[flinkenick]

Forgot to link article at the begin, I wasn't referring to my own article.

 

[SeeSax]

@flinkenick it sounds like you were in touch with the Warbler folks, so I thought it might be worth a try to ask you: any idea if they'll make a universal version of the Prelude? I tried to send them a message through their site, but just got a spinning progress wheel for eternity. I guess I can also email them, but just wanted to ask if you knew. Looks like only custom at this time.

Thanks for this awesome thread!

-Collin-

 

[flinkenick]

@flinkenick it sounds like you were in touch with the Warbler folks, so I thought it might be worth a try to ask you: any idea if they'll make a universal version of the Prelude? I tried to send them a message through their site, but just got a spinning progress wheel for eternity. I guess I can also email them, but just wanted to ask if you knew. Looks like only custom at this time.

Thanks for this awesome thread!

-Collin-

Thanks buddy. Warbler is considering it, but not sure yet.

 

[vladstef]

I read somewhere, I think here on head-fi, that Warbler is looking into making an insane value universal IEM, though they didn't specify price group nor give any reason to believe that universal will have any similarities to Prelude. Taking into account this shootout, it's safe to say that they know what they're doing. I think it's also almost set in stone that it will be a single BA imho. They've put a lot of work into Prelude, I can only see them working to improve that BA technology or reduce cost in the future, unless they have something else behind closed doors. Imagine using the same driver in conservative and simple universal design and giving it <500$ price tag? (few years from now there might be a chance, but it is wishful thinking for the time being)

 

[crinacle]

@flinkenick it sounds like you were in touch with the Warbler folks, so I thought it might be worth a try to ask you: any idea if they'll make a universal version of the Prelude? I tried to send them a message through their site, but just got a spinning progress wheel for eternity. I guess I can also email them, but just wanted to ask if you knew. Looks like only custom at this time.

Thanks for this awesome thread!

-Collin-

Seems like the emails between me and Warbler have been thrown into spam over and over for whatever reason. According to recent correspondence, a universal version is in the works but not quite there yet.

They replied to my inquiries a while back. There are plans but nothing concrete.

 

[proedros]

btw there is an ongoing US tour for the NT6 / NT6 Pro which still accepts participants

anyone interested in trying a amazng, clarity-monster CIEM that does not cost an arm , check this thread out

https://www.head-fi.org/f/threads/h...t6-and-viento-starting-may-2017.845110/page-5

 

[Peterpanic]

Why do i have a small niggling feeling that the u18 with its tia driver will be ranked no.1. Recently heard the tia fourte although it cost $4500 (at least in this part of the world) sound wise it blows every TOTL IEM i have ever heard to date.

 

[ezekiel77]

Why do i have a small niggling feeling that the u18 with its tia driver will be ranked no.1. Recently heard the tia fourte although it cost $4500 (at least in this part of the world) sound wise it blows every TOTL IEM i have ever heard to date.

Hope not. The A18 has a few stellar reviews, but I want to believe that more drivers doesn't necessarily mean better.

Also bcos I didn't vote for A18 to be in the top 5 lol.

 

[proedros]

pricing/placing of the first 9 iems to appear in nic's thread , so far only 2 (c)iems are priced over the 1500$ mark.....


#17: the Custom Art 8.2 / €1100

#16: Lime Ears Aether / €1150
#15: Perfect Seal Deca / $1450

#14: Rhapsodio Galaxy V2 / $1450

#13: Campfire Audio Vega / $1299

#12: Noble Katana / $1849

#11: EarSonics S-EM9 / $1490

#10: Hidition NT6-pro / $1250

#9: Dita Audio Dream / $1800

 

[noplsestar]

Hope not. The A18 has a few stellar reviews, but I want to believe that more drivers doesn't necessarily mean better.

Also bcos I didn't vote for A18 to be in the top 5 lol.

Maybe A18 will be #1 maybe not. And it shouldn't matter if one BA or 100 BA's (in near future hahaha). What counts is how they score and as I read Nic's reviews he doesn't care if there are one or 18 BA's inside the shell. What counts are the sound and technicalities etc. and thats why I appreciate Nic's reviews. I think it would be good if we would stop talking about how the driver number correlates with SQ. The Warbler is the best example that this assumption is an old paradigm. That being said I would not be surprised if the A18 would be #1, but not because of the high driver count and more because of the one tia driver.

 

[seamon]

Why do i have a small niggling feeling that the u18 with its tia driver will be ranked no.1. Recently heard the tia fourte although it cost $4500 (at least in this part of the world) sound wise it blows every TOTL IEM i have ever heard to date.

I thought that the U18 was very different from the tia forte. It's probably like A12 vs A10.
I wish tia forte was in this shootout.

If your aim is musicality, nothing in the world comes close.

 

[ranfan]

I would argue that musicality isn't very measurable and hard to describe since its perception differs from a person to another. Although it is however essential. An article Nic linked before wrote something similar.

Musicality
Finally, we get to the most important aspect of a system's presentation—musicality. Unlike the previous characteristics, musicality isn't any specific quality that you can listen for, but the overall musical satisfaction the system provides. Your sensitivity to musicality is destroyed when you focus on a certain aspect of the presentation; i.e., when you listen critically. Instead, musicality is the gestalt, the whole of your reaction to the reproduced sound. We also use the term involvement to describe this oneness with the music. A sure indication that a component or a system has musicality is when you sit down for an analytical listening session and minutes later find yourself immersed in the music and abandoning the critical listening session. This has happened many times to me as a reviewer, and is a good measure of the product's fundamental "rightness." Ultimately, musicality—not dissecting the sound—is what high-end audio is all about.

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-cxaf2hcvgpq/learn/homeaudio/introguideexcerpt.html

Now sensation, which is bit different from subjective perception can be more easily measured. For example, loudness in certain frequency range and lack thereof.

The topics of sensation and perception are among the oldest and most important in all of psychology. People are equipped with senses such as sight, hearing and taste that help us to take in the world around us. Amazingly, our senses have the ability to convert real-world information into electrical information that can be processed by the brain. The way we interpret this information-- our perceptions-- is what leads to our experiences of the world.
http://nobaproject.com/modules/sensation-and-perception

Although intimately related, sensation and perception play two complimentary but different roles in how we interpret our world. Sensation refers to the process of sensing our environment through touch, taste, sight, sound, and smell. This information is sent to our brains in raw form where perception comes into play. Perception is the way we interpret these sensations and therefore make sense of everything around us.
https://allpsych.com/psychology101/sensation_perception/

Even sensation can also differ, depending on the physiology of our sensor; the shape of our ears, length and width of ear canal, health of tissue, etc.

But anyway, IMO I think the writer of this shootout has put together - through a lot of effort - a highly organized system of review which we (common folks) can easily relate and be engaged reading into. I'd compliment this system for being neither overly objective (boring), nor subjective (biased). The scores are there for the ranking, but in the end the sound and musicality we each perceive is what really matters. The flavour (sound) of the music so to speak.

 

[robervaul]

I expect Warbler to have a somewhat similar to Final Audio FI-BA-SS.
Is it technically impossible to get wide range & bass with 1ba ?
I'm waiting for a bass score < than SE5U, btw the other areas already surprise #1 ~ #8 ($1049).
Today, I'd like to know what would be the bass score of the SE5U.

 

[czy6412]

I would say Tralucent Plus 5 can compete with Tia Fourte in terms of musicality, but I cannot do a direct compare at this time so I cannot say which one is better, sadly no Tralucent IEM is on the shootcut.

 

[fuhransahis]

I’ve written this post since there is still some confusion on the philosophy behind the scoring, the role of my personal ‘bias’, and most importantly, how this relates to the reader.

“Audiophile”

The audiophile community originated...

Thanks for that additional clarification, really helps!

How do you go about judging tonal accuracy? I didn't see much about this in your intro post (unless I missed it). You mentioned the Vega (I'm not continually promoting or championing it, but it's the sole IEM I got, though I am happy as a pig in s*** with it ) isn't quite tonally accurate. However many have found it's sound to truly emulate the experience of an artist's live performance, and other users who are violinists, for example, have commented that no other IEM they've heard has rendered the sound of a violin as realistically as the Vega does. Granted maybe they haven't heard other IEMs that may be even better in that aspect, but others being better should not really mean that the Vega is inaccurate.

Granted I may be misunderstanding what you mean by tonal accuracy, but I guess that's also part of the questioning. I am not sure how objectively tonal accuracy can be judged, but perhaps it isn't, and/or perhaps there is a reference you are using, and/or perhaps it's based off your extensive experience?