Curious what those Oomo are all about Jant. They look interesting. It will be curious to find out if the market speak is just that or for real. Looking forward to your take on what your hearing.
Okay, Getting my head around them. First there was a bit of low end clarity trouble out of the box. Seems to have cleared up cause I can use my normal EQ's now and can compare to other stuff. They can fit tips at two depths which adds to the testing out. Out further is for more bass, or better fit/isolation if you need. Two position posts would be familiar to those who have had Radius, Elecom, or some AT CKS models. I am sticking more to the inside position which the foams use as the second is only really good for silicone tips. To show...
I have used them outside and am happy to report the cable doesn't stiffen up like some even in single digits. I like the housings. Reliefs are good except none out of the Y join.
They really try to do the multi-channel sound thing. The reverb EQ's in the Cowon BBE suite never actually worked before in any useful way
Tried out video, podcast, radio, and music so far. They do like better recordings for the best effect. I seem to hear them trying to give separate accentuation for vocals, cymbals, guitar range, and sub-bass. Even when I heard the cloudy bass early on it didn't hurt the mids or cymbals at all. Songs do sound different in the presentation and what is thrown forward into focus. For music which is not set up like movies or podcast or other recording they don't image much different than ordinary, like a decent earphone but still those "channels" are well defined for their frequency ranges. Stage is good. Varies with the type of recording. A big stage but not the biggest to the edges but might be the biggest I have on hand. The imaging test I like to use first is the helicopter in REM's "Orange Crush". The Oomo can't define it, detail it, or image it as well as my 8-core cable B400 can but not a bad showing. What the Oomo does do is push the mids forward and give that sub woofer bass so it is more in your face and "movie-like" seems a good term. Tries to show off the treble too but they don't have the treble extension or brightness of the quad armature so it is more muted and polite.
As I mentioned, the Oomo make sense of the Reverb and EQ setting on the Cowon suite. They push the treble on my Sony minidisc with Atrac files which is a crappy format for treble but the Oomo highlights what is there more which is good for a codec that kills more info up top in favor of bass. Took to my two sports talk radio stations for a spin and you can usually hear one has more of a bass level than the other but not much more. With the Oomo there is quite a difference and you can hear more of the mic set-up recording the room. Now one seems to have a better set up and is more 3D than the other which is cool.
They do what they should in a movie or well recorded podcast(the produced kind with story and voice actors and sound effects). The sub is the things that is emphasized in all kinds of listening. Nicely separate and strong to thunderous when called for. The bass and vocals big and bold and in your face and coming from different areas without it being a negative but you understand what it is going for.
So far, they are big and bold and indeed have that multi-channel sound. Not half bad a driver it seems as well. It is more about the fun, being immersive, and giving a "feel good sound" that they put on the box. Interesting as I can see them fitting in for what they do and being more unique. perhaps having more of a place and more use/enjoyment than other below $100 phones you may buy as a back up or to go along with some pricier audiophile earphones. I think those tend to fade even if they fill a need or niche. This may just have more staying power in that roll. We will see
They are growing on me and I like when a phone can do that.