RikudouGoku
Member of the Trade: RikuBuds
yeah, the technicalities on the Oxygen is insane. Judging by the graph on the NM2+, I assume a big reason for its technicalities are because of the inherent benefits of its tuning.
Precog's IEM Reviews & Impressions
- Thread starter Precogvision
- Start date
You should try the Tanchjim Oxygen if you can.
Yeah, the Oxygen's on my list - I've only heard good things about it! Like the NM2+, though, it's an upper-midrange oriented tuning. As much as I enjoy listening to my J-pop and K-pop tracks, I've noticed that my preferences aren't really all that upper-midrange centric when it comes to the tuning itself. The Odin made that really clear to me haha. I think my ideal, target curve right now would actually have a dip in that region; I've noticed that it aids a good deal (tuning trick or not) in diffusing the center image. I'll do my best to keep an eye out for them, though.
To be honest, the Luna and A8000 were a bit disappointing - although I know there are people who like them a good deal - to me. Very technical, particularly the Luna, but I believe there were constraints that both companies were forced to work with when they tuned the beryllium drivers; this manifested itself with a number of tonal quirks to both IEMs. I don't think they're under any illusion that their IEMs are flaw-free, either, just from my conversations with Tom (Dunu) and with Resolve regarding the A8000. The great part is that both companies are very receptive of feedback, and they do sink a lot in R&D, so I have high hopes for what they make in the future.
RikudouGoku
Member of the Trade: RikuBuds
A dip in that region huh?
How about the LZ A7 then? (Its going to be max 285 usd on 11/11 and with coupons you should be able to get it lower.)
Sony MH755
https://www.headphones.com/blogs/news/sony-mh755-review-budget-iem-endgame
Possibly one of, if not the, best value propositions in IEMs hands-down. It blows my mind that something this good exists, and I think it's an IEM that every self-respecting value nut should have in their collection. Definitely shill worthy, haha.
Score: 5/10
https://www.headphones.com/blogs/news/sony-mh755-review-budget-iem-endgame
Possibly one of, if not the, best value propositions in IEMs hands-down. It blows my mind that something this good exists, and I think it's an IEM that every self-respecting value nut should have in their collection. Definitely shill worthy, haha.
Score: 5/10
Sony MH755
https://www.headphones.com/blogs/news/sony-mh755-review-budget-iem-endgame
Possibly one of, if not the, best value propositions in IEMs hands-down. It blows my mind that something this good exists, and I think it's an IEM that every self-respecting value nut should have in their collection. Definitely shill worthy, haha.
Score: 5/10
Yes it has my vote for best sub $10 USD IEM. Nice harmanish tonality with good timbre.
Problem is there are a lot of fakes out there, I think most of the real ones have been sold off. And the very short microphonic J shaped fixed cable is quite irritating, most of us need to do MMCX mod/recabling or use an extension. Though those are small issues in the big scheme of things, considering the price.
Fearless Audio S8Z & Tequila Impressions
Demo units for these came in today! As it happens, one of my first "good" IEMs was the Fearless S8 Pro, and it remains an IEM that I have a good deal respect for, even if the tonality wasn't my cup of tea. Consider me excited to see what Fearless Audio's latest stuff has to bring to the table. As always, full disclaimer that these are just brief impressions.
Fearless Audio is somewhat notorious for having two lineups: One that follows their consistent, house-sound and another that's more, shall we say, experimental. Suffice it to say that the Tequila falls into the latter. Bass is textureless, anemic, and what you get if you take the Fearless S8 series' mid-bass hump out of the equation. The ear compensation doesn't seem to peak properly either, leaving midrange notes to delve into "haze-fi". And the treble, oh dear. Now, I haven't heard the infamous Fearless Roland (which rolls off even quicker apparently), but the Tequila certainly lets me fantasize. I don't need a graph to tell you that this thing has next-to-zero treble. It sounds like it starts rolling off in the mid-treble, with cymbal crashes sounding fuzzy and undefined. And it's not like it's laidback, either. It's almost all lower treble, which I think most would agree ends up being offensive itself. Finally, if the Tequila is any sort of technical, my ability to discern so is neutered by the god-awful tonality. Being a guinea-pig...yeah, not fun. I'll pass.
Score (Tequila): 2/10
Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about the S8Z which basically follows a slightly more neutral version of the Fearless house, V-shaped signature. Bass is mostly mid-bass emphasized not unlike the S8P, and it sounds about the same to my ears intangibly minus a little less slam. The upper-midrange is where things get interesting, and it's also where I can't tell whether I'm hearing an improvement or not. See, the thing about the S8P is that it had a strong upper-midrange presence that the S8Z tames some. On one hand, the grain that the S8P exhibited unabashedly doesn't seem to be nearly as present; on the other hand, the S8Z's sheer resolution doesn't seem to pop as much.
Oh right, and technicalities. They're not as good as I remember them being unfortunately. The S8Z suffers from considerable dynamic compression like your run-of-the-mill BA IEM, and likewise, staging is just as flat and closed-in as I remember it being. I suppose it's also probably a similar level of resolving as the S8P was, minus the perceived, slight loss of sheer resolution. That's not necessarily a bad thing, considering the S8P was fairly resolving in its own right. Perhaps ironic would be more apt, as the S8Z seems even more lower-to-mid treble oriented than it's brother. Speaking of which, this is not the IEM to buy if you're treble sensitive.
At the end of the day, this is mostly just me being overly critical, and it stands that the S8Z is a decent IEM. It looks like the price has also gone up to $600, though, which is a shame given I don't think it really merits the extra $100 over the already good S8P.
Score (S8Z): 5/10
Demo units for these came in today! As it happens, one of my first "good" IEMs was the Fearless S8 Pro, and it remains an IEM that I have a good deal respect for, even if the tonality wasn't my cup of tea. Consider me excited to see what Fearless Audio's latest stuff has to bring to the table. As always, full disclaimer that these are just brief impressions.
Fearless Audio is somewhat notorious for having two lineups: One that follows their consistent, house-sound and another that's more, shall we say, experimental. Suffice it to say that the Tequila falls into the latter. Bass is textureless, anemic, and what you get if you take the Fearless S8 series' mid-bass hump out of the equation. The ear compensation doesn't seem to peak properly either, leaving midrange notes to delve into "haze-fi". And the treble, oh dear. Now, I haven't heard the infamous Fearless Roland (which rolls off even quicker apparently), but the Tequila certainly lets me fantasize. I don't need a graph to tell you that this thing has next-to-zero treble. It sounds like it starts rolling off in the mid-treble, with cymbal crashes sounding fuzzy and undefined. And it's not like it's laidback, either. It's almost all lower treble, which I think most would agree ends up being offensive itself. Finally, if the Tequila is any sort of technical, my ability to discern so is neutered by the god-awful tonality. Being a guinea-pig...yeah, not fun. I'll pass.
Score (Tequila): 2/10
Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about the S8Z which basically follows a slightly more neutral version of the Fearless house, V-shaped signature. Bass is mostly mid-bass emphasized not unlike the S8P, and it sounds about the same to my ears intangibly minus a little less slam. The upper-midrange is where things get interesting, and it's also where I can't tell whether I'm hearing an improvement or not. See, the thing about the S8P is that it had a strong upper-midrange presence that the S8Z tames some. On one hand, the grain that the S8P exhibited unabashedly doesn't seem to be nearly as present; on the other hand, the S8Z's sheer resolution doesn't seem to pop as much.
Oh right, and technicalities. They're not as good as I remember them being unfortunately. The S8Z suffers from considerable dynamic compression like your run-of-the-mill BA IEM, and likewise, staging is just as flat and closed-in as I remember it being. I suppose it's also probably a similar level of resolving as the S8P was, minus the perceived, slight loss of sheer resolution. That's not necessarily a bad thing, considering the S8P was fairly resolving in its own right. Perhaps ironic would be more apt, as the S8Z seems even more lower-to-mid treble oriented than it's brother. Speaking of which, this is not the IEM to buy if you're treble sensitive.
At the end of the day, this is mostly just me being overly critical, and it stands that the S8Z is a decent IEM. It looks like the price has also gone up to $600, though, which is a shame given I don't think it really merits the extra $100 over the already good S8P.
Score (S8Z): 5/10
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IEMusic
Headphoneus Supremus
Just curious, have you ever listened to the S8F? I can purchase the S8F or P for 50% off, and I think I’m gonna get the S8F, but I‘m not completely certain.
Sorry man, I haven't heard it. I think Tork had some impressions in his thread a while back. I'm guessing you're talking about the Linsoul 11.11 sale right? I got 0 for my order number, truly "pre-cucked" as some might say haha
buonassi
Headphoneus Supremus
S8f was extremely resolving and well balanced. Two dealbreakers for me:
1. Mid and low treble 4 to 5 db too hot for my pref and sibilance was the result in my left ear. This is a thing with me though as my left ear has a nasty resonance compared to my right ear.
2. Sensitivity was so high it hissed on everything except plenue 2. Even my v30 caused hiss when playing digital silence (true hiss test to ensure amp isnt muted)
1. Mid and low treble 4 to 5 db too hot for my pref and sibilance was the result in my left ear. This is a thing with me though as my left ear has a nasty resonance compared to my right ear.
2. Sensitivity was so high it hissed on everything except plenue 2. Even my v30 caused hiss when playing digital silence (true hiss test to ensure amp isnt muted)
I've had this idea for a while now, and some recent talk in one of the threads spurred me to wrap-it up. I also haven't dropped a "philosophy" post in a while (if you can even call these that), so now is as good a time as any.
On Value, Finding Satisfaction, and When Too Much is Too Much
Value proposition is a pretty interesting concept, and it’s one that I’d like to explore further as I think it has implications that go much further than just personal audio. So in this little post, I’ll be covering when I think too much is too much, and how I think one can find personal satisfaction without blowing their life savings on this hobby. As always, this is just my take. Everything is relative - my definition of contentment is not your contentment, my expensive is not your expensive, and so on. We all have different ways of interpreting this stuff, but I think it’s a fun thought exercise, as it also lays bare some inherent biases that might be present when I (or others) review.
That out of the way, let’s talk about personal satisfaction first. After I bought my first couple of budget IEMs, and knew for certain that this was a hobby I wanted to get invested in, I did some research, demoed, and bought my first TOTL IEM. While that seems like a huge leap, the keyword here is investment. Treating your purchases as investments, or just getting into that mindset, is one of the best ways (at least in my opinion) of maximizing your non-tangible “return”. You can even think of it as amortizing the cost; the longer you hold onto and use said purchase, the lower your cost of ownership sinks.
Of course, this is all framing at the end of the day, which ties me into the other reason I did it: I knew it would actually save me money in the long-run. As someone who’s experienced a similar, never-ending budget chase and the series of marginal upgrades that defines “mid-fi” in another hobby, experience told me that I wouldn’t be content with it. Now, this is not to say that “mid-fi” is a bad place to be at all. Any point of the price spectrum, from low-fi to hi-fi, is ideal for you if it’s what makes you happy. And admittedly, it definitely hasn’t worked out perfectly for me. When you make a jump that big, everything you hear after ends up seeming lackluster by comparison; you can read my reviews to see how that’s been reflected. But for the most part, it has worked. Although I’m always curious about hearing something new, the urge to make any sort of big purchase has been nulled.
...which leads us into confirmation bias. I have an incentive to dislike everything new I hear, because it means that my old gear is still sufficient. Do I personally think my reviews, opinions are influenced to this extent? Of course not. But in the interest of transparency, I think it’s only something fair to consider. And maybe that’s the Devil’s Advocate to the shilling I hate seeing so much, who knows? Along the lines of confirmation bias and transparency, I think I should disclose my personal “price floor” or the most I think an IEM is reasonably worth. With the steady influx of IEMs comfortably hitting $2000, $3000, $4000+, my personal price floor still sits at a measly ~$1500. I say “measly,” but dang, that’s still a crap ton of money to me! Most of the best stuff sits at around that price point in my opinion. Everything after that, well, I’m just not seeing it - or rather, I don’t hear it, either. Some people do, though, and that’s fine. Again - just my take.
Likewise, the secondary market deserves a mention. Something I've noticed in audio is just how little value this stuff actually has relative to retail - which should honestly speak volumes to why my price floor is what it is, and the inherent value of this stuff. You could buy one of these multi-kilobuck IEMs new, and the second it hits your hands, well...it's likely worth much, much less. Sucks for you, but everyone who's on the secondary market is reaping the benefits. So think about it. Is it worth it paying 30%, 40% extra when you can be patient and snag it on the secondary market in nearly the same exact condition? That's obviously not something I can answer for you, but I don't think the return of instant-gratification outweighs the savings. Pretty funny how this is all coming from someone who essentially works for a major headphone retailer, huh? But I digress. It stands that you should also consider the warranty and the after-sales support you're going to receive. And if you're on the selling side, think of it like stocks. You haven't realized a loss until you actually sell for under, but sometimes it's the right play to cut your losses as audio gear rarely appreciates.
EQ is also an interesting topic. If you’re willing to use it, the value proposition of a lot of stuff goes up. You can buy stuff that’s tonally screwed, and get much more satisfaction out of it than someone like me can. This is another good way you can maximize your “return”. As you might infer, though, I don’t use it. To go back to the “experience told me I wouldn’t be content” thing, for better or worse, I demand the best. To me, EQ is a band-aid. It hampers my enjoyment of an IEM knowing that I’m having to make adjustments, that something is less-than-perfect. I guess you could also say I’m of the opinion that a good tool works for you and not the other way around. Headphones...well, that’s a different matter. But it’s definitely not something that I can accept for something like IEMs which I’m constantly plugging into my iPhone while on the go. Again this is not to say that EQ is by any means bad! It’s just not my thing.
And there you have it. I’m not 100% sure what the point of this post was myself, but if there’s a key takeaway here, I think it’s that you shouldn’t let a hobby ever go so far as to negatively impact your overall quality of life. You can infer enjoyment from a hobby, but there’s a fine line, especially financially, which most should walk. All too often I see people taking out loans or credit (seriously!) for material stuff that they can't afford, and some part of me dies inside. Of course, if you're loaded don't let me tell you otherwise. These are just some of the little tricks, mostly framing, that I use to try and manage my hobby spending and find personal satisfaction. Because after all, that's what matters most, right? That you're happy (and ideally not going broke).
On Value, Finding Satisfaction, and When Too Much is Too Much
Value proposition is a pretty interesting concept, and it’s one that I’d like to explore further as I think it has implications that go much further than just personal audio. So in this little post, I’ll be covering when I think too much is too much, and how I think one can find personal satisfaction without blowing their life savings on this hobby. As always, this is just my take. Everything is relative - my definition of contentment is not your contentment, my expensive is not your expensive, and so on. We all have different ways of interpreting this stuff, but I think it’s a fun thought exercise, as it also lays bare some inherent biases that might be present when I (or others) review.
That out of the way, let’s talk about personal satisfaction first. After I bought my first couple of budget IEMs, and knew for certain that this was a hobby I wanted to get invested in, I did some research, demoed, and bought my first TOTL IEM. While that seems like a huge leap, the keyword here is investment. Treating your purchases as investments, or just getting into that mindset, is one of the best ways (at least in my opinion) of maximizing your non-tangible “return”. You can even think of it as amortizing the cost; the longer you hold onto and use said purchase, the lower your cost of ownership sinks.
Of course, this is all framing at the end of the day, which ties me into the other reason I did it: I knew it would actually save me money in the long-run. As someone who’s experienced a similar, never-ending budget chase and the series of marginal upgrades that defines “mid-fi” in another hobby, experience told me that I wouldn’t be content with it. Now, this is not to say that “mid-fi” is a bad place to be at all. Any point of the price spectrum, from low-fi to hi-fi, is ideal for you if it’s what makes you happy. And admittedly, it definitely hasn’t worked out perfectly for me. When you make a jump that big, everything you hear after ends up seeming lackluster by comparison; you can read my reviews to see how that’s been reflected. But for the most part, it has worked. Although I’m always curious about hearing something new, the urge to make any sort of big purchase has been nulled.
...which leads us into confirmation bias. I have an incentive to dislike everything new I hear, because it means that my old gear is still sufficient. Do I personally think my reviews, opinions are influenced to this extent? Of course not. But in the interest of transparency, I think it’s only something fair to consider. And maybe that’s the Devil’s Advocate to the shilling I hate seeing so much, who knows? Along the lines of confirmation bias and transparency, I think I should disclose my personal “price floor” or the most I think an IEM is reasonably worth. With the steady influx of IEMs comfortably hitting $2000, $3000, $4000+, my personal price floor still sits at a measly ~$1500. I say “measly,” but dang, that’s still a crap ton of money to me! Most of the best stuff sits at around that price point in my opinion. Everything after that, well, I’m just not seeing it - or rather, I don’t hear it, either. Some people do, though, and that’s fine. Again - just my take.
Likewise, the secondary market deserves a mention. Something I've noticed in audio is just how little value this stuff actually has relative to retail - which should honestly speak volumes to why my price floor is what it is, and the inherent value of this stuff. You could buy one of these multi-kilobuck IEMs new, and the second it hits your hands, well...it's likely worth much, much less. Sucks for you, but everyone who's on the secondary market is reaping the benefits. So think about it. Is it worth it paying 30%, 40% extra when you can be patient and snag it on the secondary market in nearly the same exact condition? That's obviously not something I can answer for you, but I don't think the return of instant-gratification outweighs the savings. Pretty funny how this is all coming from someone who essentially works for a major headphone retailer, huh? But I digress. It stands that you should also consider the warranty and the after-sales support you're going to receive. And if you're on the selling side, think of it like stocks. You haven't realized a loss until you actually sell for under, but sometimes it's the right play to cut your losses as audio gear rarely appreciates.
EQ is also an interesting topic. If you’re willing to use it, the value proposition of a lot of stuff goes up. You can buy stuff that’s tonally screwed, and get much more satisfaction out of it than someone like me can. This is another good way you can maximize your “return”. As you might infer, though, I don’t use it. To go back to the “experience told me I wouldn’t be content” thing, for better or worse, I demand the best. To me, EQ is a band-aid. It hampers my enjoyment of an IEM knowing that I’m having to make adjustments, that something is less-than-perfect. I guess you could also say I’m of the opinion that a good tool works for you and not the other way around. Headphones...well, that’s a different matter. But it’s definitely not something that I can accept for something like IEMs which I’m constantly plugging into my iPhone while on the go. Again this is not to say that EQ is by any means bad! It’s just not my thing.
And there you have it. I’m not 100% sure what the point of this post was myself, but if there’s a key takeaway here, I think it’s that you shouldn’t let a hobby ever go so far as to negatively impact your overall quality of life. You can infer enjoyment from a hobby, but there’s a fine line, especially financially, which most should walk. All too often I see people taking out loans or credit (seriously!) for material stuff that they can't afford, and some part of me dies inside. Of course, if you're loaded don't let me tell you otherwise. These are just some of the little tricks, mostly framing, that I use to try and manage my hobby spending and find personal satisfaction. Because after all, that's what matters most, right? That you're happy (and ideally not going broke).
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RikudouGoku
Member of the Trade: RikuBuds
EQ is the dark side, a quick way to better sound (power) but perhaps not the correct way.
Vision Ears Erlkonig Impressions
Demo unit showed up a couple days ago. It's a pretty interesting IEM in that it has no less than (4) settings to choose from. I played around with them briefly and wasn't really a fan of ‘1’or ‘2’ unfortunately. If I had to pick my poison it would be ‘2’, but they both boost the sub-bass a good deal and not for the better to my ears: Transient attack slurs to the point of which I get the impression that the low-end's bloating. Slap on some extra lower-midrange weight, and the already lackluster treble is completely inundated too. As such, these impressions are with setting ‘3’ which is something fairly close to a neutral-reference tuning.
Starting with the bass, I know some people like Erlk's, but...I don't know, man. Decay is most definitely very quick and texturing seems somewhat lacking. I'm further led to question its resolving capability given what I hear on the first two settings. It sounds fine and not much else to my ears on ‘3’. The midrange sounds more balanced on this setting too if only by virtue of the bass-shelf being tamed. There's really not much to comment on from here, as the Erlkonig sports the infamous VE treble roll-off. Sure, it’s inoffensive and linear, but it’s an aspect of their tuning philosophy that I’ve slowly realized just isn’t for me. Intangibly, Erlk's got some interesting imaging. Haven’t quite pinpointed what it is yet, but it does feel like it sometimes images stuff at “extremes” (ie. higher, lower, farther away than I’m used to). Not necessarily a bad thing - just interesting. It also resolves like a flagship should, and I can't really knock anything on that front.
So...what's the problem? Well, it's just not very exciting. I think the main culprit is the midrange's intangibles. Sure, it's kind of got this bold, larger-than-life quality to it, but the transients themselves sound dull, borderline sluggish at times, like they’re in limbo. When I hear Taeyeon go into the chorus of "Fine," she sounds emotionally dead; in Rodney Atkin’s “Cleaning This Gun” his chuckles lose their playful luster. I just don’t feel the rawness, emotion that I should on these songs. This is a likely example of poor microdynamics. What do I mean? If macrodynamics are the large decibel shifts in a given track, then microdynamics are shifts on a more intimate level: in this case, vocal inflections. I generally refrain from talking about this stuff because, frankly, nuances this small are hard for me to capture and attest to confidently. And it stands that the Erlkonig does have quite good resolution; I just can’t think of what else it could be.
And really, that’s a shame, if not an apt segway. The Erlkonig is well-tuned, technically competent, and yet...I can’t knock the feeling it isn’t anything more. It doesn’t go out of its comfort zone or do anything particularly well enough for me to say, “wow”. Still, I know that for a lot of people, this type of purchase is a money-no-object one, a more emotional one, and you know what? I totally get that - I’m just calling the shots as I hear it, and I hope this understanding goes both ways. So if you enjoy your Erlk, please don't let me tell you otherwise; this extends to anything I review.
Score: 5/10
Demo unit showed up a couple days ago. It's a pretty interesting IEM in that it has no less than (4) settings to choose from. I played around with them briefly and wasn't really a fan of ‘1’or ‘2’ unfortunately. If I had to pick my poison it would be ‘2’, but they both boost the sub-bass a good deal and not for the better to my ears: Transient attack slurs to the point of which I get the impression that the low-end's bloating. Slap on some extra lower-midrange weight, and the already lackluster treble is completely inundated too. As such, these impressions are with setting ‘3’ which is something fairly close to a neutral-reference tuning.
Starting with the bass, I know some people like Erlk's, but...I don't know, man. Decay is most definitely very quick and texturing seems somewhat lacking. I'm further led to question its resolving capability given what I hear on the first two settings. It sounds fine and not much else to my ears on ‘3’. The midrange sounds more balanced on this setting too if only by virtue of the bass-shelf being tamed. There's really not much to comment on from here, as the Erlkonig sports the infamous VE treble roll-off. Sure, it’s inoffensive and linear, but it’s an aspect of their tuning philosophy that I’ve slowly realized just isn’t for me. Intangibly, Erlk's got some interesting imaging. Haven’t quite pinpointed what it is yet, but it does feel like it sometimes images stuff at “extremes” (ie. higher, lower, farther away than I’m used to). Not necessarily a bad thing - just interesting. It also resolves like a flagship should, and I can't really knock anything on that front.
So...what's the problem? Well, it's just not very exciting. I think the main culprit is the midrange's intangibles. Sure, it's kind of got this bold, larger-than-life quality to it, but the transients themselves sound dull, borderline sluggish at times, like they’re in limbo. When I hear Taeyeon go into the chorus of "Fine," she sounds emotionally dead; in Rodney Atkin’s “Cleaning This Gun” his chuckles lose their playful luster. I just don’t feel the rawness, emotion that I should on these songs. This is a likely example of poor microdynamics. What do I mean? If macrodynamics are the large decibel shifts in a given track, then microdynamics are shifts on a more intimate level: in this case, vocal inflections. I generally refrain from talking about this stuff because, frankly, nuances this small are hard for me to capture and attest to confidently. And it stands that the Erlkonig does have quite good resolution; I just can’t think of what else it could be.
And really, that’s a shame, if not an apt segway. The Erlkonig is well-tuned, technically competent, and yet...I can’t knock the feeling it isn’t anything more. It doesn’t go out of its comfort zone or do anything particularly well enough for me to say, “wow”. Still, I know that for a lot of people, this type of purchase is a money-no-object one, a more emotional one, and you know what? I totally get that - I’m just calling the shots as I hear it, and I hope this understanding goes both ways. So if you enjoy your Erlk, please don't let me tell you otherwise; this extends to anything I review.
Score: 5/10
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Vision Ears Erlkonig Impressions
Demo unit showed up a couple days ago. It's a pretty interesting IEM in that it has no less than (4) settings to choose from. I played around with them briefly and wasn't really a fan of ‘1’or ‘2’ unfortunately. If I had to pick my poison it would be ‘2’, but they both boost the sub-bass a good deal and not for the better to my ears: Transient attack slurs to the point of which I get the impression that the low-end's bloating. Slap on some extra lower-midrange weight, and the already lackluster treble is completely inundated too. As such, these impressions are with setting ‘3’ which is something fairly close to a neutral-reference tuning.
Starting with the bass, I know some people like Erlk's, but...I don't know, man. Decay is most definitely very quick and texturing seems somewhat lacking. I'm further led to question its resolving capability given what I hear on the first two settings. It sounds fine and not much else to my ears on ‘3’. The midrange sounds more balanced on this setting too if only by virtue of the bass-shelf being tamed. There's really not much to comment on from here, as the Erlkonig sports the infamous VE treble roll-off. Sure, it’s inoffensive and linear, but it’s an aspect of their tuning philosophy that I’ve slowly realized just isn’t for me. Intangibly, Erlk's got some interesting imaging. Haven’t quite pinpointed what it is yet, but it does feel like it sometimes images stuff at “extremes” (ie. higher, lower, farther away than I’m used to). Not necessarily a bad thing - just interesting. It also resolves like a flagship should, and I can't really knock anything on that front.
So...what's the problem? Well, it's just not very exciting. I think the main culprit is the midrange's intangibles. Sure, it's kind of got this bold, larger-than-life quality to it, but the transients themselves sound dull, borderline sluggish at times, like they’re in limbo. When I hear Taeyeon go into the chorus of "Fine," she sounds emotionally dead; in Rodney Atkin’s “Cleaning This Gun” his chuckles lose their playful luster. I just don’t feel the rawness, emotion that I should on these songs. This is a likely example of poor microdynamics. What do I mean? If macrodynamics are the large decibel shifts in a given track, then microdynamics are shifts on a more intimate level: in this case, vocal inflections. I generally refrain from talking about this stuff because, frankly, nuances this small are hard for me to capture and attest to confidently. And it stands that the Erlkonig does have quite good resolution; I just can’t think of what else it could be.
And really, that’s a shame, if not an apt segway. The Erlkonig is well-tuned, technically competent, and yet...I can’t knock the feeling it isn’t anything more. It doesn’t go out of its comfort zone or do anything particularly well enough for me to say, “wow”. Still, I know that for a lot of people, this type of purchase is a money-no-object one, a more emotional one, and you know what? I totally get that - I’m just calling the shots as I hear it, and I hope this understanding goes both ways. So if you enjoy your Erlk, please don't let me tell you otherwise; this extends to anything I review.
I thought we were friends precog... I feel betrayed!
*cries in Elvish*
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Vision Ears Erlkonig Impressions
Demo unit showed up a couple days ago. It's a pretty interesting IEM in that it has no less than (4) settings to choose from. I played around with them briefly and wasn't really a fan of ‘1’or ‘2’ unfortunately. If I had to pick my poison it would be ‘2’, but they both boost the sub-bass a good deal and not for the better to my ears: Transient attack slurs to the point of which I get the impression that the low-end's bloating. Slap on some extra lower-midrange weight, and the already lackluster treble is completely inundated too. As such, these impressions are with setting ‘3’ which is something fairly close to a neutral-reference tuning.
Starting with the bass, I know some people like Erlk's, but...I don't know, man. Decay is most definitely very quick and texturing seems somewhat lacking. I'm further led to question its resolving capability given what I hear on the first two settings. It sounds fine and not much else to my ears on ‘3’. The midrange sounds more balanced on this setting too if only by virtue of the bass-shelf being tamed. There's really not much to comment on from here, as the Erlkonig sports the infamous VE treble roll-off. Sure, it’s inoffensive and linear, but it’s an aspect of their tuning philosophy that I’ve slowly realized just isn’t for me. Intangibly, Erlk's got some interesting imaging. Haven’t quite pinpointed what it is yet, but it does feel like it sometimes images stuff at “extremes” (ie. higher, lower, farther away than I’m used to). Not necessarily a bad thing - just interesting. It also resolves like a flagship should, and I can't really knock anything on that front.
So...what's the problem? Well, it's just not very exciting. I think the main culprit is the midrange's intangibles. Sure, it's kind of got this bold, larger-than-life quality to it, but the transients themselves sound dull, borderline sluggish at times, like they’re in limbo. When I hear Taeyeon go into the chorus of "Fine," she sounds emotionally dead; in Rodney Atkin’s “Cleaning This Gun” his chuckles lose their playful luster. I just don’t feel the rawness, emotion that I should on these songs. This is a likely example of poor microdynamics. What do I mean? If macrodynamics are the large decibel shifts in a given track, then microdynamics are shifts on a more intimate level: in this case, vocal inflections. I generally refrain from talking about this stuff because, frankly, nuances this small are hard for me to capture and attest to confidently. And it stands that the Erlkonig does have quite good resolution; I just can’t think of what else it could be.
And really, that’s a shame, if not an apt segway. The Erlkonig is well-tuned, technically competent, and yet...I can’t knock the feeling it isn’t anything more. It doesn’t go out of its comfort zone or do anything particularly well enough for me to say, “wow”. Still, I know that for a lot of people, this type of purchase is a money-no-object one, a more emotional one, and you know what? I totally get that - I’m just calling the shots as I hear it, and I hope this understanding goes both ways. So if you enjoy your Erlk, please don't let me tell you otherwise; this extends to anything I review.
I too find setting 3 the one I prefer among them for the best resolution and balance. Second choice is setting 2. Setting 1 is too much and setting 4 too little. Bass is alright but I prefer DD bass. Overall it’s good VE sound but not for me for the asking price.
toaster
Headphoneus Supremus
I couldn’t disagree more with this description of the erlky, heh. This piece was a revolution in sound for me.
Which are your favorite iems?
Sorry you didn’t enjoy the erlky more, bud!
Which are your favorite iems?
Sorry you didn’t enjoy the erlky more, bud!
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