deafdoorknob
1000+ Head-Fier
they are doing an upmarket take on the jvc approach in a way (FW v FD) the twins are developed from the Dream, whereas this is from the brass variant of the answer. no idea how much tho.
flinkenick's 17 Flagship IEM Shootout Thread (and general high-end portable audio discussion)
So guys, I've sworn not to in a drunken haze, but I've attended a show again and jot down some rambling incoherent thoughts. It's got... stuff. Cans, IEMs and lobster tail.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/kua...av-show-kliav-2018-impressions-thread.886935/
Do visit if you want a reprieve from the price wars lol. I listened to all these for free!
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/kua...av-show-kliav-2018-impressions-thread.886935/
Do visit if you want a reprieve from the price wars lol. I listened to all these for free!
Last edited:
Rollk2
500+ Head-Fier
I just want to share with my audio journey in Amsterdam, please feel free to react 
Amsterdam, lovely people, lovely town
My gf and I just came back home this week after more than 2 weeks in Croatia, Bosnia, Czech Republic and a brillant country for final, Netherlands! During our trip around Europe I wanted to visit two shops, one in Praha, Audigo, the other, much more interesting, Hifi Solutions, in Amsterdam.
There, we met Rick an adorable, passionate and enthusiastic shop owner. As soon as I entered, he knew I was in my candy shop. And what a candy shop: 64audio, EarSonics, Empire Ears, JHaudio, Final Audio and many other brands were presented and most of all they were available to trial.
Have you met Rick?
Here I want to talk about Rick, I would like to warn you… He is really nice, he welcomed us and led us to a listening room with the IEMs he presented to us and all others we wanted to listen to. He had plenty of advice to give us about eartips, cables and was very helpful. If you read us, thank you so much Rick
Because we were on a trip for 2 weeks we just had a little M0 and our phones. The Shanling M0 is quite powerful for its size to drive IEMs but that just shows the potentiality. That's why Rick offered us to use his Hiby R6; a great player, very handy with a fast and user-friendly Android OS. Without a doubt, a must-have.
As we can't try all the IEMs stored by Rick at hifisolutions we chose to pick some out of interest and curiosity.
Two words about my perception of TOTL performance
As far as I can remember in my audio experience, I was looking for a wow effect experience of music instead of a realistic one. I wanted to be impressed. The realism of music appeared step-by-step, with concert, in selling and buying audio gears and discussing with industry leaders like EarSonics or Custom Art CEO. Moreover, my favourite music genre, which is dub music, forced me to keep attention to go for permissive gears as there are a lot of bad recordings.
Hence, TOTL performance, to me, is achieved by IEMs which are able to deliver tonal accuracy, technical performance and to manage details on badly recorded tracks. That’s not an easy goal to reach…
64audio: unrealistic hit-hat
The range of products of Vancouver's brand is very well made, with a solid shell and a nice standard cable, but I'm a bit worried with the hit-hat sound's reproduction which is absolutely not realistic to my ears. Trebles are present and not as aggressive as I'd read, but the tone, on the bright side, is far from what I expected. This particularity sadly remains the same from U12T to Tia Fourté.
Except that, the most interesting IEM, from my POV, was the U12t which has a nice bass attack and excellent capabilities in order to recreate fine nuances as well as earthquake-like rumble. I didn't recognize the emotionless mids I was sometimes reading about in reviews, but clearly, those IEMs are not on the organic side of the game.
If the U18t and the Tia Fourté are both technically superiors to the U12t I'm pretty sure they're not the endgame for most of us. In fact, I clearly preferred the way the U12t layers the stage, though less open than both others, but that way it is more engaging to my ears.
JHaudio: impressive Layla
I'm not very interested in the JHaudio product range for many reasons: their size or the non standard 4 pins connector for example. Nick wanted me to try the Layla as for him that IEM is among the best in terms of resolution. With my small M0 it was not a great match as it lacks power and provides a small soundstage, that's why I used Rick's Hiby R6. Ok, I admit, that IEM rocks! The stage depth is very impressive and resolution is top notch. I can't say how the sound signature is as I quickly tried them, but it seems JHaudio Layla is not a specialized IEM like the Roxanne was with rock music. It impressively handles many genres as reggae, rock, pop or EDM with ease.
Empire Ears: Phantom or Legend X as a flagship?
I was clearly at hifi solutions to buy some new ear candies but I wasn’t sure if the Phantom would fit my expectations. Thus, I began with the Bravado as a mise en bouche and discovered the new Empire Ears line. Not a great IEM as I can read, but still a decent entry level hybrid IEM: bottom end with nice nuances, pronounced trebles and laid back or less pronounced mids. The soundstage is pretty decent, especially for the price asked, but the imaging lacks of precision and depth layering.
I quickly tried the Vantage and Nemesis which were both well tuned, but not exactly to my taste in terms of sound signature. I nevertheless prefered the Nemesis without being able now to describe how it sounds (Rick told me to take notes, but time was running out…)
Then, I tried the Phantom with both my Bronze Dragon and the EA Ares II cables to finally keep the later. Indeed, the Moon Audio new cable emphasized the high mids, but offers a bit more control in the bass region. Well, to be honest, the Ares II is a better choice as the sound signature is more balanced.
The Phantom is an emotional IEM using its bass impact to bob your head and almost forward mids to follow the beat. Trebles are very well tuned and deliver a nice and realistic tone with a good amount of energy. As I said before, trebles is, to me, very hard to reproduce and most of TOTL IEM don’t do that very well. Here, Phantom are able to sound extended, energetic and realistic. Moreover, all instruments sound as a unison which gives a coherent stage and an harmonic feeling.
With no surprise, as both IEM are not in the same serie, the Legend X doesn’t sound the same as the Phantom. The signature is more V-shaped and the sound foundation and coherency is not the same: open soundstage, raw bass impact and forward trebles. Its transparency and details are impressive, but to me it was too much to be natural like the Phantom are. It’s probably a matter of personal tastes but after many A/B comparisons it was a bit complicated to me to understand which one was the flagship and why the Legend X was so expensive. Yes, it’s a both contemplative and lively IEM but far from neutral…
End words
I want to thank @Adventure and @flinkenick for being who they are, authentic, smiley and generous people. Without them, our trip in Amsterdam would not have been the same.
I’m very happy having tried so many TOTL IEMs and most of all having tried before paying. I was very curious about the 64audio line of product, because I only tried years ago the U6, and now I’m able to understand why people are fan of their IEMs. JHaudio made some improvements in sound reproduction, but their products, except the Billie Jean, are far too big to be used everyday. Empire Ears is a serious contender, but apart from the Phantom, their house sound is not to my taste, therefore I’m very lucky having tried them all before making my choice.
Amsterdam, lovely people, lovely town
My gf and I just came back home this week after more than 2 weeks in Croatia, Bosnia, Czech Republic and a brillant country for final, Netherlands! During our trip around Europe I wanted to visit two shops, one in Praha, Audigo, the other, much more interesting, Hifi Solutions, in Amsterdam.
There, we met Rick an adorable, passionate and enthusiastic shop owner. As soon as I entered, he knew I was in my candy shop. And what a candy shop: 64audio, EarSonics, Empire Ears, JHaudio, Final Audio and many other brands were presented and most of all they were available to trial.
Have you met Rick?
Here I want to talk about Rick, I would like to warn you… He is really nice, he welcomed us and led us to a listening room with the IEMs he presented to us and all others we wanted to listen to. He had plenty of advice to give us about eartips, cables and was very helpful. If you read us, thank you so much Rick
Because we were on a trip for 2 weeks we just had a little M0 and our phones. The Shanling M0 is quite powerful for its size to drive IEMs but that just shows the potentiality. That's why Rick offered us to use his Hiby R6; a great player, very handy with a fast and user-friendly Android OS. Without a doubt, a must-have.
As we can't try all the IEMs stored by Rick at hifisolutions we chose to pick some out of interest and curiosity.
Two words about my perception of TOTL performance
As far as I can remember in my audio experience, I was looking for a wow effect experience of music instead of a realistic one. I wanted to be impressed. The realism of music appeared step-by-step, with concert, in selling and buying audio gears and discussing with industry leaders like EarSonics or Custom Art CEO. Moreover, my favourite music genre, which is dub music, forced me to keep attention to go for permissive gears as there are a lot of bad recordings.
Hence, TOTL performance, to me, is achieved by IEMs which are able to deliver tonal accuracy, technical performance and to manage details on badly recorded tracks. That’s not an easy goal to reach…
64audio: unrealistic hit-hat
The range of products of Vancouver's brand is very well made, with a solid shell and a nice standard cable, but I'm a bit worried with the hit-hat sound's reproduction which is absolutely not realistic to my ears. Trebles are present and not as aggressive as I'd read, but the tone, on the bright side, is far from what I expected. This particularity sadly remains the same from U12T to Tia Fourté.
Except that, the most interesting IEM, from my POV, was the U12t which has a nice bass attack and excellent capabilities in order to recreate fine nuances as well as earthquake-like rumble. I didn't recognize the emotionless mids I was sometimes reading about in reviews, but clearly, those IEMs are not on the organic side of the game.
If the U18t and the Tia Fourté are both technically superiors to the U12t I'm pretty sure they're not the endgame for most of us. In fact, I clearly preferred the way the U12t layers the stage, though less open than both others, but that way it is more engaging to my ears.
JHaudio: impressive Layla
I'm not very interested in the JHaudio product range for many reasons: their size or the non standard 4 pins connector for example. Nick wanted me to try the Layla as for him that IEM is among the best in terms of resolution. With my small M0 it was not a great match as it lacks power and provides a small soundstage, that's why I used Rick's Hiby R6. Ok, I admit, that IEM rocks! The stage depth is very impressive and resolution is top notch. I can't say how the sound signature is as I quickly tried them, but it seems JHaudio Layla is not a specialized IEM like the Roxanne was with rock music. It impressively handles many genres as reggae, rock, pop or EDM with ease.
Empire Ears: Phantom or Legend X as a flagship?
I was clearly at hifi solutions to buy some new ear candies but I wasn’t sure if the Phantom would fit my expectations. Thus, I began with the Bravado as a mise en bouche and discovered the new Empire Ears line. Not a great IEM as I can read, but still a decent entry level hybrid IEM: bottom end with nice nuances, pronounced trebles and laid back or less pronounced mids. The soundstage is pretty decent, especially for the price asked, but the imaging lacks of precision and depth layering.
I quickly tried the Vantage and Nemesis which were both well tuned, but not exactly to my taste in terms of sound signature. I nevertheless prefered the Nemesis without being able now to describe how it sounds (Rick told me to take notes, but time was running out…)
Then, I tried the Phantom with both my Bronze Dragon and the EA Ares II cables to finally keep the later. Indeed, the Moon Audio new cable emphasized the high mids, but offers a bit more control in the bass region. Well, to be honest, the Ares II is a better choice as the sound signature is more balanced.
The Phantom is an emotional IEM using its bass impact to bob your head and almost forward mids to follow the beat. Trebles are very well tuned and deliver a nice and realistic tone with a good amount of energy. As I said before, trebles is, to me, very hard to reproduce and most of TOTL IEM don’t do that very well. Here, Phantom are able to sound extended, energetic and realistic. Moreover, all instruments sound as a unison which gives a coherent stage and an harmonic feeling.
With no surprise, as both IEM are not in the same serie, the Legend X doesn’t sound the same as the Phantom. The signature is more V-shaped and the sound foundation and coherency is not the same: open soundstage, raw bass impact and forward trebles. Its transparency and details are impressive, but to me it was too much to be natural like the Phantom are. It’s probably a matter of personal tastes but after many A/B comparisons it was a bit complicated to me to understand which one was the flagship and why the Legend X was so expensive. Yes, it’s a both contemplative and lively IEM but far from neutral…
End words
I want to thank @Adventure and @flinkenick for being who they are, authentic, smiley and generous people. Without them, our trip in Amsterdam would not have been the same.
I’m very happy having tried so many TOTL IEMs and most of all having tried before paying. I was very curious about the 64audio line of product, because I only tried years ago the U6, and now I’m able to understand why people are fan of their IEMs. JHaudio made some improvements in sound reproduction, but their products, except the Billie Jean, are far too big to be used everyday. Empire Ears is a serious contender, but apart from the Phantom, their house sound is not to my taste, therefore I’m very lucky having tried them all before making my choice.
davidcotton
X-CANs and HDAMs
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2001
- Posts
- 7,701
- Likes
- 2,195
So what did you buy if anything unless I missed it?
Awesome write-up! The Acustone 1650CU certainly has my interest
Sounds like it was a great visit! I will be making a similar pilgrimage in a few months time to meet up with Nic and Rick to talk gear (and listen of course). Really looking forward to it and by the sound of it I really need to demo the U12t.I just want to share with my audio journey in Amsterdam, please feel free to react
Amsterdam, lovely people, lovely town
My gf and I just came back home this week after more than 2 weeks in Croatia, Bosnia, Czech Republic and a brillant country for final, Netherlands! During our trip around Europe I wanted to visit two shops, one in Praha, Audigo, the other, much more interesting, Hifi Solutions, in Amsterdam.
There, we met Rick an adorable, passionate and enthusiastic shop owner. As soon as I entered, he knew I was in my candy shop. And what a candy shop: 64audio, EarSonics, Empire Ears, JHaudio, Final Audio and many other brands were presented and most of all they were available to trial.
Have you met Rick?
Here I want to talk about Rick, I would like to warn you… He is really nice, he welcomed us and led us to a listening room with the IEMs he presented to us and all others we wanted to listen to. He had plenty of advice to give us about eartips, cables and was very helpful. If you read us, thank you so much Rick
Because we were on a trip for 2 weeks we just had a little M0 and our phones. The Shanling M0 is quite powerful for its size to drive IEMs but that just shows the potentiality. That's why Rick offered us to use his Hiby R6; a great player, very handy with a fast and user-friendly Android OS. Without a doubt, a must-have.
As we can't try all the IEMs stored by Rick at hifisolutions we chose to pick some out of interest and curiosity.
Two words about my perception of TOTL performance
As far as I can remember in my audio experience, I was looking for a wow effect experience of music instead of a realistic one. I wanted to be impressed. The realism of music appeared step-by-step, with concert, in selling and buying audio gears and discussing with industry leaders like EarSonics or Custom Art CEO. Moreover, my favourite music genre, which is dub music, forced me to keep attention to go for permissive gears as there are a lot of bad recordings.
Hence, TOTL performance, to me, is achieved by IEMs which are able to deliver tonal accuracy, technical performance and to manage details on badly recorded tracks. That’s not an easy goal to reach…
64audio: unrealistic hit-hat
The range of products of Vancouver's brand is very well made, with a solid shell and a nice standard cable, but I'm a bit worried with the hit-hat sound's reproduction which is absolutely not realistic to my ears. Trebles are present and not as aggressive as I'd read, but the tone, on the bright side, is far from what I expected. This particularity sadly remains the same from U12T to Tia Fourté.
Except that, the most interesting IEM, from my POV, was the U12t which has a nice bass attack and excellent capabilities in order to recreate fine nuances as well as earthquake-like rumble. I didn't recognize the emotionless mids I was sometimes reading about in reviews, but clearly, those IEMs are not on the organic side of the game.
If the U18t and the Tia Fourté are both technically superiors to the U12t I'm pretty sure they're not the endgame for most of us. In fact, I clearly preferred the way the U12t layers the stage, though less open than both others, but that way it is more engaging to my ears.
JHaudio: impressive Layla
I'm not very interested in the JHaudio product range for many reasons: their size or the non standard 4 pins connector for example. Nick wanted me to try the Layla as for him that IEM is among the best in terms of resolution. With my small M0 it was not a great match as it lacks power and provides a small soundstage, that's why I used Rick's Hiby R6. Ok, I admit, that IEM rocks! The stage depth is very impressive and resolution is top notch. I can't say how the sound signature is as I quickly tried them, but it seems JHaudio Layla is not a specialized IEM like the Roxanne was with rock music. It impressively handles many genres as reggae, rock, pop or EDM with ease.
Empire Ears: Phantom or Legend X as a flagship?
I was clearly at hifi solutions to buy some new ear candies but I wasn’t sure if the Phantom would fit my expectations. Thus, I began with the Bravado as a mise en bouche and discovered the new Empire Ears line. Not a great IEM as I can read, but still a decent entry level hybrid IEM: bottom end with nice nuances, pronounced trebles and laid back or less pronounced mids. The soundstage is pretty decent, especially for the price asked, but the imaging lacks of precision and depth layering.
I quickly tried the Vantage and Nemesis which were both well tuned, but not exactly to my taste in terms of sound signature. I nevertheless prefered the Nemesis without being able now to describe how it sounds (Rick told me to take notes, but time was running out…)
Then, I tried the Phantom with both my Bronze Dragon and the EA Ares II cables to finally keep the later. Indeed, the Moon Audio new cable emphasized the high mids, but offers a bit more control in the bass region. Well, to be honest, the Ares II is a better choice as the sound signature is more balanced.
The Phantom is an emotional IEM using its bass impact to bob your head and almost forward mids to follow the beat. Trebles are very well tuned and deliver a nice and realistic tone with a good amount of energy. As I said before, trebles is, to me, very hard to reproduce and most of TOTL IEM don’t do that very well. Here, Phantom are able to sound extended, energetic and realistic. Moreover, all instruments sound as a unison which gives a coherent stage and an harmonic feeling.
With no surprise, as both IEM are not in the same serie, the Legend X doesn’t sound the same as the Phantom. The signature is more V-shaped and the sound foundation and coherency is not the same: open soundstage, raw bass impact and forward trebles. Its transparency and details are impressive, but to me it was too much to be natural like the Phantom are. It’s probably a matter of personal tastes but after many A/B comparisons it was a bit complicated to me to understand which one was the flagship and why the Legend X was so expensive. Yes, it’s a both contemplative and lively IEM but far from neutral…
End words
I want to thank @Adventure and @flinkenick for being who they are, authentic, smiley and generous people. Without them, our trip in Amsterdam would not have been the same.
I’m very happy having tried so many TOTL IEMs and most of all having tried before paying. I was very curious about the 64audio line of product, because I only tried years ago the U6, and now I’m able to understand why people are fan of their IEMs. JHaudio made some improvements in sound reproduction, but their products, except the Billie Jean, are far too big to be used everyday. Empire Ears is a serious contender, but apart from the Phantom, their house sound is not to my taste, therefore I’m very lucky having tried them all before making my choice.
ctsooner22
1000+ Head-Fier
We nearly booked that trip, but the wife wanted us to go only in Jan when it's both our birthdays. I asked Nic and figured it was just toto cold to enjoy the way we wanted to.
proedros
Headphoneus Supremus
It's been 8.5 years since i last visited amsterdam , but i remember this town like it was yesterday
maybe it's a coincidence but 3 months after my last trip to 'dam i(in april 2010) i discovered this place....the rest is history
but now that my upgraditis finally(?) is in remission , i want to visit amsterdam next summer - we'll see how money will be then
my birthday is also in january lol , but i wanna go when i's warm in dam the winter must be brutal
try and go between may-august , when the weather is good and you can stay outside all day long
winter is nice if you are a young **** rabbit couple and just wanna stay inside all the time beneath the blankets
maybe it's a coincidence but 3 months after my last trip to 'dam i(in april 2010) i discovered this place....the rest is history
but now that my upgraditis finally(?) is in remission , i want to visit amsterdam next summer - we'll see how money will be then
my birthday is also in january lol , but i wanna go when i's warm in dam the winter must be brutal
try and go between may-august , when the weather is good and you can stay outside all day long
winter is nice if you are a young **** rabbit couple and just wanna stay inside all the time beneath the blankets
Last edited:
Rollk2
500+ Head-Fier
yeah sureWinter in Amsterdam is an excellent pretext to spend a lot of time to visit hifi solutions
I just want to share with my audio journey in Amsterdam, please feel free to react
Amsterdam, lovely people, lovely town
My gf and I just came back home this week after more than 2 weeks in Croatia, Bosnia, Czech Republic and a brillant country for final, Netherlands! During our trip around Europe I wanted to visit two shops, one in Praha, Audigo, the other, much more interesting, Hifi Solutions, in Amsterdam.
There, we met Rick an adorable, passionate and enthusiastic shop owner. As soon as I entered, he knew I was in my candy shop. And what a candy shop: 64audio, EarSonics, Empire Ears, JHaudio, Final Audio and many other brands were presented and most of all they were available to trial.
Have you met Rick?
Here I want to talk about Rick, I would like to warn you… He is really nice, he welcomed us and led us to a listening room with the IEMs he presented to us and all others we wanted to listen to. He had plenty of advice to give us about eartips, cables and was very helpful. If you read us, thank you so much Rick
Because we were on a trip for 2 weeks we just had a little M0 and our phones. The Shanling M0 is quite powerful for its size to drive IEMs but that just shows the potentiality. That's why Rick offered us to use his Hiby R6; a great player, very handy with a fast and user-friendly Android OS. Without a doubt, a must-have.
As we can't try all the IEMs stored by Rick at hifisolutions we chose to pick some out of interest and curiosity.
I want to thank @Adventure and @flinkenick for being who they are, authentic, smiley and generous people. Without them, our trip in Amsterdam would not have been the same.
I’m very happy having tried so many TOTL IEMs and most of all having tried before paying. I was very curious about the 64audio line of product, because I only tried years ago the U6, and now I’m able to understand why people are fan of their IEMs. JHaudio made some improvements in sound reproduction, but their products, except the Billie Jean, are far too big to be used everyday. Empire Ears is a serious contender, but apart from the Phantom, their house sound is not to my taste, therefore I’m very lucky having tried them all before making my choice.
Hé Victor, thank you for all the kind words...
It was a great day to have you and Sarah around, hope you enjoy the Phantom all the way, and ... I am sure our roads will cross from time to time!!
Kind regards
Rick
You are welcome any time, whenever it suits you off course, thats the most important. Maybe in May or June?
SeeSax
Headphoneus Supremus
This thread is quiet today - I assume everyone took the day off, went to church and cleansed their soul after reading the ridiculously inappropriate comments by our resident classifieds police officer Proedros. Yeah, that must be it
Thought I would post a throw-back-Thursday on a Monday cause why not. I just received these Rhapsodio Solars...I had a pair a year or two ago and sold them and regretted it ever since. They're remarkably competent in today's lineup and they have that warm, natural, Phantom-ish sound signature (going by memory of course). Great to have these classics back in my arsenal and they're sounding great so far.
-Collin-
Thought I would post a throw-back-Thursday on a Monday cause why not. I just received these Rhapsodio Solars...I had a pair a year or two ago and sold them and regretted it ever since. They're remarkably competent in today's lineup and they have that warm, natural, Phantom-ish sound signature (going by memory of course). Great to have these classics back in my arsenal and they're sounding great so far.
-Collin-
Looking good! Sammy has way too many IEMs I still want to hear (or hear again).This thread is quiet today - I assume everyone took the day off, went to church and cleansed their soul after reading the ridiculously inappropriate comments by our resident classifieds police officer Proedros. Yeah, that must be it
Thought I would post a throw-back-Thursday on a Monday cause why not. I just received these Rhapsodio Solars...I had a pair a year or two ago and sold them and regretted it ever since. They're remarkably competent in today's lineup and they have that warm, natural, Phantom-ish sound signature (going by memory of course). Great to have these classics back in my arsenal and they're sounding great so far.
-Collin-
Maybe we're just trying to find a reason to justify buying the SE6 after all that Witch-hunt against them.This thread is quiet today - I assume everyone took the day off, went to church and cleansed their soul after reading the ridiculously inappropriate comments by our resident classifieds police officer Proedros. Yeah, that must be it
Price is 6k - "I swear to God I will not let them take an advantage of me like this"
Price drops to 3k - "Fogive me Father for I've sinned".......
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