[ssriram2791]

Hey all, I just wanted to share some of my test tracks and what I’m usually looking for when I’m evaluating a transducer. I think it's pretty well-established that I do not particularly believe in transducer-to-genre synergy. My logic is that because there are so many possible variations and subsets of songs within a given genre, this means that when someone says that a transducer works well with a certain genre, they are effectively generalizing (something I'm no doubt guilty of doing nonetheless). I would prefer to avoid doing that when possible. However, I definitely believe that certain songs sound better with certain transducers, and hopefully this can lend more context to where I'm coming from when it comes to my writing. Something you’ll notice is that the moment I am listening for in a given track tends to be near the beginning. The main reason for this is because aural memory is highly fallible. Especially when I’m running A/B comparisons, I don’t want to be wasting time moving around the slider to a specific part of the song on top of swapping the IEMs.

Bass

Trivecta, Wooli, Seven Lions - Island (feat. Nevve): The part that I am listening for here is from 2:23 to 2:50 which features Wooli’s drops. His drops have a very distinctive characteristic to them. They lean dark, rich, and with a touch of messiness. They are some of the hardest hitting drops that I have heard in EDM, and it is very easy to tell when a transducer is not slamming properly on them. The drops hit in quick succession too. A characteristic that I will often listen for is how a transducer is able to transition from drop to drop. Some transducers are able to scale the nuance of the drops, but they don’t sink as deeply or with as much aplomb as they should.

Dreamcatcher - Can’t get you out of my mind: The bassline from 0:20 onwards is a good indicator of bass texture and dynamics (this is not a particularly dynamic track as a whole, though). The bassline of this track has a thick, almost “moist” characteristic with good bounciness. A lot of transducers with poor bass texture will sound dry on this track; transducers with poor dynamics will not have this bouncy characteristic and will quickly make the bassline sound monotonous and possibly fatiguing.

FareOh - Run Away: This track opens with deep, slow bass hits from 0:06 onwards. This is a good test of bass decay, or how long a transducer allows a note to bloom. I feel that these bass notes also capture the sub-bass frequencies pretty closely, so this is a good test of extension.

Midrange

Joe Nichols - Sunny & 75: I grew up listening to Nichol’s music; he has a great voice and, thankfully, he doesn’t sound like a robot on this track (I really liked his hit single in 2009, “Gimmie that Girl,” but the mastering was horrible). All I’m really listening for here is the lower-midrange. Transducers with lots of sub-1kHz presence will usually make his voice sound overly thick and blobby. This might also indicate a lack of pinna compensation or upper-midrange, although that’s more difficult to tell with just this track.

Keith Urban - Kiss a Girl: The only part I’m concerned with here is the opening electric guitar in the right channel, and then the one shortly after in the left channel. This is a very easy way to tell if there is a 3-4kHz recession or lack of pinna compensation. Transducers that recess this region too much will lose bite and the guitars’ tasteful sense of crunch.

Tim McGraw - Don’t Take the Girl / Alison Krauss - When You Say Nothing At All: I think McGraw’s voice has changed over the years, but you can definitely hear traces of nasality in this track. Transducers that have a bump at 1kHz tend to sound boxy and exacerbate this nasal quality. On the other hand, Allison Krauss has a really nice voice that has often been described as “angelic”. BA IEMs, for example, tend to make her voice sound gritty. Generally speaking, these are also both darker, slower tracks which might work well with the tonality of certain transducers but not others. IU’s - Blueming is another example of a vocalist with a smooth taper to the way her voice decays.

Loona - Eclipse: I’m really only concerned with the opening. The vocalist, Kim Lip, has a tendency to exhibit sibilance on the lyrics, “I feel sparks,” with the last word’s “s” consonance. Too much lisp to this consonance indicates to me that I’m dealing with an upper-midrange oriented IEM that doesn’t slope off adequately at ~3kHz. This is also what I usually use to evaluate the transition from 3-5kHz (upper-midrange to lower-treble for me). Kim Lip has a tendency to sound like she’s stuck in head-voice when a transducer’s transition from 3-5kHz shifts upwards. Danielle Bradbery & Thomas Rhett’s - Goodbye Summer is another track that I often use to test this transition. Danielle Bradbery’s voice has a very light, delicate balance that’s easy to throw off.

Treble

Girls' Generation - Into the New World: This is a classic K-Pop track with lots of brightness. From 0:10 to 0:27, you can hear plenty of stick impact in the center channel. This is a quick way for me to assess if there might be a peak from 5-6kHz. A peak at 5kHz often represents itself with a certain “chalkiness” to the way the hit is articulated, like chalk being scraped upon a blackboard. A peak at 6kHz tends to sound more correct, just sharper. A wide-band elevation from 5-6kHz will generally present itself with a good sense of “weight” to these percussive hits. This track is also a way for me to assess transient speed and layering. The percussive hits from 0:10 to 0:27 hit in quick succession, and a transducer should have good distinction between each hit. There’s also good amounts of shimmer and sparkle to the backdrop going on which a transducer should be capturing; this is indicative of both extension and detail retrieval. A good example of micro-dynamics is when Soo-Young enters after Taeyeon at 2:23; her voice sounds noticeably more subtle and quiet contrasted to the volume of Taeyeon's.

Galaxy Supernova is another test track by Girls' Generation that I’ve used for treble in the past. I’ve mostly stopped using it, though, because most of the track’s treble brightness is based on high-pitched electronic resonances. This can make it difficult to pinpoint specific peaks and valleys in a transducer’s treble response, as there’s little basis for what these sounds are like in real-life. It’s mainly just a tolerance test for “does this IEM’s treble make my ears hurt?” at this point.

Tim McGraw - Thought About You: There is a persistent ~15kHz whine in the right channel all throughout the opening of this track. Don't ask me what they were thinking when they mastered it like this, but it's a quick way to tell if a transducer has adequate extension. Some IEMs that peak here will make this sound overly fatiguing too.

Soundstage & Imaging

Sawano Hiroyuki - Binary Star (ft. Uru): Sawano Hiroyuki’s tracks frequently play with staging, and there is a lot of ambiance to the opening of this track; it sounds oh-so-open. This is mainly useful for A/B purposes because it sounds more open than your average track on most transducers you listen to anyways. As it progressively gets busier, though, it makes for a good test of general layering ability. The violins from 2:58 to 3:20 are another good indicator of a transducer’s presence regions. If they fall back into the mix too much, that usually indicates a recession at 3-4kHz.

Taeyeon - Fine: I’ve talked about this track a lot before, but this remains a personal favorite for testing center image distinction and layering. Taeyeon’s voice should be forward and upfront in this track. But 2:38 onwards into the last chorus has a series of vocal overdubs with which Taeyeon’s voice comes from all parts of the center image. If you listen closely on a good transducer, you’ll even notice that her voice comes from varying depths too. Transducers with poor imaging will often cluster these overdubs and make it impossible to tell where they are coming from in the center image. Listening for the sense of space between these overdubs is also a good way for me to discern separation.

Dynamics

Okay, this is somewhat awkward: I actually do not listen to a lot of music with high dynamic range. If I'm being perfectly honest, this is mainly because I do not think that the dynamic range of a track has much bearing on my enjoyment. As far as I understand it (obligatory "not an expert"), dynamic range simply represents the ratio between a given track's lowest and quietest points; it is not necessarily a representation of the actual quality of the track's mastering. I would go so far as to argue that some measure of compression is enjoyable, as it gives tracks a sense of fullness when done correctly. And yes, I'm well aware that this might be ironic given how heavily I index for dynamics. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yiruma - River Flows in You (Orchestra Version): Here, I’m listening from 2:25 to 3:34. At 2:25, the song recedes into a quiet section; this is followed by a steady rise in volume until it peaks with the violins at 3:34. Ideally, a transducer should sound quiet at the quietest part and loud at the loudest part. A transducer that does this properly has good dynamic contrast, particularly for crescendo/decrescendo (gradual) dynamic swings.

Kenny Chesney - There Goes My Life: Kenny’s older stuff tends to be pretty well mastered and with robust dynamic range. I really like how the cadence of this track builds from 1:47 to 3:15. There’s also a lot of tasteful detail that’s been left in the mastering. At 2:19, for example, you can hear that particular hit on the drum jump in volume.

Sawano Hiroyuki - e of s (2V-ALK Version): The re-mastered version actually has less dynamic range than the original, which is this one. Parts I’m looking for here are the explosions into loudness, particularly the one from 2:40 to 2:55. At 2:40, the track is at peak loudness, at 2:49 the vocalist Mizuki’s voice drops slightly, then the cadence of the track itself drops shortly before exploding into peak loudness again. This is a good way, at least for me, to tell if a transducer scales dynamic swings quickly (or with what some might call sforzando).

Sawano Hiroyuki - Tranquility / A/Z (Remastered): I'm not as fond as the original versions of these tracks. You can tell they are smoothed over in the air frequencies and that they sound somewhat congested; this leads me to prefer the remastered versions even if they might technically be more compressed on something like the DR Meter. That aside, these tracks are good for getting a general sense of a transducer's ability to carry "weight" or a sense of physicality between dynamic swings. Tranquility has transitions from 0:50, 2:04, and 3:38. A/Z has transitions at 1:10 and 2:55, plus sports a good amount of peak loudness.

Taeyeon - I: Taeyeon has a vibrant timbre to her voice in the opening. She should sound like her voice is almost glowing. Verbal Jint’s rap verses from 0:23 to 0:44 should hit with authority and confidence. To be clear, I am not necessarily listening for frequency response on this track. This is a good test for what I usually associate with vibrancy and engagement factor; some transducers might have great resolution, but they will sound etched and boring on this track nonetheless.

---

Thanks for introducing me to Island and Run Away (will stay with me for a long time)... They just sound phenomenal on my IER-Z1R and Tia Trio.. On other IEMs (MEST for example) in my possession, I do feel those bass notes quickly decay and move on.. But these 2 IEMs are amazing for this genre.. If you do plan to generate a Spotify or TIDAL playlist for any other favorite tracks that you like and share, please do so. I like straightforward reviews (nitpicks should be clear and not vague) and you are up there with the reviewers I admire (aminus and crinacle).. Keep continuing the great work !

P.S I think you need to update the Tia Trio ranking (should be same as Z1R given the final score)

 

[Precogvision]

Effect Audio x Elysian Acoustic Labs Gaea Impressions

Configuration: 1DD/4BA
Price: $1300 USD
Unit was kindly provided for review courtesy of Heley and @JordonEA of Effect Audio: https://www.effectaudio.com/gaea

Effect Audio x Elysian Acoustic Labs. An unexpected, but perhaps fitting (EA^2, anyone?) collaboration between South-East boutique brands. In any case, I had to do a double-take when Lee, the proprietor Elysian Acoustic Labs, told me about his upcoming collaboration. And perhaps not without cause either: Effect Audio is best known for their cables and less known - almost notorious, really - for their IEMs. Some readers may recall my not-so-positive impressions of the Axiom, or even Crinacle's infamous articles about some of the brand's older, now long discontinued wares. But I digress. I'd prefer to direct your focus to the present: the Gaea.

On brief listen, it’s clear that the Gaea shares a lot of DNA with its Elysian siblings. The Gaea’s bass is even handled by the Foster dynamic driver that is used in the venerable Annihilator. I have a love-hate relationship with this DD, and I think a lot of the qualms that I applied to the Annihilator’s bass carry over here. In essence, the Gaea’s bass has a strong focus on note attack which yields an emphasis on ‘slam’ and explosiveness. It’s difficult not to call this good bass in tandem with a robust, 10dB over 1kHz and controlled sub-bass shelf that’s right up my alley. But I’d be remiss to note that bass sounds somewhat too fast in decay, and there’s some richness that’s missing, richness that I associate with the best dynamic driver implementations. For what it's worth, I think these characteristics work well enough given the hyper-engaging, quick sound that the Gaea is targeting.

Concurrent with Effect Audio’s marketing literature, it’s pretty obvious what the Gaea’s presentation is focusing on. Leaving aside the flat lower-midrange (warm, gooey and ‘musically’ inclined listeners can stop reading here), the upper-midrange of the Gaea is gun-to-the-head for max clarity. But not in a bad way at all; quite the opposite, really. From 1.5kHz to 5kHz, the Gaea is nearly dead-flat and about ~8dB over 1kHz. There are definitely some comparisons that come to mind, like the Empire Ears Odin, but the Gaea also has the benefit of more sub-bass to mask some of this forwardness. In essence, this results in a remarkable balance between upfront and intense but not quite fatiguing. The faintest of vocal overdubs and trailing echo - details that I hadn't noticed previously - are pulled forward on mixes like Seori's "Lovers in the Night". I think the Gaea definitely has its target audience down pat, as most anything pop or EDM with female vocals is a treat to the ears pending tolerance for upper-midrange presence.

Last but not least (well, actually sort of least) is the Gaea’s treble. I think it’s just decent, at least in comparison with something like the Symphonium Helios. Compared to my Elysian Diva CIEM, the Gaea seems to have more peskiness somewhere in the mid-treble to upper-treble regions. It’s not quite as polarizing as I remember it being in show conditions (which probably pulled down my perception of the bass, thus bringing forward the treble more) at CanJam SoCal, but it's still a tad unruly. There’s a subtle sense of roughness that I pick up on in certain runs like SNSD’s “Into the New World” on the opening percussive hits. Basically, in terms of raw tuning, the Gaea is pretty competent if a little rough around the edges. The Gaea's certainly no Diva in this department, especially when you account for the Diva’s tuning flexibility.

But technicalities…well, what can I say? The Gaea is incredible in the detail department, neck-and-neck with the Diva. It should come as no surprise either, thanks to the flat lower-midrange and plateau from 3-5kHz. The peak in the upper-treble is also reserved enough in magnitude, and in a particular region, for which most listeners would associate it more with a sense of airiness and micro-detail rather than unnaturalness. Now, there are some differences in timbre. Previously, I described the Diva as being like a photo that’s been artificially sharpened, in a slightly glossy sense, without unwanted grain. The Gaea adds back some of this grain and is a little more sharpened. Oddly enough, staging on the Gaea is wider than my Diva CIEM and more reminiscent of the Annihilator's staging from memory. In classic Elysian fashion, macro-dynamics on the Gaea are also excellent. Explosive, engaging, whatever you want to call it. It just sounds expensive.

Speaking of which, no product is worth its salt outside the context of its competition. But the joke’s mostly on the competition because there's not much that comes to mind at $1300 that competes with this, at least not directly. The 64A U6t, the MEST MKII, the Monarch MKII, and the list goes on; these are all IEMs with different flavors of tuning, until you reach the Diva at $1500. And I'm not sure if the Diva is even strictly better, although it certainly affords you more flexibility with tuning. In some sense, Lee from Elysian Acoustic Labs has been able to carve out a niche for his own type of sound, and that sentiment extends to the Gaea. The real problem is that Lee has struggled - and I mean seriously struggled - with keeping pace with orders. That's where this collaboration with Effect Audio handling the production comes in. The Gaea is truly a challenge of past preconceptions that I've had about the brand's IEM products, and if Effect Audio can maintain stock and good quality control, then I think they have a winner.

Bias Score: 8/10

All critical listening was done with the stock 4.4mm cable, SpinFit W1 tips, and my iBasso DX300.

 

[o0genesis0o]

Effect Audio x Elysian Acoustic Labs Gaea Impressions

Configuration: 1DD/4BA
Price: $1300 USD
Unit was kindly provided for review courtesy of Heley and @JordonEA of Effect Audio: https://www.effectaudio.com/gaea




Effect Audio x Elysian Acoustic Labs. An unexpected, but perhaps fitting (EA^2, anyone?) collaboration between South-East boutique brands. In any case, I had to do a double-take when Lee, the proprietor Elysian Acoustic Labs, told me about his upcoming collaboration. And perhaps not without cause either: Effect Audio is best known for their cables and less known - almost notorious, really - for their IEMs. Some readers may recall my not-so-positive impressions of the Axiom, or even Crinacle's infamous articles about some of the brand's older, now long discontinued wares. But I digress. I'd prefer to direct your focus to the present: the Gaea.

On brief listen, it’s clear that the Gaea shares a lot of DNA with its Elysian siblings. The Gaea’s bass is even handled by the Foster dynamic driver that is used in the venerable Annihilator. I have a love-hate relationship with this DD, and I think a lot of the qualms that I applied to the Annihilator’s bass carry over here. In essence, the Gaea’s bass has a strong focus on note attack which yields an emphasis on ‘slam’ and explosiveness. It’s difficult not to call this good bass in tandem with a robust, 10dB over 1kHz and controlled sub-bass shelf that’s right up my alley. But I’d be remiss to note that bass sounds somewhat too fast in decay, and there’s some richness that’s missing, richness that I associate with the best dynamic driver implementations. For what it's worth, I think these characteristics work well enough given the hyper-engaging, quick sound that the Gaea is targeting.

Concurrent with Effect Audio’s marketing literature, it’s pretty obvious what the Gaea’s presentation is focusing on. Leaving aside the flat lower-midrange (warm, gooey and ‘musically’ inclined listeners can stop reading here), the upper-midrange of the Gaea is gun-to-the-head for max clarity. But not in a bad way at all; quite the opposite, really. From 1.5kHz to 5kHz, the Gaea is nearly dead-flat and about ~8dB over 1kHz. There are definitely some comparisons that come to mind, like the Empire Ears Odin, but the Gaea also has the benefit of more sub-bass to mask some of this forwardness. In essence, this results in a remarkable balance between upfront and intense but not quite fatiguing. The faintest of vocal overdubs and trailing echo - details that I hadn't noticed previously - are pulled forward on mixes like Seori's "Lovers in the Night". I think the Gaea definitely has its target audience down pat, as most anything pop or EDM with female vocals is a treat to the ears pending tolerance for upper-midrange presence.

Last but not least (well, actually sort of least) is the Gaea’s treble. I think it’s just decent, at least in comparison with something like the Symphonium Helios. Compared to my Elysian Diva CIEM, the Gaea seems to have more peskiness somewhere in the mid-treble to upper-treble regions. It’s not quite as polarizing as I remember it being in show conditions (which probably pulled down my perception of the bass, thus bringing forward the treble more) at CanJam SoCal, but it's still a tad unruly. There’s a subtle sense of roughness that I pick up on in certain runs like SNSD’s “Into the New World” on the opening percussive hits. Basically, in terms of raw tuning, the Gaea is pretty competent if a little rough around the edges. The Gaea's certainly no Diva in this department, especially when you account for the Diva’s tuning flexibility.

But technicalities…well, what can I say? The Gaea is incredible in the detail department, neck-and-neck with the Diva. It should come as no surprise either, thanks to the flat lower-midrange and plateau from 3-5kHz. The peak in the upper-treble is also reserved enough in magnitude, and in a particular region, for which most listeners would associate it more with a sense of airiness and micro-detail rather than unnaturalness. Now, there are some differences in timbre. Previously, I described the Diva as being like a photo that’s been artificially sharpened, in a slightly glossy sense, without unwanted grain. The Gaea adds back some of this grain and is a little more sharpened. Oddly enough, staging on the Gaea is wider than my Diva CIEM and more reminiscent of the Annihilator's staging from memory. In classic Elysian fashion, macro-dynamics on the Gaea are also excellent. Explosive, engaging, whatever you want to call it. It just sounds expensive.

Speaking of which, no product is worth its salt outside the context of its competition. But the joke’s mostly on the competition because there's not much that comes to mind at $1300 that competes with this, at least not directly. The 64A U6t, the MEST MKII, the Monarch MKII, and the list goes on; these are all IEMs with different flavors of tuning, until you reach the Diva at $1500. And I'm not sure if the Diva is even strictly better, although it certainly affords you more flexibility with tuning. In some sense, Lee from Elysian Acoustic Labs has been able to carve out a niche for his own type of sound, and that sentiment extends to the Gaea. The real problem is that Lee has struggled - and I mean seriously struggled - with keeping pace with orders. That's where this collaboration with Effect Audio handling the production comes in. The Gaea is truly a challenge of past preconceptions that I've had about the brand's IEM products, and if Effect Audio can maintain stock and good quality control, then I think they have a winner.

Bias Score: 8/10

All critical listening was done with the stock 4.4mm cable, SpinFit W1 tips, and my iBasso DX300.

Good looking IEM that sounds good, and seems to be comfortable? Very interesting indeed. Thanks for the review, mate.

 

[hevelaoak]

Effect Audio x Elysian Acoustic Labs Gaea Impressions

Configuration: 1DD/4BA
Price: $1300 USD
Unit was kindly provided for review courtesy of Heley and @JordonEA of Effect Audio: https://www.effectaudio.com/gaea




Effect Audio x Elysian Acoustic Labs. An unexpected, but perhaps fitting (EA^2, anyone?) collaboration between South-East boutique brands. In any case, I had to do a double-take when Lee, the proprietor Elysian Acoustic Labs, told me about his upcoming collaboration. And perhaps not without cause either: Effect Audio is best known for their cables and less known - almost notorious, really - for their IEMs. Some readers may recall my not-so-positive impressions of the Axiom, or even Crinacle's infamous articles about some of the brand's older, now long discontinued wares. But I digress. I'd prefer to direct your focus to the present: the Gaea.

On brief listen, it’s clear that the Gaea shares a lot of DNA with its Elysian siblings. The Gaea’s bass is even handled by the Foster dynamic driver that is used in the venerable Annihilator. I have a love-hate relationship with this DD, and I think a lot of the qualms that I applied to the Annihilator’s bass carry over here. In essence, the Gaea’s bass has a strong focus on note attack which yields an emphasis on ‘slam’ and explosiveness. It’s difficult not to call this good bass in tandem with a robust, 10dB over 1kHz and controlled sub-bass shelf that’s right up my alley. But I’d be remiss to note that bass sounds somewhat too fast in decay, and there’s some richness that’s missing, richness that I associate with the best dynamic driver implementations. For what it's worth, I think these characteristics work well enough given the hyper-engaging, quick sound that the Gaea is targeting.

Concurrent with Effect Audio’s marketing literature, it’s pretty obvious what the Gaea’s presentation is focusing on. Leaving aside the flat lower-midrange (warm, gooey and ‘musically’ inclined listeners can stop reading here), the upper-midrange of the Gaea is gun-to-the-head for max clarity. But not in a bad way at all; quite the opposite, really. From 1.5kHz to 5kHz, the Gaea is nearly dead-flat and about ~8dB over 1kHz. There are definitely some comparisons that come to mind, like the Empire Ears Odin, but the Gaea also has the benefit of more sub-bass to mask some of this forwardness. In essence, this results in a remarkable balance between upfront and intense but not quite fatiguing. The faintest of vocal overdubs and trailing echo - details that I hadn't noticed previously - are pulled forward on mixes like Seori's "Lovers in the Night". I think the Gaea definitely has its target audience down pat, as most anything pop or EDM with female vocals is a treat to the ears pending tolerance for upper-midrange presence.

Last but not least (well, actually sort of least) is the Gaea’s treble. I think it’s just decent, at least in comparison with something like the Symphonium Helios. Compared to my Elysian Diva CIEM, the Gaea seems to have more peskiness somewhere in the mid-treble to upper-treble regions. It’s not quite as polarizing as I remember it being in show conditions (which probably pulled down my perception of the bass, thus bringing forward the treble more) at CanJam SoCal, but it's still a tad unruly. There’s a subtle sense of roughness that I pick up on in certain runs like SNSD’s “Into the New World” on the opening percussive hits. Basically, in terms of raw tuning, the Gaea is pretty competent if a little rough around the edges. The Gaea's certainly no Diva in this department, especially when you account for the Diva’s tuning flexibility.

But technicalities…well, what can I say? The Gaea is incredible in the detail department, neck-and-neck with the Diva. It should come as no surprise either, thanks to the flat lower-midrange and plateau from 3-5kHz. The peak in the upper-treble is also reserved enough in magnitude, and in a particular region, for which most listeners would associate it more with a sense of airiness and micro-detail rather than unnaturalness. Now, there are some differences in timbre. Previously, I described the Diva as being like a photo that’s been artificially sharpened, in a slightly glossy sense, without unwanted grain. The Gaea adds back some of this grain and is a little more sharpened. Oddly enough, staging on the Gaea is wider than my Diva CIEM and more reminiscent of the Annihilator's staging from memory. In classic Elysian fashion, macro-dynamics on the Gaea are also excellent. Explosive, engaging, whatever you want to call it. It just sounds expensive.

Speaking of which, no product is worth its salt outside the context of its competition. But the joke’s mostly on the competition because there's not much that comes to mind at $1300 that competes with this, at least not directly. The 64A U6t, the MEST MKII, the Monarch MKII, and the list goes on; these are all IEMs with different flavors of tuning, until you reach the Diva at $1500. And I'm not sure if the Diva is even strictly better, although it certainly affords you more flexibility with tuning. In some sense, Lee from Elysian Acoustic Labs has been able to carve out a niche for his own type of sound, and that sentiment extends to the Gaea. The real problem is that Lee has struggled - and I mean seriously struggled - with keeping pace with orders. That's where this collaboration with Effect Audio handling the production comes in. The Gaea is truly a challenge of past preconceptions that I've had about the brand's IEM products, and if Effect Audio can maintain stock and good quality control, then I think they have a winner.

Bias Score: 8/10

All critical listening was done with the stock 4.4mm cable, SpinFit W1 tips, and my iBasso DX300.

now this is interesting. Idk if I love or don't care about Annihilator's Foster DD, but I think I kinda enjoyed it the last time I heard it. and I think the price is competitive as per your impressions of its performance. might actually be a winner

 

[TooPoorForHiFi]

Effect Audio x Elysian Acoustic Labs Gaea Impressions

Configuration: 1DD/4BA
Price: $1300 USD
Unit was kindly provided

Any amount of Driver Flex when inserting into your Ear?

 

[WilliamBlake]

Effect Audio x Elysian Acoustic Labs Gaea Impressions

Configuration: 1DD/4BA
Price: $1300 USD
Unit was kindly provided for review courtesy of Heley and @JordonEA of Effect Audio: https://www.effectaudio.com/gaea




Effect Audio x Elysian Acoustic Labs. An unexpected, but perhaps fitting (EA^2, anyone?) collaboration between South-East boutique brands. In any case, I had to do a double-take when Lee, the proprietor Elysian Acoustic Labs, told me about his upcoming collaboration. And perhaps not without cause either: Effect Audio is best known for their cables and less known - almost notorious, really - for their IEMs. Some readers may recall my not-so-positive impressions of the Axiom, or even Crinacle's infamous articles about some of the brand's older, now long discontinued wares. But I digress. I'd prefer to direct your focus to the present: the Gaea.

On brief listen, it’s clear that the Gaea shares a lot of DNA with its Elysian siblings. The Gaea’s bass is even handled by the Foster dynamic driver that is used in the venerable Annihilator. I have a love-hate relationship with this DD, and I think a lot of the qualms that I applied to the Annihilator’s bass carry over here. In essence, the Gaea’s bass has a strong focus on note attack which yields an emphasis on ‘slam’ and explosiveness. It’s difficult not to call this good bass in tandem with a robust, 10dB over 1kHz and controlled sub-bass shelf that’s right up my alley. But I’d be remiss to note that bass sounds somewhat too fast in decay, and there’s some richness that’s missing, richness that I associate with the best dynamic driver implementations. For what it's worth, I think these characteristics work well enough given the hyper-engaging, quick sound that the Gaea is targeting.

Concurrent with Effect Audio’s marketing literature, it’s pretty obvious what the Gaea’s presentation is focusing on. Leaving aside the flat lower-midrange (warm, gooey and ‘musically’ inclined listeners can stop reading here), the upper-midrange of the Gaea is gun-to-the-head for max clarity. But not in a bad way at all; quite the opposite, really. From 1.5kHz to 5kHz, the Gaea is nearly dead-flat and about ~8dB over 1kHz. There are definitely some comparisons that come to mind, like the Empire Ears Odin, but the Gaea also has the benefit of more sub-bass to mask some of this forwardness. In essence, this results in a remarkable balance between upfront and intense but not quite fatiguing. The faintest of vocal overdubs and trailing echo - details that I hadn't noticed previously - are pulled forward on mixes like Seori's "Lovers in the Night". I think the Gaea definitely has its target audience down pat, as most anything pop or EDM with female vocals is a treat to the ears pending tolerance for upper-midrange presence.

Last but not least (well, actually sort of least) is the Gaea’s treble. I think it’s just decent, at least in comparison with something like the Symphonium Helios. Compared to my Elysian Diva CIEM, the Gaea seems to have more peskiness somewhere in the mid-treble to upper-treble regions. It’s not quite as polarizing as I remember it being in show conditions (which probably pulled down my perception of the bass, thus bringing forward the treble more) at CanJam SoCal, but it's still a tad unruly. There’s a subtle sense of roughness that I pick up on in certain runs like SNSD’s “Into the New World” on the opening percussive hits. Basically, in terms of raw tuning, the Gaea is pretty competent if a little rough around the edges. The Gaea's certainly no Diva in this department, especially when you account for the Diva’s tuning flexibility.

But technicalities…well, what can I say? The Gaea is incredible in the detail department, neck-and-neck with the Diva. It should come as no surprise either, thanks to the flat lower-midrange and plateau from 3-5kHz. The peak in the upper-treble is also reserved enough in magnitude, and in a particular region, for which most listeners would associate it more with a sense of airiness and micro-detail rather than unnaturalness. Now, there are some differences in timbre. Previously, I described the Diva as being like a photo that’s been artificially sharpened, in a slightly glossy sense, without unwanted grain. The Gaea adds back some of this grain and is a little more sharpened. Oddly enough, staging on the Gaea is wider than my Diva CIEM and more reminiscent of the Annihilator's staging from memory. In classic Elysian fashion, macro-dynamics on the Gaea are also excellent. Explosive, engaging, whatever you want to call it. It just sounds expensive.

Speaking of which, no product is worth its salt outside the context of its competition. But the joke’s mostly on the competition because there's not much that comes to mind at $1300 that competes with this, at least not directly. The 64A U6t, the MEST MKII, the Monarch MKII, and the list goes on; these are all IEMs with different flavors of tuning, until you reach the Diva at $1500. And I'm not sure if the Diva is even strictly better, although it certainly affords you more flexibility with tuning. In some sense, Lee from Elysian Acoustic Labs has been able to carve out a niche for his own type of sound, and that sentiment extends to the Gaea. The real problem is that Lee has struggled - and I mean seriously struggled - with keeping pace with orders. That's where this collaboration with Effect Audio handling the production comes in. The Gaea is truly a challenge of past preconceptions that I've had about the brand's IEM products, and if Effect Audio can maintain stock and good quality control, then I think they have a winner.

Bias Score: 8/10

All critical listening was done with the stock 4.4mm cable, SpinFit W1 tips, and my iBasso DX300.

I dig the design of this set, beautiful. For comparison an iem that comes to my mind in the same price region is Craft ears Aurum

 

[Precogvision]

now this is interesting. Idk if I love or don't care about Annihilator's Foster DD, but I think I kinda enjoyed it the last time I heard it. and I think the price is competitive as per your impressions of its performance. might actually be a winner

I was talking with Lee and he told me that he's going to phase out the Foster DD starting next year! It should be interesting to hear what he can cook up.

On a side note, I've heard some BA configurations lately that really challenge some of my beliefs about DDs vs. BAs. Basically, I'm not sure if I'd consider DDs inherently superior for bass even if they certainly sound more natural and seem to slam harder. When you push enough SPL in the sub-bass and achieve a proper seal, I think BAs mostly just sound 'different' rather than 'worse' compared to DDs. I don't really have a preference between the Gaea and the Diva's bass; they do some things better and worse between them. The Symphonium/Subtonic stuff is another good example; hoping to give the Meteor another listen this weekend. Some more food for thought (or at least something that I've noticed) is that dips and peaks in other parts of the FR can also affect perception of bass. BA drivers beget more tuning flexibility; just in general, they should allow for more granularity in dialing in certain bass characteristics.

Any amount of Driver Flex when inserting into your Ear?

No driver flex for me, but I've noticed that driver flex seems to vary from person to person. It has two vents, one at the top near the connector and another just above the base.

I dig the design of this set, beautiful. For comparison an iem that comes to my mind in the same price region is Craft ears Aurum

Oh, that's an interesting comparison. From memory, I think the Aurum sounds more treble focused. It has a lack of lower-treble (Gaea's is more linear by comparison) and heavily boosted upper-treble. It also has a DD, but it's a very lightweight sounding one. I'm guessing possibly because of how clean the bass boost is kept and the focus on upper-treble. Generally, the Aurum has more of an "ethereal" presentation (it was a bit too far into left field for me when I heard it) rather than an "aggressive" sounding one like the Gaea, but I could see the comparison.

 

[WAON303]

I expected the Gaea to be like $2,500 given the notoriety of Effect Audio's snake oil and Acoustic Labs being a TOTL brand.

 

[twiceboss]

I expected the Gaea to be like $2,500 given the notoriety of Effect Audio's snake oil and Acoustic Labs being a TOTL brand.

They are here to change the market. As long as AE can keep up with the production and I think this one will be very a hardpass to anyone who's finding an IEM at this price range. Very good pricing

 

[DaveStarWalker]

I dig the design of this set, beautiful. For comparison an iem that comes to my mind in the same price region is Craft ears Aurum

Normally, there should be a big difference in efficiency between the two gears.

Also, the Aurum's have a rather balanced, somewhat U-shaped sound.

The low end is beefy (maybe a little disjointed ). Medium are good, treble too (extended, good tuning).

My 2 cts.

 

[firesign]

Effect Audio x Elysian Acoustic Labs Gaea Impressions

Configuration: 1DD/4BA
Price: $1300 USD
Unit was kindly provided for review courtesy of Heley and @JordonEA of Effect Audio: https://www.effectaudio.com/gaea




Effect Audio x Elysian Acoustic Labs. An unexpected, but perhaps fitting (EA^2, anyone?) collaboration between South-East boutique brands. In any case, I had to do a double-take when Lee, the proprietor Elysian Acoustic Labs, told me about his upcoming collaboration. And perhaps not without cause either: Effect Audio is best known for their cables and less known - almost notorious, really - for their IEMs. Some readers may recall my not-so-positive impressions of the Axiom, or even Crinacle's infamous articles about some of the brand's older, now long discontinued wares. But I digress. I'd prefer to direct your focus to the present: the Gaea.

On brief listen, it’s clear that the Gaea shares a lot of DNA with its Elysian siblings. The Gaea’s bass is even handled by the Foster dynamic driver that is used in the venerable Annihilator. I have a love-hate relationship with this DD, and I think a lot of the qualms that I applied to the Annihilator’s bass carry over here. In essence, the Gaea’s bass has a strong focus on note attack which yields an emphasis on ‘slam’ and explosiveness. It’s difficult not to call this good bass in tandem with a robust, 10dB over 1kHz and controlled sub-bass shelf that’s right up my alley. But I’d be remiss to note that bass sounds somewhat too fast in decay, and there’s some richness that’s missing, richness that I associate with the best dynamic driver implementations. For what it's worth, I think these characteristics work well enough given the hyper-engaging, quick sound that the Gaea is targeting.

Concurrent with Effect Audio’s marketing literature, it’s pretty obvious what the Gaea’s presentation is focusing on. Leaving aside the flat lower-midrange (warm, gooey and ‘musically’ inclined listeners can stop reading here), the upper-midrange of the Gaea is gun-to-the-head for max clarity. But not in a bad way at all; quite the opposite, really. From 1.5kHz to 5kHz, the Gaea is nearly dead-flat and about ~8dB over 1kHz. There are definitely some comparisons that come to mind, like the Empire Ears Odin, but the Gaea also has the benefit of more sub-bass to mask some of this forwardness. In essence, this results in a remarkable balance between upfront and intense but not quite fatiguing. The faintest of vocal overdubs and trailing echo - details that I hadn't noticed previously - are pulled forward on mixes like Seori's "Lovers in the Night". I think the Gaea definitely has its target audience down pat, as most anything pop or EDM with female vocals is a treat to the ears pending tolerance for upper-midrange presence.

Last but not least (well, actually sort of least) is the Gaea’s treble. I think it’s just decent, at least in comparison with something like the Symphonium Helios. Compared to my Elysian Diva CIEM, the Gaea seems to have more peskiness somewhere in the mid-treble to upper-treble regions. It’s not quite as polarizing as I remember it being in show conditions (which probably pulled down my perception of the bass, thus bringing forward the treble more) at CanJam SoCal, but it's still a tad unruly. There’s a subtle sense of roughness that I pick up on in certain runs like SNSD’s “Into the New World” on the opening percussive hits. Basically, in terms of raw tuning, the Gaea is pretty competent if a little rough around the edges. The Gaea's certainly no Diva in this department, especially when you account for the Diva’s tuning flexibility.

But technicalities…well, what can I say? The Gaea is incredible in the detail department, neck-and-neck with the Diva. It should come as no surprise either, thanks to the flat lower-midrange and plateau from 3-5kHz. The peak in the upper-treble is also reserved enough in magnitude, and in a particular region, for which most listeners would associate it more with a sense of airiness and micro-detail rather than unnaturalness. Now, there are some differences in timbre. Previously, I described the Diva as being like a photo that’s been artificially sharpened, in a slightly glossy sense, without unwanted grain. The Gaea adds back some of this grain and is a little more sharpened. Oddly enough, staging on the Gaea is wider than my Diva CIEM and more reminiscent of the Annihilator's staging from memory. In classic Elysian fashion, macro-dynamics on the Gaea are also excellent. Explosive, engaging, whatever you want to call it. It just sounds expensive.

Speaking of which, no product is worth its salt outside the context of its competition. But the joke’s mostly on the competition because there's not much that comes to mind at $1300 that competes with this, at least not directly. The 64A U6t, the MEST MKII, the Monarch MKII, and the list goes on; these are all IEMs with different flavors of tuning, until you reach the Diva at $1500. And I'm not sure if the Diva is even strictly better, although it certainly affords you more flexibility with tuning. In some sense, Lee from Elysian Acoustic Labs has been able to carve out a niche for his own type of sound, and that sentiment extends to the Gaea. The real problem is that Lee has struggled - and I mean seriously struggled - with keeping pace with orders. That's where this collaboration with Effect Audio handling the production comes in. The Gaea is truly a challenge of past preconceptions that I've had about the brand's IEM products, and if Effect Audio can maintain stock and good quality control, then I think they have a winner.

Bias Score: 8/10

All critical listening was done with the stock 4.4mm cable, SpinFit W1 tips, and my iBasso DX300.

Are you going to add it to your ranking page?

 

[WilliamBlake]

Normally, there should be a big difference in efficiency between the two gears.

Also, the Aurum's have a rather balanced, somewhat U-shaped sound.

The low end is beefy (maybe a little disjointed ). Medium are good, treble too (extended, good tuning).

My 2 cts.

for efficiency I think aurum is playing in headphone league

 

[DaveStarWalker]

for efficiency I think aurum is playing in headphone league

Absolutly.

 

[HellaSpooked64]

Some more food for thought (or at least something that I've noticed) is that dips and peaks in other parts of the FR can also affect perception of bass.

Definitely agree. Recently I tried to EQ my qdc 8SL to the IER Z1R. Of course I didn't expect the result to sound exactly similar. But despite the massive overall treble boost, perception of bass slam and sub-bass focus actually improved by quite a margin.

I'm beginning to suspect that the secret behind the Z1R and CE-5's excellent bass response actually lies in the upper frequencies rather than the bass tuning itself. From the graphs one would think that these 2 iems would have more mid-bass presence, but the bright-leaning signature probably masks this part of the bass and make them sound incredibly sub-bass oriented. Didn't expect myself to type out so much, just my 2 cents lol.

 

[twiceboss]

Definitely agree. Recently I tried to EQ my qdc 8SL to the IER Z1R. Of course I didn't expect the result to sound exactly similar. But despite the massive overall treble boost, perception of bass slam and sub-bass focus actually improved by quite a margin.

I'm beginning to suspect that the secret behind the Z1R and CE-5's excellent bass response actually lies in the upper frequencies rather than the bass tuning itself. From the graphs one would think that these 2 iems would have more mid-bass presence, but the bright-leaning signature probably masks this part of the bass and make them sound incredibly sub-bass oriented. Didn't expect myself to type out so much, just my 2 cents lol.

Yes correct. Everything is related as human being hear things relative to overall harmonics. Unless, you are playing 1 note frequency. In that case, there's no relation