IMR Audio : Sonic Adventures & Impressions
- Thread starter NellieG
- Start date
Ryokan
Headphoneus Supremus
I'm not doubting burn in it just made me chuckle that a material chosen for it's stiffness then needs loosening up.
NellieG
1000+ Head-Fier
The material remains stiff and does not loosen up, everything that makes the stiff thing move loosens up to work as a whole which is why the sound changes during the burn in as the parts have differing rates of change.
I just have a question to the Elan+ owners.
How does the treble and the high frequencies, in general, sound to you?
Now, I know I have asked this before, so let me be more specific:
- Does anyone own the 7Hz Timeless or the RAPTGO HOOK-X? How does the Elan+ treble sound to you, compared to these? I am not asking about anything else, besides the treble.
The reason I'm asking is because, last week, I've sent my Elan+ back to IMR, "complaining" about recessed treble.
Here is their response:
Are you satisfied with the treble on the Elan+ then?
How does the treble and the high frequencies, in general, sound to you?
Now, I know I have asked this before, so let me be more specific:
- Does anyone own the 7Hz Timeless or the RAPTGO HOOK-X? How does the Elan+ treble sound to you, compared to these? I am not asking about anything else, besides the treble.
The reason I'm asking is because, last week, I've sent my Elan+ back to IMR, "complaining" about recessed treble.
Here is their response:
Hello Nick,
I noticed that you’re comparing the Elan+ to some planar IEMs, which may be why you aren’t hearing the treble as well as these. Planars bring a lot of treble to an IEM in comparison to a dynamic driver, but come with the downfall of bass that lacks a punch.
As we do not make treble heavy IEMs but we do keep the treble crisp yet delicate, the vast majority of our clients do not like hot treble (neither does Bob)
We have measured the IEMs and listened to them personally, including Bob and we have concluded that there is no fault with the Elan+.
We will book them in to return to you today.
You could try and look to reduce the bass by changing the lower filter which will give the feeling of the upper range increasing.
Kind regards,
Brandon
IMR Trade
I noticed that you’re comparing the Elan+ to some planar IEMs, which may be why you aren’t hearing the treble as well as these. Planars bring a lot of treble to an IEM in comparison to a dynamic driver, but come with the downfall of bass that lacks a punch.
As we do not make treble heavy IEMs but we do keep the treble crisp yet delicate, the vast majority of our clients do not like hot treble (neither does Bob)
We have measured the IEMs and listened to them personally, including Bob and we have concluded that there is no fault with the Elan+.
We will book them in to return to you today.
You could try and look to reduce the bass by changing the lower filter which will give the feeling of the upper range increasing.
Kind regards,
Brandon
IMR Trade
Are you satisfied with the treble on the Elan+ then?
Don't have elan+, but I do have timeless and it has more treble in terms of subjective quantity, then any of the 3 IMRs that I have. If you feel it lacking, may be IMR signature is just not up to your taste. And I would agree with Brandon's description of IMR treble being delicate. It's there alright, but it's not as prominent, as on some other iems.
You can try silver lower + blue upper just to check how it sounds to you in terms of quantity. And some wide bore silicon tips. In general I find that I can tweak imr iems quite a lot.
You can try silver lower + blue upper just to check how it sounds to you in terms of quantity. And some wide bore silicon tips. In general I find that I can tweak imr iems quite a lot.
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PeacockObscura
1000+ Head-Fier
I have both the Timeless and the Raptgo Hook X also the Moondrop Stellaris and the Elan+ the comparison between these is a little redundant as they have such different driver setups with the requisit properties of said drivers the Elan+ has the best quality treble by a country Mle but that doesn't equate to most quantity. Different company's have different house sound signatures we are unable to pick the subjective best traits of each company and put them in one iem. Perhaps the IMR house sound isn't suited to your musical tastes and subjective targets. This doesn't mean you are wrong about any part of the performance of the Elan+ it's just your subjective view, Mine is different.
Okay, thank you, I will receive them back in a couple of days and check again. I am glad that my Elan+ has been auditioned and measured (I think) by IMR Acoustics. It gives me peace of mind.
The truth is that I was fully enjoying my Elan+ with my FiiO BTR7, especially when listening to WAV from my phone. But I got the iFi GO Pod a few days ago, and something did not sound right on the treble. It was pretty obvious. I tried a few different nozzles/filters to no avail. So, I thought to sent them for checking.
If anyone here has experience with "iFi Sound", I'd like to hear their opinion. Does your iFi sound good with your IMR?
The GO Pod is my first, ever, iFi product.
Thank you
The truth is that I was fully enjoying my Elan+ with my FiiO BTR7, especially when listening to WAV from my phone. But I got the iFi GO Pod a few days ago, and something did not sound right on the treble. It was pretty obvious. I tried a few different nozzles/filters to no avail. So, I thought to sent them for checking.
If anyone here has experience with "iFi Sound", I'd like to hear their opinion. Does your iFi sound good with your IMR?
The GO Pod is my first, ever, iFi product.
Thank you
Zeppmeister
500+ Head-Fier
From the beginning, I've found treble on E+ to be the most I've had with any IMR. Maybe a little too much early on, but as I shared yesterday, settled down now.
AlexCBSN
1000+ Head-Fier
Ive been using dm and zenith II in my daily rotation with various ifi products (go link, go bar, hip dac2) and I find the sinergy to be stellar, whilst ifi sound is warm it doesn't become overwhelming with IMR headphones. I specially like the golink with dm as my daily driver, soundstage feels taller and bass becomes thunderous but controlled.
I stay away from x bass cause it just becomes too much, though I like to play with different filters whenever I've got a chance
Yeah... something like that I was expecting, too. The iFi GO Pod is fantastic with all the other IEMs you can see in my signature, all of them!
I will wait to receive it and experiment further...
I would suggest changing the cable (I find the stock imr cables to be too soft regarding treble) and experimenting with tips, and of course completing the burn in to the end.
Shadowelite
500+ Head-Fier
Im gland i researched the driver setup if the e+ before posting my reply lol
I though they had ests lol
Yer i would say timeless has better treb ( i own timeless but not elan)
Planar biggest plus is treb and speed
Biggest downfall is bass
The dd and ba have nothing on planar in the treb
But if it had est’s then thats different lol
I though they had ests lol
Yer i would say timeless has better treb ( i own timeless but not elan)
Planar biggest plus is treb and speed
Biggest downfall is bass
The dd and ba have nothing on planar in the treb
But if it had est’s then thats different lol
PeacockObscura
1000+ Head-Fier
I love my murder treble on the Moondrop Stellaris
jon parker
Headphoneus Supremus
Jeebuz - whats with all the daft platitudes about one type of driver being better than others? Sure each driver type has in general certain characteristics that make them more suitable in certain areas of audio frequency reproduction than others
BUT there is SO much that has to be implemented perfectly to get the best of any individual driver and there is a huge crossover of potential qualities of any given driver.
Some dynamic drivers present much better treble than some planar's. You really have to take any given driver/headphone/implementation on its individual merits.
Ive been playing around with a modded planar magnet Fostex T50Rp3 for the last couple of weeks and the BASS is phenomenal - tight, punchy, excellent transients, natural and yet the treble still needs tweaky being too peaking and sparkly at times
Anyway what IS the 'best' treble ??
For me it would be the most natural true-to-life TONALITY but for others it might be softer-but-clear or for other 'Ultra crisp but not fatiguing' that is the 'best'
and even then - in what context? - If you have heard music through a studios' monitoring system or played live in a precision tuned acoustic live hall then how that sound appears id of course quite different from anything else.
Also as you get older I think many people tend to gravitate more to quality than quantity. When younger I loved just loud banging good time MUSIC but as I get older I find myself more and more drawn to IEMS / Headphones that can offer the magic of AUDIO that sounds like it does when hearing it live in a perfect environment or as much as its possible as when you play it live yourself
I found it weird to hear that Bob 'hates hot treble' but loves 'crisp' treble.
I [personally] find that Bob always makes his treble a tad too hot or at least pushes it to the limit . . . although to be fair, never QUITE crosses the line to being too much in the sense of being badly tuned but still....but then who knows? You only know what you hear
Having said that, you can never rely 100% on that
I was going to send my Elan+ back because the vocals were all appearing about a third too far to the left instead of being centre stage as with my other IMR's
Of course as son as I buy insured postage I try them one more time and now they are behaving perfectly again !??!
I tested them extensively before organising to send them back - God alone knows what happened there. I suspect it may have something to do with the presentation of the staging and imaging that the bone conduction driver is giving - Making things appear in more of a 3D space as oppose to a flatter 'Middle'
Anyway, in terms of saying what is 'best' - A sound engineer of 40+years recently said in an interview (sorry, forgot his name)
at the end of his career - "it was only in my last few years that I finally fully understood what good bass actually was"
Talking of the Elan+ - Does it have the 'best' treble - I would say no - but what it does do very well though is give incredible CLARITY in the mids and highs and manages to present those very clearly in their own space such as that no detail of vocal frequencies is lost and certain elements such as the size of reverb of the room the vocals were recorded in are exceptionally clear...an element of which when found is usually indicative of a TOTL produced & tuned IEM
In this way I find the Elan+ can sound mesmerising and very engaging especially for well recorded live performances as it gives a quality of imaging and staging that are quite unique in an IEM
Actually listening as I write, its not that the treble is not superb with the Elan+ because it is,
its just that you have to listen with an understanding of the nature and function of what the Elan+ is offering.
Its not trying to give you a TOTL line treble tuned treble IEM rather, it s built and tuned to offer - a super clean, detailed treble from the BA drivers with the support in the mids and low end of a fast but rich ADLC driver
the total of which is presented in a unique way largely due to the Bonce Conduction drivers
I do find though that I have have had similar experience's with the Semper
but here the treble is more natural and true-to-life even if it isn't as super revealing as the Elan+ for me, but due to EST drivers (which are considered the 'best' driver for giving s true-to-life tonality) I find the sound to have a better over all TOTL sound
They both offer something very special with their individual driver set ups though and I love and enjoy both at different times and in different moods
EDIT: to add - The Elan+ are incredibly versatile - I just listened to 4 different John Mayall albums and each one sounded sonically totally different Ie: different presentations of bass. mids, vocal...everything COMPLETELY different - If you were doing a blind test and said that each album was with a different IEM you wouldn't believe it was the same IEM o_0
BUT there is SO much that has to be implemented perfectly to get the best of any individual driver and there is a huge crossover of potential qualities of any given driver.
Some dynamic drivers present much better treble than some planar's. You really have to take any given driver/headphone/implementation on its individual merits.
Ive been playing around with a modded planar magnet Fostex T50Rp3 for the last couple of weeks and the BASS is phenomenal - tight, punchy, excellent transients, natural and yet the treble still needs tweaky being too peaking and sparkly at times
Anyway what IS the 'best' treble ??
For me it would be the most natural true-to-life TONALITY but for others it might be softer-but-clear or for other 'Ultra crisp but not fatiguing' that is the 'best'
and even then - in what context? - If you have heard music through a studios' monitoring system or played live in a precision tuned acoustic live hall then how that sound appears id of course quite different from anything else.
Also as you get older I think many people tend to gravitate more to quality than quantity. When younger I loved just loud banging good time MUSIC but as I get older I find myself more and more drawn to IEMS / Headphones that can offer the magic of AUDIO that sounds like it does when hearing it live in a perfect environment or as much as its possible as when you play it live yourself
I found it weird to hear that Bob 'hates hot treble' but loves 'crisp' treble.
I [personally] find that Bob always makes his treble a tad too hot or at least pushes it to the limit . . . although to be fair, never QUITE crosses the line to being too much in the sense of being badly tuned but still....but then who knows? You only know what you hear
Having said that, you can never rely 100% on that
I was going to send my Elan+ back because the vocals were all appearing about a third too far to the left instead of being centre stage as with my other IMR's
Of course as son as I buy insured postage I try them one more time and now they are behaving perfectly again !??!
I tested them extensively before organising to send them back - God alone knows what happened there. I suspect it may have something to do with the presentation of the staging and imaging that the bone conduction driver is giving - Making things appear in more of a 3D space as oppose to a flatter 'Middle'
Anyway, in terms of saying what is 'best' - A sound engineer of 40+years recently said in an interview (sorry, forgot his name)
at the end of his career - "it was only in my last few years that I finally fully understood what good bass actually was"
Talking of the Elan+ - Does it have the 'best' treble - I would say no - but what it does do very well though is give incredible CLARITY in the mids and highs and manages to present those very clearly in their own space such as that no detail of vocal frequencies is lost and certain elements such as the size of reverb of the room the vocals were recorded in are exceptionally clear...an element of which when found is usually indicative of a TOTL produced & tuned IEM
In this way I find the Elan+ can sound mesmerising and very engaging especially for well recorded live performances as it gives a quality of imaging and staging that are quite unique in an IEM
Actually listening as I write, its not that the treble is not superb with the Elan+ because it is,
its just that you have to listen with an understanding of the nature and function of what the Elan+ is offering.
Its not trying to give you a TOTL line treble tuned treble IEM rather, it s built and tuned to offer - a super clean, detailed treble from the BA drivers with the support in the mids and low end of a fast but rich ADLC driver
the total of which is presented in a unique way largely due to the Bonce Conduction drivers
I do find though that I have have had similar experience's with the Semper
but here the treble is more natural and true-to-life even if it isn't as super revealing as the Elan+ for me, but due to EST drivers (which are considered the 'best' driver for giving s true-to-life tonality) I find the sound to have a better over all TOTL sound
They both offer something very special with their individual driver set ups though and I love and enjoy both at different times and in different moods
EDIT: to add - The Elan+ are incredibly versatile - I just listened to 4 different John Mayall albums and each one sounded sonically totally different Ie: different presentations of bass. mids, vocal...everything COMPLETELY different - If you were doing a blind test and said that each album was with a different IEM you wouldn't believe it was the same IEM o_0
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Welcome!
From now on, I will say "Jeebuz" to anyone who annoys me!
Thanks for the new word!
PS: I remember you saying there was something strange the Elan+ does to hi-hats. Have you discovered it?
PPS: Bob is right...
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