following (reminder: these are rough impressions, without burn-in)
(IEM listened to with AK240, headphone to Pioneer U05 Sabre 2x 9016 --> iFi iCAN Pro)
2. detail
3. purity, cleaness
4. speed
For all three I find it excellent
I would say in the order of the HD 800 or of the AKG K812 ("analytical", very detailled)
so clearly better than the warmer sound of the top Sonorous and even more of the top PF
Yet no way a match for the utlimate detail, purity and speed of the Utopia
5. punch
excellent
definitely much much more punchy than the HD 800,
more than the top PF, than the top Sonorous
I guess at least as much as the K812,
still no match for incredible punch of the Utopia.
6. tonal balance
I mean these relative feeling of the sound being dark, neutral, bright
It seems neutral, like the Utopia
so re. the "dark side", unlike the Sonorous X and top PF (little dark), VIII (darker, I would say moderately dark)
and re. the "bright side", unlike the HD 800 (bright) and K812 (even brighter).
This quite an achievement because detailed HP achieve this at the expense of having a bright sound,
making them unsuitable for long session of listening to metal music.
so : excellent
7. bass
what I can hear, very roughly :
....................................20 Hz..........32 Hz.........45 Hz......... 63 Hz
PF (all of them).............0.................0...............about 0........about 1/2
PF with EQ...................0..................0..............about 1/2.....about full
LAB II............................0.................0..............1/2................about full
LAB II with EQ...............0................0...............about full.....full
Focal Sphear.................0.................weak........about full....full
Focal sphar w EQ..........0................about full...full
FI-BA-SS.......................0................weak.........about full.....full
FI-BA-SS w EQ.............0................about full...full
Sonorous X, VIII............very weak..1/2............full
HD 800..........................very weak..1/2............full
K812..............................very weak..1/2............full
Utopia............................about full....full
So compared to the PF the win is only about 10 Hz not so much,
Jalo, re. Final FR curve, it is a log scale (dB), not linear (e.g a decrease of 10dB would mean 50% decrease in SPL)
so even if the curve goes until 20 Hz, it still already inaudible around 40 Hz.
the FI-BA-SS goes about 20 Hz deeper than the LAB II.
This is the real weak spot of the LAB II
10 Hz better than PF, but really far from being good enough (still way much better than JH Harvey Layla).
8. width of sounstage
huge, at least as much as PF
There the LAB II clearly bests the Utopia.
HD 800 seems wider
9. depth of soundstage
again huge at least as much as PF,
but so seems the Utopia re. depth,
difficult to compare quickly for me
10. angular imaging
11. depth imaging
clearly superior to PF here which are themselves in turn clearly superior to HD 800 here.
comparing with the Utopia which as also a super precise imaging,
I don't know again, not easy for me to compare quickly like this.
12. practical aspects :
similar to special fit of the PF,
but the LAB feels much lighter (holes = less metal), do not fall so easily
I could not see any sign allowing to distinguish the L and R sides.
Conclusion : fantastic IEMs
among all of Final's product I own this is by far the best,
and it bests most headphones.
I wish it had had the PF's strong mystical coloration,
but I can't have it both ways: detail, neutrality, etc.
It does not have the incredible realism of the Utopia,
but goes in the same direction, a huge achievement.
Definitely no money wasted here, I am very happy having found and bought them,
thank you for your recommendations and hints, Jola and Rumina