KutuzovGambit
1000+ Head-Fier
Gotta disagree, the 3DT is my all time favorite IEM but I had to let it go due to inability to get a good long-term fit with my medium-small ears and small canals.
Precog's IEM Reviews & Impressions
- Thread starter Precogvision
- Start date
DrewVz
1000+ Head-Fier
That's unfortunate. Good feedback, though. But that just underscores my point that you really need to try them for yourself to see if they fit. I use medium/small tips almost exclusively on my IEMs and the 3DTs are probably the most comfortable IEMs I own, simply because of the angle and depth. I literally cannot feel that I'm wearing them after 5 minutes or so. The MEST is the same way. Just really seamless fitment for these two.
On the other side of the spectrum, the Oracles are my favorite all-around IEM and yet I cannot get a good fit with them because of the housing shape and nozzle angle. I "tolerate" their fit because they sound so good. But I always know they're there. And in absolutely LAST place are the Moondrop Arias. I love them for their price-performance value and I endlessly recommend them to others, but I'll be damned if I can't get them to fit properly. They don't seem to go deep enough to get a solid lock, and the housings are just not shaped well for my ears, so they press into the outer ear a bit.
So you never know.
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Oops, I thought budget was capped at $300. For kilobuck you can't really look past the IE 900 (at least I can't). Best IEM south of $3K+ in my not so humble opinion.
musicasmedicine
100+ Head-Fier
Alright guys, I've bought my first IEM. Any guesses as to what it is?
Thank you for all of your help btw - it's been awesome.
Thank you for all of your help btw - it's been awesome.
CanJam SoCal 2021 Day 2
Hey all, here are some CanJam Day 2 impressions. Probably can't cover everything I heard, but hopefully this gives a good feel of what I was able to get through. Bear in mind that, especially with the headphones, show conditions in terms of noise level are not good. I dislike listening loudly and this can make it difficult for me to get an accurate assessment of a headphone's performance. I also do not remember most of the specific DAC/Amps that I heard most of these headphones off of, so you can just consider them very, very rough impressions. No scores or anything of that nature of course.
64A Duo: Gave the 64 Duo another listen today. It's actually better than I gave it credit for on first listen. The foam tips that I was using yesterday sort of blunted everything which is why I generally avoid them. The DD that the Duo is using is pretty reminiscent of the Tia Trio to my ears. In A/B with the 64A Nio, the Duo's bass decays more quickly and is tighter despite the IEMs sporting about equal bass quantity. The Duo's bass is not as wooly and thick for sure (this could be either a pro or con depending on one's preferences).
Audeze LCD-5: From what I could tell, these headphones were the star of the show with a never-ending line for them all day. They're OK I guess. Very good detail and technicalities obviously, but the tonality wasn't really to my taste. It does remind me of the LCD-4 to some degree which I wasn't too impressed by either. Regardless, I couldn't really discern much because I didn't recognize any of the test tracks available. Hint: More K-pop tracks next time pls.
DCA Stealth: The Stealth sports what I hear as a neutral to upper-midrange oriented tonal balance. The overall tonality here is actually quite good, especially for an closed-back headphone. Pretty much every other closed-back I've heard has undesirable tonality. However, my biggest criticism of the Stealth lies in its intangibles. It does not sound like it is able to resolve anything more nuanced than surface-level detail, and it's dynamics are generally flat and boring. It also has the dry timbre that characterizes most planar headphones. Ultimately, while the Stealth definitely has its niche, one would have to index heavily for tonality for it to be a consideration in my eyes.
Focal Utopia: Pretty darn good. I've often heard this described as a Clear on steroids, and I think that's a pretty fair assessment. It's more technical and does not have the sibilance issue that I associate with the Clear. I do not think this sounds quite as boxy either even if staging does not extend much further than the Clear. I've heard a lot of reports about metallic timbre with the Utopia. But perhaps by virtue of the Forge Tube amp that I was listening off of, this wasn't really a big problem. While I observed some harshness in the treble, that was pretty much it. A remarkably good all-rounder and with Focal's signature dynamic contrast.
HiFiMAN Susvara / Shangri-La Jr: Honestly, these sounded pretty similar to me tonally. That's a good thing because there are quite honestly no tonal flaws to either of these headphones, at least to my ears. HiFiMAN can definitely tune. My overall impression of the Shangri-La Jr. was that it was somewhat vanilla as a whole, but that the Susvara was definitely impressive. It plays at the top for detail, resolution, and imaging. I thought the only aspect with which it fell short was in the dynamics department. But it's not hard to see why the Susvara is often deemed one of the world's best headphones - it makes very little mistakes.
Meze Empyrean: This has a very colored sound. It is quite warm and thick with good amounts of mid-bass, but it also sports some spice up top in the treble. The biggest problem with this headphone's tuning is definitely a strange recession at 1.5kHz. Vocal overdubs on Taeyeon's "Feel so Fine" and a lot of the female vocalists on Sawano Hiroyuki's work sound really telephonic. I can see why this type of sound might appeal to some listeners, and this recession does benefit center image distinction to some extent, but I do feel that these tuning choices negatively impact the Empyrean's ability to resolve detail. It generally sounds somewhat goopy for lack of a better word.
Meze Empyrean Elite: Definitely an improvement over the Empyrean in the technical department, at least in terms of note definition and control. The 1.5kHz dip is still present, but not quite to the same degree. I noticed this had a very "boxy" presentation wherein stuff that would normally token the sides of the stage was squeezed to the center. Funnily enough, Resolve tells me he had the opposite impression, so I'm not sure what could account for this. Anyways - a pretty decent headphone, just not remarkable for the hefty price.
Meze Rai Penta: For some reason, I get asked to review these a lot on YouTube. These have a weird signature that I suppose does harken to the Empyrean in some respects. It's definitely pretty warm with a similar sub-1kHz shelf as the Empyrean. Bass is OK for a dynamic driver, perhaps slamming just a tad harder than the Helios in A/B, but clearly falling behind in terms of control. The midrange generally sounds off. The Penta also has mediocre treble extension and does not resolve much more than surface-level detail like its older, headphone brethren. Not impressed.
PhilPhone: The dark horse of the show for me beyond a doubt. The PhilPhone is a DIY headphone made by Zerousen, better known as Phil on various Discord channels. This was my first time hearing a biodynamic and, my, can this thing slam. It might just have some of the best bass that I've heard of a headphone with its terrific swing, texture, and bass tactility. I spent about an hour listening to this off of the "slam stack" (DC2 BHA1) and couldn't stop smiling the whole time. The crazy thing about this headphone (or maybe by virtue of the DAC/AMPs in the stack itself) is that it does not distort no matter how much of a juicy bass shelf you add to it. And it's not like this headphone is just all about bass either. It is beautifully dynamic with some of the best punch and contrast that I have heard. The overall tonality here is also generally good with but some spikes in the upper-treble being the main issue. I'm not really in the market for a headphone (and clearly, I don't really care too much about them in general), but at $700, this is the first one on my list.
Hey all, here are some CanJam Day 2 impressions. Probably can't cover everything I heard, but hopefully this gives a good feel of what I was able to get through. Bear in mind that, especially with the headphones, show conditions in terms of noise level are not good. I dislike listening loudly and this can make it difficult for me to get an accurate assessment of a headphone's performance. I also do not remember most of the specific DAC/Amps that I heard most of these headphones off of, so you can just consider them very, very rough impressions. No scores or anything of that nature of course.
64A Duo: Gave the 64 Duo another listen today. It's actually better than I gave it credit for on first listen. The foam tips that I was using yesterday sort of blunted everything which is why I generally avoid them. The DD that the Duo is using is pretty reminiscent of the Tia Trio to my ears. In A/B with the 64A Nio, the Duo's bass decays more quickly and is tighter despite the IEMs sporting about equal bass quantity. The Duo's bass is not as wooly and thick for sure (this could be either a pro or con depending on one's preferences).
Audeze LCD-5: From what I could tell, these headphones were the star of the show with a never-ending line for them all day. They're OK I guess. Very good detail and technicalities obviously, but the tonality wasn't really to my taste. It does remind me of the LCD-4 to some degree which I wasn't too impressed by either. Regardless, I couldn't really discern much because I didn't recognize any of the test tracks available. Hint: More K-pop tracks next time pls.
DCA Stealth: The Stealth sports what I hear as a neutral to upper-midrange oriented tonal balance. The overall tonality here is actually quite good, especially for an closed-back headphone. Pretty much every other closed-back I've heard has undesirable tonality. However, my biggest criticism of the Stealth lies in its intangibles. It does not sound like it is able to resolve anything more nuanced than surface-level detail, and it's dynamics are generally flat and boring. It also has the dry timbre that characterizes most planar headphones. Ultimately, while the Stealth definitely has its niche, one would have to index heavily for tonality for it to be a consideration in my eyes.
Focal Utopia: Pretty darn good. I've often heard this described as a Clear on steroids, and I think that's a pretty fair assessment. It's more technical and does not have the sibilance issue that I associate with the Clear. I do not think this sounds quite as boxy either even if staging does not extend much further than the Clear. I've heard a lot of reports about metallic timbre with the Utopia. But perhaps by virtue of the Forge Tube amp that I was listening off of, this wasn't really a big problem. While I observed some harshness in the treble, that was pretty much it. A remarkably good all-rounder and with Focal's signature dynamic contrast.
HiFiMAN Susvara / Shangri-La Jr: Honestly, these sounded pretty similar to me tonally. That's a good thing because there are quite honestly no tonal flaws to either of these headphones, at least to my ears. HiFiMAN can definitely tune. My overall impression of the Shangri-La Jr. was that it was somewhat vanilla as a whole, but that the Susvara was definitely impressive. It plays at the top for detail, resolution, and imaging. I thought the only aspect with which it fell short was in the dynamics department. But it's not hard to see why the Susvara is often deemed one of the world's best headphones - it makes very little mistakes.
Meze Empyrean: This has a very colored sound. It is quite warm and thick with good amounts of mid-bass, but it also sports some spice up top in the treble. The biggest problem with this headphone's tuning is definitely a strange recession at 1.5kHz. Vocal overdubs on Taeyeon's "Feel so Fine" and a lot of the female vocalists on Sawano Hiroyuki's work sound really telephonic. I can see why this type of sound might appeal to some listeners, and this recession does benefit center image distinction to some extent, but I do feel that these tuning choices negatively impact the Empyrean's ability to resolve detail. It generally sounds somewhat goopy for lack of a better word.
Meze Empyrean Elite: Definitely an improvement over the Empyrean in the technical department, at least in terms of note definition and control. The 1.5kHz dip is still present, but not quite to the same degree. I noticed this had a very "boxy" presentation wherein stuff that would normally token the sides of the stage was squeezed to the center. Funnily enough, Resolve tells me he had the opposite impression, so I'm not sure what could account for this. Anyways - a pretty decent headphone, just not remarkable for the hefty price.
Meze Rai Penta: For some reason, I get asked to review these a lot on YouTube. These have a weird signature that I suppose does harken to the Empyrean in some respects. It's definitely pretty warm with a similar sub-1kHz shelf as the Empyrean. Bass is OK for a dynamic driver, perhaps slamming just a tad harder than the Helios in A/B, but clearly falling behind in terms of control. The midrange generally sounds off. The Penta also has mediocre treble extension and does not resolve much more than surface-level detail like its older, headphone brethren. Not impressed.
PhilPhone: The dark horse of the show for me beyond a doubt. The PhilPhone is a DIY headphone made by Zerousen, better known as Phil on various Discord channels. This was my first time hearing a biodynamic and, my, can this thing slam. It might just have some of the best bass that I've heard of a headphone with its terrific swing, texture, and bass tactility. I spent about an hour listening to this off of the "slam stack" (DC2 BHA1) and couldn't stop smiling the whole time. The crazy thing about this headphone (or maybe by virtue of the DAC/AMPs in the stack itself) is that it does not distort no matter how much of a juicy bass shelf you add to it. And it's not like this headphone is just all about bass either. It is beautifully dynamic with some of the best punch and contrast that I have heard. The overall tonality here is also generally good with but some spikes in the upper-treble being the main issue. I'm not really in the market for a headphone (and clearly, I don't really care too much about them in general), but at $700, this is the first one on my list.
And how can we get a PhilPhone?
musicasmedicine
100+ Head-Fier
I realized I never actually said what I got...
*drumroll* Final Audio A8000! I am obsessed with the design, the company, and the single beryllium driver. I know people say it will be a bit hot in the treble but im happy to EQ if so. These are IEMs that got me super excited to buy - not the U12t.
Enjoy! The A8000 is the most technical single DD I've heard the pleasure to listen to. Excellent resolution, but needs amping. I do find the A8000's 5 - 6 kHz regions too hot for my tastes, but then again, treble sensitivity is a YMMV situation, dependent on hearing health, volume played at (Fletcher Munson curve), eartips, sources etc.
musicasmedicine
100+ Head-Fier
Thanks!
I don’t listen to music at high volumes at all. Somewhere around 65-70 db so not too worried about this. As for amping, will be running this off of a JDS atom+ stack so lots of clean power.
weexisttocease
Headphoneus Supremus
This new Dunu 2DD/4BA configuration is the Titan S or a completely new IEM?Hey all, here are my Day 1 IEM impressions for CanJam SoCal 2021. Got to hear lots of stuff (64A Duo, EE EVO, Noble Zephyr, UM FuSang, etc.) and it was great chatting with so many people! I think I’ll revisit a couple IEMs tomorrow as well as finally try some more summit-fi headphones.
https://www.headphones.com/community/reviews-learning-and-news/canjam-socal-2021-iem-impressions
I had the same reaction you did. Technically proficient, but not a tonal match for my preferences. It was very loud in the show are when I was listening But, I did not have the same problem listening to the Susvara or Abyss 1266 phi tc. Both were sublime.
riverground
Headphoneus Supremus
I believe it’s gonna be a completely new IEM in their Studio series.
The TITAN S is a single dynamic driver model that we hope to offer as one of our most entry-level products. Both @Precogvision and we were quite busy during the show, and we forgot to have him audition (or measure) the pre-production TITAN S engineering prototype we had on hand. We may try to send the unit to him at some point to get some feedback.
The hybrid prototype that he did have a chance to listen to will be further developed and refined over the coming months. There is no hard release schedule for it, and we have not attempted to classify it to any of our product lines.
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