[cooperpwc]

 
Oh lawdy, I love Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. It's pretty much the only show I watch on television that isn't on Adult Swim.
 
I haven't listened with the Piano Forte IX or X yet, but I have listened with the Fostex TH900. That counts for something surely. I mean, I figure both it and anything from FAD are sufficiently glitzy.

 

 
Here is a funny article on the show. It is actually meta-irony in that HCHBB may actually be the most important new series on American television. The article links some interesting analysis, particularly the Guardian, Globe and Mail, and Ada Calhoun, a parenting expert, in the LA Times. The Thompson's are a good family in their own redneck hillbilly way. And hilarious...!

 

[music_4321]

Quote:

I stand behind what I'm hearing, but I've sent my GR07 to NC as a sort of verification.

 
I have posted the contents of a PM I received earlier today from the person eke2k6 sent the FI-BA-SS to so they could also compare them to the GR07 MK II using the same tracks eke2k6 had used: Here.

 

[tomscy2000]

I haphazardly listened to the X-G and IX today, once again, and I still prefer the IX by a significant margin. I'll try to get a listen to the X-CC sometime soon. I think the X-G is most definitely an acquired taste; it's almost too horn-like and grand feeling to sound 'correct' for me. The IX has more subtlety to its sound.
 
Oh, and if anyone is still interested in getting the 1601s, apparently, the old-style plating of the surfaces wasn't very robust compared to the ones now, and so there is a good chance the copper 1601s will start oxidizing from the inside out. My friend's 1601SC has begun to oxidize at various points on the surface, cropping up in spots of ugly, brownish tarnish. I do, however, quite enjoy the sound of the 1601SC.

 

[cooperpwc]

I am increasingly intrigued by the FI-BA-SS with all that is being written (and what I read in certain signatures etc.)
 
How is the isolation?

 

[eke2k6]

I've asked NC to evaluate both iems at higher volumes for two reasons,
 
1) The FI-BA-SS, to my ears, is king at very low volumes. However whenever you go up on the volume, things change very rapidly in that the upper mids tend to dominate the treble.
 
2) To me, the GR07 sounds significantly better at higher volumes. My ideal volume rests between 50-75% (depending on my mood) of the iPhone 4's total volume.

 

[arekkusu0107]

Photo comparison of XG & XCC
 
1. Box of XG

 
2. Top one : XG  ; Bottom one: XCC

 
3. The one on the left is XG and the right one is XCC
 
 

I currently own the XCC but I must admit that the XG sounds more engaging to me 

 

[cooperpwc]

Quote:

Photo comparison of XG & XCC
...I currently own the XCC but I must admit that the XG sounds more engaging to me 

 
Thanks for these pics. I think that yours (X-CC) is the better looking of the two. I am surprised that they should sound different at all.

 

[music_4321]

Quote:

I am increasingly intrigued by the FI-BA-SS with all that is being written (and what I read in certain signatures etc.)
 
How is the isolation?

 
Isolation is pretty decent, close to Westone/Shure universals and much, much better than that on the Piano Fortes.

 

[MuppetFace]

Quote:

I am surprised that they should sound different at all.

 
Yeah. They are the exact same earphone, just a different finish. Could be a case of subtle product variation, or perhaps something psychological (ie. "the grass is always greener").

 

[eke2k6]

From NC regarding volume:
 
 
 

Contrary to what may seem to be, to quote from my impressions:

The SS, as you know, is at times too efficient, and when comparing it to anything else (with the exception of my FitEar 334), volume matching becomes quite difficult. Having gotten relatively used to my own SS, however, I was able to volume match fairly quickly...

When I volume matched the SS to the MK II, the latter was already at the brink of my tolerance, which means that all throughout, so was the SS. If I had pushed any one of them any further up, it'd have been (quite literally) unbearable for me to listen to.

I ask this because the FI-BA-SS is king at very low volumes, but its 'flaws' really start to show at higher volumes.

Agree to disagree, my friend. As mentioned, the SS was already at the brink of tolerance for me, and if I were to push any IEM past the brink of tolerance, it'd be very difficult for me to critique, since, again, it'd be unbearable for me to listen to.
 
I believe what it boils down to is that we hear things differently, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Neither one of us is right/wrong, and just as you've done, I'm merely telling it as I hear it (naysayers welcome). 

 
From what I can tell, it just seems NC and myself hear things differently. I guess we'll wait for James' tie-breaker. 

 

[psygeist]

Are SS and SB close enough in efficiency ? Because I don't need to raise volume as much with SB as with other IEMs.

 

[cooperpwc]

Quote:

 
Isolation is pretty decent, close to Westone/Shure universals and much, much better than that on the Piano Fortes.

 
Quote:

 
Yeah. They are the exact same earphone, just a different finish. Could be a case of subtle product variation, or perhaps something psychological (ie. "the grass is always greener").

 
I will be visiting Hong Kong in a couple of weeks. I am really hoping to hear both the FI-BA-SS and the PF X (however gilded).

 

[tomscy2000]

I've been doing a lot of shooting lately, so I decided to slap this together.
 
I didn't spend a lot of time on it, and I took it with an ancient, small sensor (1/2.5") camera, so the image quality isn't stellar, but I lit it decently...
 

 ​

​

 

[james444]

^ Looks very nice to me - it's not so easy to take a good picture of these shiny things.

 

[cooperpwc]

^^  I like this very much.