The Watercooler -- Impressions, philosophical discussion and general banter. Index on first page. All welcome.

[Rockwell75]

Funny how this hobby works sometimes. Spent the last couple hours listening to Holocene on the n3Pro and they've really grown on me. I swapped out the tips for these Sednafit Crystals and this added a touch of needed clarity across the board in the mids. I think the difference between something like the Reborn and the Holocene is that on the Reborn the midrange on the whole is a bit more diffused with the vocals taking centre stage in terms of forwardness and clarity. On the Holocene the midrange presentation is much more even keeled with vocals more-or-less being in line with instruments. Further I'm finding with different IEMs that the sound of the n3pro gets more alluring the longer you listen to it...i'm not sure of this is just in my head or what. I'm finding the Holocene to be a really nice lower volume listen where you can just sit back and melt into the sound. Bass and highs never take precedence over the mids but they do an admirable serviceable job....but the heart of the music is the midrange and this is where your attention is consistently drawn to while listening to Holocene. It does EDM rather well to my surprise but this is definitely not its strong suit.

 

[Rockwell75]

I was on the fence with the Holocene until I heard this:



This has to be one of my all time favorite tracks. From about 2009 - 2016 I went through 4 different iPods and iTunes kept a running count of all the songs I listened to over the years. This one was firmly in my top 3. It's technically one of my reference tracks as I've listened to it on every IEM I've owned at one point or another but I don't bring it up much because it's not a really easy track to get right to my ears. This is because of all the different layers & sounds going on-- it's got a kind of "chamber of secrets" like feel and it's really easy for any of the different layers to get crowded out or lost in the mix, as inevitably happens if the mid-range isn't fairly linear, or if there's to much energy in the highs, or too much bass. I'm tempted to say that up until now I haven't heard a set of IEMs whose presentation of this track is as effective to me as that of the Holocene. A combination of the highly satisfying but unobtrusive bass (this is one instance where I may actually prefer BA bass), a very even-keeled midrange on up, a little sprinkling of Campfire magic and the result in this case totally works. If I wind up keeping it long term the Holocene will be a special teams IEM for me, but after tonight it's given me a sense of its own identity and got me excited to get to know it more fully.

Edit:

In case anyone needs more raga in their life...

 

[blotmouse]

This has to be one of my all time favorite tracks

Orbital, nice.

 

[ranfan]

I was on the fence with the Holocene until I heard this:



This has to be one of my all time favorite tracks. From about 2009 - 2016 I went through 4 different iPods and iTunes kept a running count of all the songs I listened to over the years. This one was firmly in my top 3. It's technically one of my reference tracks as I've listened to it on every IEM I've owned at one point or another but I don't bring it up much because it's not a really easy track to get right to my ears. This is because of all the different layers & sounds going on-- it's got a kind of "chamber of secrets" like feel and it's really easy for any of the different layers to get crowded out or lost in the mix, as inevitably happens if the mid-range isn't fairly linear, or if there's to much energy in the highs, or too much bass. I'm tempted to say that up until now I haven't heard a set of IEMs whose presentation of this track is as effective to me as that of the Holocene. A combination of the highly satisfying but unobtrusive bass (this is one instance where I may actually prefer BA bass), a very even-keeled midrange on up, a little sprinkling of Campfire magic and the result in this case totally works. If I wind up keeping it long term the Holocene will be a special teams IEM for me, but after tonight it's given me a sense of its own identity and got me excited to get to know it more fully.

Edit:

In case anyone needs more raga in their life...

What's a raga? Does it have to do with making you go strong longer?

Even-sounding is what I'd describe the Q4 as well. It also is capable of exhibiting how your source sounds like in all its peculiarities Try them with your phone or laptop next time

 

[ian91]

What's a raga? Does it have to do with making you go strong longer?

Even-sounding is what I'd describe the Q4 as well. It also is capable of exhibiting how your source sounds like in all its peculiarities Try them with your phone or laptop next time

Raga is hard to define, and I'm probably not qualified to comment, but I listen to alot of it so I'll try...Essentially its a melodic/modal device in Indian music that is meant to evoke certain emotions depending on which raga is played. There are quite a few of them!

Ragas played with Hariprasad Chaurasia, on the bansuri flute, are my main go-to relaxation tracks when I'm very stressed.

 

[Scubadevils]

Orbital, nice.

+1

Long time Orbital fan, first discovered thanks to the brilliant opening track 'Semi-Detached' on the Trance Europe Express compilation in 1993 - the period where others such as The Orb, Aphex Twin etc were luring me into the whole scene from my previous teen obsession with the likes of The Cure and The Smiths (I love both still).

Listening to this now puts shivers through me, distant memory of a fantastic time in my life - coming of age during the early stage of the Dublin clubbing scene.

 

[SBranson]

Raga is hard to define, and I'm probably not qualified to comment, but I listen to alot of it so I'll try...Essentially its a melodic/modal device in Indian music that is meant to evoke certain emotions depending on which raga is played. There are quite a few of them!

Ragas played with Hariprasad Chaurasia, on the bansuri flute, are my main go-to relaxation tracks when I'm very stressed.

That's a cool way to describe it.. and thanks for bringing up Hariprasad Chaurasia.. It's been too long since I've listened..

I found this album some time in the early 90's after travelling in India and I wore out the cassette until I bought a cd..
His music is like some other language deep in the soul that weaves through emotions and dimensions that aren't really in the conscious mind.. I cannot even imagine the state of a being who plays this... Perhaps it's the foreignness of it that is so mysterious to me and for him it's like a jazz improv. but having been in a constant state of wonder in India for 6 months back in the day, it's like a totemic marker for some portal to another realm..

 

[Scubadevils]

Talk of Orbital inspired my morning walk music choice, always wonderful to revisit this album.

Oh and in reference to my previous post and the Trance Europe Express compilation, the track 'Celestial Symphony' by Scubadevils was one of my favourites and the name I ultimately borrowed for use in forums, my YouTube channel etc. The space (Scuba Devils) on Head-Fi is actually due to registering a few years ago but forgot my password and no longer have the email I used at the time!

 

[Neweymatt]

Raga is hard to define, and I'm probably not qualified to comment, but I listen to alot of it so I'll try...Essentially its a melodic/modal device in Indian music that is meant to evoke certain emotions depending on which raga is played. There are quite a few of them!

Ragas played with Hariprasad Chaurasia, on the bansuri flute, are my main go-to relaxation tracks when I'm very stressed.

If you like your raga with home-made modular synths, this is excellent:



Andro2020 says yes!

 

[ian91]

That's a cool way to describe it.. and thanks for bringing up Hariprasad Chaurasia.. It's been too long since I've listened..

I found this album some time in the early 90's after travelling in India and I wore out the cassette until I bought a cd..
His music is like some other language deep in the soul that weaves through emotions and dimensions that aren't really in the conscious mind.. I cannot even imagine the state of a being who plays this... Perhaps it's the foreignness of it that is so mysterious to me and for him it's like a jazz improv. but having been in a constant state of wonder in India for 6 months back in the day, it's like a totemic marker for some portal to another realm..

Thank you, I believe I've listened to this before but I'm going to enjoy it again tonight.

Raga is all about improvisation and playing off of eachother. It can be so dynamic, covering a large part of the emotional spectrum - energised, relaxing, contemplative etc.

Cheers!

 

[Scubadevils]

Ragas played with Hariprasad Chaurasia, on the bansuri flute, are my main go-to relaxation tracks when I'm very stressed.

Any album to recommend?

An album I've had on repeat the last couple of days is the following, recommended by @gLer in the IE900 thread, absolutely stunning... thanks gLer. I'm probably going to go old school and buy this on vinyl.

 

[ranfan]

This thread is most definitely the hotbox of Head-Fi Loving these newly discovered Raga genre

 

[Rockwell75]

What's a raga? Does it have to do with making you go strong longer?

The best description I've come across is this one from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda:



Do you not have the Q4 anymore? (Looking at your sig...what's the Iris Ancestor?)

+1

Long time Orbital fan, first discovered thanks to the brilliant opening track 'Semi-Detached' on the Trance Europe Express compilation in 1993 - the period where others such as The Orb, Aphex Twin etc were luring me into the whole scene from my previous teen obsession with the likes of The Cure and The Smiths (I love both still).

Listening to this now puts shivers through me, distant memory of a fantastic time in my life - coming of age during the early stage of the Dublin clubbing scene.

Nice Been a while since I heard that one.

That's a cool way to describe it.. and thanks for bringing up Hariprasad Chaurasia.. It's been too long since I've listened..

I found this album some time in the early 90's after travelling in India and I wore out the cassette until I bought a cd..
His music is like some other language deep in the soul that weaves through emotions and dimensions that aren't really in the conscious mind.. I cannot even imagine the state of a being who plays this... Perhaps it's the foreignness of it that is so mysterious to me and for him it's like a jazz improv. but having been in a constant state of wonder in India for 6 months back in the day, it's like a totemic marker for some portal to another realm..

I'll have to the check that out...thanks for the rec

Talk of Orbital inspired my morning walk music choice, always wonderful to revisit this album.

Oh and in reference to my previous post and the Trance Europe Express compilation, the track 'Celestial Symphony' by Scubadevils was one of my favourites and the name I ultimately borrowed for use in forums, my YouTube channel etc. The space (Scuba Devils) on Head-Fi is actually due to registering a few years ago but forgot my password and no longer have the email I used at the time!

A stone cold classic!

 

[Tchoupitoulas]

Nice to see some love for Orbital! A friend introduced me to this classic back in the day:



We used it as a test track for our newly-purchased Sony MiniDisc players, with foldable, portable and super bassy Panasonic on-ears (this was in Japan, in the last millennium). As it happens, I've recently taken to using PETROL as a test track again. Time becomes a loop!

 

[Scubadevils]

Nice to see some love for Orbital! A friend introduced me to this classic back in the day:



We used it as a test track for our newly-purchased Sony MiniDisc players, with foldable, portable and super bassy Panasonic on-ears (this was in Japan, in the last millennium). As it happens, I've recently taken to using PETROL as a test track again. Time becomes a loop!

Yes such an amazing album too - among my top 3, others being the Brown album and Snivilisation... all three hold very special memories.