iBasso IT04 IEM, 4 Drivers. Enjoy the Music! Release: July 2, 2018
Jul 20, 2018 at 1:04 PM Post #946 of 1,733
Ok, I'll give it a check too... Thanks for the hints (yes I already did choose the express shipping).
As of yesterday the blue was back in stock. My blue pair shipped from ibasso today...
 
Jul 20, 2018 at 1:07 PM Post #947 of 1,733
As of yesterday the blue was back in stock. My blue pair shipped from ibasso today...

Thanks. This having ordered them when?
 
Jul 20, 2018 at 1:28 PM Post #948 of 1,733
Thanks for your feedback.
Listening to Zeus XR is like drinking water from some remote spring in the alps somewhere fantasy-level thing. The sound is very pure and transparent.

Thanks and I love your description of listening to the Zeus. You've put into words my exact same feeling :D
 
Jul 20, 2018 at 1:36 PM Post #949 of 1,733
Both the blue/black and the silver IT04 are in stock. We have increased production due to the high demand but they still take longer than the average IEM because they are made by the same process as a custom IEM. The silver and the blue/black are carbon fiber.
 
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http://www.ibasso.com/ paul@ibasso.com
Jul 20, 2018 at 1:38 PM Post #950 of 1,733
To add to what I wrote before, I personally find that there are certain songs (mainly rock, 80's hair rock etc) where I find the bass is mastered quite lightly on the recording.
On such tracks, I want an IEM that can either add some (I imagine something like the EE LegendX would do this) or at least accentuate it a bit more and bring out every last drop of bassy goodness that's there to mine. Which I feel the IT03 does very well.

Conversely, I just listened to this song from the soundtrack to the film 'Drive' starring Ryan Gosling.
It was set fairly recently if I remember correctly, but in a stylistic twist, had a soundtrack from/resembling 80's synth pop.

I just found a 2014 live version of one of the songs and listening on my MacBook with IT04, the bass is delicious; deep and rumbly and driving the song along.
So there's certainly capability there with the IT04; it's just not tuned in such a way as to boost the bass into prominence at all :)

Here's the song for those that 'want to try test' (as Plan B would say lol):
(NB: the song gets going about 1 min in, for anyone put off by the synths and distortion in the first 50 seconds or so) :)
 
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Jul 20, 2018 at 2:06 PM Post #952 of 1,733
For me the IT04 is endgame. I used to be a big bass head (stupid loud car systems)... while the IT04 are no bass cannons, they give you what the song calls for on bass quantity. I personally don’t feel it’s lacking at all. The bass isn’t boosted in any way, but just feels nice and balanced and can dig deep and low when needed. I haven’t heard the IT03 so I can’t compare there. I have the E-Mu Teak, they have fantastic bass, they are more U shaped than balanced. When moving from the Teaks to the IT04 there is a noticeable difference in quantity of bass but the quality is on par with the Teaks. The placement and seal of the iem’s makes quite a bit difference in bass quantity along with tips for me. Like many say “YMMV”.
 
Jul 20, 2018 at 2:43 PM Post #953 of 1,733
I owned the R1 for a while, but ended up sending them back.
The blue filter with the R1 most closely matches the sound of the IT04, but I think the IT04 has a little more bass weight and presence (only compared with the blue filter!) and I find the highs on the R1 to sound slightly artificial and sharp in comparison. The IT04 seems to me to be a more balanced and 'audiophile' tuning overall.

Conversely, for the R1 with pink filters, the bass is massive. Personally, I found it too much; not necessarily in terms of quantity, but in that it definitely coloured the whole sound signature to me and bled into the mids somewhat, which is something I'm not a fan of, despite loving a powerful bass (bass in its correct place that is, lol).

Thanks guys for your feedback.
The R1 is definitely the best sounding IEMs I've owned so far, but I'm starting to feel that I should have waited for the IT04s as I originally had intended....
With the blue filters, I feel like I want a tad more bass but with the pink filters I feel like the bass is masking the mids a little.
The highs sound a tiny bit metallic - prior to burning them in for a while, I found myself having to apply different levels of EQ depending upon what genre of music I was listening to...

Think I know what needs to be done, just not sure how I'm going to explain it to the missus...
 
Jul 20, 2018 at 2:44 PM Post #954 of 1,733
I was listening to this track again this morning.

Iggy Pop - The passenger

Instrument separation is amazing
 
Jul 20, 2018 at 2:59 PM Post #955 of 1,733
Some up-to-date thoughts/impressions on the IT04 from a post I made on another thread:

So, by way of introduction, I'm doing some A/B testing between two iBasso setups:
1) DX150, AMP7, CB12s, IT03.
2) DX200, AMP8, CB13, IT04.

After quite a bit of listening (with a LOT more to come, haha), I'm not convinced/entirely on the same page concerning some of the descriptions I've heard flying round about the IT04, specifically with regards to its bass (e.g. things along the lines of "same quantity as IT01 and IT03, but more refined") and overall sound signature ("very similar to IT01 and IT03, best of all worlds etc"). Possibly I may have said some of those things myself, who knows? :D

I of course wish to stress that we all hear things differently and I totally respect the impressions and opinions of the many fine posters on here; this is just my own take, to add to the menu of impressions and to hopefully help those trying to figure out if it might be a good fit for them, sonically speaking :)

I personally don't feel that the IT04 has any accentuation in the bass region. It's tight and articulate, but I wouldn't compare the sound signature of the IT04 with the IT03 or IT01.

The IT01 was a fun tuning done extremely well; L-shaped, prominent bass and good levels of detail and musicality.
The IT03 has this big soundstage, and lots of detail which add up with everything else to making it seem (to me) only very mildly V-shaped.
It leans more towards the audiophile sound signature and quality for me (compared with IT01).

I really love the IT03 bass; for my personal tastes, it's the best-executed implementation of a low end that I've yet heard.
It never seems to bleed into the mids or colour the sound signature, but it IS always present, giving weight to the music, never letting it sound anaemic and can hit very hard and deep when called for, and bring out elements of timbre and tone (especially in bass and percussion) that others simply can't.

Conversely, the IEM that the IT04 most reminds me of is the Empire Ears Zeus XR.
The Zeus blew me away when I heard it at CanJam and was/is probably the best IEM I've heard so far to date (with the caveat that for certain genres, I would prefer the kind of bass you get from the IT03).
I felt it had incredible extension, detail and clarity, allied to a huge soundstage.
These are the kinds of qualities I'm feeling with the IT04 as well, and an overall similarity in tuning between the IT04 and the Zeus (compared with any other IEM I can recall hearing).

To be clear, I'm basing this on a one-off demo of the Zeus a year ago (albeit one that's indelibly burned into my brain!) and I'm NOT saying the IT04 is or isn't as good as the Zeus (if someone wants to lend me their Zeus, I'd be happy to further investigate how they compare and what they have in common, haha).

I'm also not saying that the IT04 is as bass-light as the Zeus! It's got that dynamic driver after all, and there's some bass presence there for sure, just in a much more mature, neutral-reference style sound with a tinge of musicality.

I think the things IT04 has in common with previous iBasso IEM's would be the big, holographic soundstage, separation, detail and clarity that I love on the IT03, but taken to a significantly higher level.
This is just my personal opinion, but I would say that's mostly where the similarities occur, and also where they end.

If you're looking for bass warmth and colouring like on the IT01, or strong bass capability and presence like on the IT03, I would caution you to try to demo the IT04 first (or be prepared to embrace something new and different!).
I've seen quite a few posts, that collectively seem to end up giving the impression that it has all the bass of the IT01 and IT03 ("all of your bases are belong to us" lol), but I am not really hearing it that way.

To me, iBasso have gone in a whole new, upwardly-mobile direction with the IT04 and I salute them for it.
I would just add a note of caution for those who might think it's essentially an upgraded IT01 or IT03; to me, it's a quite different tuning altogether.
I think it's an outstanding IEM that offers something approaching TOTL audiophile sound at a fraction of the price.

I think I will favour my IT03 for rock music. The IT04 certainly performs well here too, but I personally find myself missing the unique bass/percussive qualities of the IT03 (I think the IT03 have spoiled me, haha) and miss them in those kinds of songs.

Conversely, for acoustic, pop, EDM, hip-hop, classical, folk, jazz, alt-country, Bollywood and pretty much everything else, the IT04 are taking it to a whole new level and I am enjoying them immensely :D
I think your impressions of the 04 line up very closely with mine. I didn't see anything in your write-up that made me say...'Hey now, wait a minute!'

I agree that the 03 and 04 have quite different tunings, and that anyone just expecting them to be an upgrade to the 01 or 03 might be in for a disappointment. Personally, I would call the 03s more than just '...very mildly V-shaped'. I think the V shape of the 03s vs the more linear response of the 04s accounts for most of the differences you hear. To me, when you recess the mids, you increase the air/space of the soundstage, and I think you also increase the perceived bass response (as well as sparkle at the top). I don't know if the bass of the 03s is a bit elevated, making it a lopsided V, or if it's just the recessed mids, but I do hear more bass on many tracks with the 03 vs 04. But I think the quality and extension of the bass on the 04 is very comparable with the 03.
 
Jul 20, 2018 at 3:22 PM Post #956 of 1,733
I think your impressions of the 04 line up very closely with mine. I didn't see anything in your write-up that made me say...'Hey now, wait a minute!'

I agree that the 03 and 04 have quite different tunings, and that anyone just expecting them to be an upgrade to the 01 or 03 might be in for a disappointment. Personally, I would call the 03s more than just '...very mildly V-shaped'. I think the V shape of the 03s vs the more linear response of the 04s accounts for most of the differences you hear. To me, when you recess the mids, you increase the air/space of the soundstage, and I think you also increase the perceived bass response (as well as sparkle at the top). I don't know if the bass of the 03s is a bit elevated, making it a lopsided V, or if it's just the recessed mids, but I do hear more bass on many tracks with the 03 vs 04. But I think the quality and extension of the bass on the 04 is very comparable with the 03.

No real arguments from me here either :)
I think what I was trying (poorly) to articulate is that the IT03 are certainly v-shaped, but:
1) There are other IEM's that are a whole lot MOAR v-shaped, so I was cautious about the associations people might have when hearing that description.
2) I think something about the characteristics of the IT03 (big soundstage and separation, clarity and so on) for me seem to de-emphasise the v-shape.
If that makes any sense? :p
 
Jul 20, 2018 at 3:39 PM Post #957 of 1,733
... I think something about the characteristics of the IT03 (big soundstage and separation, clarity and so on) for me seem to de-emphasise the v-shape
I think that's just 'my ears/your ears'. I may not have ever listened to any very V-shaped IEMs for any length of time. I find the V-shapeliness of the 03s to be along the lines of the V-shape of my HE-560s, which I didn't call V-shaped until I got the HEKv2. Similarly, the 04s have increased my perception of the 03 V-shape.

Amusingly, I don't listen to my HEKv2 as much as the 560s now. When I want a more neutral can, I tend to reach for the Auteur or Utopia, rather than the HEK.
... If that makes any sense? :p
No, but I'm not that bright :)
 
Jul 20, 2018 at 5:27 PM Post #958 of 1,733
Just for a baseline; I do own the IT01 and think they are an amazing value.

I am wondering if anybody who purchased the IT04 also has the FLC8S. If so, how do you compare them?

In the case of the FLC8S, it would help to know what filters you are using. My typical set-up is red - gray - gunmetal, which is pretty much a reference tuning. When I want to shot of bass, I typically pull out the IT01 or the LZ-A2.

Like some others I am terribly tempted by these. I thought it was typical head-fi hype when I heard about the IT01 but then I was very positively surprised. I gather that the IT04 will have somewhat more subdued bass; which makes me think that a comparison with the FLC8s makes some sense as those are not bass monsters either yet I really like them.

Thanks!
 

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