[zikarus]

As for the sizes of music collections and the worth of streaming services:

Qobuz seems to have reached the number of 100 million songs on their servers recently.

Made me think, as I remember discussions whether 60 million songs on platform a were better than 50 million on platform b not to long ago.

Striving for independance myself I have been collecting digital files for maybe 10-12 years now. It started with ripping parts of my 4k CD collection in order to burn samplers for friends and listening fun in the car. Later on all purchases became digital files directly.

Today I have the feeling to own all that really matters to me. In all genres you may think of. And I would be self-confident enough to state that I know a lot of music and most of the relevant stuff one should know of (for whatever that may be ).

I would nevertheless even grant that 50% of my stuff might be bycatch, which could be deleted without making me missing it.

And still - my NAS meanwhile holds ~20 TB. Much you say? Well that massive storage sums up for 477.000 songs.

Compare that to the Qobuz number of 100.000.000! Totally ridicoulous in comparison, isnt it?

We should be glad that the streaming platforms that exist are able to offer so much more to discover....

 

[phiemon]

As for the sizes of music collections and the worth of streaming services:

Qobuz seems to have reached the number of 100 million songs on there servers recently.

Made me think, as I remember discussions whether 60 million songs on platform a were better than 50 million on platform b not to long ago.

Striving for independance myself I have been collecting digital files for maybe 10-12 years now. It started with ripping parts of my 4k CD collection in order to burn samplers for friends and listening fun in the car. Later on all purchases became digital files directly.

Today I have the feeling to own all that really matters to me. In all genres you may think of. And I would be self-confident enough to state that I know a lot of music and most of the relevant stuff one should know of (for whatever that may be ).

I would nevertheless even grant that 50% of my stuff might be bycatch, which could be deleted without making me missing it.

And still - my NAS meanwhile holds ~20 TB. Much you say? Well that massive storage sums up for 477.000 songs.

Compare that to the Qobuz number of 100.000.000! Totally ridicoulous in comparison, isnt it?

We should be glad that the streaming platforms that exist are able to offer so much more to discover....

I've only recently come across Tidal, unfortunately, and it's been a ban-breaking discovery for me. I don't begin to tell you how Tidal has completely changed my music habits - in the positive sense of course. I'll just echo your thoughts and say that I've now deleted my entire archive. It has become redundant when I can stream everything - and some of it even in better quality. In a pinch, I can always download everything with Qobuz, otherwise I have all the artists and albums stored on Tidal and I can also transfer them very easily anywhere.

If only I had known about Tidal much earlier...

 

[zikarus]

ases

I've only recently come across Tidal, unfortunately, and it's been a ban-breaking discovery for me. I don't begin to tell you how Tidal has completely changed my music habits - in the positive sense of course. I'll just echo your thoughts and say that I've now deleted my entire archive. It has become redundant when I can stream everything - and some of it even in better quality. In a pinch, I can always download everything with Qobuz, otherwise I have all the artists and albums stored on Tidal and I can also transfer them very easily anywhere.

If only I had known about Tidal much earlier...

Though it would not come to my mind to delete my collection of files on the NAS. No way. Never

On the contrary - despite using Qobuz I still add files week for week in order to fill the remaining (or at least felt ) gaps...

To give an example. One of my favourite bands - The Only Ones - released a sampler called Remains. One of their best albums btw. Alas there were several releases with partly different songs on it. And for whatever reasons I lost one of my copies and therefore one song I struggle to find as a flac file somewhen...

 

[phiemon]

ases
Though it would not come to my mind to delete my collection of files on the NAS. No way. Never

On the contrary - despite using Qobuz I still add files week for week in order to fill the remaining (or at least felt ) gaps...

To give an example. One of my favourite bands - The Only Ones - released a sampler called Remains. One of their best albums btw. Alas there were several releases with partly different songs on it. And for whatever reasons I lost one of my copies and therefore one song I struggle to find as a flac file somewhen...

I had also thought for a long time about whether I should take this step. But I could not find anything that would speak against it. With Tidal and co. there is really EVERYTHING that I had until now, and much, much more that I did not know and constantly discover. However, my archive was "merely" 2TB. When I discovered Tidal, I had even bought a new hard drive for the music, and when it arrived, I had refused delivery, because I just no longer needed it. In that respect, I also saved money on the hard drive - for now. And my conscience is soothed, because I no longer have the fear of losing something. And I can access it from anywhere at any time. I am also testing Apple Music (I got 2 months free through Shazaam). Live album by Cercle, which releases a lot of German electronic music, is only available there.

 

[zikarus]

I had also thought for a long time about whether I should take this step. But I could not find anything that would speak against it. With Tidal and co. there is really EVERYTHING that I had until now, and much, much more that I did not know and constantly discover. However, my archive was "merely" 2TB. When I discovered Tidal, I had even bought a new hard drive for the music, and when it arrived, I had refused delivery, because I just no longer needed it. In that respect, I also saved money on the hard drive - for now. And my conscience is soothed, because I no longer have the fear of losing something. And I can access it from anywhere at any time. I am also testing Apple Music (I got 2 months free through Shazaam). Live album by Cercle, which releases a lot of German electronic music, is only available there.

Sure nuff one way to go. I still prefer Qobuz btw. and not to depend on any streaming platform as they could (and/or do) change their catalogs any day.

But you are right - building your own collection is consuming many resources, be it money but even more time....

 

[slumberman]

A fantastic experimental electronic album, incredibly captivating and immersive - I’d love to hear it in it’s original format as described below, but Denon D9200 doing a mighty fine job.

“Reflections on light and sound

This music was composed for SKALAR, an audio-visual kinetic art installation created by Christopher Bauder & Kangding Ray

The original composition is spatialised in 360° over a 12 channels sound system,

this stereo version has been mixed and mastered to convey a similar sense of space.”

I saw this installation a couple of times in Berlin in 2018 I believe. Very impressive.

 

[Rockwell75]

I saw this installation a couple of times in Berlin in 2018 I believe. Very impressive.

How are you liking the Stellar Horizon and Emerald Sea?

 

[zikarus]

Enthusiastic impressions are one thing, and I’ve shared my fair share of those myself. Believe me. But, the bare minimum is that they’re backed up by descriptions of the sound, comparisons against specific IEMs, perhaps, etc. If I recall, the first AuR “impressions” that hit this thread were:

“These are my endgame now.”
“They’re TOTLs for cheap.”
“They’re as good as or better than IEMs twice the price.”

and, most recently,

“They’re a threat to other brands’ bottom lines.”

I don’t know about you, but those sorts of grandiose statements do not make a good first impression. Even if there were sonic descriptions peppered in there, all my marketing-aware brain can think is, “This is really sus.” And, to be honest, I’ve been barely able to take a set of AuR IEM impressions seriously after that. I can’t even go to their thread as suggested earlier, because they’ve already lost my trust.

Even when I hadn’t yet heard IEMs like the Trailli, Mentor, Xe6, etc. and I was reading the acclaim they got online, I could still put it all aside and picture how they’d sound, because the impressions were front and centre. When I try to picture everything I’ve read about the AuR Aure or Neon Pro into a sound in my head, all I see are 5-star quotes on the packaging of the IEM, or promo pictures on social media with user testimonies. I can’t imagine how it sounds at all, which speaks to how… unimpressionable those first wave of impressions were, IMO.

Have been thinking a while whether to react to your writing or not. After all it's the Watercooler thread. But with all due respect: your post is quite a good example for an insinuating way of spreading bad talk which tickles my sense of justice seeing quite some likes for your post.

To judge the trustworthyness of a company by the lack of substance in first impressions given by their customers on head-fi - as you suggest - appears already quite weird to me. I tend to judge a company by the quality of it's products and my customer experience with them.

Well, I may have been late to the party, first recognizing AüR, following the related thread and having ordered a NP this January so can't comment on how it all started. And it could also be valid that I have missed your point not being able to really get what exactly you refer to in this context: the products, the customer service or the persons behind the company.

But having been educated to speak out loud with argument or proof and better keep my mouth shut without, please take it as a sign of striving for politeness if I won't comment on what you seem to imply furthermore between the lines for whatever reasons...

Finally, all this aside, at the time you wrote, there were at least three - imo well written and very informative - reviews out there that could make you imagine how these IEM sound, if you were willing to read them.

Fair nuff, if you don't want to, it's a free world, but don't act stupid as if they did not exist.

 

[slumberman]

How are you liking the Stellar Horizon and Emerald Sea?

I think they both keep the DNA of their ancestors, though they definitely are tuned differently. Good to add to the collection, but they don’t replace the originals for me.

 

[Rockwell75]

I think they both keep the DNA of their ancestors, though they definitely are tuned differently. Good to add to the collection, but they don’t replace the originals for me.

What's your favourite Campfire IEM? (I'm a big fan of the brand also

 

[552609]

Well, I've been going back and forth between the Jewel, Rn6, and Trifecta for a couple of days now. I can't help but feel that Trifecta>Rn6>Jewel. Yeah, that's just my opinion, but the Trifecta helps me "feel" the music better than the other two. The Rn6 has more body and bass than the Jewel, but the Jewel is likely the most detailed and resolving of the 3. It has a clean/crispness to it the other two can't do. The Trifecta has more "soul" than the Rn6, but feels a little "fuzzier" and less detailed overall. It really does come down to preference (duh) between these 3, I think some people will like the Rn6 more and some will like the Jewel more. It's fascinating to hear the differences and similarities between these 3 TOTL IEMs before I have to sell one or two of them.

 

[bigbeans]

Yes, Trifecta's sense of stage and space is the magic sauce that other iems can't match. Glad to hear it's going well.

 

[Rockwell75]

Yes, Trifecta's sense of stage and space is the magic sauce that other iems can't match. Glad to hear it's going well.

I think it's to do with the fact that you have three drivers manifesting as one. It has a cumulative effect just like when you bring 3 lit matches together you get a flame that is disproportionately larger than what they can produce on their own. As a result you get the massive spherically holographic stage but also the impeccable imaging and layering that comes with single driver coherence. It's a great 1-2 punch and when you factor in the wonderful DD bass and overall timbre a pretty compelling package for some of us.

 

[Garney]

Well, I've been going back and forth between the Jewel, Rn6, and Trifecta for a couple of days now. I can't help but feel that Trifecta>Rn6>Jewel. Yeah, that's just my opinion, but the Trifecta helps me "feel" the music better than the other two. The Rn6 has more body and bass than the Jewel, but the Jewel is likely the most detailed and resolving of the 3. It has a clean/crispness to it the other two can't do. The Trifecta has more "soul" than the Rn6, but feels a little "fuzzier" and less detailed overall. It really does come down to preference (duh) between these 3, I think some people will like the Rn6 more and some will like the Jewel more. It's fascinating to hear the differences and similarities between these 3 TOTL IEMs before I have to sell one or two of them.

Which module have you been using with Rn6? Red?

Where would Xe6 land in this mix for you?

 

[552609]

Which module have you been using with Rn6? Red?

Where would Xe6 land in this mix for you?

Yeah, the Red. The Xe6 is like the bassier cousin to the Rn6. I think the Xe6 falls closer to the Trifecta with that emotional connection over the technical. I'd rank the Trifecta higher though (and I did in my review). The problem for me with the Xe6, besides the terrible cable, was that the lows bled into the mids on every song. So from a review perspective, it really didn't do well score-wise. It did great with just casual listening though - and I really enjoyed listening to it. The Rn6 is the opposite - I think it will do really well score-wise, but loses the emotional connection the Trifecta and Xe6 have.