Classical is a huge genre. Which type of classical music do you listen to? Bach’s partitas and sonata, chamber music, or large orchestra?
IMHO, IEMs for classical should have large soundstage and strong detail retrieval to get the most out of these great recordings. You should also look for something that pulls the upper midrange back a touch to avoid shoutiness.
My personal “safe” recommendation at this point is Orchestra Lite. Oddly enough, I also like to listen to large orchestral music and soundtracks with a gigabass IEM called 7Hz legato.
Some IEMs that I personally don’t like for classical:
- S12: metallic timbre of planar drivers + flat soundstage
- Blessing 2: flat soundstage. Other might strongly disagree but I find the sense of 3D staging of this IEM is lacking, making chamber music not fun.
If you can wait for a couple weeks, I can get back to you about the Dunu SA6 MkII. I have a hunch that it is going to be a killer IEM for classical recordings.
Thanks for the answer!!
So first of all let me introduce you to my taste of classical music. I have mentioned a few pieces above, when reacting to another commentor in this thread. But maybe making it more broader would help as well so here you are:
I mainly listen to romanticism and modern classical music, still more romanticism than modern. When it comes to romanticism I like composers from the whole era, meaning early ones like Schubert and late ones like Mahler.
Here is a list: Schubert, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Rachmaninoff, Dvorak and a bit of Debussy
For modern I like Stravinsky, Ravel, Schostakovich, Bartok etc.
Overall I listen to both chamber and orchestral music, I espcecially love Mahlers works. I would want an IEM with a very wide soundstage for that reason.
Being an IOS user(I know, unfortunate, but Im not willing to spend money on a new phone atm) makes EQ difficult, I would want an IEM which has good tuning from the getgo.
I agree with your evaluation of the Blessing, I tried the Blessing 2s and felt the exact same problems you mentioned, which is why Im feeling rather averse looking at the coming blessing 3s.
How much are the Dunus going to be? As said in my post I would like to stay around 500 euros.
What do you think about the IE600? I saw a classified listing which looks very attractive there... I heard that they have very nice timbre, a great soundstage as well as lesser shouty mids.
Also the variations fit what you have described by the reviews I have read here. There were a few listing for around 400 Euros which would be GREAT. Maybe some will be listed again as the blessings come? In any case I would be interested in what you have to say to those 2. How is the soundstage looking at the Dunu Mk2?
Thanks for the help in any case!
Cheers