Right, sorry for not posting my initial impression so far as I've got the RHA booty for review at the moment, all I can say is so far since i received the gear I started of with the amp/ dac to see how it faired with other IEM/ cans in general which as I knew from the Indulgence show was very good to start with.
I am now half way through my process and belief it or not I have not listened to the CL1 IEM! (which is starting tonight)
Reason being a little unintentional I have put the 750's through the ringer maybe a day longer but I heard these at the show and after seeing a couple of weeks ago certain members on here having quite a dig at the new CL range of iems with been all treble and too much was worrying in two ways. First I heard this at the show, secondly I had to review them.
Worrying, why.... because at the show although I had limited time on the last day there I had to try the amp and both iems out and then my iems through the Dacamp and my Chord Hugo for whatever reason, only ever done it once but done it then was the reason I was hearing something a bit off with the 750's which I listened to first before listening to the CL1's and was shocked that there was just this treble with not much body to the mids and no bass hardly and even tried a second pair and the same thing happened. So not giving up I went through the chain as I also had the Hugo hooked up to my Vorzuge Pure amp as Hugo was not cutting it with the 750's in power or volume and even the Pure was struggling with high gain which was freaking me out by this time!
After powering down the Hugo and starting her up after checking all my cable connections were okay it actually sounded better... BUT far from perfect and was still reminiscent of what I was already hearing but slightly improved by say 30% so thought try it in the Dacamp as that is what the 750 was obviously designed to pair with at the design stage in house so hooked it up. Yes, more improvement but still not quite right so left it at that a bit perplexed and moved onto the CL1's as this is what I thought in reality I would be going for as I had been wanting for RHA to do a higher model to the T20 for a while now and done the same of plugging it into my gear first.
Again okay but not full set of cards here, like an inbalance with a bit too much treble but not as painful as the 750 was to listen too so tried it with the Dacamp and sounded not too bad but there was my time at the end of the day cut short so my session come to and end thinking the CL1 was an improvement but was left sitting on the fence a bit as did not have as much time as I did with the 750's on the stand.
Roll on two months to been accepted to review these units and I'm thinking have I done the right thing after hearing a couple of people stating the same thing although it was plain to see certain people at that time was digging these out almost with a motive.
Well, all I can say is with the CL750's I don't know what has happened in that time but these are a totally different IEM almost and not without giving much away but just balancing the playing field a bit here the CL750's are
not at all piercing or sharp in the treble region and I am usually sensitive to that sort of top end been over done. The 750 treble is one of the more prominent treble sounding IEM's out there but the balance is now even keel with the mids very present and there is actually a bass there although I won't comment on how it sounds at the moment.
I have tried the 750's with various different equpiment and think it is more of a pairing thing and it may be the 750's or even CL1's (which I'm still to listen to properly) may be a bit fussier in their pairing as still with the Chord Hugo on it's own it's still a bit too bright but I have this issue with 50% of stuff I hook up to the Hugo hence I use the Pure amp to solve that issue but it is a lot more listenable to what i heard at the show with just the Hugo and 750's to a point i could just listen to that as it was if I had too but the balance of the two liking treble does just put it of balance a little.
Have to say the 750's treble is without going into too much detail just not ear bleeding or piercing to me but the pairing of equipment does have to be right balance of synergy to get the best out of these 750's as they have fantastic extension and uncanny natural timbre to it's tuning and due to this actually can do stuff with treble some other IEMS struggle to do and at same time have to remember these are £99 is quite something with the build of these IEMS. I even tried one of my treble ear bleed tracks which I love but with most equipment it the treble can just be too harsh and sharp ruining the experience but the art still is to have enough treble still to the track as it is a main part of the type of track recording in M. Jackson's Speed Demon Remix by Nero which I love but with only so few pieces of equipment ever. With my ZX1 Walkman with Pure amp or the Dacamp this track is free from the edgy treble but still present enough in presentation and have no issues listening to this track with the treble which made me quite happy as it was a surprise to me.
With the Hugo it is just too much over the tipping balance and is too hard and harsh in it's reproduction making it still a no, no for this track with the Hugo direct with 750's so for me it is very much a pairing thing to get the right balance which in turn makes these shine like a million dollar nugget for only £99!?
Only thing I can say to anyone who has heard and liked the Orofon EQ8 which is an amazing and underated IEM if there ever was one but like the CL750's or even more so needs an amp to get the best out of them fully like the 750's. Only major difference is if the EQ8 was amped perfect it had the most earth shattering but neutral sounding bass that left you a bit speechless where the 750 now has a good tight mid and sub bass but maybe not as low as the E8's.
Anyway, after hearing this in relation to what I heard at the show I am now looking forward to plugging in the C1's for second half of my duration with them. Sorry for epic post but do not post as much on here now days, not though choice is all I can say but just wanted to put this treble subject in perspective and thought telling the story from my perspective from hearing them at the show to finally getting them two months later to review was a night and day situation for the better thankfully for me this is now going to make my review a little easier to what I first thought a week ago!
So anyone reading this thread on the conflicting subject of treble in these parts but has not heard them yet, do not dismiss them from the negative talk on the treble on these and get to listen for yourself as you well could be surprised.
Lastly to note, RHA really have tuned these IEMs in harmony with the Dacamp they have made, not only these but my T20's I have really shine with them as a pairing like I've not quite heard them before!
