The Watercooler -- Impressions, philosophical discussion and general banter. Index on first page. All welcome.

[kevin638880]

I don’t find them similar to be honest. The way RN6 reduces mid bass and warmth makes it sound quite a bit leaner and more transparent versus XE6. The mid range on RN6 sounds more accurate to me and the treble is more detailed by a virtue of not having to fight through the warmth. RN6 would be my recommendation from the entire line up for the one to own because it sounds the most “normal” to me, but I also feel it did lose a bit of magic that makes the XE6 so special too. Personally, I love both and RN6 doesn’t replace XE6 for me, or vice versa. If anything I feel RN6 lines up more with Mentor. I think the RN6 is more versatile of the two but when the XE6 matches your library it’s a totally different experience to anything else.

Thanks for sharing...then yeah, not for me then. I got XE6 because of the XE6 sound.

 

[FcConstruct]

Singularity Audio ONI available to order - https://www.singularityaud.io/product-page
FcConstruct shared some impressions here - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/can...read-february-25-26-2023.967080/post-17454762

Oh hey! I have a more dedicated and in-depth impressions post on it and the tech here if you're interested:
https://headphones.com/blogs/featur...ook-at-mems-the-next-step-for-in-ear-monitors

Happy to answer any questions (just ping me) if you guys wanna know more... hopefully my memory still holds
"The ONI ships with an in-cable dongle that enables high-fidelity listening from any USB-C device" - Nice to see this... no need to drop another $800+ on an iFi Diablo-X
Curious they didn't have their little transformer box on sale though. Would be fun to try different amps with it.

 

[MatW]

Thanks for sharing...then yeah, not for me then. I got XE6 because of the XE6 sound.

Yes, the description sounds closer to Kr5 to me, which I also have, so… But I’d love to hear the Rn6 one day.

 

[maegnificant]

From the review, it seems too early to try IEMs with MEMS drivers. Good news for audiophiles is that we will have more flavors: DD, BA, EST, BCD, Planar, and now MEMS, each has its unique timbre and strength.

Don't forget AMT!

 

[drftr]

What tips are recommended to smooth out fatiguing upper mids / treble? (Other than final e)

And what dap has a lot of tonal richness / smooth similar to ru6? <2k

The best results I had on both U18t and Sultan (both with RU6) were the 64Audio 145s eartips, which is basically the Spinfit 145. They reduce sub bass slightly, create warmer mids, with attenuated treble.

RS6 + N7.

I like to think that my purchase of the Yatono broke HF's servers.

Instead it was your wife trying to hack the servers, trying to keep your nose away from the shopping window. Good news: She failed! Your hobby is safe...

New to head-fi forums here and wanted to come and post some impressions of my most recent IEM trial/purchase, the Noble Audio Viking Ragnar

Ragnar isn't my cup of tea but these are excellent impressions. You should post more!

Thanks for sharing...then yeah, not for me then. I got XE6 because of the XE6 sound.

You should've been warned: If I like Rn6 to pieces then most here wouldn't.

Yes, the description sounds closer to Kr5 to me, which I also have, so… But I’d love to hear the Rn6 one day.

For me it's better than the ideal mix between Kr5 and U18t. Buy Rn6 and call it a day.

drftr

 

[MatW]

For me it's better than the ideal mix between Kr5 and U18t. Buy Rn6 and call it a day.

I have Xe6 (primarily) and Kr5 because of their special tuning. But you like Rn6, noted!

 

[drftr]

But you like Rn6, noted!

Ha! Wie het laatst lacht, mijn beste...

drftr

 

[boromcom]

More shots of the Mentor custom faceplates that I ordered. These are different than the "purple / blue" one listed on Musicteck. It has less purple, more stars.

Darker lighting:


Brighter studio lighting:


There's no offical name for this yet but it has been coined "Nebula" by some in our social circles. Love the galaxy / astral theme.

Each one will vary a little different from this. Cant wait to see how mine will look like in natural lighting

Look amazing with darker light setting.

 

[Kiats]

Ohhhh please share what you think. It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen (as well as priced) but if I were to make a stupidly unjustifiable purchase any time soon it would be this.

I will leave it to some of the other coolers who were at CJ SG to chip in.

For me, I find that there is a bigger soundstage, more headroom and more note weight for sure. Even compared to the Yatono Ultimate 8 wire. It is discernibly better. I would put it this way: with a powerful enough source, it sounds likely the closest that an IEM would get to a full sized can.

A couple of observations that may be relevant: unsurprisingly this is heavy and hence it would require a UIEM that has a good fit to begin and a pair of customs. The other is if you are bothered in any way about ergonomics etc, then don't bother tormenting your soul by trying it.

 

[kevin638880]

You should've been warned: If I like Rn6 to pieces then most here wouldn't.

drftr

Don't worry, I am as much as an oddity here as you are in terms of sound preference

 

[Garney]

Yes, the description sounds closer to Kr5 to me, which I also have, so… But I’d love to hear the Rn6 one day.

Easy solution. Sell Kr5 and add Rn6 as a companion to Xe6…

 

[CodenameBK201]

Cross-posting here from the Fir thread.

I got my rn6 last night and got all of twenty minutes with them, so enjoy my explosion of random thoughts (or don't, your prerogative). I want to post proper impressions, maybe even a review, but for immediate thoughts, out of the box, I can confidently say that rn6 is not xe6. Xe6 is more musical, more fun, more move to the beat for me, and subjectively speaking I like it better...but, there are other IEMs out there with similar tunings that have a fair more boom if you're looking for fun sounding. Rn6 is a weird thing, very much it's own animal. I'm not bopping my head to head-banging bass, but I'm listening more. Orchestra stuff sounds really crispy, symbals are crisp, trumpets sing in a way that only BA sound does, and the kinetic bass there is just enough that I'm listening to the music in a way that isn't distracting from it. Bone conduction bass is fun, but every implementation I've heard feels like a subwoofer tacked onto an existing track--fun gimmick, but not accurate. As for vocals being clearer, that's 100% true. This was one of my few test tracks last night if anyone's curious:



For anyone here on the fence between rn6 and xe6...it's a hard argument. I always hate being that guy, but yeah, I get it--I could totally see the merits in owning both. Rn6 is certainly a nicer package. Cable is really just perfect out of the box, leather case quality is improved, hell, even the atom module tool is more premium. Rn6 is a more "reference" sounding set to me, and I'm still sorting my thoughts out on that. It's kind of refreshing going from trifecta, xanadu, or empire ears sound to this. And ergonomically, these things are stupid light. Like, lighter in hand than some acrylic sets I've owned. Comfy factor is 10/10, cable is solid but lightweight. Everything feels in hand like Fir took note of even the slightest complaints about the xe6 and fixed them. Definitely gonna be my go-to desk set while I'm working.

 

[Ayretan]

Beware nicehck. If you return 3 or more cables they report you for harassment' I have more just ask

 

[Ayretan]

Also I asked samsung expert to help me get a tablet without oled, he said that would be a TV. D and people are just down right stupid

 

[CodenameBK201]

Thanks for sharing...then yeah, not for me then. I got XE6 because of the XE6 sound.

I don’t find them similar to be honest. The way RN6 reduces mid bass and warmth makes it sound quite a bit leaner and more transparent versus XE6. The mid range on RN6 sounds more accurate to me and the treble is more detailed by a virtue of not having to fight through the warmth. RN6 would be my recommendation from the entire line up for the one to own because it sounds the most “normal” to me, but I also feel it did lose a bit of magic that makes the XE6 so special too. Personally, I love both and RN6 doesn’t replace XE6 for me, or vice versa. If anything I feel RN6 lines up more with Mentor. I think the RN6 is more versatile of the two but when the XE6 matches your library it’s a totally different experience to anything else.

@aaf evo 's take is one I find to be very accurate, even with my limited impressions. I know there were a lot of concerns in the Fir thread that rn6's changes in tuning would eliminate what made xe6 sound special, and...honestly, that's totally accurate. This is not at all trying to be an xe6 replacement. I think that if I could only recommend one IEM from the Fir lineup, it'd be xe6, and certainly if I was limited to one IEM, that'd be the one. But I also have a lot of "fun" sounding IEMs. My xanadus are fun, the cheaper raptgos I have are fun, and this is different. It's more neutral, more flat sounding, maybe a little more for the technically inclined. It may not be for me long-term, but again, and I always say this: in a world of multi-thousand dollar IEMs trying to one-up each other ever so slightly, it's a nice change of pace when something tries to do something different. They really could've just slapped some new faceplates on xe6, put it in an anniversary package, and called it a day. If you found xe6 nice but too muddy in the bass, this will fix that for you. If you're like me and want head-banging out of the box, these probably aren't for you. But, frankly speaking, my biggest struggle these days is my IEMs are too "engaging". I try to focus on work and instead I'm rocking out. These? I could totally toss on an instrumental album and leave them running for several hours without fatigue.