[Roscoeiii]

Sure. So let me start by giving a brief background in my scoring. In Holland, the educational system works with a 1-10 scoring system. With a 6 you've barely made it, a 7 is average, an 8 is good and a 9 is excellent. But there's a sort of uniform hesitance to score a 10, because there's 'always room for improvement'. When I was doing my masters there were a few American exchange students who would get frustrated by teachers' reluctance to score a 10 for essays, even though they felt it was an excellent paper, while in America you'd more easily get an A. As I'm a product of my culture, I too have this built-in resistance to score higher than a 9. I can't help it. I haven't heard the KSE1500, the Obravos, the Audeze planar iems, etc. Maybe they're doing something much better, I can't say. Like I said, there's always room for improvement.

I mentioned a while back that I found a score of 80-84 good for TOTL, 85-89 above average, and 90+ exceptional even by TOTL standards. I scored Vega's bass an 86, so I hardly think that classifies as 'a very low score'. It's higher than the 3 of the 4 other scores.

Vega has the most enhanced (sub)bass in this shootout. There's a reason that most manufacturers choose not to tune with so much bass, and it's not just because they can't. Powerful bass sounds impactful and dynamic, but Vega's grand sub-bass notes can be intrusive in the presentation for people that don't appreciate it. Traditionally bass is supposed to have a more modest role, although a lot of people value a higher quantity. An enhanced bass further affects the stage structure. As its speed and decay isn't very quick, it warms the stage and reduces the airiness, which in turn affects the cleanliness of the separation and transparency. In addition, the resolution of the mid-bass is not very high, or better said, there are others that do better. In the end the scoring is relative to all the contenders.

So the scoring is this:
-intrusiveness of sub-bass notes
-speed
-warmth
-/+mid-bass definition
+naturalness of decay
+impact

From an 'audiophile' perspective I would score it an 84, which is good in its own way. But I gave it 2 extra points for its engaging and unique qualities, totalling an 86; an above average score.

Thank you for the detailed response. Very educational. Enhancing an already great thread.

 

[unknownguardian]

Also, we've breached this topic before, but rank #13 seems very low from a relative perspective. If you look at its average and individual scores, they're not low by any means. Theoretically, I could have done a shootout with 40 iems. There are an infinite number of high-performing iems that could have been included. In that case, the number 30 or 40 would have still been an excellent iem with a large fanbase.

Take a look at the remaining iems, and think which should be lower. Many of them have never gotten much attention or 'hype' such as the Maestro V2, UE18+, S-EM9, NT6pro, Prelude, Samba, Dream, or 5-Way. So people might not know what to make of them, even though they are equally excellent iems. Vega has gotten a lot of attention, since Campfire is a popular brand. This also drives expectation, based on brand recognition. The other iems simply don't have that luxury so to speak.

Going off topic for a while.

Talking about hypeness. Sometimes it might also be due the attention/hype driven by the online community, we often feel disappointed when we actually demo-ed the monitor itself. One example that recently occur to me is the difference in experience between the Dita-Dream and Hifiman RE2000. I would say that both iem are relatively close in performance (and they are also priced similarly). However, I was left somewhat disappointed when I demoed the Dita Dream (on both occasions during the Singapore CANJAM and Fujiya-Avic Headphone festival). Which I believed is due to the fact that the Dita Dream was highly discussed and raved in head-fi and I don't remember reading any negative comments about it before. On the other hand, the HIFIMAN RE2000 was less talked about in head-fi, so much less that I missed it during the Singapore CANJAM, only had a chance to try it during the Fujiya-Avic and was quite amazed by it. Though the end of the day, I would say that it is difficult to pick one iem over the other as it all comes down to personal preference.

 

[Wyville]

That makes perfect sense I don't drink any beer or alcohol, and I like silence.

Apart from very rarely drinking a Scotch I don't much care about alcohol either and I love silence. In fact, that was my primary reason to want CIEMs. No distractions and music at a lower level without any loss of detail. Very relaxing! I miss my customs... and I will not miss London once I'm out of here.

 

[czy6412]

Love the sound of Vega but it is so unfortunate that I cannot even find an upgrade for it.

 

[ranfan]

Love the sound of Vega but it is so unfortunate that I cannot even find an upgrade for it.

What kind of upgrade are you looking for?

 

[ranfan]

Unique Melody MASON 2 review:
https://www.head-fi.org/f/showcase/unique-melody-mason-2.22391/reviews#review-18609

 

[seamon]

Love the sound of Vega but it is so unfortunate that I cannot even find an upgrade for it.

Have you tried the tia fourte?

 

[czy6412]

Have you tried the tia fourte?

The sound signature is similar, but the bass does not reach to the level of Vega

 

[czy6412]

What kind of upgrade are you looking for?

Mainly a larger soundstage while holding everything else. Vega is too intimate to me when listening to classical music.

 

[theveterans]

^ Isn't Tia foute's soundstage large enough already?

 

[Mimouille]

Have you tried the tia fourte?

You mean the Tia Four K?

 

[ezekiel77]

I am curious though, why do you guys think CA Vega got so much hype? Is it because of the previous success of the Andromeda or maybe because of the looks?

Could be because Campfire is known to only produce universal IEMs. A lot of people are not ready to take a leap into customs, or even consider the same IEM available in universal and custom (like Zeus) because they might sound different. Some people want things simple without all the add-ons. See Zeus and its many versions lol. Just my two cents.

On the other hand, the HIFIMAN RE2000 was less talked about in head-fi, so much less that I missed it during the Singapore CANJAM, only had a chance to try it during the Fujiya-Avic and was quite amazed by it. Though the end of the day, I would say that it is difficult to pick one iem over the other as it all comes down to personal preference.

HiFiMan has been taking a looooooot of sheeeet lately bcos of their pricing (Edition 6), and that opinion has probably coloured our opinion of their products. So the RE$2000, not many of us (ok, just me) gave it a chance, and some of us (ok, just me again) hope that its SQ is horrible to confirm that HFM are just money-grabbing banshees. And when they happen to "sound good" you don't know what to believe anymore haha. Always trust your ears I guess. Nowadays the price of a flagship is averaging at $2000 anyway. I'd love to hear what RE2000 and Dream sound like all the same.

Mainly a larger soundstage while holding everything else. Vega is too intimate to me when listening to classical music.

As Nic has mentioned before, too much bass will affect the airiness, soundstage size and transparency of the IEM. Vega was made to be a bassy IEM consciously, so I don't think any monitor is capable of being "Vega with bigger soundstage" without sacrificing some bass quantity.

 

[jmills8]

Love the sound of Vega but it is so unfortunate that I cannot even find an upgrade for it.

Why always looking for an UPGRADE? Why not enjoy it and not try hard in spending your money?

 

[vulcanprime]

I wonder how the AAW amorph W500 compares to some of the IEMS listed here, such a short against its bigger brother.

 

[czy6412]

Why always looking for an UPGRADE? Why not enjoy it and not try hard in spending your money?

lol
Why not just enjoy Apple EarPods and not try hard in spending your money?