[Rockwell75]

Cayin's new tube amp sure is sexy...and it's only 60% the cost of an Orpheus

 

[Badlands]

Bonobo's work is beautiful. My DJ/producer friends and I used to love listening to and dissecting his music in college.


I've recommended his music in the past, but if you're into jazz piano and electronic, I haven't heard an artist as singular or unique as Anomalie. His catalog is my go-to for ambient, wash-over-you electronica, and I can't wait 'til he releases his new record soon.

Just looked him up on Spotify. Thanks for sharing! Playing his latest release as relax on this Easter morning enjoying everyone’s posts. My mother and kids are visiting later today for a combo Easter/Passover dinner. Yes, my parents immigrated from Sicily and my wife is Jewish so that’s my blended family. I Bar and Bat Mitzvah’d my children which was not something I could have imagined in my youth. Two wonderful experiences in large part because they were spiritually happy occasions to celebrate life with dear friends and family. Of course, my wife and I walked in to the celebrations with the live version of “10th Avenue Freeze Out” by The Boss. 2000 MSG version. Epic performance.

 

[Garney]

Is it just Lee building all of the Elysian sets? Are they essentially built to order or does he build to a small inventory for the UIEMs? Wonder how challenging it would be to scale and get set up with a distributor like MusicTeck.

Subtonic partnering with Symphonium makes a lot of sense. Leaning on their established supply chain, manufacturing and assembly is much easier and more cost effective than trying to tool up and bring a product to market solo.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Also it’s no longer a “VE4” (the logo is fixed)

It was a big miss for me not to hear the NE4 when I had a chance at CanJam NYC. I only focused on XE6 and KR5.

 

[Badlands]

Interesting premise, but it follows that because the vocal Cooler demographic is far less price-sensitive than that 'mainstream' IEM market (and possibly even biased towards higher-priced IEMs), our 'world view' will be likewise skewed.

I mentioned earlier the refreshing lack of dime-a-dozen Chi-Fi IEMs being discussed in here, and I think that's a good thing because our mantra seems to be finding the very best at any price, and less so than finding 'good for the price' (with a few notable anomalies and personal favourites, of course).

I could be mistaken, but that's how I read it. Most important, though, is the brilliantly inclusive culture and mutual respect that Jeff fostered and enforced from the get-go, so this may be an elite playground, but the open platform and camraderie that keeps attracting allcomers and all topics is second to none.

Well said.

 

[14christ]

Cayin's new tube amp sure is sexy...and it's only 60% the cost of an Orpheus

For some reason my mind tells me to pair this amp with the Odin

 

[Rockwell75]

For some reason my mind tells me to pair this amp with the Odin

I could be mistaken but I'm pretty sure this is a 2-channel amp.

 

[aaf evo]

It was a big miss for me not to hear the NE4 when I had a chance at CanJam NYC. I only focused on XE6 and KR5.

I still think it is the best tuned of the trio but it’s also the least special to me.

 

[14christ]

I could be mistaken but I'm pretty sure this is a 2-channel amp.

Well that would be sad if iems couldn't pair with Cayin product. But oh well...

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

I was all like you, always DD bass for me. Not that I think the Storm BA bass is the same or as good as a DD bass, I like the Storm more for the difference from other IEMS. But you gotta hear it for yourself to maybe get what I am saying, I cannot describe it exactly. Not night and day different; subtle, but noticeable. And different...

I am a DD bass guy, too. But, my favorite IEM is Red Halo FE and it is all BA. The way it presents mids and detail more than makes up for its lack of DD timbre.

 

[aaf evo]

Is it just Lee building all of the Elysian sets? Are they essentially built to order or does he build to a small inventory for the UIEMs? Wonder how challenging it would be to scale and get set up with a distributor like MusicTeck.

Subtonic partnering with Symphonium makes a lot of sense. Leaning on their established supply chain, manufacturing and assembly is much easier and more cost effective than trying to tool up and bring a product to market solo.

I know he has a guy in China who helps him with some stuff. Built to order I believe, hence the lead time.

I don’t think he’d be able to handle being with a dealer like MusicTeck until he figures out his logistics.

 

[Rockwell75]

Well that would be sad if iems couldn't pair with Cayin product. But oh well...

A lot of these Chinese brands (Cayin, Shanling etc.) have been making 2-channel stuff for a long long time.

Here is a Shanling CD player:

 

[Deezel177]

What's on your radar, Easter Sunday edition?

For me: I'm dying to hear the Elysian IEMs, as remote as that may seem.
Campfire's impending April 29th announcement has me very interested.
I'll be closely following impressions of that new MEZE single DD.

My family and I are planning a trip to Singapore in June/July, so - God forbid the situation here/there doesn't suddenly escalate - the shackles keeping me from all this new gear might finally be coming loose. If that trip goes through, I'd love to try the Jewel, the Storm, the Elysian IEMs and the FiR Frontier series. A tier below those in terms of anticipation would be the new DITA Perpetua, the EE EVO, PW's new cables, as well as IEMs from SoftEars and Craft Ears. I'd also love to give the Aroma Thunder a listen, after @Xinlisupreme's very positive comments, and I'm also a bit curious to give the Ace another go. I heard it years ago, and I found it very good, but I wasn't blown away by it, mostly because it was quite a bit more treble-y than I preferred. It gave me an Anole VX vibe with its clarity and switch system, and they have a similar-ish FR as well:

I remembered thinking they were priced similarly, and that the Ace could've served as a lighter, airier, less in-your-face alternative to the VX. So, imagine my surprise when I looked up the Ace on MusicTeck's website today, and found out that it actually retails for US$4500, which puts it above the PHoNIX, EVO and Xe6 bracket, and into more of the Trailli and Jewel's space. So, that changes the context of the in-ear quite a bit, and I wanna see if I maybe missed something at first listen. It'd also be a good test to see whether or not my knowledge of that price biases me in any way. Also, because of its age, I wanna see if its BAs hold up against the newer generation found in the PHoNIX, the Trailli and the like.

I think synergy is very important, finding the right amp for the DAC/DAP is critical to getting accretive results. There's really no fixed and fast rules, you just gotta try it to find it; part of the fun, really. I had a similar experience of walking into e-earphone in Tokyo long ago and finding a vintage Carot One Nik-58 tube amp.

Man.. the Carot One takes my way back to looking for my very first desktop amp at AV One. I remember they had one of the cute little ones next to some of the ALO Audio and Audinst gear they had there. I almost got one just to experience tubes, but their size gave me the idea that they would've been a bit of a compromise compared to the larger tube amps on the market. And, in a slight admittance of vanity, the metallic-orange hue did put me off in the end.

Is it just Lee building all of the Elysian sets? Are they essentially built to order or does he build to a small inventory for the UIEMs? Wonder how challenging it would be to scale and get set up with a distributor like MusicTeck.

Subtronic partnering with Symphonium makes a lot of sense. Leaning on their established supply chain, manufacturing and assembly is much easier and cost effective than trying to tool up and bring a product to market solo.

I've heard stories from friends over in Malaysia that the local community there haven't been 100% happy with the wait times they've had to endure because of international orders. They've claimed slightly-preferential treatment towards countries like Japan, but I obviously can't confirm or deny that. Hopefully, the traction Elysian's gotten these past few months will give Lee the initiative and the resources to mend that.

 

[Auricon]

Cayin's new tube amp sure is sexy...and it's only 60% the cost of an Orpheus

Ja, I’ve been lurking the thread and it’s quietly on my radar.

 

[14christ]

Ja, I’ve been lurking the thread and it’s quietly on my radar.

It's just so gorgeous.