[Ace Bee]

How many hours burn in did you give the Dark Matter ?

Full 500, as prescribed, and still the highs did not open up much. Neither did the midbass hump settled down. They are not bad, the bass is fun and the mids are quite organic, but the clarity and treble have not improved. Paired with warm and organic source, like Shanling UA3 and L&P W2, the bass becomes unbearably overblown. Not exactly feeling that I made a score with it, the way I felt with Elan. DM is currently paired with ISN S4 cable.

 

[jon parker]

Full 500, as prescribed, and still the highs did not open up much. Neither did the midbass hump settled down. They are not bad, the bass is fun and the mids are quite organic, but the clarity and treble have not improved. Paired with warm and organic source, like Shanling UA3 and L&P W2, the bass becomes unbearably overblown. Not exactly feeling that I made a score with it, the way I felt with Elan. DM is currently paired with ISN S4 cable.

Thanks, interesting. I just wondered if having so many good IEMs you didn't always have the time to give a long burn in
I have noticed with the new CNT/ADLC drivers they can be quite sensitive to cables, tips, source etc
After 300hrs I found them a bit too dynamic but after another 200 hours they have calmed down.
I wonder about the overblown bass you are experiencing - Did you go back to the black or one the copper cables and also go down to lower bass filter?
Listening last night It I was finding that they exaggerated the issues of recordings that were less than perfect but on the other hand with a well recorded/mixed/mastered album they were sublime. (black cable Sony Wm1A - warmish lush source)
In other words they are picky with what you give them
I dont doubt that they are 'better' IEMs out there but on my budget or even that aside I couldn't be happier with them.
Mind you I have bought most of the IMR's and have loved all of them although there are often small things that are not quite there for me. Subtle but enough to not want to keep them long term. By that I mean many have been excellent but not across all genres. Its rare to have an IEM that works sublimely over all genres.
Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts

 

[OceanPoet]

I am going out on a limb here and this may sound daft but it has happened in the past, have you removed the tuning holder from the case.

Yep. My Aten 2s have colored nozzle upper stage filters and colored lower stage dampers. My EDP aces have colored upper stage filters and silver/grey lower stage dampers, which looks like how the EDP Ace ships. So I think I got everything, and I am familiar with IMR filtering. But whwn people are saying they’re trying different colored upper and lower combinations, what do they mean?

 

[curicat]

But whwn people are saying they’re trying different colored upper and lower combinations, what do they mean

If you look a couple of pages back, there are pics of how the packaging for the Ace looks like. The filters there definetly look like the standard IMR set.

That means 6 colored filters, that can be unscrewed into two parts (lower and upper) + 2 additional lower parts separately (silver and grey).

Disclaimer: I haven't yet recieved my Ace, but 99% sure (based on pics) that what should be in the package.

 

[paggio]

I have and heard some pretty good single DD, along with 2 IMRs. And let me tell you my findings:



Sennheiser IE600, $799, sounds miles better than Elan and Dark Matter. Except upper mids, which is a bit too much spicy and sounds unnatural. But it sets a standard for imaging and three dimensional stage - outstanding to say the least.



Meze Advar, $699, sounds better than Elan and DM in terms of spaciousness and imaging. Much better than DM in terms of Treble (well, anything is better than DM in terms of treble, even my Penon Vortex). Elan has the upper hand in bass, but Advar lower mid is much more organic than Elan, and not as overly full-bodied as DM. Female vocals are better on DM though.



Shanling MG600, $599, different tuning, not exactly better than Elan, more like equals, but definitely better than DM in terms of bass tightness and treble energy & extension. Mids are quite fine on them, better than Elan, different than DM.



FAudio Dark Sky, $1100, simply better than Elan and DM in all fields, hands down.



634EARS LOAK-T (CL) Cocobolo, $626, much more transparent and open sounding with a bigger stage than both Elan and DM. Although Elan and DM seems to have a touch more depth, and slightly better imaging on Elan. DM loses because of its overblown midbass.



From what little I heard of the Sennheiser IE900, again it's much better than both Elan and DM.



I am not much inclined to BA timbre. But discounting that personal preference, I can say that the top class iems truly perform their price's worth. For example - Sony IER-M9 and 64 Audio U12T. Both of them are miles and miles ahead of Elan and DM. Same goes for Vision Ears VE8, EVE20, QDC Anoe VX. I have heard them all, and they are all in their own distinct classes that Elan and DM cannot even hope to touch.



So, yes, the crazily priced iems that are out there, they do things better than Elan and DM very surely. Whether the price difference justifies that - now that is a question which is very personal for each individual. For me, it does till the level of may be $1500...but I do not see me buying iems costlier than that simply because I want a bit better sound.



Oh, to focus on the lower tier, Hiby Lasya and Penon Vortex - both of them sound very comparable with Splash Of Red, if not better in some aspects, while inferior in some. So to state that SOR is unmatchable in its specific price point would be wrong.



For me, IMR makes quite interesting IEMs, which are quite good for their price, but definitely does not play above their price. However, the insanely discounted price makes them that much desirable and worthy. For Elan, I might have felt paying a bit more justifiable, but not for DM.

You are like this in this moment.

 

[NellieG]

Yep. My Aten 2s have colored nozzle upper stage filters and colored lower stage dampers. My EDP aces have colored upper stage filters and silver/grey lower stage dampers, which looks like how the EDP Ace ships. So I think I got everything, and I am familiar with IMR filtering. But whwn people are saying they’re trying different colored upper and lower combinations, what do they mean?

Yep i would get intouch with Bob then, based on the pics from other deliveries they still all should be coloured. Check the hole size on the side to see if they are different sizes or just 2 sizes and they are duplicated.

 

[curicat]

I assume this what you should be getting (you can see I have different color combinations). Ace owners please correct me if not the case.

 

[jon parker]

Yep. My Aten 2s have colored nozzle upper stage filters and colored lower stage dampers. My EDP aces have colored upper stage filters and silver/grey lower stage dampers, which looks like how the EDP Ace ships. So I think I got everything, and I am familiar with IMR filtering. But whwn people are saying they’re trying different colored upper and lower combinations, what do they mean?

As per the leaflet picture inside the case - each lower filter (bigger one) has different levels of bass. Each upper (smaller tip filters) offer different levels of treble. By using different combinations of bass lower and treble upper filter you can tune how the IEM sounds
For example Im currently a grey lower (which is a few steps down from maximum bass) and a green top filter which gave a good treble but damped down a 10K peak

 

[NellieG]

 

[Zeppmeister]

Sennheiser IE600, $799, sounds miles better than Elan and Dark Matter. Except upper mids, which is a bit too much spicy and sounds unnatural. But it sets a standard for imaging and three dimensional stage - outstanding to say the least.

So instead of spending more than $1000 on five different IMR models, I could have (should have?) just gone for the IE600?

 

[jon parker]

So instead of spending more than $1000 on five different IMR models, I could have (should have?) just gone for the IE600?

Im sure the IE600 is good but. . . You can pay another $300 for the same driver but with a slightly different acoustic chamber ??

 

[Ace Bee]

So instead of spending more than $1000 on five different IMR models, I could have (should have?) just gone for the IE600?

You could have, if you can withstand the unnaturally spicy upper mid and treble. That's a very big IF there.

 

[paggio]

Collecting money for the Titan, have to left them go

 

[Zeppmeister]

You could have, if you can withstand the unnaturally spicy upper mid and treble. That's a very big IF there.

Yeah. It's all subjective in the end. Besides sound quality, there are also comfort considerations, and IMR definitely work for my ears.

 

[RunWithOne]

I have and heard some pretty good single DD, along with 2 IMRs. And let me tell you my findings:



Sennheiser IE600, $799, sounds miles better than Elan and Dark Matter. Except upper mids, which is a bit too much spicy and sounds unnatural. But it sets a standard for imaging and three dimensional stage - outstanding to say the least.

Perception and ear anatomy can be so different. I was allowed to test the Sennheiser IE300 and IE600 for one week each. The 300 is much too aggressive in the highs, the 600 also in the upper mids. I couldn't enjoy music with either IEM. In particular, I can't get along with the 7kHz peak of the Sennheiser. Therefore, in my opinion, it is extremely important to test IEM and KH yourself.