So thanks to the munificence of @tgx78 I have in my possession the Oriolus Isabellae...I got a delivery notification so I rushed to the post office at lunch time to pick them up and I couldn't wait to get them in my ears. Following are some highly off the cuff snapshot impressions after going through some of my main test tracks.
Background: I've been keen to sample some Oriolus magic for a while now and given some word of mouth, a couple reviews and an irresistible price tag I jumped on a pre-order at Musicteck only to rescind it following some impressions and graphs which made me wonder if it veered too far into "ChiFi" tuning for my liking.
Caveat: I'm running these through the Shanling M8 which in my experience has a magical effect on everything I plug into it.
Initial thoughts: these are fantastic and my fears about their tuning have proven to be unfounded. I went straight to some Creedence Clearwater Revival upon plugging them in as their music is typically intolerable to me on IEMs with "Eastern" tuning-- suffice to say I was pleasantly surprised. There is a lot of clarity & definition up top as well as sufficient air and energy-- without ever veering into anything shouty, overly vibrant, peaky, piercing or otherwise fatiguing. I could see these being described as bright leaning but it's brighness done right imho-- silky smooth, airy and well extended. These are by no means a bass dominant signature but the bass is very present, thick, well defined and extended with a smooth, natural and clean timbre. Mid-bass oomph seems to dominate a little over sub-bass and lower mid presence is bang on as far as my preferences are concerned. Bass quantity seems about on par with something like the Solaris or Andromeda...so there will probably people who want more bass than what these provide.
The Isabellae are a wonderfully smooth, clear, balanced and engaging listen...I'm excitedly flipping through my library and liking what I find each time. Standouts for me are vocals and midrange timbre in general-- I'm not usually a "vocal" guy but the texture & delivery seems totally natural, full, seductive and organic. Staging, resolution, layering etc. is good to above average but all of that stuff is secondary to me if the IEM is able to muster that "je ne sais quoi" romantic factor and sweep me off my feet. And the coherence is off the charts good...which I guess is to be expected from a single DD IEM. And just to illustrate a point-- I plugged these in thinking I'd just get a quick sense of them but they impressed me so much I was sucked in and ended up wiling away my whole lunch hour without getting around to eating lunch. Consequently I spent the whole afternoon hungry, but it was worth it.
TLDR: If you're someone who's always wanted a single DD with Andromeda like tuning these are worth a serious look.
Once my refund comes through I will very likely jump back on the wagon and pre-order again. For my first Oriolus experience I'm wildly impressed off the bat, especially at this price point...I am presently humbly tipping my hat and bowing in respect to "The Old Man" responsible for these. Well done.
The Isabellae is available for preorder at Musicteck.
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