Precog's IEM Reviews & Impressions

Jul 16, 2021 at 2:32 PM Post #1,006 of 3,716
Hey, I'd say the tuning is generally similar (the U6t is warmer), but they sound pretty different to me intangibly. Along these lines, yes, the U6t sounds more dynamic and less compressed than the U18s. You said "open" too though, and I don't want to confuse dynamics with staging. In terms of staging, I don't think the U6t sounds particularly open and it definitely doesn't have superb layering chops.

Thanks for being precise about "open" as things can "open" in different directions! :sweat_smile: U6t seems quite attractive. :wink:

I'm a fan of Sawano's music as well as a variety of country music. I find your music selection quite good (for me) to reference and decide how to interpret your views. Just letting you know I appreciate the samples you bring up in the reviews.

I think Sawano's music is often compressed but it's full of panning tricks and tends to be busy. I used to use few tracks from 2V-ALK as test tracks. Lately, I've been listening to NieR orchestral arrangements, among others.
 
Jul 16, 2021 at 3:46 PM Post #1,008 of 3,716
I think Sawano's music is often compressed but it's full of panning tricks and tends to be busy. I used to use few tracks from 2V-ALK as test tracks. Lately, I've been listening to NieR orchestral arrangements, among others.

Yeah, it's definitely hit or miss haha. He also does a lot of re-masters. The tracks on the 2V-ALK album actually have better dynamic range than the equivalent tracks on the Best Vocal Works Remastered album. The latter is a lot louder; however, I also find myself preferring it because it sounds sharper and less congested.

The one I shared, Earth, isn't so bad; it's a 7 on the DR Meter. A lot of his instrumental stuff (predictably) tends to be higher, even as high as some 9s or 10s. Occasionally, I've measured some really low scores, though. I agree it's generally the panning/staging tricks and so much going on that makes them good test tracks. And of course his unique style!

I think the NieR stuff has been mastered pretty well. Lots of dynamic range on those too.
 
Jul 16, 2021 at 4:37 PM Post #1,010 of 3,716
As requested by @JiWeng

Campfire Mammoth Impressions: Don't think anyone cares about these really - or is expecting anything - but to steal a quote from someone else, "Campfire Audio's dartboard whiffs again". Sounds like a bad DD with no midrange or treble extension. Might have slightly more bass texture than some recent CA IEMs, but it's way too smeared over for me to care.

Campfire Holocene Impressions: Very colored tonal balance, far too colored to be considered remotely academic. I hear some Andromeda inspiration, but I think it's been taken too far, particularly in the midrange. It sounds spread out and diffused; there's some oddity to the center image. Certainly holographic otherwise with excellent treble extension and decent surface level detailing. This would actually be pretty cool for 3BA if the tuning wasn't so...out there.

Scores: 2/10 (Mammoth), 4/10 (Holocene)

I’ll probably cover the Holocene because it’s at least interesting. Not a chance with the Mammoth.
 
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Jul 16, 2021 at 8:58 PM Post #1,011 of 3,716


I don't know how I missed this one. I had the title track, and I guess I just disregarded the rest of the album. Anyways, the opening in particular here is just sooo catchy; the "Ah, ah, ah-ah" sounding impressively wide. The track as a whole is obviously compressed as hell (very few K-Pop tracks aren't, unfortunately), but that isn't going to stop me from loving it.

Could you please name a few K-Pop tracks that are not as compressed? Thanks.
 
Jul 16, 2021 at 9:57 PM Post #1,012 of 3,716
Compressed and auto-tuned blah... :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

Chilling to some Korean cafe chill music. Feels like I'm in one of those Korean owned Japanese restaurant, munching on sushi with kimchi on the side, lol :sweat_smile:

 
Jul 16, 2021 at 11:09 PM Post #1,013 of 3,716
Could you please name a few K-Pop tracks that are not as compressed? Thanks.

At least in my library, the only one that comes to mind is Taeyeon's "Love in Color".

Akmu's "On the Subway" and IU's "Alone in the Room" apparently have 7s on the DR Meter, but I don't know if I trust that haha.

J-Pop actually tends to be less compressed for me, at least with the tracks that I have in my library. Maybe it's because I tend to like the faster-paced, more intensive stuff in K-Pop. That in mind, I don't mind some compression; it makes tracks sound more full if done tastefully. There's a lot of K-Pop tracks at around a 5 or 6 that I hear some minor compression with, but that have me content. It's only when it's blatantly loud (like 3 or 4 on the DR meter) that I go ehhh.
 
Jul 17, 2021 at 1:21 AM Post #1,014 of 3,716
The short description of the Mammoth could be the same description someone would probably give to one of those random, $20 unknown brand IEMs you stumble on aliexpress or Taobao that are trash.

Campfire is charging way too much money for utter garbage that is beaten by pretty much anything that isn't a train wreck and is decently priced.

I wonder who tunes some of their stuff? It's really all over the place.
 
Jul 17, 2021 at 3:04 AM Post #1,015 of 3,716
The short description of the Mammoth could be the same description someone would probably give to one of those random, $20 unknown brand IEMs you stumble on aliexpress or Taobao that are trash.

Campfire is charging way too much money for utter garbage that is beaten by pretty much anything that isn't a train wreck and is decently priced.

I wonder who tunes some of their stuff? It's really all over the place.
Talk about tarnishing your own reputation. Not quite sure what they're doing with all these meaningless releases.
 
Jul 17, 2021 at 2:41 PM Post #1,016 of 3,716
The short description of the Mammoth could be the same description someone would probably give to one of those random, $20 unknown brand IEMs you stumble on aliexpress or Taobao that are trash.

Campfire is charging way too much money for utter garbage that is beaten by pretty much anything that isn't a train wreck and is decently priced.

I wonder who tunes some of their stuff? It's really all over the place.

It's a bit puzzling to me too. Andro 2020's far and away my favorite CA IEM, but I honestly don't mind stuff like the Holocene, Ara, and Solaris. They're at the very least interesting. It's fun to write about them because they have character, and I can tell there's some artistic vision at play even if I disagree with the direction taken. Heck, I even liked the Atlas. They made a sweet DD IEM; I'd understand if the next few releases didn't quite match up. But it's been two years, and nothing else they've put out in the same vein of tuning (V-shaped) comes remotely close. You also bring up a good point about double-standards. If these IEMs were from any less of a well-known company, say a Chi-Fi one, they would be disregarded immediately.

In all fairness, these IEMs clearly have their fans and they appear to be selling, so I guess they’ll just keep making them. That's just how business works, and I can't blame CA for that.
 
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Jul 17, 2021 at 2:52 PM Post #1,017 of 3,716
It's a bit puzzling to me too. Andro 2020's far and away my favorite CA IEM, but I honestly don't mind stuff like the Holocene, Ara, and Solaris. They're at the very least interesting. It's fun to write about them because they have character, and I can tell there's some artistic vision at play even if I disagree with the direction taken. Heck, I even liked the Atlas. They made a sweet DD IEM; I'd understand if the next few releases didn't quite match up. But it's been two years, and nothing else they've put out in the same vein of tuning (V-shaped) comes remotely close. You also bring up a good point about double-standards. If these IEMs were from any less of a well-known company, say a Chi-Fi one, they would be disregarded immediately.

In all fairness, these IEMs clearly have their fans and they appear to be selling, so I guess they’ll just keep making them. That's just how business works, and I can't blame CA for that.
I wish there was a research on how potentially hearing varies in different people. And how we are sensitive to different frequencies. I for one can never understand how someone would enjoy listening to music on something like the Dusk or would call the tuning on Clairvoyance perfect. It must come down more to just taste and music preference.
 
Jul 17, 2021 at 5:09 PM Post #1,018 of 3,716
I wish there was a research on how potentially hearing varies in different people. And how we are sensitive to different frequencies. I for one can never understand how someone would enjoy listening to music on something like the Dusk or would call the tuning on Clairvoyance perfect. It must come down more to just taste and music preference.

Interesting topic for sure. Unless there's financial incentive, though, it's really hard to get research studies funded.

At least for the majority of people, I think it's as simple as "good sound is good sound". If you look at the limited research on tonal preferences by Harman, you can see that they found no significant correlation between ethnicity, age, and what was most preferable tonally. Again, this is limited research: a heavily skewed male to female ratio, much more trained listeners from the USA which is why the USA consistently scored the headphones lower, and a small sample size particularly when it came to older listeners.

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These are also averages, so they only reflect the majority. They do not address the minority and why those people might have preferred one headphone over another when the majority did not. That sounds like what you're interested in; something like older individuals preferring more treble also comes to mind. But I think most people, as a whole, can agree on good sound when they hear it. Likewise, regardless of the genre I was listening to, I know I'd think some IEMs are bad and others aren't.

What might be even more interesting is technicalities and how people perceive them. Some people don't seem to hear speed, resolution, or dynamics. Why is that? Some people seem to prefer stuff that, objectively, measures poorly. To go back to the Campfire Audio stuff, I think their dynamic drivers used for bass are bloated, slow, and textureless, while plenty of others don't! Could these people simply be keying in on non-linear variables to the bass that they find enjoyable, perhaps akin to added distortion with tubes? And if this is the case, then what is the threshold of distortion for which that becomes my perception of the bass? If I handed them, say, an IER-Z1R for comparison, which I think has higher quality bass, would they recognize that it's cleaner and more impactful? That's just some food for thought. Ultimately, there's no right or wrong when it comes to what people find enjoyable even if it doesn't measure nicely. I also don't think we'll find answers to this stuff anytime soon, even it's fun to think about it sometimes.
 
Jul 17, 2021 at 6:40 PM Post #1,019 of 3,716
Could these people simply be keying in on non-linear variables to the bass that they find enjoyable, perhaps akin to added distortion with tubes? And if this is the case, then what is the threshold of distortion for which that becomes my perception of the bass? If I handed them, say, an IER-Z1R for comparison, which I think has higher quality bass, would they recognize that it's cleaner and more impactful?
Just as a single data point here. I have tended to enjoy a lot of the campfire stuff I have heard, most recently including the honeydew and the dorado.

I have also owned the ier z1r before too.

There are certain metrics on quality of bass that you mention that are cleaner and quicker and more impactful that I can certainly recognize.

I think some of the disconnect is that while certain things I can recognize as higher or lower quality, they don't always correlate to enjoyment for me. As you have already clued into.

Then again I do at times question if I'm not "tuned in" to hearing some of the things other hear. Though I have to wonder if this community is also often just going with the consensus to justify expenses purchases.
 
Jul 18, 2021 at 2:55 AM Post #1,020 of 3,716
Then again I do at times question if I'm not "tuned in" to hearing some of the things other hear. Though I have to wonder if this community is also often just going with the consensus to justify expenses purchases.

Haha, yes, I agree this is a thing. It's not limited to justifying expensive purchases, though. In general, there's a pressure to conform and to not be the odd one out. Stack on many listeners not knowing what they're hearing in the first place, and this results in parroting and hype trains. I don't like it, but this was me at one point. If you look at some of my earliest reviews, like my original Blessing 2 review, I had very little idea of what I was talking about. Part of the reason for that was simply lack of experience and comparisons that I could draw upon, but I also didn't want to be the person to say something "wrong". Obviously that's changed a good deal, but even now, I'll confirm with friends about what we're hearing from time to time.

I've also seen one of your comments where you were wondering about whether some people are exaggerating or just making things up. I can't speak for the latter, but I do think the former is a thing. Ultimately, a lot of the differences with technicalities that I personally hear are small. Minute, even, when it comes to sources. They're not night and day (a phrase I rather dislike in this hobby, although admittedly, that I probably use too much myself). To a certain extent, there's almost a pressure to exaggerate so as to make distinctions between transducers - and especially sources - more evident for readers. So don't sweat it too much; you're not alone. There's probably plenty of people out there with hearing like yours. And if you really want to get better at hearing this stuff, you likely can train your ears to better pick up nuance.

The ABX-ing FLAC vs. 320 stuff was a big eye-opener for me. At the beginning, I may as well have been guessing. Over hours and hours of peeling my ears to pick through tracks for the smallest stuff, though, that rate steadily went up. It's still very dependent on other factors like my mood, but I do feel that my ability to pick up on nuances like micro-dynamics has gotten better. Even then, there are people who seem to be even better than me at it with zero practice! That last part kind of stings, but it's also a good reminder that none of this is really a competition :)
 

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