[natemact]

I also like Trio much better than Fourte.

Much? Wow

 

[NaiveSound]

Caught the Mentor v3 on tour. Super awesome Very fun and easy to listen to, absolute 0 fatigue,, that doesn't mean the highs are lacking Very Nicr easy fit for an universal too, I like the form factor over the u18t/fourte as well.
The sound is priced out of reality at 2100$, but I see this mentor v3 fitting reasonably at 1 to 1.2k$.

Anyways very nice sound sounds so good even straight out of a phone,. Bass dbgo module is ok, affects the sub bass does nothing for midbass Inpact,.

I hear general consensus is people enjoy the Mentor v3 over the Mason v3 better. Anyways I love its form factor for a universal fit, even tho I am not a fan of universal iems.
U18t/fourte are such a short nozzle universal I don't like that about it at all. But I guess that's why customs exits.

 

[ctsooner22]

Yes I have heard that the right pairing is important to drive it properly. From your experience, would you say the hand is less pleasing after adding the gold ring, or more? I have been considering the upgrade, but am concerned about diminished returns.

I went with a cool ring from Germany. it's two rings that turn on top of each other. top ring is 18K with 5 diamonds inset. the bottom is gold and platinum with a few diamonds. I need to full range with some sparkle for sure, but also need dat bass.

I am super pissed because I had eliminated the new Hifiman R2R2000 DAP from my list but a friend here told me it is desktop level, produces a sound that is highly music yet detailed and precise, the most important thing being that it feels artifact free so he could push the volume on any earphone without any distortion. He concluded that he would be hard pressed to go back to sigma delta type DACs after that. Tempting.

Mim, wrong way to look at this. I am close to a few of the worlds top DAC designers. Two have used ladder type as well as D/S. It's all implementation, but both are only using D/S right now. They say it just sounds best if done properly. don't get caught up in the hyperbole of one vs the other. I personally own both and have owned some of the best of both. They all are rewarding if you get the right one. ...

 

[Ike1985]

Much? Wow

yes, Fourte is the technically more proficient monitor but it doesn't play to my sound preference which is a warm high resolution signature with good mid and sub bass quantity/impact/rumble. Fourte certainly has more resolution it just isn't my cup of tea.

 

[natemact]

yes, Fourte is the technically more proficient monitor but it doesn't play to my sound preference which is a warm high resolution signature with good mid and sub bass quantity/impact/rumble. Fourte certainly has more resolution it just isn't my cup of tea.

Very cool! Makes sense, a warmer signature being preferred for stoner/doom type stuff. It's the same case with most of the metalcore/post-hardcore stuff I dabble in

 

[Deezel177]

Hey everyone, thanks for the super helpful replies! I am starting to think the ESR or the Spartan might better suit my needs. The Phantom sounds like it could be amazing but I think that to my ears neutrality is king. I honestly don't care a huge amount about price as to me these are all ludicrously expensive, I am just trying to find what I will like the best.

So now I am debating between the Phantom, the ESR and the Spartan. I think I am going to cross spiral ears off my list and focus on empire ears. The only thing really compelling about spiral ears is I think I might prefer the silicon, but it seems quite risky to deal with a company in Poland when there is another company making products on a similar level relatively nearby.

If anyone has any comparison between the Spartan and the ESR that would be really really cool to hear, as there are almost no impressions available on the internet of the ESR. Otherwise thanks again, without you guys it would be much much harder to figure out what I need.

I gotcha, man!

"The ESR puts a little twist on things with a beautifully warm upper-bass. It's not accentuated per se, but compared to the Spartan's drier and more even approach to the low-end, the ESR has more body, emotion and boldness down low. Fortunately, none of this introduces any kind of bloat into the midrange, and what it introduces in the bigger picture is a chesty foundation to the stage; rather than keeping it strictly clean and sterile. The midrange of the ESR is open and airy, benefitting from an upper-mid bump for extra articulation. Compared to the Spartan, vocals are less top-heavy. This is because the ESR's uses that upper-bass foundation to give meat to its vocals; bolstering midrange resolution. The Spartan sounds thinner in comparison, even though both have a pleasing timbre. The ESR - I feel - is technically stronger in the treble, due to increased linearity and extension. The Spartan is almost Zeus-like in its lower-treble and upper-treble peaks, creating notes that are clean and clear, but are almost hard and brittle in nature. The ESR maintains that clarity through sheer extension, but smoother note release allows it more forgiveness with poorer recordings.

In terms of overall resolution, I find the ESR superior to the Spartan due to several factors I mentioned above. Bass layering and precision benefits from superior low-end extension and the ESR's more stable stage makes it easier to keep up with where the bass is in the recording. An increase in note weight and note body - again, stemming from the upper bass - improves midrange resolution; endowing instruments with more physicality and palpability. The ESR's more linear treble is also instrumental in forming its blacker background. As a result, midrange notes contrast more clearly against the background, which - again - improves resolution as well as micro-dynamics without having to resort to a brighter signature. The Spartan is on par with the ESR in terms of macro-dynamics, though, due to the latter's more aggressive treble. The ESR's treble decays at a greater rate in comparison, keeping the background black and the overall timbre beautifully neutral-natural. The Spartan's overall tone is just slightly more neutral, due to a tinge of dryness in its note presentation. One is not brighter than the other per se; their notes just take on different textures. For reference, the ESR in the treble is probably more like the Andromeda in smoothness and openness, but - again - the latter has a dryness - due to an attenuated upper-bass - that the former does not."

Thanks for your impressions, it helps a lot. As mentioned I own an SEM9, which has a milder U shape, probably similar to the Phantom. Nick just mentioned the bass on the SEM9 is about the same level as the Phantom. For certain types of music and tracks I don't mind the bass, but when i'm listening to for example an orchestra, or a jazz quartet where the mids seem a bit recessed, I think wish I was listening to a more neutral headphone. Its a bit hard to tell if its the bass I wish wasn't there, or something else that the Phantom might correct for.

Of course I won't really know how I feel though until I actually hear them, talking about it is very difficult even if people like Nick make it easier.



Cool yeah I've reached out to them to see if I can arrange a demo... that would be the best case scenario for me. I'm definitely not going to write the Phantoms off! As I said before I was in the process of pulling the trigger on the Spiral 5 way and these seem very similar. The Spartan definitely does intrigue me though as it seems it may match my preferences and genres a bit more. And I could buy 2 and a half for the price of a Phantom.



To digress a bit, my view of the audio industry is that consumers, including reviewers, are doing sighted listening tests where they know the price before listening. So a lot of people saying "this 3k or 2k headphones beats this 1k headphone" are very biased before they even put the headphones on. But at this price we are really paying for the tuning, and if the Phantom is tuned as well as people on this forum say it is then it may be worth the extra 700.

Personally I prefer my Aeon Closed back (purchased for 720) over all the 2k+ headphones I've heard, aside from some electrostatics which are "different" but not necessarily better. Tyll Herstens from Innerfidelity feels the same way it seems.

My view is that amps and dacs (and cables!) are even more insane than headphones as far as perceived value for price vs actual performance.

In terms of your bass conundrum, I think it's a matter of extension vs. accentuation. An accentuated bass will have the necessary presence, but it runs the risk of overpowering or being more pronounced than the midrange and treble. On the other hand, a low-end that extends all the way to the sub-bass regions - and is linear up to the upper-bass into the lower-midrange - will have great physicality even when not overtly accentuated. The bass then becomes a foundation of sorts for the in-ear's presentation and only rumbles, or jabs, or punches, etc. when called upon by the track or the source. It should be noted that I had no idea what the prices of the IEMs were when I did my whole EE article detailing my impressions of both EP and X line-ups (click here if you haven't seen that yet). I agree, by the way, the Aeon Flow Open is one of my favourite headphones regardless of price - beautiful pair of cans.

 

[Mimouille]

I went with a cool ring from Germany. it's two rings that turn on top of each other. top ring is 18K with 5 diamonds inset. the bottom is gold and platinum with a few diamonds. I need to full range with some sparkle for sure, but also need dat bass.



Mim, wrong way to look at this. I am close to a few of the worlds top DAC designers. Two have used ladder type as well as D/S. It's all implementation, but both are only using D/S right now. They say it just sounds best if done properly. don't get caught up in the hyperbole of one vs the other. I personally own both and have owned some of the best of both. They all are rewarding if you get the right one. ...

This is not my opinion, just quoting him. And I mean that it makes this DAP intriguing.

 

[tim0chan]

Hey everyone, thanks for the super helpful replies! I am starting to think the ESR or the Spartan might better suit my needs. The Phantom sounds like it could be amazing but I think that to my ears neutrality is king. I honestly don't care a huge amount about price as to me these are all ludicrously expensive, I am just trying to find what I will like the best.

So now I am debating between the Phantom, the ESR and the Spartan. I think I am going to cross spiral ears off my list and focus on empire ears. The only thing really compelling about spiral ears is I think I might prefer the silicon, but it seems quite risky to deal with a company in Poland when there is another company making products on a similar level relatively nearby.

If anyone has any comparison between the Spartan and the ESR that would be really really cool to hear, as there are almost no impressions available on the internet of the ESR. Otherwise thanks again, without you guys it would be much much harder to figure out what I need.

As said, the Spartan is the closest to the aeons. Comparing with the esrs, the Spartan has less bass with similar extension (more ruler flat) the mids are more forward for the esr, with the Spartans coming off as more neutral, (the esr is more engaging). The highs are pretty similar, smooth with adequate sparkle and some emphasis in the lower treble to help with articulation. I would say if u find the aeons too sterile, go for the esr. If u like the sound of the aeons already, go for the Spartan(custom). U can use that extra cash saved to get an upgrade cable or a drink xD

 

[San Man]

yes, Fourte is the technically more proficient monitor but it doesn't play to my sound preference which is a warm high resolution signature with good mid and sub bass quantity/impact/rumble. Fourte certainly has more resolution it just isn't my cup of tea.

I respectfully disagree. If one considers "proficiency" to mean the ability of a monitor to reproduce all frequencies completely and in a balanced way, then to me, the U18 is the more proficient monitor.

 

[PinkyPowers]

Weapons of Power and Myth – A Review of the Empire Ears Legend X
​

 

[swesko]

Weapons of Power and Myth – A Review of the Empire Ears Legend X
​

Pinky, didn't you have the u18t?or at least listened to them?how would they compare to the LX?

 

[Wyville]

Caught the Mentor v3 on tour. Super awesome Very fun and easy to listen to, absolute 0 fatigue,, that doesn't mean the highs are lacking Very Nicr easy fit for an universal too, I like the form factor over the u18t/fourte as well.
The sound is priced out of reality at 2100$, but I see this mentor v3 fitting reasonably at 1 to 1.2k$.

Anyways very nice sound sounds so good even straight out of a phone,. Bass dbgo module is ok, affects the sub bass does nothing for midbass Inpact,.

I hear general consensus is people enjoy the Mentor v3 over the Mason v3 better. Anyways I love its form factor for a universal fit, even tho I am not a fan of universal iems.
U18t/fourte are such a short nozzle universal I don't like that about it at all. But I guess that's why customs exits.

I am at the tail end of the Mason V3 tour (UK/EU) and am really looking forward to that, but have seen a lot of very positive comments of the Mentor V3 so am curious to hear those too. Maybe I get that chance at Canjam London.

 

[hifilover1]

Hi Pinkypowers, thanks for your detailed review. Would like to see how the Legend X compares to Phantom and U18t too!

 

[PinkyPowers]

I bet you would. Send me them IEMs and I'll let you know where they stand.

 

[ctsooner22]

Great job Pinky. Love reading your reviews. Thanks so much.

This is not my opinion, just quoting him. And I mean that it makes this DAP intriguing.

Gotcha. I think any design is intriguing too as long as it's implemented properly.