[bcaulf17]

Just offering a contrarian point of view.

I always find truth to the expression that hearing is an individual experience that neither can be easily shared or experienced with others. I suppose this is true for all our five senses. I might perceive colors with a different hue than others, but I wouldn't know that until it is possible to have eye transplants.

The relevance is the 64Audio U12t. I read and see many individuals that seem to have compared this IEM against other familiar IEMs and describe it with capabilities of high resolution. Yet, of the more expensive IEMs I own, I find it lower in detail resolution than the Sony IER, 64 U18t, Noble Kahn, and Noble K10u. I find it comparably soft in resolution. Since both sides ( reversed L & R ) don't change anything when playing back test tracks, I dismiss the likelihood of any manufacturing out of specification performance.

I consider myself adequately perceptive as I am able to discern sonic qualities of different wire materials and possibly to some extent even different HQPlayer algorithms and upscalers. I always warm up my equipment before listening and I also use silver tarnish remover on my connectors regularly.

The 18t and Kahn are a bit pricier than the 12t so maybe that isn’t the fairest comparison?

 

[Frankie D]

The 18t and Kahn are a bit pricier than the 12t so maybe that isn’t the fairest comparison?

The comparison is fair as many claim the U12T to be either the best in their opinion or a top tier IEM.

 

[YoungAudioEnthusiast]

The comparison is fair as many claim the U12T to be either the best in their opinion or a top tier IEM.

Maybe the u12t is just the pinnacle of the middle ground between technicalities and tone. I care more about technicalities so the anole vx is the best iem for me. But, personally I wouldn't get offended if someone said it's not their cup of tea.

 

[Frankie D]

Maybe the u12t is just the pinnacle of the middle ground between technicalities and tone. I care more about technicalities so the anole vx is the best iem for me. But, personally I wouldn't get offended if someone said it's not their cup of tea.

Maybe. The VX is excellent as well.

 

[YoungAudioEnthusiast]

Maybe. The VX is excellent as well.

I think most people unintentionally factor in the price. If I'm not wow'ed by an iem that costed me 3k of my hard earned money, then I might not think very highly of it.

 

[Kerouac]

Hmmm, some nice 'food for thought' posts in this conversation that @Lépine started up.

My last contribution in this thread has been 3 years ago: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/rank-the-iems-youve-heard.454855/page-128#post-14768944
and of course many IEMs have been launched since then.

This thread has always been about our personal preferences (while we also all hear things differently) in the first place. And that's what makes it so much fun and interesting at the same time.

Last year I took a break from HF, but I still kept listening to music a lot during that period. Now, based on my ranking you would expect that I would have listened mainly with my EE Phantom (tone) & Zeus XR (technicalities) over that period. But strangely enough the Warbler Prelude was most of the time my 'weapon of in-ear choice' during that year. I can't say that it's my best IEM, but I simply enjoyed it the most.

Now as we're talking about prices. One of the reasons that I took a long break was that I got frustrated by prices going totally wild (imho) on IEMs at some point. Almost hitting the $10K mark... Seriously? I guess not many of us will and can spend that much dough on a tiny piece of audio in-ear jewelry.

Some weeks ago I received a review sample (ES ONYX) that has an amazing price / performance ratio imo, but if I would include it in my ranking now, I wouldn't pick its affordable price as a factor myself. However based on its layering in the lows and beautiful holographic sound, it would end up above many, much more expensive IEMs, purely based on that signature characteristics.

All IEMs have their own weaknesses and strengths. What about lows, mids, treble, resolution, soundstage, instrument separation, imaging, timbre/tone, etc. There's just no such thing as the perfect (doing everything right) IEM I guess.

Oh, and although all people hear differently, some people might hear a bit more differently than others

Have a good day ya' all and of course happy listening!

 

[Lépine]

The one aspect I appreciate about the U12t is that it sounds like the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
That concert hall is generally good (not great), but it serves as a reference for what should be the true live sound
for a few genre of music I like to listen to. I did talk with the sound engineer there and learned about the techniques
used to open and modulate pneumatic panels to tune the hall. Quite interesting.

I had a great time there last weekend.

Decidedly not portable, my listening chair. 675 artist and 20 thousand songs.
I use the Surface as the media library and the MSI as the hardware for the MQPlayer and upscale to 1 million taps using the NVidia GeForce RTX 3070.
Or, I upscale using the Chord M-Scalar and Hugo TT2. Off boarding the data files and processing them with the NVdia or MScalar brings out a substantial amount of detail in the music that straight into a DAC won't achieve.

 

[Lépine]

I enjoy listing to the 64 Audio U12t and if there was the opportunity to purchase a revised edition of this IEM design, I would seriously look into it. It has many great qualities and offers a distinct character to the music that is different from my other IEMs and headphones. There is to me enjoyment in using these IEMs. The bass reproduction is a bit more fun at times than the Sony IER depending on the recording. And I do agree it is quite holographic, disappointing for my Audeze LCD-i4 (it looses on all fronts).

 

[gLer]

With the Vision Ears flgship reviews in the bag, I've updated my IEM ranking list accordingly. Both VEs make my Top 5 based on score. I've also adjusted other scores based on my experiece listening to EXT and Phönix, because these things are all relative and subjective after all. Ranks now done by score, not listing order.

​

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Here is my current top 10. I updated it after the 4 IEMs I heard as part of the Vision Ears Tour by Audio Tiers. When I have time, I'll update this to include the top 20. I need to do some additional listening first.

1. Vision Ears EXT.
2. Empire Ears EVO
3. Empire Ears Odin
4. Oriolus Traillii
5. Sony IER-Z1R
6. Unique Melody MEST Indigo
7. Vision Ears Phonix.
8 Empire Ears Legend X
9. Vision Ears VE8
10. Oriolus Isabellae

 

[Rockwell75]

With the Vision Ears flgship reviews in the bag, I've updated my IEM ranking list accordingly. Both VEs make my Top 5 based on score. I've also adjusted other scores based on my experiece listening to EXT and Phönix, because these things are all relative and subjective after all. Ranks now done by score, not listing order.

​

Here is my current top 10. I updated it after the 4 IEMs I heard as part of the Vision Ears Tour by Audio Tiers. When I have time, I'll update this to include the top 20. I need to do some additional listening first.

1. Vision Ears EXT.
2. Empire Ears EVO
3. Empire Ears Odin
4. Oriolus Traillii
5. Sony IER-Z1R
6. Unique Melody MEST Indigo
7. Vision Ears Phonix.
8 Empire Ears Legend X
9. Vision Ears VE8
10. Oriolus Isabellae

Great lists both. It never ceases to amaze me how differently we all hear things. I take heart in the discrepancies in some of these rankings are as it shows that people are being sincere and true to their own tastes & perceptions and not beholden to influencers and other so-called professionals. Also, I really need to hear the EVO.

 

[immortalsoul]

Here is my current top 10. I updated it after the 4 IEMs I heard as part of the Vision Ears Tour by Audio Tiers. When I have time, I'll update this to include the top 20. I need to do some additional listening first.

1. Vision Ears EXT.
2. Empire Ears EVO
3. Empire Ears Odin
4. Oriolus Traillii
5. Sony IER-Z1R
6. Unique Melody MEST Indigo
7. Vision Ears Phonix.
8 Empire Ears Legend X
9. Vision Ears VE8
10. Oriolus Isabellae

How much money are on that table? Great list

 

[Rockwell75]

How much money are on that table? Great list

~$25K MSRP by my reckoning.

 

[Natesdailies]

Here is my current top 10. I updated it after the 4 IEMs I heard as part of the Vision Ears Tour by Audio Tiers. When I have time, I'll update this to include the top 20. I need to do some additional listening first.

1. Vision Ears EXT.
2. Empire Ears EVO
3. Empire Ears Odin
4. Oriolus Traillii
5. Sony IER-Z1R
6. Unique Melody MEST Indigo
7. Vision Ears Phonix.
8 Empire Ears Legend X
9. Vision Ears VE8
10. Oriolus Isabellae

Great list. How would you compare the Odin to the EXT? Is it complimentary?

 

[kevin638880]

Great list. How would you compare the Odin to the EXT? Is it complimentary?

For me, yes, because they are nearly completely opposite in terms of what they excel at. Basically musicality vs technicality, smooth vs sharp(er), thick vs thin(ner), warmer vs neutral/brighter.