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- luisdent
-
- offline
- 2,816 Posts. Joined 10/2012
- Location: New Hampshire, USA
All right now. Here's the low dope yo'. I'm gonna talk some jive now on the rockets...
I was unexpectedly sent another pair of rockets a few days ago! yay. So I will be able to compare the tour pair and the loaner I have now side by side. I will also be able to ship the tour pair on very quickly as I have the other set.
So first things first. Here are some photos of me wearing them over the ear with and without ear guides. I always use the pfe232 ear guides. They are simply the best ever.
Says me. hehe
I find I can easily wear the rockets over the ear without using the "anti-loops" but I was just testing them and they appear to work very well at preventing any rotation when moving around. I think the pfe ear guides make the cable even a bit more less prone to noise, although I use them cable down with no guides when i'm actually listening intently and I have no problems. The pfe guides don't add any stress to the cable, they simply shift the angle a bit. I like them because they work as well as any, but they are sleeker than any i've seen. The kc06 guides are much thicker and bulkier, but also work well. I haven't tried them on the rockets, but I regularly interchange the pfe232 and kc06 guides and they are fairly interchangeable on most earphones.
As for some impressions...
CABLE:
I'll start with the cable. Personally, this is possibly my all time favorite cable. It has SO many positives and very little, if any, negatives. I don't have any issue with cable noise, so that's a positive for me. The feel of the cable is very nice with a sort of in between texture; not too soft, not too hard. It feels durable in material. The anchoring into the housings appears to be pretty solid as well. The y-split is my dream y-split. It DOESN'T merge the wires. That is awesome. Merging the wires just adds a very possible point of failure, as the wires and sheathing have a point where they can bend over time and get pulled out or separate at the connections, etc. The rockets are simply two wires from housings to jack brought together nicely with a very sleek y-split joining. Love it.
The housings are very nice. I believe they are titanium or something? I could be wrong, but they look well machined, precise, durable, sleek. Love them. They are a bit on the smaller side when you insert them, but i have no real problems doing so. The connector is just a "bit" on the bulky side for my tastes personally. I do prefer well made right angle connectors though, and this thing at least looks very durable and well made, but the slightly more in between right angle make it overall larger. I assume the extra ring on the connector base is to make it fit different mp3 player/phone cases. I don't use those type of cases so that adds length and the thickness of the connector molding is on the medium to large side compared to most of my earphones. However, in reality I haven't had any problems with the size, and the durability is key, which it seems to have. So, I still like it compared to most.
The cable wraps up SO nicely compared to other earphone cables. It simply wraps very cleanly. The housings and components are all straight and small, so there is nothing in the way to bulk up the wrapped cable or cause any hard to wrap sections. It can wrap very tightly as well with no strain on the cable parts. Love it! The set I have is a dark, almost black cable with red and blue circular indicators near the housings and a red piece in the cord-lock, which is also a perfect cord-lock. It moves freely enough but never slides of its own accord. And it's big enough to easily move but small enough to not be bulky. Love it!
AUDIO QUALITY
I would have to say I have mixed impressions about the sound quality of these. Oh, snap! What did he just say?!?
But seriously, I was very hyped up about these based on the impressions of a few people who usually agree with my impressions very closely on the more neutral earphones. I was expecting these to have an er4s like quality but warmer and with more bass. I suppose that could be said, however, it's farther from my imagined sound than I expected.
I'll focus on the three main portions of the frequency response, bass, mids, treble.
The
bass on these is very good. They don't really lack anything per se, but the lowest sub bass doesn't have the impact and depth I would prefer, primarily because of the mid bass masking it a tad. But it is still one of the better neutral basses I've heard and is up there with some of my favorites.
The
mids are gorgeous. I find a ton of mid range texture and smoothness that oozes awesomeness and gives an incredible listening experience because it is so smooth and non-aggressive. It provides a very relaxing overall experience that never even borders on harsh to my ears. The main flaw with the mid range is that the area where it starts to merge with the bass, let's call it the mid-bass!!! lol, around 300-600hz, this area is a bit boosted. This is a double edged sword, because on the one hand it makes things very smooth and relaxing, but on the other hand it masks everything else a bit. It isn't boosted enough to truly "mask" details from what I can tell in my listening, but it gives that impression in overall response. I can hear pretty much everything I can on a set like the er4s, but in a much softer less obvious way.
The
treble is very superb in the sense that it is also smooth and very neutral, however it takes more of a backseat in my listening experience because of the previously mentioned mid bass region. The treble is very revealing, detailed and natural, but at the same time soft, laid back and not very "critical". What I mean by that is the treble is very good, but lower in overall relation to the warm mid-bass presence. To me this sometimes has the impression of not being as detailed, or at least the details not being as transparent and in your face when they should be. So the treble seems soft in that sense. But a very simple eq cut of the mid-bass region shows the overall frequency response of the treble range to be very good and smooth and linear, just lower in relation to the mid-bass itself.
To bring that all together, overall, the sound i hear is a warm, smooth, neutral-ish sound that is almost focused on the mids and lower mids. They rockets are pleasing to the ears, revealing, detailed, smooth, ect. But I would say they aren't exciting, they lack clarity and definition in the sense of the treble standing out in a truly neutral way. I would say they lack true transparency because of the warmth. I don't get the impression I'm in a room when the recording is supposed to give that impressions. I would say it's still very good and renders atmosphere and ambiance well, but in a softer more smoothed over fashion. It's almost like putting an er4s under a pillow in some ways.
Certain instruments don't stand out in the field of sound like they do with something like the er4s. Almost like they lack the 3d "pop" where an instrument could jump out in a special way due to mixing, etc...
If someone made and earphone that was the physical rockets with the audio quality of the er4s with red filters and the bass of the pfe112 I'd cry and buy a bunch of them!
haha. But as it stands, I would say the rockets are up there with some of the best I've heard, but leaning more towards the warmer-neutral spectrum. I tend to prefer the er4s type neutral, pfe112, even kc06 with its slightly more v-shaped sound over the overall warmer variants like the rockets. But if you dig a warmer, softer take on neutral, the rockets are very smooth in their response from what I hear. They do have a few slight dips and peaks here and there, but overall just eliminating the mid-bass I mentioned opens them up nicely and makes them very neutral overall in tone and thickness. Perhaps there is a mod or physical passive eq cut that could be easily made. Then these things would be a force to be reckoned with. Until that time, I'd call these a fantastic non-fatuiging, warmer take on neutral for those that are into that.
I'm still listening and always changing tips, etc. But I've had them a few days and have done a lot of straight listening as well as comparisons to the previously mentioned earphones. Keep in mind everybody's ears are different. I have the same overall results with all the tips I've tried so far, with the bi-flange type tips from meelec or sennheiser being the easiest to use and most comfortable.
, at least I'm fairly certain its the plug. I want the vsd5 too......but after the BE breaking and the vsd3s breaking on me........i went form thinking sonic had good build quality to poor very quickly. 
I ain't gettin' no bass whatsoever with it on and off through my $160 netbook stock speakers. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO dat EQ thing is a piece of junk obvious since my floors ain't even shaking with "atmosphere" on. Yeppp nothin' but "hype" as you sad. 