muffin9988
100+ Head-Fier
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- May 4, 2009
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Been enjoying my Tia Fourte for about a month now and these things are really something special...felt compelled to share a few notes I've jotted down over the course of my listening.
All impressions done through my WM1A on FW 2.0, mix of balanced and single ended via cables in my sig. Using foam tips or Symbio hybrids. Base of comparison is mostly my Noble K10 and Zeus XIV customs, plus some mid-fi stuff.
On first listen my attention was immediately drawn to the low end - the bass really excels in a lot of aspects, but before I continue any further it's important to note that the bass quantity is not massive. This is not a bass head IEM but instead feels like every low note has the exact weight it should: very tactile feel but not overly boomy. Add to this a fantastic decay: bass notes feel like rolling hills with great individual definition but also rolling so effortlessly in transition into the next thump. I personally feel the decay may be slightly on the faster side, especially if you're expecting/like a deeply rolling sub bass, but thanks in part to this touch of speed it allows the Fourte's greatest strength in the low end - incredible layering & texturing. Every note and instrument is given such individual attention and has its own little bubble of body but simultaneously these individual notes are pieced together and presented in beautiful coherency, both in terms of the low end itself and also the way the bass then slots into the full range.
In comparison, the K10's bass and lower mids feel bloomy: too much of the low end leaks into the overall presentation, crowds out other notes and whole thing just ends up feeling congested on tracks that have a lot going on in lower registers. The Fourte's notes have superior definition that creates a distinct space/contrast between the notes and the background. Meanwhile Zeus certainly doesn't get bloomy with its good control and tight resolution down low but can feel lacking body versus Fourte, which feeds into my main impression on the Fourtes...
In comparison - my other IEMs sound like they are projecting a flat image to my eardrum, a painting of a mountainous landscape if you will. But the Fourtes manage to present the actual landscape - a three dimensional projection of all the peaks and valleys directly into the space between the drivers and my eardrum. Perhaps this is what others are referring to when they say the Fourte is closer to a speaker/headphone-like experience. Another analogy would be reading the notes on a sheet of music versus having them pop off the page, seeing/feeling the music they represent.
Getting back to moving my way up the dynamic range, I have less unique things to say about the mids as I feel that while they are done very well, they sound good in a conventional IEM sense. The K10 and especially the Zeus can rival the Fourte here and the main differentiation comes back to the Fourte's 3D note presentation, which is not just found in its low end but the mids as well. Some vocals take on unreal amounts of body/weight, I both attend live and listen recorded to a fair amount of Broadway musicals and the Fourte does an excellent job capturing the emotion and edge present in these soundtracks. Soundstage is equally important and noticeable on these tracks as well and the Fourte handles spacing very well. The soundstage is very wide, decently deep and tall. Separation and placement are TOTL as well and contribute to a more open feel than the more intimate presentation on my other IEMs (by intimate I mean feeling closer to the singer/performance, not necessarily a smaller/reduced soundstage).
Highs are also beautifully handled by the tia driver. The configuration allows the Fourte to throw a lot of treble in your ears without coming off harsh or being loud/glaring enough to remove focus from the overall presentation/break coherency. High notes and treble detail are excitingly present in a lot of songs and really help bring up the engagement factor. Only came across a few songs in which this treble detail crossed over the line from nice presence into "hey, that cymbal/triangle/etc is more emphasized than it should be" and feeling a bit unnatural. Which if I have to pick a flaw may be the Fourte's biggest - its tonal accuracy/timbre. I don't have much of a background in instrumental music and don't listen to many genres in which this is critical so I don't have a great ear for realistic instrument tonality, but I can see the Fourte as striving more towards exciting and less towards tonal accuracy.
In his IEM ranking list, Crinicle summarized the Fourte's presentation as "W-shaped" and after my own listening I feel it's an accurate description - while no one range is emphasized more than any other, it is not a flat/neutral presentation by any means, and instead all ranges are emphasized but emphasized equally, leaving a very fun and exciting result. You are left listening to full-bodied vocals that are front and center while simultaneously grooving to the guitars left and right, supported but not interrupted by an equally present drum line behind and cymbals crashing left and right above your lead vocalist. Definitely an exciting IEM all-in-all, having a lot of fun with them
All impressions done through my WM1A on FW 2.0, mix of balanced and single ended via cables in my sig. Using foam tips or Symbio hybrids. Base of comparison is mostly my Noble K10 and Zeus XIV customs, plus some mid-fi stuff.
On first listen my attention was immediately drawn to the low end - the bass really excels in a lot of aspects, but before I continue any further it's important to note that the bass quantity is not massive. This is not a bass head IEM but instead feels like every low note has the exact weight it should: very tactile feel but not overly boomy. Add to this a fantastic decay: bass notes feel like rolling hills with great individual definition but also rolling so effortlessly in transition into the next thump. I personally feel the decay may be slightly on the faster side, especially if you're expecting/like a deeply rolling sub bass, but thanks in part to this touch of speed it allows the Fourte's greatest strength in the low end - incredible layering & texturing. Every note and instrument is given such individual attention and has its own little bubble of body but simultaneously these individual notes are pieced together and presented in beautiful coherency, both in terms of the low end itself and also the way the bass then slots into the full range.
In comparison, the K10's bass and lower mids feel bloomy: too much of the low end leaks into the overall presentation, crowds out other notes and whole thing just ends up feeling congested on tracks that have a lot going on in lower registers. The Fourte's notes have superior definition that creates a distinct space/contrast between the notes and the background. Meanwhile Zeus certainly doesn't get bloomy with its good control and tight resolution down low but can feel lacking body versus Fourte, which feeds into my main impression on the Fourtes...
In comparison - my other IEMs sound like they are projecting a flat image to my eardrum, a painting of a mountainous landscape if you will. But the Fourtes manage to present the actual landscape - a three dimensional projection of all the peaks and valleys directly into the space between the drivers and my eardrum. Perhaps this is what others are referring to when they say the Fourte is closer to a speaker/headphone-like experience. Another analogy would be reading the notes on a sheet of music versus having them pop off the page, seeing/feeling the music they represent.
Getting back to moving my way up the dynamic range, I have less unique things to say about the mids as I feel that while they are done very well, they sound good in a conventional IEM sense. The K10 and especially the Zeus can rival the Fourte here and the main differentiation comes back to the Fourte's 3D note presentation, which is not just found in its low end but the mids as well. Some vocals take on unreal amounts of body/weight, I both attend live and listen recorded to a fair amount of Broadway musicals and the Fourte does an excellent job capturing the emotion and edge present in these soundtracks. Soundstage is equally important and noticeable on these tracks as well and the Fourte handles spacing very well. The soundstage is very wide, decently deep and tall. Separation and placement are TOTL as well and contribute to a more open feel than the more intimate presentation on my other IEMs (by intimate I mean feeling closer to the singer/performance, not necessarily a smaller/reduced soundstage).
Highs are also beautifully handled by the tia driver. The configuration allows the Fourte to throw a lot of treble in your ears without coming off harsh or being loud/glaring enough to remove focus from the overall presentation/break coherency. High notes and treble detail are excitingly present in a lot of songs and really help bring up the engagement factor. Only came across a few songs in which this treble detail crossed over the line from nice presence into "hey, that cymbal/triangle/etc is more emphasized than it should be" and feeling a bit unnatural. Which if I have to pick a flaw may be the Fourte's biggest - its tonal accuracy/timbre. I don't have much of a background in instrumental music and don't listen to many genres in which this is critical so I don't have a great ear for realistic instrument tonality, but I can see the Fourte as striving more towards exciting and less towards tonal accuracy.
In his IEM ranking list, Crinicle summarized the Fourte's presentation as "W-shaped" and after my own listening I feel it's an accurate description - while no one range is emphasized more than any other, it is not a flat/neutral presentation by any means, and instead all ranges are emphasized but emphasized equally, leaving a very fun and exciting result. You are left listening to full-bodied vocals that are front and center while simultaneously grooving to the guitars left and right, supported but not interrupted by an equally present drum line behind and cymbals crashing left and right above your lead vocalist. Definitely an exciting IEM all-in-all, having a lot of fun with them
