[ClieOS]

I will probably receive e-Q5 tomorrow if no delay. At worst, I should receive it by Friday (then again, I don't place much faith in the regional Fedex). Will give  it a review as fast as I can.

 

[mrkesu]

 
Quote:

I will probably receive e-Q5 tomorrow if no delay. At worst, I should receive it by Friday (then again, I don't place much faith in the regional Fedex). Will give  it a review as fast as I can.

Very much waiting for it...

 

[Dekimasu]

Unfortunately, no, I haven't been able to listen to them yet.
 
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I have seen paint coming off of red e-Q7s in a couple of cases now.

@ Dekimasu: Did you try the e-Q5 yet or you can not go audition it at the shop in Japan?

 

[Redmetal1897]

Ah ok! Eitherway, the e-q7's have been my number 1, the description of the sound really appeals to me it seems to have the right mix of body with detail and transparency and I'm hoping the e-q5 will be very similar. Have to wait till after the weekend! The wait is killing me!!!!!
Quote:

Daanish, e-Q7 and HJE900 sound quite different actually but both being different. There are some similarities but they are more different than similar
 
 
@james, just wait. It shouldn't take long for single dynamic customs to appear since there are multi driver ba/dynamic customs out already.

 

[ValSic]

I'm about to get my EQ-5's next week as Dimitri just mailed them two days ago.
I was leaning to get the A1's until Dimitri introduced me to the eQ-5's describing them having a better overall quality. With that said , how BETTER are the eQ5's than the A1's? (I've read all the pages in this thread but I'm still curious on how they're more superior than the A1's in detail).

 

[Redmetal1897]

Me too!! The wait is killing me! ClieOS we eagerly await your review and further impressions from james 

Quote:

I'm about to get my EQ-5's next week as Dimitri just mailed them two days ago.
I was leaning to get the A1's until Dimitri introduced me to the eQ-5's describing them having a better overall quality. With that said , how BETTER are the eQ5's than the A1's? (I've read all the pages in this thread but I'm still curious on how they're more superior than the A1's in detail).

 

[james444]

 
Quote:

I'm about to get my EQ-5's next week as Dimitri just mailed them two days ago.
I was leaning to get the A1's until Dimitri introduced me to the eQ-5's describing them having a better overall quality. With that said , how BETTER are the eQ5's than the A1's? (I've read all the pages in this thread but I'm still curious on how they're more superior than the A1's in detail).

The  most striking difference between the A1 and e-Q5 is the far better cable on the Ortofons. The FAD's cable feels cheap and gets annoyingly stiff in cold weather. Isolation is also better on the e-Q5, the A1 is ported and has a thinner aluminium housing. Soundwise both are pretty close, the A1 maybe a tad lighter in bass and slightly more forward in treble.
 
Overall I concur with Dimitri that the e-Q5 have better build quality and would only recommend the A1 for smaller ears, in case the Ortofons might be too difficult to fit.

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

Me too!! The wait is killing me! ClieOS we eagerly await your review and further impressions from james 

Quote:

I'm about to get my EQ-5's next week as Dimitri just mailed them two days ago.
I was leaning to get the A1's until Dimitri introduced me to the eQ-5's describing them having a better overall quality. With that said , how BETTER are the eQ5's than the A1's? (I've read all the pages in this thread but I'm still curious on how they're more superior than the A1's in detail).

Just received the e-Q5 a few hours ago, delayed as usual from the local Fedex
 
Anyhow, My first impression is like this: "wow, this sounds almost like e-Q7". Then I did a quick A/B between e-Q5 and e-Q7 - it is still clear that e-Q7 sounds just a bit better with a slightly wider soundstage and higher transparency. e-Q5 has a slightly more focusing sound (or more precisely, e-Q5 doesn't sound quite as wide and spacious as e-Q7). The truth is, both IEM shares a very large portion of the same sound signature and it is hard to tell them apart unless you are A/B them side by side. In that sense I think it is definitely a good beginning for the e-Q5 as it is supposed to be a cheaper model. This is just the initial impression as I am going to burn it in for a few days first before listening to it seriously. The review will probably take about 2 weeks as I have 2 other review need to be done before e-Q5. Hopefully I'll be able to finish them up sooner.

 

[Caesar56]

I don't know if this could be a sound characteristic but i think 7's sound is still 7's sound. 5's is less magnificent but is more than 80% of 7's sound. What has me concerned is the pricing since at my local retailer 5's are ￥20000 vs 7's ￥24000 (Plus discount if your smart) now thats a big failure in pricing becozz for ONLY ￥4000 i would go 7's all the way from here to china.
 
Biggest difference is in the middles. 5's sound thinner and higher. If i had to make a comparison i would say that 7's are like a fat Mezzo-soprano while 5's are like a soprano. One thing that made me laugh is that both are equally slightly rolled off you already know where.
 
As already said, the only way to notice this is doing A/B comparisons. Im liking 5's sound but definetly stick with 7's body and character.
For ￥22000 you can go fisher DBA-02 wich would be superb too.
 
Everyone has a different amount of wax in ears thou...

 

[Caesar56]

 
Quote:

I'm about to get my EQ-5's next week as Dimitri just mailed them two days ago.
I was leaning to get the A1's until Dimitri introduced me to the eQ-5's describing them having a better overall quality. With that said , how BETTER are the eQ5's than the A1's? (I've read all the pages in this thread but I'm still curious on how they're more superior than the A1's in detail).

Depending on what you throw at them A1 could hiss... A LOT, like instead of listening to splashes you where listening to PSSS PSSS PSSS, really annoying. 5's on the other side would never do this.
Seriously, when i put some Therion on A1s is like a hissing carnival.
I dont like hissing, not even a little bit, no matter the -phone.

 

[Dekimasu]

Hmm... sounding like e-Q7 is still the winner then. Difference in sound, plus the case, and barely a difference in price (not difficult to get the e-Q7 for 22500).

 

[james444]

 
Quote:

Anyhow, My first impression is like this: "wow, this sounds almost like e-Q7". Then I did a quick A/B between e-Q5 and e-Q7 - it is still clear that e-Q7 sounds just a bit better with a slightly wider soundstage and higher transparency. e-Q5 has a slightly more focusing sound (or more precisely, e-Q5 doesn't sound quite as wide and spacious as e-Q7). The truth is, both IEM shares a very large portion of the same sound signature and it is hard to tell them apart unless you are A/B them side by side.

To my ears the e-Q5's soundstage is slightly smaller when wearing them downwards, while over-ear it's comparable to the e-Q7. I believe that's due to different insertion angles.
 
Quote:

I don't know if this could be a sound characteristic but i think 7's sound is still 7's sound. 5's is less magnificent but is more than 80% of 7's sound. What has me concerned is the pricing since at my local retailer 5's are ￥20000 vs 7's ￥24000 (Plus discount if your smart) now thats a big failure in pricing becozz for ONLY ￥4000 i would go 7's all the way from here to china.
 
Biggest difference is in the middles. 5's sound thinner and higher. If i had to make a comparison i would say that 7's are like a fat Mezzo-soprano while 5's are like a soprano. One thing that made me laugh is that both are equally slightly rolled off you already know where.
 
As already said, the only way to notice this is doing A/B comparisons. Im liking 5's sound but definetly stick with 7's body and character.
For ￥22000 you can go fisher DBA-02 wich would be superb too.
 
Everyone has a different amount of wax in ears thou...

 
I concur, the e-Q5 are slightly less mid-centric than the e-Q7 with a bit more presence of treble. Still, the basic sound signature is very similar, e.g. switching to alternate tips can easily make a bigger difference.

 

[james444]

Quote:

Depending on what you throw at them A1 could hiss... A LOT, like instead of listening to splashes you where listening to PSSS PSSS PSSS, really annoying. 5's on the other side would never do this.
Seriously, when i put some Therion on A1s is like a hissing carnival.
I dont like hissing, not even a little bit, no matter the -phone.

I think you mean sibilance (exaggerating "SSSSS") rather than hiss. To my ears the A1 are the least sibilant of the FI-BA-xx models, of course they have still a bit more treble than the e-Q5. But I recommend checking your seal, a less than perfect seal can often contribute to sibilance. Final Audio's stock tips are very thin (too thin IMO), so you might try different tips or piggyback tips as shown in this picture.

 

[james444]

 
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Hmm... sounding like e-Q7 is still the winner then. Difference in sound, plus the case, and barely a difference in price (not difficult to get the e-Q7 for 22500).

Not in my book. I like the e-Q5's sligthly less mid-centric sound signature, prefer their more flexible cable and think they are very convenient to just stick in and wear downwards when I'm not on the move. And I don't use the e-Q7's case much anyway, as I prefer smaller IEM cases.

 

[ClieOS]

 
Quote:

Hmm... sounding like e-Q7 is still the winner then. Difference in sound, plus the case, and barely a difference in price (not difficult to get the e-Q7 for 22500).

Well, if you consider that the e-Q5 is currently in short supply (for what I know, even Ortofon doesn't have enough stock for most of its retailers atm), then it is understandable why the price tag seems high compare to e-Q7, which already in the market for over a year now. Once the supply is stabilized, the street price of e-Q5 will probably drop to a lower level. That's just how the market works.