[wolfstar76]

Mentor is the one that really surprised me when I heard it at SG. It was thicker-sounding and woolier-sounding than I’d expected. I don’t know whether or not it had its stock cable (it was a thick PW cable with dark blue shielding), but it had nowhere near as much bite or grit as I expected. It sounded fairly smoothed over, and I didn’t hear the treble peak I saw on the graph. Maybe I was fatigued after the Subtonic/Nightjar meet, but it definitely wasn’t what I expected.

It's definitely personal since I really like the thicker and woolier sounding .

 

[Garney]

It's definitely personal since I really like the thicker and woolier sounding .

Makes perfect sense.

 

[wolfstar76]

I just got home from testing the Xe6.

Nope, it's definitely not my thing. I'll be brief: There is just too much bass for me personally and highs are very recessed. In this regard, I had liked Trifecta much, much better, the highs were at least not recessed and the soundstage/imaging was also better. I didn't even want to bring the Xe6 home for a deeper test.

If I may be honest, I don't understand this hype about the Xe6 at all.

Fir Audio Berlin may still take the Rn6 as a demo. I'm supposed to call next week. Hopefully it works.

It takes time to familiarize with the sound from XE6, I demoed for a week and my impression is totally different from my few min's demo during CanJam.

 

[wolfstar76]

I don't really know the exact science behind it. For me I don't really hear drastic differences between modules outside of the amount of air between notes. So I would say gold (thickest) -> silver (less thick) -> black -> red (least isolating) that the differences between those is mostly by just allowing more air and less of isolation, as a result I tend to hear the lower isolating modules are brighter. A lot of it for me is more of a perception thing that outright changes in FR due to different modules, the extra air in the sound from lesser isolation makes me hear things as more separated, etc. Sorry, that probably doesn't help much. Lol.

Me too, I don't find modules make any significant difference.

 

[552609]

The more time I spend with the Fibae 5, the more impressed I am at the price. I wonder how it compares to the new u4

 

[Frankie D]

xe6 has probably the second best treble i've heard after ely x.

def curious what your setup was, @phiemon

I am a bit surprised. We are usually pretty close. I did not like the XE6 at all when I listened to it. I mean it is obviously a good IEM, but nothing stood out for me. Maybe I had a bad fit and did not realize it.

 

[Rockwell75]

The more time I spend with the Fibae 5, the more impressed I am at the price. I wonder how it compares to the new u4

F5 is fire.

I am a bit surprised. We are usually pretty close. I did not like the XE6 at all when I listened to it. I mean it is obviously a good IEM, but nothing stood out for me. Maybe I had a bad fit and did not realize it.

I can send you the Fir kit when I eventually get it back from SG. Xe6 is an IEM that rewards time given to wrap your brain around it. Hopefully by then I'll have an Rn6 to add to the mix so people can get the full spectrum.

 

[552609]

F5 is fire.



I can send you the Fir kit when I eventually get it back from SG. Xe6 is an IEM that rewards time given to wrap your brain around it. Hopefully by then I'll have an Rn6 to add to the mix so people can get the full spectrum.

The F5 bass keeps surprising me too

 

[gLer]

I am a bit surprised. We are usually pretty close. I did not like the XE6 at all when I listened to it. I mean it is obviously a good IEM, but nothing stood out for me. Maybe I had a bad fit and did not realize it.

Could be library specific. I definitely don't hear Xe6 as an all-rounder (unless you like all your music painted with lower mids and midbass). For me it's more of a specialist, which really hits home with certain music, but misses with others (especially if you have a certain way you like your favourite music to sound).

It also seems to be a real hit with anyone looking for 'out there different' tuning while still maintaining TOTL technical ability. Some people I've spoken to like it mainly because it's different to everything else, not because it sounds 'correct'.

 

[SoundJedi]

Ok. This was my first CanJam event and what a high bar it has set for any future CanJam I attend!

I thought I would take the lazy way of sharing my experience in pictures instead of words so here goes! What this consists of are pre-show photos, show photos and post-show photos. Enjoy!

Pre-show photos


Vietnam eagle has landed! Met up at Pan Pacific for some Dim Sum lunch but @klyzon and I arrived early and so we got the chance to hear some things!


Lunch! Thanks @metaljem77 for hosting! An amazing start to the week's festivities!


Visiting Effect Audio. Thanks for the great hospitality @JordonEA and Heley!


No visit to Singapore is complete without chicken rice! Then in the evening we hung out at Tonic to have our minds and necks blown away by Brise Audio stuff!


Midnight satay anyone?


Hearing more Brise Audio stuff and @Sifo getting the ear treatment by Uncle Wilson for some fitears!


Pre-show dinner. Bak Kut Teh! Apparently has a more kinky name in Dutch!

Show photos


Lunch on the first day hosted by Eletech Eric followed by @HiFiHawaii808 singing the praises of the upcoming Dio.


DCA Voce, bunch of us finding a quiet spot at a food court in Orchard Road to hear more stuff (it was closed already!) and hearing the HE-1 with the Singapore financial district skyline backdrop.


Catching last minute auditions before having to return to Singapore. U4s, SP3000cu, MASS-Kobo model 465 (it really made the Susvara sing).

Post-show Photos


@HiFiHawaii808 visiting Vietnam for the first time. He is pictured here taking a night scooter food tour!

Such a great post. Thank you for taking us through the wonderful journey you guys had.

Masuda-San looks like a Karate sensei on the poster behind him and I love it . Would love to visit his Audio Dojo one day...

 

[wolfstar76]

Could be library specific. I definitely don't hear Xe6 as an all-rounder (unless you like all your music painted with lower mids and midbass). For me it's more of a specialist, which really hits home with certain music, but misses with others (especially if you have a certain way you like your favourite music to sound).

It also seems to be a real hit with anyone looking for 'out there different' tuning while still maintaining TOTL technical ability. Some people I've spoken to like it mainly because it's different to everything else, not because it sounds 'correct'.

How long did you spent with XE6? I finally found XE6 to be an all-rounder with maybe just 1% of the music as exceptional. As matter of fact, now I consider XE6 as an overall upgrade from Z1R. However, Z1R is not far behind, it is very closed. With the price difference, it certaily speaks for the value of Z1R in that regards.

 

[Rockwell75]

I have them both/don't think they are too much alike in practice. The XE6 is more like if your EXT did a bunch of coke and then maybe some acid to take the edge off because it's Saturday night. XE6 is a very Saturday night kind of IEM.

---

The XE6 just kicked down your door and told you how things are going to go. The XE6 doesn't care what your mix intended for sonic presentation.....the XE6 is now your mix. Where the Z1R is a deep well of sub-bass.......the XE6 is all bass everywhere. Sub-bass, mid-bass, upper-bass, future-bass, past-pass......bass scientist haven't even yet invented a metric to measure. The treble is among the most nebula of electric-sparkle I've personally heard.....like get your sunglasses out from the shimmer. And crazily, the mids float in a very coherent manner.....they seem to lack some of the tonal weight of the Z1R mids but bump up the dyanmics......but they can get overwhelmed sonically. Mids just all floating in a trapazoid prison out in a space of bass like Superman tossed those Krypton homies into. I can see you in the mix mids....but I'm sorry I can't save you.

When the music/mix is right, the XE6 is some serious magic......very unique in terms of what I've heard at least. But I would very much think the Z1R is going to be approachable in many more settings for the majority of listeners.

This is still my favorite Xe6 impression of all time.

 

[gLer]

How long did you spent with XE6? I finally found XE6 to be an all-rounder with maybe just 1% of the music as exceptional. As matter of fact, now I consider XE6 as an overall upgrade from Z1R. However, Z1R is not far behind, it is very closed. With the price difference, it certaily speaks for the value of Z1R in that regards.

I've had for roughly 4 months now, side by side with Z1R. It definitely has some technical advances over Z1R, but I personally prefer Z1R's tuning with almost all my regular music, and technically Z1R isn't too far shy. Don't get me wrong, Xe6 is outstanding, but for my taste it's a flavour IEM, whereas Z1R is my baseline.

 

[gLer]

This is still my favorite Xe6 impression of all time.

Same, that's the gold standard post for me, and happens to be identical to my own impressions of both.

 

[mashuto]

The F5 bass keeps surprising me too

In what ways? Count me as one who thinks the F5 is an incredible IEM. But I actually find myself wanting a bit more from the bass. Hard to put my finger on exactly what, and it may just be down to personal preference and wishing for a bit more bass, but I sometimes find it lacks a bit of that physicality I normally hope for out of an IEM with a DD for the bass. I can get there with a few extra volume steps, but then of course listening volume is louder than I would like.

The F5 is also probably the single most comfortable larger multi driver universal IEM I have ever used. And my ears are quite picky. While it may not feel as premium as a 64 audio IEM for example, the resin shell is shaped incredibly well, the stem is long enough and angled just right, and best of all its very very light weight.

Also been super interested in the u4s. It seems like it might be the best tuned of the 64 IEMs I would have heard (trio, nio, duo) but I find it incredibly hard to even think about buying it when I already have the F5 and the duo. The F5 is great, and the duo fills a specific need for me with its semi open back and nice relaxed warm tuning. Not to mention that spending another grand for what I expect are going to be ultra minor differences is just not appealing to me at all.

And not to mention that I have a flagship level single DD on the way from 634 Ears. LOAK-TC with blue copper. Really excited to hear them and honestly even more so just excited to see and have that blue copper in person.