The friendly gentleman driving the big brown truck dropped off my SA6 today!
As jonathanjong requested, I'm posting to express my initial (<2 hours) impressions of the SA6. I haven't had a whole lot of time to listen to them yet, but I'll walk you through my journey thus far:
As soon as I opened them I switched from Bass= and Treble= to Bass+ and Treble+. I kept the original bi-flanges on for the time being. First up, I loaded Baroness's Red Album on my Cowon D2. My initial impression was that there was too much bass. I soon realized that I still had the Mach3Bass option on, so I knocked it down to zero. Aaah, much better! The first thing I noticed is that the bass is (expectedly) much more present than in my ER-6i or iM716. It's smooth and strong, but not overpowering. They are much warmer than the Etys. I liked the sound, for sure, but wasn't quite certain that I loved it at this point. Unfortunately, only 5 minutes after assembling them and getting my first listen, I had to head off to class. There are no smileys available that accurately portray my dismay at this point.
So, after 3 hours of being unable to listen to my new Sleeks, I finally got the opportunity to fire 'em up again. This time I was able to try out the Bass-, =, and +, still with Baroness. I also switched to black olives over the bi-flanges, since they're more comfortable and get a better seal. The Bass- wasn't anything impressive. Just kinda blah. The bass was still there, and still stronger than the ER-6i and iM716 (even in bass mode). Not muddy, but just kinda boring. Hard to describe, I suppose. Next, I stuck the Bass= in. Bass was better, but still not quite what I was looking for. Time to switch back to the Bass+. Just as I had suspected, these are my favorite. The bass is rich and full, and very well controlled. I then switched over to my ER-6i, just to get a good back-to-back comparison. WOW, I had no idea what I had been missing with these! The music that I had previously loved listening to through my ER-6i now sounded flat and dull. Enough of that, back to the SA6!
Next up, I listened to a little Nirvana "Nevermind" and Pearl Jam "Ten" with my iBasso D2 added to the mix. Now the SA6
really sound good! The guitars and bass are brought out so much better through the SA6 than through my other IEMs, even while amped. It's really sad to think about what I had been missing out on. I suppose it's not all that bad, though, because I still enjoyed the music with them. I think it's going to be really nice having a diverse mix of IEMs available to enjoy depending on my mood. I still think that the Etys will be better with acoustic music, but that has yet to be tested.
I must say, though, that I didn't really fall in love with the SA6 until I pulled up the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Blood Sugar Sex Magic". The SA6 really wake up on this album. For anybody who is familiar with the first track, "The Power of Equality", it starts out fairly quiet, with most of the low frequencies filtered out. After a few seconds of this, the low frequencies are added back in with a slam of the drums and bass; the kick at this point is unbelievable. You really need to hear it to appreciate it. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor, but promptly dropped it again. I haven't bothered retrieving it a second time. Through the whole album (or at least what I've listened to thus far), the drums just continue to give this awesome, strong, tight punch. Flea's bass absolutely comes alive through the SA6 powerful and smooth...and Frusciante's guitar...ooooooh, so crisp.
I'm really at a loss for words at this point; I feel that anything else I say is basically going to be redundant and repetitive.
In closing, if I only had two words to describe how I feel about the Sleek SA6, it would be these: GET THEM!
