Annihilator has pushed and shoved it's way to the top of my small IEM heap. It's bit aggressive and full frontal but in a somehow controlled manner. Every bit as addictive as I could have hoped for. If you can get over a slightly undefined bass presentation and aren't afraid of an elevated treble, it's really something else. It somehow works great with black metal, even poorly recorded stuff like Immortal Battles in the North and Darkthrone Under a Funeral Moon. The ESTAT treble is just incredibly well implemented, controlled and tuned. Wild. It's also great with death metal of all varieties showcasing plenty of bass impact and punch (more than I had anticipated prior to hearing it). The mids are quite forward which allows guitars to cut through its hefty mid-bass and they're loaded with texture and clarity. Killer set with metal IMO.
I just recently traded Rn6 for Xe6. Received Xe6 today and, as expected, they are not ideal for a majority of metal genres. Faster death metal / tech death, black metal and thrash becomes overly blurred in the bass and mids. There's simply too much bass quantity. The signature on the whole comes off as unrealistically thick. Don't get me wrong, it's a great IEM with the right music and it's remarkable how "detailed" it's still able to sound despite the literal boatload of mid-bass. It's a fun change of pace from Annihilator and I'm liking the molar shaking buzz with doom / stoner genres. Listening to the latest Witching album now and it's a skull rattling fuzz fest. I will try the red modules with Xe6 later to see if that helps clean up and lean out the signature some but ultimately I'd like to keep this set as intended by FiR which I believe to be bass forward, organic and warm with the black/silver/gold modules.
Rn6 is my clear cut pick of the Frontier Series IEMs I've owned (Ne4, Rn6, Xe6), hands down, for metal. Big caveat being I still haven't heard Kr5 and many love that set with metal. Still very much on my "need to hear list." If Annihilator didn't headbutt it's way in I'd still have Rn6.
I just recently traded Rn6 for Xe6. Received Xe6 today and, as expected, they are not ideal for a majority of metal genres. Faster death metal / tech death, black metal and thrash becomes overly blurred in the bass and mids. There's simply too much bass quantity. The signature on the whole comes off as unrealistically thick. Don't get me wrong, it's a great IEM with the right music and it's remarkable how "detailed" it's still able to sound despite the literal boatload of mid-bass. It's a fun change of pace from Annihilator and I'm liking the molar shaking buzz with doom / stoner genres. Listening to the latest Witching album now and it's a skull rattling fuzz fest. I will try the red modules with Xe6 later to see if that helps clean up and lean out the signature some but ultimately I'd like to keep this set as intended by FiR which I believe to be bass forward, organic and warm with the black/silver/gold modules.
Rn6 is my clear cut pick of the Frontier Series IEMs I've owned (Ne4, Rn6, Xe6), hands down, for metal. Big caveat being I still haven't heard Kr5 and many love that set with metal. Still very much on my "need to hear list." If Annihilator didn't headbutt it's way in I'd still have Rn6.