[Aetherhole]

I've been listening to Immanis again this morning, and its detail is starting to knock me out now that I've had some more head time.

A brief example...



In the title track (https://tidal.com/browse/track/114330494?u) of Tool's Lateralus album at 8:38 there's a guitar overdub in the left ear for about 15 secs until the drums drop out. A sort of muted chug/strum (not sure what you call it exactly) but it's something I've never noticed before.

Now, when I switched to 1266 you can barely hear it. In fact, surely the only way you'd know it was there was either because someone told you it was there or you'd just heard it on Immanis!

This is a record, btw, that I've heard hundreds of times. Closely and on headphones such as 1266.

It's unmistakable with Immanis because the part exists in its own space in the left ear, perfectly etched in space.

I point it out because I've previously emphasised my emotional connection to 1266 and how Immanis wasn't quite attaching itself to me (or I to it) in quite the same way. But this strikes me as an example of what I talked about in my initial impressions post re: technicalities contributing to emotional engagement.

Does it make my heart shudder that I can hear this one little overdub? Well, no. But it's extracting meaningful information in such a way about a track I thought I knew inside out, and illuminating the production detail and the intelligence of the band members to insert such an overdub, as well as conveying the track better in my mind's eye.

It's a concrete example of technicalities allowing me to get closer to the music in a way. That's extremely impressive.

It’s definitely something I hear, too.

The resolving capabilities isn’t just technically “better” in that it is making more things stand out, like that strum in the left ear. Lateralus is a great album and now after this I need to listen to it again in its entirety. I already listened to 10,000 Days on Immanis. After Lateralus, I’m going to also put on the Fear Inoculum album.

Chocolate Chip Trip already sounded incredible on Immanis. Love the track and Danny Carey is amazing. I love the drum timbre on Immanis; that’s something that keeps popping up and standing out as I listen to rock and metal albums.

 

[theveterans]

@Aetherhole

How was the bass dynamics on that Digital Ripple track?

 

[Aetherhole]

@Aetherhole

How was the bass dynamics on that Digital Ripple track?

So, so good. Bass dynamics and texture in the bass are so good. That was one of the first tracks that I tried when I got the Immanis. Had to stop listening to Tool for a moment to put that track on again!

 

[theveterans]

So, so good. Bass dynamics and texture in the bass are so good. That was one of the first tracks that I tried when I got the Immanis. Had to stop listening to Tool for a moment to put that track on again!

I know! I wish I had tried that track on the Card Game meetup! I would've had my jaws drop on the bass performance indeed

 

[Hiyono]

I know! I wish I had tried that track on the Card Game meetup! I would've had my jaws drop on the bass performance indeed

Thinking of having another card shop meet up again in February if you guys are interested.

 

[theveterans]

Thinking of having another card shop meet up again in February if you guys are interested.

Count me in! I've been patiently waiting

Can't wait to hear you guys 2025 setups, especially Immanis on the Soul! Thanks for sharing in advance

Hopefully I have the Bokeh Open by that time. They go on sale this December so 8-16 weeks of waiting time from ZMF after the order is completed

 

[Aetherhole]

Thinking of having another card shop meet up again in February if you guys are interested.

So long as I don’t have any conflicts the weekend it happens, I am down!

Count me in! I've been patiently waiting

Can't wait to hear you guys 2025 setups, especially Immanis on the Soul! Thanks for sharing in advance

Hopefully I have the Bokeh Open by that time. They go on sale this December so 8-16 weeks of waiting time from ZMF after the order is completed

I didn’t listen to the Bokeh Open, so that’ll be fun to try!

 

[MAISONOBE AALAIN]

I don't think that the precision of the details is the main quality of the Immanis. The Shangri Senior is also good, sometimes better.
For me, the main quality of the Immanis is to combine perfect neutrality while being very musical, so much so that we often have the impression of being in the middle of a bubble.

 

[Doug2507]

Finally.

And well worth the wait. I'll need to put the hours on them and get familiar with presentation before rolling tubes but straight off the bat I'm quite impressed. Any fears of distant / recessed mids and bright treble are gone, neither am I finding lack of intimacy on vocals. I'd like more body down low but with less than a hour on them I gather that'll flesh out.

I'm not really a touchy feely type guy but really impressed with the build quality, the leather headband especially is super nice.

Really comfy to wear and weight is a non issue for me.

 

[Aetherhole]

Finally.

And well worth the wait. I'll need to put the hours on them and get familiar with presentation before rolling tubes but straight off the bat I'm quite impressed. Any fears of distant / recessed mids and bright treble are gone, neither am I finding lack of intimacy on vocals. I'd like more body down low but with less than a hour on them I gather that'll flesh out.

I'm not really a touchy feely type guy but really impressed with the build quality, the leather headband especially is super nice.

Really comfy to wear and weight is a non issue for me.

Congratulations!

The intimate vocals, I find, is in comparison to other headphones, like Susvara OG & Unveiled. I do find vocals still quite close when they called to be. What I am finding more and more as I have listened for hours and hours and hours is that there is more depth and layered space between. Vocals can be close (relative, again) but background and other things can sound just even more distant than before, which is pretty incredible.

 

[Doug2507]

Congratulations!

The intimate vocals, I find, is in comparison to other headphones, like Susvara OG & Unveiled. I do find vocals still quite close when they called to be. What I am finding more and more as I have listened for hours and hours and hours is that there is more depth and layered space between. Vocals can be close (relative, again) but background and other things can sound just even more distant than before, which is pretty incredible.

Yeah, that's one of the things I picked up straight away, layering / separation is superb but not at the expense of coherence. That in itself is quite the party trick to pull off IMO. I'm one of those who doesn't particularly like super wide stage as most times it spreads the picture out too thinly but I don't hear that at all with these, all images (?) are grand enough to fill the room. Most excellent.

One thing I did notice though is that they need volume for fullness. If really low volume then things are a bit disjointed / big separation.

 

[Aetherhole]

Yeah, that's one of the things I picked up straight away, layering / separation is superb but not at the expense of coherence. That in itself is quite the party trick to pull off IMO. I'm one of those who doesn't particularly like super wide stage as most times it spreads the picture out too thinly but I don't hear that at all with these, all images (?) are grand enough to fill the room. Most excellent.

One thing I did notice though is that they need volume for fullness. If really low volume then things are a bit disjointed / big separation.

I want things equally and what I find in most headphones is there’s a lot more lateral width than there is forward depth. It’s different with Immanis, I now finally get that forward depth.

Granted, I have been wanting and waiting for a headphone that more closely portrays the 2-channel experience and this is about as close as I’ve ever come.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

Congratulations!

The intimate vocals, I find, is in comparison to other headphones, like Susvara OG & Unveiled. I do find vocals still quite close when they called to be.

Agree on that. My tonight's playlist is from Diana Panton (I Believe In Little Things Album). Diana's vocal has sweet intimacy, while definitely not being overly forward like with Audeze LCD-5 or DCA Expanse.

Hearing for the 3rd time now, I cant say I hear it "very clearly" on APX but its rather clear and textured "zzhug" I havent heard before yet. I barely can hear it on my Susvara.

Getting Immanis for a final pre-purchase home demo hopefully in a couple of weeks, will be exciting to compare it with res monster APX.

I've been using PMG Apx for the last 2 weeks. Natural tonality, micro detail and soundstage depth being things that I most appreciated from this IEM. However, Immanis better than PMG for these things altogether. I let the other two persons who use PMG Apx to listen my Immanis, both of them also being surprised how "correct" the timbre on Immanis, combine with extract even more detail and how spacious the staging.

 

[Doug2507]

Timbre is superb. Presents it better than Storm (IMO). Without having any real instruments playing beside me, for me, this is the most textured transducer I've heard. I was away to say timberally accurate but what we think an instrument sounds like and what it does are usually two different things. However, being a bass player, listening to RHCP, bass notes sound very accurate to what I know them to sound like in RL.

I've got APX SE arriving tomorrow as well so audio overload this weekend. Not that I'll be comparing HP with IEM as there's no real relevance apart from tone IMO.

One thing I need to get used to from Storm though is the lack of physical impact down low. My brain tells me the gravitas of bass impact (and mids tbh for rock) is there but the feeling is different, slight loss of dimensionality.

 

[Aetherhole]

Timbre is superb. Presents it better than Storm (IMO). Without having any real instruments playing beside me, for me, this is the most textured transducer I've heard. I was away to say timberally accurate but what we think an instrument sounds like and what it does are usually two different things. However, being a bass player, listening to RHCP, bass notes sound very accurate to what I know them to sound like in RL.

I've got APX SE arriving tomorrow as well so audio overload this weekend. Not that I'll be comparing HP with IEM as there's no real relevance apart from tone IMO.

One thing I need to get used to from Storm though is the lack of physical impact down low. My brain tells me the gravitas of bass impact (and mids tbh for rock) is there but the feeling is different, slight loss of dimensionality.

Agreed! Also agree on the most textured transducer, too. Timbrally, to my ears, Immanis does so many things so very right. Bass guitar, guiltars both electric and acoustic, drums, brass instruments, all sound really, really good with just the right amount of weight. Violins I think sound just slightly (emphasis on slightly) lighter. Vocals I think are a really good balance of weight and breathiness and timbre is also very good here. Oh, harps?? Love how harps sound on Immanis! A couple tracks with harp that just had me double take were “The Seal Lullaby” by Voces8 from the Eventide album and “Together Again” by Janet Jackson from the Velvet Rope album.

I think the IEM that gives me thorough satisfaction in physical impact down low, like wayyyy way low, is the A&K x EE Novus. The dual dynamics and the dual BCDs I think work very well there.