[dmphile]

Quick survey question: How many of you (like me) don't stream at all but do all or most of your listening off local files? I'm still attached to the perhaps outdated notion of curating a music library of files and albums etc.

I don't stream and still go oldschool with actual files. Still on 320kbps mp3s and FLAC files.

 

[Deezel177]

64 had run out of blue abalone to fulfil Nio orders at the time, otherwise my A12t would look like @mvvRAZ 18t (or was it s?)

To be fair some apps do have download functionality where you can retain music offline for a period of time before you need to connect to the network.

There's just something about local files as well where I feel like it's me and I can step back for a while for being connected all the time.

Yeah, I've been told. But, like you said, there's that "ticking clock" element where you do have to connect to the net again after some time. Although, realistically, I'm gonna be connected to the internet 99% of the time anyway, I don't like that feeling of being tethered; that I'm owning this piece of media only under certain terms and conditions. I also can't shake that nagging feeling that the server's gonna go down, or there's gonna be an error stopping me from gaining access, etc. For me, there's a greater level of comfort that actually owning the piece of media brings, and if I can support the artist along the way too, then all the better.

 

[Scubadevils]

Yeah, I've been told. But, like you said, there's that "ticking clock" element where you do have to connect to the net again after some time. Although, realistically, I'm gonna be connected to the internet 99% of the time anyway, I don't like that feeling of being tethered; that I'm owning this piece of media only under certain terms and conditions. I also can't shake that nagging feeling that the server's gonna go down, or there's gonna be an error stopping me from gaining access, etc.. For me, there's a greater level of comfort that actually owning the piece of media brings, and if I can support the artist along the way too, then all the better.

Yeah supporting the artist and independent labels etc is great on Bandcamp. Plus for me, I've a tendency to go OTT, which with streaming results in too many albums for me to enjoy properly - with Bandcamp, I treat it in a similar way to buying CDs and vinyl - which I still do too... that is a select few that I've chosen and I then listen on a regular basis and really become familiar with the album, rather than the risk of it being more fleeting if I stream - some of my favourite albums didn't click on the first few listens, a big risk if I were to stream more than I do.

It's funny to cast my mind back to first buying albums properly in the early 90s - I knew the sleeve inside out, I'd listen to the same small few albums on repeat, and they became so integral to my life. The ritual of selecting a couple of albums in Dublin music stores, and the excitement going home on the bus while reading sleeve notes etc, before finally getting home and playing for the first time - such special memories.

 

[gLer]

Something crystallized in my mind today as a result of numerous things that have come up in discussion at various times over the last while. I think I've finally come to realize that I don't really care about the scientific or analytic side of this hobby all that much. I appreciate that measurements are interesting and important and don't deny the appeal and fascination of breaking down all the distinct factors of an IEM's performance like bass, treble, soundstage, technicalities, dynamics etc. and analyzing them in turn. This tendency to break everything down into component parts and analyze accordingly characterizes what I would call an intellectual approach to this hobby. I've dabbled in all that myself, obviously, and have enjoyed reading the impressions of others who have done the same...but I think it's finally dawned on me that none of those things have ever really decisively contributed to my personal overall enjoyment of this hobby for the simple reason that my approach is and always has been fundamentally emotional. While I've always enjoyed and will continue to enjoy reading different descriptions and impressions from others expressed in these terms for myself it's always been a simple matter of do I enjoy this or not, does this engage and move me emotionally or not? My interest has always been in the gestalt, or entirety of an IEM's performance-- not any particular element of it, or combination of factors. Sure there are some meaningful correlations and things I have learned, such as that I trend to prefer IEMs that are skewed musical and that I happen to be the most finicky about the midrange of all the bands of then FR...but at the end of the day I've struggled to reduce my preferences to any sort of fundamental rule or specific collection of factors. For this reason I'm doing my best to avoid any sorts of limiting pre-conceptions when trying something for the first time. I'm less interested in how something measures or what individual characteristics it resolves into than the inspiration or, if you'll forgive the phrasing, the spirit and intent behind it. A well tuned IEM is like a beautiful composition or work of inspiration on the part of an artist-- and if done sincerely and well this will shine through in its presentation and affect the consciousness of an intent listener even if you can't deduce it from any constituent parts of the presentation. This is why I think I'm drawn to IEMs that are the result of creative visionaries behind companies like VE, Oriolus, CFA's best work and Fir's new stuff. Just an evening ramble, and as with all things YMMV.

A melophile, audiophile and gearophile walk into a bar...

 

[mvvRAZ]

64 had run out of blue abalone to fulfil Nio orders at the time, otherwise my A12t would look like @mvvRAZ 18t (or was it s?)

To be fair some apps do have download functionality where you can retain music offline for a period of time before you need to connect to the network.

There's just something about local files as well where I feel like it's me and I can step back for a while for being connected all the time.

18t is pink, 12t is green (HK limited), and 18S is blue abalone (I believe HK limited as well, but they had a short run where they offered it worldwide I believe)

They introduced a new abalone recently, waiting on a CIEM flagship to order it ASAP haha, and the red abalone I'm considering for the A4s, but I'm not sure if that's on offer at the moment

 

[Neweymatt]

64 had run out of blue abalone to fulfil Nio orders at the time, otherwise my A12t would look like @mvvRAZ 18t (or was it s?)

18t is pink, 12t is green (HK limited), and 18S is blue abalone (I believe HK limited as well, but they had a short run where they offered it worldwide I believe)

Right, I was wondering how/where you'd got the coloured abalone, as I couldn't see it when I was configuring my A12t a few weeks ago. They did add "Ripple Abalone" sometime along the way while I was dithering about with the configurator, the example looks a lot like the Solaris SE. Is that what you've got @KuroKitsu ?

 

[monduvo]

Never tried Shreebs but the Smorgasburg isn’t too far from that area.

Hi discord,


From the time I visited Shreebs Coffee in Art District, I think it was their pop-up location at the time, as they were probably just starting out.

From what I remember, by memory, the iced cardamom latte was decent, from a dessert coffee drink standpoint. But, where I felt they missed the mark was they went a little over the top with the cardamom spice and syrup, which overpowered the balance of espresso and milk.


And, I just read from their post on instagram that they closed, back in March 2020. =/


It's so easy to forget how startups/businesses come and go, especially when many photos of experiences like these are taken, saved and stored away on a phone/computer, like a frozen capsule in time, thinking they'll still be around in the same place just the way we remembered it to be, by the time we share the photos online. I'll keep in mind to mention the time of my visit in my next posts with foods/drinks, cafes, restaurants, trails and other places, in general.



These days, my current regular go-to coffee spots are G&B coffee (Grand Central Market, Downtown, Los Angeles), or Go Get Em Tiger at ROW Dtla, as I find their coffee to be pretty consistent with bold/clean taste.

Iced coffee (Go Get Em Tiger coffee, at the ROW Dtla, Downtown, Los Angeles, California).



Also, another place I remembered that made some good coffee (and latte) was Bia Coffee (Koreatown, Los Angeles). I've also just read that this place closed sometime in mid-2020. The owner at the time, who's Korean and a florist, made some impressive looking iced lattes, with syrup that she apparently made from scratch by using some real flowers and other ingredients.

Left bottom: Iced rose latte (with real rose petal and rose syrup).
Right top: Iced coffee (with lavender syrup).
(at Bia Coffee, Koreatown, Los Angeles, California)



Iced rose latte.
(at Bia Coffee, Koreatown, Los Angeles, California)



Lastly, for the Smorgasburg you mentioned, of all the many places I've dined/been to in Los Angeles, I've never been to Smorgasburg, as I work in Downtown from Mondays to Saturdays. But, when time permits on a Sunday, I'll be sure to check out and try some of the food from different vendors at Smorgasburg in ROW Dtla sometime. =)


(Photos of pop-up cafe and drinks taken with a Samsung Galaxy S phone.)

 

[Neweymatt]

Something crystallized in my mind today as a result of numerous things that have come up in discussion at various times over the last while. I think I've finally come to realize that I don't really care about the scientific or analytic side of this hobby all that much. I appreciate that measurements are interesting and important and don't deny the appeal and fascination of breaking down all the distinct factors of an IEM's performance like bass, treble, soundstage, technicalities, dynamics etc. and analyzing them in turn. This tendency to break everything down into component parts and analyze accordingly characterizes what I would call an intellectual approach to this hobby. I've dabbled in all that myself, obviously, and have enjoyed reading the impressions of others who have done the same...but I think it's finally dawned on me that none of those things have ever really decisively contributed to my personal overall enjoyment of this hobby for the simple reason that my approach is and always has been fundamentally emotional. While I've always enjoyed and will continue to enjoy reading different descriptions and impressions from others expressed in these terms for myself it's always been a simple matter of do I enjoy this or not, does this engage and move me emotionally or not? My interest has always been in the gestalt, or entirety of an IEM's performance-- not any particular element of it, or combination of factors. Sure there are some meaningful correlations and things I have learned, such as that I trend to prefer IEMs that are skewed musical and that I happen to be the most finicky about the midrange of all the bands of then FR...but at the end of the day I've struggled to reduce my preferences to any sort of fundamental rule or specific collection of factors. For this reason I'm doing my best to avoid any sorts of limiting pre-conceptions when trying something for the first time. I'm less interested in how something measures or what individual characteristics it resolves into than the inspiration or, if you'll forgive the phrasing, the spirit and intent behind it. A well tuned IEM is like a beautiful composition or work of inspiration on the part of an artist-- and if done sincerely and well this will shine through in its presentation and affect the consciousness of an intent listener even if you can't deduce it from any constituent parts of the presentation. This is why I think I'm drawn to IEMs that are the result of creative visionaries behind companies like VE, Oriolus, CFA's best work and Fir's new stuff. Just an evening ramble, and as with all things YMMV.

With you there bro. It's the goosebumps/falling-back-in-the-chair thing that tells me it's good, for example this evening...

 

[gLer]

With you there bro. It's the goosebumps/falling-back-in-the-chair thing that tells me it's good, for example this evening...

...though of course it helps when you're listening withIEMs

 

[mvvRAZ]

Right, I was wondering how/where you'd got the coloured abalone, as I couldn't see it when I was configuring my A12t a few weeks ago. They did add "Ripple Abalone" sometime along the way while I was dithering about with the configurator, the example looks a lot like the Solaris SE. Is that what you've got @KuroKitsu ?

I had to ask 64 for the green abalone in 5-6 different emails over several weeks haha, really took them a lot to cave in considering HK dealers hate it when anyone else gets their exclusives

 

[kevin638880]

XE6 is quite interesting indeed....

Edit:
NE4 actually sounds the most coloured to me, very warm, treble is a bit lacking.
KR5 is a no after the vocals played.
XE6 is really fun, bass is actually not very overpowering (because it doesn't bleed and is quite fast?), vocals and treble quite laid back and smooth. Soundstage is huge. Left ear has some fit issues.

Biggest gripe is that they don't isloate sound very well.

 

[xenithon]

For the single DD fans, I see that Softears has released a new version of the Turii, the Turii Ti Titanium. Comes in at quite a premium though ($2.5k vs $1.4k of the original).

 

[xenithon]

.

 

[Xinlisupreme]

i currently own Z1R, Mest2, Solaris OG, ie900 and O800. Just looking for a solid upgrade rather than a side-grade. I basically listen to every music genre out there that's well done. So a good all-arounder IEM with a bit of tamed highs would be preferred. I do find the trebles on Mest mk2 a bit too aggressive with certain instruments.

Thunder

Aroma Audio Thunder sounds like a good fit for you... excellent all-rounder, and you'll have no issue with treble.

Oh and it's an upgrade (in my opinion) on Z1R, MEST MKII, IE900 and O800 - I can't comment on Solaris OG as I've not heard.

+1 I thought the same

 

[RTodd]

XE6 is quite interesting indeed....

Edit:
NE4 actually sounds the most coloured to me, very warm, treble is a bit lacking.
KR5 is a no after the vocals played.
XE6 is really fun, bass is actually not very overpowering (because it doesn't bleed and is quite fast?), vocals and treble quite laid back and smooth. Soundstage is huge. Left ear has some fit issues.

Biggest gripe is that they don't isloate sound very well.

Had the same fall out issue in my right ear. Still using oversized sticky tips. So far nothing else works, no foams for me my ears are so large that the large size of the oval tips was still too small.

Isolation, not a commuter set for sure. At home or in the rural area I live in the only sound that needs blocking is bird song. Sometimes though it sounds interesting to let those chirps leak in.

The way you describe the sound is the same way I hear it, no bleed vocals slightly warm.
I like the highs nice and airy, I hear adequate detail. This set is pure enjoy the music, no dissecting it, just ride the waves.

And when switching to XE6 from other sets remember to turn the volume down a little.

Catching up on posts, and making notes on suggested music to check out.