[twister6]

As a former Zeus owner I assure you that you will enjoy the A18 and the W900 as complements...

I will ask Nic this question after the next weekend when he attends CanJam London, but for you - which one do you prefer, A18 or Fourte, assuming you have A18 and probably heard Fourte at MS?

 

[EagleWings]

I will ask Nic this question after the next weekend when he attends CanJam London, but for you - which one do you prefer, A18 or Fourte, assuming you have A18 and probably heard Fourte at MS?

Alex, what do you think of the Fourte? Or is it burning in?

 

[twister6]

Alex, what do you think of the Fourte? Or is it burning in?

Keeping it on burn in over the weekend, actually connected to Lionheart now (to kill two birds at once). Out of the box the first impression, Fourte is more resolving/brighter/crisper in upper mids/lower treble, while the bass is lower in quantity (though has unmistaken dynamic driver quality performance), in comparison to U18. Both U18 and Fourte have the final production tuning.

 

[EagleWings]

Thanks. Looking forward to your review.

 

[Overkill Red]

I will ask Nic this question after the next weekend when he attends CanJam London, but for you - which one do you prefer, A18 or Fourte, assuming you have A18 and probably heard Fourte at MS?

I have actually auditioned the both of them extensively and enjoy them both (don't own an A18). I wanted to like the Fourte more at first due to its superior coherency and lush decay, but there were many problems with it when I matched it to my music tastes.

I listen to a lot of (well mostly) indie rock, math rock, the Japanese versions of the former two, etc. listening to these Genres on the Fourte is troublesome due to the speed and due to the weird, splashy lower treble on the Fourte, which to me absolutely kills cymbals and some female vocals.

That's my biggest gripe with the Fourte: the upper mids and lower treble have a weird quality to them.

On the A18 side, I do feel that it is less resolving by a hair versus the Fourte. It also lacks the coherency and lush mids of the Fourte, preferring to be less lush and audiophile sounding and more tight and clean. However, I feel that the treble overall is not as offensive and I prefer the punchy, tactile bass more for my music choices.

Both the A18 and the Fourte have an issue where treble in general can sometimes sound very metallic, which I feel is one downside of the Tia high drivers. Not too serious though (I mean metallic compared to the other super TOTL IEMs, you may not notice when comparing to anything lower than the Zeus level, etc.)

Tl;dr: I prefer the A18 by a long shot personally, but the Fourte is no slouch.

 

[jmills8]

I have actually auditioned the both of them extensively and enjoy them both (don't own an A18). I wanted to like the Fourte more at first due to its superior coherency and lush decay, but there were many problems with it when I matched it to my music tastes.

I listen to a lot of (well mostly) indie rock, math rock, the Japanese versions of the former two, etc. listening to these Genres on the Fourte is troublesome due to the speed and due to the weird, splashy lower treble on the Fourte, which to me absolutely kills cymbals and some female vocals.

That's my biggest gripe with the Fourte: the upper mids and lower treble have a weird quality to them.

On the A18 side, I do feel that it is less resolving by a hair versus the Fourte. It also lacks the coherency and lush mids of the Fourte, preferring to be less lush and audiophile sounding and more tight and clean. However, I feel that the treble overall is not as offensive and I prefer the punchy, tactile bass more for my music choices.

Both the A18 and the Fourte have an issue where treble in general can sometimes sound very metallic, which I feel is one downside of the Tia high drivers. Not too serious though (I mean metallic compared to the other super TOTL IEMs, you may not notice when comparing to anything lower than the Zeus level, etc.)

Tl;dr: I prefer the A18 by a long shot personally, but the Fourte is no slouch.

Oo well, what is perfect? In this hobby one can easily find and/or make an inperfection appear.

 

[Overkill Red]

Oo well, what is perfect? In this hobby one can easily find and/or make an inperfection appear.

Yup, which is why people need to stop trying to defend stuff they own and just enjoy the music.
Never really claimed anything is perfect, just pointing out the imperfections or dislikes as I hear them.

$0.02, mountain of salt, etc.

 

[jmills8]

Yup, which is why people need to stop trying to defend stuff they own and just enjoy the music.
Never really claimed anything is perfect, just pointing out the imperfections or dislikes as I hear them.

$0.02, mountain of salt, etc.

I just wanted more of the sound I like. Im not defending neither iem

 

[andra555]

Yup, which is why people need to stop trying to defend stuff they own and just enjoy the music.
Never really claimed anything is perfect, just pointing out the imperfections or dislikes as I hear them.

$0.02, mountain of salt, etc.

THIS

 

[Overkill Red]

I just wanted more of the sound I like. Im not defending neither iem

That wasn't targeted at you, lol. Sorry if it sounded that way. Guess I interpreted your post differently than intended.

 

[jmills8]

That wasn't targeted at you, lol. Sorry if it sounded that way. Guess I interpreted your post differently than intended.

All good bro.

 

[andra555]

I have actually auditioned the both of them extensively and enjoy them both (don't own an A18). I wanted to like the Fourte more at first due to its superior coherency and lush decay, but there were many problems with it when I matched it to my music tastes.

I listen to a lot of (well mostly) indie rock, math rock, the Japanese versions of the former two, etc. listening to these Genres on the Fourte is troublesome due to the speed and due to the weird, splashy lower treble on the Fourte, which to me absolutely kills cymbals and some female vocals.

That's my biggest gripe with the Fourte: the upper mids and lower treble have a weird quality to them.

On the A18 side, I do feel that it is less resolving by a hair versus the Fourte. It also lacks the coherency and lush mids of the Fourte, preferring to be less lush and audiophile sounding and more tight and clean. However, I feel that the treble overall is not as offensive and I prefer the punchy, tactile bass more for my music choices.

Both the A18 and the Fourte have an issue where treble in general can sometimes sound very metallic, which I feel is one downside of the Tia high drivers. Not too serious though (I mean metallic compared to the other super TOTL IEMs, you may not notice when comparing to anything lower than the Zeus level, etc.)

Tl;dr: I prefer the A18 by a long shot personally, but the Fourte is no slouch.

by the way, albeit it's different genre, i experience the similar problem with.yours especially when listening to poorly mastered track, the lower treble sometimes feel metallic and the female vocal just lost it's tonal quality and feel distant and dry when i tried super resolving IEM.

would love to hear your opinion about some IEM that have TOTL performance of technicality and separation yet still able to handle poorly mastered track well, knowing you have zeus XR before what do you think about that particular IEM?

 

[Overkill Red]

by the way, albeit it's different genre, i experience the similar problem with.yours especially when listening to poorly mastered track, the lower treble sometimes feel metallic and the female vocal just lost it's tonal quality and feel distant and dry when i tried super resolving IEM.

would love to hear your opinion about some IEM that have TOTL performance of technicality and separation yet still able to handle poorly mastered track well, knowing you have zeus XR before what do you think about that particular IEM?

Okay, now I'll have to ask: what is your definition of handle? Because technically almost any iem with a semblance of R&D can handle the poorly mastered tracks, but only the few can handle the gloriously mastered ones and bring them justice.

As for how listenable, it'll come down to IMO mainly two things: your tolerance for siblance/harshness and your love for the music. I find that the worst consequence of bad mastering is siblance and harshness in the ranges, but if it is tolerable then it'll be fine for you. This issue is worse in IEMs like the Zeus because they're brightly tuned, while less of an issue on the also brilliant Aether and harmony 8.2, which are dark sounding in comparison and won't reveal much of the harshness. So I'd suggest finding a iem with emphasized treble like the 8.2, maybe the Aether, maybe the SE5U (from my admittedly limited experience), which will all vbe more listenable than something like the Zeus, Fourte, A18, etc. the strength of the bright IEMs IMO is that it you feed them the right material, they will absolutely SING compared to the darker sounding IEMs.

EDIT: I also have to point out: rig synergy. For example: Please please please don't get a really bright source like a 240SS and pair it with a silver cable and a Zeus. You're asking for trouble. Nobody likes to, and ideally we shouldn't have to, but you have to know what gear you're working with well enough to decide what to pair them with.

The love for music? Its very simple. If you love the music enough, if you feel it deep in your bones, you won't give a crap whether it is harsh, siblant, lacking dynamics, etc.

I'm often teased for having so much TOTL gear yet walk around with my iPhone 6 and one of my many pairs of Apple Earpods (which aren't bad I might add?!?!?!). I simply just enjoy the music enough that I listen to the music, not the technicalities.

 

[andra555]

Okay, now I'll have to ask: what is your definition of handle? Because technically almost any iem with a semblance of R&D can handle the poorly mastered tracks, but only the few can handle the gloriously mastered ones and bring them justice.

As for how listenable, it'll come down to IMO mainly two things: your tolerance for siblance/harshness and your love for the music. I find that the worst consequence of bad mastering is siblance and harshness in the ranges, but if it is tolerable then it'll be fine for you. This issue is worse in IEMs like the Zeus because they're brightly tuned, while less of an issue on the also brilliant Aether and harmony 8.2, which are dark sounding in comparison and won't reveal much of the harshness. So I'd suggest finding a iem with emphasized treble like the 8.2, maybe the Aether, maybe the SE5U (from my admittedly limited experience), which will all vbe more listenable than something like the Zeus, Fourte, A18, etc. the strength of the bright IEMs IMO is that it you feed them the right material, they will absolutely SING compared to the darker sounding IEMs.

EDIT: I also have to point out: rig synergy. For example: Please please please don't get a really bright source like a 240SS and pair it with a silver cable and a Zeus. You're asking for trouble. Nobody likes to, and ideally we shouldn't have to, but you have to know what gear you're working with well enough to decide what to pair them with.

The love for music? Its very simple. If you love the music enough, if you feel it deep in your bones, you won't give a **** whether it is harsh, siblant, lacking dynamics, etc.

I'm often teased for having so much TOTL gear yet walk around with my iPhone 6 and one of my many pairs of Apple Earpods (which aren't bad I might add?!?!?!). I simply just enjoy the music enough that I listen to the music, not the technicalities.

thank you for the wonderful reply, sorry for being not clear on the handling, what i mean by handling is that it could reproduce the detail and transparency (without sounding veiled or too dark) a the top level without being harsh nor sibilance.
but then again i really agree with you on how each person tolerance to harsh and sibilance varies, i think of myself as quite tolerant to harshness actually.
currently i have kumitate lab trio, it's a bright tuned cans with that really reveal harshness in recording and i still could live with it even if with some not-so-good mastered tracks but with really, really bad mastered one it makes me wish i have another spare IEM to listen to that sort kind of track. but as you said a IEM tuned like this is really rewarding when it comes to good mastered tracks it shows thing you never notice before and present it brilliantly.

in my opinion aether is one of good example of IEM that could bring out detail and transparency without sounding too harsh (and it's still one of a strong candidate for me to get in the future), so i was wondering if there is any IEM with similar sound signature but could provide better technicality.

your talk about love of music just remind me on how all of this started for me, it was just a simple ipod touch 4th gen and a edifier h185 earbud back there, i feel it was enough for me as long as i enjoy my music, not so long until one of my friend bring his RHA ma750i and give me a listen. and it made me realize how much i was missing all this time and how i could listen better to what i love. the rest is history. of trapped in a endless search for perfect listening experience from an imperfect source

 

[davidcotton]

I'm often teased for having so much TOTL gear yet walk around with my iPhone 6 and one of my many pairs of Apple Earpods (which aren't bad I might add?!?!?!). I simply just enjoy the music enough that I listen to the music, not the technicalities.

There have been times whilst at work (where I do most of my listening)where I do envy the earbuds only crowd. Just pop them in and start listening to music. For me that wouldn't work as I need the isolation to block out the crap going on around me so I can actually concentrate on what I'm meant to be doing, plus I could never get earbuds to stay in anyway.