[geagle]

@Layman1 and this is from the Make family tuning tips, about eartips, specifically:

 

[Tragic]

I do try to be fair and thorough as I think a review isn't worth anything to a reader if it isnt both of those things. It can be really tough to be critical when honestly it is probably ahead of 90% of whats out there, but at the same time, I can see the things that I would tweak if I was going to build the CL3. Overall, it is a better IEM than I expected for a first out of the gate closed shell planar. I fully expected some resonance issues with a shell made of stone and a notoriously unforgiving driver type and to their credit, RHA has built a damn good IEM. If it were slightly more forgiving of poor source material, I think a lot of the arguments against it would fade into the background but truth be told none of our collections is devoid of poor source material so sooner or later we hit a track the CL2 just doesn't like. I've got a couple others like this that are sublime right up to the point where they are terrible because a track just gets revealed for how bad it really is. (Eartech Quints and EE Bravado can both do that too).

Hard to understand how/why an iem is supposed to make a poor recording sound “better”. Once again, very glad I got mine before these reviews were put up and likewise glad to know to disregard future reviews.

 

[Kitechaser]

Hard to understand how/why an iem is supposed to make a poor recording sound “better”. Once again, very glad I got mine before these reviews were put up and likewise glad to know to disregard future reviews.

Agreed. That's a tricky one.
Do you want an iem that is transparent and revealing of source material, or not?
You know what camp we all obviously fall into.
I think if the CL2 played nice with inferior poorly recorded tracks, i would not like it half as much as I do.
I think the transparency is its biggest strength.
The playback on a well mastered track is some of the best I have heard.

 

[Tragic]

Agreed. That's a tricky one.
Do you want an iem that is as transparent and revealing of source material, or not?
You know what camp we all obviously fall into.
I think if the CL2 played nice with inferior poorly recorded tracks, i would not like it half as much as I do.
I think the transparency is its biggest strength.
The playback on a well mastered track is some of the best I have heard.

Who makes these “sentient” iems that can detect the tracks a listener deems inferior and rearrange their tuning and structure to compensate? Obviously you can do this thru an equalizer or fiddly filters but to just do this on the fly through audio magic is pretty amazing.

 

[Duncan]

To (probably, albeit there are a few hours left) close off my 2018 posts - I will say that I had an epiphany earlier - walking around Oxford Street in London earlier - 1A on its prerequisite 85/120 and high gain, I couldn’t hear any of the hubbub - I was just encompassed by glorious music from the CL2 - these have definitely made the last quarter of 2018 far more palatable for me than it would have been without them.

Honourable second mention for the 1A though, it’s ability to squeeze pretty much every drop of potential SQ out of the CL2 is admirable for a one box solution from a mainstream manufacturer!

 

[Wiljen]

Hard to understand how/why an iem is supposed to make a poor recording sound “better”. Once again, very glad I got mine before these reviews were put up and likewise glad to know to disregard future reviews.

I undesrtand the sentiment too, but the reality is the vast majority of headphones and earphones are sold to people who don't know anything about source quality, pairings, proper impedance, power etc. Many a manufacturer has dumbed down a product in order to court a larger audience and Audio is no different. If you want to sell headphones to the guy with the phone full of mp3s, he expects them to sound good and when they don't it is obviously the fault of the headphone (whether it really is or not).

 

[Duncan]

I undesrtand the sentiment too, but the reality is the vast majority of headphones and earphones are sold to people who don't know anything about source quality, pairings, proper impedance, power etc. Many a manufacturer has dumbed down a product in order to court a larger audience and Audio is no different. If you want to sell headphones to the guy with the phone full of mp3s, he expects them to sound good and when they don't it is obviously the fault of the headphone (whether it really is or not).

Hence the seemingly lucky pairing of Sony gear (ZX300 and WM1A) with the CL2 - personally I find they sound best with high gain enabled but YMMV...

Synergy / system matching counts for one helluva lot in this game!

 

[McCol]

To (probably, albeit there are a few hours left) close off my 2018 posts - I will say that I had an epiphany earlier - walking around Oxford Street in London earlier - 1A on its prerequisite 85/120 and high gain, I couldn’t hear any of the hubbub - I was just encompassed by glorious music from the CL2 - these have definitely made the last quarter of 2018 far more palatable for me than it would have been without them.

Honourable second mention for the 1A though, it’s ability to squeeze pretty much every drop of potential SQ out of the CL2 is admirable for a one box solution from a mainstream manufacturer!

The CL2/WM1a combo feels like it could be end game for me......at least for a few months anyway. The combo is simply stunning, best sound I've heard in the 15 years I've been buying earphones and daps. Although saying that the AKG N5005 gives the CL2 a good run for it's money and will stay in my collection. Although the CL2 are more refined and detailed than the N5005, the AKG's do have a wonderful laid back warm musical style, almost analogue like.

 

[Layman1]

Hmm.. I was thinking to get a modded ZX300.
Apparently the mod would include:
1. the wires from the MB to female 3.5mm and 4.4mm jack. Changed to solid silver (not plated) rectangular (not stranded wire). His mod uses 1 wire for each connection. Double the wire for each connection. He uses 4% silver solder.

2. changed output capacitors for more capacity/drive. This increases the amount of current reserve at the output drive. He felt he could improve on the ones that Sony used.

3. copper foil applied to ICs, relays. This is a standard DIY tool, to damp RF radiation, or act as a shield.

Have any of you encountered a modded ZX300? I'm wondering how it might fare against the WM1A!
I was all set to get the ZX300 and have it modded, but now fear of missing out with what you guys are saying about the WM1A

 

[Layman1]

I've also been reviewing (as part of a review tour) a $2500 IEM (the CTM Da Vinci X).
It's an all-BA unit.
It's very good, but frankly, I have come to realise I just need MOAR bass
I really miss what a good dynamic driver can offer.
So I'm thinking my ideal IEM is going to be LegendX or the CL2.
In an ideal world, I'd have something like the EE Zeus, or the new Sony or Noble triple DD IEM's for listening to acoustic music or whatever (my understanding is that they focus on refined, tight bass, rather than power and presence, whereas I seem to recall hearing that the LegendX was more of the latter quality?).
Hopefully I'll be getting to hear both the CL2 and the LegendX in the next couple of months so that will be interesting
For the sake of my bank account, I'm kind of hoping I prefer the CL2, haha..

 

[Duncan]

@Layman1 - for a single driver unit, the CL2 is amazing! You definitely need an audition.

My final music recommendation for this year is Gretchen Peters album “Dancing with the beast” - so much texture and emotion produced by these tiny marvels.

 

[Kitechaser]

Hmm.. I was thinking to get a modded ZX300.
Apparently the mod would include:
1. the wires from the MB to female 3.5mm and 4.4mm jack. Changed to solid silver (not plated) rectangular (not stranded wire). His mod uses 1 wire for each connection. Double the wire for each connection. He uses 4% silver solder.

2. changed output capacitors for more capacity/drive. This increases the amount of current reserve at the output drive. He felt he could improve on the ones that Sony used.

3. copper foil applied to ICs, relays. This is a standard DIY tool, to damp RF radiation, or act as a shield.

Have any of you encountered a modded ZX300? I'm wondering how it might fare against the WM1A!
I was all set to get the ZX300 and have it modded, but now fear of missing out with what you guys are saying about the WM1A

The soundstage and instrument separation is much better with the WM1A when paired with the CL2.
The ZX300 is no slouch either, but the WM1A is the clear winner.
The only edge the ZX300 has is portability, because of the smaller size.
I personally think the WM1A is pretty much end game SQ. The improvements past it, if you wanna call them that, are negligible, atleast with the CL2. The WM1Z actually pairs worse than the other daps.
I think there is room for both the 1A and ZX300 in my daily use.
ZX300 is perfect for the gym.

As far as the bass of the CL2 goes, for my tastes it is the perfect pairing of quality and quantity. The textures of the bass are simply unmatched. Driver recovery is so fast, that it can render bass details the other iems just smooth over. It is something very special.
Quantity varies from track to track. On some tracks it will satisfy bassheads completely, and on others it will stay in its place and not muddy up the any of the other frequencies. (Actually the bass never interferes with the mids, ever)
I love acoustic music on the CL2, it's a huge part of my library. On acoustic tracks the bass textures are incredible.
Also the fact that this is a single driver, cohereancy is never an issue.
Again, you just have to listen to it for yourself, to see if it's your thing

 

[AManAnd88Keys]

Happy New Year everybody.

Some things I noticed recently about the CL2:

An iPhone doesn't seem to be a good companion. I have posted before about an older model iPod and found it not as bad as expected. On a longer train ride I had some more time, about 4 hours, to try out the iPhone SE against the DX150, and there is hardly a comparison at all. It's just... not good. The iPhone SE seems to turn the CL2 into sub 50€ earbuds.

@Kitechaser has mentioned more than once that the CL2 made him a "believer" (I apologize if that is maybe not the right word) of high-resolution audio. While I still retain that redbook can sound fantastic if an engineer knows what to do with it ("Perfect sound forever", right?), I think there is a hard-to-describe quality to high-resolution that, if the source material is good to start with, just isn't present on redbook. On my speaker system, by most standards a serious setup (have a look at my profile), I can get to amazing levels of realism with high-res. I cannot reliably explain why that is, but for my senses, the effect is real. The CL2 and DX150 combination is not comparable to the speaker setup for apparent reasons, but I can also tell on them that high-res goes deeper into the essence of the music than redbook. Again, this depends a lot on the source material, as there are obviously recordings that do not benefit from higher formats, because in those cases the redbook standard already contains all of their oiginal data, leaving nothing "buried" that could be discovered with high-res. To conclude, I don't encourage you to buy absolutely everything you already own again as high-resolution files. But I do claim that it can, at times, deliver the better result.

 

[Kitechaser]

Happy New Year everybody.

Some things I noticed recently about the CL2:

An iPhone doesn't seem to be a good companion. I have posted before about an older model iPod and found it not as bad as expected. On a longer train ride I had some more time, about 4 hours, to try out the iPhone SE against the DX150, and there is hardly a comparison at all. It's just... not good. The iPhone SE seems to turn the CL2 into sub 50€ earbuds.

@Kitechaser has mentioned more than once that the CL2 made him a "believer" (I apologize if that is maybe not the right word) of high-resolution audio. While I still retain that redbook can sound fantastic if an engineer knows what to do with it ("Perfect sound forever", right?), I think there is a hard-to-describe quality to high-resolution that, if the source material is good to start with, just isn't present on redbook. On my speaker system, by most standards a serious setup (have a look at my profile), I can get to amazing levels of realism with high-res. I cannot reliably explain why that is, but for my senses, the effect is real. The CL2 and DX150 combination is not comparable to the speaker setup for apparent reasons, but I can also tell on them that high-res goes deeper into the essence of the music than redbook. Again, this depends a lot on the source material, as there are obviously recordings that do not benefit from higher formats, because in those cases the redbook standard already contains all of their oiginal data, leaving nothing "buried" that could be discovered with high-res. To conclude, I don't encourage you to buy absolutely everything you already own again as high-resolution files. But I do claim that it can, at times, deliver the better result.

For me it's the Clarity and the micro details. Every iem and speaker system that I have ever liked , have one thing in common, Clarity.
I feel like the higher the quality of the music the CL2 gets, the more live and realistic it feels. I have yet to hear another iem/dap combo where almost every quality High res song makes you feel like you are there.
I am not a tuning junkie, I crave micro details and CLARITY. The things you hear in real life, when you are really there.
Agree with @AManAnd88Keys on his observations. The WM1A and its neutral signature brings these qualities out more than any other combo to my ears.
Edit: with the CL2/Sony combo I can spot a clear difference between 16/44, 24/44, 24/96, 24/192, and DSD.
Can't think of another iem where that has been the case. Add in, the timbre with copper cables is true to life.

This is an iem that scales very very very well.
It deserves a TOTL chain of equipment and high res files.
Running it straight out of a phone or lesser daps, is like buying a Ferrari, and using it to tow a trailer.

 

[cj3209]

@Kitechaser: if you get a chance, demo the Audeze i4. It's also a planar but it's more of an in-ear rather than an IEM although some people are using it with tips that insert deeply into your ears. I tried the deep insertion but it didn't work for my ears.

If you can get a comfortable fit, you may be surprised with the sound and how it compares favorably to the CL2. Both have a really nice low end but the i4s are basically an 'open' in-ear so they have more of a wider soundstage and sound leaks a bit.

In any case, it's a good opportunity to hear a variation of a planar iem/in-ear. I picked up the CL2 because I wanted the i4 sound with sound isolation. Of course, the i4 is almost 3x the price of the CL2s although Audeze had a recent B-stock fire sale for $999 (the regular price is around $2,500!).

Happy New Year!