[ubs28]

Sometimes, there is a song with important parts occupying a frequency range that is missing due to the multi driver setup. Anyone noticed this?

 

[StanD]

  Sometimes, there is a song with important parts occupying a frequency range that is missing due to the multi driver setup. Anyone noticed this?

Which ones do you have that you are peeved at?

 

[ubs28]

I have the Shure SE535. It happened to only 2 songs, so it's an extremely rare occurrence luckily. 

 

[Spyro]

  Sometimes, there is a song with important parts occupying a frequency range that is missing due to the multi driver setup. Anyone noticed this?

No, actually I find the reverse.  On busy complex passages of music, single drivers (BA for sure) have a lot of difficulty keeping up with everything in a fully efficient way.  That's the whole point of having multi-drivers.
 
Dynamics don't have this specific problem.

 

[Zalithian]

I agree with Spyro on this one, although multiple drivers could potentially have other problems.

 

[Jnjy]

I agree with Spyro on this one, although multiple drivers could potentially have other problems.

Phase and crossover problems?

 

[Zalithian]

Phase and crossover problems?

Yep.

 

[ProjectDenz]

The ER4 beats many multi-drivered items I have owned easily.

 

[lin0003]

I too, find multi driver IEMs better than single driver ones. The best IEM that I have heard are all multi driver ones, but there can be crossover problems with multi driver IEMs. 

 

[shakur1996]

I too, find multi driver IEMs better than single driver ones. The best IEM that I have heard are all multi driver ones, but there can be crossover problems with multi driver IEMs. 

Can you please elaborate more on the crossover problems? What type of the problem the crossover problem is?

 

[higbvuyb]

  No, actually I find the reverse.  On busy complex passages of music, single drivers (BA for sure) have a lot of difficulty keeping up with everything in a fully efficient way.  That's the whole point of having multi-drivers.
 
Dynamics don't have this specific problem.

Drivers are very different to musicians; single drivers are far better at reproducing complex music than they are at reproducing simple things like pure sine tones.
The BA has no problem with complex music, it plays it just like it plays simple music. When I can't hear a busy passage of music clearly, it's my brain failing to keep up with the instruments because the sound is missing information.
 
The reason why multiple BAs are used is because BAs are naturally nonlinear and have narrow frequency response (the ER4 series would beg to differ, of course).
 
These days two BAs are enough to reproduce the entire spectrum, though. Maybe a few more for tuning, but much more than that and you're heading into "why" territory.

 

[lin0003]

Can you please elaborate more on the crossover problems? What type of the problem the crossover problem is?

Sometimes the mids can be very unnatural but most of the IEMs that I have tried don't have major problems.

 

[higbvuyb]

Can you please elaborate more on the crossover problems? What type of the problem the crossover problem is?

When you have a low driver and a high driver, they don't meet evenly in the middle. They have different electrical and timing (i.e. phase) characteristics. A crossover circuit is used to make sure they meet nicely. If the crossover is not properly designed, you can get a gap or peak in the frequency response where they cancel out or add together.
Adding more driver ranges makes designing a crossover much more difficult.

 

[Takeanidea]

The best iem I've got is the westone wr4. The 2nd best is the er4s. The er4s is great but it does not have the sheer bass weight of the wr4. I suspect that is because the wr4 has a separate bass driver. The crossover discussion is one I've heard before.
Crossovers are an accepted part of speaker technology it's not like they've just been invented. They're a proven technology which works well in the vast majority of speakers and that's what the essence of an iem is anyway.
Some single driver iems are great some multi driver iems are great. They're all there to enjoy

 

[Rollk2]

There are so many different mono and multi drivers IEM so it's IMO difficult to generalise. But clearly it's possible to hear problems such as phase problems due to crossover or peak and hole on freq responses. Some people hear problems, other hear tuning, it depends from taste and manufacturer choices.

I'm a big fan of ER4p because what this IEM does no other can does. So accurate, so speed. But so not natural, extended, no soundstage... That's the problem of mono BA.

The multi BA offer soundstage, deepness due to the tuning of phase that a mono BA can't offer.