AlanU
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2015
- Posts
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Day 2 and am really loving the M4U4s. The 'Room Feel' tech is not just marketing hype, it seems - Barton really does seem to have nailed a sense of instrument placement and frequency balance which is as true to listening to a 2 speaker set up in real life as I have heard in an IEM. Superb stuff.
For those of you in UK who might be interested in these - I got mine from Advanced MP3 Players, with 10% off using the code AMP22. So £206.10 if you go for free shipping.
Toom,
After I auditioned other earphones in this price range I think the PSB's do have a decent sound stage. I felt the advertisement of "Room Feel" seems like extra adjectives for advertisement to describe this earphone. The flatter neutral presentation is still a relatively small intimate soundstage as long as the source does not artificially create a larger one. My Concero HD DAC (now sold) created an overly exaggerated artificial sounding massive soundstage in "pure bit" mode and even when it filtered. To my ears this dac was not a good match for the HD800. In a two channel hifi system if the speaker dispersion is excellent the 2 speakers disappear and you feel a 3d holographic sensation as if your listening to a well calibrated 5.1 or 9.1 theater setup. PSB soundstage still feels quite closed similar to an HD650 headphone imo. HD650 has a marginally slightly larger soundstage.
For low volume listening I do wonder if a vented earphone does a better job. The cheaper H3 (similar price range) earphone's dispersion of sound provides a much open atmosphere soundstage. I would describe the sound more suited to a "room feel" than the PSB smaller enclosed soundstage.
The more I listen to my set of PSB's I can see how "in store" auditioning can be misleading. Why? Unless you do not invest in a lot of time at the store you cannot get a true feel of how a short honeymoon session of "WOW factor" impression can turn into a fatiguing set of earphones over a long hearing session at home or on the run.
The PSB has been pleasant with full body of music with no shrilling or over powering bass head pounding. These earphones are acceptably smooth but that's probably due to the roll off of high frequencies. Pleasant listening experience