flinkenick's 17 Flagship IEM Shootout Thread (and general high-end portable audio discussion)
Jan 24, 2017 at 2:57 AM Post #347 of 39,411
Apart from ONE (/3rd the price of Katana ) Fanboy, you mean :wink:

 
axxaaxaxaxaa i spilled my coffee on the laptop, bless you
 
NT6 is a beast yes , i put it back on today after spending the day with the EE Athena

as transparent  and imposing as a jedi sword 
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Jan 24, 2017 at 6:45 AM Post #348 of 39,411
Hey man, there is an option here with US Postal Service, where you can intercept the package before it is delivered to the recipient, and have it sent back to you. If the package has not been delivered yet, you can try if such an option exists with Singapore Post. May be you already thought about all those options and finally gave up. Just thought I'd let you know if you haven't.

It appears that the SE5 classified has been removed on Head-Fi by the mods.



I didn't send it to him. I met up with him personally under my very own block haha lol.

So nah I can't do anything about it now. But I'm glad the mods did something about it/ he removed it
 
Jan 24, 2017 at 11:04 AM Post #349 of 39,411
I didn't send it to him. I met up with him personally under my very own block haha lol.

So nah I can't do anything about it now. But I'm glad the mods did something about it/ he removed it

Sorry to hear man, especially after you got hustled before and everything 
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Your selling price was really low, if I had known I would have gotten it and had it reshelled to a ref, lol.
 
Jan 24, 2017 at 11:11 AM Post #350 of 39,411
  Sorry to hear man, especially after you got hustled before and everything 
frown.gif
 
 
Your selling price was really low, if I had known I would have gotten it and had it reshelled to a ref, lol.

 
does SE reshell the ult into ref ?

also how does ref sound compared to the ult ?

btw , the seller told me that the se5 was sold so somebody managed to get a se5 at a great price
 
Jan 24, 2017 at 11:16 AM Post #351 of 39,411
   
does SE reshell the ult into ref ?

also how does ref sound compared to the ult ?

btw , the seller told me that the se5 was sold so somebody managed to get a se5 at a great price

I'm not sure if they do as it would be a pretty unusual request, but it's basically just a different wiring of the crossover (as far as I know).
 
As for the difference, I have never heard the Ref so I'll leave it to the leading authority on 5-Way related matters.
 
  On certain songs, Ult sound brighter, while on certain songs, Ref is brighter. Or you can say they give you different type of brightness.
 
Bass: The bass is actually very very similar, with a little bit more presence on the ult. The ADSR, capacity and bass detail are very almost the same between the two. Ult definitely not bass light compared to Ref or to any of my other CIEMs. It's a bit on the right side of neutral. 
 
Mid: The Ult is the winner here clearly for me. It's more refined with better coherence and placement. Everything sounds more accurate and more natural. Ref. in contrast can sound not as clean (or overly detailed) due to the huge hump at upper mid region. But as I posted long before, If are a hardcore fan of vocals, or if you want to use Ref for mainly vocal listening. Ref's coloration definitely gives the presentation of vocals one of a kind. Extremely smooth, sponge like. But for me “neutrality/naturalness” is more important. Plus all the amazing characteristics of the mid is still retained in Ult.
 
Treble: Ref has a big cut at lower treble region (~6-8k Hz) giving the overall presentation a lot of warmth and sound space (y and z direction), while Ult is linear in this region, giving rise to a better focus of the imaging, and more accurate staging presentation. With that said, Ult's lower treble is still not perfect. It has a touch of thinness and sharpness, due to the non-linearity tuning from 5-9k Hz. So sometimes, it can gives you a little bit feeling of "hotness (sharpness plus the warmth of the overall signature)" in the music. So that's why I said on some songs, Ult is brighter/sharper due to lower treble, while on some songs Ref is clearer due to the upper mid, but neither the brightness/sharpness or clarity is presented via correct means IMO. Both Ref and Ult have superb treble extension up to almost 20k Hz, with Ult being a little bit smoother. Transparency and resolution are similar too.
 
Overall, I still find Ult has more "rights" than "wrongs" compare to Ref. Ult is definitely the more neutral one to my ears. Does it worth the extra money? for me yes. But I won't be surprised people prefer Ref. better. Both are still organic and natural for sure. Also an important note here, for people getting Ult, specially if you coming from Ref-burned-in brain, give it Ult sometime, because Ult has less "wow" factor compared to Ref on the first listen. But over time, I am confident you will find Ult is just more correct in Almost every way. 

 
Jan 24, 2017 at 11:22 AM Post #352 of 39,411
I didn't send it to him. I met up with him personally under my very own block haha lol.

So nah I can't do anything about it now. But I'm glad the mods did something about it/ he removed it

 
Sorry about that man..
 
Jan 24, 2017 at 11:29 AM Post #353 of 39,411
  btw , the seller told me that the se5 was sold so somebody managed to get a se5 at a great price

 
Well, I emailed SE and the final price for reshell + shipping is around the backyard of 500 Euros. Man...
 
Jan 24, 2017 at 11:31 AM Post #354 of 39,411
   
Well, I emailed SE and the final price for reshell + shipping is around the backyard of 500 Euros. Man...

 
some months ago i got this email from Gregorz
 
 
Costs in detail are as follows:
 
Base price of remould (without cables): € 179
Optional new set of detachable cables and connectors: + € 95
Ownership transfer (assuming ear size compatibility): + € 150
Shipping to Greece: EUR37
 
The quote provided already includes a set of new connectors and a new cable if needed. 
If you don’t need a new cable and only connectors will be replaced it’s EUR45 instead of EUR95.
 
 
so i guess, cost is something like this 

it's 460 euros with shipping and new connectors/cable
it's 410 euros with shipping and new connectors/no cable

so yeah it's expensive

or you can take out the warranty transfer and it's 150 euros less , so 260 euros for the reshell
 
which is ok i guess....

 
 
Jan 24, 2017 at 11:33 AM Post #355 of 39,411
   
it's 460 euros with shipping and new connectors/cable
it's 410 euros with shipping and new connectors/no cable

so yeah it's expensive

or you can take out the warranty transfer and it's 150 euros less , so 260 euros for the reshell
 
which is ok i guess....

No it's an ownership transfer fee, you can't take it out.
 
Jan 24, 2017 at 11:36 AM Post #356 of 39,411
  No it's an ownership transfer fee, you can't take it out.

 
well to be fair , both Noble and EE have similarly priced reshells 

this is why i respect so much @piotrus-g , his prices are simply amazing , especially if you want to reshell one of his Custom Art ciems.....
 
Jan 24, 2017 at 11:38 AM Post #357 of 39,411
   
well to be fair , both Noble and EE have similarly priced reshells 

this is why i respect so much @piotrus-g , his prices are simply amazing , especially if you want to reshell one of his CA ciems.....

That's true is great for the resell value, really a plus.
 
Jan 24, 2017 at 11:45 AM Post #358 of 39,411
   
well to be fair , both Noble and EE have similarly priced reshells 

this is why i respect so much @piotrus-g , his prices are simply amazing , especially if you want to reshell one of his Custom Art ciems.....

 
Oh aye, my H8P reshell (from silicon to acrylic) with special art only cost about 500PLN (or 115EUR), so I'm spoilt by that price already.
 
Jan 24, 2017 at 11:49 AM Post #359 of 39,411
Piotr is amazing , very friendly and helpful, and he is never trying to sweet-talk or mentally manipulate you into buying his ciems  (as i have seen other ciems makers doing in here )

he is truly an asset to this community 
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Jan 24, 2017 at 3:04 PM Post #360 of 39,411
Re-posting this from W900 thread since this is a new AAW flagship which deserves to be featured in our new Flagship Shootout thread
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My universal W900 arrived about 3 weeks ago, went through about 50hrs burn in (DD after all
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, but need more), and I took some initial impression notes, but then set it aside, it's in my review queue to get to later.  For now I can share a few pictures and some early impressions.
 


 
I know everybody likes to talk about FR graphs, and you probably aware that manufacturers typically share compensated curves to make them look flatter, not the raw measurements.  Here is my "raw" measurement using Veritas coupler, which has been calibrated with a proper correction curve.  Keep in mind, these "hobby" couplers can't measure accurately above 10kHz or below 50Hz.
 
This is how Universal W900 FR looks and exactly how I hear it.

 
Regarding sound impression, I need to go back and refresh my mind.  But going by memory, the first thing that stands out is of course the bass.  Not exactly on Vega level, but close to U12 level, more than S-EM9 and Andromeda.  The bass had a very analog tonality, and also sounding a little hollow and bouncy.  W900 has lots of clarity and details at the top, but at the same time sounds smooth and natural, not congested.  But it does lacks some airiness in treble, and as a result the sound layering and separation is just above average, not necessary outstanding.  But make no mistake, it has a ton of clear and smooth details, and surprisingly great pair up with included stock SPC cable.  Once I'm ready to review, I will definitely include detailed comparison with Vega, Andromeda, U12, S-EM9, UERR, Zeus XRA, W80, Sirius, etc.  Maybe we hear things differently or maybe I need more burn in, but I don't hear W900 as having more airiness or better transparency/layering/separation in comparison to Zeus XRA (this is a comment to someone's impression about W900 vs Zeus in W900 thread).  Of course, take it with a grain of salt since it has been a few weeks since I heard W900.
 
Oh, and forgot to mention - soundstage is SUPER wide.  Above average depth, so overall staging is not exactly 3D holographic, but width is VERY impressive.  From my personal experience, sounstage could vary between Universal and Custom shell design due to a distance between eardrums and the driver, and earcanal anatomy, so others might have a slightly different impression when it comes to depth.
 

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