[magicguy]

Erf

There was officially 510 Fourté Noir.
500 regular + 10 founder’s edition made by Vitaliy himself

 

[ducnsh]

I'm currently travelling in Hanoi, Vietnam. I bet I can find one with 501 OF 500 on the box here on the black market

drftr

Nah, you would find it in China, not Vietnam bro. Anw, welcome to Hanoi

 

[drftr]

Nah, you would find it in China, not Vietnam bro. Anw, welcome to Hanoi

Ha ha! I've seen so much fake travel gear today that I had to assume everything is. Luckily the food is authentic and great!

If you're residing here: Are the top 2 hifi shops worth a visit? I looked at their websites and one of them mentions that the IEMs in question will "soon" arrive in the shop. However, that seems to be the case for 10 out of 10 IEMs that I checked. And they still seem to be selling plenty of DAPs from 2015 as well so I'm not entirely sure it is worth my while. Tnx...

drftr

 

[ducnsh]

Ha ha! I've seen so much fake travel gear today that I had to assume everything is. Luckily the food is authentic and great!

If you're residing here: Are the top 2 hifi shops worth a visit? I looked at their websites and one of them mentions that the IEMs in question will "soon" arrive in the shop. However, that seems to be the case for 10 out of 10 IEMs that I checked. And they still seem to be selling plenty of DAPs from 2015 as well so I'm not entirely sure it is worth my while. Tnx...

drftr

In Vietnam, you could buy every authentic thing, just need to have money, haha. The sad news is that there are not hifi shops that have many demo gears like in Japan. In fact, we usually buy and trade gears among users (secondhand). If you want to buy something new here, there are some shops you can try to contact 3kshop (HCMC), tainghe.com.vn (both Hanoi and HCMC), taingheviet. They almost have up-to-date gears

 

[F208Frank]

When I said reference is more my personal reference the IEM I like the most of all. Because it's so coherent from bass to highs.

Ah gotcha. For sure the u12t is one HELL of an iem.

Thanks for clarifying, and sorry if I came off rough around the edges, just wanted to do whatever I could to correct "wrong information" as there is enough of that on here with people's biases.

Everyone's own gear is the best gear. -_-

 

[Progisus]

I’m waiting at the station for the Fourte Blanc train.

 

[magicguy]

Meanwhile, you can see my Noir

 

[64Audio]

I am sure the folks who didn’t get an opportunity to own a Noir are stoked though.
Curious to hear if the tweaked DD and ceramic make an audible difference.

the ceramic is applied only to the outside of the shell to achieve the white color we were after so that will not affect the sound. The improvement to the DD are measurable and audible, especially at higher drive levels.

 

[64Audio]

They really need to make the 2 pins into something more durable or bump their warranty - I could pay this much for Sony (metal all the way) but not all this plastic. They make good sounding products, but it’s like a Tesla - plastic all around and it’s not close to a Lexus in build quality. Other than that this seems like a super fun release. I’ll critique anything… so don’t take it the wrong way. Northern European in me - I never give a 10… she doesn’t exist… you marry an 8.. so imagine my scale

Sony uses a proprietary MMCX style connector which has plenty of plastic within the outer metal barrel of the connector. Most IEM brands use parts from similar suppliers and most 2 pin connectors are a plastic housing, but the pins themselves are metal. We're always working on improvements though, so continue to stick around and see what we're able to come up with.

 

[64Audio]

Is the Blanc an update to the Noir or the Fourte or something totally different in its own right???

Blanc is another reinterpretation of our original Fourté, which Noir was also. Blanc and Noir share a similar response in that both are slightly warmer than the original Fourté. Blanc improves on Noir with our implementation of the DD as well as upgraded internal wiring for the DD and new shielded cable. Both Noir and Blanc use Mundolf solder throughout.

 

[64Audio]

That sounds an awful lot like they’re saying they didn’t implement the DD as well as they should have for a $4k iem. A well implemented driver is, well, a well implemented driver. Improving implementation of a “well implemented driver”, at least if the FR and/or environment hasn’t changed, would be splitting hairs.

I’m not saying that’s the case but that is kinda what that quotation said.

Edit: this came off more flippant than I intended. If 64 was able to one-up themselves on implementation or anything else that’s a great thing; that means they’re progressing (and spending the $$$ on it). At the point of a $4k iem any improvements are going to be very minor and costly, paying people to tinker isn’t cheap.

You are correct, we're always trying to improve. Similar to all of our other innovations, this is a discovery that will trickle down into our other products which implement a similar style DD design.

 

[64Audio]

It’s a way to try and also cover production costs of new technologies that they can roll downstream.

Since the Noir was so unexpectedly popular we wanted to give folks a chance to participate in something similar if they didn't get a chance to the first time around. White seemed like the logical next step. We also didn't want to just launch another color without real technical improvements, so we fast racked some of our existing R&D projects to be able to implement them in Blanc. Blanc is a completely unique experience from the look, build process, and even the new cable and packaging. We really wanted to give people something special. This isn't just for the folks who missed out on Noir, it's also for fans of Fourté in general. If you happen to have all three units, you have three truly unique variations of one of the most subversive and industry changing IEMs in the world.

 

[64Audio]

Bumping this in case anyone missed it. This is the most comprehensive info on Fourté Blanc which is available tomorrow November 8th.

 

[blotmouse]

the ceramic is applied only to the outside of the shell to achieve the white color we were after so that will not affect the sound. The improvement to the DD are measurable and audible, especially at higher drive levels.

Thanks for that very important bit of clarity. I have been beating my own personal drum waiting for ceramic sound impressions to drop, lol, whoopsies.

 

[Tristy]

If Mundolf solder provides sound enhancements compared to what IEM makers traditionally use (and 64 have marketed it as such) why is it not used in all products at this price range? Not so much a slight at 64 audio as much as it is at any other IEM maker charging these sorts of prices in the high end segment that doesn’t implement it… just wondering why IEMs like the original forte / u18s etc don’t come with this as standard (besides the obvious slight bump on margins)?