[ianmedium]

I am getting there with this Album Paul but prog rock has never been a big thing for me though I guess I am like most people who don't know much about it, love ELP's Fanfare and forget the rest!

I know I will get there though as it is starting to pique my interest the more I listen.

I think the big thing musically that the PF's have done for me is actually getting me to like Steely Dan! For years I have tried but just could not get past Donald Fagens voice! The PF'S do something with it though that make it enjoyable.

Still though, what I am loving most is the way these portray jazz and early music and my favorite genre, American roots/ simple female Vocal music, the likes of Mary Chapin Carpenter, Iris DeMent,Emmylou and such. Bluegrass is so engaging with these.

Also, if you have some Arvo Part, you must listen! These convey his music so authentically.

 

[SpringBiscuit]

If you are looking for PF sound with IEM, i do recommend on the upcoming heaven VI, although it doesnt produce the wide open sound like PF due to IEM and earbud design, but the mid presentation is pretty promising =D

 

[Choon Beng]

Amazing Final Audio Design, Tried FI-BA-SS before, couldnt forget the sound until now....
Loving the transparency and detail.

 

[cooperpwc]

Quote:

If you are looking for PF sound with IEM, i do recommend on the upcoming heaven VI, although it doesnt produce the wide open sound like PF due to IEM and earbud design, but the mid presentation is pretty promising =D

 
Sounds good. I am quite interested in the Heaven VI.

 

[shotgunshane]

My second time around with the FI-BA-SS is a good one. Obviously my tastes have changed some since I first joined head-fi, as I didn't enjoy them this much the first time. Frankly it is quite impressive to me how much range, fullness and space FAD is getting from a single BA. It's rich and deep, as well as crisp and aggressive. It's also probably one of the most comfortable IEMs to wear. Only the tips touch my ear and Sony hybrids are very soft and work great for me . The only real complaint I have is that I now want one.

 

[cooperpwc]

^ Cool. I just arrived in HK. I hope to have to the opportunity to hear the FI-BA-SS Tuesday during a marathon Mongkok session.

And, if I'm lucky, the PF X too!

 

[music_4321]

Quote:

My second time around with the FI-BA-SS is a good one. Obviously my tastes have changed some since I first joined head-fi, as I didn't enjoy them this much the first time. Frankly it is quite impressive to me how much range, fullness and space FAD is getting from a single BA. It's rich and deep, as well as crisp and aggressive. It's also probably one of the most comfortable IEMs to wear. Only the tips touch my ear and Sony hybrids are very soft and work great for me . The only real complaint I have is that I now want one.

 
Hey shotgunshane --- Good to hear you're re-discovering this great phone.

 

[ianmedium]

^ Cool. I just arrived in HK. I hope to have to the opportunity to hear the FI-BA-SS Tuesday during a marathon Mongkok session.
And, if I'm lucky, the PF X too!

Firstly congrats shotgun on re-discovering the delights of the SS!

Paul, am going to be very interested in your views of the sonic differences, if any, between the X and IX.. Luckily for me the X is not even in my thought process due to what it is made of, after having the issue with the Heavens base metal thing the stainless steel models are the only way to go for me. Which means of course that sometime in the next year I will get a set of the SS's for outdoor and coffee shop use!

 

[shotgunshane]

I have no idea why I didn't really like them so much the first time.  I guess it is their unorthodox nature.  They are a bit impetuous, however I have really been enjoying them the last couple days, prompting me to write some unorthodox impressions. Please excuse their rambling and possibly incoherent nature.
_______
 
 
The SS is a dirty little vixen, devoid of etiquette. She can turn on a dime from prim and proper to screeching, kicking and clawing; so goes the quality of the recording, there goes the SS.

The vocalist is who she loves the most. She pulls in close and puts a loving hand on the microphone and beckons you in. Vocals are the anchor in this love affair but the dirty vixen also has a thing on the side with the drummer. The SS in particular likes his snare.  I can almost feel the sticks impact and the skins stretch. On second thought, I think she’s sleeping with the entire band.

She’s a cigarette smoker and a whiskey drinker. The SS doesn’t mind slumming and she enjoys hanging with the sleaze rock crowd. In fact, the SS has taken my previous distortion guitar favorites out back, kneed them in the groin, rubbed dirt in their faces and spit on them for good measure; then walks away leaving them in the gutter.
 
Love/Hate guitars couldn't possibly sound any nastier. I can practically feel Bones spitting his rap in Stuck Mojo. The wall of sound Sevendust produces is rich, deep and edgy.
 
Oh! Darling, the SS can play the role of the hippie.  George, John and Paul’s voices sound fantastic on the SS.  I get a live edge and an outdoor vibe from the SS with Abbey Road.  The Sheepdogs, I Don’t Know, sounds as if it was recorded on the back of a flatbed, out in a field somewhere. And now it’s on to glam and Bowie simply sounds wonderful… must-resist-eyeliner.
 
The SS isn’t very forgiving and she can be downright cruel at times but she’s just got a way about her that has me coming back for more.  

 

[eke2k6]

Great impressions! Very sensual visual.

 

[james444]

Yes, Sir! Those FADs bring out the poet in every man (except for Eke)

 

[music_4321]

Quote:

I have no idea why I didn't really like them so much the first time.  I guess it is their unorthodox nature.  They are a bit impetuous, however I have really been enjoying them the last couple days, prompting me to write some unorthodox impressions...

 
Hey, when you talk about the SS or PFs, you're supposed to come across as someone who's (much more) sophisticated!    Great post, BTW.
 
Quote:

Yes, Sir! Those FADs bring out the poet in every man (except for Eke)

 
You can say that again! 

 

[eke2k6]

Quote:

Yes, Sir! Those FADs bring out the poet in every man (except for Eke)

 
Ah, yes. My years in the gulag have severely diminished the little humanity I had. On top of it all, my crushing defeat at the hands (and long legs) of Usain Bolt have rendered me insensitive to the SS' charms.
 

 

[ianmedium]

I have to tell you that purchasing the IX's has probably been the most profound of all my HiFi purchases over the years for they have completely altered my listening habits.

For me they are just so right, they extract details within the mix that I have not experienced before in other headphones but at the same time they do this is a musically engaging way. If I try to listen to my LCD's I have to stop as I know I am missing so much, likewise any other of my headphones. The presentation simply won't do in comparison to the IX's. I have never experienced this polarizing experience before. Great though the LCD's are I could still listen to my IEMs and feel I was getting most of the performance but nothing comes close to what the IX's give.

I still maintain they are not for everyone but I take back two things I said when I got them. They do not give a mono like presentation, they give an almost out of the head soundstage, one in which each instrument is easily defined, likewise one can hear so much more clearly the multiple layers of instruments and how they interact with each other which adds to a more compelling experience in the overal sonic.

The other thing I take back is they do not do metal well. I went back to tools album and the track ticks and leeches, a really fast complex percussion. I think it is just my ears really getting used to the unique way these phones deliver music but I found nothing was left wanting now.

But more importantly what these wonders have done is change my listening landscape, I can't listen to them in my usual coffee shop environment as it is simply too noisy but I just cannot bring myself to compromise the sound I get with the IX's by listening to my heavens or er4s's, it is just too big a compromise, I simply do not enjoy it as much! I keep thinking, 'yeah, but this sounds so much more involving with the IX's so now I simply have my Etymotic's plugged into my iPad and listen to accu radio as background music whilst I write. This way I do not feel. Like I am lacking things and now I get to find out about new music as I go thorugh all the channels. Then I go buy the CD and listen to it properly at home!

This then begs the question why not get a home amp but it is simply not necessary as what I have now is so rewarding!

I actually used my Etymotic's yesterday for something completely different, I had to fly across country for a two hour meeting then take the red eye back arriving this morning. The Etymotic's saved my precious hearing from the aircraft noise so that it is pristine to be able to sit and listen to my IX's again!

 

[music_4321]

^ Very interesting thoughts.

I, like you, also mentioned the mono aspect of the IXs. Having now spent several months with them, I believe I understand these very unique phones a bit more. To me, the "excellent mono" (the actual words I used) aspect I mentioned refers to the feeling of listening to something which doesn't sound as 'left-and-right' as most other phones I have, ie the experience is closer to what I hear in real life, perhaps the sound being more binaural would be a better way to describe this. There seems to me a more holistic and organic feel to the way music is presented.

I'm still impressed by how all frequencies are rendered, but whenever I switch phones (or go back to the IXs), the first thing that always immediately grabs my attention is the midrange — there's sometimes some kind of sense of relief, as it's the IX's mids my ears seem crave more and feel most at home with. I agree that bass is superb, BTW.

Now, whatever happened to The Spirit of Eden?