The dac in my hand is very bad, I don't want to say much about it, but it sounded v sounded. They have weird vocals, other than that they're pretty fun iem. I definitely prefer this over the flo lilies, but the red flo is much better than this, and it's $12 cheaper. The iems was for the chinese market, but later they wanted to sell it to other regions. That's why it has a different setting compared to the classic iem we know. Other than that, it seems to have one of the best cables I've seen in this price range. Out of the box comes a protective case, a pair of foam tips and 12 silicone tips, 6 of which are white and 6 are black.
Hmm, it is a bit of an apples to oranges comparison as the M9 is a pure BA setup, whereas the U4S is a hybrid.
But FWIW, the M9 is warm neutral, whereas the U4S is a bright U shaped (it can vary in tonality due to the Apex modules). Essentially, the U4S is more versatile cause of this.
The M9 has BA bass as per the expected physics constraints, whereas the U4S' DD bass has greater subbass extension and decay. M9 has better midrange (in terms of lushness), whereas the U4S is notably more recessed here. Treble is more extended/sparkly on the U4S.
Timbre is more natural on the M9, I think it is due to the foam that Sony uses in the nozzles, to mask the BA timbre, whereas the U4S has quite obvious BA timbre. M9 is unvented, and has a pressure sensation in the ears (it was designed for maximal isolation as a stage monitor), some folks may not like it, but the Apex vent system of the U4S doesn't have this issue.
Yes you are right the M9 sounds very "undynamic", but as spoken, this was probably cause of its design as a stage monitor. Dynamics are better on the U4S for sure. The dynamics can improve with amplification on the M9, it is surprisingly not that easy to drive for a pure BA setup. When it comes to technicalities, the M9 has superior layering and imaging, though the U4S has a bit better clarity and micro-detailing. Both pairs are good in soundstage, though I think the M9 shades it slightly in this department.
I have very little experience with headphones: I only occasionally use the HiFiMan SUNDARA, the Beyerdynamic Amilo Home and the AKG K712-PRO.
At some fairs, I happened to listen to some TOTL headphones, which however left me indifferent.
And, as much as I appreciate a certain spaciousness and dynamics of sound in headphones, I much prefer the IEMs.
Why, I wonder and I ask you elders of the forum?
Why here on discovery I rarely see headphones talked about?
Is there no news?
Why don't headphones (that I know of) use multiple drivers like IEMs do?
Yet, when I happened to talk to audio professionals (record producers or studio sound engineers), and I asked them why they don't use IEMs in the recording room, but only use headphones, they replied that listening in headphones are essential for them, while no one (of those I spoke to) uses, has used and knows people who use IEMs in the recording studio?
To be fair, I did not say that “headphones are muddy”, though the grammar makes it so. I was talking about Sony XM4 headphone.
I think we don’t talk about headphone here because it is portable forum here.
I personally don’t like headphones because my Sennheiser squeezes my head too hard. And my HD560S has always sound thin and harsh, partially because I parroted crinacle and reddit folks “apple dongle is all you need, if you get loud sound, you don’t need amp”. It sounds very nice out of G5 or K7. Maybe around Blessing 2 level of tech, but way wider soundstage.
I used to be a skeptic too but after trying higher quality cables on my IEMs, I definitely notice differences in sound quality. Sometimes drastic changes.
It would be interesting to find out how the majority of people currently listen to music. Wireless Earbuds is my guess.
I wonder if the recording industry will adjust or stick with tried and true monitors.
Anybody in the music recording industry mastering and producing? Are they looking at how their end-user consumes the music?
It would be interesting to find out how the majority of people currently listen to music. Wireless Earbuds is my guess.
I wonder if the recording industry will adjust or stick with tried and true monitors.
Anybody in the music recording industry mastering and producing? Are they looking at how their end-user consumes the music?
This is from 2015:
"In the study, laptop and desktop speakers overwhelmingly topped the list of frequently-used listening methods, with 55% picking the category. Headphones connected to a portable device followed with 41% of respondents, alongside stand-alone radio, also with 41%" https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/20...prefer-their-music-through-computer-speakers/
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$12 sounds like a fair offer now.
