Congrats on getting the Golds
@Arysyn. Hope they are everthing you are looking for, sonically.
Surprised with your assessment of the ESS chip. Don't recall anyone calling them warm. Usually people say the opposite. Good designers seem to be able to avoid the coldness.
Hi Barondla. I hope everything is well with you. I haven't seen you post in a while, though wondering if you are or have considered the Gold? I'm going to write a review here regarding them, definitely this time, unlike what happened when I planned to write a review on the Pro, but didn't. Actually, perhaps it is good I didn't, because now I can write a review on both in the same article.
I realize people here who have the Gold say there isn't the treble harshness with the Gold, but besides that, it doesn't seem there is a huge difference between them, but rather a few refinements. So, I'm expecting alot of the good qualities of the Pro to be present in the Gold, qualities I definitely miss. Plus, it'll help for the areas of my review where I discuss the Pro, in ways that remind me of it, but more in detail.
In regards to the ESS Sabre, I'm very bass sensitive, so when I hear a difference in bass quality being less than on the ESS Sabre, I am then pretty much turned away from the ESS Sabre. In fact, I use to really like the ESS Sabre, based on its implementation in the LG V10. However, the version/tuning in the LG V20 I was very disappointed with the quality. On the V10 it was like detail wonderland, but without the treble harshness. Whereas the V20 was possibly the same treble, but I didn't notice it because of the bass and the recess in the mids that kept negatively distracted me with wonder as to why the difference compared to the V10. I was new to studying advanced audio technology at the time, and hadn't yet understood much of the basics of dacs/amps.
Then there was the Zorloo Zuperdac with its ESS Sabre, which really helped to make the tinny ultra treble (yet still without the harshness in the upper treble range) of my Ortofon EQ8 sound dynamic, rich enough. Yes, it was then I realized it was adding bass, and was something I actually liked because certain ba driver iems really need it.
The better way to describe my relationship with bass is that I generally hate it, particularly when its there to add thumpiness, or boomy, darker atmosphere - such as in supper club music. I really cannot tolerate either. However, when bass helps the dynamic richness to the sound in fullness, then its fine. Its the good kind of bass the FlaresPro had, which listening to it completely alleviated my concerns with the product regarding the sub bass that appeared slightly elevated in the fr graph Flare gave to me. It was the exact kind of supportive, non-intrusive bass Flare assured me.
Back to the Zorloo Zuperdac though. While it was great with ba driver iems I tried, it was the complete opposite with dynamic driver iems. It made them boomy and thumpy, recessed the mids, and put me through V-Shape hell. Side note : I thought of a neat thread I'm going to create on Head-Fi when I finish writing this post - which will be about my disliking to infinity of the V-Shape sound signature.
Anyways, remember my concern about the ifi iematch device, barondla? That was because of my worries regarding increased ohms. Around the time I was listening to the awful sound output over my dd driver iem through the Zorloo Zuperdac at the time, which was a B&O product, I found a thread somewhere (either on this site or another site), where people where complaining of greatly increased bass through the Zorloo Zuperdac that ruined the listening experience for people using it with dd driver iems because of the increased ohm output apparently. That is what made me skeptical of any device increasing ohms. Thankfully the ifi device was not that big of ohm increase though.
I decided to get the Meridian Explorer2 after my having done several hours of research about various devices, the reviews of the ME2 being the closest to my sound preferences. Indeed the ME2 is absolutely amazing - I think its a wonderful device all audio purists and mid-forward and treble seekers should consider getting. The only issue I think it possibly could have is with its software approach to operating, versus using a dedicated chipset solution, such as Cirrus Logic, Wolfson, ESS Sabre, Burr Brown, etc. I'm wondering if some iems might prefer one way or another.
Such as I know the FlaresPro upper treble harshness issue definitely is not the music I listened to, its recording, mastering, etc. everything is fine with these songs playing on other iems I tried without the treble issue. Also, it wasn't some defect in the ME2 itself either, but perhaps what I was wondering if it might just be a preference issue in whatever the source transfer is based from. I'm considering this after all, knowing people swear on things, such as sound changes based on the type of headphone cabling, burn-in time, certain materials in the casing, finishes, and lots of other possible considerations outside of the main functionality in the iem. Therefore, a different approach to dac operation may be the difference in quality, depending on the iem. I'm certainly not saying this definitely is the case, but more so suggesting the possibility it might be. If so, then it would be good to consider the options.
Right now though, at least for me and my preferences, there really is nothing better than the ME2, until a device with usb connectivity and the new Cirrus Logic dac becomes available.