flinkenick's 17 Flagship IEM Shootout Thread (and general high-end portable audio discussion)
Oh, I also forgot about the Jomo Samba! Speaking of bang-for-the-buck, that one would be the cheapest out of the three I recommended to you previously,
JINX! hah got you both! then ill add the samba to my research since you mentioned them at the same time ahha!
Ooh, add Westone ES80. Samba-esque, but with better bass extension. Fantastic resolution and detail, very nice for EDM.
Thanks again!! ill look it up!
So today was Vision Ears day at Gisele's! And as promised some brief impressions.
VE3
Demoed these very briefly at the end of my visit together with the VE4 (I did not demo the VE2) and although not the IEMs I came for, still very nice. The VE3, I remembered from the website, were called "convincingly neutral" and had an "unexcited bass", and that is spot on how I would describe them. Very neutral and worked well with classical music, but for my preferences lacked emotion because of the very unexcited bass. The bass is there and is pretty good, just far back to create a clinical sound that I guess is exactly what someone looking for an analytical signature would want. In that regard I think they were very good.
VE4
Also demoed only briefly and my least favourite because these are clearly V-shaped. I didn't like that one bit because I have become a big fan of mids. That said, they were certainly not unpleasant and worked well with more engaging music such as Imagine Dragons.
VE5
Now these were the first I tried because I have been yearning to hear them ever since reading @jelt2359's review. Did they overwhelm me with excellence? Not as such. It took a few minutes of listening before I got it, but then I understood exactly what Jelt had been talking about. The VE5 are the pinnacle of sophistication. No excesses or exuberance, but certainly not cold or clinical either, everything was just "correct". Vocals were wonderful and alluring, but it also worked very well for classical music because of a great tonality with a lovely hint of warmth to it. It didn't work quite as well for the jazz of Caro Emerald, where you want a little exuberance and flair, but I did really enjoy the intimate vocal jazz of Madeleine Peyroux. The signature definitely has some upper mids or treble emphasis (not sure), but I had absolutely no problem with it despite my treble sensitivity. Even when I pushed the VE5 with a soprano there was nothing offensive about it. Just absolutely lovely. I would not buy these as my main pair, but I would love to have the VE5 in my collection!
VE6
Two signatures and as expected the X2 (neutral) setting was a bit too much for me, so I focused on the X1 (warmer) setting. I really liked these for classical music. The VE6 had a larger stage than the VE5 and I felt were more detailed. They were also more versatile than the VE5 because they worked well with almost all music. Imagine Dragons' "Thunder" was wonderful with plenty of punch and sparkle. Caro Emerald now had that bit of extra emotion and was wonderful to listen to. Where the VE6 departed a bit from my preferences was in the treble, that was just a bit too forward and when listening to a soprano reaching for the high note it did just get a bit uncomfortable for me. That is not to say the treble is sharp or brittle or anything like that, just a bit too forward for my taste.
VE8
Oh boy... Oh boy oh boy... I loved these so much that I could not get myself to stop listening. I haven't heard a lot of TOTL IEMs and I certainly have never heard anything like the VE8. For about ten seconds I thought "yeah nice" before a cello kicked in and something in my head went *click*. The bass on these was unbelievably detailed and rich and I adored it! Then the vocals came through and slightly warmer than the VE5, I guess, but with similar clarity allure. And finally the sparkle that was just right. A large stage with excellent positioning helped to draw me into the music and it did not matter what music that was. I threw everything at the VE8 and they just took it in their stride. Perhaps it is my lack of experience, or perhaps it is simply that the VE8 cater perfectly to what I like, but I was really impressed by these and can readily see why so many say these are one the best choices if you can have only one TOTL pair.
Honourable mention
The demo/universal shell. I was surprised by just how comfortable these were and they were very solidly built, I think they will easily take years of abuse without any issues. Plus, they were very pretty! So pretty please with sugar on top... Vision Ears... please make these a regular option!
Almost forgot: A HUGE thank you to the guys at Vision Ears for making this possible!
VE3
Demoed these very briefly at the end of my visit together with the VE4 (I did not demo the VE2) and although not the IEMs I came for, still very nice. The VE3, I remembered from the website, were called "convincingly neutral" and had an "unexcited bass", and that is spot on how I would describe them. Very neutral and worked well with classical music, but for my preferences lacked emotion because of the very unexcited bass. The bass is there and is pretty good, just far back to create a clinical sound that I guess is exactly what someone looking for an analytical signature would want. In that regard I think they were very good.
VE4
Also demoed only briefly and my least favourite because these are clearly V-shaped. I didn't like that one bit because I have become a big fan of mids. That said, they were certainly not unpleasant and worked well with more engaging music such as Imagine Dragons.
VE5
Now these were the first I tried because I have been yearning to hear them ever since reading @jelt2359's review. Did they overwhelm me with excellence? Not as such. It took a few minutes of listening before I got it, but then I understood exactly what Jelt had been talking about. The VE5 are the pinnacle of sophistication. No excesses or exuberance, but certainly not cold or clinical either, everything was just "correct". Vocals were wonderful and alluring, but it also worked very well for classical music because of a great tonality with a lovely hint of warmth to it. It didn't work quite as well for the jazz of Caro Emerald, where you want a little exuberance and flair, but I did really enjoy the intimate vocal jazz of Madeleine Peyroux. The signature definitely has some upper mids or treble emphasis (not sure), but I had absolutely no problem with it despite my treble sensitivity. Even when I pushed the VE5 with a soprano there was nothing offensive about it. Just absolutely lovely. I would not buy these as my main pair, but I would love to have the VE5 in my collection!
VE6
Two signatures and as expected the X2 (neutral) setting was a bit too much for me, so I focused on the X1 (warmer) setting. I really liked these for classical music. The VE6 had a larger stage than the VE5 and I felt were more detailed. They were also more versatile than the VE5 because they worked well with almost all music. Imagine Dragons' "Thunder" was wonderful with plenty of punch and sparkle. Caro Emerald now had that bit of extra emotion and was wonderful to listen to. Where the VE6 departed a bit from my preferences was in the treble, that was just a bit too forward and when listening to a soprano reaching for the high note it did just get a bit uncomfortable for me. That is not to say the treble is sharp or brittle or anything like that, just a bit too forward for my taste.
VE8
Oh boy... Oh boy oh boy... I loved these so much that I could not get myself to stop listening. I haven't heard a lot of TOTL IEMs and I certainly have never heard anything like the VE8. For about ten seconds I thought "yeah nice" before a cello kicked in and something in my head went *click*. The bass on these was unbelievably detailed and rich and I adored it! Then the vocals came through and slightly warmer than the VE5, I guess, but with similar clarity allure. And finally the sparkle that was just right. A large stage with excellent positioning helped to draw me into the music and it did not matter what music that was. I threw everything at the VE8 and they just took it in their stride. Perhaps it is my lack of experience, or perhaps it is simply that the VE8 cater perfectly to what I like, but I was really impressed by these and can readily see why so many say these are one the best choices if you can have only one TOTL pair.
Honourable mention
The demo/universal shell. I was surprised by just how comfortable these were and they were very solidly built, I think they will easily take years of abuse without any issues. Plus, they were very pretty! So pretty please with sugar on top... Vision Ears... please make these a regular option!
Almost forgot: A HUGE thank you to the guys at Vision Ears for making this possible!
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proedros
Headphoneus Supremus
@Wyville , the totl ciem bug has bit you hard, huh ?
to quote the great Les Claypool (of Primus), too many puppies
(btw Les is using LE Aether , i saw a post about it on LE fb page)
to quote the great Les Claypool (of Primus), too many puppies
(btw Les is using LE Aether , i saw a post about it on LE fb page)
Finally time to go home from work. Gonna go straight for some ES80 and VE8
PinkyPowers
Reviewer: The Headphone List
What about the Noble Katana? Might come close to what he's looking for.
So today was Vision Ears day at Gisele's! And as promised some brief impressions.
VE3
Demoed these very briefly at the end of my visit together with the VE4 (I did not demo the VE2) and although not the IEMs I came for, still very nice. The VE3, I remembered from the website, were called "convincingly neutral" and had an "unexcited bass", and that is spot on how I would describe them. Very neutral and worked well with classical music, but for my preferences lacked emotion because of the very unexcited bass. The bass is there and is pretty good, just far back to create a clinical sound that I guess is exactly what someone looking for an analytical signature would want. In that regard I think they were very good.
VE4
Also demoed only briefly and my least favourite because these are clearly V-shaped. I didn't like that one bit because I have become a big fan of mids. That said, they were certainly not unpleasant and worked well with more engaging music such as Imagine Dragons.
VE5
Now these were the first I tried because I have been yearning to hear them ever since reading @jelt2359's review. Did they overwhelm me with excellence? Not as such. It took a few minutes of listening before I got it, but then I understood exactly what Jelt had been talking about. The VE5 are the pinnacle of sophistication. No excesses or exuberance, but certainly not cold or clinical either, everything was just "correct". Vocals were wonderful and alluring, but it also worked very well for classical music because of a great tonality with a lovely hint of warmth to it. It didn't work quite as well for the jazz of Caro Emerald, where you want a little exuberance and flair, but I did really enjoy the intimate vocal jazz of Madeleine Peyroux. The signature definitely has some upper mids or treble emphasis (not sure), but I had absolutely no problem with it despite my treble sensitivity. Even when I pushed the VE5 with a soprano there was nothing offensive about it. Just absolutely lovely. I would not buy these as my main pair, but I would love to have the VE5 in my collection!
VE6
Two signatures and as expected the X2 (neutral) setting was a bit too much for me, so I focused on the X1 (warmer) setting. I really liked these for classical music. The VE6 had a larger stage than the VE5 and I felt were more detailed. They were also more versatile than the VE5 because they worked well with almost all music. Imagine Dragons' "Thunder" was wonderful with plenty of punch and sparkle. Caro Emerald now had that bit of extra emotion and was wonderful to listen to. Where the VE6 departed a bit from my preferences was in the treble, that was just a bit too forward and when listening to a soprano reaching for the high note it did just get a bit uncomfortable for me. That is not to say the treble is sharp or brittle or anything like that, just a bit too forward for my taste.
VE8
Oh boy... Oh boy oh boy... I loved these so much that I could not get myself to stop listening. I haven't heard a lot of TOTL IEMs and I certainly have never heard anything like the VE8. For about ten seconds I thought "yeah nice" before a cello kicked in and something in my head went *click*. The bass on these was unbelievably detailed and rich and I adored it! Then the vocals came through and slightly warmer than the VE5, I guess, but with similar clarity allure. And finally the sparkle that was just right. A large stage with excellent positioning helped to draw me into the music and it did not matter what music that was. I threw everything at the VE8 and they just took it in their stride. Perhaps it is my lack of experience, or perhaps it is simply that the VE8 cater perfectly to what I like, but I was really impressed by these and can readily see why so many say these are one the best choices if you can have only one TOTL pair.
Honourable mention
The demo/universal shell. I was surprised by just how comfortable these were and they were very solidly built, I think they will easily take years of abuse without any issues. Plus, they were very pretty! So pretty please with sugar on top... Vision Ears... please make these a regular option!
Almost forgot: A HUGE thank you to the guys at Vision Ears for making this possible!
Welcome to Valhalla, brother.
From what I can recall, the Katana's lean bass and picky-as-hell treble will absolutely ruin synthetic music. Heck, my jazz collection could barely get through the thing in one piece.
proedros
Headphoneus Supremus
if he's gonna spend close to 2000$ , he should go all in for a Zeus XR - or another totl which fared much better than Katana
orhell, he could even go for the NT6 ,which is also a detail monster and costing much less than Katana
Yeah, something TOTL will come soon! But for now I just really enjoy the opportunities to demo and review, and I try not to worry too much about the number of puppies I will need to adopt...
proedros
Headphoneus Supremus
Yeah, something TOTL will come soon! But for now I just really enjoy the opportunities to demo and review, and I try not to worry too much about the number of puppies I will need to adopt...
don't delay the inevitable , join the dark (custom) side
speaking of the dark side, the Zeus XR + pwaudio no5 + wm1a is killing my upgraditis demons for now - it also helps that i can not afford (nor justify) a new 2K DAP/2K ciem/1K cable (which are what wm1z/se5/pwaudio 1960 2-wire cost)
wisdom always prevails when money is short
If I could only have one it would be the Vision Ears VE8
Ike1985
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2014
- Posts
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Top IEMs I want to review:
VE8
SE5U (make a freakin demo already)
U12t
VE8
SE5U (make a freakin demo already)
U12t
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