Now that I’ve had some time to give the SR’s a serious listen I figured I’d give my 2 cents. I’m very new to the audiophile game, though I was raised with an appreciation for music and a family that had a pretty nice listening setup at home, though they weren’t audiophiles in the strict sense by the time I was born. So don’t take my thoughts too seriously, I just wanted to give the newby perspective.
Cable:
This is something that people complain about a lot, particularly the microphonics and the difficulty with left/right identification. I haven’t listened in low light yet so the ID’ing sides isn’t something I can comment on. I wear them straight down, not over ear. I also don’t use the chin cinch or the shirt clip, and I still don’t have issues with significant microphonics. You can certainly hear minor noises when you brush the cable against something, but it isn’t intrusive or unpleasant to me. My connectors have been solid with no wiggle. Definitely one of those YMMV items.
Comfort:
I think this will improve with time. I’m one of those unfrortunate types with a very vigorous ear wax production, and the first few insertions were hindered by discomfort from having ear wax stick to the flanges. I’m nervous about them pushing ear wax too deep, so I’m limiting duration of insertions for now and taking care to feel for any significant discomfort, but they’re pretty cozy once in. I was amazed at how deep I got them! They definitely take deep insertion to a new level. I can comfortably wear them for around an hour now, and while things like eating are a weird experience, it’s not anything different than getting used to having a large watch on or something similar.
Noise Isolation:
Once inserted, you basically become deaf to the outside world. Great if you don’t have anything you need to hear, but not a headphone I’d wear walking or driving. I’ll be testing them on a transatlantic flight later this month and I’ll report on that compared to my QC35ii’s once it happens.
Sound:
The part that makes all of this worth it. These are the best sounding IEM’s I’ve heard. I don’t have a ton of reference experience, but this sounds like having a straight stream of the raw audio into your brain. No color, no emphasis. I can see how this would seem too analytical and boring to a lot of people, but I’m very impressed. The soundstage isn’t what I’d call huge, but it is distinct and all genre’s of music I’ve tried have been excellent. I have a weird taste in music, so these have seen country, classical, classic rock, some mild hip/hop, rock, jazz, and file types ranging DSD, FLAC, AIFF, and MP3. These are probably the first real headphones that I could hear the difference between these formats in. Vocals are clear and distinct, and stringed instruments sound absolutely clear, with every twang of the strings crystal clear. To use an analogy, for me the HE-400i, iBasso IT-01, Massdrop EDC, AKG M220, and HD-600 have all sounded like being at various tiers of a sports game arena, whereas these feel like being in the first row, with details normally slightly fuzzy rendered in bright detail.
I hope this has been helpful! I’m hoping the comfort thing gets easier with time and that I enjoy these for years!
