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You're not helping......
The Watercooler -- Impressions, philosophical discussion and general banter. Index on first page. All welcome.
- Thread starter Rockwell75
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You're not helping......
Traillii, EXT and XE6 driven by M9 is an outstanding trio of TOTL IEMs. It covers the waterfront.
My trio would be Red Halo, EXT and EVO driven by N8ii.
davidmolliere
Headphoneus Supremus
Well out of all of them XE6 signature would be right up my alley... price is hard to swallow though...
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I must admit, there is a part of me hatching a plan to accelerate the purchase of an XE6 - selling IER-M9, FH9, Isa and a few other bits, plus a chunk of change...
Retail in Europe... Damn..
normie610
Headphoneus Supremus
Damn, I’m in agony waiting for both to arrive.
Well whenever you get both hopefully you enjoy them as much as I do!
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Loving this tonight, as always, the Bandcamp blurb does a better job than I could possibly -
"After his successfull selftitled debut in 2008 and the sophomore "II" in 2012 - album of the month in many magazines and in numerous "Best of the year" lists - Bücker returns with his third BERSARIN QUARTETT album "III", due for release 6.11.2015 on Denovali Records. Much like his two predecessors, III is a pure paradox. It is the creation of a perfectionist, an adamant control freak. Every element, be it a note, an ambience layer, a string arrangement, a field recording, a baseline, a vocal (Clara Hill on Track 11) or a beat, is meticulously modified and then assigned its place in Bücker's vast but still minimalistic arrangements. Thus, superficially Bücker's pieces seem to radiate a certain mechanical bleakness. However, there is a unique reduced warmth and liveliness emerging from these stainless compositions and transcending them. This transcendence is precisely the point where Bücker ironically looses control over his creations. In contrast to the first two BERSARIN QUARTETT albums, III offers a few darker shades and succeeds even further in narrowing down the arrangements to the absolute essentials without loosing the characteristic grandeur of Bücker's sound. Whereas BERSARIN QUARTETT's debut was merely a description of melancholia in its most pure form, III maybe even goes as far a defining what melancholia really is. It is the only emotion in the vast spectrum of human states of mind which one can bear forever."
Oh and anything else by Bersarin Quartett is essential too, if it's your kind of thing.
"After his successfull selftitled debut in 2008 and the sophomore "II" in 2012 - album of the month in many magazines and in numerous "Best of the year" lists - Bücker returns with his third BERSARIN QUARTETT album "III", due for release 6.11.2015 on Denovali Records. Much like his two predecessors, III is a pure paradox. It is the creation of a perfectionist, an adamant control freak. Every element, be it a note, an ambience layer, a string arrangement, a field recording, a baseline, a vocal (Clara Hill on Track 11) or a beat, is meticulously modified and then assigned its place in Bücker's vast but still minimalistic arrangements. Thus, superficially Bücker's pieces seem to radiate a certain mechanical bleakness. However, there is a unique reduced warmth and liveliness emerging from these stainless compositions and transcending them. This transcendence is precisely the point where Bücker ironically looses control over his creations. In contrast to the first two BERSARIN QUARTETT albums, III offers a few darker shades and succeeds even further in narrowing down the arrangements to the absolute essentials without loosing the characteristic grandeur of Bücker's sound. Whereas BERSARIN QUARTETT's debut was merely a description of melancholia in its most pure form, III maybe even goes as far a defining what melancholia really is. It is the only emotion in the vast spectrum of human states of mind which one can bear forever."
Oh and anything else by Bersarin Quartett is essential too, if it's your kind of thing.
A few pages ago I think it was @arijitroy2 who sparked a conversation around being “blown away” by new gear. It definitely gets harder and harder to find those moments, with gear anyway, the higher you climb and closer you get to the summit. For me, I prefer to be blown away by the artistry of music itself, so here are a few examples of both gear and music coming together along my own journey…
1. First listen to the SE535 using Apple dongle. This was way back when I was very much a n00b, in fact, what's even less than a n00b? Anyway, I was watering the garden and put on XTC's Skylarking. I've always loved that album since I first bought the cassette in 1986, but this was something else entirely. So at that point I was finally a n00b with plenty more to discover.
2. When I went to demo the Z1R I started with Massive Attack's "Protection". I had never heard bass like this before, and I knew immediately that I would buy that IEM. Two days later I did.
3. Even though I had demo'ed the Andro2020 before I bought it, it still hadn't quite clicked with me until a couple days after I received it and I had a listen to Cocteau Twins' Blue Bell Knoll on the SR25. That has been my go-to pairing out and about ever since.
4. I bought the Empyrean second-hand last September, but hadn’t actually listened to one before I bought it, as I was relying on my trusted YouTube influencers/impressions during endless COVID lockdowns. My faith was rewarded when I sat down with both it and the Jot2 for the first time and put on Saint Etienne’s I’ve Been Trying To Tell You. I’m always loathe to use the term ‘end game’, but I haven’t been thinking much about headphones ever since.
5. Yesterday I finally got back to the City for work, so I made sure to visit Minidisc, ostensibly to demo various 64Audio IEMs to pick out a custom. While I was there I decided to listen to the shiny Hiby RS6 they had in the cabinet. Whoever had been using Tidal before me on it was listening to Billie Eilish Happier Than Ever, so I plugged in the Z1R, and holy crap it’s like someone’s shrunk my BF2/Jot2 down to something I can put in my pocket!! I will buy this DAP sooner than later.
Okay. I am ready to reveal my new top 5 IEMs. This was not an easy decision and comes after 5 days of very detailed and critical listening. Probably 12-15 hours a day on average.
1. Red Halo. Best mids, resolution, detail retrieval, imaging and dynamics of any IEM I have ever heard. Best upper mids to treble transition in the business. Best for Vocals and Classical music, but is a great all arounder and I would be very happy if it were my only IEMs.
2. EXT. Best timbre and bass to mids transition in the business. Best for Jazz music and anything with a rhythm section.
3. EVO. Best bass in the business and specialist for modern pop music for that Club experience.
4. Odin. Highly nuanced monitor with fantastic bass quality, resolution and for a lighter presentation of all music, but especially Jazz and Classical
5. Traillii. Still the only IEMs that sound great with every source and every genre of music.
It was a dog fight between EXT and Red Halo all week. They traded blows across all music types with EXT being better when the rhythm section, bass guitar and DD timbre plays a disproportionate role in the music presentation. Red Halo dominates mids by sheer resolution and detail. Since vocals and all melodic lines start in the mids, it commands attention of all music even from this bass head. Bass quality is very good. Tight and controlled missing only that last bit of texture and rumble characteristic of DD timbre.
This may be hard to believe, but Red Halo out resolves Odin and Traillii by a significant margin. The first time I noticed this was in the Sinfonia of The Marriage of Figaro when I could hear every single violin in this piece and in vocal tracks where I could actually pick out artists singing harmony with themselves. That was an unreal experience. When I A/B tested Red Halo vs Traillii on classical music. First notable moment was listening to the Theme from Schindler's list. When I heard it on Red Halo, it made me cry. It was so moving and perfectly rendered. I usually evaluate violin by describing how well the violin cries. In this case, the violin made me cry. But the moment that Red Halo was crowned King of my domain was last night when I A/B tested Red Halo vs. Odin for Piano music. It easily won the face off, but this track in particular crowned Red Halo the King of my Collection.
Vladimir Horowitz playing Mozart Piano Concerto No 23. in A, K.488 - III. Allegro assai.
This Mozart Piano Concerto is a highly dynamic piece that highlights everything that Red Halo is strong at. The upper harmonics of the Piano. The timbre and richness of the violins, the isolation of the flutes and oboes, the plucks of the violins when its done and most people don't realize it and can't hear it, the dynamics of the music. I A/B tested this movement with Traillii and I even cable and tip rolled Traillii with the First Times cable and every type of tip to see if I could get it to sound better and every single time Red Halo won by a significant margin. I can clearly hear every line of every instrument throughout the whole piece when the violins, or the Oboe or flutes take over. I've been looking for an IEM or headphone that could acceptably render classical music back to me the way I want it. I have finally found it. These IEMs are so good, I would use them to listen to live music in a theatre. The musical Hamilton would have been much more enjoyable if I could have heard the voices in this modern rap musical with the clarity of the Red Halo. I knew that I really liked it at CanJam NYC and I kept thinking about it even after I was focusing so much attention on EXT and the N8ii. I am so happy that I decided to buy it because it is now the best IEM of my collection.
1. Red Halo. Best mids, resolution, detail retrieval, imaging and dynamics of any IEM I have ever heard. Best upper mids to treble transition in the business. Best for Vocals and Classical music, but is a great all arounder and I would be very happy if it were my only IEMs.
2. EXT. Best timbre and bass to mids transition in the business. Best for Jazz music and anything with a rhythm section.
3. EVO. Best bass in the business and specialist for modern pop music for that Club experience.
4. Odin. Highly nuanced monitor with fantastic bass quality, resolution and for a lighter presentation of all music, but especially Jazz and Classical
5. Traillii. Still the only IEMs that sound great with every source and every genre of music.
It was a dog fight between EXT and Red Halo all week. They traded blows across all music types with EXT being better when the rhythm section, bass guitar and DD timbre plays a disproportionate role in the music presentation. Red Halo dominates mids by sheer resolution and detail. Since vocals and all melodic lines start in the mids, it commands attention of all music even from this bass head. Bass quality is very good. Tight and controlled missing only that last bit of texture and rumble characteristic of DD timbre.
This may be hard to believe, but Red Halo out resolves Odin and Traillii by a significant margin. The first time I noticed this was in the Sinfonia of The Marriage of Figaro when I could hear every single violin in this piece and in vocal tracks where I could actually pick out artists singing harmony with themselves. That was an unreal experience. When I A/B tested Red Halo vs Traillii on classical music. First notable moment was listening to the Theme from Schindler's list. When I heard it on Red Halo, it made me cry. It was so moving and perfectly rendered. I usually evaluate violin by describing how well the violin cries. In this case, the violin made me cry. But the moment that Red Halo was crowned King of my domain was last night when I A/B tested Red Halo vs. Odin for Piano music. It easily won the face off, but this track in particular crowned Red Halo the King of my Collection.
Vladimir Horowitz playing Mozart Piano Concerto No 23. in A, K.488 - III. Allegro assai.
This Mozart Piano Concerto is a highly dynamic piece that highlights everything that Red Halo is strong at. The upper harmonics of the Piano. The timbre and richness of the violins, the isolation of the flutes and oboes, the plucks of the violins when its done and most people don't realize it and can't hear it, the dynamics of the music. I A/B tested this movement with Traillii and I even cable and tip rolled Traillii with the First Times cable and every type of tip to see if I could get it to sound better and every single time Red Halo won by a significant margin. I can clearly hear every line of every instrument throughout the whole piece when the violins, or the Oboe or flutes take over. I've been looking for an IEM or headphone that could acceptably render classical music back to me the way I want it. I have finally found it. These IEMs are so good, I would use them to listen to live music in a theatre. The musical Hamilton would have been much more enjoyable if I could have heard the voices in this modern rap musical with the clarity of the Red Halo. I knew that I really liked it at CanJam NYC and I kept thinking about it even after I was focusing so much attention on EXT and the N8ii. I am so happy that I decided to buy it because it is now the best IEM of my collection.
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Doug2507
Headphoneus Supremus
Good to hear a different perspective as you've got the complete opposite taste in music to myself. Jazz and classical will never feature in my play list. Kudos to UM for creating an earphone that excels across the broad range of music we're fortunate enough to have.
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Maybe, but you haven’t heard the Red Halo FE. Just sayin!Ugh, all 3 IEMs are just so good in their own ways. The Neon 4 is sort of like a baby XE6 but it has more forward and prominent upper mids and less treble, but the tuning works very well for a lot of my library. I couldn’t resist. I plan to use them as my new “EDC” aka gym IEM with the A12t being put back for in home use.
