[Chronos]

LX takes my vote on this as well. Lots of Kick drum on metal. but some friends here have heard the latest and greatest that also sounds great with metal.

A second hand Odin can also be considered if you are ok with the high mids.

I know that there's a dedicated thread, but would like to ask also here, which iems should I look for, in the sub 2k region, that are great with metal?

Also agree on Legend X for metal sub2k. If you can find a second hand legend EVO would be good too. Odin is a bit too bright IMO for metal. VE EXT is great but wouldn't be under 2k.

 

[wazzupi]

Campfire Audio Trifecta

Very warm IEM, and I say this as someone who’s owned an XE6 CIEM for 7 months now and so I’m fairly used to a very warm IEM. Definitely a basshead IEM, and the bass is very impactful when it hits (e.g. kicks in electronic tracks hit really hard), and I would say it hits a bit harder than XE6. Big soundstage but the overall sound seems like there’s a thin blanket between the notes and my eardrums. The treble quality is the worst I’ve heard in quite long time, with cymbals sounding splashy and coarse. The treble doesn’t have the extension I prefer by my standards either, and if you’ve heard the Vega OG, it sounds similar in terms of treble extension, meaning fairly rolled off and couple that with a substantial elevation in the lower mids + bass. This is definitely not an IEM for vocal based music (or vocals generally), and the midrange seems dated relative to today’s offerings at cheaper price points (e.g. Campfire’s own Supermoon). Macrodynamic contrast is very high, at least as high as XE6. Speaking of XE6, I’d say that pulls off a “fun” sound signature better than the Trifecta, which stumbles pretty hard as I’ve already described. To sum it up, the closest thing from Campfire that I’ve owned to the Trifecta is the Campfire Vega (original version before 2020 version), and the Trifecta sounds similar to that but on steroids (i.e. amped up macrodynamics and bass impact) with subpar mids and a highly questionable treble from both a tuning and quality perspective. The Trifecta wasn’t really my cup of tea, although I suspect that fans of Vega, Atlas, and Dorado would like this sound a lot. With all that said, I don’t consider this a TOTL IEM by my standards and certainly would not spend the asking price of $3,375 for it.



Empire Ears x Astell&Kern Odyssey

I’m going to describe this IEM relative to Odin (which I own) for the most part and EVO which I’ve demo’d twice in the previous year and again at CanJam this year. Odyssey has a wider stage than Odin, similar to Jewel or Traillii levels of width, with notes imaging a bit from further out in front of me relative to Odin, which has a more intimate presentation than Odyssey. It’s warmer and less analytical sounding than Odin, while not being any less technical than Odin and so more of a really nice blend of musicality with technical performance. The upper mids are definitely less pronounced than Odin and EVO and a bit less than the Aroma Jewel as well, however the midrange is not recessed, and so it comes off as a pretty well-balanced sound overall between bass-mids-treble. The instrument timbre is more natural relative to Odin, and I prefer listening to vocals with it. The treble is more extended than Odin and EVO and is smooth, no sibilance, harsh peaks, etc, and detail retrieval is up a bit in this area as well. Odyssey definitely has more mid-bass and sub-bass than Odin, sitting somewhere between Odin and EVO bass quantity wise. I tend to think of the overall bass quantity as similar to the IE 900 as an approximation. Odin is more sub-bass focused than Odyssey, whereas Odyssey is more balanced between sub bass and mid bass. As for bass quality, well, it’s got dual W9+ drivers plus Weapon X and so it’s very good in terms of speed and avoiding bloat into the midrange. Overall, I found Odyssey to have a tuning suited for all-around listening / many genres. I definitely prefer Odyssey to Odin and it implements the wish-list / feedback of things that some people wanted, such as Weapon X BCD driver from EVO, less upper mids than EVO and Odin, more treble extension and more bass than Odin. Overall, I prefer Odyssey to any of the IEMs in Empire Ears lineup that I’ve listened to (Odin, EVO, LX, Valkyrie MK2, and Hero).

Odyssey is definitely a large IEM, its shell size is slightly deeper than EVO’s and the faceplate has a little more surface area as well relative to EVO’s. I wish the stock cable were more supple like the Liquid Links Martini or Conti which are relatively inexpensive when compared to TOTL cables.






Noble Viking Ragnar

This is basically a reference-y type of IEM, and so it sits the same arena as Jewel and Traillii, although I’d put it closer to Jewel than Traillii. The mids are very nice, female vocals in particular were a standout. The upper mids seem a bit more elevated than Jewel and a bit less than Odin, and so this is a bit of warning to those that can’t handle upper mids to such a degree. Lower mids seems to be at a similar level to Jewel, with a mid bass quantity that’s somewhere between Odin and Jewel, which is to say it’s definitely not a bass cannon despite having two DDs for the bass. Sub bass quantity is at about Odin levels but with a less pronounced rumble feeling. The implementation of e-stats for the treble is really well done, kind of reminding me of Annihilator and X in detail retrieval up top and in overall treble quality. There’s really nice extension to the treble as well. This is not an IEM I’d want to use for electronic music as the overall bass quantity is a bit lower than what I’d want (Jewel is the lowest bass quantity I’d want to go for electronic for my preferences), but female singer-songwriter music that I tried, it’s really impressive I thought due to those mids. I’d say this IEM leans on the brighter side, and so when it came to source pairings, I ended up preferring it with my WM1ZM2 instead of my N8ii. The WM1ZM2 brings the mids back a bit with a touch of added warmth and is a less bright source relative to the more analytical and bright sounding N8ii. Also, the stock cable and build of the Viking Ragnar is very nice.

The Viking Ragnar versus the EE Odyssey: The Ragnar has more elevated upper mids than the Odyssey, is overall less bassy, less warm, and more extended in the treble while having a brighter and more crisp treble. I always got the feeling that Ragnar’s stage was less wide than Odyssey and that the notes were coming from closer distance from out in front of me than the Odyssey but testing staging and imaging can always be tricky in a CanJam environment, particularly when A/B’ing 2 IEMs that are new to me.



Astell&Kern SP3000

UI seems pretty responsive and navigating through music seems similar to the “Cover Flow” feature of iTunes and iPods from late 2000s / early 2010s. The build quality and aesthetic are really nice as well. For the sound, using Aroma Jewel, it’s got a very dark background and super clean sound. It’s less analytical sounding than my N8ii and not as euphonic as my WM1ZM2, and so sitting at a middle ground between those 2 DAPs. Bass texture is not as impressive to me as the N8ii. Overall, this is a very good DAP, but not necessary for me to own given what I already have (N8ii, WM1ZM2). I remember when I first got the N8ii as a demo, I was impressed with it within a few minutes and knew that was a must-buy, and I had a similar experience when I received the WM1ZM2 as well, but with the SP3000 not so much, but I’m sure this DAP will definitely have its fans. The next DAP in this list however is a different story…

Hiby RS8

This is an impressive sounding DAP, but first I’ll talk a little about the build and software. The build is pretty solid I’d say and premium feeling. For example, the volume knob has lots of resistance to changes but remains very smooth and linear. The physical weight felt a little bit heavier than my WM1ZM2, which is to say that the RS8 is a very heavy DAP. On to the software, it’s definitely a fast UI experience. I will say that I did have a situation where the DAP had to be restarted because it became unresponsive while using the Hiby Music Player, not sure what happened there. I’m sure that @gLer can fill us in on the software and much more about this DAP later on since he started the RS8 thread. As for the sound, very euphonic with lots of note weight and punchiness to the sound while still being revealing enough for me. Bass texture is impressive, I’d say RS8 > N8ii > WM1ZM2 and SP3k in this category. For punchiness of the sound, RS8 > N8ii W/ P+ > WM1ZM2 and SP3K. I listened to the RS8 against the LP6 Gold as well, and while I enjoyed the tonality of the LP, the RS8 is at least as good while being more energetic. Overall, very nice tonality and energy from what is definitely a TOTL R2R streaming DAP.














That's a wrap! It was very nice to meet those that frequent this thread: @Rockwell75, @HiFiHawaii808, @Skyediver (amazing sky diving stories!), @Chronos, @Shecky504, @wazzupi, @morserotonin, @wolfstar76, and @stacey. If any of you ever want to get together in SoCal to listen to gear, I'm down to meet up again.

It was a great experience and meeting fellow head fiers putting a face to name. @discord it was great chatting about our IEM impressions from canjam.

though I felt a bit exhausted around that time I should of went back and had a listen to the Odyssey again because I feel like my treble harshness comment might of just been me getting caught offguard by the song(it's nine inch nails - hurt around 4 min mark is where I'd start the song and end near 5mins). I did find it to be one of the more complete iems I heard at canjam.

I was completely blown away by my jewel/brise yatono ultimate cable + RS8 combo I came up with a playlist because all the daps had the same selection. The one song that blew me away with the above combo was wandering by Yosi Horikawa I literally ended my session there put the rs8 on the table looked at Andrew and said "I want this" with determination.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Same, all I hear these days is @HiFiHawaii808 ’s voice saying “Endgame: Annihilator + RS8”

Did you like it? I really loved that pairing. It is a treblehead's dream IEM set up.

 

[Rockwell75]

I was debating over the same or similar choices, though I ended bought WM1A, but after the demo in CanJam Socal, I made up my mind for RS2. Though it works for my case, I need something ultra-portable and only play local library and I also have DX160 which is similar to DX170.

What's the use case @Rockwell75? If you're after a relatively small, pocketable file-only player, for me it'd be a toss-up between RS2 and the OG WM1A. Of course the Sony would be more expensive, and you'd have to buy it used, but it'll have more options and probably better (different?) SQ to RS2, especially with the Mr Walkman mods. RS2 is no slouch though. All that said, I'm not really a fan of RS2 + Supermoon. For some reason it brings out SM's 'digititus' for me. So knowing how much you love SM, and how good SM sounds with WM1Z, the safe money, for you, would be on WM1A. Just me 0.02. Keep the change.

I demoed the WM1AM2 at the Source AV table and wasn't really taken with it (I was never a huge fan of the original either...dunno why the sound sig has never grabbed me)...however in the case of the M2 I could have been spoiled by how good the WM1ZM2 is, which is high in the running if I ever get another full size DAP. Right now I'm interested in an equally pocketable compliment to my SR25ii in the sub-$1K realm. I wish I'd demoed the RS6 at CanJam. I heard a DX240 that I thought sounded pretty decent.

 

[Sifo]

Mini meetup today, featuring but not limited too:

Aroma Jewel
VE Phonix & EXT
UM MEST Indigo
EE Wraith, Odin, EVO
CA Solaris 2020
CA x AK Pathfinder
personal unit earbud from TGX

and a bunch of DAPs and a bunch of cables, and a few IEMs I forgot about.

maybe @riverground took photos to share when he's back.

Was a great day and we're doing it again Monday.

PS anyone in Canada wanna loan us a Traillii?

 

[dmphile]

Mini meetup today, featuring but not limited too:

Aroma Jewel
VE Phonix & EXT
UM MEST Indigo
EE Wraith, Odin, EVO
CA Solaris 2020
CA x AK Pathfinder
personal unit earbud from TGX

and a bunch of DAPs and a bunch of cables, and a few IEMs I forgot about.

maybe @riverground took photos to share when he's back.

Was a great day and we're doing it again Monday.

PS anyone in Canada wanna loan us a Traillii?

It was a blast, we gotta do group photo next time.

 

[maegnificant]

I just made a really lenghty post describing my experience with the Indigo and the ISN Dongle + Spiraldot ++ tips. But I pressed a wrong button accidentally and erased it all (I am at my phone).

Now I am sad and discouraged.

Maybe I'll try again tomorrow on my PC, or when I will start to seriously tip roll with it. (cp100+, W1, Spiraldot++ and Stock)


Thanks for all your posts here, really interesting and or entertaining to read.


To summarize and take advantage of the recent drama here, Indigo is the best IEM on the planet and if you disagree you just don't know what's popular with the kids today.

| This is sarcasm |

On another note, today I noticed again how fit dependant the IE600 is. I use it with cp100 tips and it's the only IEM I have that suffers from me trying to get a deep fit. It actually has to stay quite shallow in my ear, but "fill" out the ear canal. It's a difficult thing to achieve but when it sits right, it stays pretty locked and has one of the best passive noise isolations I have experienced so far, even while riding a bike for example. No Wind noise. And the Sound is excellent as well. With that price and incredible build quality, sennheiser made something really special, at least for me.

Hope you have a good rest of the week guys! Maybe I'll try to amateurishly describe my thoughts on sound in the future again without deleting my post halfway through.

Another question I have to you:

If you have heard "Kind of Blue". Which master do you prefer?

I tried a CD rip of mine, a high-res Mono master and a high-res, quite new stereo master. I almost always prefer my old stereo master, it's way more mid-centered in the stereo field, but the new master sounds so artificially diffused and weird, even if the seperation is better, the sound loses a lot of it's texture and charm to me. I am very interested to hear your thoughts and suggestions here as I quite like this generic old recording. It gives me warm, comfortable feelings that I want to cherish and nurture
I have heard about a very recent master that tries to keep the original style intact while polishing the Sound, but I understood it's only available on a limited pressing of vinyl... Anyone know anything about this?

Quite a lenghty post again, better press "Post reply" now.

 

[dmphile]

I just made a really lenghty post describing my experience with the Indigo and the ISN Dongle + Spiraldot ++ tips. But I pressed a wrong button accidentally and erased it all (I am at my phone).

Now I am sad and discouraged.

Maybe I'll try again tomorrow on my PC, or when I will start to seriously tip roll with it. (cp100+, W1, Spiraldot++ and Stock)


Thanks for all your posts here, really interesting and or entertaining to read.


To summarize and take advantage of the recent drama here, Indigo is the best IEM on the planet and if you disagree you just don't know what's popular with the kids today.

| This is sarcasm |

On another note, today I noticed again how fit dependant the IE600 is. I use it with cp100 tips and it's the only IEM I have that suffers from me trying to get a deep fit. It actually has to stay quite shallow in my ear, but "fill" out the ear canal. It's a difficult thing to achieve but when it sits right, it stays pretty locked and has one of the best passive noise isolations I have experienced so far, even while riding a bike for example. No Wind noise. And the Sound is excellent as well. With that price and incredible build quality, sennheiser made something really special, at least for me.

Hope you have a good rest of the week guys! Maybe I'll try to amateurishly describe my thoughts on sound in the future again without deleting my post halfway through.

Another question I have to you:

If you have heard "Kind of Blue". Which master do you prefer?

I tried a CD rip of mine, a high-res Mono master and a high-res, quite new stereo master. I almost always prefer my old stereo master, it's way more mid-centered in the stereo field, but the new master sounds so artificially diffused and weird, even if the seperation is better, the sound loses a lot of it's texture and charm to me. I am very interested to hear your thoughts and suggestions here as I quite like this generic old recording. It gives me warm, comfortable feelings that I want to cherish and nurture
I have heard about a very recent master that tries to keep the original style intact while polishing the Sound, but I understood it's only available on a limited pressing of vinyl... Anyone know anything about this?

Quite a lenghty post again, better press "Post reply" now.

That happened to me a few times so I just write it all up in a word doc first and copy and paste it here. lol. Keep at it, I'd love to hear more peoples thoughts on Indigo. In our short session, I listened to @Sifo Jewel and it is an outstanding IEM. I can see why it's gotten so many accolades but I would say Indigo is no slouch either on the technical front. For it's price I think it can and does compete with some TOTL IEMs on many aspects.

 

[wazzupi]

What cable did you guys use for the jewel if you don't mind me asking ! Lol I don't know what drama surrounds the indigo but I swear there is some incompatibility issues which custom might fix !

 

[Sifo]

They either tried it with the Socrates or the Socrates 8 prototype. I'm currently borrowing the Socrates 8 proto

 

[Levanter]

I bought the Ragnar and I am buying Odyssey. I heard them both side by side. I prefer the Odyssey because of the W9+ drivers and the DD timbre that it delivers. However, there is no question that Ragnar is at the level of Jewel and Traillii. I know because I a/b/c tested them one night during CanJam Socal. I loved the Ragnar with Jazz and Vocals. I loved the Odyssey with everything. For CanJam Socal, the Odyssey was my best in show. Ragnar was a close second.

What would your IEM ranking be now with the inclusion of Ragnar & Odyssey?

 

[maegnificant]

What cable did you guys use for the jewel if you don't mind me asking ! Lol I don't know what drama surrounds the indigo but I swear there is some incompatibility issues which custom might fix !

I meant more the drama on this forum thread here regarding the Ragnar discussion I think, since the cable is especially made for this IEM, it is perfect for it.

 

[szore]

Just tried Roon ARC...mind blown!...Streaming my album library on my phone via a Roon interface! Only tried it in my apt, but I'll test it in the real world tomorrow. Interface is slick...very responsive.

 

[wazzupi]

Just tried Roon ARC...mind blown!...Streaming my album library on my phone via a Roon interface! Only tried it in my apt, but I'll test it in the real world tomorrow. Interface is slick...very responsive.

Not bit perfect unfortunately

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

What would your IEM ranking be now with the inclusion of Ragnar & Odyssey?

I can't do a ranking until I have more time with them and doing a lot of listening with them in the line up. My guess is between 3-7 for both