Congrats on the purchase, Marcus! I'm sorry I got your name wrong before I edited this post.Soo.. I have pulled the trigger (metaphorically speaking, rather than Bohemian Rhapsody style) and a - slightly used - EE Odin Founder's Edition is on its way to me as we speak, hurrah!
Even by the lofty standards of this thread, this might have been slightly noteworthy news some 3+ months ago, before the Trailii started doing the rounds.. Oh well..
I had planned to demo it at Harrods, but missed my chance before the next lockdown occurred.
I really don't know if I will like it or not.
Funnily enough, in Deezel177's recent review, you know how he does that helpful list of "3 things that would make this a good IEM for your tastes", along with "3 things that might make this a less suitable choice for your tastes"?
I ticked all of the *bottom* 3 paragraphs, and only one of the top 3 paragraphs.. Hmm...
I really do generally prefer a meaty, full bodied, warm and smooth signature.
Although I also absolutely love a huge and holographic soundstage and terrific technical performance too.
So my ideal would be an IEM that could do both, assuming that's not too contradictory
And yet, and yet.. I just want to see those faceplates and hear it for myself. That summit-fi goodness
I am thinking that perhaps it might be a complement to other IEMs I have, like the Solaris 2020 and EE Phantom.
Something for when I want the pinnacle of (relative) purity and technical excellence. Which I definitely sometimes do.
Right now, I reach for my UM MEST at such times. And I did demo the Zeus ages ago and loved it at that time. So who knows?
On the other hand, if I just can't get over the lack of those qualities that I usually prefer, then I'll be flipping the Odin on here faster than a McDonald's employee who's won 'speed chef of the month' 3 times consecutively
In which case, anyone interested can start PM'ing me their offers now (I'm in the UK, if that matters). And/or offers for the Stormbreaker cable, as if I do keep the Odin, I'd want to change that ASAP
Interesting times ahead!
I hope they work out, whether you choose to keep them or not.To answer your previous question about note size, the way I define it is how much space these notes take up in the in-ear's stage; how much of the in-ear's soundscape is note vs. how much of it is clean air, or empty space, or the black background. And, that can be done in a number of ways as well:
A note can seem larger because it emanates more warmth, which comes from a raised mid-bass. It's also what I mean when I say an in-ear has warm air mucking up its image, or when I say the warmth present between instruments slightly congeals them together. It also relates to my comparison between the Noir and the ODIN, where I mention that the Noir's raised mid-bass causes its instruments to slightly intermingle. Whereas, when it comes to body and warmth, the ODIN's instruments largely keep to themselves. This is signified by the clean or "empty" air present between the ODIN's instruments.
A note can also seem larger because of a raised lower-midrange, and that's signified by a chestier, meatier tonality to the instrument as well. This is the kind of "largeness" or fat that you can observe on the Phantom, for example.
And, lastly, in the ODIN's case, its notes are larger because of the 2-3kHz peak. The presence region is raised, so singers and leads seem closer to you; more in-your-face in their delivery. And, what happens when an object comes closer to you? They'll seem bigger. That closeness gives the ODIN's upper-mids more resolution and texture, because those nuances are brought forth to you.
However, there can be a scenario where that rise is overdone, and you're so close to the instrument that you're almost suffocated by it. That's what I mean when I say an upper-midrange is intense or (over)saturated: Adding saturation to a photo can help you distinguish the different shades of colours (or the different nuances) in the image, but adding too much can also blow out details and stress your eyes.
Bringing instruments closer can also cause them to somewhat overlap spatially, reducing the precision in their imaging. For example, you have a guitar at 10 o'clock, a singer at centre-stage and a trumpet at 2 o'clock. If those notes come closer - and, thus, become larger - to you, that guitar now spans between 9 and 11 o'clock, and the singer sits between 1 and 2 o'clock, and the trumpet's between 1 and 3 o'clock. But, compared to the other two methods outlined above, this is a less common cause of poor separation, because having a present upper-midrange also contributes detail. Whereas, an excess of lows or low-mids will also mask detail, which makes separation even more difficult.
I really hope this is coming across clearly. I can probably include illustrations in a reply if you'd like me to explain it a bit better.
In any case, as I mentioned in the Midrange section of my ODIN review, neither are really issues on this IEM, because all of its nuances still come through, and there's always a sliver of air between instruments in that area.
Now, when it comes to tightening and/or compacting instruments, it's achieved by doing the opposite of everything I've listed above. Cutting the mid-bass takes away some of the warm air between instruments, so there's clearer separation between one and another. A lack of warmth between instruments also means that you're more able to see the image's background (or, say, in Photoshop, the base layer) between them. This also contributes a sense of tidiness or cleanliness. That's how itsfit Lab's Fusion does its separation, for example; more so relying on its sub-bass for kick.
And, the same applies to the low-mids in terms of body as well. Of course, the trade-off there is in fullness and tonality. The tighter and more compact instruments are (and the less warmth they emanate), the drier, thinner and more artificial they'll begin to sound. In the ODIN's case, specifically, the more you drop those low-mids, the less dynamic, present and rich male vocals and baritone saxophones become. This was basically the criticism I lobbed at the ODIN's lower-register presentation on the review.
Lastly, having the high-mids relaxed distances instruments from you a tad, so you're able to better tell where one ends and another begins. Also, as notes move further back, the space between them increases. Like, if people held hands in a circle and you told them to start walking backwards, they'd eventually have to let go of each other, because the space between them is now too large. The same applies to notes in an image. But, of course, it's only true if the IEM's also constructed a properly circular or spherical stage, which is what the ODIN does. All this is why the ODIN's midrange separation can't ever be as tight or precise as some of the more referenced-tuned IEMs out there, i.e. ones with more neutral high-mids. But, again, as I said in my review, it's the closest a musical midrange can get to that, which is to EE and the ODIN's credit.
Again, I understand this is quite a bit to take in, so I can probably explain it further with images if you need me to. But, I have other reviews to work on at the moment, so I'll leave this at that.
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