Yes, I had it, more strongly/negatively, with the Elan+ as well, even emailed Bob about it. We put it down to the BAs and overtime they settled down very nicely.
I think I'll hook the Enigma up to my spare laptop and do some passive burn in for a few days.
With Go Pod and Black/Gold with Azlas the treble is very controlled.
For example the next album has a sibilant tendency and is one I use for treble testing.
Enigma handles it great with the above. https://tidal.com/album/174966107?u
I am using my Enigma+ with Tri Clarion tips, red/red combination and Penon Asos cable. I have 0 sibilance. With Cayin RU7 dongle, this combination is perfect!
Think I'm picking up on a trend where enigma is treble harsh and enigma + owners feel differently. Wonder what that's about. Asked bob ages ago whether ESTs were used for highs/ultra highs and (for titan at least) he suggested they were not.
I find my enigma (no +) imperfect with respect to treble...but I soldier on with them. Burn in helped a bit but they are still unnecessarily sibilant.
As I continue to listen to them and other sets, I sometimes find myself thinking, "hm, weird." Currently my other mid/highish end sets: titan, dte900, and noble jade. The lattermost is one of the richest sounding sets I own. There is not much airiness but still plenty of detail and space (another failure of the enigma imo).
I am using my Enigma+ with Tri Clarion tips, red/red combination and Penon Asos cable. I have 0 sibilance. With Cayin RU7 dongle, this combination is perfect!
At the moment, I would say I am overall disappointed in my Enigma. The Elan+ are currently giving me a more enjoyable listening experience, which of course could be due to all the hours on them. For what I paid for the Enigma, I sure hope they settle in.
I emailed Bob this afternoon to get his feedback on the treble. For now, I have started doing some passive burn-in. And I'll try different filter combos.
Guys,
I had enigma in the past and did not find them sibilant at all. There is almost no difference between Enigma and Enigma+. I remember a few years ago, I was complaining about sibilance in Avalon while other owners were telling me that they are very warm sounding. I left them to burn in during hours and then listened to them. I could not believe it was the same IEM that was sibilant. Please give them hours of burn in and try them again. I am sure the sinilance will disappear
Think I'm picking up on a trend where enigma is treble harsh and enigma + owners feel differently. Wonder what that's about. Asked bob ages ago whether ESTs were used for highs/ultra highs and (for titan at least) he suggested they were not.
I find my enigma (no +) imperfect with respect to treble...but I soldier on with them. Burn in helped a bit but they are still unnecessarily sibilant.
As I continue to listen to them and other sets, I sometimes find myself thinking, "hm, weird." Currently my other mid/highish end sets: titan, dte900, and noble jade. The lattermost is one of the richest sounding sets I own. There is not much airiness but still plenty of detail and space (another failure of the enigma imo).
I'm not getting any sibilance issues with Enigma using black bottom red top and sedna earfit light standard tips with a copper and silver plated copper mix cable the only time I has any sibilance was with FiiO DAps the M11pro and M15 on the Cayin N7. N3ULTRA AND SONY zx707 they are rich, detailed with amazing layering and sweet airy treble.
Of course there could be unit variation or different ear sensitivities/canal shapes at play.
For me they are the very best IMR have produced Topping even the Titans which I also love. I had a great listening session with the Elan+ plast night which are less rich and have more treble presence giving an impression of more detail and space between instruments just less sumptuous an analogy the Elan+ are a sports car say a Porsche 911 while the Enigma a luxury car say the Rolls-Royce Phantom.
Which you prefer is upto your tastes neither is "better" than the other just different
Another point that comes to my mind concerning the sibilance discussion is the Enigmas transparency. I just had a session with them yesterday and again encountered no sibilance issues, but recognized how sensitive the Enigmas display whether you listen to a good or bad recording...
I’m delighted with ENIGMA+, I listened to them for the first time on a tube amplifier and was stunned by how great they sound on tubes, it’s just like full-size headphones, an adult sound, they sound very decent and tasty.
I listened to it on FiiO R9, it’s also very decent and sounds beautiful, I really like this Delta-Sigma on Sabre chips.
On the Ibasso DC Elite it seems that it sounds a little bright, but this is just the DC Elite setting, it is a transparent source, but not hissing, in any case. I slightly muted this feature of the DC Elite, with ENIGMA+ filters - purple bottom and black top, AZLA attachments (modernized) + FiiO cable (which, by a lucky chance, I didn’t sell))
So you probably need to select sources and configure ENIGMA+.
Perhaps I have already completely burned through ENIGMA+)
ps. There is no hiss at all on ENIGMA+, and I am very sensitive to hissing sounds and can’t stand them in music.
i've run my enigmas on all of the following:
- r26 (weird dac imo...with some treble emphasis and relatively tight bass at least from the balanced out), 2qute (truly easy/balanced listening from my perspective), soekris 2541 (even more relaxed and relatively loose bass) + singxer sa-1 (super neutral)
- soekris 2541's amp
- h7, h2, xdsd gryphon
pretty varied sound profiles for dacs/amps and still have some sibilance across all of the above. as mekap, i'm quite sensitive and while i've noticed HUGE improvement over time, they are.... still sibilant. i can tolerate it but i often wonder, why should i? and...do the positives outweigh the negatives? (not sure) over time i see the titans as superior from a sense of completeness/holistic...ness. when i listen to my rah 23 (different cable + tips) i find the experience much more rewarding.
in any case, they are not my favourite set in general, much less from imr. cool that others aren't experiencing what i am...though it perplexes me.
i've run my enigmas on all of the following:
- r26 (weird dac imo...with some treble emphasis and relatively tight bass at least from the balanced out), 2qute (truly easy/balanced listening from my perspective), soekris 2541 (even more relaxed and relatively loose bass) + singxer sa-1 (super neutral)
- soekris 2541's amp
- h7, h2, xdsd gryphon
pretty varied sound profiles for dacs/amps and still have some sibilance across all of the above. as mekap, i'm quite sensitive and while i've noticed HUGE improvement over time, they are.... still sibilant. i can tolerate it but i often wonder, why should i? and...do the positives outweigh the negatives? (not sure) over time i see the titans as superior from a sense of completeness/holistic...ness. when i listen to my rah 23 (different cable + tips) i find the experience much more rewarding.
in any case, they are not my favourite set in general, much less from imr. cool that others aren't experiencing what i am...though it perplexes me.
Initially I experienced great sibilance with the Enigma+. This reduced in about a month.
Now I prefer the Top blue filter . In fact i dont even enjoy the black filter anymore !
The bass is something that seems to have got worse for me. Both Blue and Black Bottoms are too much. The bass has also increased with burn in. And Silver is not enough and Blue too much.
So i am currently trying Gold Bottoms which sound totally different because of some white padding in it.
Gold + Blue works wonderfully for me now.
In comparison to the thie audio v16 , Enigma+ lacks Instrument Separation big time. Enigma+ also lacks some detail and clarity as well.
On tracks where there are too many things happening, some instruments can barely be heard with the Enigma+.
With some change of tips and cables I have been able to improve this slightly but not by much.
I do feel at times Enigma+ also has narrow stage . The music doesnt sound as grand as it should at times.
But switching from Eros s to EA Code 23, stage increased considerably. So I think stage is about finding the right cable ?
Cables and tips have a huge effect on the Enigma+. I was unable to purchase any of the cables and tips suggested in this forum like penon asos /nicechk and triclarion , since they are not availabe in my country. But i suspect these would
improve the Enigma+ sound to some extent.
I use an ibasso dx320 and there is good synergy with the Enigma+.
Another problem is that in order to get the most out of the Enigma+ , I need to turn the volume up considerably even with High gain. Do I need an amplifier along with the dx320 ?
Even though Enigma+ lacks some detail and separation, Certain types of music sound sweet with Enigma+.
Vocals , violins, guitars sound great. Stuff where there there isnt too much confusion in the music or too many instruments .
For Example these songs sound amazing on the Enigma+
Monde Inverse - Rouge Congo
Recto Verso - Paradis
Csardas
The Veldt - Deadmaus
But these sound avg with the Enigma+ and much better with V16
Glue - Bicep
4ware - DeadMaus
borderline - Tame Impala
Stone temple Pilots - Plush
Pearl Jam - Black
Some how i end up listening to the Enigma+ most of the times ! Its weird.
On my side, unfortunately, I gave up trying using the Enigma AMT + due to :
-> too narrow stage width, (compared to my 2 Sony's reference IER-Z1R/M9)
-> missing too much details in mid high and high frequencies (again compared to my Sony's reference),
-> when I am lying down, I have too much/often drivers flex issues. (The Enigma+ can be used only while sitting or standing up).
although, I really enjoy the low frequencies (with proper configuration) and also vocals rather a lot (Enigma is rather mid centric tuned).
So I went back to my IER-Z1R/M9 these last weeks..
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