[LFC_SL]

Amen. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

RE Storm it's not the lack of DD bass that makes me think it's not up my alley (though that is a factor) it's the fact that it's being marketed as the "ultimate reference IEM". I get that there is a market for that but it's not the sort of sound that usually strikes a chord with me. Time will tell I guess.

I would separate "reference" in the context of marketing to hi-fi audiophiles. And "reference" for studio mastering or performers that does not imprint a signature, that gets out of the way of the music. The Storm is aimed at audiophiles.

While here, personally I would have liked Storm with a 'cheaper' cable and a lower entry price. Or for the same asking price include 2x 'cheaper' cables. Sennheiser and Sony deserve recognition for including multiple cables in the box to hi-fi audiophiles. Totally get that some will get a kick from the Storm stock cable

 

[Skullar]

This isn't my first rodeo It's not tuning that's an issue at all - it's physics. If someone figures out how to recreate dynamic driver bass physics with a BA, I'm all ears.

I think the main difference between DD and BA will be the speed too.
I personally reckon Hidition Violet and Storm are already giving the physicality of DD. Its just DDs will still have a slower decay. If that is your poison, DDs will most likely stay your thing.
But If you want physicality with greater speed and articulation. BAs and Planars are already promising.
I personally like both flavours, so not too fussed about which driver does in if well done.
In general, overall DD is still King.

Also there was one other driver that surprised me with its bass response - AMT.
While its not a DD competition,
I had bass switch left on my Gryphon when i got a chance to hear AMT16. And it actually surprised me how it performed.

 

[psklrdk]

A good compilation of end-of-year album compilations:

https://www.albumoftheyear.org/lists.php

a nice list to explore an discover things not heard before. Thanks @Rockwell75 . Happy New Year everybody!

 

[gLer]

I think the main difference between DD and BA will be the speed too.
I personally reckon Hidition Violet and Storm are already giving the physicality of DD. Its just DDs will still have a slower decay. If that is your poison, DDs will most likely stay your thing.
But If you want physicality with greater speed and articulation. BAs and Planars are already promising.
I personally like both flavours, so not too fussed about which driver does in if well done.
In general, overall DD is still King.

Also there was one other driver that surprised me with its bass response - AMT.
While its not a DD competition,
I had bass switch left on my Gryphon when i got a chance to hear AMT16. And it actually surprised me how it performed.

Yes I think that's the essence of it. I find BA drivers decay the bass (especially sub bass) too quickly, which deprives the rest of the FR of much needed foundational weight. The physical movement of DD drivers also creates a bigger sense of 'air movement', if that makes sense. It's sometimes a subtle difference, but when the music lacks DD viscerality it breaks an emotional connection I find difficult to ignore. This is less of a factor with EDM and electronic music in general, so it's also quite genre dependent. As such, YMMV...

PS. This is by no means a condemnation of BA bass, or the aforementioned Mentor (one of the best technical IEMs I've had the pleasure of hearing). It's just something I've now come to realise about my own preferences, having heard some of the very best BA IEMs available.

 

[KKNAYANA]

What cable is connected to the Mass Kobo?

I asked the owner and he said that it was Brise Audio IZANAGI.
https://www.e-earphone.jp/products/detail/17719/
It was actually a pure copper cable, not a silver plated copper one. My mistake

 

[MaxwellDemon]

Happy New Year Everyone-- January 1, 2023 is upon us for those of us on the pacific coast of North American. As such our 2022 IEM of the year poll is closed. I will unveil the results in succession-- please keep refreshing this post over the next 10 minutes.

We received 67 votes altogether.

1st Place - 2022 Watercooler IEM of the Year

With 10 votes the clear winner of this poll, an IEM that hit the scene with a bang in the first quarter of this year with its bombastic, addictive and highly technical sound and which has been holding it's place and steadily waxing in popularity throughout the course of this whole year, lady and gentlemen, I give you:

The Fir Audio Xe6



2nd Place

In second place with 6 votes we have:

Unique Melody Multiverse Mentor

3rd Place

The following IEMs are tied for 3rd place with 4 votes each:

AK/Empire Odyssey
Vision Ears Phönix
Campfire Audio Trifecta
Noble Viking Ragnar

4th Place

The following IEMs are tied for 4th place with 3 votes each:

Oriolus Traillii
Subtonic Storm
FAudio Mezzo

5th Place

The following IEMs are tied for 5th place with 2 votes each:

Campfire Supermoon
Sony IER Z1R
Aroma Jewel
Fir Kr5
UM Indigo
Empire Ears EVO

6th Place

The following IEMs received one vote each and are all tied for 6th place:

Meze Advar
Vison Ears VE8
Dita Perpetua
UM Red Halo
FAudio Dark Sky
Letshouer S12
JH Sharona
Noble Kublai Khan
Noble Sultan
7Hz Timeless AE
Vision Ears VE7
Vision Ears Phonix LE
UM Fusang

Very interesting poll! On the topic of Subtonic Storm, BA drivers and "ultimate reference sound", I feel like from reading Watercooler the past few months, it has been a flock (that I also joined) that has gone from Traillii to Jewel to now Mentor. Will be interesting to see if the Subtonic Storm will chip into the Mentor's lead once more people get their hands on it.

On the other hand, very interested in hearing the XE6 as a demo to see how it'll go up against the Trifecta.

 

[fabio19]

I asked the owner and he said that it was Brise Audio IZANAGI.
https://www.e-earphone.jp/products/detail/17719/
It was actually a pure copper cable, not a silver plated copper one. My mistake

Thank you and Happy 2023 to you..... Does that sound good? I thought that with a "warm" sound like the Mass Kobo's a silver cable would be more suitable than a copper one. How does it sound with copper wire?

 

[KKNAYANA]

Thank you and Happy 2023 to you..... Does that sound good? I thought that with a "warm" sound like the Mass Kobo's a silver cable would be more suitable than a copper one. How does it sound with copper wire?

Even though IZANAGI is a pure copper cable, it sounded like a silver plated cable to my ears. It had pretty extended highs and treble. When connected to warm toned Mass Kobo 428, the balance was very good. However, when IZANAGI was connected to neutral toned Brise Audio Tsuranagi, treble sounded pretty hot to me.
On the product description of IZANAGI, it says that

"By adopting newly developed materials, IZANAGI is a model that maintains the amount of information and resolution of our MASAMUNE and MURAKUMO grades, while improving the followability to modern sources and speeding up the rise of sound."
I think that it is a cable intended to emphasize speed and higher frequency.

Also, the owner of Mass Kobo 428 said to me that, sound of Mass Kobo 428 is greatly influenced by the type/manufacturer of AA battery. He said that Eneloop pro AA battery from Panasonic sounds the best with Mass Kobo 428.

 

[fabio19]

Even though IZANAGI is a pure copper cable, it sounded like a silver plated cable to my ears. It had pretty extended highs and airyness. When connected to warm toned Mass Kobo 428, the balance was very good. However, when IZANAGI was connected to neutral toned Brise Audio Tsuranagi, treble sounded pretty hot.
On the product desciption of IZANAGI, it says that
"By adopting newly developed materials, IZANAGI is a model that maintains the amount of information and resolution of our MASAMUNE and MURAKUMO grades, while improving the followability to modern sources and speeding up the rise of sound."
I think that it is a cable intended to emphasize speed and higher frequency.

So is it good to tone down the warmth and amber color of Mass Kobo in your opinion? Or is there another cable that boosts Mass Kobo's speed, clarity, and detail?

 

[normie610]

I yet again decided to part with a TOTL set, and Mentor is shipping off to a new owner on Tuesday.

I thought you said it’s the best IEM you‘ve heard?

 

[RTodd]

Very interesting poll! On the topic of Subtonic Storm, BA drivers and "ultimate reference sound", I feel like from reading Watercooler the past few months, it has been a flock (that I also joined) that has gone from Traillii to Jewel to now Mentor. Will be interesting to see if the Subtonic Storm will chip into the Mentor's lead once more people get their hands on it.

On the other hand, very interested in hearing the XE6 as a demo to see how it'll go up against the Trifecta.

Traillii was an edge of fence set I think, one side fun and musical one side reference and technical, an interesting balance. If a set moves more towards fun and musical we lose the people who lean technical likewise if a set is more accurate we lose the people that lean fun.

To me XE6 is the same way as Traillii a fence sitter.

I feel Trifecta moves too far away from detail accuracy and does not have enough speed to attract many of the technical audience.

XE6 like Traillii will not win all though it will capture some from both sides of that fence.

It is a question of balance, and the balance people prefer.

Edit; I was thinking a little more about these adjectives we all use and no one wants to think that what they like (which represents the way they hear) is for example muddy or boring. This may be the cause of the reactions that can get heated. At the same time the amounts of difference we are talking about here, much of the time is very small.
It is always a challenge to describe non verbal aspects with words, and these words exaggerate the differences quite a bit.

 

[CharlyBrown]

Amen. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

RE Storm it's not the lack of DD bass that makes me think it's not up my alley (though that is a factor) it's the fact that it's being marketed as the "ultimate reference IEM". I get that there is a market for that but it's not the sort of sound that usually strikes a chord with me. Time will tell I guess.

That's exactly where I am now in my "audiophile" journey. The specialists get me much more excited than the well respected generalists. I learned that for me in a very obvious way with the u12t. I just shrugged as long as I owned while listening. This is not for me.

 

[Nostoi]

Hello to everyone at the Watercooler!! I want to post some impressions of portable amps that I tried at a Korean portable audiophile community's local meeting held a few days ago. It was a great opportunity for me to try some greatly regarded DAPs, cables, and amps.




I have been mainly listening to headphones on a desktop system until recently, and I had thought that the amps were only necessary for full sized headphones. However, after recently purchasing some DAPs/IEMs for portable listening, I naturally became interested in portable amps. But the prices of well regarded portable amps are very high, so it is very burdensome to buy new or even used ones. So I haven't had a chance to try high-end portable amps. The main purpose of attending this meeting was to try some portable amps with my recently acquired DAPs (Astell & Kern SP3000, HiBy RS8) and IEMs (Unique Melody Multiverse Mentor, Campfire Audio Trifecta).

The first amp that I tried was Mass Kobo 428. It was the best fit for my personal taste. I liked the vast staging and rich boosting of low bass and it felt like a slightly warm toned amp. The matching with SP3000 was more balanced than RS8, IMHO. RS8 with Mass Kobo 428 felt a little too bloated in the lower frequencies. Because of my preference for warm tones, it was the best amp that I tried at this meeting.


The second amp that I tried was Brise Audio Tsuranagi. As I read prior in the reviews of Tsuranagi, it felt like only boosting the raw performance of original source. The detail, resolution, staging, output was greatly improved, without altering the original sound signature. In the case of Tsuranagi, I liked the matching with RS8 more than SP3000. When using with SP3000, the highs and treble were too strong to my ears. After changing the 4.4 balanced silver plated pure copper cable (Brise Audio IZANAGI) to a custom made gold-copper alloy cable, the harsh treble got tamed a bit, but... Still, I felt that the balance with RS8 was better.


The last amp that I tried was Phatlab Phantasy II. I felt that the absolute performance (resolution, detail, staging) was somewhat inferior to the two amplifiers that I heard earlier. However, the tone itself was very pleasant with adequately boosted lows and smooth mid/upper frequencies. Maybe this pleasant tone was due to the triode inside Phantasy II.

To sum up, I had a great time with some friendly folks and brilliant gears/amps that day. This local meeting had changed my mind that portable amps have great and positive impact to the sound qualities of portable DAPs and IEMs.

I might get a chance to try the newly released Enleum HPA-23RM, in sometime this month. I will try to post some impressions, if possible.

Lastly, I want to wish a HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone at the Watercooler

That was a great read, thank you. Totally agree with your assessment of Mass Kobo and Phatlab Phantasy II, the latter I think is especially overlooked for its timbre. Since you're in Korea, may I suggest you seek out Bakoon HDA-5230 distributed from Bakoon Mania in Seoul. It has a unique character and performance which is unlike any other portable amp I've heard.

 

[KKNAYANA]

So is it good to tone down the warmth and amber color of Mass Kobo in your opinion? Or is there another cable that boosts Mass Kobo's speed, clarity, and detail?

I think that it depends on the type of IEM you are using and one's taste. I favor a little warm toned sound with slightly extended treble (Wide U shaped sound).
And actually I just tried Mass Kobo for a short time, and I don't know well about cables. I'm afraid that I can't answer your second question. Sorry.

 

[Nostoi]

Also, the owner of Mass Kobo 428 said to me that, sound of Mass Kobo 428 is greatly influenced by the type/manufacturer of AA battery. He said that Eneloop pro AA battery from Panasonic sounds the best with Mass Kobo 428.

Very true in my experience, also.