I currently own the EX-1 2nd Gen and having owned the EX-1 1st Gen and the Titan 5, I can safely say they are a substantial progression over the entire Titan line. The amount of tireless, careful tuning alone that went into the midrange is readily apparent. The EX-1 1st Gen, as fantastic of a first that they were, sounds a bit recessed, incoherent, and synthetic. The Titan 5, while it was an improvement, straddled a tiny bit too far on the warm side of neutrality. The EX-1 2nd Gen has better presence, tonality and dimension in the midrange in than any earphone I have demoed besides the DUNU DK-3001. Apart from the fantastic midrange, the EX-1 2nd Gen carefully tightens up the bass and makes the treble transition a bit smoother, still retaining the soaring topmost sparkle of the 1st Gen model. It kind of reminds me of the DN-2000J I briefly owned except it has better upper treble reach, is more open sounding, and has a more comfortable ergonomic fit. In other words, I would call it superior--a bold claim, to be sure--to the more expensive DN-2000J. But the fun does not stop there: I would also argue it performs better than even many open-backed headphones, including the classic teutonic triple, the DT 880, Q701, and HD600. Irregardless of price or performance, the EX-1 2nd Gen is your best bang-for-your-buck earphone on the market.