Mimouille
Headphoneus Supremus
Good thing Nick is still young he cannot pull a Robert Jordan on us.
Dayyyuuummm........ And is that Sanrio's proprietary Playnar magnetic driver ??I couldn't wait for the shootout to finish, and the Heineken bottle cap iems are on a 6 month wait list, so I bought the next best thing. There goes my budget.
Yeah, but that still gives him 16 years to finish the shootout.Good thing Nick is still young he cannot pull a Robert Jordan on us.
Agreed...but that happened long before the top 5. All in the shootout are pretty great. I still have the Dream as well as my other IEMs and marvel at the evolving sound of it each time I listen to it. Anyone viewing this thread can feel confident if buy one you are getting TOTL. Read the sound part of the reviews and find a sound signature that sounds like what you enjoy when you are listening to music, don't get blinded by science. Do I enjoy my Zeus XR more than Dream or Maestro V2? I have favorite but that isn't important. I do know the only one I want to try is the U18, love the U12.at that point all ciems are great - comes down to sound preference and budget
all 5 are winners i guess
Warbler has come a long way...but I would be really flabbergasted when it also makes it to the top 3
Agreed...but that happened long before the top 5. All in the shootout are pretty great. I still have the Dream as well as my other IEMs and marvel at the evolving sound of it each time I listen to it. Anyone viewing this thread can feel confident if buy one you are getting TOTL. Read the sound part of the reviews and find a sound signature that sounds like what you enjoy when you are listening to music, don't get blinded by science. Do I enjoy my Zeus XR more than Dream or Maestro V2? I have favorite but that isn't important. I do know the only one I want to try is the U18, love the U12.
I am well aware... doesn't mean I don't want to try it.The key word here is when; not if
The U18 us quite different from the U12; it leans way more towards reference/neutral-sounding than the natural and bodied signature of the U12.
As people said above, do not buy an earphone because of its ranking, but use the review and explanation to narrow down your search, maybe.
I just spent 90 minutes comparing the U18, Fourte, UM Mason 2 and my Dream.
I have to say that I do not understand how the Mason 2 can be considered better than the Dream, it sounds veiled to me; similar soundstage (which means amazing), maybe and I really say maybe, more natural tone, but less details.
The Fourte, I hear more treble extension than the Dream, with heavier bass, but less texture and overpowering the lower mids. There is no scenario or music genre I would listen to it over te Dream if I had both.
The U18 is for me a more serious contender. Before getting the Dream I already considered and listened to it, but decided that the Dream would be better. But it is indeed an amazing earphone for me. Trebbles are smoother yet more extended. Bass decay is faster, but the Dream bass seams more natural. Both have great texture.
The tone is similar, slightly too bright. The U18 has more details, whereas the Dream is more engaging/dynamic/energetic. It is a matter of taste at that level of near perfectionl and I cannot justify owning both.
Note that I also listened to the Lola, but not for me at all (not bright enough) and the Samba, which for me has too small a soundstage for me, but except that, is stunning : bass quality, details and energy.
Anyway, the 2 cents impressions of a newbie in high end earphones.
Nice impressions
But...too many categories of iems were used, therefore a Multi BA, Single DD or Hybrid surely won't have the same sound character! In the same way as comparing iems against ciems, I don't really feel that this kind of review make sense.
As people said above, do not buy an earphone because of its ranking, but use the review and explanation to narrow down your search, maybe.
I just spent 90 minutes comparing the U18, Fourte, UM Mason 2 and my Dream.
I have to say that I do not understand how the Mason 2 can be considered better than the Dream, it sounds veiled to me; similar soundstage (which means amazing), maybe and I really say maybe, more natural tone, but less details.
The Fourte, I hear more treble extension than the Dream, with heavier bass, but less texture and overpowering the lower mids. There is no scenario or music genre I would listen to it over te Dream if I had both.
The U18 is for me a more serious contender. Before getting the Dream I already considered and listened to it, but decided that the Dream would be better. But it is indeed an amazing earphone for me. Trebbles are smoother yet more extended. Bass decay is faster, but the Dream bass seams more natural. Both have great texture.
The tone is similar, slightly too bright. The U18 has more details, whereas the Dream is more engaging/dynamic/energetic. It is a matter of taste at that level of near perfectionl and I cannot justify owning both.
Note that I also listened to the Lola, but not for me at all (not bright enough) and the Samba, which for me has too small a soundstage for me, but except that, is stunning : bass quality, details and energy.
Anyway, the 2 cents impressions of a newbie in high end earphones.
Are you implying that Nic' s shootout doesn't make sense since there are those IEMs you mentioned??