[Ojisan]

Haven't used the LE a lot with the 320Max, but some. My 2 cents; Mentor with Yatono is a smoother, more analog sound, top to bottom. LE (with FT) has tighter but more laid back bass, and more mid bass oriented. LE has more neutral lower mids which highlights that classic VE mids magic. LE upper mids are more forward. Mentor mids are probably better balanced from lower to upper mids. LE Treble (especially mid treble) is more neutral and not as forward sounding, and slightly brighter than the Mentor. Soundstage very similar to my ears. Overall, LE has a livelier presentation, the Mentor is more natural and tonally accurate. Strictly IMO. Now, take it all with a grain of salt, because trying to volume match these iems with the 320 max is pretty close to impossible!

Very nice! Thanks for your thoughts! I have heard the LE out of my SP3k but not max. I can kind of imagine... but I forgot about VE's sensitivity. At least you can count the clicks on max volume instead of digital #s

 

[boromcom]

Updated to new MAX FW but not sure how to use digital volume control =D
I saw it show on the setting for DAC but I can't adjust outside setting.

 

[Ojisan]

Updated to new MAX FW but not sure how to use digital volume control =D
I saw it show on the setting for DAC but I can't adjust outside setting.

Under Setting->Audio, there's a new DAC volume now

 

[MusicTeck]

The Astell&Kern SE300 is now in stock at MusicTeck and ready to ship!

https://shop.musicteck.com/collections/astell-kern/products/astell-kern-se300

 

[phiemon]

You can safely plug the pins in half way if you are just testing a cable, it is still making a tight connection, and are seated with no chance of damage should the cable disconnect. This is a method to use when testing cables so that you do not make the connections too loose on your IEM once you have settled on your choice. Once chosen, I would then insert the cable completely for everyday use.

Great, I had actually still missed this information. That really helps a lot, thank you!

Completely different question:

Opinions about pairing my beloved Mentor with Ode To Laura over First Times? Preference: I have a fetish for soundstage, imaging, airiness, subbass, tick note weight and smooth upper end. FT is actually already very good, I just wonder if OTL could be even better in that regard. Mentor tends to be a bit sibilant with the stock cable, but it’s unproblematic for me with FT.

 

[TheRH]

Oh, look what arrived.

 

[Natesdailies]

Grand Maestro arrived.

There was a moment of anticipation because I remembered how big MSE fit on me. I flirted with the idea of going ciem for a few weeks. @snapandslide and @Damz87 told me GM fit more comfortably so I decided to give it a go.

It does fit better! Still snug but the nozzle seems more agreeable for me. I got around 8 hours of listening in today. This sounds amazing.

• GM is super engaging but technical. Compared to the sub-cannon MSE, it's a more balanced, airy, ethereal presentation with big bass.
• End to end extension is great. This is highly resolving. It rips through the recording revealing gasps, echos, reverbs, string plucks and brushes
• Bass: Man the sub hits good. Although the sub bass is reduced vs MSE, I still find it generously boosted vs other iems like RN6. This is one of the reasons to demo this iem.
• The treble has lots of energy more incisive than MSE, jagged even on some tracks with 320 Max. Depending on music preferences, sources I feel that this might make or break GM for some people.
• I found the timbre to be more balanced vs MSE. MSE was great for EDM / clubby type of music. With singer song writer music, the overwhelming sub bass was distracting. It had the potential to take away from the sombre mood the track was invoking.
• The vocal switch is a nice touch. Switching it up "turns on the lights", adding a good amount of air. Mids were a bit dry with 320 max. Switching to M9+ it became fuller and more euphonic.

Overall so far I am enjoying it. I have some larger notions but I'll see how those ideas settle over time. In the meanwhile, I listed my DX320 Max listed here if anyone is interested

 

[Amadeo Nospherathu]

Why is that?

I do see that the FR is very different at the 2khz region (AMT16 very emphasized, KSE the actual opposite)
But from the clarity/resolution aspect it might be close

Sold because I don't use them. They are inconvenient because of the cable. If I already put up with an external energizer.
The cable is replaceable with mods, so I've even had a few attempts to buy ones with a replacement cable, but they've had other baby illnesses caused by that replacement. Thus, each of them was doomed to failure.

On the other hand, I have Stax 001 and 002, which are more convenient to use. I also rarely use them, but I enjoy them. This is a real electrostatic driver, not a surrogate, and it sounds good with the right source.

As for graphs and specs, I don't believe in them because they don't give a real picture of the sound, just a relative general likeness, which means almost nothing that really helps. This is not to say that I think the Goldplanar will be bad IEMs, but they will almost certainly have a different sound. I've had the chance to try a lot of AMTs in IEMs, (both part-range and full-range), so I don't think they can really replicate the sound of electrostatic drivers, and it's unlikely that the engineers are aiming for that.

 

[maegnificant]

Sold because I don't use them. They are inconvenient because of the cable. If I already put up with an external energizer.
The cable is replaceable with mods, so I've even had a few attempts to buy ones with a replacement cable, but they've had other baby illnesses caused by that replacement. Thus, each of them was doomed to failure.

On the other hand, I have Stax 001 and 002, which are more convenient to use. I also rarely use them, but I enjoy them. This is a real electrostatic driver, not a surrogate, and it sounds good with the right source.

As for graphs and specs, I don't believe in them because they don't give a real picture of the sound, just a relative general likeness, which means almost nothing that really helps. This is not to say that I think the Goldplanar will be bad IEMs, but they will almost certainly have a different sound. I've had the chance to try a lot of AMTs in IEMs, (both part-range and full-range), so I don't think they can really replicate the sound of electrostatic drivers, and it's unlikely that the engineers are aiming for that.

Interesting! Couple of questions I have:

Did your KSE cable break at some point?
Do you think the KSE driver is an electrostatic surrogate? Why?
Which other full range AMT IEMs did you try?

I really really like the AMT16 So I can comfortably say they are good IEMs (to me). Goldplanar explicitly talks about electrostatic drivers as one sound reference for their AMT IEM, that's why I thought of them being similar in some way

Thanks for your responses!

 

[CharlyBrown]

(partly cross-posting from FF Thread)

Another very happy owner of 2 new gorgeous IEMs Mentor and FF GM. I received my universal GM yesterday and it came with the golden cable and the additional blue filters. The rest of the package is the same as of others in this thread (black leather case, silicone tips in 3 sizes, sockets for 3.5 and 2.5).

First very quick impressions after some hours of use - the GM is my dream V-shape bass&treble IEM. This is what the Legend Evo should have been. Instant love, no need to "get used to" over a long period of time. This is endgame stuff really. These are _not_ just "bass cannons", they are true audiophile gems with emphasis on beautiful melting sub-bass that is very well controlled. Not 100% on Odin level quality-wise but with much more quantity. Plus it has the versatility with the switch and the modules (haven't tried the blue modules yet and spend most of my listening time with bass on max - but the vocal switch is also very interesting and great sounding).

The GM needs a lot of juice. I haven't tried them with my W2 but I guess it needs more power. Currently running through my RME/A90d stack and I need to go as loud as with over-ears volume-wise.

Also the Mentor came in yesterday from my favorite audio store MusicTeck. I was torn between the blue universe version and the green one. As you can see I decided for the later as green is my favorite color but I still think both are beautiful. Still for my personal taste I give the green version the edge as I also love the transparent look of the faceplate, the golden rim and the beautiful cable and connectors all in green.

Much more important is the sound. Only a couple hours into listening time but I can't let go of both. It's probably too early for a conclusion but I will say, the Mentor is the best IEM I've ever listened to. The wonderful mids, great treble, soundstage, timbre - everything is presented at such a high level. But then comes the bass and the part that astounds me the most. I always thought I would never like BA bass that much but this... this is unbelievable. Maybe because of the BCD, I don't know but this even challenges the Odins bass which I still think is the best bass (quality-wise) on the planet. But it is obviously different from DD bass, faster, snappier. It has It's own advantages and I wouldn't say Mentors bass is worse than DD, It's different in presentation.

I already sold my SP3k (great DAP but over time it was too heavy although I use it 90% at home...). Waiting for the SE300 I tested at HighEnd Munich and it has the perfect weight and the same quick performance and beautiful UI as the SP3k and even the same display + versatile options with different Amp settings and gain settings.

Oh, and the 10$ Amazon plastic case will be replace by a nice VanNuys case that I ordered yesterday but will take some time to deliver from Asia.

I really had to breathe in deeply multiple times and it gave me more than one sleepless night before spending that much for IEMs but it gives me so much joy now with these 3 babies. I am now contemplating letting go of my over-ears and go IEMs only. IEMs with a sound reproduction like from these three are a greater joy for me. I'm not sure why, maybe because of the different drivers used that let manufacturers optimize and fine tune to a greater extend than the single drivers over-ears?

EDIT. I had a hard time getting a great fit with the tips coming with Mentor/GM. The Azlas give me an immediate perfect seal but are getting uncomfortable after 20 minutes of use. The silicone tips don't fit that great so I am using my Final E tips for both with perfect seal and comfort.

 

[MatW]

Great stuff! Also sharing the latest acquisitions. Earlier this week some old friends came back in. I spent a lot of time with Traillii, sold it last year but missed it. Glad to have it back. I owned the Jewel last year, but only for 2 weeks. I look forward to spending more time with them.

And today two brand new friends came in, just in time for the weekend. Can you guess what my favorite color is?

I look forward to spending time with these and getting (re)acquainted!

 

[maegnificant]

KSE arrived! Many Thanks to @Meejay for the incredible fast and accomodating buying experience

Just a very quick first impressions post, the comparison to AMT16 will come in a few days:

At first I used Shures silicone sleeves, but even though I got a deep fit, the KSE sounded off. I noticed that when I pressed them slightly more in and upward, the bass came out and the highs sounded uncompressed. So I switched to Shure Foam tips, which are really good btw!

Oh man, I am going to spend a lot of time with these. So far they worked with pretty much everything I threw at them! Yes, they are on the brighter side of the tuning spectrum, but they don't feel limp to me in the bass, just very very fast. No dynamic driver sub-bass decay for sure. But there is still plenty bass for most of my needs.

This will be a very interesting comparison with the AMT16, even though the KSE is also brighter, they feel more universally able than the AMT16. But that's just a little sneak-peak, I will need plenty of more time to actually compare these and be able to write down concise thoughts

 

[CharlyBrown]

Hah, great purchase @MatW!

Andrews Memorial Day offering was obviously too good to resist for you, too? (I guess you also purchased at MT?)

Looking at your Mentor, I'm still torn between blue and green. Both are absolutely beautiful!

Looking forward to your quick impressions about Ronin & Mentor!

 

[Bret Halford]

(partly cross-posting from FF Thread)

Another very happy owner of 2 new gorgeous IEMs Mentor and FF GM. I received my universal GM yesterday and it came with the golden cable and the additional blue filters. The rest of the package is the same as of others in this thread (black leather case, silicone tips in 3 sizes, sockets for 3.5 and 2.5).

First very quick impressions after some hours of use - the GM is my dream V-shape bass&treble IEM. This is what the Legend Evo should have been. Instant love, no need to "get used to" over a long period of time. This is endgame stuff really. These are _not_ just "bass cannons", they are true audiophile gems with emphasis on beautiful melting sub-bass that is very well controlled. Not 100% on Odin level quality-wise but with much more quantity. Plus it has the versatility with the switch and the modules (haven't tried the blue modules yet and spend most of my listening time with bass on max - but the vocal switch is also very interesting and great sounding).

The GM needs a lot of juice. I haven't tried them with my W2 but I guess it needs more power. Currently running through my RME/A90d stack and I need to go as loud as with over-ears volume-wise.

Also the Mentor came in yesterday from my favorite audio store MusicTeck. I was torn between the blue universe version and the green one. As you can see I decided for the later as green is my favorite color but I still think both are beautiful. Still for my personal taste I give the green version the edge as I also love the transparent look of the faceplate, the golden rim and the beautiful cable and connectors all in green.

Much more important is the sound. Only a couple hours into listening time but I can't let go of both. It's probably too early for a conclusion but I will say, the Mentor is the best IEM I've ever listened to. The wonderful mids, great treble, soundstage, timbre - everything is presented at such a high level. But then comes the bass and the part that astounds me the most. I always thought I would never like BA bass that much but this... this is unbelievable. Maybe because of the BCD, I don't know but this even challenges the Odins bass which I still think is the best bass (quality-wise) on the planet. But it is obviously different from DD bass, faster, snappier. It has It's own advantages and I wouldn't say Mentors bass is worse than DD, It's different in presentation.

I already sold my SP3k (great DAP but over time it was too heavy although I use it 90% at home...). Waiting for the SE300 I tested at HighEnd Munich and it has the perfect weight and the same quick performance and beautiful UI as the SP3k and even the same display + versatile options with different Amp settings and gain settings.

Oh, and the 10$ Amazon plastic case will be replace by a nice VanNuys case that I ordered yesterday but will take some time to deliver from Asia.

I really had to breathe in deeply multiple times and it gave me more than one sleepless night before spending that much for IEMs but it gives me so much joy now with these 3 babies. I am now contemplating letting go of my over-ears and go IEMs only. IEMs with a sound reproduction like from these three are a greater joy for me. I'm not sure why, maybe because of the different drivers used that let manufacturers optimize and fine tune to a greater extend than the single drivers over-ears?

EDIT. I had a hard time getting a great fit with the tips coming with Mentor/GM. The Azlas give me an immediate perfect seal but are getting uncomfortable after 20 minutes of use. The silicone tips don't fit that great so I am using my Final E tips for both with perfect seal and comfort.

I love the plates on your GM... wasn't sure if it was just the high contrast lighting in the FF thread, but I think they are the nicest plates I've seen yet on the Unis, congrats!

 

[Delitia]

Anyone here had a chance to hear the new nostalgia audio tesseracts? My brain tells me I need a final ba/est or all ba set to round out everything. Between ronin, tesseract and maybe mentor