Very good. Brutal. But sadly enough, I've come to prefer the ISIS cover of Streetcleaner.
Or, I guess, it depends on what I want.
Straight bleak brutality = Godflesh.
A bit groovier = ISIS.
Fresh out of the box: the Sivga Nightingale. Initial impression is that these IEMs are like listening to live music by candlelight. Very unusual tuning, especially for a planar magnetic. The recessed vocal range plus the planar snappiness gives vocals unexpected delicacy. Beguiling AF.
Sivga Nightingale < Qudelix 5K < iPhone SE (Tidal)
Oh! Welcome aboard to the Sivga train.. The Empress of Smooth!
You pick your genres for this (you will find em as you go along) and these play em out gorgeously. I had bought a used one, so burned in already and the seller said the treble-rich energy had opened up after use. It's got oodles of air on em, which I love..and that linear graph means imaging is precise, clear, nothing on top of each other, no crowding... Spaced out clearly. A very wide soundstage (not great depth ) and renders your stuff well.
Mid bass is neat.. sub-bass is where the problem lies - so I don't play electronic and such music.
Not only vocals as you point out but if instruments like sax etc are the focus of the recording, then these deliver musically well. Classical too. Metal too, some sub genres.
Not an all-rounder, but a specialist charmer. And so light, it doesn't feel anything in the ears. Purrfect for night times!
Oh! Welcome aboard to the Sivga train.. The Empress of Smooth!
You pick your genres for this (you will find em as you go along) and these play em out gorgeously. I had bought a used one, so burned in already and the seller said the treble-rich energy had opened up after use. It's got oodles of air on em, which I love..and that linear graph means imaging is precise, clear, nothing on top of each other, no crowding... Spaced out clearly. A very wide soundstage (not great depth ) and renders your stuff well.
Mid bass is neat.. sub-bass is where the problem lies - so I don't play electronic and such music.
Not only vocals as you point out but if instruments like sax etc are the focus of the recording, then these deliver musically well. Classical too. Metal too, some sub genres.
Not an all-rounder, but a specialist charmer. And so light, it doesn't feel anything in the ears. Purrfect for night times!
Oh! Welcome aboard to the Sivga train.. The Empress of Smooth!
You pick your genres for this (you will find em as you go along) and these play em out gorgeously. I had bought a used one, so burned in already and the seller said the treble-rich energy had opened up after use. It's got oodles of air on em, which I love..and that linear graph means imaging is precise, clear, nothing on top of each other, no crowding... Spaced out clearly. A very wide soundstage (not great depth ) and renders your stuff well.
Mid bass is neat.. sub-bass is where the problem lies - so I don't play electronic and such music.
Not only vocals as you point out but if instruments like sax etc are the focus of the recording, then these deliver musically well. Classical too. Metal too, some sub genres.
Not an all-rounder, but a specialist charmer. And so light, it doesn't feel anything in the ears. Purrfect for night times!
Awesome. Thanks for this. I'm already impressed by quite a few things about this set right off the bat. They're surprisingly sharp-looking for their price (I picked them up new for $180). They're small, light, and fit my funky ear holes better than any set I've ever tried. They take to EQ as well as my HE6se v2 (not sure if that's a planar trait or just coincidence). The pack-in cable is also shockingly good in quality; bummed that it's 4.4mm only, but I'll get over it.
But, yeah, wow, the Nightingale's stock tuning is sooo totally my thing. Tonally, they resemble my Focal Elegia, which were the fire that relit my passion for headphones a few years ago. And because the Nightingale take to EQ so well, I might put together a few neutral-ish EQ profiles for when I'm not in the mood for the Nightingale's... moodiness.
iPhone 15 Pro Max > Qobuz > Woo Audio W8 Eclipse > Empire Ears Raven
There’s a lot of things one learns on this audiophile journey. After many years and tens of thousands of dollars invested, buying & selling. There’s one thing I know with certainty. Tubes will always be included in my chain. Tubes add so much tonally that I enjoy subjectively. I can’t imagine living without the realism, romanticism, lushness and holographic sonic presentation.
The W8 Eclipse is such an underrated product. I’m just as impressed with the DAC implementation as I am with the Tubes. Woo Audio has managed to incorporate an ESS chip in a way that doesn’t sound “digital” with analog like characteristics. I’m not sure if it’s something as simple as a minimum phase slow roll off filter, but whatever it is, it’s outstanding.
Softs (1976) by Soft Machine - On the downside, they lost Allan Holdsworth before recording this but on the upside they got John Etheridge to take over guitar duties, who really did a stunning job of doing the impossible. By this point Soft Machine was being led by Karl Jenkins and the only original member, Mike Ratledge, was relegated to guest status and only appears on two tracks. Considering they were originally a non-guitar band, this and the previous album, Bundles, were only really elevated by the genius level guitar playing of Holdsworth and Etheridge. Well recorded and sounding quite superb through the V222 and HD800S combo, the swirling synths on Second Bundle is really effective.
I'm actually at work today, so I'm using the Q15 as this is what I've set up at the office. It's a great little device, for sure, and something I could probably downscale to fully if I wanted to. But where is the fun in that?
Some nice beats to work to, nothing crazy, but just overall good music to me.
AüR Audio Aehta + HIBY R8 II
Love this album, I had forgotten the album for some years now.
Was looking trough my saved albums on Spotify today, I guess it was not available when I transitioned to Tidal some years back.
This is a fantastic record. I'd never heard of them before and gave it a listen on Tidal last night. That listen turned into the whole record in one sitting. Was using my Edition XS's and FiiO M11 Plus ESS on All-to-DSD setting. Can't say enough about it other than it's a very big musical experience and has an almost soundtrack feeling. Justine Suissa's voice is amazing and very distinctive too. Thanks for posting!
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