[discord]

I will say its ergonomics will be more of a hit or miss depending on individuals. It has a bit of a plasticky feel to it reminiscent to Liquid Links Venom, which will inevitably have divisive opinions as such preferences are more often than not subjective to each individuals.

There are other ways to have fun with it I guess.

 

[fabio19]

My initial impressions of Trifecta are not fantastic unfortunately - well it’s a tale of two cities really.

My first test was as always modern classical and they sounded wonderful: a smooth, analogue presentation with excellent timbre and large stage. Very engaging, and visceral.

I then moved to more complex electronic music and ran into trouble - they sounded harsh, and didn’t seem able to keep up. In addition, female vocals on a test track actually displayed sibilance - I switched to Eclipse for a comparison and while stage size dropped, vocals were absolutely fine and the overall experience was greatly improved - bear in mind that Eclipse is just shy of third of the price of Trifecta.

The killer though is I’m experiencing pressure build which is an absolute deal breaker for me, part of the reason I sold Traillii. I cannot see any vents, and there mustn’t be given I’m feeling pressure build - I’ll try more tips tomorrow which might solve, but I’m not optimistic given past experience with unvented sets.

I’m not giving up yet - they are now running on my trusty ZX300 to clock up some hours, but I’m not overly confident they’ll transform massively - I really would expect to be blown away at this price point. We shall see.

On a more positive note, the Sony NW-WM1AM2 is fantastic - beautiful Sony build as always, and for me the absolute benchmark in this regard along with overall aesthetics. A touch slower to navigate versus the 320X, but nothing that would bother me. Only briefly listened and so far finding it very impressive, smooth with nice ‘humidity’ (I’ll avoid warmth ) - wonderful with the FW10K. I can see one of these in my future…

reading on the net it seems that there is a widespread dissatisfaction with the volume restriction on models imported into Europe. So I guess you should buy directly from elsewhere, but NOT in Europe

 

[Natesdailies]

Sunday morning musing while listening to the RS8 / TGX Serratus. y sounding pairing. This is my transducer of choice when I just feel like being immersed into the music. Every time I put these in my ear, I fall for its rich tonality and ask myself how some sets can cost 20x more.

X has the deepest soundstage that I've heard. Serratus, being an open earbud extends further out in both directions. The RS8 opens it up even more. Movie scores have an avant guarde, theatre experience. Center staging is excellent, imaging is ok. Transients are smoothed out to give it that pleasant lush tonality.

Despite its holographic soundstage, bass notes have weight, slam and authority. I like the transition into the mids. I am sensitive to nasally female vocals. It sounds balanced here. The highs extend quite well. It doesn't compete with the Supermoon for sheer resolution but it works with the the tuning here. Played on the N8ii, the upper mids sometimes walked the line of being bright. It gives it excellent sub bass and resolution but violins (4 seasons) could come off higher pitch and sharp. The RS8 in comparison, provides enough air while smoothing out that region for energetic music.

A con with this set is that my listening time is limited to quiet environments. I am hoping that some point @tgx78 will tune a closed IEM with his house sound.

 

[drftr]

y sounding pairing. This is my transducer of choice when I just feel like being immersed into the music. Every time I put these in my ear, I fall for its rich tonality and ask myself how some sets can cost 20x more.

I know it's next to impossible to follow up on this, but which IEM(s) do they follow closest tonality-wise for you? I'm trying to get an idea whether this would be something I'm interested in but given my extremely wide musical taste and the fact that I'd want a one-does-it-all that seems too much asked.

drftr

 

[VisalEziomi]

Any idea of Subtonic Storm ? How it is compare to Elysian Annihilator?

 

[twister6]

Quite a several weeks back, I've sent an email out to EA for a chance to demo their newly released flagship copper Code 23 cable.

By the most magnificent grace of @JordonEA I've just been delivered a Code 23 demo unit alongside my Orphy ConX, which I'm excited to pair it up with my Viking Ragnar to see where Code 23 stands in the market.

I'd like to give myself some time before leaving any conclusive remark, but my first impression has been very positive with a clear delineation of foreground and background which makes for a convincing holographic stage. I wouldn't characterize it as a warm cable, but instead leaning closer to neutral. I'll have to experiment more with this cable before finding my ideal pairing, but I'm inclined to believe that at $600, this is already a competitive value that easily performs at a higher caliber than what the price suggests.

I will say its ergonomics will be more of a hit or miss depending on individuals. It has a bit of a plasticky feel to it reminiscent to Liquid Links Venom, which will inevitably have divisive opinions as such preferences are more often than not subjective to each individuals.

Regardless, the listening experience has been a plus and I hope to leave further remarks after some extensive listening session

From the sound perspective, C23 is impressive, especially at this price point which includes ConX and TermX and a custom oversized storage case, yielding in many pair ups a very clean neutral expanded sound with hardly any coloring. I like it. But from ergonomics perspective, it is like LL Venom, just twice thicker since we are talking about 16.5awg copper wire cable. So, it will not be as mobile and if you don't have a secure tight iem fit or got small iem shells, it won't work with those as good, pulling them out of your ears. But, the ergonomics of the final production version is actually better than prototype. There is just so much you can do with such a thicc wire which you can't braid.

 

[GiullianSN]

Looks like we have an eye catching elegant match.

 

[maegnificant]

You can add Madoo Typ711 into this list.

Did you ever get to try this one out and if so, what did you think of it?

 

[Rockwell75]

From the sound perspective, C23 is impressive, especially at this price point which includes ConX and TermX and a custom oversized storage case, yielding in many pair ups a very clean neutral expanded sound with hardly any coloring. I like it. But from ergonomics perspective, it is like LL Venom, just twice thicker since we are talking about 16.5awg copper wire cable. So, it will not be as mobile and if you don't have a secure tight iem fit or got small iem shells, it won't work with those as good, pulling them out of your ears. But, the ergonomics of the final production version is actually better than prototype. There is just so much you can do with such a thicc wire which you can't braid.

The thickness and stiffness of this cable make it a non starter for me unfortunately-- it's like draping a stiff python over my neck.

 

[Xinlisupreme]

In my experience the newer W9+ bass drivers in EE iems like the Bravado 2, Odin and EVO offer a considerably cleaner bass sound than in the Legend X. When I first got the Legend X, which was my most expensive iem I had ever owned at that point, I was almost angry. It was a wooly mess. After some adjustment, a stronger source and a cleaner sounding cable I came to actually enjoy them for the most part but some recordings were just too much. I also owned the original Bravado and it was the same though I never managed to enjoy that one very much. The Bravado 2, which I own, for the second time, reaches deep but still stays very clean with no bleed at all. It's a real underrated iem in my opinion. I wouldn't use the Legend X as a yardstick for the more recent EE models based on what I've heard of the old vs the new.

@SBranson how is bravado mk2 with Grunge and Numetal music? I had Hero but was a bit V for my taste.
I’m looking for a bassy set for that kinds of music

 

[maegnificant]

Whatever the Storm actually sounds like, the Marketing of Subtonic mainly sounds like bullsh*t to me

 

[drftr]

Whatever the Storm actually sounds like, the Marketing of Subtonic mainly sounds like bullsh*t to me

Brought to you by Fundamentally Flawed Fundamentalists?

drftr

 

[SBranson]

@SBranson how is bravado mk2 with Grunge and Numetal music? I had Hero but was a bit V for my taste.
I’m looking for a bassy set for that kinds of music

Being genres I don’t listen to, ever, I’m not sure I could comment on whether the B2 works well for them. I wouldn’t know if the music sounded “correct” or not. The closest I’d get is NIN. That sounds good to me. Vocals are a bit less fleshed out than something like TGXEar Ripples. Bass is visceral, clean and tight. Mids can be a bit recessed or rather a touch “dry” sounding but I find that basically fixed with the Socrates. Treble is that delicate EST type that is perfect to my ears.

 

[CodenameBK201]

I've tossed around the idea of getting a 1AM2 just to get a chance to fully vet it. However even the thought that they might nerf the device like this makes me not want to even consider it.

I literally only ever turn my wifi on to download the occasional album from Qobuz, but christ, if they do this, I'll consider myself grateful that I still have a launch USA model and literally never, ever update the firmware again. I bought an android player mostly for the usb c fast charging and file copying abilities, but it wouldn't surprise me if they're considering this. They gimped a number of Playstation features over the years, including the ability to run Linux on the old ps3 (one of many odd leadership decisions that's pushed me to the Microsoft side of the bridge in recent times), but yeah, if this is the case, this'll likely be my first and last Sony player. That, or I'll wait until the firmware is inevitably cracked to run a third party OS on it. If the hardware differences weren't so apparent (battery life being a major factor) I'd have just as likely bought an old gen 1 walkman for the alternate boot OS. iBasso still has a lot going in that regard, I just wish that the Dx320 ran full android instead of their closed ecosystem version of it.

 

[rantng]

Whatever the Storm actually sounds like, the Marketing of Subtonic mainly sounds like bullsh*t to me

Don’t you know the more acronyms it has the better it sounds? It’s like how stickers make cars go faster.