[Rockwell75]

When this list grows, you may have a chance to beat Crinacle, at least at the high-end.

I have no inclination to "grade" IEMs in any objective sense. The spreadsheet is not to be taken as a ranking in any sense beyond my personal enjoyment so that it may prove to be one data point among many for those trying to get a sense of the different IEMs out there. "YMMV and all that" is and remains my credo in this hobby

...along with "one must taste the fruit to know the flavor". As good or reliable as any descriptive impressions-- or collection of impressions from different people-- may be there is simply no substitute for trying something for yourself. Many of the IEMs I have listed as "favorites" I never would have thought to demo or seek out had I nothing to go on but graphs or others' impressions.

 

[blotmouse]

Don't forget to normalize the graphs whenever you use Squiglinks. They need to be reset every time you go there.

Wasn't my screenshot.

 

[Rockwell75]

Don't forget to normalize the graphs whenever you use Squiglinks. They need to be reset every time you go there.

Here's VSG's measurement at 500 Hz.



Here's the Elise Audio measurements normalized at 1000Hz.

Does VSG have a squiglinks site you can go and select different graphs to compare?

 

[Ruprit]

Does VSG have a squiglinks site you can go and select different graphs to compare?

Yep https://vsg.squig.link/

 

[CharlyBrown]

Taking inspiration from the format used by @SteveK27 I put together a little IEM spreadsheet tracking what I've heard and what my favorites are. It's less prescriptive than a proper ranking and I feel this is a great format for merely expressing my thoughts and tracking what I've heard.

Have a look if you're interested: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ifrc0nCKZ-b4hSBNzGMMZ-Nc3zAXHqio0nqslczmlNI/edit?usp=sharing

Great sheet, thank you. You still list the Dorados as one of your favorites. Would you say this is a great (if not the greatest) IEM for electronic music & guilty pleasure overall?

 

[Rockwell75]

Great sheet, thank you. You still list the Dorados as one of your favorites. Would you say this is a great (if not the greatest) IEM for electronic music & guilty pleasure overall?

I don't feel any guilt. I recnognise that the Dorado is not a perfect IEM and is lacking in ways compared to the elites...but the fact remains that it speaks to me on a deep and primordial level and despite it all it's still a set I can listen to for days and enjoy every minute. It feels in some ways like an IEM that was designed to monitor basslines-- with the mids etc. being pushed to the side at times. As I said in the description sometimes you just want to sink your teeth into a meaty bassline and the Dorado 2020 is great for that. "Electronic music" is a hard thing to generalize as there are so many different varieties of it. I never touch trance with ten foot pole, for example.

 

[CharlyBrown]

I don't feel any guilt. I recnognise that the Dorado is not a perfect IEM and is lacking in ways compared to the elites...but the fact remains that it speaks to me on a deep and primordial level and despite it all it's still a set I can listen to for days and enjoy every minute. It feels in some ways like an IEM that was designed to monitor basslines-- with the mids etc. being pushed to the side at times. As I said in the description sometimes you just want to sink your teeth into a meaty bassline and the Dorado 2020 is great for that. "Electronic music" is a hard thing to generalize as there are so many different varieties of it. I never touch trance with ten foot pole, for example.

Haha. I don’t like trance, as well. I’m a kind of sub-bass guy and looking at the Dorados graph, it delivers also very much mid-bass, right? I think this is what you like, dark thick sub+mid-bass? Which makes me wonder on the other hand, as the Supermoon is pretty flat in the mid-bass region ( and I love that about the SM…).

 

[Rockwell75]

Haha. I don’t like trance, as well. I’m a kind of sub-bass guy and looking at the Dorados graph, it delivers also very much mid-bass, right? I think this is what you like, dark thick sub+mid-bass? Which makes me wonder on the other hand, as the Supermoon is pretty flat in the mid-bass region ( and I love that about the SM…).

All my attempts to "pigeon hole" my specific tastes have proven in vain. I've come to believe that I can appreciate a wide variety of tuning styles and approaches so long as they're executed in a certain way.

 

[CharlyBrown]

All my attempts to "pigeon hole" my specific tastes have proven in vain. I've come to believe that I can appreciate a wide variety of tuning styles and approaches so long as they're executed in a certain way.

This must be a gift & a burden, I guess. Now you‘ll have to try them all.

 

[Scubadevils]

Sunday night dark and atmospheric electro, fantastic album - Eclipse on duty, not just because of the cover similarity!

 

[Andorn]

Completely concur w/ SteveK27 on the hours necessary with the Trifecta. I'm probably right about at the same number of hours on my set as RTodd (~50hrs), and mine are losing any semblance of veil as well.

The sense of cavernous space, and that bass reverberating, is what is so addictive w/ this IEM. I love this effect on Jack White's Hi-De-Ho, such a fun playful song. The rolling drum hits around 1:55- 2:50'ish are just addicting, and the amount of air communicated on the Trifecta is equally so!

I am also at about 50 hours with the Trifecta and can confirm this unreservedly.

 

[Stu Paddasso]

Any recommendations for a EE EVO cable, or is the stock one a goody ?

doctorjuggles GPS, the stock cable is good but veiled.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Here is my portable set up of the year:

FIR Audio XE6 ciem (silver atom modules) + Eletech Iliad cable + Chord Hugo 2 / 2go DAC Amp and Streamer + Apple Watch for playback control + Google Mesh Network.

When you see the FR curve for XE6, you see a hyper elevation in the lower mids. When I first heard that, I just heard bass and veil of bass and mids. I couldn't hear anything else. When I had the Frontier series for a week, I learned that pairing it with a high resolution DAP really brought out the details so I could hear through all of that warmth. So, this morning I wondered what the XE6 would sound like with the Hugo 2 which is the highest resolving portable source I own. IT REALLY WORKS. Normally, the Hugo 2 sounds pretty clinical. But, the warmth of the XE6 balances that out really nicely and all that's left is an extremely highly resolving, warm and inviting sound. This images music like a rock concert with room filling energetic bass and clarity and detail everywhere.

 

[MatW]

Here is my portable set up of the year:

FIR Audio XE6 ciem (silver atom modules) + Eletech Iliad cable + Chord Hugo 2 / 2go DAC Amp and Streamer + Apple Watch for playback control + Google Mesh Network.

When you see the FR curve for XE6, you see a hyper elevation in the lower mids. When I first heard that, I just heard bass and veil of bass and mids. I couldn't hear anything else. When I had the Frontier series for a week, I learned that pairing it with a high resolution DAP really brought out the details so I could hear through all of that warmth. So, this morning I wondered what the XE6 would sound like with the Hugo 2 which is the highest resolving portable source I own. IT REALLY WORKS. Normally, the Hugo 2 sounds pretty clinical. But, the warmth of the XE6 balances that out really nicely and all that's left is an extremely highly resolving, warm and inviting sound. This images music like a rock concert with room filling energetic bass and clarity and detail everywhere.

I think I'll get a Xe6 again and try it with the Dave.

 

[wolfstar76]

Here is my portable set up of the year:

FIR Audio XE6 ciem (silver atom modules) + Eletech Iliad cable + Chord Hugo 2 / 2go DAC Amp and Streamer + Apple Watch for playback control + Google Mesh Network.

When you see the FR curve for XE6, you see a hyper elevation in the lower mids. When I first heard that, I just heard bass and veil of bass and mids. I couldn't hear anything else. When I had the Frontier series for a week, I learned that pairing it with a high resolution DAP really brought out the details so I could hear through all of that warmth. So, this morning I wondered what the XE6 would sound like with the Hugo 2 which is the highest resolving portable source I own. IT REALLY WORKS. Normally, the Hugo 2 sounds pretty clinical. But, the warmth of the XE6 balances that out really nicely and all that's left is an extremely highly resolving, warm and inviting sound. This images music like a rock concert with room filling energetic bass and clarity and detail everywhere.

No wonder when I used WM1A with XE6, the bass just overwheled everything else and I was so surprised to see the hype of XE6 afterwards among coolers.