[osiris1]

Thanks for your response! Are there any specific settings to get the best out of the M9 on the zx507?

use hi-streaming, use balanced out, change the cable. as some have noted, the stock cable is serviceable but isn't the best for M9. roll eartips. experiment with the last two.
also, don't read the forums too much. just enjoy the music.

 

[alcantaradiego]

use hi-streaming, use balanced out, change the cable. as some have noted, the stock cable is serviceable but isn't the best for M9. roll eartips. experiment with the last two.
also, don't read the forums too much. just enjoy the music.

The stock cable has already been replaced by a CEMA PS 4.4 and I'm loving it. Now it's time to wait for the ZX507 to arrive and enjoy the music. Thanks!

 

[alcantaradiego]

use hi-streaming, use balanced out, change the cable. as some have noted, the stock cable is serviceable but isn't the best for M9. roll eartips. experiment with the last two.
also, don't read the forums too much. just enjoy the music.

by the way, as for the tips, I found excellent results with the BGVP A-08 - M and with the spinfit W1 - S.

 

[osiris1]

by the way, as for the tips, I found excellent results with the BGVP A-08 - M and with the spinfit W1 - S.

i use Radius Deep Mount, for almost everything.

 

[hgb1652]

Did anyone get to compare the IER M9 with Anole VX and U12t? I am looking to upgrade into one of those two iems from my M9 currently.

 

[Killedkella]

Did anyone get to compare the IER M9 with Anole VX and U12t? I am looking to upgrade into one of those two iems from my M9 currently.

I’ve tried the U12t in store, definitely more fun sounding than the M9, bass/sub bass was defintely also improved. The U12ts just have more slam in my opinion. Im not sure about soundstage or insturment seperation and how they compare with the M9. From memory the U12ts sounded more intamate than the M9s, but I could be misremembering.

 

[hgb1652]

I’ve tried the U12t in store, definitely more fun sounding than the M9, bass/sub bass was defintely also improved. The U12ts just have more slam in my opinion. Im not sure about soundstage or insturment seperation and how they compare with the M9. From memory the U12ts sounded more intamate than the M9s, but I could be misremembering.

Thanks for your response! I heard the U12t has great center stage/image, which gives off more "speaker like" presentation.
For my Sony IER M9s, I really enjoy its instrument separation ability.
Anyway, would you say that the U12t is an upgrade from the M9?

 

[Killedkella]

Thanks for your response! I heard the U12t has great center stage/image, which gives off more "speaker like" presentation.
For my Sony IER M9s, I really enjoy its instrument separation ability.
Anyway, would you say that the U12t is an upgrade from the M9?

I cant speak on the improvements when it comes to technicalities, but I definitely walked away feeling my M9s were not bassy enough. I loved the low end on the U12s the most, its so deep and impactful, addicting as hell but def not overdone or hurting any of the other frequenices. I am personally looking to purchase the U12s as the next “TOTL” for my collection, so I would say its safe to say that you might enjoy these more than the M9s because they sounded more musical to me.

Also much smaller in person! I assumed the u12ts were going to be giant, but they fit very snug for my small ears.

 

[hgb1652]

I cant speak on the improvements when it comes to technicalities, but I definitely walked away feeling my M9s were not bassy enough. I loved the low end on the U12s the most, its so deep and impactful, addicting as hell but def not overdone or hurting any of the other frequenices. I am personally looking to purchase the U12s as the next “TOTL” for my collection, so I would say its safe to say that you might enjoy these more than the M9s because they sounded more musical to me.

Also much smaller in person! I assumed the u12ts were going to be giant, but they fit very snug for my small ears.

Thanks for letting me know! I am not a huge bass person, but sometimes I wished the M9 would provide more bass with certain tracks.
Also, yeah fit is very important when it comes to iems. It's great to know that U12t fits well to many people!

 

[baskingshark]

Did anyone get to compare the IER M9 with Anole VX and U12t? I am looking to upgrade into one of those two iems from my M9 currently.

The Anole VX is more technical than the M9, with better instrument separation, clarity, imaging and micro-details. However, the VX has worse BA timbre, a thinner note weight and can be a bit hot in some tuning configurations in the upper mids/treble region. The Anole VX has tuning switches to change the sound signature slightly, but it is also substantially more expensive.

 

[HellaSpooked64]

Based off memory the u12t (despite being slightly warm) sounds leaner than the sony m9. I think the leaner midrange makes its bass more cleanly separated from the mids, whereas the m9's bass is more of a linear descent going into the mids and hence has that slight "bloaty" effect. However I find the m9 to give more low end presence in the mix overall.

 

[surfgeorge]

Did anyone get to compare the IER M9 with Anole VX and U12t? I am looking to upgrade into one of those two iems from my M9 currently.

Haven't heard the Anole VX, but I did own the QDC 4SS for a little while. That had very strong BA timbre, notes had little body and decay was very fast.

Hearing the U12T has been on my wishlist for a long time and finally I had a chance to hear them briefly on a trip. Listening conditions were less than ideal because I didn'T have my Mojo2Poly and IER-M9 with me, just the Moondrop Variations as a reference. The one thing that became clear very quickly is that the U12T does not fit my ears well. It has a long nozzle and I have narrow ear canals, so I could not get a good and comfortable fit there in the shop. That alone makes the U12T a no go for me.
The limited impressions I got were positive, but for me personally I did not see myself spending that much more money for a seemingly small improvement. But as I said it was more of an impression than a real test. And maybe it is just too similar to the M9 to feel like a big upgrade?

The other reason why I spent little time with them was the Inear ProMission X (PMX) which the dealer recommended at that price level.
Best fit I have ever had with a universal IEM, the shell is big but perfectly fits into the concha, and the short nozzle allowed for a very comfortable fit in the ear canal. Isolation was incredible!
Detail and layering was way better IMO than what I got from the U12T, tuning was less warm but never aggressive. I felt it was a slightly warm neutral tuning with a bit of excitement and color, but Precog called it a mild V-shape when I asked about his opinion. He said that he didn't like it that much btw...
From memory it doesn't have the thicker and more DD characteristic of the M9, but I also didn't feel that it had the dreaded BA thinness. And I think I am pretty sensitive to that. The PMX is also quite dynamic and energetic, one thing I didn't have time to explore more though is the bass quantity and quality.
In short - this is the one I am considering as an upgrade to the M9 if I ever can justify the €2100 expense.

 

[Khan SW]

I recently picked up a pair of UM Mext and I do love the clarity of them and they felt very "intimate" on acoustic tracks however I have been having problems with proper fitment, so these will be a possible catch and release for me. That being said I just picked up a pair of M9's from a gentleman overseas and I'm currently waiting for them to arrive. Will these be an upgrade in sound from the Mext. I am hoping that at least they are more comfortable .

I will be using them mostly with my WM1A and occasionally the ibasso DX160 so I'm hoping the synergy is there for the Sony's. If anyone has both pair of IEM's that could compare the two for me that would please me very much. My thanks in advance.

 

[surfgeorge]

Kind of random post, but I double checked if the EP-NI1000 still are my favorite solution and wanted to share the result.
Yes, they are still the best for my preferences, provide clean and impactful sound. Bass is deep and clean, maybe a bit too forward in the midbass, but the quality is soo good!
I did experiment with my Chord Mojo2's EQ features, reducing midbass (sub-bass shelf 3+ and mid-bass shelf -3dB) which makes the M9 a sound cleaner and more neutral.

All silicone tips seem to have some high frequency refelections that create like a veil, obscuring detail. I cannot be sure if the EP-NI1000 just prevent such refelections or if there's some attenuation of certain frequencies, but I simply like the result. The big Caveat is that the EP-NI1000 seem to be out of stock everywhere except some rip-off offers for €49 for 1 (!!!) pair... Not even Amazon Japan has them...

Side note - the trigger for playing with tips again was that I bought a used IER-Z1R on the classifieds and was trying to check which tips might help me to get the deep fit the Z1R supposedly need for best SQ! Should get them in a week.

Edit: I think I should elaborate a bit more after giving my impressions of the ProMission X above...
The short time I had with the PMX left me impressed and I was playing with the thought of gifting it to myself as a birthday present but I also knew that I needed to take my impressions with a big grain of salt since the test was short and without my usual points of reference. Additionally I really can't justify €2100 for an IEM right now. I checked for opinions and feedback and got a short from Precogvision and found another review by Aminus https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ami...-rants-and-reviews-stuff.911048/post-15298999
All this made me give up the idea of getting a PMX but somehow put the IER-Z1R back in the spotlight. I have heard the Z1R in 2018 and liked it a lot, it has a mild V-shaped signature maybe a little similar to the PMX, it's universally regarded as a top IEM and buying used would reduce my risk of financial loss if I didn't like it (or could not get a good fit...). So I started looking at the classifieds on Friday, Saturday morning I found a good deal from a reliable head-fier and BAM, closed the deal!
Mission accomplished, found a nice BD present, limited financial risks and finally I will have a TOTL in my collection!

 

[alcantaradiego]

Kind of random post, but I double checked if the EP-NI1000 still are my favorite solution and wanted to share the result.
Yes, they are still the best for my preferences, provide clean and impactful sound. Bass is deep and clean, maybe a bit too forward in the midbass, but the quality is soo good!
I did experiment with my Chord Mojo2's EQ features, reducing midbass (sub-bass shelf 3+ and mid-bass shelf -3dB) which makes the M9 a sound cleaner and more neutral.

All silicone tips seem to have some high frequency refelections that create like a veil, obscuring detail. I cannot be sure if the EP-NI1000 just prevent such refelections or if there's some attenuation of certain frequencies, but I simply like the result. The big Caveat is that the EP-NI1000 seem to be out of stock everywhere except some rip-off offers for €49 for 1 (!!!) pair... Not even Amazon Japan has them...

Side note - the trigger for playing with tips again was that I bought a used IER-Z1R on the classifieds and was trying to check which tips might help me to get the deep fit the Z1R supposedly need for best SQ! Should get them in a week.

I recently bought two pairs of the EP NI1000 - M for my M9. I'm waiting for them to arrive from accessoryjack. Hope to have good results! My only fear is if I really bought the correct size because they are shallower than stock, right?