[slowpickr]

I know it, lol. I need to be more patient about many things. It's a work in progress

But... I'm about to pick my replacement Zeniths up right now! I'm wondering how much of a difference I might possibly be hear between these and my "fixed" Zeniths.

That's great. Looks like they are hitting the states now. I shot Bob an email earlier and asked if there would be any sonic differences between the replacements and originals (assuming the originals were correct to begin with like mine). He stated that there should be no audible differences between the two.

Edit: just got notice that mine have arrived (North Carolina). Should have them shortly.

 

[Immortal]

That's great. Looks like they are hitting the states now. I shot Bob an email earlier and asked if there would be any sonic differences between the replacements and originals (assuming the originals were correct to begin with like mine). He stated that there should be no audible differences between the two.

Edit: just got notice that mine have arrived (North Carolina). Should have them shortly.

The thing is: the originals only had a phase problem or also something else?

 

[slowpickr]

The thing is: the originals only had a phase problem or also something else?

My understanding is that they only had the phase issue. Here is my email conversation with Bob:

On 18 Feb 2019, at 15:08, slowpickr wrote:

Bob,

Thanks for the update. Still waiting on mine to arrive which hopefully will be sometime during the next few days. Was the only issue with the first shipment the "out of phase" problem? If so, an original "in phase" Zenith should sound exactly the same as the replacement. Correct?

Reply from Bob:

Hi,

Thats correct. There maybe a minor difference due to drivers being matched but in reality you most likely wouldn’t hear that.

Hopefully you will have yours any day now.

Regards
Bob
Owner


IMR Acoustics
www.imracoustics.com

 

[sino8r]

My understanding is that they only had the phase issue. Here is my email conversation with Bob:

On 18 Feb 2019, at 15:08, slowpickr wrote:

Bob,

Thanks for the update. Still waiting on mine to arrive which hopefully will be sometime during the next few days. Was the only issue with the first shipment the "out of phase" problem? If so, an original "in phase" Zenith should sound exactly the same as the replacement. Correct?

Reply from Bob:

Hi,

Thats correct. There maybe a minor difference due to drivers being matched but in reality you most likely wouldn’t hear that.

Hopefully you will have yours any day now.

Regards
Bob
Owner


IMR Acoustics
www.imracoustics.com

That's good to know! I thought that was the case but am glad it's confirmed. Hopefully the replacements left side is driver flex free. I'll return whichever isn't flexing. I've got to remember to ask Bob about the mirror finish. I'll post the reply here...

 

[Immortal]

My understanding is that they only had the phase issue. Here is my email conversation with Bob:

On 18 Feb 2019, at 15:08, slowpickr wrote:

Bob,

Thanks for the update. Still waiting on mine to arrive which hopefully will be sometime during the next few days. Was the only issue with the first shipment the "out of phase" problem? If so, an original "in phase" Zenith should sound exactly the same as the replacement. Correct?

Reply from Bob:

Hi,

Thats correct. There maybe a minor difference due to drivers being matched but in reality you most likely wouldn’t hear that.

Hopefully you will have yours any day now.

Regards
Bob
Owner


IMR Acoustics
www.imracoustics.com

Thanks! Maybe the "matching driver" are somehow related to the volume imbalance someone denoted? In my originals the right one was slightly louder than the left one.

That's good to know! I thought that was the case but am glad it's confirmed. Hopefully the replacements left side is driver flex free. I'll return whichever isn't flexing. I've got to remember to ask Bob about the mirror finish. I'll post the reply here...

I think that his email regarding b-stocks answered to your doubts about mirror polish them. And I think it's way more harder to do!

 

[nlowran]

nlowran did but that's all I can remember off hand here in the US. I'm still waiting for my mmcx connectors but I imagine that will be a few more weeks since they're shipping from China. I'm not gonna mod mine until I can assess the replacement unit. I'm not sure about the mirror finish either. The anodizing seems alot better on the Zenith and maybe difficult to remove. I may shoot Bob and email and ask him if he's experimented with it yet. I have a bit of driver flex on the left side so I'm hoping the replacements don't have it. They still sound good but I'm worried that eventually the sound will be unbalanced on that side. It's seemed to happen on my R1s on the right side which has driver flex. It's probably due to my triple flange tips or at least it doesn't help. I hear some folks have driver flex on their campfire atlas. It's upsetting enough to happen on 500 dollar iems. I can't imagine how upsetting it would with some that cost 3 times that amount.

can you pm me the link to the connectors you ordered? might do it myself

 

[sino8r]

I think that his email regarding b-stocks answered to your doubts about mirror polish them. And I think it's way more harder to do!

Yeah, we talked a bit last night via email and he hasn't attempted it himself yet. He did agree that it would probably been more difficult this time
I may still try it when the replacements arrive on the back of the shell. He is curious to see how it goes...

 

[sino8r]

Baaaazinga! The flex is gone from my left on the replacements (so far) so I'm good. I'll give a couple of days to be sure.

 

[JohnRS]

I spent a few hours listening to mine yesterday, comparing them to the R1 and the first R1Z. There's definitely something more adrift with the first R1Z than the phase issue, they have 150+ hours on them and sound like in comparison to the replacements with only a few hours use.
My original reason for buying the R1 was for their reputation for having copious amounts of bass and was pretty much blown away with their performance.
I played around with the filters between the new and old and the old has more punch, even when using the pink on the old and copper on the new as Bob suggested. However I don't feel like I'm yearning for more on the Z, the bass is still very much there but it's cleaner, more refined than the R1. It isn't skull rumbling like the copper offering in the R1 but its still enough to bring a smug grin to my face.
One thing that I noticed is if they didn't have good isolation the lower end performance diminished a considerable amount.
I'm going to leave them burning in for a few days and see what they sound like then.

 

[fooey]

Does anyone have both the iBasso IT04 and R1 Zenith?

I had the original R1 before the IT04 and at the time it blew me away - bass is spectacular. However since getting the IT04 I haven't used the R1 much - to my ears the IT04 does everything other than bass better.

 

[monsieurfromag3]

I spent a few hours listening to mine yesterday, comparing them to the R1 and the first R1Z. There's definitely something more adrift with the first R1Z than the phase issue, they have 150+ hours on them and sound like in comparison to the replacements with only a few hours use.
My original reason for buying the R1 was for their reputation for having copious amounts of bass and was pretty much blown away with their performance.
I played around with the filters between the new and old and the old has more punch, even when using the pink on the old and copper on the new as Bob suggested. However I don't feel like I'm yearning for more on the Z, the bass is still very much there but it's cleaner, more refined than the R1. It isn't skull rumbling like the copper offering in the R1 but its still enough to bring a smug grin to my face.
One thing that I noticed is if they didn't have good isolation the lower end performance diminished a considerable amount.
I'm going to leave them burning in for a few days and see what they sound like then.

I entirely agree with everything you wrote
Specifically I find the bass can get pretty skull-rumbling but it takes more finessing with the fit, bass response being indeed more dependent on isolation this time - or isn’t it rather that isolation itself is attained differently with the Zenith? I stated a few posts back that bass felt less physical with the Z, until I fiddled with the tips again and boom - the bass hit me so hard. Just as satisfying but with added articulation - which I think is something like the mission plan for the Z.

Whatever qualities people find in the R1 can more or less be replicated with the Zenith but it’s not just achieved by switching filters, as Bob informed us via e-mail - I insist on the importance of tip rolling from the ground up. Certainly in my case I will have to re-evaluate the wide Symbio that were such a definite win with the R1.

 

[slowpickr]

I entirely agree with everything you wrote
Specifically I find the bass can get pretty skull-rumbling but it takes more finessing with the fit, bass response being indeed more dependent on isolation this time - or isn’t it rather that isolation itself is attained differently with the Zenith? I stated a few posts back that bass felt less physical with the Z, until I fiddled with the tips again and boom - the bass hit me so hard. Just as satisfying but with added articulation - which I think is something like the mission plan for the Z.

Whatever qualities people find in the R1 can more or less be replicated with the Zenith but it’s not just achieved by switching filters, as Bob informed us via e-mail - I insist on the importance of tip rolling from the ground up. Certainly in my case I will have to re-evaluate the wide Symbio that were such a definite win with the R1.

I'm on a Zenith tip search myself. Symbio Ws with foam removed fit and isolate well for me. However, I feel the upper mids /treble are a little on the harsh side. Planning to buy Symbio Ns and Acoustune AET08s.

 

[PsiCore]

So guys, who have already received their replacements, can you confirm, that there is nothing wrong with the filters, as Bob suggested at the beginning? Because from what I see, Bob is sending only the earphones.

 

[HungryPanda]

That is correct filters are fine

 

[runningwitit]

Has anyone noticed any bleeding at all on the "Z's"? I really loved my R1's, but hated the bleeding..