[Owludio]

Still deciding S8F or Roland.

While S8f/p is an upgrade for what you have although Sony XB50AP indicates that you might like good DD bass (I owned XB90 in the past). S8 will not give you that. Also, S8p is Harman tuned, fun sounding (assuming S8F even more so), while Roland IMO has closer to Difused Field kind of tuning which departs far from anything I heard before except for Etymotics er4s (minus brightness and 7K peak that er4s are known for). Roland sounds very realistic and and everything else sounds V-shaped in comparison.
Edit: It looks to me that S8P is Fearless best attempt of Harman-esk response, while Roland, i guess, is DF with rolled of treble. Most likely it's tuned by someone with good ears at Fearless Audio, regardless of the common comp. curves, just to get realistic natural sound.

So basicly at the moment 1k budget. S8F +M11 or just Roland? And keep saving for DAP

Roland sounds remarkably good with all sources including FiiO BTR3. With Roland I find myself less compelled to switch to my DAP or external DAC as it it steamrolls through any possible LDAC compression artifacts without exacerbating them and doesn't bother me at all. (Note: I'm one of those few who moved from Spotify to Google play & Tidal because Spotifys OGG Vorbis compression artifacts were messing up high hats for me, couldn't bear it anymore).
With Roland - between Galaxy8+ 3.5mm out and multiple LDAC BTs - need for my Hiby R6 diminished greatly - so no rush with a DAP.

These are fantastic. (70-80's rock/ 90's Hip Hop)

Cannot comment on Phantoms but Roland, besides mentioned above, also sounds good with many terrible mastered 90's and early 2000's Pop recordings, chews right trough some busy Rammstein live recordings, my friends wanted me to hear (normally I cannot tolerate that kind of music for more than a minute) Roland is amazingly forgiving and it does not come at the expense of treble details.

 

[jsmiller58]

Oh mercy, feel free to help me out, too! I'm learning along the way, and if I can help one other person grab something I've barely grasped myself, it's a win all around!

I hope you find your "best next," though I suspect that might have already been ordered, or, should I say, pre-ordered?

Oh yeah, I am most definitely looking forward to THAT ONE!

 

[progdvd]

While S8f/p is an upgrade for what you have although Sony XB50AP indicates that you might like good DD bass (I owned XB90 in the past). S8 will not give you that. Also, S8p is Harman tuned, fun sounding (assuming S8F even more so)... .

Yes I like good extended sub bass and punchy authoritive mid bass, but what happened with Sony xb50ap I basicly went into the store I blind bought it. Bass is way to overpowering on that thing. Soon afterwards I gave it to my wife and she doesn't seem to mind. Hell, for her $5 flea market buds sound OK
Looks like it's S8F for me.
And you're right no need to hurry with DAP, I've got xdsd for now... Later we'll see.

 

[TAsme]

If you are not in need of streaming etc skip all those new devices and go for a used qp1r/calyx m or a dethonray dtr1 prelude. I would pick all 3 of em over any fiio/ibasso/ak device at any given time.

S8f for me is such a fun iem to listen to. I dont consider it harsh at any time with the 3 above mentioned devices, the bass is great and definitely not lacking and treble is the big star of the show.
I love rock and metal, and i cannot see why one would pick the roland over the s8f/p..

 

[warriorpoet]

If you are not in need of streaming etc skip all those new devices and go for a used qp1r/calyx m or a dethonray dtr1 prelude. I would pick all 3 of em over any fiio/ibasso/ak device at any given time.

S8f for me is such a fun iem to listen to. I dont consider it harsh at any time with the 3 above mentioned devices, the bass is great and definitely not lacking and treble is the big star of the show.
I love rock and metal, and i cannot see why one would pick the roland over the s8f/p..

S8F is a more natural fit for rock and metal for sure.

 

[Owludio]

If you are not in need of streaming etc skip all those new devices and go for a used qp1r/calyx m or a dethonray dtr1 prelude. I would pick all 3 of em over any fiio/ibasso/ak device at any given time.

S8f for me is such a fun iem to listen to. I dont consider it harsh at any time with the 3 above mentioned devices, the bass is great and definitely not lacking and treble is the big star of the show.
I love rock and metal, and i cannot see why one would pick the roland over the s8f/p..

I kind of agree, while Roland handles Rock and Metal without harshness, it does not add color and may sound dull.

 

[progdvd]

S8F is a more natural fit for rock and metal for sure.

Progressive, Power, Trash, Melodic Death Metal, Hard Rock, AOR, Blues, 80's EVERYTHING, Chillout, Ambiental, Instrumental, Acoustic, Soundtracks, Classical, and EDM

S8F should be good fit for me as well.

 

[soundblast75]

I kind of agree, while Roland handles Rock and Metal without harshness, it does not add color and may sound dull.

Tool sounds pretty good even without EQ

 

[mungster]

.

 

[Owludio]

Tool sounds pretty good even without EQ

That's because Tool mastering appears to be superb. No need to spice it up. BTW, thank you for mentioning Tool. It's not like any metal I've ever heard(of course I'm not a metal-head)
It does sound great with Roland as well as with LX. Depending on the song it's a toss up. And I don't ever feel need to EQ Roland, don't ask why, I'm failing to figure it out myself

 

[warriorpoet]

Tool sounds pretty good even without EQ

It really does. Most rock/ metal I'm looking for a colored IEM. That kind of brick-wall super compressed thing doesn't do super well with flat 'phones

 

[redrol]

Wait wait wait. If the Roland is DF tuned, Im ordering right damn now. Someone verify this?!

 

[warriorpoet]

Wait wait wait. If the Roland is DF tuned, Im ordering right damn now. Someone verify this?!

Sent you a complicated looking PM

 

[mr.karmalicious]

On the note of S8F and TOTLs... The S8F is absolutely fatiguing for me, and I didn't really realize it until I got the Legend X. I can listen to that for as much time as I want, but my head starts to hurt after 1-2 hours with the S8F. It may just have too much treble energy for me, I dunno--hearing tops out at about 18k. Might just be getting fatigued by stuff that's not super audible but still takes physical effort for my ears to listen to?

Looking at the graphs, that doesn't really make sense, though. Maybe I'm just sensitive period, and it's the 3k-7k stuff that tires me out...

(You know, it's also nice to see that I'm not totally crazy for thinking that the S8F and LX don't have super different sounds, as I noted like 1-200 pages ago when I first demo'd them. Particularly interesting is that exact lineup from ~5k-11k...)

 

[warriorpoet]

On the note of S8F and TOTLs... The S8F is absolutely fatiguing for me, and I didn't really realize it until I got the Legend X. I can listen to that for as much time as I want, but my head starts to hurt after 1-2 hours with the S8F. It may just have too much treble energy for me, I dunno--hearing tops out at about 18k. Might just be getting fatigued by stuff that's not super audible but still takes physical effort for my ears to listen to?

Looking at the graphs, that doesn't really make sense, though. Maybe I'm just sensitive period, and it's the 3k-7k stuff that tires me out...

(You know, it's also nice to see that I'm not totally crazy for thinking that the S8F and LX don't have super different sounds, as I noted like 1-200 pages ago when I first demo'd them. Particularly interesting is that exact lineup from ~5k-11k...)

You'd love the S8P.