[drftr]

I think it's worth stopping by to hear it again and then deciding if you want to get your impressions

Ha! Nice one... I recently had my impressions taken though. Keeping them with me just in case the devil jumps on my shoulder.

drftr

 

[twister6]

Nice exposure to IEMs for me this Canjam. I used to give them a miss.
have to say it’s difficult to pick one favourite as all top IEMs discussed here have one strength or another.
It is just a matter of preference.
For me however XE6 was different. Warm and controlled treble. I like warm sound. For full resolution I have HD800s and ZMF Verite running on my desktop setup. XE6 gives me good departure from it. There is a younger sibling of it which will be limited edition to mark 5 years of FiR audio and will be for those who found treble of XE6 too dark or found it too warm. For me personally I wanted something different and XE6 is the right one for me.

I don't think I can ever switch from iems to full size headphones. Of course, just a personal opinion and not a personal ignorance since I have been reviewing portable audio (iems and daps) for many years. But most of the times when people are discussing higher end headphones, I keep reading "it sounds horrible with A, B, C desktop setups" but "it shines with X, Y, Z desktop setups". So it becomes an equation heavily dependent on two of these variables, desktop dac/amp and headphones (either open or close). When it comes to IEMs, pair up synergy is important and can fine tune the sound, but it is less drastic in comparison to headphones and desktop sources. As an example, I tried highly regarded Focal Stellia at CanJam in Bloom's room, connected it directly to my LPGT, and found it to sound completely lifeless, and I mean really bad. People next to me were just rolling their eyes because I should have been using it with Burson amps

 

[kumar402]

Did anyone at CanJam try the Grand Maestro and have any thoughts compared to Maestro SE...? My obsession with Maestro SE is strong, now I'm getting curious about the Grand.

I tired the prototype. I think the sharpness in treble that you may notice in Maestro SE is better controlled in Grand. Mids may be a tad forward as well. But it was the prototype one.

I don't think I can ever switch from iems to full size headphones. Of course, just a personal opinion and not a personal ignorance since I have been reviewing portable audio (iems and daps) for many years. But most of the times when people are discussing higher end headphones, I keep reading "it sounds horrible with A, B, C desktop setups" but "it shines with X, Y, Z desktop setups". So it becomes an equation heavily dependent on two of these variables, desktop dac/amp and headphones (either open or close). When it comes to IEMs, pair up synergy is important and can fine tune the sound, but it is less drastic in comparison to headphones and desktop sources. As an example, I tried highly regarded Focal Stellia at CanJam in Bloom's room, connected it directly to my LPGT, and found it to sound completely lifeless, and I mean really bad. People next to me were just rolling their eyes because I should have been using it with Burson amps

so true with headphones and speakers as the system synergy is everything. If you try ZMF from amp with low impedance then it will sound lifeless and bright but with OTL it transforms. DAC plays such a role as well with headphones. Tried Susvara from Feliks amp with Aurender A20 and it was sublime but same amp with RME was just ok with same headphone.
The IEMs I have to say are just great with DAPs. I tried all good IEMs with number of DAPs and yes, the differences were there like new Cayin N7 was warm and has treble roll off and RS 8 in comparison was more even. The expensive R2R DAP, I forgot the name, was brilliant and extracted all details from vocals but non of them sound off. easy to manage and enjoy. However the same is not true with headphones and we have to carefully assemble the chain and sometime that's the beauty of it.
For desktop chain we can even tweak with ethernet using optical modules and can alter the sound signature.

 

[Badlands]

I had a lot of fun today. Crossed off a decent amount of iems I had on my demo list. Day 2 will be A/B testing the highlights. For the fit reference my ears are on the average/small side. Broad stroke impressions:

Letshouer Cadenza - 10MM DD, 11 BA

Fit: Great. One of the best in the show.




This one interested me because it's a titanium cased flagship. It has bombastic bass. The treble sounds a little bright and unrefined. Its pretty dynamic and wild sounding. I can see why someone would find it interesting but it is not for me.

Letshouer Ejo07- This is a cheaper 899$ model. The fit is also great. The technicalities are a step down from the cadenza. It has a smaller stage. It has a reference tuning with softer transients that are easier on the ears. It also loses some character in comparison to the Cadenza. This seems like a good all rounder at this price point.



[ ] Mezzo le - I liked it after the first song. Fit 8/10. Its a small iem. Acoustic Timbre / imaging is pretty good. Going for a second audition tomorrow.





Elysian Diva - I heard good things about Diva so I was pretty excited to try it. Unfortunately I found the fit to be quite big for me. 6.5/10 for sizing. Fun sounding bass. I found its technicalities to sound like its price point. The treble was not as refined as the Elysian X.



[ ] Elysian Annihilator - Acoustic timbre is better than X. In comparison, it has rolled off sub bass and more mid bass. It sounds more linear, mids are warmer. It is noticibly more resolving than Diva but the highs are a little fatiguing for aggressive music. I liked slower music on it.



[ ] Fir Radon 6. Shells feels light like kr5 and ne4. It sounds quite clean while having the XE6 DNA. One of the highlights of the show. Lower treble or highs feel a little sharp or fatiuging with house music tracks like Borgeous invincible, lower treble seems to be a bit screechy, sibilant. Need to re-evaluate tomorrow.



Jomo GT600 - I liked it. Laid back tuning warm mid focused. It's down to earth, above average transient speed, smooth and has great timbre. The fit was bigger than average. This seems like a good all rounder IEM to get long sessions in with. Not necessary for my use case.



Aroma Jewel- Sounds HIFI and lean towards a reference tuning with great DD bass. I liked vocals on it. The highs were also nice for energetic music because of the tamer highs. The imaging, transients was sharp. I can see why some people would like this but I didn't find it as engaging or immersive as UM Multiverse Mentor.



Lotoo Mjolnir / Mentor

This is pristine sounding with a clean black background. It has a neutral / treble leaning orientation, creating sharper transients and more space in between instruments. Imaging going wild. This sounds like a more powerful less noisier N8ii. Makes Mentor even more resolving but elevates the treble quantity a bit too much for me.



[ ] Noble Ronin. It doesn't fit that well, 6/10 with the fit. This is a different sounding Noble, quite different compared to the Ragnar. It's musical but highly resolving. The bass is the highlight. Mids are emotive. It's spacial cues / transient response speed reminds me of the Traillii. A/B testing it tomorrow.



Ve Proto Blue - Fits like Phonix. Nice lush mids, smooth transients. Mid bassy. Spills over to mids for fast tracks. Pretty technical but not summit Ti level.

Ve Prototype Red - Highs are more pronounced vs blue and has reduced mid bass compared to it.



Phonix LE - Sounds better than proto blue. It has reduced lower mids compared to OG Phonix. Great mids for vocals. Wonderful resolution. A TOTL set. I would take a second look at this if it fit me better.



[ ] Trifecta - Great textured bass. Strings sounds juicy and full. I found it enjoyable for slow music. Wasn't my preference for electronic. It sounded lower resolution and the treble sounded sharp.



[ ] Jomo Alpha Ti - This one was recommended by Raylu and was a surprise. It fits great. Compared to GT600, more dynamics more excitement. Fantastic bass texture and slam. Pleasant warmth from mid bass, lower mids while being resolving / no sibilants. Revisiting this.





64 Audio Blanc - One of the best fits (like the U12T) This seemed a few tiers below in terms of resolving capability compared ro Jomo Alpha ti. It's got a lush vintage tonality with rolled off highs. I found it enjoyable for slower music. Not sure if I would pay MSRP for this.



[ ] Subtonic Storm / Tempest. Good Iems but revisiting this to know how good. Seems receptive to source and cable changes. Will get a second look tomorrow



Mest 3 - Fits well. Enjoyable DD bass. One of my top picks at this price point. It sounds flatter compared to Mentor. It's missing some of that X factor imaging, dynamics and engagement factor.



Got more impressions but I should get some shut eye now.

That was an epic post of impressions. Interesting that more expensive didn’t always translate to better as was the case with the Lotoo Mjolnir/Mentor pairing. Really enjoyed reading and the photos as well!

 

[Frankie D]

Waiting for my car all done.
What a weekend. Listened to new Annihilator today liked it. And on my way out I got to hear the Storm wow what a set.

At the end of the day a bunch of us were able to all listen to the Storm. In a nutshell: Stormy weather is on the horizon.

 

[Frankie D]

I don't think I can ever switch from iems to full size headphones. Of course, just a personal opinion and not a personal ignorance since I have been reviewing portable audio (iems and daps) for many years. But most of the times when people are discussing higher end headphones, I keep reading "it sounds horrible with A, B, C desktop setups" but "it shines with X, Y, Z desktop setups". So it becomes an equation heavily dependent on two of these variables, desktop dac/amp and headphones (either open or close). When it comes to IEMs, pair up synergy is important and can fine tune the sound, but it is less drastic in comparison to headphones and desktop sources. As an example, I tried highly regarded Focal Stellia at CanJam in Bloom's room, connected it directly to my LPGT, and found it to sound completely lifeless, and I mean really bad. People next to me were just rolling their eyes because I should have been using it with Burson amps

Most of those folks are way over stating the effects of the desktop gear. While certainly important, top gear will be fine with most if not all HP’s. Obviously using an amp with low power can become a problem, but you can easily find a good one that is also powerful.

 

[twister6]

At the end of the day a bunch of us were able to all listen to the Storm. In a nutshell: Stormy weather is on the horizon.

In a good or a bad way, Frankie? My take on Storm was the same as my take on Trifecta and Blanc. I usually have a few test tracks, pop/EDM, which I use as a common denominator for IEM testing. If it works with those few tracks, it will work with any music genre. Well, I can see why people find trifecta, no pun intended, of these 3 iems to be so polarizing. Because they failed my EDM test songs which typically use synthesized instruments. But once I switched to a music with acoustic natural instruments, these IEMs were shining!!! I know that I'm obviously preaching to the choir, but in cases like this it all depends on the genre of music, not just the tuning

 

[drftr]

I've been reading up and watching videos about the Mojo 2 for the last couple of hours. Very interesting device, beautifully made, built like a tank, light weight, and even smaller than the palm of my hand - what's more to like for a portable setup? And it seems to sound awesome too. Brilliant!

But then I see it can only be charged through micro USB that I threw out, what, 6 years ago? Next up I see there's 2 headphone outputs but both are 3.5 mm? What the heck? And last but not least I think trying to preset the volume is going to be next to impossible as I would need to remember that a certain combination of colour hues represent -47 dB, say the second lightest blue plus the brightest green. Oof...

But this all is truly a pity! I totally understand this is because of their underlying philosophy and I do commend them for that. But I also think it's more for current Mojo users and is not going to win over many new users. Certainly not this one, as out of fear for losing my sanity I'm not going to demo it instinctively knowing that I'm going to love it and hate it. And myself because of that.

drftr

 

[endless402]

They kept micro usb so that it would be compatible with the poly streamer.

 

[wolfstar76]

In a good or a bad way, Frankie? My take on Storm was the same as my take on Trifecta and Blanc. I usually have a few test tracks, pop/EDM, which I use as a common denominator for IEM testing. If it works with those few tracks, it will work with any music genre. Well, I can see why people find trifecta, no pun intended, of these 3 iems to be so polarizing. Because they failed my EDM test songs which typically use synthesized instruments. But once I switched to a music with acoustic natural instruments, these IEMs were shining!!! I know that I'm obviously preaching to the choir, but in cases like this it all depends on the genre of music, not just the tuning

The difference between electric and acoustic instruments is? I guess electric ones have much high and low reach than acoustic?

 

[Frankie D]

In a good or a bad way, Frankie? My take on Storm was the same as my take on Trifecta and Blanc. I usually have a few test tracks, pop/EDM, which I use as a common denominator for IEM testing. If it works with those few tracks, it will work with any music genre. Well, I can see why people find trifecta, no pun intended, of these 3 iems to be so polarizing. Because they failed my EDM test songs which typically use synthesized instruments. But once I switched to a music with acoustic natural instruments, these IEMs were shining!!! I know that I'm obviously preaching to the choir, but in cases like this it all depends on the genre of music, not just the tuning

I meant it in a good way. I will eventually create a post of my adventures at CanJam. For now though I spent some quality time with Trifecta and really enjoyed it. It is not a Traillii replacement or Mentor replacement, but it is an awesome compliment. Bassy yet still balanced overall. I can see how it can be polorizing, but I like it. I do not feel it could be someone’s sole IEM, but it is fun.

Unfortunately I could not spend that same amount of time with Storm. But I have a set of tracks that quickly tell me if an IEM is of high quality or not. The tracks I used were:

Dire Straits: So Far Away
Paul Simon’s Graceland Album: “I Know What I Know”
Joni Mitchell: Both Sides Now
Holly Cole: I Can See Clearly Now
Alison Krauss: Forget About It

These quickly give me an understanding of bass quality, rhythm, separation, vocals and sibilance. The Storm was excellent in each piece. “I Can See Clearly Now” had good quality tight bass and Holly Cole’s voice was beautiful. Joni Mitchell sounded terrific. The bass drive on “I Know What I Know was present and detailed. There was one crescendo that it might not have gotten as good as my Traillii/Orpheus, but still pretty good. I also like how it handled the bass followed by the mids and male vocals on “So Far Away.” So it was definitely pretty good. It also did not get sibilant or shrill with Alison Krauss’s voice which goes fairly high for female vocals. All in all an IEM to consider if someone is in the market. I am not sure it is necessarily worth $5200.00, but let’s see what happens to the price. And obviously it has stiff competition from UM Mentor Multiverse among others. But they are not inexpensive either. We will find out more as time goes on.

Now I did not use any EDM, or heavy metal, prog rock or classical. No time for they kind of an audition. I was also not nuts about the comfort of the fit, but that could have simply been my ears after 2 days at CanJam.

I will probably not get one, but a few others with us were going to get one. There was also the Singularity to audition which is a single DD. I did not like this one. I felt it could be a bit shouty, and the quality and drive of the bass could not match the Storm. Others liked it though.

 

[drftr]

The difference between electric and acoustic instruments is? I guess electric ones have much high and low reach than acoustic?

For me personally it's much easier to tell whether acoustic instruments sound natural and uncoloured than for electric instruments; my main argument being that we can't know how an electric sound that doesn't exist in nature should sound. Of course we can say how we like it to sound, but I feel that's something different. The result, for me, is that if I demo electric music first and like the result a lot there's no guarantee that I find acoustic music come across natural when I switch. While if I start with acoustic instruments and those do sound very natural then I'm not very likely to run into the problem that electric music doesn't.

drftr

 

[daijobudes]

(More) DAP impressions Kuala Lumpur

Quickly sharing my impressions of my 2nd round of DAP demos in Kuala Lumpur with rather mixed results. Yes, I have the confirmation that what I want to change on the Sultan indeed can be done through a careful DAP selection (in addition to an earlier cable and eartip selection + my comparitively shallow insertion depth). And No, those changes were not all apparent in the exact same DAP... And why would it?

Comparisons are relative to my Cayin RU6 on Noble Audio Sultan using PW Audio August Fun and Spinfit 145s. I only noted the things that immediately stood out to me and have underlined what was great to see confirmed for my setup as these areas were where I wanted to see improvements over RU6.

Sony NW-ZX707
Absolutely horrible tray system that probably leads to SD card damage if you need to change frequently. Thumpy bass, lean mids and lacking body, a bit bright without becoming splashy (so probably mostly lower mids), musical, rather narrow soundstage and diffuse imaging, good micro dynamics and attack.

Shanling M6 Ultra
Great tight bass, lean mids making the vocalist doing a step back, too upfront and a bit shouty upper mids, great attenuated treble, narrow stage but with good imaging, lacks the last bit of definition and micro dynamics.

Sony NW-WM1AM2
A much better tray system where you take out the whole tray and reinsert it with the card. Tight bass, okay lower mids, rather lean and upfront vocals without becoming shouty, across the FR everything seems to have a somewhat brighter tilt which is probably revealing how Sultan really sounds (where I prefer a good functional lie), good overall note weight, plenty of detail, good depth, widest soundstage of the 3, good separation and imaging, very good micro dynamics and attack.

Next up: Moving over to Singapore [sigh...] to demo PAW6000 and RS6. If that doesn't work then I'd have to reconsider the cable situation, throw out my current price/weight/size limits for the DAP and cable portability plus microphonics, and/or...

drftr

I listened to Sultan with DX320X and it sounded fabulous! Try it amp11mk2 nothing special

 

[Beh0lder]

I've been reading up and watching videos about the Mojo 2 for the last couple of hours. Very interesting device, beautifully made, built like a tank, light weight, and even smaller than the palm of my hand - what's more to like for a portable setup? And it seems to sound awesome too. Brilliant!

But then I see it can only be charged through micro USB that I threw out, what, 6 years ago? Next up I see there's 2 headphone outputs but both are 3.5 mm? What the heck? And last but not least I think trying to preset the volume is going to be next to impossible as I would need to remember that a certain combination of colour hues represent -47 dB, say the second lightest blue plus the brightest green. Oof...

But this all is truly a pity! I totally understand this is because of their underlying philosophy and I do commend them for that. But I also think it's more for current Mojo users and is not going to win over many new users. Certainly not this one, as out of fear for losing my sanity I'm not going to demo it instinctively knowing that I'm going to love it and hate it. And myself because of that.

drftr

Regarding your 3,5mm only and microusb charging woes - I have adapters for both! I guess you can imagine what type of frankenstein contraption I've assembled, but amongst the gear I've got to hear, the mojo is one of the best portables, and definitely punches above it's weight. Not that I want to change your mind or anything. I'm just fine with oldschool color coded menus, LCDs and OLEDs be damned

 

[maegnificant]

one IEM however disappointed me and it is from my favorite headphone manufacturer - Sennhesier
I own HD800s, HD650 and I love them.
I heard praises of IE900 with WM1Z but after trying out flagships from other manufacturer, IE900 disappointed me. I am not sure if tip was an issue or what but the sound was disjointed and even bright and sharp. Ya its not in same price point but still something was off with them.

You certainly did not get a good fit. That's a problem many people have with the senni IEMs