The low level listening ability with the XE6… chefs kiss 
Fir Audio Thread - Discussion and Impressions
The low level listening ability with the XE6… chefs kiss
Yeah, on XE6 (and KR5) I find that its more alive at lower volume than other IEMs.
XE6 has the best dynamics I have heard from any IEM. You do not need to crank these up at all to get that feeling of being engaged with the music. I’m a regular 80-85db listener but with these I’m just as equally drawn into the music at volumes far below those levels.
I also feel the kinetic bass really shows its benefits at lower volumes also.
Have you shared impressions of both IEMs? It’s taking all my energy to resist buying a CIEM KR5 blindly. I swore I’d never blind buy another CIEM again but I’m so impressed with the XE6 and the KR5 seems to be highly regarded as well from the few impressions I’ve seen on it.
My plan is to post my impressions on both KR5 and XE6 tonight sometime after work.
normie610
Headphoneus Supremus
I might have missed it, but how are the vocals with XE6?
Warm and rich. Objectively I think female vocals are too rich and lack a bit of air and that sort of clarity I am used to , but man they’re just so enjoyable to me.
It also depends on your reference point too. If I go from the Annihilator to xe6 they’ll sound too warm, reverse and Annihilator sounds overly clean and sort of artificial.
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normie610
Headphoneus Supremus
Thanks bud. Yeah nowadays I always avoid back to back listening of IEMs and headphones for that reason.
Yeah the XE6 and Annihilator are basically polar opposites but I’m familiar enough with both IEMs that I can swap back and forth with very little adjustment needed. At first though it was taking a little while to go back and forth and not hear one or the other as “wrong”
normie610
Headphoneus Supremus
One more thing, which one is warmer, the universal or custom version?
They sound identical to me except the CIEM has slightly more sub bass. Other than that zero difference to my ears.
The kinetic bass seems a step up on the CIEM too, maybe placebo? I don’t know… but it was really noticeable to me, but I also don’t get that great of fit with most universal IEMs anyways.
Well, I’ve been demoing both the FiR Audio Xenon 6 (XE6) and Krypton 5 (KR5) since last week, logging about 15 hours of listening on each one of these IEMs and so here are some early impressions for both and I’ll add a few brief comparisons here and there to some the IEMs that I own, and so joining us for that will be the Empire Ears Odin (CIEM), Vision Ears EXT (Azla Crystal tips) Vision Ears Phonix (CP145 tips), Unique Melody MEST Indigo (Azla Xelastec tips). These comparisons are to give you some reference points in some categories when I’m describing the sound of XE6 and KR5, not to say which of all IEMs here is “better” since I can’t decide that for you.
Setup
A thing to note is that I wasn’t provided with the gold and black Atom modules for modifying the sound of XE6 and KR5, and so instead they’re using the silver Atom modules, which is the default module, and so I’m describing their sound based off of that only.
For ear-tips, I ended up using my Azla Crystals for both XE6 and KR5 as I found that to be the best choice out of what I’ve got at my disposal to get a deep enough fit so that the “Kinetic Bass” DD was close enough to my outer ear and to try and make it stay in that position.
My listening setup is Apple Music Lossless / Hi-Res on iPhone / iPad connected to my Cayin RU6 set to NOS, high gain, and volume 19 out of 100 (roughly averaging 85 dB). Not much volume adjustment is really needed to get either of these two IEMs to sound alive. I’d imagine you’d have no issue just using these IEMs out of the Apple dongle assuming you have a 4.4mm to 3.5mm adapter.
Both these IEMs are really easy to drive with just a tiny bit of waterfall noise on high gain and so it’s not something I noticed at all during really quiet music passages. I get more noticeable noise with Phonix on high gain to the point where I prefer to use low gain instead, and that’s another IEM that really easy to drive. So, XE6 and KR5 are really quiet while being very efficient. They both have very good low volume performance and I’ve gone as low as 10 out of 100 on my RU6 and it sounds good enough for me to enjoy the music.
Cable
The cable on XE6 and KR5 has very little if any memory effect, so that’s really nice. Also, there’s very little microphonics in my testing when taking these IEMs for walks outside. The cable terminates to a 4.4mm connector.
Sound of KR5
The KR5 has a wide soundstage, wider than any of the IEMs that I own. There’s also generous use of soundstage height as I’m finding cymbals, hi-hats, tom-toms to be imaging from higher locations than I’m used to on some tracks, also imaging lower (e.g. bass guitar), and a more convincing sense of depth to the stage than my other IEMs too. I’d say overall the sound is quite open and feeling “3D”. Layering and separation is very good as well, about as good as Odin and Indigo I’d say. As for micro-detail retrieval, I find it very good but you will need to work a bit harder perhaps to perceive them sometimes. I think Odin offers a more transparent look at the music, aiding in the ability to perceive the nuances easier and also bit sharper, but at the same time KR5 does strike a very good balance as it doesn’t step into overly analytical territory if you’re worried about that.
KR5’s overall frequency response sounds like it has a pretty nicely elevated sub bass, mid bass and elevated lower mids. The treble is mostly pretty even, as in no big spikes jumping out at you while having a nice amount of energy around middle of the treble or so but not crazy hot treble, and no sibilance. It has enough upper mids forwardness to make vocals that occupy that space to have a very nice amount of presence relative to its treble and bass, with vocals getting very equal presentation whether male or female. Overall, I’d say the tonal balance of KR5 lies within the realm of neutral, but to give some perspective I’d say that relative to Odin, KR5 is warmer (again, relatively speaking). I also find KR5 to be fairly forgiving even on some just below average recorded music, whereas something like Odin tends to have its soundstage collapse in all dimensions in this kind of scenario.
The midrange is less textured than EXT. There’s decent weight to the notes, particularly bass and mids, and these notes are definitely on the bigger side, similar to Odin and EXT. The notes also jump at the listener will plenty of pop and slam pretty fast, and so quite good maco-dynamics, even surpassing EXT by a bit in this regard. The bass is a chameleon in that I’d characterize it as a slow-ish analog sound at times, subwoofer-like, but is very fast when the music requires it, such as some of my electronic tracks with fast successive rolling kicks it just lights up so good. KR5 has a quicker bass when needed when compared to EXT. I’m assuming this chameleon effect is due to the bass being handled by 1 DD (Kinetic Bass) + 1 BA. I will speak more about the bass in the “Kinetic Bass” section of my impressions as my thoughts on it is something common to both KR5 and XE6, and I believe this feature warrants its own section.
Sound of XE6
XE6 soundstage is also pretty big, a bit smaller in width, height, and depth from what I can tell. I’d still say the stage is bigger than my other IEMs that I own even if the size shrinks a bit when compared with KR5, and so still quite open sounding. The shrinkage in stage makes the height closer to that of some of my other IEMs while width and depth are still bigger by a more noticeable margin. Layering, separation, micro detail retrieval is something that takes a bit of a back seat compared to the KR5, but I would still say these categories lie within TOTL territory for sure.
XE6 has larger bass presence than KR5 and lower mids are more elevated as well, and bass and midrange notes come off as a bit weightier than KR5, although KR5 does have a good amount of note weight as well. Treble is going to be a bit smoother experience, but still with enough air and extension I find but less bright than KR5. The positioning of the midrange seems to generally be more in-line with the bass and treble I’d say, with vocals of both genders cutting through the mix just enough. So, I would say there isn’t some substantial midrange recession, but KR5’s midrange will allow guitars and vocals to be more forward. I’d say that EXT’s bass images more forward with respect to its own midrange on the z-axis/depth of stage, whereas the XE6 bass and its midrange appear to image with less space between each other on the z-axis/depth of stage. I would add that if a recording places vocals a bit back in the mix rather than neutral or more forward in comparison to the other instruments, then you may get some slight midrange recession going on. I’d say that XE6 has a tonal balance that definitely is on the warmer side and will probably take some time for some to get used to. For example, transitioning from Odin to XE6 felt like going from being in a swimming pool (Odin) to jumping into a jacuzzi (XE6), so consider your source pairings perhaps.
XE6 midrange texture-wise is just like KR5 basically, and so less textured than EXT as I already mentioned before in the KR5 sound description. The mids are warmer than something like the Phonix midrange, however the midrange on Phonix will be airier. Of course, the notes are not only warm but have plenty of weight and are on the large side just like KR5. The macro-dyanamic performance is at least as good as KR5, which is really nice and just effortlessly reproduces the music in the recording. The bass shares the chameleon-like quality of the KR5’s bass, meaning slow-ish analog at times but very fast when the recording requires it and the bass drivers configuration is the same as KR5, so 1 DD (Kinetic Bass) + 1 BA. Next section below I’ll talk about the Kinetic Bass stuff.
Kinetic Bass
“Kinetic Bass” adds a degree of tactility in how it presents the bass and it can come off as an extra effect or bigger feeling when compared to some other IEMs. It also kind of feels like it’s pumped into the soundstage from left and right sides, making for a large and enveloping bass presence. KR5 and XE6 both use a 10mm DD driver for this and it’s positioned close to the outer part of your ear when wearing the IEMs, with the XE6 having a bit bigger of circle area for the driver to be exposed close to your ear and so a bit more of impact compared to KR5. Of course, I’m going to add a bit of a warning statement and say that my impressions of Kinetic Bass are likely going to be different than yours and vice versa, as you and I probably don’t have the same outer ear shape, so you’ve been warned. I’ll also add that I’ve found the effect of Kinetic Bass to be recording dependent, with the most noticeable bass tactility being with stuff that’s produced in such a way where percussive instruments for example already have a nice weight/presence in the recording rather than a thin classic rock recording where the bass drum kick feels like a pencil tapping on a table when compared with some modern rock recordings
. Synthesized bass is of course good as well, especially that slow lingering kind, which reminds of a subwoofer in a car pushing air but in a miniaturized form.Here's a few examples below of what I think about Kinetic Bass with some sample tracks, and I’m just using XE6 for my comments:
I’d say bass is a little bit more than EXT, or perhaps I should say its got a more enclosed feeling of bass for me and more sense of a vibration happening as bass notes ring out and decay. I’d say for me a recording like this is about where the threshold for Kinetic Bass feeling kicks in or so, it’s of course relatively lighter compared to other tracks I’m posting.
This one is real nice, enveloping bass and feeling:
Nice feeling at 0:41 especially in this track, subwoofer-like:
Enveloping bass and feeling here, especially at 0:40 and onwards as it goes into a drop:
Subwoofer-like, very good track for Kinetic Bass:
Wrap Up
If you’re the market for a bassy IEM, I think these are definitely worth auditioning. I’d say it’s a different kind of bass presentation than EXT (and other IEMs) and also different tunings and could complement one another. Great low volume listening experience and really punchy and fun sound on both KR5 and XE6.
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AlexanderBelonozhko
Sponsor: FiR Audio
Kinetic Bass DD in custom form has greater contact with the Concha than the universals. Short of devising a coupler around the KB port on the uni (which wouldn't be a universal fit), we got it as close as it gets.
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mvvRAZ
Headphoneus Supremus
On the Kr5 I heard a lot less treble on the CIEM personally, but that might also be down to the -17 ATOM as opposed to the max -16 on the universal. It's still a decently bright CIEM, but just not as aggressive as the universal
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