Thanks for the suggestion, we'll made the bore angled next product.
I wonder if you have the same issue I have. My ear canals angle upward - not horizontally into my head, so while I think they should fit nicely in the concha bowl like this:
I'm not sure the price of a headphone is a good correlation with SQ. Price is only really a good indication of placebo effect (which won't work if you don't see the sticker price!). E.g. Utopia MSRP = $4000. KSE1200 MSRP = $2000. There's a big difference in resolution and clarity between the two, but not in the way you'd think, going just by sticker price
Here's my concern with all these nebulous reviews claiming they've heard things they never heard before with any other headphones. Of course you'll hear things you've never heard before. If you listen intently, you'd near something you'd never heard before even with some of the early pairs of Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. And if your new headphone has a bit of a bump at a certain frequency, it's even more likely that that part of the spectrum is going to stick out and expose something you may not have noticed before. But that's not necessarily a good thing. Nasty resonance spikes don't make for a fun long-term listening experience.
I don't want to pick on any individuals here, but some of the recent reviews I've read on the FLC8N could have been written by Steve Guttenberg - the world's most naked Emperor. Here's an example of his nebulous nonsense: "Putting on Satriani’s Shockwave Supernova, Joe’s guitar solos soared and delivered tone, growl and bite. On Chicago II’s Movin’ In, Peter Cetera’s bass digs deep down the fretboard with solid, clear and low bass, while Walter Parazaider’s flute flairs as the intensity of the track rises. On the Dave Brubeck's “Three to Get Ready”, the alto sax was breathy and had that rasp of reedy vibration." You can literally cut and paste this type of crap into a review of any headphone. It tells a potential buyer absolutely nothing.
It's tough to rank these headphones, because they all have strengths and weaknesses, but if I had a gun to my head, I'd probably go with:
Xelento = FLC8S > FLC8N
Xelento and FLC8S are really, really close in terms of my own preferences. The one downside (for me) with FLC8S is that it's sometimes a little too bright-sounding because of the broad resonance peak from about 7-9 kHz. (Your mileage will vary with respect to those peaks, in fact, with a frequency sweep, I tend to hear them at slightly higher frequencies than my coupler measures them - it all depends on ear-canal anatomy.) The one downside (again, this is just for me) with Xelento is it's sometimes a little thick sounding on account of a fairly heavy mid-bass. It's a very tough call, but I find I spend more time with the Xelento just because it's more comfy. As for the FLC8N, I prefer its ergonomics to that of the FLC8S, but it has a tendency to sound even brighter than the FLC8S, on account of still more energy in that ~7-9 kHz region. Will people hear more details with the FLC8N? Almost certainly. It'd be great for those with hearing loss where the consonants in speech (~8 kHz) are starting to get lost. I've not experimented enough with different eartips - and it's possible that foam tips will tame those lower trebles, but they also tend to tame/kill the upper treble, which is where most BA-based IEMs seem to struggle.
I would be very cautious of nebulous reviews, especially the "unbiased" ones that were written in exchange for free merchandise. How much air somebody else claims to hear from Walter Parazaider’s flute is never going to be any kind of substitute for listening to the headphone yourself
Thanks for the kind words
Somebody is saying that 8s is prone to sibilance and sounds peaky, but the 8n doesn't?!?! Who said this and what were they smoking at the time? Can you point me to a link of this review?
Thanks for the kind words
Somebody is saying that 8s is prone to sibilance and sounds peaky, but the 8n doesn't?!?! Who said this and what were they smoking at the time? Can you point me to a link of this review?
Well, cleaner, clearer and better resolution is something that might well be perceived, because FLC8N has more treble. Can't argue with that part. But "8s ... sounds peaky, perhaps more prone to sibilance"? No. They're simply wrong on this point. Try saying "ssssss" into an RT FFT and you'll see sibilance is a 6 kHz phenomenon, and the FLC8N has more energy at 6 kHz than the FLC8S. It's very likely there's placebo effects creeping in here with these reviewers. We're all wired to expect more expensive or newer things to be better, and it's the oldest sales trick in the book to convince somebody that different = better.
Is that really a Steve Guttenberg quote?! That's so bad it's good again! I can't take his stuff seriously, but sometimes I like to read it anyway... This is why! (also I have a certain respect for somebody that admits that the music has nothing to do with it for him)I'm not sure the price of a headphone is a good correlation with SQ. Price is only really a good indication of placebo effect (which won't work if you don't see the sticker price!). E.g. Utopia MSRP = $4000. KSE1200 MSRP = $2000. There's a big difference in resolution and clarity between the two, but not in the way you'd think, going just by sticker price
Here's my concern with all these nebulous reviews claiming they've heard things they never heard before with any other headphones. Of course you'll hear things you've never heard before. If you listen intently, you'd near something you'd never heard before even with some of the early pairs of Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. And if your new headphone has a bit of a bump at a certain frequency, it's even more likely that that part of the spectrum is going to stick out and expose something you may not have noticed before. But that's not necessarily a good thing. Nasty resonance spikes don't make for a fun long-term listening experience.
I don't want to pick on any individuals here, but some of the recent reviews I've read on the FLC8N could have been written by Steve Guttenberg - the world's most naked Emperor. Here's an example of his nebulous nonsense: "Putting on Satriani’s Shockwave Supernova, Joe’s guitar solos soared and delivered tone, growl and bite. On Chicago II’s Movin’ In, Peter Cetera’s bass digs deep down the fretboard with solid, clear and low bass, while Walter Parazaider’s flute flairs as the intensity of the track rises. On the Dave Brubeck's “Three to Get Ready”, the alto sax was breathy and had that rasp of reedy vibration." You can literally cut and paste this type of crap into a review of any headphone. It tells a potential buyer absolutely nothing.
It's tough to rank these headphones, because they all have strengths and weaknesses, but if I had a gun to my head, I'd probably go with:
Xelento = FLC8S > FLC8N
Xelento and FLC8S are really, really close in terms of my own preferences. The one downside (for me) with FLC8S is that it's sometimes a little too bright-sounding because of the broad resonance peak from about 7-9 kHz. (Your mileage will vary with respect to those peaks, in fact, with a frequency sweep, I tend to hear them at slightly higher frequencies than my coupler measures them - it all depends on ear-canal anatomy.) The one downside (again, this is just for me) with Xelento is it's sometimes a little thick sounding on account of a fairly heavy mid-bass. It's a very tough call, but I find I spend more time with the Xelento just because it's more comfy. As for the FLC8N, I prefer its ergonomics to that of the FLC8S, but it has a tendency to sound even brighter than the FLC8S, on account of still more energy in that ~7-9 kHz region. Will people hear more details with the FLC8N? Almost certainly. It'd be great for those with hearing loss where the consonants in speech (~8 kHz) are starting to get lost. I've not experimented enough with different eartips - and it's possible that foam tips will tame those lower trebles, but they also tend to tame/kill the upper treble, which is where most BA-based IEMs seem to struggle.
I would be very cautious of nebulous reviews, especially the "unbiased" ones that were written in exchange for free merchandise. How much air somebody else claims to hear from Walter Parazaider’s flute is never going to be any kind of substitute for listening to the headphone yourself
I don't think of sibilance as distortion - it's just certain fricative consonant sounds being very pronounced: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibilant.
IMHO, it's something that's already there on the recording, but if one particular part of the frequency spectrum gets a boost, you'll hear it more than you should and it sounds a bit unnatural. I could be treble sensitive, for sure, and others will hear things differently, no doubt about that. But of all the headphones I've owned (way too many to count or to tell the wife about), the FLC8S is on the brighter side, and the FLC8N is even more so. That's not to say others won't prefer the FLC8N. But no question, the FLC8N has a lift in the 6 kHz region, responsible for the s-sound.
