[chungjun]

I think I am finally ready to upgrade from my A12.
After auditioning the following IEMs:
A18t
Tia Forte
Tia Trio
Legend X
Phantom
Zeus
Re-2000
VE8

I think I know the perfect money no object upgrade:

64 Audio A12t

Interesting... given that this is a "money no object upgrade", wondering what makes you decide for A12t in comparison to others, in particular VE8?

 

[Bosk]

Both the Trio and Andromeda have similar warm tonality with the Trio being a bit warmer with more body and bigger note. The Andromeda have more prominence upper mid with more sparkle in the high so they sound a bit brighter in comparison. Both have excellent treble extension but the Trio have better control. The bass on the Trio are also elevated and much more visceral but they did a great job keeping it clean from the mid. (The bass of the Trio is north of neutral but its still much less in quantity compare to something like the Vega.) Both have excellent detail retrieval but I would say the Trio did a better job presenting it, with better seperation and imagine.

The Dita Dream have this "neutral reference" tuning going on despite having a V-shape signature and they sounds thinnish in the mid range in comparison to the Trio and Andromeda with much less warmth. The treble extension is not as good too but they got really good bass, possibly one of the best I ever heard in an IEM. The quantity is somewhere between the Andromeda and Trio but It dig deeper than both. They also have excellent resolution and detail with a lot of stage width, probably the widest of the three but the height is not as good as Trio. The biggest problem I found with the Dream is that sometime they could sound cold and dry, depending on the source material so a brigter source is a big no in my opinion.

Thanks Mission07, the Trio definitely sounds like the most impressive of the three. Hope you enjoy owning them!

 

[seamon]

Interesting... given that this is a "money no object upgrade", wondering what makes you decide for A12t in comparison to others, in particular VE8?

A18t - Too much Treble + thin mids. It's very transparent but at what cost, I def can't listen to these for more than half an hour.
Tia Forte - Uneven mids. Mids on these $3000+ IEMs are a joke.
Tia Trio - Didn't audition for long.
Legend X - Lacks Treble Extension.
Phantom - Didn't audition for long but nothing special. I think bass was good.
Zeus - sibilant and too much Treble.
Re-2000 - Didn't audition for long but there was something jarring.
VE8 - I cheated a bit since these are my friends CIEM but I think the Treble was slightly too much and it'd be pain to get these custom as I live in the US.

 

[PunchLine]

A18t - Too much Treble + thin mids. It's very transparent but at what cost, I def can't listen to these for more than half an hour.
Tia Forte - Uneven mids. Mids on these $3000+ IEMs are a joke.
Tia Trio - Didn't audition for long.
Legend X - Lacks Treble Extension.
Phantom - Didn't audition for long but nothing special. I think bass was good.
Zeus - sibilant and too much Treble.
Re-2000 - Didn't audition for long but there was something jarring.
VE8 - I cheated a bit since these are my friends CIEM but I think the Treble was slightly too much and it'd be pain to get these custom as I live in the US.

The U12t are fantastic! Money wasn’t object for me either, when I auditioned the aforementioned against the A18t and Tia Forte.

After I form my impression, I asked the 64 rep, out of curiosity, which IEM would be most “fun” as a casual music companion. The unreserved and categorical answer was U12t.

 

[hung031086]

A18t - Too much Treble + thin mids. It's very transparent but at what cost, I def can't listen to these for more than half an hour.
Tia Forte - Uneven mids. Mids on these $3000+ IEMs are a joke.
Tia Trio - Didn't audition for long.
Legend X - Lacks Treble Extension.
Phantom - Didn't audition for long but nothing special. I think bass was good.
Zeus - sibilant and too much Treble.
Re-2000 - Didn't audition for long but there was something jarring.
VE8 - I cheated a bit since these are my friends CIEM but I think the Treble was slightly too much and it'd be pain to get these custom as I live in the US.

Sorry but i just only wanna say that WHAT THE screw...... lmao.

 

[SilverEars]

A18t - Too much Treble + thin mids. It's very transparent but at what cost, I def can't listen to these for more than half an hour.
Tia Forte - Uneven mids. Mids on these $3000+ IEMs are a joke.
Tia Trio - Didn't audition for long.
Legend X - Lacks Treble Extension.
Phantom - Didn't audition for long but nothing special. I think bass was good.
Zeus - sibilant and too much Treble.
Re-2000 - Didn't audition for long but there was something jarring.
VE8 - I cheated a bit since these are my friends CIEM but I think the Treble was slightly too much and it'd be pain to get these custom as I live in the US.

I agree the Forte mids is a joke for the price. I thought the universal version of Tzar wasn't really all that bright. I thought the treble level was fine. You maybe a bit sensitive to treble. And I thought I was...

 

[hiflofi]

A18t - Too much Treble + thin mids. It's very transparent but at what cost, I def can't listen to these for more than half an hour.
Tia Forte - Uneven mids. Mids on these $3000+ IEMs are a joke.
Tia Trio - Didn't audition for long.
Legend X - Lacks Treble Extension.
Phantom - Didn't audition for long but nothing special. I think bass was good.
Zeus - sibilant and too much Treble.
Re-2000 - Didn't audition for long but there was something jarring.
VE8 - I cheated a bit since these are my friends CIEM but I think the Treble was slightly too much and it'd be pain to get these custom as I live in the US.

Is it right to deduce that you're quite senstiive to higher frequencies?

Regarding the Phantom, did you find the mids slightly too warm by any means? I personally did, though I do agree that the Phantom's bass texture works in its favour.
Regarding the U18t, I too found the U18t top end toeing the line between correct representation and excessive emphasis, but I think it aids in achieving its detailed sound.

I'm most interested in your impression of the Zeus and how you found it sibilant/treble-heavy. I've read many reviews (might be my next purchase) and all of them seem to state that the treble is simply there with some typical peaks that add to its clarity and that the Zeus is not particularly treble-extended like the Andro or U18t.

 

[twister6]

Sorry but i just only wanna say that WHAT THE screw...... lmao.

I guess we all hear things differently, VERY differently. If that wasn't CIEM, I would suggest to try different eartips, a bigger size, perhaps, to improve the seal. Or if that's not his CIEM, then it's definitely just a case of a bad seal.

 

[ayang02]

Speaking of "money no object upgrade", for me it's VE Erlkonig right now. Hey, if I have the money, I would definitely get it.

For now, I'm hoping that Audeze will give me that 20% off LCD2 closed back deal in a few days.

 

[hung031086]

I guess we all hear things differently, VERY differently. If that wasn't CIEM, I would suggest to try different eartips, a bigger size, perhaps, to improve the seal. Or if that's not his CIEM, then it's definitely just a case of a bad seal.

The funny thing is he said a18 had too much treble and thin mid. So why he upgraded lol. He can get all his liking with his a12 cus of the mid and recessed treble. Well maybe ppl has different hearing. To my ear a12ts is brighter than a18t, i couldn't listen too long with it.
And how come he could use his friends ciem ?

 

[seamon]

I agree the Forte mids is a joke for the price. I thought the universal version of Tzar wasn't really all that bright. I thought the treble level was fine. You maybe a bit sensitive to treble. And I thought I was...

Yes, I am extremely sensitive to Treble.
TBH, LCD 4 Treble is most I can handle among high end headphones. Even the Sennheiser He-1 Orpheus 2 had a tad little too much Treble for me. TBH, the other parts of those are so good, I will get them sometime and try to handle that Treble.

Is it right to deduce that you're quite senstiive to higher frequencies?

Regarding the Phantom, did you find the mids slightly too warm by any means? I personally did, though I do agree that the Phantom's bass texture works in its favour.
Regarding the U18t, I too found the U18t top end toeing the line between correct representation and excessive emphasis, but I think it aids in achieving its detailed sound.

I'm most interested in your impression of the Zeus and how you found it sibilant/treble-heavy. I've read many reviews (might be my next purchase) and all of them seem to state that the treble is simply there with some typical peaks that add to its clarity and that the Zeus is not particularly treble-extended like the Andro or U18t.

Yes, they purposefully made the A18t to have heavy treble emphasis to make it more detailed, it's a necessary cost but I am not willing to make compromises. I don't want detail if it means bleeding my ears.

I mostly listened to Legend X more than Phantom as I thought those were better so idk much about them.

I heard the Adel version of the Zeus. It has been a while but it stroke me as very detailed with pin point imaging but it did have sibilance issues with female vocals and Treble was a bit too bright too. I do not remember the treble extension of the Zeus, sorry.

The funny thing is he said a18 had too much treble and thin mid. So why he upgraded lol. He can get all his liking with his a12 cus of the mid and recessed treble. Well maybe ppl has different hearing. To my ear a12ts is brighter than a18t, i couldn't listen too long with it.
And how come he could use his friends ciem ?

A12 Treble has different issues too. It's def not very smooth in the higher frequencies despite being recessed and sometime the sound especially the mids can come across as bloated.

A18 is a fantastic IEM. Humongous soundstage, great bass, fantastic technicalities. If you can handle the Treble then it is a very detailed IEM. Thin mids are not a bad thing, some people like these, the Andromeda has thin mids and many people prefer Andro's mids. What I meant to say was that A18 has similar mids to Andromeda. That said, heavy Treble emphasis and thin mids are 2 things on my No-No list so I will be avoiding these.

 

[SilverEars]

Another thing is that you say is thin mids. It sounds like you want lifted mids and less treble (well, relative to me at least). I thought U18t mids the best part, night and day with Forte. Bass I wasn't a big fan of.

I can understand Audeze be your choice for full sized headphones. I bet none of the TOTL other than Audeze would be tolerable. The way I see it, people on summit-fi want lots of treble.

I think another good headphone for you would be HD650.

I think trying out many tunings, and expresssing your impression here, the feedbacks can be helpful to realize your preferred signature.

 

[seamon]

Another thing is that you say is thin mids. It sounds like you want lifted mids and less treble (well, relative to me at least). I thought U18t mids the best part, night and day with Forte. Bass I wasn't a big fan of.

I can understand Audeze be your choice for full sized headphones. I bet none of the TOTL other than Audeze would be tolerable. The way I see it, people on summit-fi want lots of treble.

I think another good headphone for you would be HD650.

I think trying out many tunings, and expresssing your impression here, the feedbacks can be helpful to realize your preferred signature.

Yea you are correct, I want lifted mids with less treble.

Yea I have tried most if not all TOTL headphones and Audeze is the only one fits me 100%.

Abyss 1266 Phi - Too shrill plus Treble Heavy.
Ether Flow - Treble Heavy but man that Treble is smooth.
SR-009 - Treble heavy and I could feel the harshness.
Mr Speakers Voce - Dry mids.
Utopia - Small Soundstage.

Susvara - Actually I quite liked this one but it was a tad boring and lacked texture but it did most other things right.
He-1 - Some slight sibilance issues but otherwise a fantastic experience.

HD650 in my opinion is not a TOTL headphone and mid-fi at best. It's the only headphone I thought had muted Treble and I actually wanted more Treble lol.

 

[FangJoker]

Yea you are correct, I want lifted mids with less treble.

Yea I have tried most if not all TOTL headphones and Audeze is the only one fits me 100%.

Abyss 1266 Phi - Too shrill plus Treble Heavy.
Ether Flow - Treble Heavy but man that Treble is smooth.
SR-009 - Treble heavy and I could feel the harshness.
Mr Speakers Voce - Dry mids.
Utopia - Small Soundstage.

Susvara - Actually I quite liked this one but it was a tad boring and lacked texture but it did most other things right.
He-1 - Some slight sibilance issues but otherwise a fantastic experience.

HD650 in my opinion is not a TOTL headphone and mid-fi at best. It's the only headphone I thought had muted Treble and I actually wanted more Treble lol.

HD650 has sloppy sub bass and bloom between bass and midrange. It's the one headphone that I scratch my head when people say that they love it. I think that it's the most overrated headphone. Maybe because it's so affordable and those owners don't want to spend any more on better cans. I've owned the HD650 twice and tried it with different amps and dacs and I could not get it to sound good to me. It has the worst bass control of any headphone that I've owned.

 

[Deezel177]

HD650 has sloppy sub bass and bloom between bass and midrange. It's the one headphone that I scratch my head when people say that they love it. I think that it's the most overrated headphone. Maybe because it's so affordable and those owners don't want to spend any more on better cans. I've owned the HD650 twice and tried it with different amps and dacs and I could not get it to sound good to me. It has the worst bass control of any headphone that I've owned.

I’ve recently found out that this is actually an earpad issue. I swapped out the stock pads for the Alcantara ones from YAXI, and sub-bass extension and control improved drasticallt. Though, it’s a different presentation entirely; with a darker tone and a more organic timbre throughout.