Ok i tried the silver after being on the red. I can see why some would prefer this, however it's a tad too dark and thick for my liking, so i settled for the intermediate black which fixes the little shoutiness at times of the red, with a bit more bass. That's gonna be my sweet spot for now.
Wow that's interesting, so far i was on black and red, and i thought RN6 had a lot of extension already on red once i got a perfect seal, and quite thick in the low mids. I should try silver next. Didn't know about the isolation aspect per say. Thanks.
It's red for me. I use the EVO for bass duties and still get to enjoy the bass on the RN6 even though red has the least amount of it. The isolation increases the sound pressure and apparent quantity but it's got the most "special sauce" for the RN6 with the width expansion.
Black is kinda of the goldilocks module for openness and a touch more warmth.
Silver is "stock" but a little hot on the treble for me. I do believe this is backed up by Elise audio's graphing of the XE6 modules (they didn't have a red) but shows the Silver to have the most energy. I've attached so you can see the behavior for the XE6, I'd expect the same for the RN6's FR. If you didn't have another bass heavy IEM, I can see the Silver being perfect for that without dipping into the Gold where you just trade off too much of the openness for bass and a narrow stage.
Quick Edit: I see you have the Maestro SE Black/Red are very complimentary. Nice AKM Gustard!
It's red for me. I use the EVO for bass duties and still get to enjoy the bass on the RN6 even though red has the least amount of it. The isolation increases the sound pressure and apparent quantity but it's got the most "special sauce" for the RN6 with the width expansion.
Black is kinda of the goldilocks module for openness and a touch more warmth.
Silver is "stock" but a little hot on the treble for me. I do believe this is backed up by Elise audio's graphing of the XE6 modules (they didn't have a red) but shows the Silver to have the most energy. I've attached so you can see the behavior for the XE6, I'd expect the same for the RN6's FR. If you didn't have another bass heavy IEM, I can see the Silver being perfect for that without dipping into the Gold where you just trade off too much of the openness for bass and a narrow stage.
Quick Edit: I see you have the Maestro SE Black/Red are very complimentary. Nice AKM Gustard!
I found this review with filter testing on the RN6, seems to result in a bit different effect. For the bass this meshes with what i heard, i don't find much difference on the high end, besides the fact that more bass tends to steal away your attention towards it, shifting the balance perception. As the graph would suggest, It's 1db at most which is close to the threshold of being audible anyway, we are more sensible going down but red indeed makes things more "open" which is less quantifiable in frequencies.
Im a bit in love with the Maestro, so its tough to come afterwards but the RN6 is a high level set as well, slightly different flavor of a great thing, it is endgame material too. I think my attraction to the Maestro goes way beyond the bass, i even find it a little too mucha at times but the quality of it is just outstanding, i love the vocals with it as well and the overall presentation, i think they made an amazing job acoustically with it (suspect a lot of clever tricks with phases)
I found this review with filter testing on the RN6, seems to result in a bit different effect. For the bass this meshes with what i heard, i don't find much difference on the high end, besides the fact that more bass tends to steal away your attention towards it, shifting the balance perception. As the graph would suggest, It's 1db at most which is close to the threshold of being audible anyway, we are more sensible going down but red indeed makes things more "open" which is less quantifiable in frequencies.
Im a bit in love with the Maestro, so its tough to come afterwards but the RN6 is a high level set as well, slightly different flavor of a great thing, it is endgame material too. I think my attraction to the Maestro goes way beyond the bass, i even find it a little too mucha at times but the quality of it is just outstanding, i love the vocals with it as well and the overall presentation, i think they made an amazing job acoustically with it (suspect a lot of clever tricks with phases)
I know of him that's where the isolation is tough to quantize and impossible to graph the impressions between them.
I think the RN6 is good at everything but it shines with real instruments and well recorded material. I'm a dirty basshead at the end of the day but it's so hard to go "back" to my other iems when you just have the best at what they're trying to do for those genres
during the lunar new year holiday, randomly checking the local trading forum and saw a set of very good condition RN6 at a very attractive price. (it seems the local market loss interest in Fir altogether after the big sale during changing of dealership last year . . .) so i ended up bringing it home after the sunday brunch
the bass is still quite heavy but much more reasonable then my XE6 ciem. probably for the less emphasis on the bottom end, the details seem rendered better and the soundstage is more spacious then my xe6. this is my first universal from fir yet the fitting is great! i got excellent seal and isolation. the RN6 were comfortable to wear too. the cable was very pliable and looks very nicely made with no stethoscope effect at all. for the whole afternoon, i listened till the AK HB1 running out of power (in just 5hrs!!!), RN6 sounds really great and easily compete with much more expensive iems i got. rn6 sounds almost as detailed and attractive in the treble and mid vs jewel but has beefier mid-bass which i preferred. no wonder rn6 tops the survey regularly in the watercooler thread for so many times.
Behind the scene for Ushers Super Bowl IEM set. Low profile no connector 4 wire skin tone matched. 3 artist wearing Fir product was quite the honor. Hell of a superbowl debut.
From the experience I've had in this area so far, I've gained the impression that quite a lot is demanded here and unfortunately too little is given back. In fact, there is always a word for negative criticism and too few words for positive criticism.
I would like to use this message to express my praise. I think you (and your team) have earned it by creating something with the Xenon 6 that is simply as unique as it is great. It all has one word, "genius" (according to the Cambridge Dictionary "very great and rare natural ability or skill, especially in a particular area such as science or art"). I see the genius in having found the key to a sound tuning that is capable of evoking unique emotions by attempting something that would be completely absurd according to the rational mind. By that I mean this deliberately blatant expression of the bottom end, which completely overshadows the rest. What emerges is not only a certain fusion of tones, but also of emotions that are evoked by these tones. In my opinion, what contributes to all this is the likewise strategically thought-out, to a certain extent innate and ethereal positioning of the vocals at the top - crowned by the high notes. What results from all this is an emotional wave that takes you from the bottom to the top and becomes one with the music. Every music lover should have heard the Xe6 at least once and gotten involved with it. Such feelings cannot be ignored. I had to demo the Xenon 6 myself 3 times before I was convinced. I didn't like it at all in the beginning, but only because I couldn't understand it, it was too out of the ordinary. I even wanted to have a custom one, it would have been the first ever. It's just a shame that the responses from Fir Audio were too slow back then, I had to keep pushing for an answer and in the end I gave up. What a pity. I'm glad that I got back into the Xenon 6 instead of selling it. Admittedly, I had never really heard it with the N30 - what a dream pairing.
I would very much like to know what studies were conducted for the development of the Xe6 and what psychoacoustic would say about it. I would be delighted if you could reveal something about it.
I have thought about diving deeper into this subject in our frontier launch videos but there’s too much ground to cover and we end up focusing more on the commercial aspects of the design. We might have to revisit the frontier series in more depth. It truly is a design that is kind of upside down thinking to how in ear monitors are traditionally made. In a nutshell it’s the result of curiosity and never losing the spark of trying new ideas. Trying what we know will work is boring. Ideas that might not work are much more exciting and fuels where Fir Audio has been propelled to today.
We might have to revisit the frontier series in more depth. It truly is a design that is kind of upside down thinking to how in ear monitors are traditionally made.
Update! Got the JVC Spiral Dot++'s in medium. They come across as nicer CP360's; short, comfortable, and bass forward while not being harsh with the treble.
Crystal's still beat them by a mile in detail and space, but these are fun. Can't wait for my EVO's to get back to see how much more bass I can get (but I'll probably stick with the Crystal MS). Will swap em over to the Solaris SE and see if they do better than the Divinus, I got sick of wedging the slightly too large Crystal M's on those chonky units.
AZLA MS = 11.9mm
JVC M= 12mm
Divinus M= 12.4mm (MS 11.4mm too small, but the slippery velvets benefit from being slightly large)
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Black/Red are very complimentary. Nice AKM Gustard!
that's where the isolation is tough to quantize and impossible to graph the impressions between them. 
