[HungryPanda]

I believe once the honeymoon period with the R2 Aten is up I will still appreciate my Zenith from time to time

 

[bassct]

@holsen regarding a perfect travel buddy. Look no further than Periodic Audio Be ( Beryllium ). Its the same sound signature as the driver we have in the R1, R2. great extension in the upper region, no bloat down low, clear mids. Its very similar to the R1 sound sig, without the sub bass emphasis, low frequencies feel faster. Simple sturdy design, they are light, good fit, 5 year warranty. If you get the blemished version its a great deal. They had a 25% for blemished products promo, i am not sure if it is still going. Its an awesome IEM at the discounted price.

My R2s sound awesome from a 2.5mm jack on Hiby R3. I am still "burning" them in. Somehow, they made it very hard to go back to the og R1 after you hear them. R1 are really good, but R2 is just special kind of good.

 

[holsen]

@holsen regarding a perfect travel buddy. Look no further than Periodic Audio Be ( Beryllium ). Its the same sound signature as the driver we have in the R1, R2. great extension in the upper region, no bloat down low, clear mids. Its very similar to the R1 sound sig, without the sub bass emphasis, low frequencies feel faster. Simple sturdy design, they are light, good fit, 5 year warranty. If you get the blemished version its a great deal. They had a 25% for blemished products promo, i am not sure if it is still going. Its an awesome IEM at the discounted price..

Great tip. Thanks!

 

[AudioJunki3]

Well the "Best IEM" is the one you ENJOY the most as far as I'm concerned. I just unloaded a brand new set of Xelentos because because I so much more enjoyed the $150 P1 - so $$$ had nothing to do with it. I'm still looking for the "Perfect Tavel Buddy": easy to drive, sound spectacular with good excellent resolution, depth, clarity and sparkle and isolates well. That last bit is the only reason I rescinded my Aten order and went with Zenith. Oh yeah, one more thing I really want, relatively flush fit so I can sleep with them. Aten could have done that. Once I've burned the Zeniths in and had a really good listening session with them, I may still come back for an R2, by then all of your burn ins will be done and your impressions well formed. I may just skip the Aten and wait for Rah. Thanks for all your (collective) input!

I totally agree with your statement about the best IEM is the one we enjoy the most. Its an unfortunate reality that we need to buy each IEM to try them, unless you go to an audio exhibition. Personally I have a huge love for the Final E5000, it's such a smooth sound, I can wear them for hours with no fatigue, I got them for £170 on Amazon Warehouse and for me personally it's one of my top IEM's. It uses a DD over Finals usual BA setup, those who might not have appreciated the "Final" house sound might like these more. Other reviews on here have resounded the same opinion. I'm still not convinced I prefer the Aten over the E5000 as my daily, but again thats just my personal opinion.

 

[holsen]

More beautiful confusion for me! Both the Periodic BE and E5000 are on my new shortlist. E5000, I've been aware of for a while. Also have my eyes on this little guy: The Audiosense T800 which has lit up the Chi-Fi community..... Anyway, dont mean to pull this thread away from its focus...

 

[HungryPanda]

Final E4000's are awesome earphones. I got snugs custom eartips for mine I liked them so much

 

[AudioJunki3]

More beautiful confusion for me! Both the Periodic BE and E5000 are on my new shortlist. E5000, I've been aware of for a while. Also have my eyes on this little guy: The Audiosense T800 which has lit up the Chi-Fi community..... Anyway, dont mean to pull this thread away from its focus...

I'm sure both are great as portable IEMs. I use mine with the Fiio BTR3, although theres a new one coming soon the BTR5 with a balanced output, the E5000 do require a bit of power to sound their best. I use small portable DAC/AMP combos to power most of my stuff and they run fine on those.
Anyway, back on topic!

Final E4000's are awesome earphones. I got snugs custom eartips for mine I liked them so much

Do those Snugs improve the sound much? I'm really intruiged by that....

 

[monsieurfromag3]

I'll be watching closely! Just to be clear, the the Rah is the planar/ DD/ piezo IEM, or is it something completely different? I'm still playing IMR catch up.

The planar-only IEM is codenamed Elan, it was supposed to come out late August. With the R2 delayed as it was I have no idea if it is still on the cards. The R2 and Elan were supposed to be limited test runs to introduce the 2 new drivers that combine into the Rah.

I originally felt miffed about this line-up. Having been slightly disappointed in the Zenith, I thought I would just wait things out, with the Aten and Elan feeling like cut-down versions of the Rah, itself out of my budget, esp. with the loyalty codes not applying to the Rah. But I so, so love my R1, and on the other hand am not a big fan of planar drivers. So I ended up ordering the Aten and from everything I’m reading I’m not sorry I did. Mine landed near Paris this morning, should have them by Friday

 

[HungryPanda]

I'm sure both are great as portable IEMs. I use mine with the Fiio BTR3, although theres a new one coming soon the BTR5 with a balanced output, the E5000 do require a bit of power to sound their best. I use small portable DAC/AMP combos to power most of my stuff and they run fine on those.
Anyway, back on topic!


Do those Snugs improve the sound much? I'm really intruiged by that....

Amazingly they do not change the sound at all, isolation and comfort are excellent though

 

[AlexCBSN]

Just got mine, shipping took 3 days... cause DHL =P had a test with the black filters with spiral dots, couldnt ask for more amazingness Massive soundstage, massive bass, went for red bottom green top, quite balanced, a little more bright but i love it, Gojira sounds AMAZING (quite getting into em right now, Magma is a really good album for testing the speed of the drivers) love the cable, but im looking to get some converters from mmcx to 2 pins, i want to try em with my dunu noble and the oem cable from the Acoustune, really eager for the burn in process, someone wrote that he wished the process was already done in, well, part of the journey is the process, im loving these guys, someone asked me if i like em better than the acoustune hs1670, ... different things, the acoustune are like the hd800s for me, its something you dont compare with other things, the tunning is way too analitical and balanced, those are luxory iems, this are fun, agressive, full of "YEEEEEEEEESSSSS!!!!!!! THAT BASS LINE IS EPIC!!!!" the others are for an afternoon of listening albums and saying "Damn... life is good... everything is so amazing..."

 

[Xintaur]

The planar-only IEM is codenamed Elan, it was supposed to come out late August. With the R2 delayed as it was I have no idea if it is still on the cards. The R2 and Elan were supposed to be limited test runs to introduce the 2 new drivers that combine into the Rah.

I originally felt miffed about this line-up. Having been slightly disappointed in the Zenith, I thought I would just wait things out, with the Aten and Elan feeling like cut-down versions of the Rah, itself out of my budget, esp. with the loyalty codes not applying to the Rah. But I so, so love my R1, and on the other hand am not a big fan of planar drivers. So I ended up ordering the Aten and from everything I’m reading I’m not sorry I did. Mine landed near Paris this morning, should have them by Friday

Where did you read that the loyalty code will not apply? As far as i know it will be available for all future IMR products.

Quoting from an e-Mail i reveived yesterday from Bob:
"The loyalty code is exclusively for owners of any IMR product and gives you 35% off any product now and in the future. This is my little thank you for your support.
The only time this code can't be used is for any product that automatically has a sale code applied."

 

[warriorpoet]

Just got mine, shipping took 3 days... cause DHL =P had a test with the black filters with spiral dots, couldnt ask for more amazingness Massive soundstage, massive bass, went for red bottom green top, quite balanced, a little more bright but i love it, Gojira sounds AMAZING (quite getting into em right now, Magma is a really good album for testing the speed of the drivers) love the cable, but im looking to get some converters from mmcx to 2 pins, i want to try em with my dunu noble and the oem cable from the Acoustune, really eager for the burn in process, someone wrote that he wished the process was already done in, well, part of the journey is the process, im loving these guys, someone asked me if i like em better than the acoustune hs1670, ... different things, the acoustune are like the hd800s for me, its something you dont compare with other things, the tunning is way too analitical and balanced, those are luxory iems, this are fun, agressive, full of "YEEEEEEEEESSSSS!!!!!!! THAT BASS LINE IS EPIC!!!!" the others are for an afternoon of listening albums and saying "Damn... life is good... everything is so amazing..."

If you like the FR, but want it to be a little less bright, try the gold tips. They're great!

I'm the one who mentioned burn-in. Personally I think it's a lot of fun, but I imagine the Samsung and Apple crowd typically want consistency over process. In the same way we so often hear or read about a $4k+ IEM being disappointing right out of the box. I imagine if IMR traveled those heights or were sold often in those "it just works out of the box" crowds the burn-in requirement would be viewed as a negative, not a positive.

I agree on the sound quality in general. These are very much a "fun" set, but the details are often obscured by fun rather than missing altogether. I really dig 'em!

 

[warriorpoet]

Where did you read that the loyalty code will not apply? As far as i know it will be available for all future IMR products.

Quoting from an e-Mail i reveived yesterday from Bob:
"The loyalty code is exclusively for owners of any IMR product and gives you 35% off any product now and in the future. This is my little thank you for your support.
The only time this code can't be used is for any product that automatically has a sale code applied."

Bob's initial feedback was that the Rah would not take the code due to development and production costs. I have some reason to believe he's revisited that stance since.

 

[rocko77]

If you like the FR, but want it to be a little less bright, try the gold tips. They're great!

I'm the one who mentioned burn-in. Personally I think it's a lot of fun, but I imagine the Samsung and Apple crowd typically want consistency over process. In the same way we so often hear or read about a $4k+ IEM being disappointing right out of the box. I imagine if IMR traveled those heights or were sold often in those "it just works out of the box" crowds the burn-in requirement would be viewed as a negative, not a positive.

I agree on the sound quality in general. These are very much a "fun" set, but the details are often obscured by fun rather than missing altogether. I really dig 'em!

I've had my cooking for a week now and rested them for 12 hours today. I've got to say they just sound so much cleaner and the mid range has really come to the fore. I'm still struggling to comprehend how these sound so wide yet with no obvious holes in the staging, such as you get with the HD800s. They beat many open back headphones that I've owned.

 

[kdphan]

I've had my cooking for a week now and rested them for 12 hours today. I've got to say they just sound so much cleaner and the mid range has really come to the fore. I'm still struggling to comprehend how these sound so wide yet with no obvious holes in the staging, such as you get with the HD800s. They beat many open back headphones that I've owned.

They’re very wide sounding indeed. That’s why I was so excited when bob announced it would be open back.