[mvvRAZ]

Ever heard the Stellia? You might like that one ... but I don’t count on it

I’ve tried the Stellia twice and no offense but it sounded straight up broken to me out of the P6 Pro A really muddy lower midrange with a really forward and bright upper midrange, I’d genuinely assume that there was an issue with the demo rather than to trust my impressions on it haha

 

[fzman]

Strongly considering the Sultan, but not sure what vibe i am getting from the reviews. I favor single-DD or hybrids over all-BA iems. I like natural, realistic timbre and dynamics, prefer warm to bright, emotional to sterie, but really want that open window to the live acoustic performance. The quest continues.....

What say you wise and sage individuals?

 

[Rockwell75]

.

 

[RTodd]

Strongly considering the Sultan, but not sure what vibe i am getting from the reviews. I favor single-DD or hybrids over all-BA iems. I like natural, realistic timbre and dynamics, prefer warm to bright, emotional to sterie, but really want that open window to the live acoustic performance. The quest continues.....

What say you wise and sage individuals?

Mid tier
Mest, l like for live recordings.

Top tier
The Traillii is by far the best I have heard for acoustic and almost everything else.
I prefer the Elysium sometimes, particularly for female jazz vocals, out of the M8 it is magical.

At that level I demoed Odin and Sultan and neither of them moved me much so I passed.

 

[fzman]

Mid tier
Mest, l like for live recordings.

Top tier
The Traillii is by far the best I have heard for acoustic and almost everything else.
I prefer the Elysium sometimes, particularly for female jazz vocals, out of the M8 it is magical.

At that level I demoed Odin and Sultan and neither of them moved me much so I passed.

I had the Mest for a bit--thought it was nice, but a touch crunchy/agressive for me- I have never heard the Elysium, and the Traillii is out of my financial comfort-zone. I am looking for, I only use iems for some of my listening, so I don't need TOTL best of the best, just really good- and perhaps a slightly different mix of performance and value that the absolute TOTL.... I've started to think there is no "the one", but rather some of "the few"

I've heard an did not like the Noble Khan (aty a show), and likewise for a Tia that I think was a fourte (not my thing). The Sultan seems interesting, but does not seem to have a huge following (which is not vita for me, but rather produces a lack of data).

 

[tawmizzzz]

Strongly considering the Sultan, but not sure what vibe i am getting from the reviews. I favor single-DD or hybrids over all-BA iems. I like natural, realistic timbre and dynamics, prefer warm to bright, emotional to sterie, but really want that open window to the live acoustic performance. The quest continues.....

What say you wise and sage individuals?

Hmm. I wouldn’t call Sultan warm. It is rarely talked about but my favorite part about Sultan was its bass—super underrated. Very fun subbass with less emphasized midbass for a detailed but clean presentation. Could had been my source but the treble didn’t sound particularly authentic for cymbal hits, coming across rather metallic. The joy of electrostats!

Lower mid range and general Sultan texture was impressive with nice staging/layering capabilities.

Have you looked into FiR M5? More on the musical side, treble more laid-back with nice mids and darker bass. Not particularly warm either but I only had a brief listen so maybe others can confirm.

I can’t speak to how Rhapsodio Infinity Mk2 would pair with your DAPs since they are so source sensitive, but it’s awesome for live recordings due to how well it plays instrument texture with a holographic stage-very airy and engaging midrange, as long as you don’t mind somewhat of a boosted upper-midrange. It is an all-BA model though, although the BAs for mid and treble could have me fooled.

 

[RTodd]

I had the Mest for a bit--thought it was nice, but a touch crunchy/agressive for me- I have never heard the Elysium, and the Traillii is out of my financial comfort-zone. I am looking for, I only use iems for some of my listening, so I don't need TOTL best of the best, just really good- and perhaps a slightly different mix of performance and value that the absolute TOTL.... I've started to think there is no "the one", but rather some of "the few"

I've heard an did not like the Noble Khan (aty a show), and likewise for a Tia that I think was a fourte (not my thing). The Sultan seems interesting, but does not seem to have a huge following (which is not vita for me, but rather produces a lack of data).

Crunchy is a good word for Mest.

If you end up spending $6,000 on a couple IEMs and cables, you may have been happier with the bird, and one and done.

Can you demo the Sultan, kind of blurs for me as I demoed it six months ago same time as first demo of LX, and shortly after Odin. At the time if I liked it I would have just bought it, it did not do it for me. I have demoed the LX three times now and each time I pass on it.

Elysium is unique for sure, some people really do love it. The vocals sold me on it.

 

[fzman]

Crunchy is a good word for Mest.

If you end up spending $6,000 on a couple IEMs and cables, you may have been happier with the bird, and one and done.

Can you demo the Sultan, <snip>

Elysium is unique for sure, some people really do love it. The vocals sold me on it.

I do not think I can audition the Sultan, and it seems like the Elysium would be an interesting stable-mate, I am not going to try one now. I had the Sony Z1R for sa short time, loved it, but returned it to help fund a surround sound pre-pro, which I get lots of use and joy from. May still end up grabbing another one at some point. Seems like all of the list-buiding reviews rank it highly, as opposed to many iems which are much more polarizing.

 

[RTodd]

I do not think I can audition the Sultan, and it seems like the Elysium would be an interesting stable-mate, I am not going to try one now. I had the Sony Z1R for sa short time, loved it, but returned it to help fund a surround sound pre-pro, which I get lots of use and joy from. May still end up grabbing another one at some point. Seems like all of the list-buiding reviews rank it highly, as opposed to many iems which are much more polarizing.

I had a fit issue with the Sony. Anything with sharp edges even on the top surface bothers my big ears. Makes a sensitive spot and after a while I can not stand it, than it takes days to recover the sensitive area back to normal. During that time my ears are off limits to even comfortable IEMs. Not familiar with surround sound pre-pro?

 

[fzman]

Not familiar with surround sound pre-pro?

It is an NAD M17v2i, instead of using a surround sound receiver for my home theater I use a separate preamp and amp. The preamp does the HDMI switching, the surround decoding and the d to a convefrsion, the amp.....well you know, it drives my ATC speakers

 

[fzman]

I have big ears, and large ellipsoidal very bent ear canals. I liked the Sonys at shows, but found they were pretty similar to my OG Solaris and Legend X, so when I was ready to upgrade the home theater, i felt like i could let the Sony's go without too much of a acrifice, ad the Legend Xs were still there to console me. (I know there are real sonic differences between them, but I tend to notice similarities rather than subtle differences for sound and visuals, and more subtle shades of meaning for words/verbal stuff.

 

[ranfan]

I have big ears, and large ellipsoidal very bent ear canals. I liked the Sonys at shows, but found they were pretty similar to my OG Solaris and Legend X, so when I was ready to upgrade the home theater, i felt like i could let the Sony's go without too much of a acrifice, ad the Legend Xs were still there to console me. (I know there are real sonic differences between them, but I tend to notice similarities rather than subtle differences for sound and visuals, and more subtle shades of meaning for words/verbal stuff.

I don't think the Sultan leans toward the warmer side. It is slightly bright up top, with some K10 like sparkle (which was a bit too bright to my ears). It has more of a fun tuning rather than a sterile analytical one. Slightly colored, and very enjoyable for treble head/lovers. I tried it with my DX300 yesterday, and the bass was super fun to listen to too. Not the most rumbling, and not as deep as the Odin, more of an in-between between a DD and BA bass character.

If you prefer a warmer sound, I'd say the Nio suits better for that. Plus as @Damz87 mentioned you can switch modules, especially the MX module if you wish to listen to classical or orchestra. Although the downside is that the Nio requires more power to drive, and is less sensitive.

 

[fzman]

I don't think the Sultan leans toward the warmer side. It is slightly bright up top, with some K10 like sparkle (which was a bit too bright to my ears). It has more of a fun tuning rather than a sterile analytical one. Slightly colored, and very enjoyable for treble head/lovers. I tried it with my DX300 yesterday, and the bass was super fun to listen to too. Not the most rumbling, and not as deep as the Odin, more of an in-between between a DD and BA bass character.

If you prefer a warmer sound, I'd say the Nio suits better for that. Plus as @Damz87 mentioned you can switch modules, especially the MX module if you wish to listen to classical or orchestra. Although the downside is that the Nio requires more power to drive, and is less sensitive.

Thanks for the info. I really like the Nio, with the L&P P6Pro and the DX300. I liked the MX with UAPP on the DX300, and the M15 with the Mango player in Mango mode. The M15 sounds good with the P6Pro but I think the MX might be even better. I ordered the FIR modules to try a few more options....

I was wondering, based on liking the Nio, whether the Trio would be even better for me, and maybe even a U10T during the 15% off sale. Seemslike the Nio might be just different enough to stay with it.

Maybe an Odin should be in my future.

 

[mvvRAZ]

A few developments!

- P6 Pro swapped for PAW6000, eagerly awaiting its arrival Wednesday! Ultimately what killed it for me is that it really feels like a burden to use - from having to hold the power button for a specific set of seconds before all settings reset, to the generally awkward feel of the software

- Sultan once again cut short due to the Thummim being the MVP - both fit the same mood while that mood works better with the Thummim

- Odín joining the ranks once again! - @KuroKitsu i apologize in advance for the EQ I’m going to be applying (it’s more of a trial for few weeks so if anyone’s potentially interested in buying it please feel free to PM me)

- PAW S1 vs LP W2 shootout, but just a small spoiler alert, I’m heavily unimpressed with the W2 based on initial listening

- Jolene pleaaaaase get here sooner!

 

[bluestorm1992]

A few developments!

- P6 Pro swapped for PAW6000, eagerly awaiting its arrival Wednesday! Ultimately what killed it for me is that it really feels like a burden to use - from having to hold the power button for a specific set of seconds before all settings reset, to the generally awkward feel of the software

- Sultan once again cut short due to the Thummim being the MVP - both fit the same mood while that mood works better with the Thummim

- Odín joining the ranks once again! - @KuroKitsu i apologize in advance for the EQ I’m going to be applying (it’s more of a trial for few weeks so if anyone’s potentially interested in buying it please feel free to PM me)

- PAW S1 vs LP W2 shootout, but just a small spoiler alert, I’m heavily unimpressed with the W2 based on initial listening

- Jolene pleaaaaase get here sooner!

Great preview Michael!

A quick note on W2, its edge over S1 is not immediately obvious to me either. While to some extent I have found it to have better technical performance compared to S1, the Lotoo sound signature delivered by S1 is still so appealing to me and pairs very well with the MEST I am using.

Having gone through the W2 thread (I am the one who started it actually), people seem to conclude that it needs synergy to work well (although most people seem to have found good synergy with at least some of their gears). As for Thummim, I have seen two users there reporting positive synergy with W2, but this could be a preference thing.