[SciOC]

Not a cult..just very Very good IEM's.
The only way of course for anyone will know if they are THAT good (hence I suspect your cult reference?) is to hear them themselves.
As far as IEM's go I personally feel happy to stop searching now since owning the IMR Rah's. Looking back they must be around my 170'th headphone and they are by far my favourite.
Make of that whatever you want
As far as bias goes...All i can personally say is that through having bought most of the Trinity IEM's and now most of the IMR IEM's to date I have always found Bob to be very
communicative, very generous, genuinely passionate about his products and has an incredible customer service. (my sympathies to anyone who had a different experience)
He offers a generous discount for those who already own an IMR product.

* I have NO desire to debate about Bob's past
Many people have opinions some maybe justified some maybe not?

All I will say is that what he is creating at the moment is class leading and very much in the TOTL area in terms of sound for a very affordable price
BUT . . . until you yourself hear them then this is all just words
If you do get a chance though to listen to any of them, please do so and form your own opinion - based on that

That's the thing, it's like there is an initiation fee to join the club, then you get a perpetual discount. Well I just freaking want to try them out first to see if they're good and my style. But I don't want to pay 35% more than IMR customers knowing what it'll do to resale value, nor do I want a preorder, which is basically what all his new products will be now.

Long story short I asked bob if could order a pair of PB one's at a discount from the website price ($520 USD) knowing IMR customers are getting 35% off (so if I don't like them I'd be totally screwed on resale) even if the discount was less than the 35%. I told him I was looking to get a Rah or PB one because I really like the driver setup.

Basically, he told me no, the PB one is exclusive for IMR existing customers, BUT he does have one Rah available (another issue right there...). Fine, a fair response overall.

Anyway, I go to the website to check it out, the Rah is in stock.... For $722 USD.

What?

I know what the price was... There's a new one on eBay for $525 and a used one on here for $375.

Combine this with the fact that there aren't seemingly any unbiased reviews of the Rah(since all owners essentially received a big "discount") it just smells bad, but I still want to try em, I just don't want to have to pay some sort of initiation fee.

 

[jon parker]

@SciOC - Well I see how you could read the situation from your perspective like that
but if you flip it the other way round..Customer loyalty = discount.

As for your FACT that there are no unbiased reviews because we have all received a discount . . that smells bad in and off itself! (I appreciate your frustration though!
The discount is not dependant on a review but on a previous order - it is automated so no IMR owner is going to fluff up a review to
get some sort of magical discount as that would happen anyway!

I chose to pre-order my own Rahs and through that THAT I received a discount
but as you say..I really hope you get to hear them
Im lending my pair to a good friend soon if you want you can PM him and see what he thinks?

 

[SciOC]

Well, one things for sure: I'd never pay them anything before they've got the product in stock given their history.

I feel this way about all brands honestly after my Kickstarter and IGG experiences.

@SciOC - Well I see how you could read the situation from your perspective like that
but if you flip it the other way round..Customer loyalty = discount.

As for your FACT that there are no unbiased reviews because we have all received a discount . . that smells bad in and off itself! (I appreciate your frustration though!
The discount is not dependant on a review but on a previous order - it is automated so no IMR owner is going to fluff up a review to
get some sort of magical discount as that would happen anyway!

I chose to pre-order my own Rahs and through that THAT I received a discount
but as you say..I really hope you get to hear them
Im lending my pair to a good friend soon if you want you can PM him and see what he thinks?

We're all human, a discount and price paid create a certain bias, whether perceived or not. Basically what I'm saying is that I can ONLY find that type of review, whereas I'd like to see reviews from all types of groups, professional reviewer types, paid buyers, discounted buyers, free sample types, etc. It's hard to know what to make of something when it's basically a members only club who have brand loyalty built in....

I don't want to join said club until I can try the club out.... I can't try the club out without taking, what i see as, a financial risk that's unreasonable versus the rest of the industry. I just find it to be a very, very weird business model.

 

[jon parker]

@SciOC - I see what your saying...Me too actually!
I did read one review from a trusted reviewer on the Atens who pretty much declared a bias against IMR
He only tried them with the filters that they ship with and gave them no burn in basically saying they were mehh. (They ship with the heaviest basshead configuration!)
To be fair its the only time Ive seen him do that but I thought it was
a real shame because one of the special aspects of the IMR's is that the different filters do actually work and can give many different flavours of sound from Full on basshead bliss
to Audiophile levels of balance and detailed quality
Quite profound changes after burn in as well - So he basically has not heard them and yet gives a review that many people will believe ):

You make a good point about the business model - At the moment he is only very small limited runs of models (i think only 300 of the Rah) so maybe that is why there are not a lot of review models running about??

I wish you lived in UK - I could maybe arrange to have you borrow them for a week :/

Anyway, sorry, hope Im not taking the discovery thread off rails too much here
Everyone here is making good / fair points. I just hope folks do get a chance to hear some IMR at some point and can come back and give their honest opinion.

 

[Dsnuts]

Na you guys are good. This thread is about everything audio related so this topic applies. Bob always had a good ear for sonics so I can understand the draw of his new designs.

 

[alexandros a]

I am sure Bob n company learned a thing or two from the trinity debockle. I was lucky enough to get my long promised Hunters after over a year of waiting. Then I found out later the so called flagship of trinity audio earphones ends up being a dual dynamic earphone and not the high end hybrid it was supposed to be. Lol.

I know they seem to be doing better under the new IMR regime but to me there are too many great sounding products out there without the mystery if they will ever resort back to trinity tactics.

Life is too short my friends. We all have a choice. I don't care of that company says they can deliver the sonics of the gods upon your ears. A big pass on anything they do from me.

To be fair there is worse. Light Harmonics anyone? Lol

What company??
They were a banch of crooks any nothing more... They should be banned permanently from any audio related activity or web promotion imo...
Those crooks cheated and lied repeatedly on hundreds of headfiers and many more people, they disrespectfully stole our money and went on vacation...
And that's the only truth to be said.

 

[mbwilson111]

they disrespectfully stole our money and went on vacation...

No, they took the money, £300 of which was ours, and started IMR.

 

[Carlsan]

I was one person seriously burned by Trinity. Bought but never delivered when promised, kept on getting responses that they were in the mail, then Trinity folded (or morphed into IMR). Cash went up in smoke, or more likely, into IMR's seed money.

I have tried the Aten's but seriously not impressed. To clarify it's okay, but not worth the asking price. Bass bleeds into the mids, and some of the filters are really not very good. The value is probably closer to $200 than the $500 (or so) original asking price.
IMHO, one can do better by careful buying cheaper or mid-teir Chifi stuff.

But if you own it and are happy with it, fine by me.
Cheers.

 

[alexandros a]

No, they took the money, £300 of which was ours, and started IMR.

Damn right they did.....
(R.I.P. my beloved icarus IV preoder)

 

[Slater]

I’m so thankful I stayed away from that whole debacle.

 

[SciOC]

I didn't really mean to dredge up the IMR/Trinity stuff again. I just really want to try the Rah given the ridiculous specs, but the price of admission is kind of insane. Not a great business model to attract customers....

 

[Owludio]

Rah is probably my best IEM now. Immense fun, bass that makes me not miss Legend X and Sony ier-z1r, planar mids and delicious gentle treble. And did I mention the soundstage?
I don't have trust issue with IMR. Preordered and got both R1z and Rah - more or less on time.
2 problems however, why I unlikely buy more of that in the nearest future. 1 - is weird stem(nozzle) angle that has very poor fit to my ears. Had to swap channels and use cable without ear-hooks.
2 - metal housing.

My new obsession now is magneto-static treble that Shuoer Singer seems to be using.
In the X-ray below - front driver is not EST. It looks exactly like MST was described at Noble web site for M3.
EST sounds too thin (with decay too fast), Piezo- too thick/wet, BA too unclean. MST seams to combine pluses of BA and EST. Decay similar to Planar but attack is much faster due to stronger magnetic force from multi-threaded coil(correct me if I'm butchering terminology here).

 

[silverfishla]

really cant wait your impressions about this too, they are worth every penny for the technology + the sound, crazy of what we can get these days with $25. The freedom of true wireless, and the speed of connection, easy to on and off if the selling point, plus finally sound quality that decent, comparable to wired single dd on same class category, if not better. Oh i know that Misodiko eartips that the same with ikko i planet!



another buy wont hurt you i guess? they are cheap especially for so many things you can get in a package. I won't surprise if Haylou to QCY is like CCA to KZ, they have similar. But this new haylou GT1 plus sound better than both my QCYs (even the new T5 thats the one that crin give opinion, this 1 because they have high mid peak at 3khz), hey i know you like KB100, this one have similarities with smoothness and imaging, but tuning is towards blon which are less high mids emphasize, and a bit more sparkles. If you like KB100, high chance you will like this too.


Right, they are expensive



True, i concur this. sub $30 TWS if you can find the good one, like this GT1 plus they are holding very big value. I remember you have QCY also right? If you want to try this GT1 plus, they are worth every penny and better than T1c, grab them and i really want to hear your impressions since you have better experience in TWS world than me. Correct, sony sell technologies and sound quality that really mature and decent. I had WH 1000 XM3 last time and sold them because i seldom use them, the ANC is really useful. I didn't say the quality of WF1000XM3 is bad, they are the one among the best of TWS world currently if im not wrong? but I just want to wait some more time before jump into decent TWS since they are still evolving (maybe hybrids, better battery, latency, codecs, etc) in near future, because technologies is evolving faster than audio world, like smartphone, since i cant afford $200-300 TWS for every 6 months, i will use cheap one for transit tws until I find and feel that is the right time to buy a decent one. Thanks for chip in buddy

Those Haylou GT1 Plus are amazing! Thanks for the recommendation. APTX sounds great. Huge soundstage and absolutely nothing lacking in sound. Bargain of the year.
Everyone who doesn’t have a pair of tws should run out and get these as their first pair. You would be quite smitten with what you get for such little money. Thumbs up to you @DynamicEars

 

[SciOC]

Rah is probably my best IEM now. Immense fun, bass that makes me not miss Legend X and Sony ier-z1r, planar mids and delicious gentle treble. And did I mention the soundstage?
I don't have trust issue with IMR. Preordered and got both R1z and Rah - more or less on time.
2 problems however, why I unlikely buy more of that in the nearest future. 1 - is weird stem(nozzle) angle that has very poor fit to my ears. Had to swap channels and use cable without ear-hooks.
2 - metal housing.

My new obsession now is magneto-static treble that Shuoer Singer seems to be using.
In the X-ray below - front driver is not EST. It looks exactly like MST was described at Noble web site for M3.
EST sounds too thin (with decay too fast), Piezo- too thick/wet, BA too unclean. MST seams to combine pluses of BA and EST. Decay similar to Planar but attack is much faster due to stronger magnetic force from multi-threaded coil(correct me if I'm butchering terminology here).

Yeah, that's why the rah appeals to me. It sounds, hypothetically, like the TRI I3 I have but with a bigger DD....

As for the singer, I thought the Tape was pretty "meh" so I have a hard time going for a second time into that. I've not heard the EST drivers yet, but BA and piezoelectric both do a good job for me. It seems to be basically an electret in the tape and singer and those are also "meh" in over the ear sets for me.

Also question, you list the Rah as you're #3 behind H40 and Roland, what gives?

 

[mochill]

Rah is probably my best IEM now. Immense fun, bass that makes me not miss Legend X and Sony ier-z1r, planar mids and delicious gentle treble. And did I mention the soundstage?
I don't have trust issue with IMR. Preordered and got both R1z and Rah - more or less on time.
2 problems however, why I unlikely buy more of that in the nearest future. 1 - is weird stem(nozzle) angle that has very poor fit to my ears. Had to swap channels and use cable without ear-hooks.
2 - metal housing.

My new obsession now is magneto-static treble that Shuoer Singer seems to be using.
In the X-ray below - front driver is not EST. It looks exactly like MST was described at Noble web site for M3.
EST sounds too thin (with decay too fast), Piezo- too thick/wet, BA too unclean. MST seams to combine pluses of BA and EST. Decay similar to Planar but attack is much faster due to stronger magnetic force from multi-threaded coil(correct me if I'm butchering terminology here).

I think it is the same magnetostatic driver that tape is using made by earbridge