lambdastorm
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2016
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Okay, time to revive this old thread. 2 years ago I was pretty torn between SE846 and IM04, after lots of sleepless night and thread browsing, I decided that I'd go for the 846 without hearing either since there's no headphone shop near my place.
Fast forward 2 years, I'm still satisfied with SE846 until I tried one of my friends' IM04 at his place a month ago. To be completely honest, I enjoyed it way more than my SE846. My biggest gripe about 846 is the following:
1)soundstage. 846's Achille's heel. No matter what I pair it with it always sound very in-your-head, which quickly leads to fatigue.
2)treble. The only thing white filter does is to boost mid-treble to treble by 3dB. It helps alleviate the dark sound signature but doesn't completely solve the problem. Plus it makes the 846 sound unnatural, if its engineered with default filter in mind then anything will sound unnatural. So far I've tried swapping cable (OCC cable), rolling tips (Westone tips) to little avail. Silver cable makes 846 super bright and I definitely won't sacrifice that much bass for a little more treble sparkle.
Here's what I like about 846 tho:
1) Source insensitive. My 846 sounds just as good on an iPhone as it does on my iDSD BL and Nuwave+RNHP. The latter two exhibit more control but that's about it, not a night and day difference. I'd venture to say that SE846 is about 95% there with an iPhone. Absolutely end-game stuff if you don't want to invest in any source.
2) Impedance insensitive. 846's very consistent across all sources. Though it's only 9 ohms in impedance it doesn't mind too much output impedance. It will hiss pretty bad on high-power sources but bass roll-off is never a worry.
3) Bass. 846's subwoofers feature a long waveguide that act much the same way as a transmission line. Because of this very reason bass extension and texture is unparalleled. I wouldn't say it sounds like a DD but it has its own appeal.
My impression with the IM04 is with my friend's DX200.
First of all, it tackles two biggest problems SE846 has. I wouldn't call the soundstage wide, but it does sound much more open than the 846, much less muffled with more pronounced vocals. And its treble is not as rolled-off. Not what I'd call bright, or even neutral as IM04's treble isn't that prominent, but just the right amount to lure me in.
The biggest surprise however, comes from its vocal performance. This IEM is absolutely stellar for vocals. The first moment I put it on and played my favorite vocal track, it put a dopey smile on my face. My, this IEM screams ASIAN! Not in a racist sense of course, but it just sounds more reserved and polite than other IEMs I've heard coming from European manufacturers. Vocals as a result, sound more delicate and lush, with a nice sparkle on top. It gives all my songs with female vocals an other-worldly touch as if the singers sing without a care in the world. This is a quality that I didn't know I want but now that I've heard it, I don't think I can live without this IEM again.
I'm gonna get one, really soon.
Fast forward 2 years, I'm still satisfied with SE846 until I tried one of my friends' IM04 at his place a month ago. To be completely honest, I enjoyed it way more than my SE846. My biggest gripe about 846 is the following:
1)soundstage. 846's Achille's heel. No matter what I pair it with it always sound very in-your-head, which quickly leads to fatigue.
2)treble. The only thing white filter does is to boost mid-treble to treble by 3dB. It helps alleviate the dark sound signature but doesn't completely solve the problem. Plus it makes the 846 sound unnatural, if its engineered with default filter in mind then anything will sound unnatural. So far I've tried swapping cable (OCC cable), rolling tips (Westone tips) to little avail. Silver cable makes 846 super bright and I definitely won't sacrifice that much bass for a little more treble sparkle.
Here's what I like about 846 tho:
1) Source insensitive. My 846 sounds just as good on an iPhone as it does on my iDSD BL and Nuwave+RNHP. The latter two exhibit more control but that's about it, not a night and day difference. I'd venture to say that SE846 is about 95% there with an iPhone. Absolutely end-game stuff if you don't want to invest in any source.
2) Impedance insensitive. 846's very consistent across all sources. Though it's only 9 ohms in impedance it doesn't mind too much output impedance. It will hiss pretty bad on high-power sources but bass roll-off is never a worry.
3) Bass. 846's subwoofers feature a long waveguide that act much the same way as a transmission line. Because of this very reason bass extension and texture is unparalleled. I wouldn't say it sounds like a DD but it has its own appeal.
My impression with the IM04 is with my friend's DX200.
First of all, it tackles two biggest problems SE846 has. I wouldn't call the soundstage wide, but it does sound much more open than the 846, much less muffled with more pronounced vocals. And its treble is not as rolled-off. Not what I'd call bright, or even neutral as IM04's treble isn't that prominent, but just the right amount to lure me in.
The biggest surprise however, comes from its vocal performance. This IEM is absolutely stellar for vocals. The first moment I put it on and played my favorite vocal track, it put a dopey smile on my face. My, this IEM screams ASIAN! Not in a racist sense of course, but it just sounds more reserved and polite than other IEMs I've heard coming from European manufacturers. Vocals as a result, sound more delicate and lush, with a nice sparkle on top. It gives all my songs with female vocals an other-worldly touch as if the singers sing without a care in the world. This is a quality that I didn't know I want but now that I've heard it, I don't think I can live without this IEM again.
I'm gonna get one, really soon.
(Balance, high freq and positioning improved)
