The Watercooler -- Impressions, philosophical discussion and general banter. Index on first page. All welcome.

[RTodd]

Inspired by some other Head Fier's I've been working on attaching some numerical values to my personal rankings. The categories are all different things that matter to me and are weighted according to their relative importance-- ie., Engagement & musicality gets a score out of 20 and technicalities only 10 because ultimately the former matters a lot more to me. It may be the opposite for you, but that's ok. Let me emphasize again that I have no pretence of this being my attempt at an objective ranking, rather it's just me trying to quantify my subjective preferences. This is just a first attempt and is very much a work in progress. Following are some rankings for what I consider to be the 15 best IEMs I've yet heard.

Awesome, love Score as % of Traillii.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

Wildcatsare1, Don't you have a PW Monile 50s? That is what I am running with my Isa.

I don't have the 50s (yet), I do have the 60s, but had to send them in for repair (oh, how I hate 2.5).

 

[Rockwell75]

Just received the Miter case. I think suits perfect with our beloved iems.

Nice now all you need is a 6-pack of CFA mesh pouches

This is an excellent reference, especially for those of us who find it difficult if not impossible to audition some of these.

Thanks man. Hopefully it will be helpful to anyone who relates to my impressions etc. The onus is on me I guess to be consistent.

If you could add in the $RRP of each, that would also help with a relative price/performance grade...

I'm trying to figure out a meaningful way to calculate that...stay tuned

Awesome, love Score as % of Traillii.

Thanks man. Traillii is my current reference so seemed like the logical thing to do.

In other news for some time I've been trying to think of an interesting way to plot and classify different IEM tonalities. I touched on the idea of North, South, East, West in this way in a shootout I did once upon a time but I never fully developed the idea then. In the time since I've fleshed out the idea of an East/West tuning and today it occurred to me that I could just place that schematic on an x-axis and add on a "North/South" distinction with North meaning "bright leaning" and South meaning "dark leaning" on the y-axis and suddenly I've got a very interesting lens through which I can look IEMs. In this way the Campfire Solaris has a sight "North West" tuning, the QDC Anole VX has a "North and slightly East" tuning, the Dorado 2020, appropriately enough has a "South West" tuning, the IER Z1R a "South slightly East" tuning...I'm literally just thinking out loud here but this seems like I could get some mileage out of this. Please note that I'm not here trying to tie the notion of "Eastern" to a literal geographic region-- it's here just a convenient label for the overall schematic I'm using. I know there are people all over the world and music from all over the world who, respectively, enjoy and which benefits from that sort of tuning as I am defining it.

 

[Deezel177]

Here's what I'll be salivating over the next little while...possible Traillii contender?



@Deezel177 any insider hints or info you can throw our way?

Apologies for the late reply, but I do not have any insider hints on this one, unfortunately. All I can say is, based on certain sound- and tuning-related conversations I've had with the guys at VE, there is reason to be optimistic about this one, especially in regards to the changes many have asked for from the OG ELYSIUM. But, that aside, I'll be finding out tomorrow along with the rest of you.

 

[Rockwell75]

Apologies for the late reply, but I do not have any insider hints on this one, unfortunately. All I can say is, based on certain sound- and tuning-related conversations I've had with the guys at VE, there is reason to be optimistic about this one, especially in regards to the changes many have asked for from the OG ELYSIUM. But, that aside, I'll be finding out tomorrow along with the rest of you.

All good thanks for the reply...now to start working on getting a Canadian tour unit over here.

 

[Rockwell75]

In other news I may have a GK10, Holocene and N3 Pro in my hands by the end of the day. Postal service has been a$$ lately so who knows. Fingers crossed though!

 

[Rockwell75]

Received the mighty Blon 03 for demo from @SBranson

 

[tgx78]

Received the mighty Blon 03 for demo from @SBranson

Cable probably 10X the cost of the Blon

 

[Dsnuts]

GK10s sounds a bit rough out of the box but the good news on them is that they don't take long to smooth out, usually overnight is all it needs otherwise you should be able to hear what they are a bout. It should jive well with the Shanling M8.

 

[feverfive]

Cable probably 10X the cost of the Blon

A.K.A. The head-fi way.

 

[DrewVz]

Inspired by some other Head Fier's I've been working on attaching some numerical values to my personal rankings. The categories are all different things that matter to me and are weighted according to their relative importance-- ie., Engagement & musicality gets a score out of 20 and technicalities only 10 because ultimately the former matters a lot more to me. It may be the opposite for you, but that's ok. Let me emphasize again that I have no pretence of this being my attempt at an objective ranking, rather it's just me trying to quantify my subjective preferences. This is just a first attempt and is very much a work in progress. Following are some rankings for what I consider to be the 15 best IEMs I've yet heard.

Can you elaborate a bit on why you feel the Isabellae ranks so much higher in your opinion than the MEST? I think most other folks would have those rankings reversed.

It looks like the midrange timbre is the main differentiator in your numbers, but I can't believe the Isa is "twice" as good. Seems like a harsh judgment.

I get the impression from the reviews that the Isa is somewhat of a one trick pony, excellent for vocals and stringed instruments, but falls short elsewhere. Just from what I've read.

 

[mashuto]

Cable probably 10X the cost of the Blon

The adapter alone at the end of the cable is like 2/3 of the cost of the iem itself too.

 

[SBranson]

Received the mighty Blon 03 for demo from @SBranson

I never tried the Eletech Prudence on the Blon.. curious to hear if you think it makes any difference.

 

[SBranson]

Cable probably 10X the cost of the Blon

Shipping was 1/2 the value of of the Blon..

 

[Xinlisupreme]

@Rockwell75 i think it’s what you were waiting for..
DD 9.2mm bass
DD 6mm mids
4EST

https://shop.musicteck.com/products/vision-ears-ext-universal