flinkenick's 17 Flagship IEM Shootout Thread (and general high-end portable audio discussion)
Finally, been waiting to hear your thoughts on this IEM.…
normie610
Headphoneus Supremus
Is it the one at BTM?
Yeah, it’s a 2nd-hand unit. I got to sneak a demo just before they were sold.
My full-on impressions of them will have to wait ‘til I get back home in an hour or two. But, I can say that the demo went pretty much how I expected it to. Some aspects were as superb as I’d read and heard they were, others impressed me more than I thought they would, and a couple were a bit lackluster too.
A part of me also wonders whether or not the Trailli would’ve received the plaudits it did (or at least the idea that it was peerless and worth the price to many) if it came out after the PHoNIX and the EXT. I use those examples specifically because I haven’t heard IEMs like the Mason FS, EVO, the new FiR’s, etc. That’s not to say the Trailli is worse in any way. In my comparison, the Trailli and the PHoNIX traded near-equal blows. I just wonder whether or not the Trailli would’ve been as exalted as it was if it had something to compete with then. I guess that is the point of a constantly-moving industry, but it’s a cool hypothetical to ponder nonetheless.
normie610
Headphoneus Supremus
This statement alone makes me wonder whether I should snatch the Phonix in the future. I’ll see how the N8ii announcement goes today, then decide which one to get since I’m not focusing too much on portable gear nowadays and would like to keep it that way
KuroKitsu
Headphoneus Supremus
My bespoked cable for Odin is finally back with Effect Audio trappings!
Only took 4 months, the majority of that time was waiting for sales to respond to whether certain work could be done/vouchers/invoicing for the work. So that was a pain and it wasn't even the fault of the contact. Just sales dropping the ball repeatedly. I had a scathing post prepared, but they did a couple of things well that I'm going to compliment instead:
1. Once the invoicing was done and the waybill was provided, the cable made it to EA HQ and was back taking no longer than a week and a half.
2. Originally the cable had no earguides and we forgot to specify that on the finalized RMA. To my surprise, EA added earguides as part of the Con X work.
3. I expected the normal silver EA pentaconn 4.4 jack and was given the black instead which really completes the aesthetic of the cable
4. After inspecting the removed parts, EA did an excellent job with those and were incredibly clean.
I havent listened to Odin in 3 months due to the PW Saladin being a horrible pairing. Life is good again.
The comparison, for me, would be more reasonable now, at least from a price standpoint, as I was able to purchase the Traillii at Musicteck's package price with the stock cable and the First Times cable. That would bring the purchase price of the Traillii to roughly $3600; my offhanded way of rationalizing the purchase.
I’ll be posting my impressions on Traillii and Phönix in the next day or two. I’ve had some extensive listening sessions comparing the two.
The TL;DR version is that I think the VE is a phenomenal IEM and, on its own, is very much a flagship. However in comparison, at least to my ears, it’s not what I would call being “at the pinnacle” and I pretty much preferred the bird across the wide variety of material I used in the shootout.
As an aside, that process reminded me how much I hate doing A / B….it tends to spotlight flaws and minimize areas of excellence. .
The TL;DR version is that I think the VE is a phenomenal IEM and, on its own, is very much a flagship. However in comparison, at least to my ears, it’s not what I would call being “at the pinnacle” and I pretty much preferred the bird across the wide variety of material I used in the shootout.
As an aside, that process reminded me how much I hate doing A / B….it tends to spotlight flaws and minimize areas of excellence. .
I'm about to post mine in a few minutes, and my conclusion's the exact opposite of yours.
The beauty is that neither of us are right, and this is a concept that I think desperately needs to be normalised in this hobby.I would say both of you are right. And that's ok!I'm about to post mine in a few minutes, and my conclusion's the exact opposite of yours.
My conclusion is slightly different. I think they are both highly resolving and well extending, but are tuned and present music differently. I find them complementary, actually.I'm about to post mine in a few minutes, and my conclusion's the exact opposite of yours.
When I A/B tested them, I kept going back and forth between which one I preferred. I ended up liking Traillii slightly more because of my music preferences and the fact that the Phonix was better with music that I preferred the EXT with. Too much overlap there and I preferred the DD timbre in the mids and the more elevated bass of the EXT.
That's not different to my conclusion at all. That's literally what I say in the comparison I'm about to post.
When I said opposite, I meant that I preferred the PHoNIX for the vast majority of my music. But, from an - as much as humanly possible - objective POV, then I agree fully with what you've said, as you will soon see. 
Awesome. Then, we hear it similarly. I was wondering if you had a chance to hear the EXT yet. How would you compare the EXT to the Phonix?That's not different to my conclusion at all. That's literally what I say in the comparison I'm about to post.
The strangest thing for me is that even though the Ext and Phonix have completely different driver configurations and technical strengths and weaknesses that they sounded best with the same music in my collection. It was something that I would have never predicted. I think its the tuning especially in the lower mids that is doing it. I kept wanting to compare Phonix to Odin and Traillii, but Phonix is not like Odin at all in its tuning and energy even as it is highly resolving.
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