[tawmizzzz]

I compared Traillii. Of course, not from the limited Mason FS, but from the more civilian Fusang. For accuracy - on the same cable and the same tips. And sources, of course.

Mason is inferior in naturalness. They look like images with added contrast, less dynamic range. As well as excessive mass.
Sometimes it sounds not that slow, but. First, the sound lacks integrity.
And I don't mean the macro component. Namely the tuning. That is, the bass is somewhat separate from the rest of the sound. The general tuning is detailed and technical, maybe even a little dry. On the other hand, the bass is more massive and has a little fat and warmth against the rest. Effect? Yes of course. Realistic?
Well, I'm not sure. In my opinion, not very much.

That's also how I heard the Mason FS with my brief time with it. The dryness & lack of upper-mids contrasted by the 6k peak/tuning just was not engaging versus the much warmer Traillii. Bass was also less realistic. The mass you describe was definitely my favorite part of it, where you get a real solid note/vocal/instrument rounded heft due to the BCD without occupying a lot of space on the stage due to a "hollow" interior.

That being said, FS is a lot more source-dependent than the bird is, and it seems the Red Halo is a slight improvement which I haven't heard so cannot comment there. Outside of the bass and lower-mids (mainly because of the BAs), Traillii still is king of naturalness/timbre to my ears in the mids and treble. It just doesn't get much ear time anymore due to my desktop rabbit hole .

 

[RTodd]

At this point the Traillii feels like a known quantity, something I can count on to not let me down. Still using the P6 Pro with her.

Mason FS has not gotten ear time in a couple months and I think your on to something, it always takes me a couple hours of patience until the FS sound starts to sound great again brain burn in I guess. My other favorite set besides the Traillii and FS the XE6 no burn in required, instant high energy detail and fun every time. One thing for sure is I do not need another set that sounds like these three even if a little better in someway, at least not now.

Just got a new car and the sound is insane in it, I think I will be looking for excuses to drive besides whatever commutes I have to make.
Maybe that is another rabbit hole, nothing to tweak, it is what it is.

 

[gianni60]

I love Red Halo fe,and i like little more than Jewel with his stock cable,for his natural sound and organic mid bass,
will see next days when will arrive Traillii the difference,also will try Jewel with First Time

 

[ljnew]

Actually on the point of where Traillii sits for me - its all about music to relax to, of which I listen to a lot: ambient, modern classical, chilled jazz, downtempo to name a few. I can't imagine a better IEM to get lost in these genres. I can however understand for more upbeat / lively genres that Traillii wouldn't be the top choice.

Ironically, Lx actually does those genres well too IMHO.

 

[ljnew]

True, but that's BGGAR. He doesn't dig deep into the essence of an IEM. All he cares about is how it plays his very limited hip hop and classic rock library.

And that works great for people like me because a large majority of my playlist is hip hop, rnb, reggae, jazz and some pop etc..

With his pin point focus, he helps people like me keep from making blind purchases that will cause the dreaded buyer's remorse.

After reading a frequency response, I do a weighted average of crinnacle's and beggar rankings to determine the risk of blind purchasing an totl iems.

Of course I don't always agree with them. But this strategy works for me. Of course listening to a demo trumps all of this.

 

[RTodd]

Do you prefer traili

For what it does yes, if I want fun XE6, and for strings FS. Even Thummim the most narrow of use cases has its niche for me that it does better than Traillii that being acoustic double bass in a jazz trio setting when given ample power. FS for wind instruments and strings tops Traillii for me. All four of these have enough detail for me.

Still Traillii overall wins and does excellently on everything, the others give that worthwhile difference for certain music making them less of an all rounder for me.

XE6 can play any genre but you cannot turn down the energy level so that is foremost in the experience for me.

Hard question to answer, and no reason for me to make the choice of having only one, so no need to dwell on it. Now that I have had ample time with all four I think I have a good handle on when to use each one.

Edit; do you think I used “for me” enough, no way I want anyone to think I am some kind of expert. Best to decide for yourself and besides these four that resonated with me there are lots of worthy sets. Daunting to decide from reviews without hearing, I think there are two things at play people want something new and they want the best they can get that will add enjoyment to their playback. At what point do we settle and move on, for the moment that seems to be where I am at. I thought I was there already till I heard the XE6 and then I had to have one.

 

[ljnew]

For what it does yes, if I want fun XE6, and for strings FS. Even Thummim the most narrow of use cases has its niche for me that it does better than Traillii that being acoustic double bass in a jazz trio setting when given ample power. FS for wind instruments and strings tops Traillii for me. All four of these have enough detail for me.

Still Traillii overall wins and does excellently on everything, the others give that worthwhile difference for certain music making them less of an all rounder for me.

XE6 can play any genre but you cannot turn down the energy level so that is foremost in the experience for me.

Hard question to answer, and no reason for me to make the choice of having only one, so no need to dwell on it. Now that I have had ample time with all four I think I have a good handle on when to use each one.

Beggar has xe6 tied with lx as the top iems for bassheads. I love lx and the anticipation of xe6 is killing me.

I know Trailli is great for jazz and I'm going to end up folding and blind buying the xe6. Just coming up with different ideas to minimize my risks if it's not everything I've dreamed of.

 

[RTodd]

Beggar has xe6 tied with lx as the top iems for bassheads. I love lx and the anticipation of xe6 is killing me.

I know Trailli is great for jazz and I'm going to end up folding and blind buying the xe6. Just coming up with different ideas to minimize my risks if it's not everything I've dreamed of.

Well I am rare in that the LX did not resonate with me and I tried on three occasions. So you could take that as a sign that if you love the LX maybe you will not love the XE6, could be evidence of a difference between us and what we like to listen to. Not sure I would classify the XE6 as bass-head, that is selling it short.
Any chance you could demo first?

 

[tawmizzzz]

Well I am rare in that the LX did not resonate with me and I tried on three occasions. So you could take that as a sign that if you love the LX maybe you will not love the XE6, could be evidence of a difference between us and what we like to listen to. Not sure I would classify the XE6 as bass-head, that is selling it short.
Any chance you could demo first?

+1. While there is a bass-boost on XE6, especially depending on which module is being used, I wouldn't call it a true basshead IEM compared to let's say the LX or even EVO. XE6's bass is unique in that it mimics over-ear open-back headphone's bass, which comes across as well separated, textured, and spacious. It's airy bass. That being said, at least on the UIEM, there is a midbass emphasis over subbass and I did feel the unit needed more subbass to really have the bass knock my teeth out like the Empire Ear IEMs would.

 

[ljnew]

+1. While there is a bass-boost on XE6, especially depending on which module is being used, I wouldn't call it a true basshead IEM compared to let's say the LX or even EVO. XE6's bass is unique in that it mimics over-ear open-back headphone's bass, which comes across as well separated, textured, and spacious. It's airy bass. That being said, at least on the UIEM, there is a midbass emphasis over subbass and I did feel the unit needed more subbass to really have the bass knock my teeth out like the Empire Ear IEMs would.

Yeah the lx bass is violent. Feels like it was going to rip my ears off my head .

Here's a vid on evo shaking the desk and it doesn't hit hard as Lx.

 

[Frankie D]

Beggar has xe6 tied with lx as the top iems for bassheads. I love lx and the anticipation of xe6 is killing me.

I know Trailli is great for jazz and I'm going to end up folding and blind buying the xe6. Just coming up with different ideas to minimize my risks if it's not everything I've dreamed of.

I certainly would suggest not going by Beggar, though it sounds like he might be correct in this instance. Good luck.

 

[Amadeo Nospherathu]

That's also how I heard the Mason FS with my brief time with it. The dryness & lack of upper-mids contrasted by the 6k peak/tuning just was not engaging versus the much warmer Traillii. Bass was also less realistic. The mass you describe was definitely my favorite part of it, where you get a real solid note/vocal/instrument rounded heft due to the BCD without occupying a lot of space on the stage due to a "hollow" interior.

That being said, FS is a lot more source-dependent than the bird is, and it seems the Red Halo is a slight improvement which I haven't heard so cannot comment there. Outside of the bass and lower-mids (mainly because of the BAs), Traillii still is king of naturalness/timbre to my ears in the mids and treble. It just doesn't get much ear time anymore due to my desktop rabbit hole .

I will say an even scarier thing, but I also compared the Mason Fusang to my Mason 3, and that's a very small difference.
(Note - yes, I understand that with the increase in price, the increase in quality decreases. But, in my opinion, the increase in quality is too small at this price. My conclusion - an upgrade from 3 to Fusang is still not justified.)

Yes, Fusang have more massive and bolder bass, but 3 compared to them give a little more energy in the presence zone (the same 6-7 kHz). As for the rest - a more coherent sound. In terms of coherence and overall tuning. Detailed, but it is equally detailed at high and low frequencies. And the difference is much greater in taste than in quality.

Traillii - of course, a step up on all fronts. Although sometimes I would like a little drier sound.
But, as I said, this is the case when the quality level justifies a somewhat imperfect hit in the taste characteristics. In addition, there are options for exposure - cable, tips and, finally, the source.
And the selection of the latter is essentially reduced to taste.

I recently got a vintage (already vintage, it's over 5 years old, haha) Onkyo X1a - and I have to admit that the combo with Traillii is very interesting. Quite detailed and dry sound of the first is complemented by the naturalness and some warmness of the IEMs.

 

[xenithon]

Just saw this on Instagram. Anyone know anything about the Oriolus Szalayi?

 

[Deferenz]

Just saw this on Instagram. Anyone know anything about the Oriolus Szalayi?

I found something on another thread that appears to be related to this.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/tokyo-headphone-festival-2022-mini-report-april-29.963200/

It says in the article - “Oriolus reference exhibit Szalayi , developed in collaboration with Jaben. 150,000 approx. BAx1, Planex1, Dynamicx1. I felt deep, musical and rich sounding.” And here is the picture:-

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

I found something on another thread that appears to be related to this.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/tokyo-headphone-festival-2022-mini-report-april-29.963200/

It says in the article - “Oriolus reference exhibit Szalayi , developed in collaboration with Jaben. 150,000 approx. BAx1, Planex1, Dynamicx1. I felt deep, musical and rich sounding.” And here is the picture:-

Looks like a Jewel.