[Hawaiibadboy]

First I got em balanced...then wanted to easily switch between balanced and single ended so got the next step custom.
Nothing left to do but enjoy.

 

[beowulf]

I got spoilt by these. I go into Japanese audio shops and try TOTL gear frequently and they sound similar at best or more often less impressive that these.

Mine are/were supposed to arrive tomorrow, but I still have no, tracking number from Amazon. After my Z5 incident I'm wondering if I'm Sony-IEM-cursed...

Some people seem to have received stuff from the US site (In in Europe) even when the tracking kept showing nothing or an eternal "Preparing for Shipping", so maybe that is the case.

Anyway, I'm very curious about these, and of how they will behave with different sources, plus on how they compare to "modern" IEMs. The market has a lot more offerings these days.

 

[beowulf]

Just got a UPS tracking warning saying they will arrive tomorrow.

I'm both excited and indifferent. Maybe it was the huge wait before shipping, or maybe it was just the Z5 thing, but I somehow got in a negative mood about this one. Totally not going smoothly with these generations of Sony IEMs.

I think it will "finally arrive" [unlike the fiu#$ng expensive XBA-Z5] but deep inside, I expect them to sound a bit... meh. Grainy, bright, lacking really good separation and overall fun. Yeah. Pessimist. Build quality is going to be great tho. Probably can't avoid that part. But the rest is subjective.

24h left. Come on UPS, gimme my MDR-EX1000!

 

[thatonenoob]

Just got a UPS tracking warning saying they will arrive tomorrow.

I'm both excited and indifferent. Maybe it was the huge wait before shipping, or maybe it was just the Z5 thing, but I somehow got in a negative mood about this one. Totally not going smoothly with these generations of Sony IEMs.

I think it will "finally arrive" [unlike the fiu#$ng expensive XBA-Z5] but deep inside, I expect them to sound a bit... meh. Grainy, bright, lacking really good separation and overall fun. Yeah. Pessimist. Build quality is going to be great tho. Probably can't avoid that part. But the rest is subjective.

24h left. Come on UPS, gimme my EX1000!

Oh no! You've succumbed to the EX1000! Do give the EX800ST a go while you're at it. :0

 

[beowulf]

Oh no! You've succumbed to the EX1000! Do give the EX800ST a go while you're at it. :0

God no. I know enough about the 800/7550 to want to avoid thinking about it before my wallet gets more holes.
After the Z5 sadness I'm even surprised I went forward towards the EX1000.
That was a $500 loss on the Z5, combined with about the same on the EX1000... well.... they better sound like $1000 IEMs.

Sigh.

 

[thatonenoob]

God no. I know enough about the 800/7550 to want to avoid thinking about it before my wallet gets more holes.
After the Z5 sadness I'm even surprised I went forward towards the EX1000.
That was a $500 loss on the Z5, combined with about the same on the EX1000... well.... they better sound like $1000 IEMs.

Sigh.

The Z5 is no EX1000 imo (having now tried the EX1000). I do hate to admit that I prefer the slightly more relaxed nature of the EX800ST to the EX1000. But hey, that's just my opinion.

EX1000 should impress. If not, we need to start talking about very good (and effing expensive) IEMs. AKT8iE, CA Vega's, and friends.

 

[beowulf]

The Z5 is no EX1000 imo (having now tried the EX1000). I do hate to admit that I prefer the slightly more relaxed nature of the EX800ST to the EX1000. But hey, that's just my opinion.

Relaxed nature... you're just getting old, Ken Smoother treble this and that...

EX1000 should impress.

I hope so. I hope so after all the Z5 pain. And the wait.
Now that I think about it, the expectations are so high it can only disappoint. Damn. Once again. :|

f not, we need to start talking about very good (and effing expensive) IEMs. AKT8iE, CA Vega's, and friends.

YOU GET AWAY FROM ME!
/hides wallet

 

[thatonenoob]

Relaxed nature... you're just getting old, Ken Smoother treble this and that...

I hope so. I hope so after all the Z5 pain. And the wait.
Now that I think about it, the expectations are so high it can only disappoint. Damn. Once again. :|


YOU GET AWAY FROM ME!
/hides wallet

Oh no! Not the relaxed effect! Yea the Z5 - that's an odd one tbph.

And yes, hide your wallet. I'm not good for that.

 

[beowulf]

So it finally arrived...

 

[thatonenoob]

So it finally arrived...

Beautiful. And how does it sound?!

 

[beowulf]

Beautiful. And how does it sound?!

Hmmm. Well. I think I did it wrong. Probably shouldn't have started by comparing 1:1 with the Andromeda... only had 30 minutes tho, so I'll have to spend more time with them tomorrow.

 

[thatonenoob]

Hmmm. Well. I think I did it wrong. Probably shouldn't have started by comparing 1:1 with the Andromeda... only had 30 minutes tho, so I'll have to spend more time with them tomorrow.

Oh no!

 

[beowulf]

Oh no!

Probably not a 1:1 comparison given the very different designs. Something like the Vega would have been closer.
I like the air of the EX1000, they're also quite permeable to noise, which might be handy at work. Sometimes I need to hear people and it's a bit of a pain to remove some IEMs. I suspect these won't even need to be removed.

They're bright indeed. Already expected but it still surprised me. There's a bit of a lean feeling, a bit HD800-ish. Detail and resolution are very good, but while hopping 1:1 I prefered the timbre and low-end of the Andromeda most of the time.
The area where the gap is bigger is probably separation and positioning. Layering is just brilliant in the Andros. The 1000 sounded good at that, but not as good. Everything is wide (perhaps wider) but it's not as easy to identify different instruments in different locations. Savall's "La Folia" is a good track to check that and the Andromeda are simply brilliant at it.
This separation aspect might have to do with the multiple BA drivers. I haven't heard anything 100% DD come close, so perhaps the EX1000 are as good as it gets.

Not a bad impression in any way, but also not a WOW moment. Half an hour is nothing, tho. I need more time to check them out properly and figure out if they are worth keeping, given the high price (slightly over 510€ / $550).

 

[thatonenoob]

I see what you mean! I didn't like the combination of the leanness you mentioned with the sometimes peaky nature of the EX1000, which I found to be it's primary weakness. The ER4, which I adore, is somewhat similar, but doesn't have bug me with an aforementioned peak.

It's also one of the reasons why I went with the ex 800st. More relaxed and plays better with greater number of genres. The Andromeda is a tough customer to beat in general. I find it's fairly neutral sig to be a hard one to counter and the fact that it performs so well is just another testament to its general versatility.

The best aspects of the ex1000 in my mind are: soundstage and coherency. The stage is big and if you listen to it in a quiet environment you will be impressed. I was initially disturbed by how the Ex800st sounded while riding on a Tokyo train. When I got back to the hotel, which was quiet, I heard far more details and was generally more impressed. Single DD is coherent and ex1000 mids are great.

Some tips (no pun intended) from my experience: tip rolling didn't work at all and I found the spinfits made things far worse personally. Stock worked best for me. Maybe isolation tips are good too...I barely used them though. Once these are in your ear, pull the back end of the ear guide down and push the earpiece slightly forward. Seal is better for me like this. I also use a larger than usual ear tip.

Lemme know of your further experiences. Also, both of these earphones seem to hate pop. Modern pop specifically. Would not listen to EDM AT ALL (house too, for that matter) with either of them.

 

[beowulf]

I see what you mean! I didn't like the combination of the leanness you mentioned with the sometimes peaky nature of the EX1000, which I found to be it's primary weakness. .

No doubt. It's quite HD800ish.It's the easiest way I'm findind to describe it. Very wide, detailed, but not something for very bright recordings.

It's also one of the reasons why I went with the ex 800st. More relaxed and plays better with greater number of genres..

I considered it, but somehow it seemed to lack that EX1000 aura. Perhaps my initial choice (XBA-Z5) was the sweet spot. But I couldn't get myself to re-buy it after the fiasco of the first attempt, especially because it was more expensive than the EX1000 (at least in the sources I checked).

The Andromeda is a tough customer to beat in general. I find it's fairly neutral sig to be a hard one to counter and the fact that it performs so well is just another testament to its general versatility.

It is indeed. It's perhaps the first IEM that leaves me satisfied enough to be less voracious about trying new ones. That slowdown might continue until CA comes up with something substantially better. It would be hard not to want to try that.

The best aspects of the ex1000 in my mind are: soundstage and coherency. The stage is big and if you listen to it in a quiet environment you will be impressed. I was initially disturbed by how the Ex800st sounded while riding on a Tokyo train. When I got back to the hotel, which was quiet, I heard far more details and was generally more impressed. Single DD is coherent and ex1000 mids are great.

Soundstage is great indeed, and I know what you mean regarding noise. The open design is a bit vulnerable to external noise, ruining low level detail.

Some tips (no pun intended) from my experience: tip rolling didn't work at all and I found the spinfits made things far worse personally. Stock worked best for me. Maybe isolation tips are good too...I barely used them though. Once these are in your ear, pull the back end of the ear guide down and push the earpiece slightly forward. Seal is better for me like this. I also use a larger than usual ear tip.

SpiralDots don't work indeed,got the signature even brighter. I did notice a bit of warmup and less sibilance with the filtered Comply, so foam might work. The original silicones aren't bad tho.

Lemme know of your further experiences. Also, both of these earphones seem to hate pop. Modern pop specifically. Would not listen to EDM AT ALL (house too, for that matter) with either of them.

Sill checking them out. Part of the problem is that the price ended up being very high, wish is making me more demanding than justified, maybe. At around $500 they're still really good. Have to keep in mind that the Andromeda used in the comparison costs more than twice than much. Still, have to determine if it will add enough to the collectionto keep them, otherwise I might let them go.

Something I noticed is that this big a@s driver and design seem to responde a lot to EQ tweaks. Actually wondering if it's possible to tame the treble a bit on some albums with a bit of EQ and get to keep the good parts with a bit more smoothness.