[phiemon]

Is there any sound leakage with a custom Xe6?

 

[Tristy]

I would have picked the non sub bass related benefits the W10 brought as a better comparison.

Hmm with Evo I felt that most of the benefits of the BCD resided in the sub bass. Vocals felt a little ethereal which I’m also putting down to the W10 but outside of that it was the subterranean sub bass rumble which was the calling card of the W10 implementation. Odyssey on the other hand seemed to utilise it more for imaging and holography. I found RN6’s kinetic bass driver was more about ‘slap’ and impact rather than improving sub bass extension but my time with it was short and sweet.

 

[Bret Halford]

If anyone has experience with Empire Ears Legend Evo, please share it in comparison to RN6.

I own and quite like both Evo and Rn6.

For bass, they share a very similar natural, warm emphasis. Both employ BCD to get away with generously boosting the bass through the midbass region and, particularly in the Evo's case, a little bit into the lower midrange as well. BCD wise, I like FiR's more subtle Kinetic Bass approach more. Empire's Weapon X needs tactile contact so the effect varies a fair bit for me depending on insertion depth with the Evo (too bad it doesn't seem to fit in customs, huh). Empire's BCD also goes up a bit higher in frequency, it's a neat trick but I find the effect slightly fatiguing over time. FiR's Kinetic tech seems more focused on adding some needed substance to the low end, particularly in the subs where BC is primary hearing mechanism.

My favorite aspect of the Evo's is its very forward upper mid range. Vocals, guitar etc are lush, intimate and detailed. Absolutely love them for Rock generally but live Rock recordings (probably care of the rolled off treble, but I digress). In contrast, Rn6 has relatively scooped upper mids and less ear gain generally... compared to Evo it sounds relaxed and spacious, very pleasant across genres and long haul listens.

Treble wise, Evo doesn't show up whereas Rn6 brings A LOT of boost in the high frequencies with the standard Red module installed. That is not to say that Rn6 is always better necessarily though, for unpleasant recordings tapered treble goes a long way to making them quite tasty. Live recordings in particular tend to include a lot of environmental artifacts from the crowd/hall that can come across as very unnatural with air boost like FiR's ESTs bring to the table.

 

[toaster]

Is there any sound leakage with a custom Xe6?

Virtually none.

Besides the larger atom modules, lack of sound leakage is another key difference between custom and uni firs.

 

[phiemon]

Virtually none.

Besides the larger atom modules, lack of sound leakage is another key difference between custom and uni firs.

Very good to know, thank you very much!

 

[MRT-Man]

For me, RS8 creates the best balance with RN6 over iBasso ROHM and A&K AKM offerings. And I have rolled a lot of cables and stock is still the best to my ears. In fact, I like stock on Ragnar and Ronin too. It's a great cable.

We’ll have to agree to diagree, regarding cables. The Rn6 cable is very well-tuned, but I hear a very noticeable step-up in performance vs. stock (soundstage, detail, layering etc.) with any of my kilobuck cables (otl, orphy, Yatono 8w, FTS). Would also say that about Ronin. Ragnar stock cable has good technical performance, but FT (non-shielded) or Orphy give it much-needed warmth.

 

[fejnomit]

We’ll have to agree to diagree, regarding cables. The Rn6 cable is very well-tuned, but I hear a very noticeable step-up in performance vs. stock (soundstage, detail, layering etc.) with any of my kilobuck cables (otl, orphy, Yatono 8w, FTS). Would also say that about Ronin. Ragnar stock cable has good technical performance, but FT (non-shielded) or Orphy give it much-needed warmth.

I meant I liked the RN6 cable on the Ronin and Ragnar but I know that wasn't your point. The difference is your cable inventory, which is far pricier than mine! I was talking cables in the $500-$1500 range. I also find it interesting that I tend to prefer silver to copper on the RN6, whereas all your examples are copper... I think we are looking to get different things out of the RN6...

 

[fejnomit]

We’ll have to agree to diagree, regarding cables. The Rn6 cable is very well-tuned, but I hear a very noticeable step-up in performance vs. stock (soundstage, detail, layering etc.) with any of my kilobuck cables (otl, orphy, Yatono 8w, FTS). Would also say that about Ronin. Ragnar stock cable has good technical performance, but FT (non-shielded) or Orphy give it much-needed warmth.

Also I think you might be talking about the SP3000 as source, whereas I am using the RS8. I can imagine this changes what we are a looking for in a cable quite a bit

 

[Neweymatt]

Is there any sound leakage with a custom Xe6?

Yeah, I'm really impressed how well the custom Xe6 isolates, especially with the gold module. Listening on my commute it wraps me up in it's warm bubble of sound, and I couldn't be happier.

I recall when I had the demo Universal it leaked in quite a lot more ambient noise when out and about. But with the shear amount of bass Xe6 has, this wasn't such an issue as it might be with other IEMs.

 

[named name]

Looks like Rn6 will be readily available as a custom in HK & Macau.

 

[MRT-Man]

I meant I liked the RN6 cable on the Ronin and Ragnar but I know that wasn't your point. The difference is your cable inventory, which is far pricier than mine! I was talking cables in the $500-$1500 range. I also find it interesting that I tend to prefer silver to copper on the RN6, whereas all your examples are copper... I think we are looking to get different things out of the RN6...

I can’t speak to how the Rn6 stock cable compares to cables in that price range. Re silver vs copper, I’ll mention that some of these TOTL cables blur the distinction… in that what they do to the frequency spectrum can be complex (eg FTS has copper-like bass/mids but silver-like treble).

 

[Benno1988]

Looks like Rn6 will be readily available as a custom in HK & Macau.

I wonder if it's 300 units worldwide still? Or that's gone, its not actually limited now

 

[Damz87]

While I wait on mine...
What is your favorite DAP and Cable pairing with RN6?

Favourite DAP for me with Rn6 is the Sony WM1ZM2. There's something about the warm and rich midrange tone from 1ZM2 that works so well with Rn6 (and Xe6 too when I had it) to my ears. But to be fair I think Rn6 sounds quite good from all the DAPs I've tried it with and doesn't appear to be super picky in that respect.

Regarding cables, I've rolled a bunch of different ones but none have compelled me enough to want to use anything other than stock. The stock cable seems to be high quality and to my ears sounds the best with Rn6.

 

[toaster]

i concur about stock fir cables.

i had fts on xe6 for a while and loved it.

but recently, i slapped the stock cable back on...and now i think i prefer stock.

 

[phiemon]

Yeah, I'm really impressed how well the custom Xe6 isolates, especially with the gold module. Listening on my commute it wraps me up in it's warm bubble of sound, and I couldn't be happier.

I recall when I had the demo Universal it leaked in quite a lot more ambient noise when out and about. But with the shear amount of bass Xe6 has, this wasn't such an issue as it might be with other IEMs.

That's good to know, thanks! I'll ask Fir Audio how a reshell works ...