[Royal Navy]

Survey: Share one of your resolutions for 2023 (hobby related or not or both).

I would love to try the Audeze LCDi4. Have heard many people say that its bass really makes a difference from the usual BA and DD drivers.
Also, I wanted to dive deeper into the fullsize headphones experience. The specific target is an electrostatic system whose main character could be the SR-X9000. It can be said that what KSE1200 brings has motivated me to want to explore more deeply.

 

[CharlyBrown]

Give me your thoughts on the Genesis cable. Because I surprisingly didn't hate it, but I'm curious what your take is.

Updated after 2 days usage…

Hm, yeah the cable is the only thing that doesn’t amaze me that much about the package but It’s ok. I find it a little more difficult to put it around my ears than others and it has (at least out of the box) a little memory effect, I hope this will get better over time. But these are very very 1st world problems.

If you are looking for an impression regarding cable sound, I’m the wrong person, unfortunately. I tried many cables but there’s no difference in sound for me. Still I like good cables for look&feel and how I can handle them.

Well, maybe one good thing about the EVO cable for now, I think it has less microphonics than the Stormbreaker from the Odin.

Uh wow, on „My Daily Discovery“ on Tidal right now a bass-heavy track playing. Whooo. This is so damn nice!!

I like the cable more and more each day. I got used to put it around my ears and now find it even better than all other cables as the angle is really perfect. Memory effect is now less after 2 days and maybe will get even better. Yes, I like the cable now!

 

[rantng]

I would love to try the Audeze LCDi4. Have heard many people say that its bass really makes a difference from the usual BA and DD drivers.
Also, I wanted to dive deeper into the fullsize headphones experience. The specific target is an electrostatic system whose main character could be the SR-X9000. It can be said that what KSE1200 brings has motivated me to want to explore more deeply.

Congrats on bringing us to page 3000!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Remember, time is just social construct. So get as many IEMs, DAPs, etc. as you want!

 

[berger]

congrats, coolers!

 

[Damz87]

This is less of a factor with EDM and electronic music in general,

I think DD bass does a far better job at recreating the live electronic music bass experience than BA bass. This is an opinion I’ve had reinforced by going recently to a live show after a few years and hearing it again for myself. I am yet to hear a BA bass IEM recreate the powerful air movement, decay and physicality of a deep house or trance bassline playing from a giant loudspeaker system in a big room or at an outdoor festival.

To be fair, I still very much enjoy listening to electronic music from IEM’s even with BA bass, and honestly I don’t think many DD bass IEM’s get close to recreating that proper live bass sound either, but it’s certainly more realistic with a well implemented DD than it is with BA bass, imho.

 

[CharlyBrown]

Supermoon's on my list, but if it doesn't wow, I'd sooner get an xe6. Just need to start saving now.

You should give it a try. The bass is of course less than Evo ( and probably XE6, I don’t know) but very high quality bass from the planar technology. If you go SM universal you should be aware about the treble spike. I totally love it but It’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Mids are also great but more neutral than Evo or even Odin.

Btw. Re-Buy Evo! They are sooooo much fun!!

 

[bigbeans]

Page 3000

Congrats Watercooler and @Rockwell75!

 

[RTodd]

After Yesterdays fog and drizzle, today here is sunny, 41F at the moment. Thankfully.

I am enjoying the Trifecta a lot, for Piano, for acoustic Jazz, for acoustic Bass, for singers like Tony Childs, only some Indie so far creates a little fatigue like Arcade Fire, War On Drugs Pain though sounds amazing as does Rock and Prog like Riverside Goldfrapp and Radio Head.

 

[ranfan]

Page 3000! Woo-hoo

Does anyone have experience with Rosencranz cables? - @ranfan quite possibly you do!

No I haven't but I've seen them from time to time, honestly I think Wagnus have better build quality for similar price. IDK about the difference in sound

I didn't notice this question you asked. Sorry for this very late response...
I am aware of @Damz87 's awesome reviews on Head-fi, and his impressive collection of IEMs.
His positive review of Mentor greatly influenced me to buy it, and I'm glad that I did.
But I don't know @Damz87 personally
May I ask why?

Hah a thank you for your answer! Just checking out of curiosity. I heard he's quite popular there. He's an impressive collection indeed. Nice that you found Mentor to your liking!

I think DD bass does a far better job at recreating the live electronic music bass experience than BA bass. This is an opinion I’ve had reinforced by going recently to a live show after a few years and hearing it again for myself. I am yet to hear a BA bass IEM recreate the powerful air movement, decay and physicality of a deep house or trance bassline playing from a giant loudspeaker system in a big room or at an outdoor festival.

To be fair, I still very much enjoy listening to electronic music from IEM’s even with BA bass, and honestly I don’t think many DD bass IEM’s get close to recreating that proper live bass sound either, but it’s certainly more realistic with a well implemented DD than it is with BA bass, imho.

Yeah, I think BA bass is good for its speed while DD for its weight. I also found DD bass to recreate live venue speakers well, but its definitely constrained due to limitation in IEM physical size. You can increase the amount up to only so much to match, and beyond that you'd most likely have to sacrifice some air, separation, stage size, clarity, among others. BA bass on the other hand makes up for its lighter weight in giving other frequencies more bandwidth and room to 'breathe' so that the sound becomes less congested together. Of course not all DD bass are heavy, and vice versa for BA. It's a matter of priority and preference IMO, generally what the BA bass loses in weight it makes up for it in technicalities, and DD's in speed it makes up for it in timbre. Weird thing for me is, that it also depends on the bass instrument in the tracks. Some bass are made and boosted artificially, while some are created more naturally with real instruments like kick-drum or cello. DD bass I found are better suited for the latter to my ears

 

[Auricon]

Happy New Years everyone! and celebrating Year of the Rabbit with my trio – FiR's Space Bonnie Xe6 + ET OTL and RS8

 

[NYanakiev]

After Yesterdays fog and drizzle, today here is sunny, 41F at the moment. Thankfully.

I am enjoying the Trifecta a lot, for Piano, for acoustic Jazz, for acoustic Bass, for singers like Tony Childs, only some Indie so far creates a little fatigue like Arcade Fire, War On Drugs Pain though sounds amazing as does Rock and Prog like Riverside Goldfrapp and Radio Head.

Those just look wonderfully weird! Well pleased that both the Trifecta and Supermoon have generated quite a bit of buzz.
Campfire Audio do, indeed, seem to be back from the dead. Very curious to see what they have in store for 2023.

Oh, and happy new 2023 to us all!

 

[Sajid Amit]

Happy New Years everyone! and celebrating Year of the Rabbit with my trio – FiR's Space Bonnie Xe6 + ET OTL and RS8

Lot of aesthetic (and I bet aural) synergy going on here.

 

[Scubadevils]

On the topic of enjoying my music, and focusing less on the gear - my sweet spot in this regard is vinyl… I’m collecting since I bought the Rocky IV soundtrack in the 80s moving on to DJ’ing house, techno, trance etc in the early 90s and amassing 1000’s of records, it’s a format incredibly close to my heart.

On that note, a 30th anniversary reissue of the legendary ‘Artificial Intelligence’ compilation from Warp Records landed late last week, and today became the first slice of vinyl I’ve listened to in 2023. This is a seminal collection of emerging electronic artists in the early 90s, to include Aphex Twin who I’m sure some here will know - long overdue a reissue, and I’m hoping it paves the way for the rest of the AI series.

Oh and as the cover suggests, this was electronic music to chill to as opposed to for the dance floor - it and a few others in the series are credited with the creation of the ‘IDM’ sub-genre, which has been quite controversial over the years as it’s an abbreviation for ‘Intelligent Dance Music’ -the haters felt this was snobby and offensive towards other electronic genres such as house, techno etc - the argument from Warp Records back then points to the fact that computers were being increasingly used to create electronic music, and often with much more complexity, hence the ‘intelligent’ (referring to the technology being used) tag - this is the sort of topic that create serious arguments on various audio forums etc, and even Aphex Twin (Richard D James) coined the name ‘brain dance’ in opposition many moons ago. Anyway, I call it IDM and many others do too, it’s an easy way to identify a wonderful genre.

I still love the interactive process of sticking on vinyl, and kicking back to relax. Incidentally, I’ve not mixed in about 10 years but my 14 year old son has developed an interest so I plan to dust off my 2nd 1210, and pick up a mixer as my old one died a good few years ago.

Btw, there is evidence of brown tape on the 3rd picture, this was one of my methods to keep the dust cover closed when transporting them to various parties and venues back in the 90s and early 00s before I finally hung up my raving shoes (iconic acid house smiley fully intended)

 

[Rockwell75]

Page 3000

Congrats Watercooler and @Rockwell75!

Thanks brah! I'm glad we hit this milestone on Jan 1.

What are the differences in your opinion between GAEA and DIVA?

A few things. Gaea has DD bass (not summit fi DD bass but DD bass nonetheless...which is a huge factor for me). Gaea is a more "eastern" tuned IEM in that the emphasis is more purely on upper mid/treble clarity and detail. Diva is thicker in the lower mids and mid-bass where Gaea can come off a bit hollow there sometimes. As an all rounder one and done IEM Diva is probably a better choice for most but as a niche piece I prefer Gaea becase the tuning is so well done and it's thoroughly unique relative to everything else I own and usually go for. When ever I put them on I'm drawn into lush soundscapes in the highs and high mids that is properly unique in my IEM experience, even compared to the Annihilator.

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.

I don't think there is really a distinction there between audiophile reference and studio reference-- as far as I an tell they both refer to the same thing. What I mean by reference is a sound that comes off more as a monitoring tool or microscope for music than as a means of enjoyment. This is what the u12t ultimately is to me-- and it's very popular with audiophiles. My sense so far is that Storm is also aiming for this general category. I will be very curious to read more impressions of it.

I think the main difference between DD and BA will be the speed too.

The big difference between DD bass and BA bass is that one is a vibrating membrane and the other a vibrating reed. BA bass is tryinng to simulate something (movement of air) that DD bass does in actuality. Thus it's more "analogue" in that sense and also why planar bass tends to hit the mark for bass pretty well also. There is great BA bass out there but none yet that I have heard that can fully replicate that more bodied DD timbre and weight. Speed is an advantage of BAs but the comparative lack of speed on DDs isn't necessarily a disadvantage as, again, it allows for a more analogue "meat on the bone" type sound that is very appealing to some of us.

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.

I think you hit this right on the head and it is something I'm touching on in my Trifecta review. There is a spectrum from, say purely technical to purely musical. On the purely technical side you have IEMs like u12t, u18t and, I suspect, Storm. A little futher to the centre you have the Jewel. Closer still to the centre but still on the technical side you have something like the Mentor. Perhaps right in the middle is the Traillii. On the other side but still centre-ish is the Xe6 and on the far end on the purely musical side is the Trifecta. I think understanding this spectrum is of utmost importance when assessing an IEM on its own terms. You can have "masterpieces" in sound in any domain. Something like Trifecta should not be faulted objectively for not being as technical as Mentor-- as it's not trying to be. Similarly Mentor should not be faulted in an objective sense for not being as musical as the Trifecta. And so on.

It is, but not my favourite - that’s the key distinction

I've always struggled with this distinction. There is more than one way to be the "best" and I don't think there is any one IEM that will qualify as objectively the "best" without specifying specific parameters around which it is the best. YMMV etc.

I was not surprised to see Traillii fall so low, in the end it was not one set that took the crown away, it took multiple sets to do it, no single bird killer the little bird was ganged up on.

Lol awe...poor bird. The Rasputin of the IEM world.

Yeah I picked up a used pair recently. They're the best all 'rounder DD with solid technical chops I've heard. They lack the usual exhausting upper mids/lower treble peakinessthat I've found in other higher end DDs. Fit can be an issue though. In the end I found the stock tips worked best for me FWIW.

Cheers. Nice to see you pop in. Happy new year!

Xe6 just released in Q1 2022. I thought it sold to the market in late 2021. I feel xe6 is quite old one already. Maybe because too many iems launched in 2022z

I'm not sure when it was released exactly. @aaf evo got his hands on it early 2022 and for all intents and purposes around here IEMs only begin to exist once he hears them.

 

[ranfan]

On the topic of focusing on the gears, and less about the music, I didn't know EA also released a case to compete with Eletech Astute! It's better price too and a nice build quality

Spoiler

https://www.e-earphone.jp/products/detail/1470895/2069/