RAZ's TOTL review and rambles thread... could it be.... alive?
- Thread starter mvvRAZ
- Start date
chickenmcnug
Formerly known as 8481
Recently Thummim while shiny hunting on Pokemon/work. AirPods Pro and iPhone while otg. I was saying how I could never find the time/use for DAPs and this is probably the reason lol.
mvvRAZ
Headphoneus Supremus
Coming up soon a comparison post between MMR's newly released Gae Bolg and my personal favourite at the 1000$ mark - the Andromeda 2020!
Gae Bolg. What drugs were they on when they named that sucker?
mvvRAZ
Headphoneus Supremus
We got them to make the shells more ergonomic, the naming is next!
mvvRAZ
Headphoneus Supremus
With 2021 just around the corner, here’s to hoping we’ll finally be able to meet up for canjam London in July!
With 2021 just around the corner, here’s to hoping we’ll finally be able to meet up for canjam London in July!
Yeah, I would love to go, if it happens. Its not exactly the kind of thing you can do on Zoom
With 2021 just around the corner, here’s to hoping we’ll finally be able to meet up for canjam London in July!
Indeed!
Especially if you bring those bad boys with you, haha
mvvRAZ
Headphoneus Supremus
Has anyone here had the chance to try the Focal Radiance?
I quite like what some of the reviews have been saying about it, and the fact that it's a closed back is a huge plus too
I quite like what some of the reviews have been saying about it, and the fact that it's a closed back is a huge plus too
@mvvRAZ You sir have been vindicated. I've nursed a desire to hear the Elysium for most of the past 1.5 years and of all the impressions I've come across I still remember yours from way back and your description of the Ely's intoxicating mid-range. I finally got my hands on a set through the tour program and they've totally captured my heart and mind and I'm tempted to say they're the first IEMs I've heard that sound a tier above everything else I've heard. Cheers.
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tawmizzzz
1000+ Head-Fier
Exactly how i felt when i first listened to them. The texture, the detail, the clarity. Glad you finally got to listen to them!
circafreedom
100+ Head-Fier
Glad you’re enjoying them and they’re resonating with you similarly to how they did with me. The way the ELYSIUM displays music is truly remarkable. @mvvRAZ was shouting from the mountian tops about how good they are well over a year ago.
mvvRAZ
Headphoneus Supremus
The VE Elysium - my first true love
It's been a few months since I last listened to the Elysium - I suppose it's just a natural thing that IEMs get less use over time, but this time around I was presented with a rather unique opportunity as I was able to "generate" fresh impressions that wouldn't be as influenced by my time spent with the Ely. This will be a relatively brief post as I've already covered the Elysium extensively, reviewed it, praised it (and some might even say shilled it)
Do note that these impressions are based on the custom Elysium, and as far as my memory of the demo unit I tried goes, that was somewhat brighter and thinner. I haven't experimented with any tips or fit with that unit though, so I can't vouch for that difference
Most broadly put, the Elysium is a mid/vocal centric IEM, with a controlled but very well extended treble response and really tight and generally supporting bass. I got into this hobby just about 2 years ago, and the Elysium is the first IEM that really made me obsess over it to the point where I purchased it twice as a custom to have an additional design
The bass on the Elysium is, IMHO, the very definition of BA bass. Great speed at the expense of pretty much all texture and decay. It isn't really amazing bass on its own imo, but works very well within the signature as a whole, giving instruments and vocals a little more weight and physicality
The midrange of the Elysium is to me the single best mid-forward implementation to date by any manufacturer and within any driver setup. While it does come with the issue of vocals coming across as a little overly large compared to instruments, it does not come with any of the regular harshness (or that "bite" everyone's raving about nowadays), and to top it off the texture on them is nothing short of incredible. Instruments sound spectacular due to that DD texture, but lack a little presence and space to perform. I'd personally love to hear a version of the Elysium that's more focused on them.
The treble on the Elysium is a wonderful estat implementation that goes for more control and extension than it does for sheer quantity. I did find the universal to be a fair bit brighter, while the custom has what I'd personally consider slightly above neutral treble. It is quite linear, with what might be a small bump in the upper registers to give it some extra sense of air and sparkle. I much preferred it to the Erl's treble personally, it has a certain crispness and speed to it that I find quite addictive
On technical ability, the Elysium does very well where detail is concerned, mainly accomplishing it through great dynamics as opposed to an overloaded lower treble. Separation is very good too, but isn't quite as pronounced as I'd like it to be - that I'd attribute to the staging however
The staging on the Elysium is what I'd consider to be one of the issues with first gen estats. While it has excellent depth and height, the width really, really suffers. The reason why I associate it with gen 1 estats is because I had similar complaints about the Jomo Trinity, the FiR M5 and the AAW Canary. I can't really think of other gen 1 estats I've tried, but all of them give me this super compressed left to right feeling.
As a result of the narrow staging vocals end up dominating the performance, separation feels a little less pronounced and you're generally lacking that spaciousness that I've come to require
I generally do not really cover pairings in these posts, but it has to be said that the Elysium is the single best IEM for the Iliad - the synergy between the two is nothing short of spectacular, as the Iliad adds a little more decay and a little more treble, pulling some of the attention away from what is a very vocal-centric performance
Overall though, I still hold that the Elysium is the single best monitor on the market if you're into vocals - if today was the first time I'm hearing it I'd probably not buy it at its MSRP, but that's mostly a reflection of the shift in my preferences towards monitors that give more weight and presence to instruments than they do to vocals, but that's mostly a reflection of my personal preference and not one of the Elysium's competence
I do look forward to any future revisions of the Elysium however, and I'm likely to pretty much purchase them on the spot.
Disclaimer: all my impressions and reviews reflect how I feel about something at the time. It's been a long time since I reviewed the Elysium, I've learned a lot about audio in the meantime, developed a more specific preference, listened to a lot more stuff etc etc - it is completely natural that a newer set of impressions would not completely match what I wrote over an year ago
It's been a few months since I last listened to the Elysium - I suppose it's just a natural thing that IEMs get less use over time, but this time around I was presented with a rather unique opportunity as I was able to "generate" fresh impressions that wouldn't be as influenced by my time spent with the Ely. This will be a relatively brief post as I've already covered the Elysium extensively, reviewed it, praised it (and some might even say shilled it
)Do note that these impressions are based on the custom Elysium, and as far as my memory of the demo unit I tried goes, that was somewhat brighter and thinner. I haven't experimented with any tips or fit with that unit though, so I can't vouch for that difference
Most broadly put, the Elysium is a mid/vocal centric IEM, with a controlled but very well extended treble response and really tight and generally supporting bass. I got into this hobby just about 2 years ago, and the Elysium is the first IEM that really made me obsess over it to the point where I purchased it twice as a custom to have an additional design
The bass on the Elysium is, IMHO, the very definition of BA bass. Great speed at the expense of pretty much all texture and decay. It isn't really amazing bass on its own imo, but works very well within the signature as a whole, giving instruments and vocals a little more weight and physicality
The midrange of the Elysium is to me the single best mid-forward implementation to date by any manufacturer and within any driver setup. While it does come with the issue of vocals coming across as a little overly large compared to instruments, it does not come with any of the regular harshness (or that "bite" everyone's raving about nowadays), and to top it off the texture on them is nothing short of incredible. Instruments sound spectacular due to that DD texture, but lack a little presence and space to perform. I'd personally love to hear a version of the Elysium that's more focused on them.
The treble on the Elysium is a wonderful estat implementation that goes for more control and extension than it does for sheer quantity. I did find the universal to be a fair bit brighter, while the custom has what I'd personally consider slightly above neutral treble. It is quite linear, with what might be a small bump in the upper registers to give it some extra sense of air and sparkle. I much preferred it to the Erl's treble personally, it has a certain crispness and speed to it that I find quite addictive
On technical ability, the Elysium does very well where detail is concerned, mainly accomplishing it through great dynamics as opposed to an overloaded lower treble. Separation is very good too, but isn't quite as pronounced as I'd like it to be - that I'd attribute to the staging however
The staging on the Elysium is what I'd consider to be one of the issues with first gen estats. While it has excellent depth and height, the width really, really suffers. The reason why I associate it with gen 1 estats is because I had similar complaints about the Jomo Trinity, the FiR M5 and the AAW Canary. I can't really think of other gen 1 estats I've tried, but all of them give me this super compressed left to right feeling.
As a result of the narrow staging vocals end up dominating the performance, separation feels a little less pronounced and you're generally lacking that spaciousness that I've come to require
I generally do not really cover pairings in these posts, but it has to be said that the Elysium is the single best IEM for the Iliad - the synergy between the two is nothing short of spectacular, as the Iliad adds a little more decay and a little more treble, pulling some of the attention away from what is a very vocal-centric performance
Overall though, I still hold that the Elysium is the single best monitor on the market if you're into vocals - if today was the first time I'm hearing it I'd probably not buy it at its MSRP, but that's mostly a reflection of the shift in my preferences towards monitors that give more weight and presence to instruments than they do to vocals, but that's mostly a reflection of my personal preference and not one of the Elysium's competence
I do look forward to any future revisions of the Elysium however, and I'm likely to pretty much purchase them on the spot.
Disclaimer: all my impressions and reviews reflect how I feel about something at the time. It's been a long time since I reviewed the Elysium, I've learned a lot about audio in the meantime, developed a more specific preference, listened to a lot more stuff etc etc - it is completely natural that a newer set of impressions would not completely match what I wrote over an year ago
normie610
Headphoneus Supremus
When I had the universal Ely and comparing it to the M5, I felt that the left-right staging on M5 is definitely superior to Ely’s. I also didn’t feel Ely’s soundstage width is super compressed, yes it’s more intimate and feel a bit congested compared to M5 but not to that extreme. Perhaps because mine was universal it gave a different perception to your custom Ely. Nonetheless, it’s one hell of an IEM, although I finally sold it since they were a bit too bright and sibilant for me.
mvvRAZ
Headphoneus Supremus
It's an exceptional IEM for sure. The M5 I haven't heard in over an year now, but I do remember it being slightly narrow compared to more "modern" standards. I'm realistically basing my evaluation of the width on IEMs that I find especially impressive in that respect like the A18S, Sultan or Thummim. It's also definitely worth noting that width is the most important of the staging to me personally, so my evaluation would be a bit more extreme in a sense
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