Quote:
| Daouda, SQ is one thing and preference is another |
This is exactly where i wanted to go : it would be nice if reviewers such as clieos and joker, (and dftk on abi), who have given us extensive reviews of many different IEMs, with much details and a professional quality to them, could give a shamelessly subjective rating of the sound signature of the IEMs being reviewed along with the SQ rating they already try to provide as objectively as they humanly can. (damn that was an awkward sentence...disclaimer: im not a native english speaker)
It could prove extremely useful and relevant if one had been able to determine (based on reviews of IEMs that he already owned/used to own), that he shares with the reviewer similar tastes regarding sound signature - or not.
In the end, quoting clieos, sound quality is in the the ears of the beholder anyway : Look at the SQ rating he gave to the FA eterna, above the re0, although he seems to admit at the same time that it's less accurate, detailed, refined etc.... but more ENJOYABLE (to his ears).
I guess i'm trying to build a case for a bi-dimensional SQ rating :
-One grade for 'objective' SQ . Which would consider objective attributes such as details(resolving), clarity, soundstage, accuracy, transparency, higher and lower end extension... Im a total noob and no audiophile so fill in the blanks here. That grade should ideally be agreed by whoever with a fine audition would hear the IEMs' sound.
-Another shamelessly subjective grade, that could be called "fun factor" or "enjoyment factor" or whatever, that would indicate how engaging the reviewer think the earphones are, simply how much he enjoys listening to their sound. Obviously it would take into account ALL the sonic caracteristics that makes for the sound signature of the earphones and how nicely they combine to please his senses according to his tastes : all of the attributes cited above, but also those, far less objective, such as : warmth, brightness/darkness, "bassyness", mid or low-end - forwardness or recessedness, "lushness", Eliott Ness, Loch Ness etc...
The problem is obviously that i can see this grade varying depending not only on the listener but on the type of music (and very probably the mood...)! Well, then why not giving a different grade for different types of music?
Allright you probably think i'm crazy right now but i think this is kind of making sense, no? I've been doing research, reading reviews like a total maniac over and over again trying to help the noob that i am getting an bang-for-buck IEM combo that would fit my tastes and the very wide range of music genres i listen to, and i know that in the end i will have to wait till i extensively try the phones to determine wether or not i share similar tastes with the reviewers i took advice from. This is also why i'm looking for a combo and not an 'ideal' pair of phones :
-1st because i know that no matter the price, no single IEM pair will give me the 'perfect' sound for every genre and every mood (i tend to EQ the hell out of my phones differently depending on the phones and on the music)
-2nd because i hope this will educate me on how to approach verbal descriptions of sounds (i'm not so sure about the signification of most of the jargon used here tbh), help me discover my own sound signature preferences more accurately, how to express them and recognize them when reading an audiophile IEM review.
Allright i think i'm done with the psychotic rambling, i hope nobody is taking offense, those are just a noob's thoughts (even more so than suggestions). Please realize that i'm extremely grateful for the awesome contributions that people such as joker and clieos are giving us, i could personaly never do such a competent but also ,detailed, precise and committed job at reviewing IEMs, but i promise i will give back to the community as soon as i receive my damn phones from china, singapore and the US!
EDIT: damn that was such a long rambling that i posted after you joker and before i could see you had posted before me and kind of replying already! I'll leave it like that anyway...
