[Rockwell75]

Hmmm. Interesting. Dunno maybe it's just me then. I just found the mids to be oddly pushed back making the sound a bit wonky.
The mids detail is less when I compare this to say the IKKO, GR07, Xelento etc. The Dunu in comparison is a bit thin and light bodied in comparison. More "modern" kind of a sound. Although I should still say that the Dunu is not particularly bad in this regard but it's just not "there" in the mids; a sound that leans highly on it's proficiency in the highs, lows and overall coherency. Similar kind of "tuning" to most modern IEMs.

The reason I put the IKKO above all these is just coz it has a definite personality/character of it's own. Well balanced with mild emphasis on the mids and bass with an enormous soundstage (width and depth) and excellent detail retrieval. It does require better amping to open up but when it does it's all song. The texture of the notes in any band (lows, mids or highs) is excellent with a natural timbre; making the sound extremely rich, organic and life like. It does all this in a way that sets it apart from majority of the competition. Had it not been for the extremely polarizing looks, this unit would've sold like hot cakes.

Will agree to disagree RE the Zen Pro as I hear it almost exactly the opposite-- to my ears the mids are centre stage with the highs and lows in support. The IE900 is an IEM where I hear the bass and treble up front with the mids pushed way to the back. YMMV again. Thank-you for putting the IKKO on my radar...will defo look into it.

No more campfire for me. Besides none of their single DDs come close to their market peers when it comes to techinal performance.

I don't buy CFA for their technical chops-- their strength (for me) is unique tuning and bombastic fun. They're hit and miss for sure but for me when they hit they really hit.

 

[Giru]

Will agree to disagree RE the Zen Pro as I hear it almost exactly the opposite-- to my ears the mids are centre stage with the highs and lows in support. The IE900 is an IEM where I hear the bass and treble up front with the mids pushed way to the back. YMMV again. Thank-you for putting the IKKO on my radar...will defo look into it.

Hmmm. I'll try them out again.
Did you by any chance hear the Zen along side the Zen Pro? Were the mids similar on both?

I don't buy CFA for their technical chops-- their strength (for me) is unique tuning and bombastic fun. They're hit and miss for sure but for me when they hit they really hit.

That's actually quite true. CA iems are surely emphatically tuned. They do what they do with aplomb. Case in point: CA Atlas (and the Dorado as you said).

 

[Rockwell75]

Hmmm. I'll try them out again.
Did you by any chance hear the Zen along side the Zen Pro? Were the mids similar on both?

Never heard the OG Zen but I heard consistently that the upper mids were too intense for many. Zen Pro straddles this line for me but never quite crosses it. I should point out that I do listen to them (the Zen Pro) on an AK SR25ii which is a pretty mid-centric player.

 

[chickenmoon]

I got a Dark Magician a few days ago. It's quite nice and closest to Zen Pro out of what I have. As with the Zen Pro, I sometimes find them unpleasantly shouty if a bit too loud. Richer bass than the Zen Pro,

I should get a Cayin Fantasy tomorrow, it was heavily discounted during the last ali sale, at nearly half the OG price I haven't been able to resist checking it out.

I Would like to get/try Eden and VR1.

 

[Scubadevils]

I got a Dark Magician a few days ago. It's quite nice and closest to Zen Pro out of what I have. As with the Zen Pro, I sometimes find them unpleasantly shouty if a bit too loud. Richer bass than the Zen Pro,

I should get a Cayin Fantasy tomorrow, it was heavily discounted during the last ali sale, at nearly half the OG price I haven't been able to resist checking it out.

I Would like to get/try Eden and VR1.

I've been so close to buying Dark Magician a few times. I'd love to hear more of your impressions, especially versus ZEN PRO.

 

[KutuzovGambit]

I got a Dark Magician a few days ago. It's quite nice and closest to Zen Pro out of what I have. As with the Zen Pro, I sometimes find them unpleasantly shouty if a bit too loud. Richer bass than the Zen Pro,

I should get a Cayin Fantasy tomorrow, it was heavily discounted during the last ali sale, at nearly half the OG price I haven't been able to resist checking it out.

I Would like to get/try Eden and VR1.

As a denizen of midfi hell I am wondering what your thoughts are between the FD7 and the Isa.

 

[chickenmoon]

I've been so close to buying Dark Magician a few times. I'd love to hear more of your impressions, especially versus ZEN PRO.

I haven't spent too much time with them yet but I'd say that if you already got the Zen Pro then these might be a bit redundant as I feel they are more alike than different tonally. Though call saying which is best.

 

[chickenmoon]

As a denizen of midfi hell I am wondering what your thoughts are between the FD7 and the Isa.

I haven't spent an enormous amount of time with the Isa (got it at around the same time as the Turii and the Turii got all my attention) and none recently so I'm not going to speak about it.

The FD7 is a bit of mixed bag for me, I like the tonal balance quite a bit but I also find them a bit too soft sounding as if there was some subtle reverb added to the sound and I also think they don't have too good separation, being a bit fuzzy somewhat. Perhaps I expected too much from the pure Be drivers. They are not a bad earphone for the money, I'm just very critical.

 

[Giru]

Never heard the OG Zen but I heard consistently that the upper mids were too intense for many. Zen Pro straddles this line for me but never quite crosses it. I should point out that I do listen to them (the Zen Pro) on an AK SR25ii which is a pretty mid-centric player.

I see.
Yes indeed, pairing is extremely important.

 

[Rockwell75]

Received the JVC HA-FW10000 in for demo…a striking but very engaging mid-forward presentation with wonderful timbre.

 

[ljnew]

IE900 (AET07 tips) has taken the throne of best single dynamic for me from the near 10 year ruler EX1000.

Honorable mentions go to the EX800ST/MDR7550, JVC Woodie FX850, and the Beyerdynamic Xelento.

No real itch to try anything other than the IE600 which is rumored to have a more pleasing tonality albeit slightly less technical than the IE900.

I love ex800st

 

[Deekay896]

IE900 (AET07 tips) has taken the throne of best single dynamic for me from the near 10 year ruler EX1000.

Honorable mentions go to the EX800ST/MDR7550, JVC Woodie FX850, and the Beyerdynamic Xelento.

No real itch to try anything other than the IE600 which is rumored to have a more pleasing tonality albeit slightly less technical than the IE900.

I should stop reading about the ie900, that fomo is crawling back up ever since I decided to go for the u12t instead.

 

[Ziadax]

I should stop reading about the ie900, that fomo is crawling back up ever since I decided to go for the u12t instead.

I mean in all honesty the u12t is tuned better and I think performs at a higher technical level than the 900. While the 900 does bass and treble really well a lot of people found the dip in the upper mids (not enough pinna gain?) to sound strange and eventually become a dealbreaker. In an ideal world I'd own both but they're both kind of pricy so I ended up going with the 900 mostly due to a better fit and letting my u12t go.

 

[Scubadevils]

Bumping this thread in anticipation for two incoming single DDs -

ikko OH5 - LINK (unique due to the use of lithium for the driver, apparently the first in an IEM)

And SonicMemory SM2 - LINK - seems to be popular in China, reviews I've read suggest highly technical... very curious to hear this one - thanks for the nudge @hevelaoak

 

[hevelaoak]

And SonicMemory SM2 - LINK - seems to be popular in China, reviews I've read suggest highly technical... very curious to hear this one - thanks for the nudge @hevelaoak

make sure you have ear tips like Acoustune AET07 ready for the best pairing/sealing (1 size larger is recommended). Será Una Noche's Taquito Militar never sounds so realistic