[jwilliamhurst]

I’ve recently come full ️

I’ve owned both of these wonderful and beautiful pieces of gear before and it’s been about a year since I owned Traillii last. I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve owned the Bird now 4 times but this time it’s staying as I finally got the infamous @AxLvR design!! Famous last words I know. But this synergy is my nirvana. P6pro is the lightest and easiest portable option I’ve ever used. I’m completely smitten and happy even with news of the new new shiny shiny’s coming out. Cheers to you my friends and may we all find our bliss in the music!

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

All good thanks! With me, the wallet not so much as the collection is still growing, albeit at a slower rate these days. Recent acquisitions on the IEM side include the Trifecta, Mason FS, Ragnar, Perpetua and the Annihilator.

The last one is featured in a great Fei Wan review that @armstrj2 published today. Highly recommended reading!

I appreciate you being here. Makes me look more sane in an insane world.

 

[MatW]

I appreciate you being here. Makes me look more sane in an insane world.

Uuuhhh… thanks, I guess?

I would say “less insane” maybe? Our collections have a lot in common, both on the headphone and IEM side, but you’re still clearly the king of this crazy hill…esp with all those premium cables thrown in the mix.

 

[Scubadevils]

I’ve recently come full ️

I’ve owned both of these wonderful and beautiful pieces of gear before and it’s been about a year since I owned Traillii last. I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve owned the Bird now 4 times but this time it’s staying as I finally got the infamous @AxLvR design!! Famous last words I know. But this synergy is my nirvana. P6pro is the lightest and easiest portable option I’ve ever used. I’m completely smitten and happy even with news of the new new shiny shiny’s coming out. Cheers to you my friends and may we all find our bliss in the music!

The black bird is absolutely one of the most stunning looking IEMs I've ever seen - enjoy!

 

[KuroKitsu]

Eh… I’m having some second thoughts about bringing my collection to the headfi meet now…

All the NA Coolers ready to join the meet and enjoy this collectivism

 

[PixelSquish]

Nah, not holier than though. I am no different than anyone who posts here. Just providing advice that you can take or discard. Being angry about what an mfg does is not helpful to someone's own mental health. We have a tremendous mental health issue in this country and worrying about things that a) you can't control or b) that doesn't impact you, is not a good idea. Moreover, some of us need to be self aware of our own issues. Some of the bitterness that people hold towards others is indeed envy and that is not healthy. I cannot afford a private jet and private jets are not good for the environment, yet I don't wake up and post to the Gulfstream message boards on how awful those companies are. That's a waste of time and effort. As I mentioned in my subsequent post, this is a discussion thread. Post whatever you want. It's great if it's relevant information that other potential buyers can help with their decisions. If you vent like a Karen just to make yourself feel better, then do that somewhere else, please. It's boring and when done excessively leads to my ignore list.

My posts got deleted for 'being personal', for merely responding to these DIRECT personal attacks on my "mental health issue", being a Karen, etc..by disproving this guys nonsensical posts and telling them what they are.

Why does this HiFiHawaii guy get special treatment to insult people, but me calling them out gets my posts deleted. How biased is the moderation here normally? I'm starting to see a trend in this particular thread.

This is ridiculous.

 

[DenverW]

My posts got deleted for 'being personal', for merely responding to these DIRECT personal attacks on my "mental health issue", being a Karen, etc..by disproving this guys nonsensical posts and telling them what they are.

Why does this HiFiHawaii guy get special treatment to insult people, but me calling them out gets my posts deleted. How biased is the moderation here normally? I'm starting to see a trend in this particular thread.

This is ridiculous.

Totally! You should take a stand and go somewhere else. Be the example!

 

[CodenameBK201]

Totally! You should take a stand and go somewhere else. Be the example!

Actually snorted water out my nose, so thank you for that.

One of my posts got deleted too. And a bunch of Rockwells. I smell a conspiracy here.

"The game is a foot!"
--my podiatrist, probably

 

[Alexzander]

The season of auditions continues I believe. This time I was lucky to finally listen to Campfire Bonneville and Supermoon respectively.

Prior to picking ip the Bonneville I was expecting it to be a sort of hybrid between Andromeda OG and Solaris 2020 with updated technicalities. At the end of the day I can say that it is definitely something else.
As most of you know at the times of Andromeda OG reign it was the best option to join HiFi party by getting a TOTL all-rounder without overspending your money. For 1k USD$ in 2017 you were treated with a set that was able to reproduce almost everything equally well, had quite comfortable fit and its biggest flaw was that its mid bass was lacking attack. I believe its cons showed up partly due to the engineering constraints of drivers used and a smaller sound chamber choice. It definitely affected the tuning and ultimately became one of the reasons of the CFA house sound being like this at that time.
Bonneville use a bigger shell than both Andromeda or Solaris 2020, has modern drivers inside and for the asking price the resulted tuning could be exactly the one that CFA wanted it to be with a good level of tech performance.
And the whole point with Bonneville that it could be a perfect reference set but it was intentionally build as a kind of dark one and not really resembling any previous takes on the flavours used.
Upon a listen you’ve been presented a moderately large stage, with good separation, imaging and layering. It’s not very 3D but more of left to right rectangular shape. The bass is a pleasant one with recognisable DD timbre and texture, having a nice balance between sub bass, core bass and mid bass.
Lower mids have a full enough body giving the male vocals a good support, but all the upper mids are uniformly not boosted to offset the bass lift. Upper mids just almost flat chopped except for the few peaks left.
As a result you get a very strong, dark coloration that affects both vocals and instruments with an equal power.
Highs are just good, natural, well extended and without any annoying peaks of harshness.
So the question you could ask yourself is the following - would you pick Bonneville as say your daily on the go driver?
My take on this is that if you enjoy such dark signatures heavily this could be one of the best options available, but if not then you’d better look somewhere else.

As for the Supermoon I feel it to be a better all-rounder with less coloration, a more natural sound and a better detail retrieval which are being accompanied by the typical planar driver weaknesses, namely a faster bass with less natural decay and a bit of shimmer timbre both in lower bass and highs which at times just feels a bit off.
I really enjoyed the mids though and was not expecting them to be that nuanced, so if you value technicalities a bit more over the timbre Supermoon could be a great choice for the money.

 

[Doug2507]

Nice, onto the shortlist it goes.

All good thanks! With me, the wallet not so much as the collection is still growing, albeit at a slower rate these days. Recent acquisitions on the IEM side include the Trifecta, Mason FS, Ragnar, Perpetua and the Annihilator.

The last one is featured in a great Fei Wan review that @armstrj2 published today. Highly recommended reading!

ace, i'll have a read of that over lunch (nightshift). Watched Sajid's review of Trifecta and Guys written review last night as an alternative to Z1R but didn't sway me for my needs, quite high praise though. Still a marmite set it would seem...

 

[wolfstar76]

My posts got deleted for 'being personal', for merely responding to these DIRECT personal attacks on my "mental health issue", being a Karen, etc..by disproving this guys nonsensical posts and telling them what they are.

Why does this HiFiHawaii guy get special treatment to insult people, but me calling them out gets my posts deleted. How biased is the moderation here normally? I'm starting to see a trend in this particular thread.

This is ridiculous.

I did not see @HiFiHawaii808's comments regarding mental health issue were directly towards you. I understand the furious of many users towards UM's practice, but UM did not force anyone to buy, nor put up bunch of people here to promote their products.

On the other hand, don't expect people to treat everyone the same, many of us have met in person multiple times and are familiar enough with each other to judge a person's intention.

As @aaf evo mentioned, even if the new UM flagship is $4k cheaper, I won't buy them since I am not the kind of customers they are looking for. I would just focus on those I can afford and willing to buy, in the meantime, I will still go ahead to demo those expensive IEMs and maybe one day I may change my mind and lift my upper limit of IEM budget.

 

[emdeevee]

While I agree that Quattro is great in relaxed listening and mesmerizing in doing so without excellent technical performance, I can't help LOL at your music chain for Quattro is so so over killing! Again by the conventional wisdom, you should spend higher percentage on transducers, and less so on upstream, you are doing just the opposite.

Conventional wisdom is out the window with Quattro!! I've put a cable on it that costs 2x the IEM!! Insanity occurring here!

Yeah, you’re probably right. I live in Queens and will be visiting my first CanJam on Jan 6th. I’m eager to meet some of you and hear some dearer sets with the same chain. I have been impressed by how much difference sources make though, even to my relatively inexperienced ears…

Enjoy what you have because that's what's best! And yes, CJ is almost here, counting the days! Looking forward to meeting you there!

As a fellow a 20-year hobbyist and also was a semi-Pro photographer on and off for 10 Years, I agree.

Of course there are some passionate photo hobbyists that really do collect different bodies and lenses and it could get quite large but that is a very small niche compared to how everybody here is chasing the dragon in some way or another.

Music and photography for me since I was an early teen, with Walkmen, buds, and a Pentax K1000. Things have certainly improved since then, but I can't say the enjoyment has...i loved that stuff then as much as I love my stuff today.

But today me is much older, a bit (perhaps too little) more mature, and have a perspective that young me didn't have. For the most part, that's what's great about being an adult. But the sheer feelings of excitement from experiencing art (music) thru gear and creating art (photography) with gear remain awfully similar.

Peak efficiency maximizes both clothing and carrying consumption. Feels very German for efficiency.

Do not go into debt to purchase audio gear. The only audio purchase I would recommend at 5K is if you were going to purchase the N30BLE DAP. Short of that and a select few others be careful. Money does not buy happiness. All iems have a honeymoon period where they will sound amazing just as they are because they are new. The trick is to purchase a few good quality iems and then rotate between them.


Watercooler, if someone has a link to reviews for CA Bonneville and CA LE Blackstar please let me know. Have a trade offer for a Ronin and looking for some advice as I am not super familiar with CA. I believe @Rockwell75 you have very favorable impressions for the Bonneville. Have you heard the CA LE Blackstar? Thank you Watercooler for your help and expertise.

I had a few days to do some direct a/b of both my own Black Star and the tour Bonneville but still have yet to get it all written and posted.

I think I'll ultimately come down on saying they are more similar than not. They have the same drivers in different shells with no good explanation for the price difference except to say Black Star buyers are getting a real deal, as if the Bonneville buyers weren't already enjoying the best buy around.

Both have generous bass and the same bottom - up tuning approach. To my ears, Bonneville has slightly more bass, most in the mid bass. The difference is not huge but noticeable in the mids and treble which get a bit less color from the bass, making BS a little more "open" sounding with vocals jumping out a bit more. I also found the Bonneville stage to be wider and more linear while the BS to have more height and depth. Still, these are surely brothers from the same mother and superior for their pricing.

If there was a feeling that CFA botched the early 2023 releases, they have certainly outdone themselves with the way they closed out the year on the budget side. BS was the last iem I bought in 2023, and it's providing as much joy as any other I have ever bought, so CFA fanboy, I have become.

Edit: I'm going to posit that BS is less $ because it was less r&d cost. I think they took Bonneville drivers and put them in an existing shell.

 

[CodenameBK201]

The season of auditions continues I believe. This time I was lucky to finally listen to Campfire Bonneville and Supermoon respectively.

Prior to picking ip the Bonneville I was expecting it to be a sort of hybrid between Andromeda OG and Solaris 2020 with updated technicalities. At the end of the day I can say that it is definitely something else.
As most of you know at the times of Andromeda OG reign it was the best option to join HiFi party by getting a TOTL all-rounder without overspending your money. For 1k USD$ in 2017 you were treated with a set that was able to reproduce almost everything equally well, had quite comfortable fit and its biggest flaw was that its mid bass was lacking attack. I believe its cons showed up partly due to the engineering constraints of drivers used and a smaller sound chamber choice. It definitely affected the tuning and ultimately became one of the reasons of the CFA house sound being like this at that time.
Bonneville use a bigger shell than both Andromeda or Solaris 2020, has modern drivers inside and for the asking price the resulted tuning could be exactly the one that CFA wanted it to be with a good level of tech performance.
And the whole point with Bonneville that it could be a perfect reference set but it was intentionally build as a kind of dark one and not really resembling any previous takes on the flavours used.
Upon a listen you’ve been presented a moderately large stage, with good separation, imaging and layering. It’s not very 3D but more of left to right rectangular shape. The bass is a pleasant one with recognisable DD timbre and texture, having a nice balance between sub bass, core bass and mid bass.
Lower mids have a full enough body giving the male vocals a good support, but all the upper mids are uniformly not boosted to offset the bass lift. Upper mids just almost flat chopped except for the few peaks left.
As a result you get a very strong, dark coloration that affects both vocals and instruments with an equal power.
Highs are just good, natural, well extended and without any annoying peaks of harshness.
So the question you could ask yourself is the following - would you pick Bonneville as say your daily on the go driver?
My take on this is that if you enjoy such dark signatures heavily this could be one of the best options available, but if not then you’d better look somewhere else.

As for the Supermoon I feel it to be a better all-rounder with less coloration, a more natural sound and a better detail retrieval which are being accompanied by the typical planar driver weaknesses, namely a faster bass with less natural decay and a bit of shimmer timbre both in lower bass and highs which at times just feels a bit off.
I really enjoyed the mids though and was not expecting them to be that nuanced, so if you value technicalities a bit more over the timbre Supermoon could be a great choice for the money.

Supermoons been on my demo list for a while now. I've been tinkering with this track specifically:



The mixing is very digital, tons of autotune, so it needs that treble extension, but even in 24 bit flac, on my radons it sounds like garbage. Ditto for my khopesh. But it sounds good on my raptgos, enough so that it's got me thinking it might be a planar thing and keen to try other higher end planars.

 

[Neweymatt]

Sometimes I’m in the mood that I prefer Mentors quick and dry BA bass over DD. People can start throwing stones at me now

There are reasons why some models are still exclusively BA only, such as Mason line and U12t/U18t. I actually like some those BA bass, such as recently the Crimson's bass. There is unique appeal of BA bass, which is hard to find in DD. Though in general, I like DD for bass and even for other FR.

Yeah, I'm not at all religious about driver configs, as long as the IEM tuning is tastefully executed in a way that lets me just enjoy the music. I'd rather have a variety of different configs to suit different listening set ups, music etc.

To that end, I think I've finally found an all-DD that agrees with me in the humble 7hz Legato:

I've struggled with many other single/all-DD's such as Perpetua, Advar, and Trifecta, each of them having a nasty, wince-inducing peak or 3 somewhere that I found unacceptable. Legato, however, is very true to it's name, and I've found myself completely lost in music despite its shortcomings. Yes, it's lacking a bit in precision and detail retrieval, and doesn't have quite the massive stage as Trifecta, but it is (checks notes) 1/30th the price of that IEM. For a daily-driver I'll probably use out and around commuting a lot, this is an easy choice.

 

[o0genesis0o]

Yeah, I'm not at all religious about driver configs, as long as the IEM tuning is tastefully executed in a way that lets me just enjoy the music. I'd rather have a variety of different configs to suit different listening set ups, music etc.

To that end, I think I've finally found an all-DD that agrees with me in the humble 7hz Legato:

I've struggled with many other single/all-DD's such as Perpetua, Advar, and Trifecta, each of them having a nasty, wince-inducing peak or 3 somewhere that I found unacceptable. Legato, however, is very true to it's name, and I've found myself completely lost in music despite its shortcomings. Yes, it's lacking a bit in precision and detail retrieval, and doesn't have quite the massive stage as Trifecta, but it is (checks notes) 1/30th the price of that IEM. For a daily-driver I'll probably use out and around commuting a lot, this is an easy choice.

This IEM is pretty smart. In some senses, it’s a cutdown version of legendary Z1R with the BAs removed. Very similar internal arrangement of drivers, both physically and electrically, but the micro DD handles both mid and treble while the large DD handles the bass only. They are good with some power and higher than usual volume to bring the upper mid and treble details out.