My thoughts on the ED9 vs. VSD3
* These are my personal feelings and opinions based on how my donkey-brained ears hear these two iems in direct comparison to each other.
ED9 w/ Gold Filter vs. VSD3
- less bass, both sub and especially mid, but very similar texture
- bass has more punch
- requires more power
- better clarity and instrument separation
- mids not nearly as forward
- treble not quite as sharp and well-controlled, but is more extended and emphasized
- soundstage reasonably large and clearly defined; falls behind VSD3 but a noticeable margin
ED9 w/ Brass Filter (stock, no mods) vs. VSD3
- treble leaps further forward in clarity and separation; becomes sharper and with some previously absent simblance (almost shrill at times)
- bass dials back significantly and now plays second fiddle to mids and treble, but is still punchy (not nearly enough bass for my personal preference...)
- vocals take on a nice breathy vibe
- soundstage opens up further but loses definition; still falls short of the VSD3's spacious soundstage
Random
- The VSD3 is much more forgiving of crappy quality recordings.
- I used my UE600 medium bore tips for the comparo. Normally I run medium-sized, small bore Sony Hybrids on the VSD3 and large-sized, wide bore Huawei Honor tips on the ED9
Summary
ED9 with gold filters are very comparable to the VSD3. The VSD3 occasionally sounds boomy in comparison due to the mid-bass boost. The VSD3 displays a touch of veil in it's vocal presentation, but it's not really noticeable to me unless a/bing, ie. very minor. The brass filters give the ED9 a completely different, "audiophile" focused sound. They, in this form, cannot really compare to the VSD3 given they offer a totally different experience.
I was pretty surprised how well the ED9 with gold filters held up against the VSD3. I actually prefer them now that I've had some solid time to a/b the two. I don't think anyone "downgrading" from the VSD3 would be disappointed in the ED9, especially when you factor in the price difference and leap in build quality (leaning completely in favor of the ED9) between the two.