[james444]

Wow the Somic iems are pretty bassy with copious bleed into the midrange. Seems like a good driver though with some good qualities being overshadowed by the bass tuning. Never understood the appeal of this kind of tuning choice. Treble seems pretty good at first blush though. Certainly not irritating and that's a plus. Seems like they will clean up nicely with EQ. Can't wait to try the viper audio settings next week. Build quality seems great; I like the cable a lot.

 
Yeah, I also liked the MH412's cable and overall build quality. Plus, they felt extremely comfortable when worn downwards, really loved them for in bed listening.

 

[sithjedi333]

Is there a break in procedure for the MH412?

Other than activating convoluer/irs, are there any other settings we should turn on?

Thx

 

[sithjedi333]

Thanks Joe for making this happen. I'm comparing against my most used IEMs currently - Tralucent 1plus2 and Xiaomi Pistons 2.1 using this Viper4Android profile, which makes it much different/better from stock.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/703651/the-xiaomi-pistons-thread/2085#post_10794576
 
Without Viper4Android
A bloated bleedy bassy mess, worse than stock Pistons. V4A transforms them though as it does most IEMs. Joe clearly knows what he's doing here.
 
Bass
A little slower than 1plus2 but still sounds great with excellent texture. Bass adapts to the track, if it's there, it hits hard and sounds wonderful. If not, it's not there. I much prefer this to other IEMs where it's either always on or always off.
 
Mids
A little thicker than 1plus2, musical, natural and realistic. Just fantastic.
 
Treble
Detailed and precise, but not sibilant and without significant peaks. A great balance that's not too fatiguing and not too rolled off either.
 
Soundstage
This is the weak spot I think. The 1plus2 is known for an expansive out of the head soundstage, which I prefer but this is a matter of personal preference. Soundstage here is wide but not particularly 3D. Vocals sound right in front of my nose instead of 10 feet in front of me. So kind of a wide but flat stage, similar to most other IEMs I've heard.
 
Build
Super solid construction, very nice non-tangly cable. Equally comfy worn up or down. Cable cinch is metal, similar to the Dunu DN1000 but not as heavy, it's perfect. I prefer the stock tips over my usual favorite, JVC spiral tips.
 
Conclusion
They're neutralish but sound natural and extremely engaging. Plenty of detail, transparency, and layering but not fatiguing, and easy to listen to for long periods of time. I agree with previous comments that they would be a strong contender in the $200-400 range. I don't think they compete with my TOTL 1plus2, particularly in soundstage, but it's a very unfair comparison.
 
Happy to answer any questions and will update with additional thoughts if the signature changes with burn in.
 
Thanks again for allowing me to participate.

 

[james444]

@sithjedi333: excellent impressions, thanks!

  Btw, I believe that the 1plus2's slight v-shape (thinner midrange) plays a vital role in their better forward projection.
 
 
A heads-up to those who received the additional MH412 units: please try to get your hands on the Philips clear silicone tips that Joe used for tuning. I believe they're the ones from the SHE3590, @Joe please correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway, those tips differ quite a bit from the stock ones, thinner silicone, smaller bore size and longer stem, which to my ears results in a noticeable sound difference.

 

[vwinter]

@sithjedi333
: excellent impressions, thanks!   Btw, I believe that the 1plus2's slight v-shape (thinner midrange) plays a vital role in their better forward projection.

Only to a small extent. I tried to EQ them forward when I had it. The difference was minimal. There's something else going on there.

 

[james444]

Only to a small extent. I tried to EQ them forward when I had it. The difference was minimal. There's something else going on there.

 
Are you sure you're talking about forward projection, not depth? I feel that forward projection has a lot to do with how vocals are placed in the mix.
 
Edit: just for illustration, in my understanding forward projection is independent from actual soundstage dimensions width/depth/height:
 

 

[vwinter]

Redacted for editing.

 

[castleofargh]

from my experience, imaging is mainly a combination of crosstalk and FR. I don't know how much a cable can alter the crosstalk on IEMs, but it might play a role(at least in part because I imagine we need a big crosstalk variation to start hearing it). another possibility goes with how the source deals with low impedance, as usually the lower the headphone's impedance, the worst the stereo crosstalk of amps.
 
maybe there are other reasons, like the number and positions of drivers, the type of driver, the distance eardrum-driver ... I tend to find huge soundstage on IEMs with a good deal of sub bass boost and large bore, but I can't say if it's coincidental or not. I guess it's a complex problem.

 

[sithjedi333]

A few more thoughts.
 
Many IEMs depend on tricks. Boosted highs to enhance clarity. Scooped out lower mids to bring out vocals. Always on bass for an exciting sound.
 
The MH412 + Joe's V4A is just right. Bass has great presence when it needs to be there. Mids are spot on. Treble is just right. They strike the balance between being present enough to get your attention and be enjoyable without being so aggressive you get tired of them after an hour. It's like Goldilocks and the 3 bears, this one is just right. It doesn't rely on cheap tricks to produce a great sound.
 
About my 1plus2 comments. When looking to move to TOTL I purposely wanted a gigantic sound stage. This is personal preference. The MH412 isn't lacking in this respect, it's just that I prefer something exaggerated in this aspect.
 
James444, can you elaborate on how the sound from Philips tips differs from stock?
 
Thanks.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

A bit of explanation about the tips: I received the Somic with only one pair of tips. So to provide a tour experience with multiple tip size selection I dug out a Philips tip set (yes, from the SHE3580/3590/3515) to go with the tour.

I might do a retune of the MH412 using the stock tips if I have time, but I'm pretty swamped with FiiO work these days

Could someone who received the extra sets of MH412 direct from Somic take a picture of the tips provided, so I could see whether they're even from the same tip set as the one pair of tips I got?

 

[sithjedi333]

I will post a pic later but they're black silicone wide bore tips that are deep seated so the screen is close to the tip opening. There were 4 pair of which 2 seem to be mediums.

 

[james444]

Quote:

  James444, can you elaborate on how the sound from Philips tips differs from stock?
 
Thanks.

 
The most striking difference is that the Philips tips sound less intimate and more open. This, and their thin silicone is hardly felt inside the ear canal, which adds to perceived transparency.
 
I haven't done an in-depth comparison, but the two aforementioned things, plus the fact that Joe used them for tuning, makes it an easy recommendation.

 

[shotgunshane]

Initial thoughts-
Joe sent me the EQ settings to try and implement in Equalizer on iOS. I can't use as many EQ points but through some creative Q values I've been able to recreate it fairly closely.  The long and short is the Somic iem is pretty bass bloated and veiled sounding and Joe's EQ settings are nothing short of brilliant.  EQ'd this thing sounds excellent and I'm going to need to acquire my own set.  I'll compare my EQ to the Galaxy S3 with Viper over this week before sending out, to see how close I've actually got it but definitely impressed so far.

 

[castleofargh]

sorry I really can't say much about sonic differences from tips, unless they are major. I'm really not that good with delayed comparisons.
so take the IEM off, change the tips, put the IEM back on and make sure I have a good seal on both ears, this is far too long for me to be confident in my memory. instead I always wonder if I make up differences in my head or if maybe it's just that I didn't put them as deep as the first time. I find that to be more challenging than most gear tests.
also the transparent tips weren't exactly of the right size so not easy to put back on fast.
 
 
 
I'm also interrested in having the equivalent EQ values of the impulse response. or a visual graph. I didn't want it when I had the IEMs to give an open minded listening, but now that I'm done I'm a little curious.

 

[shotgunshane]

Joe- what iem have you had the best results with eq? The Somic, philips models or something else?