RAZ's TOTL review and rambles thread... could it be.... alive?

[SBranson]

That's a really interesting point that I hadn't thought of quite like that. The absolute best system I've ever heard in my life was at the Palais in Cannes. I saw Swedish House Mafia there in 2010. I remember being totally caught off guard by how good the sound system was. The bass was fathomlessly deep-- powerfu, all-encompassing and you could feel it passing through every pore of your being. The thing I remember most about it though was how despite how powerful and immersive the sound was-- you felt engulfed in every detail-- it didn't seem too loud. It was easy for two people in a crowded club to carry on a conversation without straining their voices too much. I have always wondered what it was about the system that made that possible and based on your comment I now suspect it was the clarity.

It was this system for me, from about 15 years ago. Modest by 2 channel standards but very carefully put together. My headfi journey has largely been about finding this again, in miniature. Ha.

 

[normie610]

Glad to hear you found one man keen to hear your thoughs

Yeah luckily I managed to find a pair in pristine condition, it’s on its way from Singapore and it’s gonna take around 2 weeks. Just have to be patient

 

[normie610]

It was this system for me, from about 15 years ago. Modest by 2 channel standards but very carefully put together. My headfi journey has largely been about finding this again, in miniature. Ha.

What happened to it?

 

[SBranson]

What happened to it?

Kids, a move and harder financial times... play time was over

 

[toaster]

“good gear is so clear that you can’t really tell how loud it is”

Ufff, this literally reminds me of the Erlkonig. <3

 

[Wyville]

This is why when we hear high end gear were like "Oh wow it's like Im hearing things I never knew were there - or - it's like a veil was lifted." Often times it literally is. Each transducer us physically limited to the amount of air and space and speed at which it can move, each movement is moving air which created the sound frequencies we here. If it's reproducing music with too many sounds at once that it cannot physically do all at once, it's not like it'll just stop moving, it will just only vibrate and reproduce what it can - thus we'll just completely miss out the sounds it's incapable of moving to produce at that moment.

Some great posts there! Thanks for sharing!

The part I quoted here kinda relates to something I found with the FiR M4. I suspect it is the result from their tubeless design and very careful driver placement, but the M4 have some of the best positioning of instruments I have heard with any IEMs. Especially the bass is uncanny in how it is always positioned perfectly (in my opinion anyway). In the M4 the DD is placed in the back of the shell and because of its tubeless design has the most physical space inside the shell for the sound it produces to blend with the sound of the other drivers. Not sure if I imagine that correctly because of course sound waves travel and bounce in every direction and I have no background in audio engineering whatsoever, but I thought it was interesting in light of this discussion. I hope I can hear a few more of FiR's IEMs to get a sense of whether or not it is just with the M4 or also with the other models.

 

[mvvRAZ]

Some great posts there! Thanks for sharing!

The part I quoted here kinda relates to something I found with the FiR M4. I suspect it is the result from their tubeless design and very careful driver placement, but the M4 have some of the best positioning of instruments I have heard with any IEMs. Especially the bass is uncanny in how it is always positioned perfectly (in my opinion anyway). In the M4 the DD is placed in the back of the shell and because of its tubeless design has the most physical space inside the shell for the sound it produces to blend with the sound of the other drivers. Not sure if I imagine that correctly because of course sound waves travel and bounce in every direction and I have no background in audio engineering whatsoever, but I thought it was interesting in light of this discussion. I hope I can hear a few more of FiR's IEMs to get a sense of whether or not it is just with the M4 or also with the other models.

I've actually listened to that video - I think they mentioned that they put the DD as far from the ear as possible in order to have that bass build-up that you get when listening to an actual speaker system or a headphone. The FiR M5 wasn't quite my cup of tea but the bass had a very distinct presentation, I am definitely looking forward to their future releases

 

[Wyville]

I've actually listened to that video - I think they mentioned that they put the DD as far from the ear as possible in order to have that bass build-up that you get when listening to an actual speaker system or a headphone. The FiR M5 wasn't quite my cup of tea but the bass had a very distinct presentation, I am definitely looking forward to their future releases

Would love to hear the M5 at some point because I am quite curious how those compare to the M4. If you ever want to try the M4 just let me know, although I think they might be too thin/bright for your preferences (at least compared to the Thummim), especially with a brighter source.

FiR is coming with something new soon:

 

[mvvRAZ]

Would love to hear the M5 at some point because I am quite curious how those compare to the M4. If you ever want to try the M4 just let me know, although I think they might be too thin/bright for your preferences (at least compared to the Thummim), especially with a brighter source.

FiR is coming with something new soon:

Uuuu we can maybe do a short exchange - something like Elegia and Elear for M4, and swap back in a couple of weeks!

Yeah I saw that but apparently it's a HK edition we're so overlooked here in the EU

 

[chickenmcnug]

If its worth anything I actually preferred the M4 over the M5 when I demod them but got convinced to get the M5 anyway cause estats.

At the time I didn't find them bright, but that was over a year ago. I kind of want to a/b them again this weekend now.

 

[normie610]

I've actually listened to that video - I think they mentioned that they put the DD as far from the ear as possible in order to have that bass build-up that you get when listening to an actual speaker system or a headphone. The FiR M5 wasn't quite my cup of tea but the bass had a very distinct presentation, I am definitely looking forward to their future releases

On the subject of M5, I’ve read somewhere that the universal sounds quite different to the customs. Did you listen to the customs or uni or both?

 

[mvvRAZ]

On the subject of M5, I’ve read somewhere that the universal sounds quite different to the customs. Did you listen to the customs or uni or both?

I've only heard the universal. Do you have the custom M5?

 

[Wyville]

Uuuu we can maybe do a short exchange - something like Elegia and Elear for M4, and swap back in a couple of weeks!

Yeah, we can do that! I need the M4 for comparison for one or two reviews and should be able to do the exchange after that.

Yeah I saw that but apparently it's a HK edition we're so overlooked here in the EU

"Destination 1: Hong Kong"

 

[normie610]

I've only heard the universal. Do you have the custom M5?

Mine is universal perhaps you can one day try the customs, it’s said to be smoother and warmer.

Universals are more suitable for me, since usually the customs are darker in sound (I had a bad experience with 335, they sound a lot darker than the demo version so I need to heavily EQ mine).

 

[mvvRAZ]

Mine is universal perhaps you can one day try the customs, it’s said to be smoother and warmer.

Universals are more suitable for me, since usually the customs are darker in sound (I had a bad experience with 335, they sound a lot darker than the demo version so I need to heavily EQ mine).

ehhh trying the custom is a pretty big commitment since you gotta pay up :/

In general if I like what I'm hearing from the universal, and wouldn't mind it being a bit darker, I go for the custom version - that's the sort of consistent experience i'm getting when comparing universals to their custom counterparts. I can't say I disliked the M5, but I also didn't love it to the point where I'm ready to jump on the custom