[stacey]

IEM manufacturers are actually learning the willingness-to-pay step by step, such in the case of UM, they start with the Mason and figure out there are a niche market segment who are willing to pay for that particular party trick they played in the Mids with multiple BA and BCD. Hell broke loose from then till we saw the pricing of AP. But they were playing all the way to today and they actually played it pretty safe that way. 10 years ago people will think the price tag of $7,999 as crazy for an IEM.

Yeah, how many of those actually sell though? I’m guessing <250.

 

[wolfstar76]

Yeah, how many of those actually sell though? I’m guessing <250.

Many of them are actually watercoolers . If you are talking about the entire Mason line plus variants, such as mentor/AP, I would guess more than 250.

 

[Kiats]

I have to agree in a way, you have to be an LP fanboy to buy the P6Pro; the LP range is really going to be the best for the sound since no limitations in theory on the footprint and we are talking about over 32 x PCM 1704UK DAC chips. But it's over 7 years ago and still considered one of the best. Then Technology moves at a lightning pace. The fact that Mr Wan can improve the SNR to 127dB on this small unit is nothing short of being a magician. (Not wizard for you Noble fans) considering the LP6TI is about 127db. I am hoping LP puts a few undocumented gems in here for us to savour. I am buying this based on portability, weight, SQ and that LP platinum tuning from the FW but I do realize that whilst listening outside there will be that noise level which can eat away at the experience of listening to it compared to being in a quiet room with no outside influences. When LP7 or E7 is out I'm sure the price will be a few grand above the P6Pro Ti99. I miss my LP6....

Nice photo of your LP6 players @Steranko !

On a similar vein, I will share a photo which was shared in the LP 199Club Wechat group this morning.

 

[Steranko]

Nice photo of your LP6 players @Steranko !

On a similar vein, I will share a photo which was shared in the LP 199Club Wechat group this morning.

Have people starting to receive them already?

 

[salwani8888]

Any information on the new Dita Project M?
That's from their Facebook page.

from the limited info available, i gather this is a more economically priced 1DD and 1BA

 

[Kiats]

Have people starting to receive them already?

Must be if someone is showing it off on the LP 199Club Wechat

 

[stacey]

Must be if someone is showing it off on the LP 199Club Wechat

Likely a manufacturer leak tbh. Companies like Apple explicitly leak some details and pictures to drum up interest of upcoming products to draw attention to the brand and product.

 

[Beh0lder]

Nice informative and succinct review. What is the blue IEM after FW? Glad to see another KK fan. I miss the sound so much I intend to order a Prestige KK.

It's the Multiverse Mentor Nebula if only the Prestige wasn't such a huge price bump, at 4k there is a lot of competition with similar, if not upgraded tuning.

 

[phiemon]

I had half of my Socal Canjam Report written up on the WC thread 2 weeks ago but it got erased (lesson learned have a word copy).



I did an A/B session with AP vs Mentor. AP made the top 3 iems at the show. It has a way of pulling me into the music with its musical but technical tuning and imaging. I found AP to have better bass, better timbre (more refined highs). However I didn"t find it to be a "category level" of a difference. If I were to get into this type of sound I'd pick up a used Mentor again and upgrade the cable personally.

Well, I love Mentor, I really do, so much so that I consider it my favorite of the TOTL (see my avatar). Yet I just can't like the stock cable. I find it pulls MM back (yep, I know some here on the forum disagree). Here I actually like Traillii more than Mentor with stock cable because it has among other things better bass, better mids, wider soundstage and better dynamics. BUT with First Times the game changes and MM in a way acquires exactly the sound characteristics what I like so much in Traillii. With this cable (also OTL) I find MM best. In that respect, it would have been very interesting to test AP and MM with the same cable. Or have you already done that and can you say something about it?

 

[Royal Navy]

The pain part for me comes from when anything starts to touch my inner ear past the second bend. When they insert the cotton I feel a large amount of pressure in my ears. I asked my audiologist why that may be and he said everyone has different sensitivities in this area, evidently I am VERY sensitive to anything that deep in my ear. On top of that I have quite narrow canals so the cotton being pushed in feels like it's trying to expand my ears. It's rather discomforting for me to say the least. I've been using the same audiologist for years now, his impressions have never let me down.

The same thing happened to me. My left ear got terribly painful while there was no problem with the right. I tried it twice with two different audiologists and had the same result. Funnily enough, when the shells were made from those impressions, the left one fit very well, while the right one was not so great. Perhaps it's supposed to be a bit uncomfortable to get a proper impression

 

[emdeevee]

Have always looked at getting customs as getting married , with questions like is this really the one??, will I remain faithful?, Is this the honeymoon phase?. Will it make stop spending money??.

Questions remain unanswered and keep working the IEM scene to find the right one .

The difference is when you cheat on your CIEM, there will be no legal consequences!

 

[Andricop]

It stemmed from my not wanting to shell out $150 to have them done by an audiologist

150$ for impressions ?!
First impressions I paid 25$ around 15 years ago and last one around a year ago I paid 50$ including delivery of the digital files. That's in Europe.

 

[Deezel177]

Hi! I decided to post here as I haven't found a dedicated Audio Video Show 2023 thread, so here goes what I've heard! DAP used was mostly the Cayin N7 in mid gain, Amazon Music. Keep in mind I was there to experience and like stuff, not to be as objective as possible



The Craft Ears Omnium - show prerelease. 1 DD, 1 planar for mids and BAs for highs and beyond. If I understood correctly, the supertweeters are Knowles' RAU ones. 2449 Euro MSRP. Compared to Aurum, former flagship: noticeable bump in bass texture, more natural mids that spread really far left and right; less sharp highs with better detail. And since it's BA, it does not need a pocket fusion reactor to power. Three types of metal too choose from for the faceplate: gold, silver and rose gold.



Noble Ronin
Mids were the standout here, with lots grit in the vocals and guitars. Detailed highs however due to limited stage depth they often got lost among other sounds. Not a fan of the bass though, a bit on the warm side. I'm team KK for this duel.



Noble Spartacus
Great mids with tons of bite, bass does not get in the way. A bit splashy highs. Overall a good all rounder. Fantastic shape, possibly great for sleeping on the side. The faceplate can be see through depending on the pattern, pretty cool. The stock cable is also a great upgrade compared to the KK, ergonomics-wise. Love the straight changeable plugs (Dunu's angled plugs disconnect too damn often while in pocket to bother) and while the weight increased, it's as comfy as stock KK cable. Bought one for my Kublai's



Campfire Audio Bonneville
While the Andromeda didn't have bass, these are too warm and not as black as the Andro so it's a pass for me They are comfy though.



Softears Enigma Prototype - warm V shape, not my cup of tea. Shells are subject to change (perhaps the tuning will undergo some refinement as well?) as it's not as ballsy as the Musicteck placeholder.



Aroma Audio Fei Wan (+ EA Centurion because the exhibitor figured why not) - Great clarity, superb female vocals, bass with great rumble but slightly lacking in texture. Comfy shells. Surprisingly easy to drive, 50 volume mid gain N7. Jewel has dryer bass, worse texture on male vocals. It's not as black backgrounded as the FW. FWs treble is also better detailed, but is on the edge of being sharp. Wifeproof faceplate design. These IEMs might be my favorite TOTL alongside the


Please excuse the flash blast but I really wanted to awaken the faceplate, it's really stunning



The Fusion1, even if out of focus, seemed quite ok in terms of ergonomics. Soundwise it was too off for my Xe6. Bass got neutered and dialed wayy down, while the mids went into overdrive of some kind. I tried the FT next, which sounded like a better quality stock Scorpion, so I passed on the idea altogether. I was pleasantly surprised by the ergonomics, though. Judging by the pictures, I thought the nylon cover would make the cables unwieldly. Eletech didn't ship on time to be shown at the show so I timeouted myself for approx 5 min since I felt morose I couldn't complain Eric forgot to put chin sliders on the Virtues series. And I really wanted to test drive the Raphael with my Xe6.



Oh sHE-1 - mad props for the lady responsible for registering all the folks for an audition. So many people came to register but she really did her best to allow as many people as reasonably possible. The headphones themselves? Mids for days, this was the most natural "in your head" playing of my life. Insane dynamics, even though Tidal was not maxed out (due to the Internet being slow I'd guess?). Money for Nothing never had so many little quirks and tiny sounds everywhere as they did on the HE-1. A true statement piece, even if it's not the messiah I imagined it to be. Gotta book another session next year!



iBasso quad korg balanced headphone amp prototype - guys this is legit! It added just the right amount of warmth to make the sound pleasantly analogue, and did wonders to soundstage width and especially depth. First I tested this with the Symponium Crimson (a rad IEM in it's own right), but then I was shocked when my U12t's also responded well to it. Great amp, wish I knew what the MSRP is going to be. Another note : even though it is roughly the same dimension as the N7, it weights almost nothing!

Additional eyecandy:


Thanks for reading! I hope I'll make it to next years AVS.

Great stuff! I love the Omnium‘s design. I’m also glad to finally see more brands use the RAU supertweeters. Ever since I heard them in the Sharona, I’ve always believed they’re the answer to those looking for a warm/relaxed-yet-detailed treble, like me. And, as you said, it also helps that they don’t need a jet engine to power.

150$ for impressions ?!
First impressions I paid 25$ around 15 years ago and last one around a year ago I paid 50$ including delivery of the digital files. That's in Europe.

Yeah, same. It was around US$30 when I did them in Singapore, and half of that here in Indonesia. They use the exact same silicone and everything as well.

 

[warrenpchi]

It stemmed from my not wanting to shell out $150 to have them done by an audiologist;

150$ for impressions ?!
First impressions I paid 25$ around 15 years ago and last one around a year ago I paid 50$ including delivery of the digital files. That's in Europe.

$100 to $150 USD is about the going rate here in the United States, if you go to an independent audiologist. That said, I've never actually paid for any impressions. This is because nearly every CIEM manufacturer exhibiting at a CanJam (and most other personal audio shows) will simply do them for free whenever you make a purchase at the show.

EDIT: Combined with show discounts, there can be some significant savings to be had at shows. For example, these are the discounts that were available at the most recent CanJam SoCal:

64 Audio	Visit booth to enter a giveaway to win a U12t on Saturday, and a Premium Silver Cable (with preferred termination) on Sunday.
	20% off most universals.
	20% off customs A6t and up.
ABYSS Headphones	10% off on ABYSS Headphones. Ask a team member at the show for a special coupon code.
ArtVano	Up to 50% off on select products at show.
Audio-Technica	Visit booth for a chance to win a pair of ATH-R70x open-back headphones.
	20% off select headphones at www.audio-technica.com/en-us/.
Bloom Audio	10%-15% off select brands.
	Free swag bag for first 50 visitors to booth that demo something. Great stuff inside like a DDHiFi adapter, SpinFit eartips, Dekoni hat, iBasso IEMs, and more.
Dekoni Audio	25% off MSRP on all earpads and accessories.
	Visit booth for Show Special pricing on Dekoni Cobalt and Dekoni Blue.
Effect Audio	Up to 20% off for all products (excluding Fusion 1 and Centurion).
Elysian Acoustic Labs	Visit booth for Show Special bundles.
Empire Ears	20% off all IEMs excluding RAVEN.
Etymotic	25% off ER4 Series.
FatFreq	15% off all IEMs (except Scarlet Mini).
FiiO	up to 30% select products purchased at show.
Flash Acoustics	Up to 50% off on select products at show.
Focal	20% off Utopia, Stellia, Clear MG, Celestee, Show Promo pricing on Elegia and Bathys.
Headphones.com	Up to 25% off everything on display at CanJam SoCal 2023.
	Visit booth for a comprehensive list of Show Special pricing on Focal headphones.
HiFiGo	10% off HiFiGo products on Amazon.com and www.hifigo.com using coupon code: 10CanJam2023.
Jomo Audio	20% off UIEMs.
Kinera	Visit booth to enter a giveaway.
	20% off show purchases.
Leiyin Audio	20% off show purchases.
LETSHUOER	Visit booth to receive special discounted pricing on the full range of products. Limited Stock of openbox S12/S12 Pro also available with an extra discount.
Noble Audio	20% off all IEMs.
Sennheiser	Visit booth for a comprehensive list of Show Special pricing.
The Source AV	Visit booth for 10%-30% off all products purchased at show.
Timsok	5% off purchases made at show.
TOPPING	20% off purchases made at show.
Upscale Audio	Feliks Audio Echo MKII usually retails for $995, will sell for $845.75 during the show and for the week after.
Westone Audio	25% off of MACH Series.
Woo Audio	10% off on Woo Audio amplifiers over $599. Ask a team member at the show for a special coupon code.

For FatFreq, that would have been a savings of $317.85 on a pair of custom MSE, and $470.85 on a pair of custom Grand Maestros... plus free impressions for either.

EDIT AGAIN: Holy crap, I just realized that somebody could have saved $1,599.80 on a Viking Ragnar + Chiron 8W! I wouldn't personally recommend that pairing but if that's what somebody wanted, at least they would have saved a decent amount!

 

[Kiats]

Must be if someone is showing it off on the LP 199Club Wechat

One more teaser that was shared of the P6Pro Ti.