[rawrster]

Sounds like you found a winner shane Still keeping the SE535?
 
I'm glad to see some nice impressions on these. It is hard to meet expectations when things have been hyped up here but good to see it's not the case for everyone assuming they knew what they were buying that is.
 
@Nightslayer: I no longer have the DBA-02 so it's not hard to figure out what option it is

 

[shane55]

Quote:

Sounds like you found a winner shane Still keeping the SE535?
 
I'm glad to see some nice impressions on these. It is hard to meet expectations when things have been hyped up here but good to see it's not the case for everyone assuming they knew what they were buying that is.
 
@Nightslayer: I no longer have the DBA-02 so it's not hard to figure out what option it is

rawrster... the SE535's are speeding their way to a new owner as I type.
While they really are excellent. Their 'eargonomics' didn't work for me. So regardless of their sweet, smooth sound, I had to let someone else enjoy them.

 

 

[Nightslayer]

Quote:

 
As a treblehead and a violinist, I was planning on getting these IEM's for my violin solo and violin concerto music collection. They seemed perfect based on comments on clarity, separation, and air.
 
However, I am concerned about the crispness/lack of sonority. My favorite violinist is Leonid Kogan, because he plays with excellent tonality. I would like a treble focused signature with good higher end resonance. My old head-direct RE2's did well in this area, without any sibilance, but died too early. The MTPG's did not do so well- I had to strain to hear the highs and they did not have enough treble resonance.
 
Would anyone comment about how DBA-02 performs with these videos, or if there are better suited IEM's (ER-4P, PFE 112, IM590, etc.)?
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtC9oVyjyUY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpXlCheiXY8

Amp them, it does wonders with the sound. That and... you should know that tone and tonality are two entirely different things? Haha I've got a few of his pieces and is it just me or is the recording quality itself very very bad. Bad enough to negate any excellence on the reproduction side, anyway. IMO the highs are slightly thin so you don't get the actual reproduction of the violin tone unless you amp them properly, in which case you get magic in your ears Though as you can see from the discussion, there are tons who would disagree with my dissing of the trebles. Don't get me wrong, the sound is still great, just not as natural as I'd like it to be.
 
@rawrster: Haha I see, that's a shame. I've been considering turning these into customs with the addition of a bass driver, but cost and logistics are stopping me, seeing as it is I'm not sure if UM offers services for relatively niche earphone brands like FA and I'm not sure where I could procure a bass driver (and if it'd go well with FA's current two)
 

 

[Fantoon]

I hoping for tomorrow. Your impressions make me want to cry!

 

[lazybum]

Quote:

Amp them, it does wonders with the sound. That and... you should know that tone and tonality are two entirely different things? Haha I've got a few of his pieces and is it just me or is the recording quality itself very very bad. Bad enough to negate any excellence on the reproduction side, anyway. IMO the highs are slightly thin so you don't get the actual reproduction of the violin tone unless you amp them properly, in which case you get magic in your ears Though as you can see from the discussion, there are tons who would disagree with my dissing of the trebles. Don't get me wrong, the sound is still great, just not as natural as I'd like it to be.
 
@rawrster: Haha I see, that's a shame. I've been considering turning these into customs with the addition of a bass driver, but cost and logistics are stopping me, seeing as it is I'm not sure if UM offers services for relatively niche earphone brands like FA and I'm not sure where I could procure a bass driver (and if it'd go well with FA's current two)
 

Agree that the violin tends to end up feeling a bit thin on the dba. I eq the midbass and lower mids up (and precut everything else down) by a db or two and thats all it takes to fix that for me though. Although it may be different for you (bravetang8) depending on the tip you use (i'm using the stock black ones, and its generally agreed that these tips add extra brightness), your source and your ears.. I also haven't attended many concerts and am not a violinist myself so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
 
Yeah but after appropriate eqing violins sound awesome to me. Excellent air and details. Tonality seems just right from my memory of what violins sounded like.

 

[lazybum]

double post

 

[Surrealsky]

After intensive testing between my iems and also as a clarity , analytical person. I have officially placed the dba-02 right on top of my list. I liked the warm and smooth sig of the ie8 and even though i have clocked 400+ hrs with the treble opened up and sounding brighter, i just can't live with the mid bass hump. The dba's are just like my pfe's with more bass impact and more forwarded mids which i love. It's much more 'fun' and musical as compared to the flat and boring um3x and it has a more sparkly high which makes it brighter than the um3x. The perfect merging of clarity, speed, details, transparency, bass quality and quantity. Really impressive FA!

 

[rawrster]

@Nightslayer: you can buy them from mouser but that's for US and I'm not sure about shipping costs as it might make buying the driver not worth it. A popular one is a Knowles CI22955 which is around 25 or so before shipping If I'm not mistaken. UM definitely would be the place to do it if that's what you want to do. I wouldn't consider it a shame really. While I really liked them I did need the funds at the time so wasn't too hard a choice. I got the Zero which is pretty good in itself and some customs which I consider better. Also the person that bought it off me got a pretty good deal imo.
 
edit: Shane, I guess the real question is if these will overtake the UM2 for you

 

[shane55]

 
Quote:

Agree that the violin tends to end up feeling a bit thin on the dba. I eq the midbass and lower mids up (and precut everything else down) by a db or two and thats all it takes to fix that for me though. Although it may be different for you (bravetang8) depending on the tip you use (i'm using the stock black ones, and its generally agreed that these tips add extra brightness), your source and your ears.. I also haven't attended many concerts and am not a violinist myself so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
 
Yeah but after appropriate eqing violins sound awesome to me. Excellent air and details. Tonality seems just right from my memory of what violins sounded like.

Agree. This is why I said these are 'mostly' natural.
 
I usually discuss the physical structure of the violin to clarify what I hear.... The DBA is very good in representing the strings, the bow and the air around it. The rosin dust flying around the strings is a visual for me that represents that sound. The body of the violin is another matter. Where the SM3 did not produce the air or the bowing, they did reproduce the resonant acoustic quality of the body, the wood, the back of the instrument and the vibrations felt at the chin guard. The DBA does that to a point, (to my ears, with particular tips, insertion, hearing, YMMV, etc...), but as I said, falls just short of completing the instrument's sonority.
 
So... it mostly sounds right. A little light. A little thin, but otherwise very good.
 
For clarification, realize that most descriptions might seem greater than they actually are...
 
shane
 
EDIT: Oh yeah... again. Amping will improve the overal tonal character. It will make the sound more full and rich. It doesn't need it, but it seems to really like it.
 

 

[mvw2]

Quote:

I usually discuss the physical structure of the violin to clarify what I hear.... The DBA is very good in representing the strings, the bow and the air around it. The rosin dust flying around the strings is a visual for me that represents that sound. The body of the violin is another matter. Where the SM3 did not produce the air or the bowing, they did reproduce the resonant acoustic quality of the body, the wood, the back of the instrument and the vibrations felt at the chin guard. The DBA does that to a point, (to my ears, with particular tips, insertion, hearing, YMMV, etc...), but as I said, falls just short of completing the instrument's sonority.  
So... it mostly sounds right. A little light. A little thin, but otherwise very good.
 

Isn't this always the case.  There is almost always some shortcoming.  Agreed.  If the note was heartier, this earphone would be amazing.  I really do think it's the bass driver's fault.  If I think about the mid-treble driver and the bass driver separately, I like the high frequency driver fine.  It's just that when it gets into the lower notes that it just starts sounding a little off.  In this sense, the choice in driver for the high end is good.  The choice in the driver for the low end was merely ok.  It functions well, but it doesn't function as well as the high frequency driver.
 
For a lot of multi-driver earphones the drivers sound more similar than different.  With a lot of choices, you can't really tell where one driver starts and the other one ends.  They both sound very alike.  With a few earphones, it is more apparent between the drivers.  The Triple.Fi 10 is this way to some extent.  The mid-treble driver sounds similar to the bass driver but not exactly the same and seemless.  The DBA-02 is like this as well.  It's recognizable that the two drivers don't share the same sound signature.  They're similar in gearing but still slightly different.  This isn't necessarily bad, but it also makes things a touch less seemless.
 
Like shane said though, it mostly sounds right, just a little thin, and that's my take on it too.  As a comparison, the DBA-02 portrays sound a lot like the SE530, although the DBA-02's top end is far more present than the SE530.  The drivers used between these two earphones have a lot of similarity in sound, more so than most everything else I've used.

 

[shane55]

Quote:

Isn't this always the case.  There is almost always some shortcoming.  Agreed.  If the note was heartier, this earphone would be amazing.  I really do think it's the bass driver's fault.  If I think about the mid-treble driver and the bass driver separately, I like the high frequency driver fine.  It's just that when it gets into the lower notes that it just starts sounding a little off.  In this sense, the choice in driver for the high end is good.  The choice in the driver for the low end was merely ok.  It functions well, but it doesn't function as well as the high frequency driver.
 
For a lot of multi-driver earphones the drivers sound more similar than different.  With a lot of choices, you can't really tell where one driver starts and the other one ends.  They both sound very alike.  With a few earphones, it is more apparent between the drivers.  The Triple.Fi 10 is this way to some extent.  The mid-treble driver sounds similar to the bass driver but not exactly the same and seemless.  The DBA-02 is like this as well.  It's recognizable that the two drivers don't share the same sound signature.  They're similar in gearing but still slightly different.  This isn't necessarily bad, but it also makes things a touch less seemless.
 
Like shane said though, it mostly sounds right, just a little thin, and that's my take on it too.  As a comparison, the DBA-02 portrays sound a lot like the SE530, although the DBA-02's top end is far more present than the SE530.  The drivers used between these two earphones have a lot of similarity in sound, more so than most everything else I've used.

This is why I compare it (favorably ! ) to the DT880/600. Great highs, great mids, great bass extension (especially the DT880), wonderful overall sound... just a little thin. The HD600 and D5000 were much better (like the SM3) at producing that resonant richness, but had other issues. The SE535... incredible mids and good highs, but also had slightly thin bass, and so similar to the DBA.
 
Probably repeating myself... sorry...

 

 

[dfrost]

I listened to both those videos with my DBA's and they sounded excellent to my (untrained as a violinist) ear. Seemed like the musicality, timbre, subtlety and dynamic range were very well presented.
 
The lack of sonority mentioned previously probably had more to do with the DBA's slightly lean bass, and I don't notice them being overly crisp at all. I find them particularly good with acoustic instruments, but not lacking with other sources, either.

 

[shane55]

 
Quote:

edit: Shane, I guess the real question is if these will overtake the UM2 for you

Hmm.... just saw this edit, and it really is a very good question (" " or not). 
I really should compare them, but I wanted to avoid filling my brain with too many sonic signatures a I evaluated the DBA.
 
But without listening to them to compare directly, I think the DBA will give the UM2 a good challenge. The UM2 will have a better low end and (here it comes...) sonority. But I think the DBA will kick it's butt in the highs and details. Might depend on mood or intent.
 
I was going to say that for pure enjoyment I'd opt for the UM2 and analytical listening the DBA, but I won't... Yesterday I really enjoyed the DBA's. Watching the US Open (OMG!!! Wozniacki), doing 6 'miles' on the elyptical and bopping to the strains of Miles, Gordon, 'Trane, Dire Straits, Hendrix, Rosenmuller, Biber, Bach, Tull, Grisman, Thile, Jenkins, Lawes, Fleck, Spinnerette, Rancid, Rush, etc... I really enjoyed these. A lot. They are lively, forward and fun.
 
So maybe a more appropriate statement would be that they would each be enjoyable, fun and dependent on my mood. Both keepers, for sure.
 
Maybe not overtake, but probably be on equal footing. And that says a lot! 

 
cheers
 
shane
 

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

After intensive testing between my iems and also as a clarity , analytical person. I have officially placed the dba-02 right on top of my list. I liked the warm and smooth sig of the ie8 and even though i have clocked 400+ hrs with the treble opened up and sounding brighter, i just can't live with the mid bass hump. The dba's are just like my pfe's with more bass impact and more forwarded mids which i love. It's much more 'fun' and musical as compared to the flat and boring um3x and it has a more sparkly high which makes it brighter than the um3x. The perfect merging of clarity, speed, details, transparency, bass quality and quantity. Really impressive FA!

x2
Quote:

Agree. This is why I said these are 'mostly' natural.
 
I usually discuss the physical structure of the violin to clarify what I hear.... The DBA is very good in representing the strings, the bow and the air around it. The rosin dust flying around the strings is a visual for me that represents that sound. The body of the violin is another matter. Where the SM3 did not produce the air or the bowing, they did reproduce the resonant acoustic quality of the body, the wood, the back of the instrument and the vibrations felt at the chin guard. The DBA does that to a point, (to my ears, with particular tips, insertion, hearing, YMMV, etc...), but as I said, falls just short of completing the instrument's sonority.
 
So... it mostly sounds right. A little light. A little thin, but otherwise very good.
 
For clarification, realize that most descriptions might seem greater than they actually are...
 
shane
 
EDIT: Oh yeah... again. Amping will improve the overal tonal character. It will make the sound more full and rich. It doesn't need it, but it seems to really like it.
 

 
x2
 
As for deeper insertion killing the treble I don't find that at all.  I have a touch less space and clarity, very very minor hit btw, but the bass and sonority sky rocket and the treble and detail is ever present.  I also suspect that the Klipsch gels having a smaller aperture is more of a reason for the hit than the insertion depth for me.  I was thinking of opening them up a bit to experiment but I'm enjoying the sound too much to bother.  It goes from slightly cold and adds a hint of warmth which is nice.  I imagine the use of silicone retains more of that treble as opposed to foam with deep insertion.  If I wear these shallow they are a bit too thin for my liking but still better than the Etys.
 
BTW, for those that had the 530/535 you really think these sound similar?  I found the overall 'liquid' smoothness from top to bottom of the 530 too unnatural and sterile for my tastes.  No one else felt that way? 
 

 

[shane55]

Quote:

 
BTW, for those that had the 530/535 you really think these sound similar?  I found the overall 'liquid' smoothness from top to bottom of the 530 too unnatural and sterile for my tastes.  No one else felt that way? 
 

I'd love to read other's opinions on this as well.
 
Again for me, similar but not the same. Similar in that their emphasis seems to be the upper half of the audible spectrum. But the bass extension of the SE535 is superior (stronger, more audible), the upper highs of the DBA are more apparent.
Mids are more forward on the SE535... for better or worse. I didn't find the 'liquid smoothness' of the 535 un-natural as I did less neutral. Acoustic instruments still sounded mostly real to me, but at times... with a slight cupped-hand effect.