[Wyville]

Nic, that small portable amp at their table didn't do RA CU justice. I have no idea why David (the main oBravo guy) didn't have a full desktop amp setup to demonstrate a full capability of this IEM. Plus, he only showed me a balanced cable later, so I couldn't try it balanced from wm1z. It has serious potentials, but not when you drive it from a dap Thus, nobody at CanJam who tried this iem got an impression how it really sounds. I actually trying to get a loaner just so I can experiment with different amps. Now, I'm really curious about it.

On a contrary, Shure were smart about KSE1500, matching it with their own portable amp. I tried it from LO of SP1k, and was very impressed with it. Some peple next to me even suggested it's fine double-amped, driven from HO.

I hope you get the loaner because they are proving to be quite a conundrum like this and I think everyone is very curious to learn how oBravo justify the extraordinary price tag. Would love to see them get a few thorough reviews with multiple sources from DAPs to high-end desktop, just to put a number of fair impressions of them out there (I expect Lieven will do the same). Not that I would ever consider buying them, but they are still a fascinating technological statement that I think many would like to read more about.

 

[twister6]

I hope you get the loaner because they are proving to be quite a conundrum like this and I think everyone is very curious to learn how oBravo justify the extraordinary price tag. Would love to see them get a few thorough reviews with multiple sources from DAPs to high-end desktop, just to put a number of fair impressions of them out there (I expect Lieven will do the same). Not that I would ever consider buying them, but they are still a fascinating technological statement that I think many would like to read more about.

I have a feeling at CanJam London Phil will make sure to have a proper amp at oBravo table And yes, both Lieven and Marcus reviewing it, and they have plenty of top end desktop amps.

I don't know how to justify the price in this case, or if this top of the line model is intended to showcase the best of their latest AMT driver tech to get people interested in more affordable EAMT models? But either way, RA Cu left an impression with me after the show, I just don't know how it sounds and still very curious to find out

 

[fiascogarcia]

Nic, that small portable amp at their table didn't do RA CU justice. I have no idea why David (the main oBravo guy) didn't have a full desktop amp setup to demonstrate a full capability of this IEM. Plus, he only showed me a balanced cable later, so I couldn't try it balanced from wm1z. It has serious potentials, but not when you drive it from a dap Thus, nobody at CanJam who tried this iem got an impression how it really sounds. I actually trying to get a loaner just so I can experiment with different amps. Now, I'm really curious about it.

On a contrary, Shure were smart about KSE1500, matching it with their own portable amp. I tried it from LO of SP1k, and was very impressed with it. Some peple next to me even suggested it's fine double-amped, driven from HO.

I tend to agree on the Obravo issue. Though I know nothing of the RA, I have owned the eamt-1c, and it did nothing for me with a stand alone DAP, until I started playing it through a Hugo/LC combo. It immediately became more coherent and impressive. On the other hand, that probably defeats the concept of using iems for many people. IMO

 

[Wyville]

I have a feeling at CanJam London Phil will make sure to have a proper amp at oBravo table And yes, both Lieven and Marcus reviewing it, and they have plenty of top end desktop amps.

I don't know how to justify the price in this case, or if this top of the line model is intended to showcase the best of their latest AMT driver tech to get people interested in more affordable EAMT models? But either way, RA Cu left an impression with me after the show, I just don't know how it sounds and still very curious to find out

It might indeed be a way for oBravo to show off their skills and develop interest in their lower end models. The thing is though that I looked for info on the ERIB models (6 and 5) when I was still deciding on my first audiophile IEMs (that ended up being my current Ei.3), but could at the time not even find those on oBravo’s website. I still find the models very interesting, but have not come across them very often.

Will look for them at Canjam London, or maybe I will (finally) find my way to visit Phil. Been meaning to do that for ages, but keeps being postponed.

 

[ChrisSC]

Nic, that small portable amp at their table didn't do RA CU justice. I have no idea why David (the main oBravo guy) didn't have a full desktop amp setup to demonstrate a full capability of this IEM. Plus, he only showed me a balanced cable later, so I couldn't try it balanced from wm1z. It has serious potentials, but not when you drive it from a dap Thus, nobody at CanJam who tried this iem got an impression how it really sounds. I actually trying to get a loaner just so I can experiment with different amps. Now, I'm really curious about it.

On a contrary, Shure were smart about KSE1500, matching it with their own portable amp. I tried it from LO of SP1k, and was very impressed with it. Some peple next to me even suggested it's fine double-amped, driven from HO.

Maybe I just don't get it, but seems to me that any 7,500 Euro IEM that needs a full desktop setup to sound good is seriously flawed and not worth a fraction of its cost.

 

[Blommen]

Why the hell would I use an iem if I was sitting with a quality desktop amp? I love my iems, but they are for portability and "away from desktop " scenarios i.e. bed or couch. Not big amps.

 

[ctsooner22]

Companies make big mistakes all the time. For a company to showcase their 30k plus IEM with an amp that won't show it off deserves to get roasted. I'd give them another listen, but like I said previously (maybe it was in another thread) I have owned the Oscar Heil air motion transformer speakers in teh 70's and have heard the new ones. The sound is teh same. Bright, brittle and too fast to mate any low end. I've heard them padded down on top to try and tame them, but they are always incoherent IMHO. That's in a speaker. I found similar in this IEM. To me, I can't believe that even my 10k Ayre DAC/Amp will make it sound good. Better? Yes, but not good.

What about EE? or Noble or...... Do they use a 10k DAC/Amp at their booths? They have the AK or Sony units as that's what so many use. Just think about that for a second. Just not my cup of tea, but I spoke with many about their thoughts and they were the same of mine, so I don't think it was just a few of us feeling this way regardless of cost. They were nice looking adn build solidly.

 

[crinacle]

I've tried the oBravo ERIB5(?) in Japan once and it was laughably bad. I think the MSRP was 500USD? I played one 3-minute song through it and immediately stopped after. I never say this at all but I would honestly, at the bottom of my heart, first pay $500 for a pair of VE Monks than buy that junk.

The experience was so bad that it basically shattered all hope I had for oBravo. Amplification or not, it says a lot when you "need" a desktop solution for an IEM. Even the HD800 was technically capable out of an iPhone; there is no excuse.

 

[Wyville]

I've tried the oBravo ERIB5(?) in Japan once and it was laughably bad. I think the MSRP was 500USD? I played one 3-minute song through it and immediately stopped after. I never say this at all but I would honestly, at the bottom of my heart, first pay $500 for a pair of VE Monks than buy that junk.

The experience was so bad that it basically shattered all hope I had for oBravo. Amplification or not, it says a lot when you "need" a desktop solution for an IEM. Even the HD800 was technically capable out of an iPhone; there is no excuse.

Yikes! Never a good sign if you have to stop listening after only a few minutes.

Back when I was looking into oBravo I found one review of the ERIB-5 at Headfonics, where Marcus put his hearing on the line to give them a fair chance and he seemed to have figured out how to get a natural presentation out of them. It again required a desktop (tube) setup to do it and, importantly, foam tips. So yeah, perfectly understandable that those might fail to win anyone over. It is rather ridiculous that a $500 pair of IEMs would require a $1,200 tube amp to sound right.

 

[proedros]

this is a joke obviously , we are only discussing it because of the extraordinanry pricing

this is more absurd than people paying 1K for some cool reprints on their CIEMs

that absurd

 

[audionewbi]

A statement product, or the way I understood it is like those concept cars we see in the various car show. They show the potential of that company, what they can produce now but due to the technological limit cost will not allow mass production and as a result the high price tag. Statement product are meant to be show casing the entire know how of a company, the very best they can do, using the latest state of art technology they have in their position.

I dont want to mention who said this but a manufacture told me if an IEM maker has a hard time producing a capable IEM under 2K they are either really bad at their R&D or just playing with market emotion.

There is so much secrecy in product pricing. And what Fang Bian said in the Tyll interview regarding the cost of RE2000 is infact the truth, all developers price their product highly because they think their product is better than the produced by brand X. They think that if brand X asked 3000 USD why can't I, mine is surely better than theirs?

Sadly after trying almost all the current high end IEM almost all of them priced just to merely make them competitive with the other products. The market still judges things by their price point. Beside the KSE1500 I haven't made one purchase that I fully justified its selling price. They all use a different cross over using the exact same driver that they dont develop. I know getting the cross over is not easy, not in particular this crazy market where the focus is in getting more and more driver jammed in the shell. Thankfully they move is slowly actually going towards developing something new, not just jamming more of other peoples driver in shells.

 

[normie610]

Had a brief exchange with Lieven of Headfonia on his Instagram, he mentioned that the oBravo Ra Cu has a massive impedance of 182 Ohm and really hard to drive. No DAP can do justice to its potential. It's definitely not a portable solution.

 

[Deezel177]

A statement product, or the way I understood it is like those concept cars we see in the various car show. They show the potential of that company, what they can produce now but due to the technological limit cost will not allow mass production and as a result the high price tag. Statement product are meant to be show casing the entire know how of a company, the very best they can do, using the latest state of art technology they have in their position.

I dont want to mention who said this but a manufacture told me if an IEM maker has a hard time producing a capable IEM under 2K they are either really bad at their R&D or just playing with market emotion.

There is so much secrecy in product pricing. And what Fang Bian said in the Tyll interview regarding the cost of RE2000 is infact the truth, all developers price their product highly because they think their product is better than the produced by brand X. They think that if brand X asked 3000 USD why can't I, mine is surely better than theirs?

Sadly after trying almost all the current high end IEM almost all of them priced just to merely make them competitive with the other products. The market still judges things by their price point. Beside the KSE1500 I haven't made one purchase that I fully justified its selling price. They all use a different cross over using the exact same driver that they dont develop. I know getting the cross over is not easy, not in particular this crazy market where the focus is in getting more and more driver jammed in the shell. Thankfully they move is slowly actually going towards developing something new, not just jamming more of other peoples driver in shells.

Agreed. All of the recent technological growth from most of the big-name manufacturers is a brilliant step forward for the industry as a whole. 2018 is going to be a really exciting year.

 

[audionewbi]

Agreed. All of the recent technological growth from most of the big-name manufacturers is a brilliant step forward for the industry as a whole. 2018 is going to be a really exciting year.

I hope it will become an exciting and relatively affordable year. The power is within the reviewers to asked the developer about their cost and do the journalist aspect of audio. You guys are the closest thing to journalist. Sadly we dont have audio journalist, and we have many reviewers. And I understand the hard position a reviewer is facing when they are challenging a product which they are required to review.

 

[Deezel177]

I hope it will become an exciting and relatively affordable year. The power is within the reviewers to asked the developer about their cost and do the journalist aspect of audio. You guys are the closest thing to journalist. Sadly we dont have audio journalist, and we have many reviewers. And I understand the hard position a reviewer is facing when they are challenging a product which they are required to review.

Well, that's why people like myself and @ryanjsoo review the products we review. Our job is to find the best hidden gem IEMs on the market and give them the attention they deserve. Although we may dabble in the high-end from time to time, we absolutely love being surprised by value products too. With products like the EE Bravado, Custom Art's FIBAE line and the Nocturnal Audio Avalon, we're bound for a promising rest of the year.