[Pansbjorne]

Does anyone have any impressions of the sound difference when using the various atom modules on KR5? - curious to try, but they look a bit of a pain to change!

Very briefly, imo

Gold: most V shaped and most treble, reduced soundsage
Silver: most neutral, least bass
Black: increased lows and mids

I like gold and black personally

 

[twister6]

Does anyone have any impressions of the sound difference when using the various atom modules on KR5? - curious to try, but they look a bit of a pain to change!

Covered it all here for XE6, KR5, and NE4

 

[Scubadevils]

Time for some early stage, but well-considered impressions on KR5.

The fit first of all is fantastic for me - incredibly comfortable for extended sessions with no pain, pressure, or fatigue - very much on my mind following my recent unfortunate experience with Kublai Khan.

I've been using the Effect Audio Eros S cable, and most listening via LPGT. I've tried quite a few tips, and landed now on the excellent SpinFit W1 - I already have two packs, and a 3rd ordered!

KR5 has a large, holographic soundstage with fantastic revealing tonality. While detail retrieval is excellent, it's by no means in-your-face or analytical, it has a smooth/refined/organic sounding presentation of music that is both highly engaging, and at the same time, offers a wonderful sense of technical prowess.

Bass is foopin fantastic I hear a relatively even spread of sub to mid, probably leaning somewhat towards sub - with excellent distinction. Tracks with heavy sub emphasis present very much in the middle of my head, and radiate outwards in a wonderfully visceral way.

Mids are clear, articulate, detailed and with good body. Maybe my ears aren't sufficiently fine-tuned, but I'm not as yet missing out on upper mids - still a lot of testing to do though, and only really scratching the surface of my library.

Treble has excellent extension and a lovely 'zing' when called for. I find well executed treble like this is excellent for timbre realism, and percussion really stands out on KR5 - both timbre and positioning on the stage, absolutely fantastic. I've not yet found anything harsh or sibilant, the uppers definitely hitting a sweet spot for me.

It's difficult in my experience/opinion for a multi-driver to compete with a single DD when it comes to coherency, but KR5 does a mighty fine job - in spite of the large, holographic stage, KR5 sounds wonderfully connected, yet wows me with the seemingly endless layers of intricate micro, and macro detail... but again, in a sort of organic and smooth presentation.

Early days being only on day two, and a lot of listening still to do but I'm thoroughly enjoying. I'm more inclined to listen to the energetic segments of my library so far, albums that benefit from the fantastic bass and crisp/airy/detailed treble - still to properly test my much loved ambient, modern classical etc but I'll get there over the weekend.

Big thumbs up

Top

 

[BartekR]

Time for some early stage, but well-considered impressions on KR5.

The fit first of all is fantastic for me - incredibly comfortable for extended sessions with no pain, pressure, or fatigue - very much on my mind following my recent unfortunate experience with Kublai Khan.

I've been using the Effect Audio Eros S cable, and most listening via LPGT. I've tried quite a few tips, and landed now on the excellent SpinFit W1 - I already have two packs, and a 3rd ordered!

KR5 has a large, holographic soundstage with fantastic revealing tonality. While detail retrieval is excellent, it's by no means in-your-face or analytical, it has a smooth/refined/organic sounding presentation of music that is both highly engaging, and at the same time, offers a wonderful sense of technical prowess.

Bass is foopin fantastic I hear a relatively even spread of sub to mid, probably leaning somewhat towards sub - with excellent distinction. Tracks with heavy sub emphasis present very much in the middle of my head, and radiate outwards in a wonderfully visceral way.

Mids are clear, articulate, detailed and with good body. Maybe my ears aren't sufficiently fine-tuned, but I'm not as yet missing out on upper mids - still a lot of testing to do though, and only really scratching the surface of my library.

Treble has excellent extension and a lovely 'zing' when called for. I find well executed treble like this is excellent for timbre realism, and percussion really stands out on KR5 - both timbre and positioning on the stage, absolutely fantastic. I've not yet found anything harsh or sibilant, the uppers definitely hitting a sweet spot for me.

It's difficult in my experience/opinion for a multi-driver to compete with a single DD when it comes to coherency, but KR5 does a mighty fine job - in spite of the large, holographic stage, KR5 sounds wonderfully connected, yet wows me with the seemingly endless layers of intricate micro, and macro detail... but again, in a sort of organic and smooth presentation.

Early days being only on day two, and a lot of listening still to do but I'm thoroughly enjoying. I'm more inclined to listen to the energetic segments of my library so far, albums that benefit from the fantastic bass and crisp/airy/detailed treble - still to properly test my much loved ambient, modern classical etc but I'll get there over the weekend.

Big thumbs up





Top

Spinfit W1 - these also are my favourite with Xe6 - the most full range and comfortable.
Previously was using Final E or noname FIR's stock double flange.

Does anybody know what those FIR's stock double flange are?
They have a nice seal and low end.
I asked FIR few times and they never responded clearly regarding any of the tips they provide

 

[zolom]

I am very impressed how much difference a silver cable can make in combination with Xe6, with stock scorpion cable Xe6 is warm, smooth sounding IEM, when I bought Effect Audio Cleopatra, Xe6 became detail monsters (more detailed than Traillii imho) especially on bass and mids, if comparing to EE Legend EVO with Cleopatra cable I can say that XE6 bass is something very special, I hear incredibly punchy and technically perfect, a bit dry (almost armature) bass with lots of sub bass. Mids are very intimate with very good microdynamic. So if someone finds the Xe6 too warm, and wants to push the XE6 to another level in resolution and details, with a colder sound signature, try the EA Cleopatra cable.

Is there a recommended cable with similar characteristics and audio contribution as the Effect Audio Cleopatra (mentioned above), at a more reasonable price? Say, at 100$ to 200$?

For the Xe6.

Thanks.

 

[zeroshiki]

still on honeymoon period with xe6, it just sounds so good and organic!!

meanwhile,

i must share something interesting i found out with xe6..

on my dx300, i notice the xe6 drains the battery much faster than my other iems(fourte, indigo, mext), this is on the same gain level, lower volume setting on xe6, which i found a bit strange.. not sure if this is normal and would be great if anyone could confirm they experience the same thing with theirs..

also, the xe6 won't pair well with ibasso dc06 out of pc, a ground loop noise like a crickety rhytmic sound constantly appears on the L channel, this makes the xe6 unusable for the chain.

never mind it though, i have the dc06 for just screening music/non critical listening out of pc anyways, and usually use a cheap(but nice) iem, it's the tripowin olina..

 

[bogdan belonozhko]

Hi All, just wanted to put out a notice that we recently had a package lost in shipment with a large number of non retail Frontier products. There has been a report that a listing was seen on head-fi for them. Please be aware and report it to my DM or head-fi admins if you see it.

 

[toaster]

Yikes.

Good luck finding and recovering what can be saved.

 

[BartekR]

i must share something interesting i found out with xe6..

on my dx300, i notice the xe6 drains the battery much faster than my other iems(fourte, indigo, mext), this is on the same gain level, lower volume setting on xe6, which i found a bit strange.. not sure if this is normal and would be great if anyone could confirm they experience the same thing with theirs..

With Gryphon Xe6 drains battery faster too - in comparision to i.e. Dorado2020. From 7-8 hours to maybe 5-6.

 

[Andorn]

After two months of waiting, I finally got my XE6 CIEM today. This is my first CIEM and therefore particularly exciting for me to get to know this form of IEM.

At first I was totally disappointed and thought that FIR accidentally delivered me a wrong XE6 for another customer, because the XE6 apparently did not fit into my ears. But after I have figured out the right way to use it, it just fits perfectly in my ears.

Then I had the next shock, because I was killed by the bass in the first moment. The bass was much more intense than in my test with a UIEM XE6 two months ago. But after spending the first two hours with the XE6 with my Ode to Laura and the N8II, I have a huge smile on my face. My enthusiasm is currently increasing with every additional piece of music I hear with it.

Of course, it is currently far too early for a well-founded evaluation, but after listening almost exclusively to the Traillii for the last two months and totally falling in love with the Traillii, the XE6 seems to be the hoped-for addition to him and my other IEM's.

From the first impression I think that the communication with N8II MG, P+, SS and OTL harmonizes great. My FT or Venom as well as my M9 obviously fit very well to the XE6, but so far I like this pairing the most. The fact that the FT fits well with the XE6 has been mentioned many times, but how well it harmonizes with the Venom surprised me quite a bit. The M9 also sounds good from the first impression with the XE6. Each of these pairings seem to work really well, but I really like N8II + Ode to Laura. I'm really excited to see where my journey with the XE6 will take me in the next few weeks.

In any case, I'm very happy that I took the risk and decided on my first CIEM on the XE6. I am convinced that in this case this leads to a great added value compared to the UIEM version.

I love our hobby and am very happy that there are always new experiences and impressions of beloved music to discover.

 

[coolginger]

After two months of waiting, I finally got my XE6 CIEM today. This is my first CIEM and therefore particularly exciting for me to get to know this form of IEM.

At first I was totally disappointed and thought that FIR accidentally delivered me a wrong XE6 for another customer, because the XE6 apparently did not fit into my ears. But after I have figured out the right way to use it, it just fits perfectly in my ears.

Then I had the next shock, because I was killed by the bass in the first moment. The bass was much more intense than in my test with a UIEM XE6 two months ago. But after spending the first two hours with the XE6 with my Ode to Laura and the N8II, I have a huge smile on my face. My enthusiasm is currently increasing with every additional piece of music I hear with it.

Of course, it is currently far too early for a well-founded evaluation, but after listening almost exclusively to the Top Gun Maverick 2022 for the last two months and totally falling in love with the Traillii, the XE6 seems to be the hoped-for addition to him and my other IEM's.

From the first impression I think that the communication with N8II MG, P+, SS and OTL harmonizes great. My FT or Venom as well as my M9 obviously fit very well to the XE6, but so far I like this pairing the most. The fact that the FT fits well with the XE6 has been mentioned many times, but how well it harmonizes with the Venom surprised me quite a bit. The M9 also sounds good from the first impression with the XE6. Each of these pairings seem to work really well, but I really like N8II + Ode to Laura. I'm really excited to see where my journey with the XE6 will take me in the next few weeks.

In any case, I'm very happy that I took the risk and decided on my first CIEM on the XE6. I am convinced that in this case this leads to a great added value compared to the UIEM version.

I love our hobby and am very happy that there are always new experiences and impressions of beloved music to discover.

Hello, thanks for the review, I am getting torn between the Traillii and XE6, if you had money to buy only one what would you choose ?, I am into mostly pop, edm and dance music. I know this is a Fir Audio thread, but I would appreciate a honest recommendation. I need something which would get my feet tapping, I currently own a Mext and enjoy its musical tuning, so looking for an upgrade.

 

[Andorn]

That's pretty hard to answer. I have a MEST-Indigo and I really like it. Unfortunately I don't know the Mext, but I think the MEST-Indigo is one step above the Mext. But nevertheless, the Traillii and the XE6 are both in my eyes an increase to the MEST-Indigo and the Mext. I feel the Traillii in a way as a big brother to the MEST-Indigo. It works well with any source, but also increases significantly with the quality of the source. Without a doubt, he is also a super all-rounder with great vocals. The XE6 has only been available since yesterday, so I can't really give a verdict yet. So far, however, I am very excited and satisfied with the XE6. Compared to the Traillii, however, it is quite different. Much more bass, warmer and more dynamic overall. The XE6 will probably be more fun with your music. But as I said, I can't really judge yet, except that both are something very special. Sorry for this little help. Have a look at the Watercooler forum, there you will find a lot about both IEM's. Best wishes!

Post in thread 'Oriolus Traillii Electrostatic Hybrid IEM discussion thread' https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ori...id-iem-discussion-thread.956460/post-16848508

 

[Andorn]

Hello, thanks for the review, I am getting torn between the Traillii and XE6, if you had money to buy only one what would you choose ?, I am into mostly pop, edm and dance music. I know this is a Fir Audio thread, but I would appreciate a honest recommendation. I need something which would get my feet tapping, I currently own a Mext and enjoy its musical tuning, so looking for an upgrade.

Maybe this is helpful for you:

Post in thread 'The Watercooler-- Impressions, philosophical discussion and general banter. Index on first page. All welcome.' https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the...n-first-page-all-welcome.957426/post-16963392

 

[toaster]

Hello, thanks for the review, I am getting torn between the Traillii and XE6, if you had money to buy only one what would you choose ?, I am into mostly pop, edm and dance music. I know this is a Fir Audio thread, but I would appreciate a honest recommendation. I need something which would get my feet tapping, I currently own a Mext and enjoy its musical tuning, so looking for an upgrade.

These two iems could not be more different.

It would be easier to help if you confirm what type of sound you are looking for vs. two iems are you considering.

 

[Andorn]

These two iems could not be more different.

It would be easier to help if you confirm what type of sound you are looking for vs. two iems are you considering.

The two IEM's are really very different to each other. It would also be important to know with which player or cable they should be used in order to be able to assess whether the high investment for an XE6 or a Traillii is worthwhile at all. I find that both sound good in conjunction with a mobile phone + USB dongle DAP, but only partially exploit their potential. In this case, in my opinion, other, also good, inexpensive IEM 's would be just as effective