[fevers end]

I must say, I was thoroughly surprised how well the Storm worked for me as an long-haul airplane IEM. I didn't even break out my ANC headphones during some of the flights. They were extremely comfortable and obviously noise isolation of an IEM surpasses that of any ANC, if you get the proper fit/seal. Even with my CIEMs or ANC TWS or others, after a couple hours of being up in an airplane, they start to bother my ears, but never had an issue wearing the Storm. They just fit me wonderfully even when I dozed off for a nap.

Whoever designed that shell did a great job. It's insanely comfortable.

 

[ZeroChad]

Whoever designed that shell did a great job. It's insanely comfortable.

I once asked the guy in charge of the CAD file for STORM's shell how many different edits he had to do over the development process.

He looked me straight in the face and started laughing, before showing me 3 whole folders of CAD file versions.

 

[rickles]

Has anyone compared the Storm with the Canpur CP622B? Would love to hear impressions.

 

[Doug2507]

has anyone tried the storm with a dongle such as w2/w4 from iphone ? how is it driven ?

Sounds pretty good to me from W2 and W4. Obviously not as open, dynamic or resolving as a high end DAP or amp, but for convenient on the go listening its SQ is more enough for me.

Using RU7 right now, obviously not optimum but quite enjoyable tbh. Waiting for 320MAX to arrive for a proper reunion but RU7 I've got no real issues with. Going to grab a DC Elite though, I'd like a slightly tighter bottom end and more open presentation than RU7 gives but still well aware this is Storm + Dongle.

has anyone tried STORM with AIC-10 ? could i ask for some impressions and perhaps a comparison against MK465 ?

No but it was on my radar for a while. Went with US5 and thought it was absolutely superb. Paired with a Bricasti M3 at the time. Keen to revisit a US4/5 with 320 ran through it. (FWIW, my pref. is neutral / ref.)

 

[ZeroChad]

Has anyone compared the Storm with the Canpur CP622B? Would love to hear impressions.

I have, but do take my impressions with a grain of salt.

I think both have quite different presentations - the 622B is naturally more mid focused and excels in that point, but lacks bass quantity (which could be a tuning choice).
The Storm on the other hand is technically superior in terms of treble and bass, especially the texture, while I'd say the 622B could have the better mids.
The 622B actually reminds me of a mid-focused open back headphone, while the Storm has a more reference tuning and presentation.

Overall I think they are different enough that it's pretty easy to choose between depending on your preferences.
For what it's worth I really like the mids on the 622B but the presentation does sound a bit off on certain tracks that are usually sub-bass heavy.

 

[gryphonos]

As a person who required a DAP for STORM while also wanting to take it on a daily commute, Shanling M9 Plus was the only option both sonically and from a physical standpoint. The pairing was perfect sonically and had more than enough power whole maintaining the lightest weight of a flagship DAP by quite a bit I believe. Size isn't the smallest but still smaller compared to things like DX320 MAX Ti and such.

Worth looking into for those who want something borderline portable rather than transportable.

I would be very interested to know whether anyone here has recently had the opportunity to compare the M9 PLus with the new R8II as a partner for STORM and describe their impressions. I'm actually quite satisfied with the RS8 and the two candidates mentioned are neither dwarfs nor lightweights compared to the RS8, but they are still a little more compact, a little lighter and therefore a little more portable. What do you think about M9 Plus versus R8II apart from the current Hyper compared to the latter?
Thanks !!

 

[rickles]

I have, but do take my impressions with a grain of salt.

I think both have quite different presentations - the 622B is naturally more mid focused and excels in that point, but lacks bass quantity (which could be a tuning choice).
The Storm on the other hand is technically superior in terms of treble and bass, especially the texture, while I'd say the 622B could have the better mids.
The 622B actually reminds me of a mid-focused open back headphone, while the Storm has a more reference tuning and presentation.

Overall I think they are different enough that it's pretty easy to choose between depending on your preferences.
For what it's worth I really like the mids on the 622B but the presentation does sound a bit off on certain tracks that are usually sub-bass heavy.

Thank you this is helpful. I own the 622B, and had an audition of the Storm. Would love to hear them closer in time to draw a better comparison.

I find the 622B have a pretty vast soundstage per my notes, which is really cool. To your point, almost like an high end open back headphone. I think the tuning of the 622B is a pretty "reference" tuning, and definitely not a "fun style" tuning. In fact, the charts would show the 622B, and Storm have a really similar approach to midrange. Per my notes on the Storm, I think the treble of the Storm sounds a bit more "open" and "authoritative". Bass-wise, again per notes, I think they're pretty close. They have a different take though. So, Storm with a custom BA-bass, and 622B with a BA-bass with BC. Both I would consider to have excellent bass, with the 622B having a bit more subbass, and the Storm having a bit more texture, and detail in the bass. Coherecy-wise my notes would tell me they both have great crossover design, with the Storm being just a bit better from mids into treble.

That said, I still need to be able to switch back and forth between them. I also listen to the 622B on an RS8, and heard the Storm on a DX320Max fwiw.

 

[gryphonos]

I would be very interested to know whether anyone here has recently had the opportunity to compare the M9 PLus with the new R8II as a partner for STORM and describe their impressions. I'm actually quite satisfied with the RS8 and the two candidates mentioned are neither dwarfs nor lightweights compared to the RS8, but they are still a little more compact, a little lighter and therefore a little more portable. What do you think about M9 Plus versus R8II apart from the current Hyper compared to the latter?
Thanks !!

Tonality-wise R8II could be better supporting STORM's natural neutral sound characteristic since it was mentioned by some here that M9 Plus could do STORM too much warmth that would not be ideal. Just guessing on the basis that DX320Max is supposed to make up for an excellent pairing with STORM.

 

[ZeroChad]

Thank you this is helpful. I own the 622B, and had an audition of the Storm. Would love to hear them closer in time to draw a better comparison.

I find the 622B have a pretty vast soundstage per my notes, which is really cool. To your point, almost like an high end open back headphone. I think the tuning of the 622B is a pretty "reference" tuning, and definitely not a "fun style" tuning. In fact, the charts would show the 622B, and Storm have a really similar approach to midrange. Per my notes on the Storm, I think the treble of the Storm sounds a bit more "open" and "authoritative". Bass-wise, again per notes, I think they're pretty close. They have a different take though. So, Storm with a custom BA-bass, and 622B with a BA-bass with BC. Both I would consider to have excellent bass, with the 622B having a bit more subbass, and the Storm having a bit more texture, and detail in the bass. Coherecy-wise my notes would tell me they both have great crossover design, with the Storm being just a bit better from mids into treble.

That said, I still need to be able to switch back and forth between them. I also listen to the 622B on an RS8, and heard the Storm on a DX320Max fwiw.

I think the biggest difference is the presentation, the 622B is tuned to put vocals into the centerstage (think speaking directly into a mic), everything else takes a backseat.
Not to say they aren't well done either, but that's the presentation they were going for.
Storm has a more conventional reference kind of presentation that really does work well for most genres.

Storm might be a bit source picky due to it's flat impedance design, but once you get it right it shines.
My favourite source so far for the Crimson is the Hugo2's 3.5mm output which I expect would work well with the Storm too.
622B would do well on natural sounding sources, possibly extremely well with AKM based DACs with that "VelvetSound" to give some extra smoothness.

Give those a try if you have time!

 

[VisalEziomi]

Has anyone tried Aroma Audio Air drive Storm ? How does it drive?

 

[stacey]

Latest update I’ve seen for regular edition storm is February, by tork here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/subtonic-storm-impressions-and-discussion.966015/post-17876545

Any day now.

 

[rickles]

I think the biggest difference is the presentation, the 622B is tuned to put vocals into the centerstage (think speaking directly into a mic), everything else takes a backseat.
Not to say they aren't well done either, but that's the presentation they were going for.
Storm has a more conventional reference kind of presentation that really does work well for most genres.

Storm might be a bit source picky due to it's flat impedance design, but once you get it right it shines.
My favourite source so far for the Crimson is the Hugo2's 3.5mm output which I expect would work well with the Storm too.
622B would do well on natural sounding sources, possibly extremely well with AKM based DACs with that "VelvetSound" to give some extra smoothness.

Give those a try if you have time!

Hmm! I have the M15 (Dual AK4499), RS8 (R2R), and the DX320Max Ti (Quad Rohm). I'll need to do some comparisons. Currently trying them out with the DX320Max Ti. Man! Using low gain these have to be turned up quite a bit, and I'm not a loud listener.

 

[Alexzander]

Hmm! I have the M15 (Dual AK4499), RS8 (R2R), and the DX320Max Ti (Quad Rohm). I'll need to do some comparisons. Currently trying them out with the DX320Max Ti. Man! Using low gain these have to be turned up quite a bit, and I'm not a loud listener.

Why use low gain on DX320 MAX TI, especially with Storm
I would go straight for the Gain 4 setting.

 

[rickles]

Why use low gain on DX320 MAX TI, especially with Storm
I would go straight for the Gain 4 setting.

*LOL*

My understanding is that low gain, and higher on the stepped attenuator was lower noise floor, but that might be not true, or inconsequential.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯​

 

[stacey]

@Chang
And I know orders haven’t opened up yet, but if we decide to later on if we do purchase storm, can the cable be upgraded via trade in?