[PinkyPowers]

beer cap in ear is the winner, is not even that hard to figure it out

Indeed. It's not even a fair shootout, really.

 

[Wyville]

i have zero budget for new buys atm , but i think Nic's thread will be a nice,valuable read to those looking for some new (c)iems down the road in the next few weeks/months

Same here. I don't really have the cash to spare, but following the shootout has given me a lot of valuable information for the high-end gear I plan on buying in the future. Although my plans might well be adjusted because of new arrivals along the line, it has given me a very good foundation that will help me make the right choice for me.

 

[theUKMrT]

Visited CanJam London this weekend & spent a fair bit of time with the Empire Ears Zeus XR... If the XIV doesn't top this shootout I'll be shocked - it's a superlative listen for my ears.

The experience has left me feeling a little crestfallen too. I'm someone who - rather too hastily it seems - nailed their onetime only, endgame expenditure to the Noble Encore mast. An error.

If the Zeus doesn't clinch this, I'm now obliged to at least hear what does. Just when I thought I was on top of this obses... I mean hobby... too. Dammit.

 

[DWbirdseye]

Sitting on the sidelines and enjoying the reviews, but limited because I've only had time with 6 out of the entire group. -own 2, and of the 6, 3 are in the remaining 5: Zeus, A18, and Tia Forte. Spent time with them at the canjam in Denver, and walked away thinking that the 64 offerings were above anything else. Can you imagine how difficult it must be for Nic to analyse these last 5, and pick a winner. The mind can play tricks at this stage,... patience is a virtue.

 

[Deezel177]

Sitting on the sidelines and enjoying the reviews, but limited because I've only had time with 6 out of the entire group. -own 2, and of the 6, 3 are in the remaining 5: Zeus, A18, and Tia Forte. Spent time with them at the canjam in Denver, and walked away thinking that the 64 offerings were above anything else. Can you imagine how difficult it must be for Nic to analyse these last 5, and pick a winner. The mind can play tricks at this stage,... patience is a virtue.

The Forte isn't in this shootout, but I do agree, the tia drivers 64 Audio have come up with have done wonders. Hopefully they'll trickle down into more affordable products soon enough and we can all enjoy that sweet, sweet air.

 

[sawrym]

Hi there, I have also been at London CanJam (my first) and must to say that it was smaller than I tought but very interesting experience to listen to lost of TOTL IEMs from top of the shelf. I missed the W900 and others from the top 10 pack but I have my favourite for this shootout:]

I'm coming from CIEMs like 5way Ref, Ult, NT6, H8.2 and got some perspective on the really good cans and for me the U18/A18 was something I was looking for as a endgame. Demo version was with stock cable but I can only imagine how really good cable could make U18/A18 shine even more. I had also listen to EE Zeus XR, XRA, Athena, Savage 9, Noble Encore, Dita's The Truth and The Dream, VE8, Jomo Samba and Flamenco, 64Audio's A10, A12, A18 and tia Fourte, Westone W80 but none of them were so well designed in almost all categories. I mean great tonal balance (neutral but engaging, natural but very clear and detailed), huge soundstage with great instrument separation and imaging, good texture, very well extended both ends of the spectrum (8x low drivers sounds like very good DD, tia makes the top end a new level of treble, seriously), great clarity without any sibilance. Sound was so detailed but natural and just right for my ears it was like an addiction, I wanted to listen to all of my collection again (and get some more).
I was listening on M15 and M20 modules, both were but not that big of the difference I have to admit, or just conditions were not good enough.

Maybe this piece of gear just fits me very well, but I'm pretty sure anybody can love it with most of the music genres.

@flinkenick great job with the shootout, I hope you had a good time doing it.

P.S. I can't wait to read rest of the reviews so maybe you can reveal all of them now but the scoring leave for later?:]

Any thoughts about U/A18?

Cheers!

 

[Cold Train]

Hi there, I have also been at London CanJam (my first) and must to say that it was smaller than I tought but very interesting experience to listen to lost of TOTL IEMs from top of the shelf. I missed the W900 and others from the top 10 pack but I have my favourite for this shootout:]

I'm coming from CIEMs like 5way Ref, Ult, NT6, H8.2 and got some perspective on the really good cans and for me the U18/A18 was something I was looking for as a endgame. Demo version was with stock cable but I can only imagine how really good cable could make U18/A18 shine even more. I had also listen to EE Zeus XR, XRA, Athena, Savage 9, Noble Encore, Dita's The Truth and The Dream, VE8, Jomo Samba and Flamenco, 64Audio's A10, A12, A18 and tia Fourte, Westone W80 but none of them were so well designed in almost all categories. I mean great tonal balance (neutral but engaging, natural but very clear and detailed), huge soundstage with great instrument separation and imaging, good texture, very well extended both ends of the spectrum (8x low drivers sounds like very good DD, tia makes the top end a new level of treble, seriously), great clarity without any sibilance. Sound was so detailed but natural and just right for my ears it was like an addiction, I wanted to listen to all of my collection again (and get some more).
I was listening on M15 and M20 modules, both were but not that big of the difference I have to admit, or just conditions were not good enough.

Maybe this piece of gear just fits me very well, but I'm pretty sure anybody can love it with most of the music genres.

@flinkenick great job with the shootout, I hope you had a good time doing it.

P.S. I can't wait to read rest of the reviews so maybe you can reveal all of them now but the scoring leave for later?:]

Any thoughts about U/A18?

Cheers!

U18 are definitely end game for most iems users, but some (like me) prefers something more unique like the Fourte and Obravo EAMT series. The U18 are technically way above every single pair of iems in the sub $3000, but they are tuned in a conventional way that some may find boring over time, they are very clinical and extremely detailed but lacks the emotions of the Fourte.

They can easily replace your reference type of iems and shall be the best performers on stage, tuned to be more professional than just commuting

 

[DWbirdseye]

The Forte isn't in this shootout, but I do agree, the tia drivers 64 Audio have come up with have done wonders. Hopefully they'll trickle down into more affordable products soon enough and we can all enjoy that sweet, sweet air.

Whoops, but I am on the tour featuring both. Maybe I'm projecting.

 

[sawrym]

U18 are definitely end game for most iems users, but some (like me) prefers something more unique like the Fourte and Obravo EAMT series. The U18 are technically way above every single pair of iems in the sub $3000, but they are tuned in a conventional way that some may find boring over time, they are very clinical and extremely detailed but lacks the emotions of the Fourte.

They can easily replace your reference type of iems and shall be the best performers on stage, tuned to be more professional than just commuting

Yeah, I can enjoy tia Fourte as well so can't go wrong with them but I just personally was looking something like this for a long time so I'm happy. I'm not happy with the pricing of those products (or my budget) though... Oh well, I guess it's just another lifes challenge

 

[subguy812]

U18 are definitely end game for most iems users, but some (like me) prefers something more unique like the Fourte and Obravo EAMT series. The U18 are technically way above every single pair of iems in the sub $3000, but they are tuned in a conventional way that some may find boring over time, they are very clinical and extremely detailed but lacks the emotions of the Fourte.

They can easily replace your reference type of iems and shall be the best performers on stage, tuned to be more professional than just commuting

There is no end game for those of us engaged in the hobby. And it is probably better to say things like "in my opinion".

 

[ezekiel77]

Preferences still come into play. Not just tonality, signature and technical ability. The hidden ingredient is YOUR music. Which IEM brings out the BEST of your music, not the MOST (more on that later). I discovered high-end IEMs and binaural recordings at roughly the same time, and it's a sheer delight listening to a TOTL setup with great recordings. But with that said, sometimes I yearn for the songs of my youth. They're mostly Britpop, alt-rock and modern rock from the late 90's to early 2000's (think Oasis, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Jimmy Eat World, Muse) and you know the lot of them are not the best masters. Most fell victim to the loudness wars. If your IEM of choice had the highest resolution and detail, God help you. Artifacts galore.

That's why I mentioned BEST of your music and not MOST. And why most of my IEMs are slightly bass-boosted, smoother up top and have a slight degree of forgiveness. They work best for my music. Nic separating each attribute of a TOTL IEM into a table is a godsend. You should decide your favourite from there. From Nic's chart I would prioritise tonality, imaging, soundstage, hope the bass and midrange is up there with the rest, and made sure transparency isn't too high. If you're a jazz and classical nut, where most recordings are pretty good anyway, you might want resolution and transparency as high as possible. It doesn't substitute actually hearing the IEM, but it's a great start. This way, when you actually get a chance to audition, you'd have your own shortlist instead of taking say, just Nic's top five.

Two examples. One, Galaxy v2 has the highest scoring bass so far, but it's at #14, so bassheads should take note of the bass score and not overall ranking. Two, I've heard Zeus XIV (a certain top 5 finisher), and while the sound is amazeballs, the thick, meaty notes isn't the best for my music, and I handily prefer W900 and A12 over it.

 

[Overkill Red]

There is no end game for those of us engaged in the hobby. And it is probably better to say things like "in my opinion".

Well, we COULD reach endgame.. If every manufacturer just stopped R&D and permanently fixed their product lines. Then there would be a proper ceiling to reach.

That would suck pretty hard though.

 

[Mimouille]

Well, we COULD reach endgame.. If every manufacturer just stopped R&D and permanently fixed their product lines. Then there would be a proper ceiling to reach.

That would suck pretty hard though.

Or we could all take 5% of our audio budget to see a therapist who would tell us that happiness comes from within and not from a hopeless and endless quest for the ultimate sound, which by definition doesn't exist, and will leave us penniless, homeless, single, deaf, and probably insane (if I judge by a some posts of our elderly audiophile brethren).

 

[Wyville]

Preferences still come into play. Not just tonality, signature and technical ability. The hidden ingredient is YOUR music. Which IEM brings out the BEST of your music, not the MOST (more on that later). I discovered high-end IEMs and binaural recordings at roughly the same time, and it's a sheer delight listening to a TOTL setup with great recordings. But with that said, sometimes I yearn for the songs of my youth. They're mostly Britpop, alt-rock and modern rock from the late 90's to early 2000's (think Oasis, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Jimmy Eat World, Muse) and you know the lot of them are not the best masters. Most fell victim to the loudness wars. If your IEM of choice had the highest resolution and detail, God help you. Artifacts galore.

That's why I mentioned BEST of your music and not MOST. And why most of my IEMs are slightly bass-boosted, smoother up top and have a slight degree of forgiveness. They work best for my music. Nic separating each attribute of a TOTL IEM into a table is a godsend. You should decide your favourite from there. From Nic's chart I would prioritise tonality, imaging, soundstage, hope the bass and midrange is up there with the rest, and made sure transparency isn't too high. If you're a jazz and classical nut, where most recordings are pretty good anyway, you might want resolution and transparency as high as possible. It doesn't substitute actually hearing the IEM, but it's a great start. This way, when you actually get a chance to audition, you'd have your own shortlist instead of taking say, just Nic's top five.

Two examples. One, Galaxy v2 has the highest scoring bass so far, but it's at #14, so bassheads should take note of the bass score and not overall ranking. Two, I've heard Zeus XIV (a certain top 5 finisher), and while the sound is amazeballs, the thick, meaty notes isn't the best for my music, and I handily prefer W900 and A12 over it.

I really agree on this and would say that the "best" is also something inherently linked to personal preferences. I for one love classical music and like you say transparency is important for allowing all the details to come through, and yet for me personally it comes after tonality, imaging and cohesion. I want to be able to walk through the music, hear individual instruments realistically, but I also still want it to maintain a cohesion that creates an organic and smooth sound. That is why I like the Harmony 8.2, why the UE18+ Pro has really peaked my interest and perhaps the Maestro V2 will prove even more compelling (looking forward to the review of that one).

Because of just what you said, I also want my future TOTL to be more specifically suited to classical music, especially symphonies and vocal/choral pieces. My Ei.3 remain highly versatile and work great for EDM, rock and other types of music I tend to listen to while on the go. My future TOTL can therefore easily be more specialised.

A great excuse for owning multiple pairs of (C)IEMs!

 

[subguy812]

Or we could all take 5% of our audio budget to see a therapist who would tell us that happiness comes from within and not from a hopeless and endless quest for the ultimate sound, which by definition doesn't exist, and will leave us penniless, homeless, single, deaf, and probably insane (if I judge by a some posts of our elderly audiophile brethren).

Hey I resemble that remark!