I've ever paired it with, to varying degrees depending on how sensitive the IEM is. With the Roland, cable differences are easily noticeable, but my Alclair Studio 4, with an input impedance of 32R, is far less affected. FWIW, that's one reason my Alcairs are getting a thinner, lighter cable and my CIEM Rolands will have a big beefy hybrid cable

Thank a lot! Cannot wait for your impression on that. In the mean time I'm gonna get cheap co-spc hybrid cable to try on Roland as I had a lot of success with it. In fact it04 cable is hybrid and has bad MMCX. I might convert it to .78 2pin next week if I have time, to try it with Roland. iBasso wires are high quality. Although I'm very happy with 8 core cheap SPC so far.
2 cables failed? I must be lucky. I'm going to tear jack side stock Roland cable apart next week. Let's see what's up with that

 

[Owludio]

Hey, out of topic i got my CL2 today and my very first impression, this sounds good without eq for my vocals and mids hungry. But i just tried with s10plus. Not yet with other amps. Just a quick 3.5mm copper cable that comes with it. Nice resolution.

Buuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrn. They improve massively with it. Very happy to hear that you like it out of the box! That is unusual, and a testament of a good match to your preferred signature.

 

[twiceboss]

Buuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrn. They improve massively with it. Very happy to hear that you like it out of the box! That is unusual, and a testament of a good match to your preferred signature.

yeaa, but the spike kinda bothering me. It makes it sound too deep in my head.

 

[twiceboss]

Ok, will talk more in CL2 thread. :fly:

 

[zazaboy]

@Owludio very much thanks man ... I thank you for taking the time with the comparisons... thanks a lot I know enough

 

[bubukill17]

I no longer have CL2 so it's purely from memory.
CL2 sub-bass is bottomless, with some EQ can go terrifyingly low but... rather polite when it comes to sub impact and that was my problem with it. If u cannot achieve seal with minimum air between eardrum and nozzle it will not perform up to the hype! Roland has bass that is almost as linear but while some genres will give advantage to CL2 due to it's speed but to me Roland is more realistically sounding with real sub impact while being very well controlled.
I mentiond CL2 for it's uncanny realism but the 2-3-4Khz peak/hump didn't go away completely with source scaling and most of the time I was EQing it quite a bit. I would reduce mid bass 2db, 2K-2db, 4k-3db(or I was getting SHHHibilance), boosted treble some days.
CL2 is otherwise calmer, more polite sounding, I tolerated it's sound very well and found it's sound to be mesmerizingly pleasing for long sessions and falling asleep in.
Roland sounds more aggressive through low end to low mids but then it doesn't have 3K hump and sounds more balanced. CL2 has wonderful shimmer of the cymbals, I sometimes wish Roland had it but please don't take it as a criticism on Roland. This weekend I switched to lossless and find Roland growing on me rather fast
Treble seems to extend about the same, Soundstage is very good on Roland. I occasionally was getting comparable stage on CL2 but could't get a secure fit with that. One thing in common, both stages were having that room feel. If you have long ear-canals CL2 is non starter.

Would you say the CL2 is on the same level as the Roland if it would have sealed you better and after applying EQ?

Damn, I now got really interested in the CL2, I would save me a lot of money and the shipping would be way faster for me.

 

[Medikill]

Roland is stark contrast with LX, which needs very low impedance sources and descent power. Roland is very efficient iem. It sounds great with original R6 (10 Ohm!!) as well as with most of my LDAC BT adapters.
Roland is easy to drive and scales moderately with my desktop setup (Unlike Legend X which is hardly portable).

I'm curious as to why you say that about the LX, i have them and they run great off macbook, getting the R5 to compare against (i'm expecting will sound substantially better through balanced) but i don't think the LX requires a massive amount of power does it?

 

[Owludio]

Would you say the CL2 is on the same level as the Roland if it would have sealed you better and after applying EQ?

Damn, I now got really interested in the CL2, I would save me a lot of money and the shipping would be way faster for me.

CL2 was very good. I recommend reading CL2 thread from the about page 10
Shout out to fine Head-Fiers who were most influential to my own decision to buy CL2:

The isolation is phenomenal. I am at a store, grabbing some food, and not losing an inch of detail. This design blocks out everything.

30 hours in, the bass has literally come alive. Wouldn't have even dreamed of comparing these with the Vega 15 hours ago, but the sub bass, oh man, just punches when its present on the track.
I hope I am not getting carried away with new gear syndrome. Guys please check this and chime in, and tell me I am not imagining this. .

My personal reference in the domain of headphones is the Stax SR009 driven by a protoype of MalValves big KT120 amplifier (after some changes it became available as the "Headamp 1"). That setup is heavenly, but it also costs a small fortune. High-end performance equals high-end price, that's the usual rule. But here am with the DX150 and the CL2s, which combined come in at 1.300€ and I find the combination just as enjoyable. I am not saying that they objectively perform the same, that'd be an absurd statement, but I can have the same fun for a fraction of the price. That's honestly mind-blowing to me.

That hype train has been a joy ride No regrets.
But important. Why I wouldn't buy it today again, besides fit failure:
1. While CL2 is a masterpiece, the technology is getting dated. CL2 has 15 micron diaphragm. Tin P1 has 1 micron and for analytical resolution monster I have P1. (Note, I'm not recommending P1 for music enjoyment).
2. Nothing beats well implemented DD bass, and Roland bass is near flawless! (Highest quality compression type DD bass which I find more realistic then Legend X)
3. I'm treble head with cat hearing, so unless I'm congested because when sick or next day after grueling endurance workout, when my hearing goes down to 16K, and I have fun with Bass-head, and V shaped iems from my collection, - on normal days I want the best upper treble I can get, and nothing, not even 1 micron P1 - can beat Sonion ESTs. (Maybe Shure can, but that in my book is not portable.)

To be fair, if MMCX did't brake on me I would still have it. (and that largely was my fault, because CL2 otherwise is built like a little zirconium tank.)
Only Planar and now Roland have this mesmerizing effect on me that CL2 also had. So it had place in my collection, but Sony ier-z1r have blown me away about the same time...

 

[snip3r77]

Fearless Audio Paladin Series (Roland) An absolute game changer. This is the one, other companies are going to be chasing. As BBGAR has said; Just wait and see these Electro Static drivers crop up in other iems handling the highs. Great detail without sibilance. And (Not a Bright iem) an accurate detailed iem. Not the only virtue of the Roland though (Balance) all throughout the spectrum (nothing overbearing anything else) balance that is exceptional. I recently switched to an A&K Kann Cube as my primary DAP. All my headphones and iems just sounded better with the Kann Cube. But on the real I hadn't really upgraded since the FiiO X7. But back to the Roland. I remember how the Kann Cube made all my headphones and iems sound just so much better. Here enters Roland (Made all my DAPs) come to life like I never heard them before. That to me is special and worthy of notice.

i'd wait for 11/11 , wallet is tight atm

 

[Owludio]

I'm curious as to why you say that about the LX, i have them and they run great off macbook, getting the R5 to compare against (i'm expecting will sound substantially better through balanced) but i don't think the LX requires a massive amount of power does it?

No, NOT Power, (common misconception) - low output impedance. I actually drive LX the best from Shanling UP2 (0.3 Ohm) and Ear-studio BT (1.0 Ohm) but the bass is unacceptably loose and overpowers rest of the spectrum in much worse degree then from even semi-portable Creative E5, and from U7 Xonar on the desktop. BTW directly from Galaxy 8+ is about ok.
With R5 u shouldn't have problem for 2 reasons: OI is about 1-2 Ohm and sound is neutral like P2.
With my R6(10 Ohm), LX is unusable and Roland shines