[o0genesis0o]

I never thought I would be able to afford a TOTL IEM. I know it is hard to draw a line where the TOTL gear starts, but to me, there was no way I would ever think of owning something like the U12T, even in the 2nd hand market. But finally managed to afford one with a trade.
I did not set my expectations high because I have learned of the diminishing returns with the gear I already own.
However, I kid you not when I say that from the first song, and every song after while shuffling through the tiny 5K, I kept getting goosebumps! I guess I went in thinking I would be let down and the sound would be similar to what I already own. Boy was I wrong. The soundstage is wide, the sounds are clearly separated, I can't even describe everything because I'm not a reviewer lol.
Usually anything new I get I test versus the Tea 2 as my benchmark that separates the top level keepers, the budget beater keepers, or the resellers. This one was an immediate keeper. The only comparisons I might try one day are against the Mest, or the Starlight to see who has the best detail retrieval.
This hobby can be as expensive as you want it, but when you're in it simply for fun, the smiles and surprises are so much more meaningful.

Congrats on your U12t

It’s something special. People keep hyping this budget IEM and that budget IEM “make kilobuck obsolete”, but I’ve yet to find one that outperforms the U12t. May you be happy for years

 

[Neweymatt]

I am so happy that I pulled the trigger on the U12Ts. It is going to complement my Nios. I can definitely understand why some would prefer U4s now. But man, this is how TOTL iems sound like? I am believer now. I still want to explore headphones but these 2 pair will keep me happy for some time now.

Congrats! 12t is a Legend in the hobby for good reason.

I'm curious if you've had a chance to listen with the Burson Conductor 3x? I know it may seem like overkill, but I can't get enough of my A12t going balanced out of my Bifrost2/Jotunheim2. It's already one of the best in the game for large, perfectly spherical 3D soundstage, but the Jot2 gives it even more depth and expands it out even further than any other source I've tried. Listening with this rig, I have no idea what some folks are talking about referring to the 12t "boring"

 

[MistahBungle]

I am so happy that I pulled the trigger on the U12Ts. It is going to complement my Nios. I can definitely understand why some would prefer U4s now. But man, this is how TOTL iems sound like? I am believer now. I still want to explore headphones but these 2 pair will keep me happy for some time now.

Nice one cuz. Hope you love the you know what out of them

 

[AlexxxAA85]

Congrats on your U12t

It’s something special. People keep hyping this budget IEM and that budget IEM “make kilobuck obsolete”, but I’ve yet to find one that outperforms the U12t. May you be happy for years

Thank you so much!!! It just sucks that I haven't had much time to listen this past week since I got it. But work will slow down soon, so I hope to have much more time to spend enjoying them.

 

[davesday]

12t is a Legend in the hobby for good reason.

Yeah sometimes it is better to just aim for one TOTL and be done with it rather than to buy multiple midfis and be stuck in the never ending blackhole of cash. However, I understand not everybody wants to go all in too quickly. After all this process is also part of the hobby. My experience in the midfis is that there are plenty of hype and it takes a lot of effort to sift through what is what.

I'm curious if you've had a chance to listen with the Burson Conductor 3x?

I did but they are not good pairing. I first tried my pair of Nio on the Burson and there's unfortunately some hissing. I will need to get an IEMatch but am wondering if I really need it considering I have the Fiio Q7 for on-desk IEM listening. To my ears the Q7 could get very close to the Burson (I tested with Edition XS on both amps). The Burson Conductor 3X Performance is legit though. I bought it during the start of COVID and it has been a workhorse for my WFH setup. In my experience, it seems to sound better when it is all warmed up (the hotter the better lol!).

Listening with this rig, I have no idea what some folks are talking about referring to the 12t "boring"

If U12T sounds boring, then what would people say of the IER-M9? I am really a fan of the 64 Audio house sound. My first experience with their products were U4 and U4-SE. So happy I am back. I think people are looking for imperfections to keep them in the hunt for nicer IEMs hehe... I guess the 'boring' part comes in when all attributes of the U12T are so well rounded that nothing stands out?

------------------------
BTW I don't mean to open a can of worms. Does anyone thinks these IEMs (Nio and U12T) benefit from burn-in. I swear when I first listened to the Nios, they sounded dark and bass was overbearing. However after 2 days of listening, they kinda 'opened up'??? Meaning they sounded more transparent and the bass are no longer as bloated? Is this just me getting used to the sound? I am on the fence with respect to burn-in. I know the general consensus is to do it for dynamic drivers but burn-in doesn't benefit BA drivers.

 

[64Audio]

If that is so shouldn't you provide a service to convert universals into customs?
From what i saw of the opened universals there shouldn't be much loss of components if any ?
What is the reason for not providing that to your users?

Hi, thanks for your questions. We do not offer a service to convert a UIEM to a CIEM. These are two completely unique products which are all built from scratch here in our Vancouver Washington headquarters. Each one can be opened and serviced, but we do not take components from an existing UIEM and transfer it to a custom acrylic shell. It is not a part of our production process and our business model for various reasons.

 

[anaveragebear]

Yeah sometimes it is better to just aim for one TOTL and be done with it rather than to buy multiple midfis and be stuck in the never ending blackhole of cash. However, I understand not everybody wants to go all in too quickly. After all this process is also part of the hobby. My experience in the midfis is that there are plenty of hype and it takes a lot of effort to sift through what is what.


I did but they are not good pairing. I first tried my pair of Nio on the Burson and there's unfortunately some hissing. I will need to get an IEMatch but am wondering if I really need it considering I have the Fiio Q7 for on-desk IEM listening. To my ears the Q7 could get very close to the Burson (I tested with Edition XS on both amps). The Burson Conductor 3X Performance is legit though. I bought it during the start of COVID and it has been a workhorse for my WFH setup. In my experience, it seems to sound better when it is all warmed up (the hotter the better lol!).


If U12T sounds boring, then what would people say of the IER-M9? I am really a fan of the 64 Audio house sound. My first experience with their products were U4 and U4-SE. So happy I am back. I think people are looking for imperfections to keep them in the hunt for nicer IEMs hehe... I guess the 'boring' part comes in when all attributes of the U12T are so well rounded that nothing stands out?

------------------------
BTW I don't mean to open a can of worms. Does anyone thinks these IEMs (Nio and U12T) benefit from burn-in. I swear when I first listened to the Nios, they sounded dark and bass was overbearing. However after 2 days of listening, they kinda 'opened up'??? Meaning they sounded more transparent and the bass are no longer as bloated? Is this just me getting used to the sound? I am on the fence with respect to burn-in. I know the general consensus is to do it for dynamic drivers but burn-in doesn't benefit BA drivers.

Burn in is essentially a marketing tactic designed to run down your return and warranty windows in case the product isn't what you expected. That being said, there is such a thing as brain burn in, which is just another way of saying that your brain does a great job of acclimating to different tunings over time. That's why switching to a different pair of headphones or earphones after a while of listening to the same thing is kind of jarring, because suddenly you can pick out every little difference between your "normal" source and the new one.

 

[Benno1988]

Does anyone know. If I get custom tips, will they fit across a few models? I.e. Same shell used on say a U4 and U12?

 

[ArbitraryG]

Well, I can comment on the reverse, that is U6t and A12t. Firstly, their tuning is much more similar than it is different. The only difference I find is the 6t is a bit warmer in the lower mids, which gives it a slightly more intimate presentation. Treble of them both is quite similar in quantity, and whether it is the deeper insertion of the 12t, or it’s superior technicalities, either way it is the even more ‘polite’ of the two. I don’t think it’s that the U6t treble is necessarily ‘hotter’, it just isn’t refined to the same degree.

The main differences I think are technical, the 12t having rather significantly better detail resolution, 3D staging and imaging. For me, the A12t is more of a “pay attention to the music” sort of listen, whereas with U6t great music happens in the background.

If you are trying to decide between A6t and A12t, I think the latter is a total no-brainer, as long as it fits your budget.

The whole CIEM started for me realizing how SHOCKINGLY different my listening experiences were if I repositioned my universals "just so" by holding onto them. That drove me INSANE (ok, audiophile definition of "shockingly different"--probably less than 2-3% difference--yes, I'm chasing the rainbow now...). The tia concept in a CIEM with being properly made after the second bend delivering EVERYTHING tia directly to the eardrum--I mean...WOW. I'm a lover of the "s" series (A18s for me), as they somehow got the tuning amazingly correct for the professional musicians out there--the older ones of us, we've all destroyed our ears--I have severe recruitment, and my A18s is the ONLY IEM I've used that somehow avoids everything that makes me cringe and shudder with other IEMs. I'm truly considering an A4s as a more "beater" version for less responsible activity. It's a gift from god and has changed my life. Dramatic? Yes! But 64 has given me gifts I thought had long passed me by. Freakin' genius!

 

[427951]

Burn in is essentially a marketing tactic designed to run down your return and warranty windows in case the product isn't what you expected. That being said, there is such a thing as brain burn in, which is just another way of saying that your brain does a great job of acclimating to different tunings over time. That's why switching to a different pair of headphones or earphones after a while of listening to the same thing is kind of jarring, because suddenly you can pick out every little difference between your "normal" source and the new one.

People who believe burn-in is a thing generally say it's pronounced with dynamic drivers and very subtle for other types, if at all. That's been my experience. Switching to planar or BAs is not at all jarring because they sound clear. Now what is jarring, and also horrifying is a recording of my own voice. XD

 

[tirrorex]

Is there a period of the year where they do sales on ciem?
Or reduction for partnership with artists?

 

[mentega]

The whole CIEM started for me realizing how SHOCKINGLY different my listening experiences were if I repositioned my universals "just so" by holding onto them. That drove me INSANE (ok, audiophile definition of "shockingly different"--probably less than 2-3% difference--yes, I'm chasing the rainbow now...). The tia concept in a CIEM with being properly made after the second bend delivering EVERYTHING tia directly to the eardrum--I mean...WOW. I'm a lover of the "s" series (A18s for me), as they somehow got the tuning amazingly correct for the professional musicians out there--the older ones of us, we've all destroyed our ears--I have severe recruitment, and my A18s is the ONLY IEM I've used that somehow avoids everything that makes me cringe and shudder with other IEMs. I'm truly considering an A4s as a more "beater" version for less responsible activity. It's a gift from god and has changed my life. Dramatic? Yes! But 64 has given me gifts I thought had long passed me by. Freakin' genius!

So you folks are trying to talk me into the customs eh?
Damn it

 

[KeaneShadow]

Is there a period of the year where they do sales on ciem?
Or reduction for partnership with artists?

64 Audio typically offer discounts in November every year to coincide with the Thanksgiving Holiday.

 

[LFC_SL]

Is there a period of the year where they do sales on ciem?
Or reduction for partnership with artists?

Contact the manufacturer directly or something might be offered at the upcoming Can Jam Chicago

 

[tirrorex]

64 Audio typically offer discounts in November every year to coincide with the Thanksgiving Holiday.

Damn it’s a bit far

Contact the manufacturer directly or something might be offered at the upcoming Can Jam Chicago

When is that?
Yeah i guess it doesn’t hurt to ask