Livewires first impressions + Pics
Aug 3, 2007 at 8:25 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 58

Flasken

Exhibit A in the case FOR a legal drinking age.
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The purpose of this thread is mainly to post some really crappy pictures to show how my color choice looks.

I still feel like I should post some impressions though.

Compared to my er6i, there is definitely a more full bodied feel to the sound, specifically in the bass region. I've had the er6i for quite a few years, and they were the first headphones that showed me treble detail - yet they turned me off treble at the same time due to their tinny, metallic sound signature. The livewires are pretty surprising in this regard - they have at least as good treble detail, along with the added information of decent imaging and just-outside-of-skull-soundstage, but still they sound way more smooth than I ever expected an IEM to sound. They are indeed very unfatigueing compared to the etys. I think this also has to do with the fact that with the Livewires, I get a sense of imaging, seperation and - in some sense - soundstage. The feeling of piercing treble to me is the feeling that the sounds are physically piercing the ears, something I often experienced with the etys - with the Livewires, the high freq. sounds seem to keep a distance from my eardrums, staying in their place within the soundstage. Ofcourse this is an absurd description, but it is the best I can do to describe the difference, albeit in a rather metaphorical sense.

A word about the bass: Punchy.

As others have experienced, it is a pleasure to deal with Livewires - the correspondence has always been swift, and I got a few positive surprises. One day I was asking if they could make sure I got a gold mini plug. That was no problem - two days later I sent the order form, and reminded them of my request for a gold plug. They replied that Livewires now only came with gold plugs :p Dealing with up and coming companies is fun!

In the first Livewires reviews, there were some legitimate complaints about lacking accessories. In my package, I was surprised to find a watertight ipod container (atleast I think it is, has a rubber o-ring) along with the cleaning tool that has already been mentioned.

About the turnaround, I am reluctant to say this in fear of encouraging abuse, but anyways: 8 days from my impressions arriving at earpeace till I had the things in my hands. And get this: I live in Denmark!! I did tell them that I would love to have them ready for my long plane trip to Colorado on aug.9, but still - 8 days, pretty amazing!

Crappy pics: (blue with clear faceplate)

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Aug 3, 2007 at 10:19 PM Post #3 of 58
I must say I'm really loving these things. Sounds so good out of my imod>move. Zero hiss/hum, although even at low gain I have to be very careful when turning up the volume! (although comfortable listening level is well above where the potentiometer starts to create slight channel imbalance)

I'm definitely bitten by the "listening to all my albums again" bug
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Quote:

Originally Posted by buddha911 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
That was a nice short read. Nice impressions and nice not-so-crappy pics.
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I don't know man, head-fi seems to have turned into professional photography-(oh-and-headphone)-fi. Even after painstaking photoshop work, my pics pale in comparison to others'! Thanks though :p
 
Aug 3, 2007 at 11:48 PM Post #4 of 58
Great mini review and pics Flasken. When you say crappy pics, does that mean that the pics don't reflect thier true beauty? I haven't decided my colors yet, but I have decided to purchase them, got my impressions done today and will ship out tomorrow. So how do your blue (my favorite color!) look to you?
 
Aug 4, 2007 at 5:45 AM Post #5 of 58
John sent me one of those little cases too. Probably cause I had to "deduct cool points" in my review cause they originally didn't come with any sort of case. It was only a few days after I got mine so I think I made the cut.

Thanks again John.

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Aug 4, 2007 at 7:10 AM Post #6 of 58
Quote:

Originally Posted by freeone-j /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Great mini review and pics Flasken. When you say crappy pics, does that mean that the pics don't reflect thier true beauty? I haven't decided my colors yet, but I have decided to purchase them, got my impressions done today and will ship out tomorrow. So how do your blue (my favorite color!) look to you?


Nah, the pics describe the real life color pretty decently. I thank photoshop for that, not my ****** camera (which I had to take apart and then bang dusins of times against the edge of my table until it, to my surprise, started working again!)

Describing the color in words, I really like it. It's a sort of deep blue - from afar it looks only partly transparent, but when I look up close I can clearly see the armatures and the ultra thin wires frozen inside. It's kind of like the color of arctic ocean water from aboe - deep blue but light seems to get absorbed but when you get underwater, you can see very clearly, just with a blue tint to everything.

The clear faceplate is kind of weird, it has a slightly rough surface that seems to reflect light in the same way that ice does - which is also fundamentally clear, but in the same manner ends up appearing white. When I look at them face on, looking directly at the plate without any angular reflections, the coloring of the faceplate disappears and I can clearly see the armature below and the blue colors. I chose this combination mainly because I feared that a blue faceplate would look too solid, I wanted to be able to peek inside while avoiding people peaking inside my dirty ear cannals while they sit in my ears. Like a glass rectal dildo.
 
Aug 4, 2007 at 8:04 AM Post #7 of 58
Quote:

Originally Posted by Flasken /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Nah, the pics describe the real life color pretty decently. I thank photoshop for that, not my ****** camera (which I had to take apart and then bang dusins of times against the edge of my table until it, to my surprise, started working again!)

Describing the color in words, I really like it. It's a sort of deep blue - from afar it looks only partly transparent, but when I look up close I can clearly see the armatures and the ultra thin wires frozen inside. It's kind of like the color of arctic ocean water from aboe - deep blue but light seems to get absorbed but when you get underwater, you can see very clearly, just with a blue tint to everything.

The clear faceplate is kind of weird, it has a slightly rough surface that seems to reflect light in the same way that ice does - which is also fundamentally clear, but in the same manner ends up appearing white. When I look at them face on, looking directly at the plate without any angular reflections, the coloring of the faceplate disappears and I can clearly see the armature below and the blue colors. I chose this combination mainly because I feared that a blue faceplate would look too solid, I wanted to be able to peek inside while avoiding people peaking inside my dirty ear cannals while they sit in my ears. Like a glass rectal dildo.




Well it looks like you knew how to get your camera to work, I need to remember that technique in the future, seems to have worked for ya, (he he
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). Yes it's a toss up for me, either clear or blue, I'm also worried about the clear getting dirty over time. Your blue ones do look dreamy and cool and I'm sure I would be happy with blue also.
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Aug 4, 2007 at 12:41 PM Post #8 of 58
Garr... I didn't get an iPod case with mine, nor a gold mini-plug either!

Having said that, I don't think the iPod case would be much use to me, as I only tend to use it with an amp, and there wouldn't be room for that in the case.

I wouldn't have minded a carry-case for the IEM's though...

All this to be detailed in my BIG livewires review, coming soon...
 
Aug 4, 2007 at 7:09 PM Post #9 of 58
The case isn't really designed for an iPod or the IEM's specifically, it's more of a general use type of thing that you could use for either. It's not exactly a metal foam lined autographed personal UE case but it's good that they ship the IEM's in something now. And you don't have to pay $1000 got get it. Think I'm gonna buy a little pelican case for mine. Like this one.
 
Aug 4, 2007 at 10:38 PM Post #11 of 58
The iso is way better then any universal I've used flanges, foamies or whatever. It's a good 10-15db more. I can't hear a word anybody says to me. I have to take them out. Like I said somewhere earlier I can ride the the highway at 65mph with the windows open and not hear much of any outside noise.
 
Aug 5, 2007 at 7:30 AM Post #12 of 58
Quote:

Originally Posted by Funk-O-Meter /img/forum/go_quote.gif
The iso is way better then any universal I've used flanges, foamies or whatever. It's a good 10-15db more. I can't hear a word anybody says to me. I have to take them out. Like I said somewhere earlier I can ride the the highway at 65mph with the windows open and not hear much of any outside noise.


There also seems to be a much greater attenuation of lower frequencies compared to tri-flange etys or my very much closed beyers. Ofcourse, this is not a "livewire feature" but indeed a feature of all acrylic customs.
 
Aug 15, 2007 at 6:19 PM Post #15 of 58
Ive got bored waiting on my westone 3's to turn up so im goin to buy a pair of these. I'm having trouble finding someone near me (n.ireland) that can take the impressions, is there a website or something i can go to to find who can do this close to me?
 

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