[maverickronin]

I think its mostly that IEMs just have a different presentation.

 

[kiteki]

Quote:

 
I had a pair of Grado SR325is.  They sounded awesome with death metal...for about two songs.  Then my ears almost started bleeding....

This is true.
 
 
Quote:

To be honest, I'm still not clear on what it is you're saying headphones can't do.

I think a speaker, headphone and IEM can all do something the other can't, the question is which one is accurate and that I don't know...
 
I think when listening to the UM it doesn't create a headphone sound, it creates a unique sound which the headphones I've heard can't reproduce, I'd say along the lines of imaging and layering, or the sensation of it.
 
At the same time, an IEM can't sound like a floor-standing speaker, or like an open-air heapdhone, in the sensation, right?
 

Edit: By the way, it seems most people prefer speakers or headphones at home, and use IEM's for portable use, that's one sensation IEM's have, a portable landscape.
 
I guess I'm an exception, since I like using IEM's 90% of the time at home, even though I have a reasonably capable headphone and speaker rig.
 
To expand further, I thought the UM Mage was actually sufficient for my tastes, and the UM Miracle really had that 5.1 sound, I don't know if it's accurate or artificial, i.e. ...is that sound really in the recording?
 
Then another question arises, does it have to be? The very start, and very end of the chain is the sonic art right? It's the links inbetween that should be accuracy, at least... that's my personal point of view here.
 
 

 

[MuppetFace]

Quote:

it creates a unique sound which the headphones I've heard can't reproduce, I'd say along the lines of imaging and layering, or the sensation of it.
 

 
Ah, okay, I get it now. From your description of fireflies, I got the impression you were speaking of a sort of immersive sensation, that "outside the device" reproduction that surrounds you. Layers of sound unfolding and collapsing all around the listener.
 
That's a sensation I get with certain Lambdas, as well as the Qualia.

 

[kiteki]

Well, take my view with some salt, I'm not an expert, I like speakers, HP and IEM all the same, but almost always using the latter for some reason.
 
Either way, looking forward to your views in IEM castle MuppetFace, and by the looks of it you'll probably pick up some exotic IEM from Japan or Brazil none of us have heard and use equipment that lifts it up an extra 10%.

 

[Sylverant]

Quote:

By the way a telecast is a television broadcast, and Telecaster is a type of guitar.
 
The Teclast T51, led by Taipower heavy industry boss cat, uses a Fuzhou Rockchip as it's CPU (like an Intel in your PC), a popular Wolfson DAC x 2 (Digital to Analog Converter, this is basically like a sound-card), and a Texas Instruments OPA2604 for the Line-Out (this is useful for connecting to a stereo), and then the line-out (internally) is connceted to the headphone-out, which uses a Philips TDA1308, this is useful for connecting to full-size headphones, or an IEM (In-Ear Monitor).
 
The result is pretty good sound-quality, and that's why I use it as my reference DAP (Digital Audio Player), when I have the chance to listen to headphones or IEM's which aren't my own.
 
The sound-quality isn't shocking or anything, it's just fairly even and subtle reference quality sound, however once you're used to listening to IEM's on the T51 over a long time, and you switch to something else, you think your IEM's are broken, or the device is weak, it's not striking, it's a subtle effect that took me a while to notice when my primary IEM was the ATH-CK10.

I think my iem's sound broken when listening to them through iPod's and the like and I don't have a point of reference for what they should sound like.
 
Let's say i listen to my Custom 3 out of an ipod. Sounds completely in my head and the midrange is veiled, so somethings clearly wrong.
 
Add a Fiio E5 to the line out and now they sound like there way out of my head and quite taller too. But the resolution from that combo is lacking, as is the bass. So i get the impression that the sound is as large as it should be, but is lacking in presence, dimensionality and bass. They have more front-to-back placement out of the ipod's in head placement, the fiio e5 really lacks resolution but only ba iem's really show it. Nothing I own can make the Custom 3 sound right to me, nothing can power them, yet their just ordinary dual driver ba's. I know from using them with the ipod and Fiio e5 that they have the ability to do something dynamics can't, they can put one instrument really far out there, and if its in the recording layer another instrument half that distance away on the inside in the same line or location. BA are unique in that regard.

 

[pyro_dragun]

My CK100s just came in the mail yesterday, and man, I really am liking these things so far, but I do think they could be pushed more if I had an amp and nice DAC to drive these. This kinda brings me to my question:

What amps and dacs pair well with the CK100s?

 

[kiteki]

 
Sylverant, I have the Fiio E6 and I'm a bit skeptical about how it sounds. Your impressions are interesting like BA's "inside the same line".  After all, is it hard to believe a 6 driver (in each ear) audio system can do something a headphone can't?
 
 
pyro_dragUn, home or portable?

 

[Sylverant]

Quote:

 
Sylverant, I have the Fiio E6 and I'm a bit skeptical about how it sounds. Your impressions are interesting like BA's "inside the same line".  After all, is it hard to believe a 6 driver (in each ear) audio system can do something a headphone can't?
 
 
pyro_dragUn, home or portable?

I wasn't sure how to explain it before but after more listening with my Custom 3 out of my 5.5g iPod Video+Fiio E5 here's my attempt at an explanation.
 
Basically let's say you draw three circles; one innermost circle and two around it, each one bigger than the last one. Circle 1 is in the center, circle 2 outside of it in the middle and circle 3 being the outermost circle. Draw a straight line from circle 1 to circle 3 and you could have multiple instruments in that same line; let's say one in circle 2 (the middle circle) and one in circle 3. So with BA's you usually get a sense of accurate depth and placement that you don't get with dynamics; a sense of things being both close and very far away all in the same recording. However those instruments can occasionally sound like their all sort of off in their own space doing their own thing with too much space between them; which leads to a presentation that lacks coherency.
 
Normally with dynamic iem's I only notice stuff going on in circle 1 and circle 2; you don't really get this sense that sounds can be both close and far away at the same time. However what you do get is coherency and bass that can really rumble and be felt, because if it had to it could punch and explode in the entire soundscape. There are dynamics that create a great sense of distance such as the IE8, but from what I've read the IE8 sort of pushes everything to the outermost boundaries of its sound stage (circle 3) and lacks accurate depth. 
 
I think it's in this kind of incoherent yet accurate depth and placement of sound that makes BA iem's unique in there own right.

 

[kiteki]

 
good post, the multi-sphere effect.
 
 
I think soundspace is the x y z space of an IEM, imaging is the movement of sounds within that space, and layering is the number of spherical sound layers at once and how they interact.

 

[tomscy2000]

kiteki, I remember your mentioning once that you didn't like the boring sound of the K2 SP and hoped the BA200 didn't sound the same. I can report that they are definitely not boring.

 

[kiteki]

Nice!!
 
How do the BA200 sound then? I like their shape.

 

[tomscy2000]

They sound pretty darn good. Granted, don't expect miracles as they're still dual driver IEMs, but they have pretty good presence down low with a present, but extremely well-controlled mid-bass section. Vocals are clear and very slightly up front, but lack the pure lushness of vocals in triple driver IEMs. Sibilance is pretty much non-existent. Treble is smooth and present, but is secondary to other frequencies. Overall sound is pretty relaxing and pretty inoffensive. It feels like a jack-of-all-trades type IEM. The one thing I can really fault it for is that when I have silicone tips on, I can hear the low-to-high driver transition zone pretty obviously. The low driver is noticeably warmer. However, the overall sound holds up well, and doesn't feel all that disjointed.
 
Other impressions here: http://www.head-fi.org/t/584123/tdk-ba200-impressions-review-and-appreciation-thread

 

[kiteki]

What's the decay and speed like?

 

[kiteki]

There is no consistency in the XBA-3 and XBA-4 reviews popping up now, sometimes I find it impossible to gauge the sound of an IEM in text, sometimes it has worked but not very often. =/
 

 

[SkinnyPuppy]

Got the adapter for the fostex.
 
THE JACK DIDN'T ******* FIT IN THE ADAPTER What