Enjoying a brisk sunrise this morning with some great new King Gizz. By coincidence I had grabbed the BLON mini to try out a cheap new cable I got this week, so yeah 25 dollars in my pocket.
The Watercooler -- Impressions, philosophical discussion and general banter. Index on first page. All welcome.
- Thread starter Rockwell75
- Start date
chickenmcnug
Formerly known as 8481
Very similar circumstance here
This song plus Elysium = bliss.
Time to introduce Wolf Alice
Extremely talented band, they can go hard too
Giant Peach was really good here
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Very similar circumstance here
This song plus Elysium = bliss.
Just the album cover takes me straight back to Tokyo autumn 1993. Never forget hearing this at the Shibuya HMV one Saturday afternoon, had to buy it on first listen.
Mate, thanks for sharing those live segments. Wolf Alice new one is the feature album on TripleJ this week, really enjoying it.
I had always hoped they'd do more of the hard stuff:
But full credit to them for mixing it up.
tgx78
Member of the Trade: tgxear
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/tansio-marai-sparks.25201/reviews#review-26055
done!
Spark heading out to you @Rockwell75 @SBranson
done!
Spark heading out to you @Rockwell75 @SBranson
SBranson
Headphoneus Supremus
Wonderful review. I'm so intrigued..
Awesome stuff! It’s this and the Isabellae on my Must-Try list at the moment. It’s looking like I’ll be able to loan the latter from MusicTeck soon, so it’s this one that I’m really, really curious about now.
The distinct IEMs you're describing are my personal favourites to review as well. They're easy to talk/write about, and they're easy to recommend (or suggest people look away from) as well. Whereas, when I hear an IEM for the first time and my immediate impression is that it just sounds there, that's when the groans and sighs start coming in.As an example, Ryan from THL graciously sent over his Moondrop Starfield recently; not for me to review, but just to listen to as a reference for a Harman-sounding IEM. My immediate thoughts were that it sounded normal or safe. It didn't try to do anything particularly bold tonally or spatially. Now, that can easily be everything someone's looking for in an IEM. But, given the amount of IEMs I've listened to, I'm now gravitating towards the odd or unique, whether it be by having a distinctly-coloured tone or by presenting colourlessness in a unique way.
I am 100% with you there-- there needs to be something that stirs and engages me emotionally. I know there are people who can non-ironically listen to the ER4 for enjoyment-- but for me it comes off more as a tool for analysis than means of enjoyment. I need something colorful and visionary and ultimately brimming with humanity for me to really connect with it.
Myself and @SBranson have often made similar observations comparing Campfire and Empire IEMs. EE IEMs (like the Bravado and LX) are staged as though you are in the audience and everything is coming at you. Campfire IEMs, by comparison, generally provide a more immersive experience in that you feel as though you're in the thick of the action rather than a passive observer to it.
Same here man it was my first year out of high school and the world was my oyster. I really wish they made followup album. Just recently I came across for the first time the following demo version of one of my favorite songs from that album:
Excellent work man I'm so stoked.
In other news some Saturday grooves:
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SBranson
Headphoneus Supremus
This is an interesting topic for me as I have a suspicion that this tendency towards the immersive is a relatively recent development in terms of popularity and is tied to the rise of the mobile phone and the transference of media to a more and more personal platform.
There was quadrophonic sound in the 70's, surround sound in home theatre and likely other experiments in "immersive" sound but I think the older generations, of which I'm one in terms of HeadFi, tend to think of music as performances and probably had more experience on the whole in terms of watching shows from the perspective of an audience. Coming from two channel, it took me a lot of years (25+) to even begin to accept the more immersive sound of CA iems as even acceptable beyond novelty.
I had placed so much primacy on soundstage as being the correct representation of music due to not only my bias for two channel but for music being created by physical instruments. With the rise of electronic music and so much these days being created from a desktop computer I think that the music that results is perhaps even more "correct" on an "immersive" transducer rather than one that follows some "tricks", like recessed midrange, to create the sense of being in an audience.
Further, I wonder if this sense of audience is tied to a conception of identity.. to be a perceiver within a performance and that to create an iem with this might be perceived as "safer" in a very literal sense. I think that's why something like the Dorado 2020, which I find quite immersive, doesn't usually end up being my choice for late night listening where some separation from the music is more conducive to heading off to sleep or listening in a more reflective state.
Anyway.. I could ramble about this stuff but McLuhan predicted most of this trend towards the more immediate visual way of relating to the world and that, I think, this trend of music and how we relate to it is intimately tied to our rising sense of importance on the individual.
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tgx78
Member of the Trade: tgxear
Just compared the two. While my modded 3DT is a fairly typical harman-ish sounding monitor with a bit of added bass, the Isabellae leans towards a more neutral sound. The drivers of the 3DT exhibit slightly better bass extension with more emphasis on subbass compared to the Isabellae, but mid-bass impact is similar - neither earphone suffers from elevated mid-bass encroaching lower Mids. The Isabellae does have a bit more presence in the lower midrange, giving it a fuller, a slight warmth to the Mids, very similar to the “neutral warm” tone of the IER-M9 but with much better timbre and dynamics. Upper Midrange of the Isabellae is quite neutral, with a hint of pinna gain boosts to give a little clarity and liveliness. It works. Vocal intelligibility is especially good with the Isabellae. The 3DT, in comparison, has less prominent mids and can at times appear a touch distant and vague. Lastly, the treble of the 3DT is more forgiving as my modification focuses on dampening its peaks, but remains just as clean and resolving as that of the Isabellae. Although I notice Isabellae’s treble extension a touch superior to the 3DT as I can hear more overtones and formants in music, they both sound great with my classical music library. Anything with vocals, Isabellae was preferred over the 3DT.
Technicalities are pretty refined and presentation / layering is quite likable on both.
Thanks. Clearly both are very capable. It will be tough with my library and tastes to, on paper, put one over the other. One appeal of the 3DT is the strong bass extension and rumble for some genres of music. A more refined mid presentation with better vocal nauce does sound up my street, however.
Unfortunately I couldn't hold onto both, so it's a very tough proposition.
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