[Deezel177]

Oh you big tease!

Never heard of it so I YouTubed it quickly and now it is on my shopping list! Always good to find great new albums to add to the collection. Thanks! To @ctsooner22 as well!

The Phantom’s arrived smack dab between a work day, a friend’s wedding and another work day. I’ll get some sun-kissed photos tomorrow with first impressions to follow. I wanna take my time a bit and do right by these beauties.

 

[ctsooner22]

Nic, try these out or just come over to visit me to audition them with some Ayre electronics and Audioquest TOTL cable. (btw, Carbon drivers are the most musical drivers I've ever listened to). They must be implemented correctly, but once they are, look out.

Quatro Wood CT

Vandersteen Audio introduces the Quatro Wood CT, the latest evolution in speaker technology and sound quality to derive from the research & development efforts that delivered the patented carbon-fiber Perfect-Piston drivers used in the flagship Model 7. While the Perfect-Piston Tweeter used in the Model 7 is the fully embodied deal of high-frequency purity and resolution, the Quatro Wood CT (Carbon Tweeter) features the superb Carbon Tweeter from the renowned Model 5A Carbon.

Starting at $14,600 /pair

 

[kubig123]

Nic, try these out or just come over to visit me to audition them with some Ayre electronics and Audioquest TOTL cable. (btw, Carbon drivers are the most musical drivers I've ever listened to). They must be implemented correctly, but once they are, look out.

Quatro Wood CT

Vandersteen Audio introduces the Quatro Wood CT, the latest evolution in speaker technology and sound quality to derive from the research & development efforts that delivered the patented carbon-fiber Perfect-Piston drivers used in the flagship Model 7. While the Perfect-Piston Tweeter used in the Model 7 is the fully embodied deal of high-frequency purity and resolution, the Quatro Wood CT (Carbon Tweeter) features the superb Carbon Tweeter from the renowned Model 5A Carbon.

Starting at $14,600 /pair

One think that I like of the Quatro Wood CT (excluding the price) are the dimensions, too big for my NYC apartment, one temptation less!!!

 

[ctsooner22]

the wall hanging ones he makes are fantastic to say the least. PM me, let's see if we can't get you up to CT before my surgery in April!

 

[Wyville]

The Phantom’s arrived smack dab between a work day, a friend’s wedding and another work day. I’ll get some sun-kissed photos tomorrow with first impressions to follow. I wanna take my time a bit and do right by these beauties.

You just make sure you enjoy them most of all. ...which I can say because mine are not too long out, so I will be hearing them for myself soon and won't have to rely on impression anymore. I am also thinking about how I want to approach the review. I have high expectations of the sound and clear ideas of what I hope they will sound like, so I also want to take my time to accurately reflect on how closely they meet my expectations.

 

[Deezel177]

You just make sure you enjoy them most of all. ...which I can say because mine are not too long out, so I will be hearing them for myself soon and won't have to rely on impression anymore. I am also thinking about how I want to approach the review. I have high expectations of the sound and clear ideas of what I hope they will sound like, so I also want to take my time to accurately reflect on how closely they meet my expectations.

One thing I suggest you keep in mind is how sensitive these things are to pairing. I swapped between the Eos and the Ares II, and the discrepancy between them is the largest I’d ever heard out of any of IEM. The Prelude is the only one that comes close. With the modded WM1A, I much prefer the Ares II, but Nic loves the Eos with his modded WM1Z. So, those variances will definitely be a challenge in my upcoming review.

Bring on the adapters!

 

[Wyville]

One thing I suggest you keep in mind is how sensitive these things are to pairing. I swapped between the Eos and the Ares II, and the discrepancy between them is the largest I’d ever heard out of any of IEM. The Prelude is the only one that comes close. With the modded WM1A, I much prefer the Ares II, but Nic loves the Eos with his modded WM1Z. So, those variances will definitely be a challenge in my upcoming review.

Bring on the adapters!

Good to know! Although I am still stuck with just the one source, I will be rollin' them cables.

Cables... That's just how I roll.

 

[ranfan]

Good to know! Although I am still stuck with just the one source, I will be rollin' them cables.

Cables... That's just how I roll.

Lol. That dog in the front.

Try with the phone, and computer too for more options.

 

[ctsooner22]

Wow, listening to the Phantom's on my MacBook Pro via the Audioquest Dragonfly Red. Not my favorite set up, but really nice still. These aren't even close to breaking in as I've said, but wow are they impressive. I've needed to change many settings as they really are as efficient at Daniel has posted. Tina Guo doing Iron Man and Wonder Woman is awesome. Now streaming Joe Bonamoassa (with Tina) live from Carnegie Hall. Wife took me for my birthday and they recorded it. We were 1/3 back in Orchestra (was a bit closer) and center stage. Joe sounds so good. Love Tina's string work on the cello and the other instruments she used. Plenty of sub bass and bass. Tight and deep the way I love it!

Not even broken in, but guys, I couldn't help myself. I NEEDED to mount these things in my ears and get lost in my music. I'm throwing the freaking kitchen sink as these things and they are measuring up for sure. It's BA bass, but there is plenty of it.

 

[fuhransahis]

Phreaking
Phantastic
Phriday
Phantom
Phun days
Phor
Phrancis
Phorever
Phools!

Phew, that was touph.

One thing I suggest you keep in mind is how sensitive these things are to pairing. I swapped between the Eos and the Ares II, and the discrepancy between them is the largest I’d ever heard out of any of IEM. The Prelude is the only one that comes close. With the modded WM1A, I much prefer the Ares II, but Nic loves the Eos with his modded WM1Z. So, those variances will definitely be a challenge in my upcoming review.

Bring on the adapters!

Indeed, I forgot I had a Norne Therium silver cable and tried it on. Sucked the warmth and bass right out of it.

 

[soullinker20]

Congrats on the UE18+. It seemed to be a much longer ordering process than normal, but glad it worked out. The UE18+ has such a nice glassy, realistic natural vocals and instruments. It does seem close to live. With the Hugo2, it's quite a treat with no instruments dominating one another:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cho...official-thread.831345/page-773#post-14108091

Just read these comments on THL from less than a year ago:



It's great they share some similarities with the Utopia. Never expected that POV.

Makes one consider consolidating instead of expanding down the line...

I felt sometimes on some songs the sp1000 + hugo2 was overpowering. I could not listen to this setup on Dream Theatre's On the Backs of Angel. Wherein the beginning of the song at past 1 min. there's this 100hz or even below that's intentionally present on the song and with this combo it was too much and kind of bleeding already for me. I love sub bass but on this regard not a good experience on my side.

Hugo2 levels up the performance of the 18+, full range. Gives me the highs in spades, making the bottom end more solid and heavy. The mids becomes warmer and a little thicker making instruments sound solid and drums especially hit hard but all these comes at the cost of high mids leaving me desire for more.
the presentation though is the treat for me, adding a bit on the layering, depth, height and width and more resolution.

Sony Zx300, Onkyo Granbeat & SP1000
(i will just mention what caught my attention)
using the sonys, the mids sound thin for me but the bass on the highest quality setting is a welcome treat. On Granbeat, the mids up to high mids were satisfying for me tonally.
SP1000, with its low impedance (?) are the bassiest but not excessively for me. tonally speaking, they are the warmest than the sony and onkyo, high mids were lower than the 2. But when it comes to detail and micro detail retrieval, only the sp1000 was able to give me this especially on the vocals. They sound natural to my ears than the 2.

out of the SP1000, imho the 18+ is good already and fine without using the hugo 2 because of some issues im having.

 

[PinkyPowers]

Custom Art FIBAE Massdrop Exclusive!

Sounds deep, rich and lush, with impeccably smooth treble and warmth throughout. Vocals are full and clear. A very organic, natural sounding piece of @piotrus-g art.

 

[Ahmad313]

 

[subguy812]

Custom Art FIBAE Massdrop Exclusive!

Sounds deep, rich and lush, with impeccably smooth treble and warmth throughout. Vocals are full and clear. A very organic, natural sounding piece of @piotrus-g art.

Looks great Pinky

 

[Kerouac]

This morning I had a lot of catching up (reading) to do in several threads. But it was great to see al these nice pics and to read so many interesting impressions, posted over the past few days.

While I was reading, I had these in my ears...


I had them on a loan for a while (thanks again, Nic!) and I've enjoyed them a lot during that period

They're definitely up there with some of my personal favorites, that I had on a loan earlier. Like, for example, the qdc Gemini and the VE8. The A18 sounds very holographic and alive to my ears, great (sub)bass on top of that, and it also delivers pretty good resolution.
Now, would I pay $3K for them myself? Of course the answer to that question would also depend highly on the available budget. So, at this moment (in real life): 'Nope!'
But if I was a millionaire, and budget was no issue: 'Yeah sure, why not?'