flinkenick's 17 Flagship IEM Shootout Thread (and general high-end portable audio discussion)
Jan 23, 2020 at 9:16 AM Post #20,776 of 39,414
Very interesting review! Fascinating to have a company willing to custom-tailor the SOUND for you. That's 'The Dream' as far as I'm concerned (at least with regards to IEMs; I have other dreams too lol).

Excellent faceplates too! Bismillah! :D

You say that as if we all know what sound we’d truly want. :wink:

The 1695 is definitely going to the front of the queue, will probably be done by the end of the weekend. Feels great to have my mind blown by a piece of gear haha

On a more negative note I tried the lcdi3 and thought it was pretty terrible with even worse treble... sounded rather unnatural and felt like a direct step down from the isine 10 and 20

I heard the LCD-i3 un-EQ’ed some time ago and it didn’t jive with me either. Though, it might’ve also been because of the impossible fit that hasn’t gotten better for me since the iSine 10 and 20.
 
Jan 23, 2020 at 10:57 AM Post #20,777 of 39,414
You say that as if we all know what sound we’d truly want. :wink:

True, but at least having the sound signature tailor made to my requirements would help me to realise whether my requirements were actually what I really wanted or not :p
 
Jan 23, 2020 at 10:57 AM Post #20,778 of 39,414
Hi there !

A few weeks after Deezel177 review on the MMR line up, we have the chance, courtesy of MMR (thank you !) and thanks to @MrLocoLuciano , to have a tour organized in France for 3 of their iems.

I made a review of the Homunculus here https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/metal-magic-research-mmr-homunculus.24153/reviews and couldn't be more in line with what Deezel said about them. In a nutsheel :
a stunning experience on some vocal tracks (Unchained my heart vocal version on Ray Charles' Genius loves company is a must with these iems) but for the fit and the seal, well it was definitely not a success on my side (but let me know if you had different experiences) !

Cheers

The Homunculus had a reverse-L-shaped response, emphasising the mid-to-high regions over the low-end. Its overall timbre was airy, light and delicate; clean and articulate. Thankfully, the top-end wasn’t overdone to my ears. The electrostats remained smooth, refined and silky. So, that light, nimble tone didn’t have any brittleness or stridence with it. Rather, what it had was tons of openness and headroom, and an effortless delivery of detail. The stage was vast and clean as well, which made live performances and classical music an absolute joy to listen to.

As you could probably surmise by now, the Homunculus won’t be for you if you like a lot of low-end presence. While the Foster dynamic driver did show in the low-end’s physicality and texture, it didn’t ever inch forward, really, in terms of quantity. Like the mids and highs, it had a brighter tone to it as well, with kick drums that had more thwack than thump. It’s a bass that was more airy and clean than it was full-bodied or guttural. But, again, it still had that DD-esque texture and solidity; it’s just that there wasn’t too much of it. The Homunculus is a great pick if you’re into classical or acoustic genres, or you simply like spaciousness in general!
 
Jan 23, 2020 at 11:08 AM Post #20,779 of 39,414
True, but at least having the sound signature tailor made to my requirements would help me to realise whether my requirements were actually what I really wanted or not :p
This is actually a good point I was planning on raising myself

I finally own an IEM that's been pretty much built entirely to specification, which should technically be something like "personal endgame" but I'd say what I want/wanted really does not objectively work all that well when put together - I enjoy it more than I've ever enjoyed any other IEM with very specific tracks, but when running a whole playlist on it...

Guess it's a good thing I'm not the one tuning IEMs or I'd go out of business pretty faking fast :D

If you can afford the experiment it's certainly a fascinating one to run though - otherwise, one of those stock Plunge IEMs might be a great option
 
Jan 23, 2020 at 11:21 AM Post #20,780 of 39,414
My name is Ben and I have a confession to make. I somtimes like to listen to my music at unreasonable (high) levels. I know it is because I am a very crass individual and like to, at times, jam fairly hard.

The issue I am having is that it seems like a lot of TOTL IEMs are meant to be driven at a lower level by a less insane person. The Elysium for instance are my current favorite, but they do not reward you for turning them up very loud, it's not distortion, but it's just wayyy too much. The LX are pretty good, but the amount of bass in those things will twist your socks right off your feet.

Is there anyone out there with similar proclivities who has a TOTL IEM that they feel they can turn up pretty high without melting their innards?

Yes I know listening to headphones loud is bad for my hearing, telling me that is not an answer.
 
Jan 23, 2020 at 11:27 AM Post #20,781 of 39,414
My name is Ben and I have a confession to make. I somtimes like to listen to my music at unreasonable (high) levels. I know it is because I am a very crass individual and like to, at times, jam fairly hard.

The issue I am having is that it seems like a lot of TOTL IEMs are meant to be driven at a lower level by a less insane person. The Elysium for instance are my current favorite, but they do not reward you for turning them up very loud, it's not distortion, but it's just wayyy too much. The LX are pretty good, but the amount of bass in those things will twist your socks right off your feet.

Is there anyone out there with similar proclivities who has a TOTL IEM that they feel they can turn up pretty high without melting their innards?

Yes I know listening to headphones loud is bad for my hearing, telling me that is not an answer.
When you listen to music so loud you can't ask anyone for recommendations because nobody knows what you're even talking about

 
Jan 23, 2020 at 11:30 AM Post #20,782 of 39,414
VE8 and EM10 are the very first that spring to mind, thus my own choice of inears ^^
 
Jan 23, 2020 at 11:36 AM Post #20,783 of 39,414
VE8 and EM10 are the very first that spring to mind, thus my own choice of inears ^^

Did you have a chance to hear the ES 'Grace'?
 
Jan 23, 2020 at 11:37 AM Post #20,784 of 39,414
Yes, and the EM10 is more suitable for a strong listening level. The upper mids will be too much on the Grace.
 
Jan 24, 2020 at 1:19 AM Post #20,785 of 39,414
Did you have a chance to hear the ES 'Grace'?
I actually prefer the Grace to the EM10. The Grace has more air surrounding the notes and doesn't feel the slightest bit congested.
 
Jan 24, 2020 at 2:43 AM Post #20,786 of 39,414
My name is Ben and I have a confession to make. I somtimes like to listen to my music at unreasonable (high) levels. I know it is because I am a very crass individual and like to, at times, jam fairly hard.

The issue I am having is that it seems like a lot of TOTL IEMs are meant to be driven at a lower level by a less insane person. The Elysium for instance are my current favorite, but they do not reward you for turning them up very loud, it's not distortion, but it's just wayyy too much. The LX are pretty good, but the amount of bass in those things will twist your socks right off your feet.

Is there anyone out there with similar proclivities who has a TOTL IEM that they feel they can turn up pretty high without melting their innards?

Yes I know listening to headphones loud is bad for my hearing, telling me that is not an answer.

Did you have a chance to hear the ES 'Grace'?

I was literally just about to suggest Grace, but everyone beat me to it. @subguy812 recommended these to me and they're one of my all-time favorites. That girl just loves to be turned up loud (Grace, not subguy, well maybe both). I'll lose all credibility for saying this (as if I had any left) but I crank up the Grace ESPECIALLY after way too many drinks on a late night :) Once my neighbors can hear it, I turn it down a few notches.

-Collin-
 
Jan 24, 2020 at 3:15 AM Post #20,787 of 39,414
I was literally just about to suggest Grace, but everyone beat me to it. @subguy812 recommended these to me and they're one of my all-time favorites. That girl just loves to be turned up loud (Grace, not subguy, well maybe both). I'll lose all credibility for saying this (as if I had any left) but I crank up the Grace ESPECIALLY after way too many drinks on a late night :) Once my neighbors can hear it, I turn it down a few notches.

-Collin-
Your neighbor hear that you're listening to Megadeth on your Grace so they throw a brick through your windows to hear it better.
 
Jan 24, 2020 at 11:51 AM Post #20,789 of 39,414
Had to pause my Plunge custom IEM at hold for now, I had the itch to buy the Tansio Mirai Zodiac, will get it home tomorrow I guess!

But I am every intriuged by the thought of a tailor made IEM, as long as it doesn't backfire!
 
Jan 24, 2020 at 1:30 PM Post #20,790 of 39,414
Had to pause my Plunge custom IEM at hold for now, I had the itch to buy the Tansio Mirai Zodiac, will get it home tomorrow I guess!

But I am every intriuged by the thought of a tailor made IEM, as long as it doesn't backfire!
Just off my experience, I’d say leave the tuning to the pros haha. I think he’s done exactly what I was asking for, but as it turns out what I was asking for works with a rather specific and small set of tracks :p
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top