[Brooko]

It comes from your blog and also your previous two postings before the above one.

It has nothing to do with the post you quoted. If you have an issue with me - take it to PM.

 

[expatriot]

SilverEars: I went back and read Brooko's posts and it seems to me you are parsing his words a little (maybe even a lot). Brooko only stated he has more practical experience with iems than most, and that could be good or bad. No where does he state on this forum what you say. As we used to say when I was in Vietnam back in 1969, "Opinions are like rectums and everybody has one." I cleaned it up a little for public dissemination.

 

[ruthieandjohn]

Thank you to @Dasm for responding to my question about big soundstage IEMs by pointing to the IT04, to @sino8r for pointing me to the generic triple flange tips with Symbios foam, and to @Brooko for identifying some great tracks for soundstage measurement.

As I mentioned, the statement that the FH5 has a high soundstage score is simply in relationship to the other two IEMs that I compared it to (SE535LTD and GR10e), but it can easily be mistaken to mean that it has a large soundstage among all IEMs. That is the disadvantage of rank order measurements... even a first grader can be “tall” by simply being taller than his classmates!

Also, I think that the comment that the FH5 was ranked low on “clarity” might also (in addition to the exaggerating effect of rank order scores) derived from equating “clarity” with “transparency,” which is the term that I used in the ranking. In my ranking, transparency means whether or not it sounds as if there is no barrier between the listener and the musician... no corners, walls, windows, or “Sennheiser veils” between you and the music. In this usage, transparency corresponds to treble extension and brightness, and indeed I found that the other two IEMs were brighter than the FH5.

Thanks for the great points!

 

[Dasm]

“clarity” with “transparency,

I think you right. I mean "clarity" as natural reproduction, without emphass on high frequency. FH5 gives very natural sounding. But "transparency" usuallu means treble emphass afaik. It is not big in FH5, and also it causes not too big soundstage

 

[Dasm]

transparency means whether or not it sounds as if there is no barrier

I listened to many of these, marked by the concept of transparency. There's just a lot of high frequency (IMFO of course)

 

[Dobrescu George]

@SilverEars , the Grado GR10e seems to have a particularly small sound stage, so both other IEMs could easily be larger (and are) without necessarily being particularly large. In fact, just as the Sennheiser HdD800 is well known in the headphone domain for its large soundstage, I wonder what the counterpart to a large soundstage IEM would be. Any ideas?

When I first joined head-fi in 2014, I posted a query asking folk to indicate what acoustic features they looked for in a headphone. Based on those comments (and based on advice received that each person has different preferences), I chose the 10 features that I did. Over the past four years, I have conducted well over 100 comparisons using that same feature set, providing a common reference basis, for good or for bad, to hold fixed as I compare various headphones. They are not without omission or fault — for example, there is no measure of vocal quality included. Furthermore, the simple rank ordering of three headphones at a time into first, second, and third place on each feature (rather than attempting to do an absolute rating of say high, medium, or low) tends to make small differences in performance on a acoustic feature seem larger than it is (and also tends to understate huge differences). However, it seems to me more error prone to try to rate, say, the soundstage of a headphone as H, M, or L in an absolute (rather than a comparative) sense, as that requires an attempt to figure out what an “average” sound stage across all headphones would be and how the headphone being examined compare to that average.

I'd say the largest sounding IEM to this date is IE80 from Sennheiser. It does not have a lot of instrument separation, but it is huge in size.

As for FH5, I'd say they are rather intimate, they place you next to the music

 

[Dasm]

I'd say the largest sounding IEM to this date is IE80 from Sennheiser. It does not have a lot of instrument separation, but it is huge in size.

As for FH5, I'd say they are rather intimate, they place you next to the music

I want to ask you - what is your preference between FH5 and IT04?

 

[highlightshadow]

My order of these arrived last night .... couldn't wait to try out ....

Really happy with them.... fit is amazing (i understand from reviews this is very subjective due to the short nozzle design) but for me they're brilliant.
Put some Spinfit CP145 tips on .... so so comfortable .... could probably have these on all day without a problem.

The wire i was concerned about - it looks kinda thick in the pictures, so thought it might be stiff and awkward. Couldn't be more wrong, it is probably a little larger than a normal braided cable (flatter anyway) it's exceedingly soft and flexible in a really good way (kinda like a braided cable) it just doesn't want to tangle. The plugs are solid. Ear loops contour nicely and just are spot on for me.

Sound quality, very noob person to all this, is brilliant. Will be living with these for a very long time since i don't have any audio sources to justify going more expensive.

 

[Dobrescu George]

I want to ask you - what is your preference between FH5 and IT04?

Very good question.

The most honest answer is that it depends on what I'm listening to. Some music simply works better with each.

For example, if I'm listening to some Mojo Juju, some kind of Avant Garde Jazz, it works better with FiiO FH5 due to its focus on a thick bassline, combined with a girl-ish sounding male vocal.

On the other hand, if I'm going for something that's supposed to sound bright and sparkly, like some metal, especially death metal, like say, Wintersun, then I prefer IT04, it works better with a larger soundstage, and with a brighter sound, with a less thick and quicker bass.

I'd probably go with them this way:

If the music requires a large soundstage: IT04

If the music requires a thick bassline: FH5

If the music requires impact in the bass: FH5

If the music requires female vocals to sound feminine and to have a strong emotion: FH5

If the music requires airy and bright cymbals: IT04

If the music requires quck bass / percution: IT04

If the music has lots of complex percution: IT04

If the music is supposed to be forward (like punk): FH5

If the music is supposed to be smoother: FH5

I think I tried my best when doing the reviews to recommend music styles like this, so people can look after what those IEMs compliment each musical style the best

FH5: Jazz, Electronic, Hip-Hop, Classic Metal, Thrash, Punk, Alternative, Dubstep, Techno, Downtempo
IT04: Orchestral, Symphnic, Symphonic Metal, Power Metal, -Core music (Hardcore, Post Hardcore, Emocore, Trancecore, anything that ends in core), Emo, Classical, Avant Garde

 

[CFGamescape]

Got my Symbio W tips in. They fit well, similar to the stock balanced and bass tips (the vocal tips don't fit well for some reason). I think these are a bit more resolving than the stock tips. I'll use these primarily because I paid $15 for a set of three, but I may like the stock balanced tips the most.

 

[Dasm]

Very good question.

The most honest answer is that it depends on what I'm listening to. Some music simply works better with each.



FH5: Jazz, Electronic, Hip-Hop, Classic Metal, Thrash, Punk, Alternative, Dubstep, Techno, Downtempo
IT04: Orchestral, Symphnic, Symphonic Metal, Power Metal, -Core music (Hardcore, Post Hardcore, Emocore, Trancecore, anything that ends in core), Emo, Classical, Avant Garde

Absolutely agree with you, under each item. In the end, I left both for myself, perfectly complement each other. But because I am jazz funboy - FH5 most part of time
The funny thing is that I never jazz listen before. But when I bought fh5 everything changed, now I practically only listen to jazz, so good on fh5, especially with the female vocal

 

[Brooko]

Absolutely agree with you, under each item. In the end, I left both for myself, perfectly complement each other. But because I am jazz funboy - FH5 most part of time
The funny thing is that I never jazz listen before. But when I bought fh5 everything changed, now I practically only listen to jazz, so good on fh5, especially with the female vocal

Have a search for a group called Portico Quartet. Jazz Fusion.

You can listen and purchase on Bandcamp

 

[Dobrescu George]

Absolutely agree with you, under each item. In the end, I left both for myself, perfectly complement each other. But because I am jazz funboy - FH5 most part of time
The funny thing is that I never jazz listen before. But when I bought fh5 everything changed, now I practically only listen to jazz, so good on fh5, especially with the female vocal

I actually listen to more Jazz with male vocals than with female vocals nowadays

Still, whenever the mood is right, I put in some Jill Tracy

Aso, songs like this are nice

 

[Dasm]

Have a search for a group called Portico Quartet. Jazz Fusion.

You can listen and purchase on Bandcamp

Thanks, but I like more "classicall" (I guess) - like

Have a search for a group called Portico Quartet. Jazz Fusion.

You can listen and purchase on Bandcamp

It is better on it04 imho. I like more smooth, now I love this singer Chantal Chamberland
Tell me if you know similar singers

 

[Dasm]

Del