[InstantSilence]

What is the highest resolution, most clear iem there is? Dry and clinical, no foot tapping in sight? Just sheer resolution and detail?

 

[Rockwell75]

Also, excepting Cowon (whose players have their own...uhh, quirks) the PMEQ on the PAW6K alone places it in a league above. Thanks to some sage council from @Deezel177 I've been playing with the EQ and it's marvelously effective.

 

[toaster]

What is the highest resolution, most clear iem there is? Dry and clinical, no foot tapping in sight? Just sheer resolution and detail?

The erlkonig is easily the highest resolution and clear iem I’ve heard, but it’s also wildly musical and engaging.

The A18t I previously I owned was easily one of the most “dry and clinical” iems I’ve heard...very little foot tapping.

But the erlkonig has significantly more resolution than the A18t.

 

[dhc0329]

y

Would you say erlkonig is sounding warmer and thicker than elysium?

 

[audio123]

Craft Ears CE6, clean and dynamic sounding. Very agile bass, forward upper midrange and extended treble. The engagement is really good. An excellent IEM from CE, I am impressed.

 

[toaster]

Would you say erlkonig is sounding warmer and thicker than elysium?

There’s a lot more to the story here, but yes...absolutely.

Both the erlky and the ely ooze musicality and emotion, for sure.

 

[mvvRAZ]

What is the highest resolution, most clear iem there is? Dry and clinical, no foot tapping in sight? Just sheer resolution and detail?

Easily the A18t. Not much emotion to be had there, but where resolution and detail are concerned the A18t has no second. The Erl's resolution to me is behind both that of the Ely and that of the A18t.

Would you say erlkonig is sounding warmer and thicker than elysium?

The Erl is warmer on settings 1 and 2, but Imo the Elysium is significantly thicker throughout the midrange. Depends on where your priorities lie here.

 

[Damz87]

Easily the A18t. Not much emotion to be had there, but where resolution and detail are concerned the A18t has no second. The Erl's resolution to me is behind both that of the Ely and that of the A18t.



The Erl is warmer on settings 1 and 2, but Imo the Elysium is significantly thicker throughout the midrange. Depends on where your priorities lie here.

Is the 18t more resolving than the 18s?

 

[mvvRAZ]

Is the 18t more resolving than the 18s?

By far yes. We're ignoring any discussion of fun, texture etc here, but in terms of raw resolution, the only IEM that comes to mind other than the A18t is the KSE1200/1500

The 18s is very technical and detailed, but the 18t is a straight up resolution monster

 

[Damz87]

By far yes. We're ignoring any discussion of fun, texture etc here, but in terms of raw resolution, the only IEM that comes to mind other than the A18t is the KSE1200/1500

The 18s is very technical and detailed, but the 18t is a straight up resolution monster

Interesting! Thanks for the info. One last question - Would you say the 18s is almost like a more detailed/upgraded U12t?

 

[mvvRAZ]

Interesting! Thanks for the info. One last question - Would you say the 18s is almost like a more detailed/upgraded U12t?

A friend who owns both describes it that way. I personally haven't spent all that much time with a U12t in order to be able to flat out say yes or no, but that seems to be the general sentiment.

I'm personally a massive fan of the A18s, I think it serves as a slightly different form of pure reference. The A18t is pretty much an indication of what your music sounds like with 0 coloration, but the A18s does feel like much more of an "as the artist intended" in the sense that a lot of the modern stuff is mixed to be listened to on warmer and darker gear (BT speakers, airpods, whatever)

I don't know if that makes sense, and honestly I don't fully understand my connection with that IEM, but I spend SO much time with it. I really regret selling my A18t though, I might get another one down the line

 

[Damz87]

A friend who owns both describes it that way. I personally haven't spent all that much time with a U12t in order to be able to flat out say yes or no, but that seems to be the general sentiment.

I'm personally a massive fan of the A18s, I think it serves as a slightly different form of pure reference. The A18t is pretty much an indication of what your music sounds like with 0 coloration, but the A18s does feel like much more of an "as the artist intended" in the sense that a lot of the modern stuff is mixed to be listened to on warmer and darker gear (BT speakers, airpods, whatever)

I don't know if that makes sense, and honestly I don't fully understand my connection with that IEM, but I spend SO much time with it. I really regret selling my A18t though, I might get another one down the line

It made sense thanks man appreciate your thoughts. A18s sounds awesome. Sounds like a good balance of reference and fun. If only 64 made a universal version

 

[mvvRAZ]

It made sense thanks man appreciate your thoughts. A18s sounds awesome. Sounds like a good balance of reference and fun. If only 64 made a universal version

It’s a different kind of reference imo, yes. i think if the COVID saga extends for a while longer we might just see it as a universal

 

[Deezel177]

By far yes. We're ignoring any discussion of fun, texture etc here, but in terms of raw resolution, the only IEM that comes to mind other than the A18t is the KSE1200/1500

The 18s is very technical and detailed, but the 18t is a straight up resolution monster

I think it's timely here to bring up a discussion had on this thread a long time ago, which was between clarity and separation vs. resolution. Though a lot of people tend to broadly look at resolution as how much raw information an IEM can render, I believe it's steadily morphed somewhat to specifically mean how many individual elements the listener can perceive from that IEM in a single moment in time. Say, at the climax of a big band arrangement, can you hear everyone in the brass section and the keys and the drummer's ghost notes... etc. at the same time? Rather than the sheer amount of data an IEM can output, it's how easily that data can be consumed at once. Though I think there's definitely truth to it, it's also an argument that I feel is incomplete.

Hinging resolution solely on separation and detail makes it very transient-based; driven by (and, in most cases, reliant on) treble presence and treble extension. A lot of treble comparative to the lower regions will give you crisper, more prominent transients with little in the way of warmth or musk, which'll make details jump out more; easer to notice. And, an extended treble will lend the stage air and stability, so you can catch those nuances with even less effort. I personally would categorise these qualities as clarity and separation, rather than resolution. The reason why I feel that distinction is necessary, is because one is much, much, much easier to achieve than the other.

Resolution, though crucially-driven by clarity and separation, should not (I feel) be defined by that alone. Because, if resolution is to mean how much raw information an IEM can render, it should take into account the lower regions as well. Otherwise, a lot of IEMs could pass off as sounding resolving simply because they're pumped chock-full of treble. A properly-resolving IEM should be able to reproduce the structure and weight of an instrument along with its clarity, and a lot of that is done lower down the range. I personally disagree with the exclusion of texture from discussions of resolution, because what is resolution if not being able to distinguish the etch and form of an instrument through texture?

Now, I'm not saying all this to lead up to a stunning-and-brave declaration that the A18t is not a resolving monitor or that its resolution is in any way cheated by it having a sparkly treble. That's not the case at all. But, what I am arguing here, is that despite the more prominent detail and separation you get out of the A18t, it and the A18s are actually equally-resolving monitors. The only difference is, the A18s is more resolving lower down the range, while the A18t is pushes out greater clarity up high. The A18s's more prominent low- and centre-mids give me a lot more meat to chew on there, while the A18t's more recessed low-mids come off less three-dimensional and well-formed to me. If you listened to Snarky Puppy's What About Me on both monitors for example, you'd hear tons more data (i.e. resolution) from the electric guitars, toms and horns out of the A18s, while the cymbals and hi-hats would be easier to track on the A18t.

So, would I say the A18t is more resolving than the A18s? Per my definition of resolution, no. Both are resolving in equal (yet different) ways. Would I say the A18t is cleaner and a better separator? Yes, the same way I'd say the A18s presents a more well-realised, well-textured, well-rounded foundation to instruments. So, again, to me, it's a wash. Going back to the first paragraph, both render about equal amounts of data. The A18t just so happens to make that data "easier" to consume. At the end of the day, it'll depend on which definition of resolution you tend to gravitate towards, or simply personally prefer.

Finally, just to close out this post, these are simply my thoughts on the matter. I'm not an authority on it, nor do I feel I should be. Enjoy what you enjoy, buy what you want, and live life the way you want to. These are all words we make up to describe sound anyway. How silly is that?

A friend who owns both describes it that way. I personally haven't spent all that much time with a U12t in order to be able to flat out say yes or no, but that seems to be the general sentiment.

I'm personally a massive fan of the A18s, I think it serves as a slightly different form of pure reference. The A18t is pretty much an indication of what your music sounds like with 0 coloration, but the A18s does feel like much more of an "as the artist intended" in the sense that a lot of the modern stuff is mixed to be listened to on warmer and darker gear (BT speakers, airpods, whatever)

I don't know if that makes sense, and honestly I don't fully understand my connection with that IEM, but I spend SO much time with it. I really regret selling my A18t though, I might get another one down the line

For what it's worth, I find I EQ most accurately (as in I perceive changes more easily, and those changes tend to "sound good" on most other IEMs; not just darker gear) on the A18s, and I level mixes most evenly on my JH Audio Layla. The A18t, though excellent for mixing as well, has some extra sizzle in the high-end that makes it less sensitive to changes there than the A18s. If you want the most realistic test as to whether or not a mix/master works, give it a listen through your car's sound system, where a lot of music is consumed nowadays. And, for an even tougher challenge, play it through a club or café's PA system. If it comes through clean enough that people are able to enjoy and Shazam it, then you have yourselves a hit.

 

[toaster]

Hinging resolution solely on separation and detail makes it very transient-based; driven by (and, in most cases, reliant on) treble presence and treble extension. A lot of treble comparative to the lower regions will give you crisper, more prominent transients with little in the way of warmth or musk, which'll make details jump out more; easer to notice. And, an extended treble will lend the stage air and stability, so you can catch those nuances with even less effort. I personally would categorise these qualities as clarity and separation, rather than resolution. The reason why I feel that distinction is necessary, is because one is much, much, much easier to achieve than the other.

Precisely. Your entire post distills the details of this topic down so well, and I agree 100%, @Deezel177.

This is how i interpret the erlky as having more resolution than the a18t.

If the question was instead, which has better and clearer transient response, in that case I'd probably say the a18t. And this is despite the erlky having a far blacker background; the erlky's notes are just much thicker, fuller, and more powerful with bass that is simply outstanding. This transient response of the a18t comes at the expense of musicality and realism (the "musk") but again, the a18t (and now 18s as well) are arguably some of the top stage monitors in the world, so to have an emphasis on lightnining transients and "enhanced" separation makes sense.

Fwiw, the a18t was my favorite iem for almost 2 years, and I still think it is an incredible piece of hardware. i'm sure the 18s is tops as well, though i have yet to hear it.

After discovering the erlky, and finding it to have not just higher resolution, but also a manic level of musicality, it very quickly took over all of my listening time. And because I am not a stage musician, nor do i have a need to own a neutral and clinical iem for the purpose of comparing daps, cables, or other hardware, i sold my a18t.