I did play around with it and settle on 12 to 1pm. At 1pm, the sub bass is about the same as SE846 but the mid bass is more than SE846, that makes the SE846 sound like there is a dip in the mid bass, hence some bass "data" is lost along the way. For example the overall bass sound more melodic than SE846 as Angie can produce all the bass tone frequency pretty evenly even when the sub bass is boosted while some of SE846's mid bass got covered by the sub bass.
I manage the to solve the mystery of why I was NOT impressed on my 1st try, but love it over some more listening.
1) At 9am, it was pretty flat. Which is fine but the problem is me, I am so used to boosted bass, vocal and treble that Angie sound a little flat.
2) At 12pm to 1pm. I got back the bass that I so missed in the SE846. The sub bass is still slightly more boosted in SE846 (a hair more) but the mid bass is more superior than SE846.
3) Se846 vocal is very forward and "enhanced" as compare to the rest of frequency, Angie is more accurate as its forward but not overly done. But the main differences is in their tonal quality. A quick comparison makes the SE846 sound a little like "cup hands" while Angie portray a more accurate chesty voice as in real life voice quality
4) The Angie treble is very even across the higher octave as in nothing is enhanced or spike up to create clarity, in comparison with Se846 white filter, some lower treble is spike up to create more excitement but start to roll off sooner than Angie at the very top, which means SE846 is likely to get fatigue faster than Angie when playing loud.
Now come the real strength of Angie..
Angie even frequency (despite dialing at 12.30pm) allows all frequency to flow through with nothing loss. SE846 enhance sub bass mask details, cup hands vocal create some sharpness (which is nice by the way) sound like amplified vocal through a mike (normal) while Angie is singing with life to me in a subway- no mike, no amplification. The spike up lower treble tend to cover some details while Angie let every thing through - no spike in treble whatsoever.
Let me give an example, the percussion shaker is almost entirely lost in SE846 in some complex jazz music, while Angie show a very clear distinct existence and locations. I notice it was lost because the tambourine that is also going on, sounded too sharp & loud in Se846 hence masking it existence. So in short with alot of instruments going on, Angie produce them all evenly while SE846 mask some of those due to some frequency peaks. Don;t get me wrong, I can still hear it in SE846 but the attention towards the louder frequency mask it.
Ok the soundstage.. oh boy the soundstage.. the Angie is almost unbeatable in most of the TOTL IEM I heard. Now K3003 comes pretty close as in able to match its wideness but looses in the front and back and height. Roxanne matches its depth and wideness but loose some "air" (could be roll off extended treble a little earlier). Tralucent 1p2 could match it out of the head experience, but not as tall and wide. SE846 looses the space between instrument and depth. None of the above IEM has all the qualities roll into one. Angie's soundstage is phenomenon. Its not too diffuse like some sort of surround ESP. Its natural. Even full size headphone like LCD X may have more depth, height and space between instrument but not as wide. Angie creates a pretty impressive life performance at front seat. I cannot imagine any IEM has all these qualities roll into one and does it better (looking at Layla from afar and wondering...).
So the above explains the mystery of hate it first and then love it later. In fact I am not even returning it, I am already looking at cables to go with Angie.. lol.
- Note I am using comply foam but I mod it as in push it all the way to the base exposing the bore. This way, I have the isolation, comfort (insert really deep) and not losses any treble compared to using silicon. Best of all no vacuum like the silicone.
