[ian91]

If Linsoul sells this cable separately, I might pick another one up.

(click the smiley)

Edit: just realised you already found it.

Not all good cables have to cost $4k

 

[gazzington]

After all the autechre talk, I'm going to work through their albums this holiday starting from the beginning today Sounding very good on the timeless

 

[Scubadevils]

After all the autechre talk, I'm going to work through their albums this holiday starting from the beginning today Sounding very good on the timeless

Great shout - I might actually do the same. I did that with The Future Sound of London a while back.

 

[snapandslide]

Just switched to Odin and Odin has much better timbre, bass response and resolution. Odin is still a better monitor than Monarch mkii. Monarch has better coherence and slightly better tuning.

The RU6 is a magical DAC/AMP. It fixes a lot of the issues I had with Odin's treble.

Slight shame about the timbre - I would have hoped it'd be close to odin for that particular technicality.

 

[davidmolliere]

7Hz Timeless has landed... let's give this baby a try...

 

[Wyville]

Nice-- is that a Shanling M8 I see?

Yes it is. I was quite surprised by how well it drives the HD650. Since I had to pass on the opportunity to buy the Violectric V380 demo unit I had over, I ended up without a desktop amp and started using this pairing instead.

 

[Mehran]

Brought the Dorado for the day. After the Timeless honestly just about every song sounds wrong.lol
I think I have to revisit the Zen pro once again.

 

[gazzington]

My ie900 have turned up. Time to test them out!

 

[Skullar]

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.....

Indigo vs Elysian X comparison anyone yet?..

 

[immortalsoul]

All this Timeless makes me curious. I might have to try one for myself

 

[aaf evo]

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.....

Indigo vs Elysian X comparison anyone yet?..

What exactly are you wanting to know?

 

[Rockwell75]

I went back through the last two days & 25 pages (!!) and there were a few posts I missed or would like to comment again on-- cheers to everyone for keeping the quality of the discussion here as high as it is voluminous.

...I'm actually gearing up (pun fully intended) to close off the year looking forward to a year with little to no interest in IEMs beyond those which I own.

What do you own right now... IE900 and...EVO?

Bloom Audio released a really wonderful review of the 64A Duo!

https://bloomaudio.com/blogs/articles/64-audio-duo-review?omnisendContactID=5febe67e1971975089551343&utm_campaign=campaign:+Saturday+Morning+Reading+12/21+(61bde12fef29d70018063fb1)&utm_medium=email&utm_source=omnisend

Wow nice! I wager that the Duo is the best IEM from 2021 that most in here haven't heard. It will be a tight battle between it and the Zen Pro for me.

Had one of my rare commute days yesterday and decided to go with the Shanling M6 Pro 21, Legend X & Leo II. I had considered selling the Legend X as I I previously thought the mids were too recessed and it sounded a little muffled, but I haven’t listened to any IEMs these last few days so my ears have had a break. I’d like to reiterate my previous point of not AB-ing IEMs; the Legend X is amazing TOTL IEM and only comes off L-shaped if you solely listen to bass heavy/emphasized music. It has the technical chops to compete with the best. Granted I haven’t heard the “latest & greatest”, but maybe ignorance is bliss. I would suggest picking one up if you can as the recent release of the EVO has created a healthy secondhand market for it; I predict prices will bounce back up as more people realize it still competes with current TOTLs.

The Legend X is a top tier IEM for sure but became something of a niche IEM for me. It's bass and presentation wowed me at first but I found it fatiguing, rather a little suffocating, in time when it was my only IEM. To the point where after spending a month with the LX and only the LX I couldn't listen to it anymore. There are some things it does better than anything out there but as an all rounder for me it doesn't quite work. YMMV and all that.

Those select few that, regardless of which train is currently leaving the hype station, transcends all and sundry and still delivers

Transcends all and sundry...that's a bada$$ piece of word-smithery I'm going to have to remember.

Purely for comfort and for knowing it's a 'keeper' once you go custom. I've never used a CIEM before and doubt I will anytime soon since the IEMs I enjoy most aren't available as CIEMs. But if I ever do, LX and A12t top the list.

I'm quite tempted by the idea of a custom too. Possibly a Warbler Prelude as it's only available as custom and it's not that much $$. As for IEMs I've heard the Elysium is the top choice for me if I decide to go custom. I'm in no real rush though.

People sell stuff for different reasons. For one, nothing is absolutely perfect. For me the Bird falls short of perfection in its bass response, for example, good as it is using only twin BA woofers. For others that's what they like, but may prefer a more aggressive and impactful sound like EVO. So it ultimately comes down to preferences, which don't always correlate to uncompromising performance. I'd venture that many guys on this thread revel in the imperfection of their various IEMs, because each has a quality or two they really like with particular music. And that for them striving for one 'perfect' (or close to perfect) IEM is less exciting and more restricting. That, and they enjoy the 'collecting' part of the hobby. Which is why our overriding mantra is...YMMV

This is well said. For background listening I use my Airpod Pros... When I use the Traillii/M8 its focussed listening and after six months I am still amazed how "perfect" it is for my preferences. No iem has ever come close to this longevity of being wow'ed by it at every listen. The price will always bother me but even when a new shiny object appears, I listen to the Traillii and realize there's nothing wanting.. It's basically taken me out of the hobby

For me the Trailliii holds the crown for tuning and technicalities currently on the market. I can understand the comment about the bass as something of a DD-head myself...but looking beyond that on its own terms the Bird is as close to flawless as they currently come imho.

Ok, if I could only point out one of the Monarch mkii’s virtues, the one I’d choose would be the earphones’ exquisitely balanced tonality. This is followed closely by how entire frequency range displays equally fast, highly transparent, and extremely resolving sound top to bottom yet somehow manages to sound effortless and natural at the same time (it never hits the listener with the sort of enforced sense of detail that ultimately proves fatiguing over time like Odin or RS10 does for example).

I listened to the first movement of Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ by Martin Helmchen and marvelled at the achingly beautiful purity of both the Piano and accompanying orchestra which conveyed a profound sense of reverence as this haunting piece of romantic classical music was performed. But what also added to the experience was hearing the deep and powerful, but also very well controlled and clean sound of the lower register of Piano. Here mkII’s new upgraded bass driver’s better transient behavior and higher resolution became apparent.

Tracks with potent low and mid-bass, such as the low percussion heard in the ‘Passing By’ by Zero 7 also showed how effective the mkII’s higher mid-bass crossover point can be at increasing bass impact as well as effectively reducing excess lower mids leanness that plagued the OG Monarch.

Are there caveats? Well, two would be the IEM’s size and price, both of which may prove daunting to would-be owners.

Also tuning wise, mkii doesn’t have the lower mid-range warmth and fullness (or coloration, depending on your point of view) of more down-sloping IEMs like Andromeda or VE’s offerings.

Of everything I've read about Monarch II so far it's the detail and resolution that seems to attract the most attention. My biggest question is if it's one of those IEMs (like the Odin or u12t) that seems more geared towards presenting music to you for analysis than enjoyment. Not that one is intrinsically better than the other but it's a valid distinction and characteristic of different peoples' tastes imho.

you know you're onto something very special when a week then a month goes by and you're still just as excited to pick up your IEMs for a listen as you were on day one.

Yup...this is how I feel with everything I own right now (spare Zen Pro & Timeless I guess as they're too new).

I get this but I don't think you have to walk away from the community. I've been happily standing around this Watercooler with absolutely no interest in trying out any of the wonderful new IEMs you guys are enjoying, but thoroughly enjoying the experience along with you nonetheless. I've been around long enough now to recognise most of the traits in these new IEMs from those I've heard before, whether they be similar or just a variation on a theme. The passion shown on here is infectious, as are some of the music discoveries.

That's a fair point and given that you've been at this for a bit longer than me I'm left with a bit of optimism that perhaps 2022 is the year I can step back and just enjoy everyone's impressions by proxy. Time will tell there.

When you get to a place where you can enjoy mingling and talking gear without ever wondering how it compares to the gear you own and love, that's a really good place to be.

Indeed sir...very happy to have you here at the 'Cooler.

Brought the Dorado for the day. After the Timeless honestly just about every song sounds wrong.lol
I think I have to revisit the Zen pro once again.

Timeless sounds close to perfect for me (caveats around bass not withstanding) but there's still about 20% or so of the time where things don't sound quite right (vocals a bit nasal, upper mids a bit thin and weird)...I haven't quite put my finger on it completely. It's still a tremendous IEM and a no-brainer at the cost.

 

[Rockwell75]

Nice, @drftr .

 

[Rockwell75]

Sorry for the spam but I just ordered one of these from Amazon...seemed like a no-brainer. Just what I need for my Duo.

 

[Rockwell75]

Last post for a bit I promise but there's one more thing I wanted to comment on RE this merry go round of gear many of us seem to go through. In addition to the sense of community & fellowship found in forums and threads like this at the end of the day what I'm really grateful for is the high level of good intel on gear that can be found here (on HF and other places in general...but of course specifically here). Talking with and listening to you all affords me a degree of understanding around all the pieces of gear we're discussing that properly transcends what's available anywhere else for me. No reviewer, no ranking list, no Youtube video is as consistently on point with providing me with the information I need to know whether something will be a win for me or not. This isn't to imply that we all like the same stuff or feel the same way about everything-- which is clearly not the case. But what everyone here does bring to the table is thoughtfulness, sincerity, experience and consistency-- 4 factors which are invaluable and which cannot be found in equal measure anywhere else. This is the grass roots and there's no place quite like it. As a result just about everything I've bought the last year at least has been a win for me. Cheers everyone (again).

Edit: I also seem to have simultaneously hit 15000 likes and 6000 posts...something something I know they're just imaginary internet points something something...but still, cheers all. I'm grateful for everyone here and look forward to what the new year brings.