[phiemon]

1500 posts: ladies and gentlemen, Habēmus a new Supremus!

I would like to thank the whole community for the opportunities it has given me. You have filled a huge gap in my life with many beautiful emotions, or rather: with a new dimension of positive emotions - and caused another equally huge one in my bank account . If you hadn't been so fantastic, I wouldn't be at this point. I certainly have @Rockwell75 and @drftr to thank for that, who were so patient and helpful at the beginning of my journey when I annoyed with my many questions. Without you, I would have lost hope and given up. But of course there are many other headfier that have also been great hier and still are.

 

[Scubadevils]

Hey! Yes, I listened to a few JVC iems but I was particularly struck by this Victor headphone. A complete bass monster, would put Campfire a run for their money. Had an emotional connection with this headphone, couldn't put it down. Was shocked at the price though.

https://www.e-earphone.jp/product_review/14771/detail/

They look stunning

I love the SW-01 also, a much cheaper set at around $400 but they have the typical JVC addictive tuning.

 

[bigbeans]

Just checked the mail this morning, and found a lovely holiday letter signed by my friends at Campfire Audio! What lovely art too. I can’t wait to see what next year brings from not just Campfire Audio but also this community.

 

[MRT-Man]

You see? High gain, hyper mode, SS, certainly P+... that makes total sense, for me personally that's not what MM should be heard with. Here I can only confirm what you wrote. These settings really don't work with all IEMs, which is the case with MM. With the settings you mentioned, I initially compared the N30 with the SP3000 and I was totally irritated because the SP3000 was, among other things, more holographic and more pleasant to listen to. I liked it more. Fortunately, I had the idea to try other settings. After that I sold the SP3000 immediately.
Now I use: Low Gain, no Hyper-Mode, Tube-Classic, P-Mode (i.e. without +) and Class_A (which is smoother than AB). The sound is generally more balanced, with more microdynamics, layering, it's more precise. If you have the chance again, try my settings and you'll be surely surprised.

More is not always better respectively less is sometimes better. This is here obviously the case with the "Hyper" and "P+" mode.

Congrats on the N30LE! I hadn't realized you'd bought one.

I was tempted to get one as well, but was told (by someone who's ears I respect) that the SP3K + MK475/Tsuranagi in combination are at least as good, if not better. Of course that's just one person's impressions and I can't personally confirm that. But it was enough to keep me from purchasing the N30LE as a blind buy, since I already have the SP3k & amps. I wouldn't call the SP3k mid-fi, but would say it's a TOTL DAC with an underpowered amp. But I feel it works perfectly fine unamped with, say, the Xe6/Rn6, which aren't very power hungry.

Re the Ronin, I'm surprised it doesn't get more love. Perhaps the issue is that it doesn't have the most impressive bass/low-end weight, and I agree it doesn't have bite in the treble. So it doesn't have a wow factor in those respects, but I get those characteristics from my other IEMs, and the "wow" for me is how natural it sounds, overall, especially in the mids, as you'd mentioned. It's not flashy but it's supremely competent. I pair it with the Orphy or Shirogane, so that's probably another reason I hold it in higher regard than some others might.

Speaking of Noble IEMs, the Ragnar has been less-discussed lately, but a listening session yesterday reminded me that it remains an extraordinarily impressive IEM. The tuning does take a few minutes of brain burn-in when coming from something warmer, but once I've made that adjustment (& I use it with the Orphy, which helps to warm it up) it still gives me a lot of special moments with its expansive soundstage and detail.

 

[Rockwell75]

Actually, yes, yes we do!

Whatever it is is off limits to us plebs.

 

[RonaldS86]

Congrats on the N30LE! I hadn't realized you'd bought one.

I was tempted to get one as well, but was told (by someone who's ears I respect) that the SP3K + MK475/Tsuranagi in combination are at least as good, if not better. Of course that's just one person's impressions and I can't personally confirm that. But it was enough to keep me from purchasing the N30LE as a blind buy, since I already have the SP3k & amps. I wouldn't call the SP3k mid-fi, but would say it's a TOTL DAC with an underpowered amp. But I feel it works perfectly fine unamped with, say, the Xe6/Rn6, which aren't very power hungry.

Re the Ronin, I'm surprised it doesn't get more love. Perhaps the issue is that it doesn't have the most impressive bass/low-end weight, and I agree it doesn't have bite in the treble. So it doesn't have a wow factor in those respects, but I get those characteristics from my other IEMs, and the "wow" for me is how natural it sounds, overall, especially in the mids, as you'd mentioned. It's not flashy but it's supremely competent. I pair it with the Orphy or Shirogane, so that's probably another reason I hold it in higher regard than some others might.

Speaking of Noble IEMs, the Ragnar has been less-discussed lately, but a listening session yesterday reminded me that it remains an extraordinarily impressive IEM. The tuning does take a few minutes of brain burn-in when coming from something warmer, but once I've made that adjustment (& I use it with the Orphy, which helps to warm it up) it still gives me a lot of special moments with its expansive soundstage and detail.

I can agree to that statement because I never consider AK product as a bad sounding. It's just I like Cayin's house sound better with their warm and coloured sound
Gotta try SP3K later when I visit my dealer again on January

 

[MRT-Man]

I can agree to that statement because I never consider AK product as a bad sounding. It's just I like Cayin's house sound better with their warm and coloured sound
Gotta try SP3K later when I visit my dealer again on January

Although that’s where cables and external amps come in. I think there’s something to be said for having a less colored source like the SP3K as a starting point that I can color/not color, depending on the specific cable or amp I pair it with.

 

[aaf evo]

While I don’t care for the SP3000 anymore, it’s definitely hard to deny that it does have its own appeal. To this day I have never “heard” a DAP that basically has no background noise, even the darkest sources don’t feel as dark as SP3000. It’s a joy for sensitive IEMs. It still has one of my favorite treble tunings as well.

 

[LFC_SL]

And I don't say I hate SP3K because deep down inside I'm still in love with AK, but still waiting for a better amping power on their SP series and open android system. lMO it seems they like to stay in their comfort zone and do just enough effort on their new TOTL like slapping new AKM chip and move some cables from here to there and still sticking to their older device size, I mean SPK, SP2K, and SP3K more or less have a same size so in my eyes they put a limit on their product. I respect their decision so what we get is still a portable device at least in size while I can't say the same about their weight. They repeat a same mistake like their late adoption of 4.4mm output and only embrace it when people start leaving them. I don't know when will they break past their self made barrier by giving SP4K a better amplification and open android system even if they need to put it in a bigger chassis. Maybe they will or maybe they won't. As long as people keep buying their TOTL product, I won't put my hope too high on them

A&K need to bin the closed Android approach and unfriendly side-loading of apps. Are A&K particularly brilliant Android coders? Every A&K product thread are full of owners reporting broken functionality on apps, unfixed software annoyances or forever promises of future updates. All despite being a closed system fully within A&K's control. If the passage of time means it is a mature approach, why do these posts still exist in new A&K product threads. I feel the frustration is borne from the right place of seeing the potential of what A&K could be

 

[aaf evo]

A&K need to bin the closed Android approach and unfriendly side-loading of apps. Are A&K particularly brilliant Android coders? Every A&K product thread are full of owners reporting broken functionality on apps, unfixed software annoyances or forever promises of future updates. All despite being a closed system fully within A&K's control. If the passage of time means it is a mature approach, why do these posts still exist in new A&K product threads. I feel the frustration is borne from the right place of seeing the potential of what A&K could be

I quite like the closed android approach because to me it just makes it feel like a non Android music player with access to whatever apps I need. What I don’t like is that AK doesn’t let you access android settings. There’s no way to adjust the font size on the SP3000 for android apps and this makes so much screen real estate get wasted. A fully open android dap with the exact same screen is able to display much more information because you can adjust the font scale. It’s been my biggest gripe ever since they introduced OpenAPK back with the SP1000.

 

[Rockwell75]

There's always a story stats don't tell though. Like, Ronin being 3rd last most likely only means people being able to afford 4k for an IEM can also afford 6k (and find those better). While for U12t at 2k and the same score that may be very different.

Oh yes, as I said in my post I don't pretend it's perfect or that there are not other factors to consider. I just found it interesting and since the data's there why not look at it.

Dita Audio Project M. Spotlight of the show. I hear this iem to be neutralish-bright. We have extra energy in upper-mids and middle-treble which suits jpop/anisong vocals really well. Bass is sufficient, Mids are full-sounding albeit on the brighter side, Highs have good extension with plenty of sparkle. Odd treble peaks are minimal, so I guess it can be used for long listening sessions. Technical-wise, resolution, dynamics and staing are on line where soundstage is pretty impressive - it spreads really wide without being artificial or odd. Not really what I expect an iem in this price range can achieve: I consider this to be one of the highlights of Project M.

Thanks for sharing. You've actually muted my interest in this somewhat...and perhaps relegated it to the "demo first" category. Eager for more impressions.

Dita Audio Perpetua. Though I am unsure whether they can compete with big boys in the market, they are definitely worth demoing.

In the case of Perpetua, it 100% can IMHO. Though the major caveat is that it really depends on what you're after and what you prioritize. Along with the Bonneville the Perpetua was the major surprise of 2023 for me. Grateful for folks like @Sajid Amit , @jwilliamhurst, @drftr and others for putting me onto it and compelling me to go blind on an IEM for the first time since 2019.

1500 posts: ladies and gentlemen, Habēmus a new Supremus!

I would like to thank the whole community for the opportunities it has given me. You have filled a huge gap in my life with many beautiful emotions, or rather: with a new dimension of positive emotions - and caused another equally huge one in my bank account . If you hadn't been so fantastic, I wouldn't be at this point. I certainly have @Rockwell75 and @drftr to thank for that, who were so patient and helpful at the beginning of my journey when I annoyed with my many questions. Without you, I would have lost hope and given up. But of course there are many other headfier that have also been great hier and still are.

Congrats my friend. I've really enjoyed watching you go from slowly and cautiously dipping your toes to hoovering up numerous TOTL IEMs at an alarming rate while still maintaining clear composure around what it is you're after. Looking forward to seeing what's next for you.

Just checked the mail this morning, and found a lovely holiday letter signed by my friends at Campfire Audio! What lovely art too. I can’t wait to see what next year brings from not just Campfire Audio but also this community.

I got one of those too . I gotta say a definite highlight for me has been Campfire's return to the scene this past couple years. 2020/2021 weren't particularly kind to them and at one point I even wondered if the brand was finished. 2022/2023 has seen them return to form in a massive way with a string of top tier releases that sit comfortably among my very favorites. I've always had a special spot in my heart for this brand as they're somewhat local to me and were my first exposure to high end IEMs. I'm glad that they're still staying true to themselves, doing their own thing and succeeding marvelously in the high end space on their own terms. Here's to another great year and more to come.

Question: What's the first IEM you expect to buy in 2024?

 

[nephilim32]

Congrats @Rockwell75 and the Watercooler community to sustaining this thread to 5000 pages!!! ​

As we celebrate Watercooler milestone, I will commemorate it with a brief year in review.

The year started with a trip to Japan and attending a fellow Headfi'ers wedding. This is a touching memory I'll never forget, and boy the Japanese know how to party! Making connections with the expat friends and the local Japanese was a lot of fun, towards the end we were doing impromptu karaoke with anyone we could drag to our table. I blame the sake What a blast!



This followed with the Mecca of every headfi enthusiast, a pilgrimage to e-earphone in Akihabara. It is simply overwhelming, with a multitude of floors of gear at your disposal. At the end of my time at e-earphone I was exhausted and had a minor headache . I managed to demo the Sony Just Ear iem, this is wonderfully tuned. It sounds like Sony squeezed the 1ZM2 sound signature into an IEM, simply amazing. Throughout the auditions, I grew to appreciate the JVC Victor house sound. @Scuba Devils is definitely onto something!




After Japan, I attended a tribute concert of Rolling Stones. This was a lot of fun and re invigorated my love of old school rock, my JH Jolenes were more than eager to take up the task or reliving this era.



Fast forward to CanJam SoCal, where I connected with great Headfier's and demo'd some incredible gear. Some of which I am lucky enough to own today. One particularly stood out, the MassKobo 465 amplifier. The very best amplifier I've used in my life. I can't wait to re demo it at CanJam NYC.



Some weeks later, I steeled myself to offload some gear to make way for a set which I initially scoffed at due to the price. The Amber Pearl Combo. This package is the real deal, providing sonic experiences which immerse me completely in many recordings. A perfect blend of technicalities and emotion for my tastes. I can't wait to get my N30 AP back from Cayin so I can experience it again.





Of course, I must follow this up with a sumptuous gastronomic experience for all the foodies here. This one is dedicated to @aaf evo




I would like to conclude with a lovely Christmas tree installation when walking into a meeting last week. May the holidays bring you happiness and good health . With Page 5000 of Watercooler, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

An amazing year in review. Really captures the spirit of this phenomenal thread and its people.

 

[aaf evo]

Question: What's the first IEM you expect to buy in 2024?

It depends on release dates really which some are unknown but I know for sure I’ll be buying the Elysian Dio & NightJar Dual DD prototype I heard in Dallas. Whether or not they’re the first IEMs I can buy will be a different story as AFAIK neither are close to ready for production. I am looking forward to demo’ing the VE X soon but based off of impressions I have no clue how I’ll feel about that one, I’m excited regardless because its VE.

 

[btwine]

Question: What's the first IEM you expect to buy in 2024?

Either VEX or Aura. I’m ready for some Vision Ears mids!

 

[MatW]

AK is getting a lot of criticism, in part justified I’m sure, but so far they are the only DAP maker with Roon ready devices, which is HUGE for audiophiles like myself whose library is in Roon. Also, because I use it as a Roon endpoint, the UI of the player itself is irrelevant, as I control it with my phone, Ipad or laptop. Looking forward to other brands joining in but I am not aware of any with plans in this direction.

Question: What's the first IEM you expect to buy in 2024?

Very happy with the present collection so I hope 2024 will see the collection stabilize rather than grow further... Having said that, on my list of possible additions are Storm, Raven, Aura, FW (likely too aggressive but I’m interested in unique tunings), Loki, Canpur, possibly Ronin round 2.

Apart from the last one which I owned briefly, I haven’t heard any of these yet. I’ll probably get to hear Loki soon, so I’m looking forward to that.