The Watercooler -- Impressions, philosophical discussion and general banter. Index on first page. All welcome.

[Rockwell75]

Oh boy, wait 'til your hear the LCD-i4 It trumps all DD in its imaging at the expense of isolation and portability. Planar bass is something else, very enjoyable and quite unique. It is the perfect IEM (or should I say a chimera between IEM and headphone) for any soundstage-head. But it needs some EQ to improve on its timbral accuracy. That said it is inherently quite warm and natural in tone. It is 'vibrating membrane' taken to the extreme

I would have plunged on that long ago if I felt I could live what I've heard is a near complete lack of isolation.

 

[Rockwell75]

Problem is that I listen to something different every day. One day it’s pop, jazz, hip hop, kpop, instrumental…..
Which is why I think Solaris is good for me so far since it’s well rounded and musical. So I’m looking to upgrade to something well rounded and musical

I’m always itching to upgrade….

Solaris is a tough one to upgrade from unless you're aiming to branch out to a few specialty IEMs or spend more than $2-$3K-- as a pure "one IEM in your collection" all-rounder Solaris is still one of the best there is.

 

[ranfan]

I would have plunged on that long ago if I felt I could live what I've heard is a near complete lack of isolation.

A pair of earbuds would then be a good compromise I guess

Speaking of earbuds, it reminds me there was that one time Nic compared a stock airplane earpad with a crying baby What a masterpiece

Review of the KLM Earpads

Unboxing.

Design

The KLM headset has an earmuff design, consisting of two individual earpieces to be attached behind the ears with a plastic placeholder, similar to sunglasses. The material is a white, marginally flexible plastic, with the KLM logo printed in blue on the outside. The soft padding of the earphones ensures a comfortable fit for a lengthy period of time, although it should be noted that the over-ear design does not allow for a significant amount of isolation.


Timeless design.

Sound impressions

Presentation
The KLM Earpads have a brighter than neutral signature, characterised by an upper midrange peak and laidback mid-bass. Although its stage might be considered intimate, the distant position of the mid-bass and its laidback quantity results in sufficient clarity with moderate airiness, and even adequate layering ability within its price tier. While the Earpads create airiness on the stage by enhancing the upper midrange, the air surrounding instruments and vocals is not very clean, and instruments lack definition as a result of the rolled up mid to upper treble. As much as I hate to say it, the resolution is simply not very great; some work needs to be done here. Suffice to say, Beercap AEP-17 performs better in this regard.

Bass
Overall, the bass is lighter than neutral in its quantity. In addition, the lower end extension is not very impressive, resulting in shallow hits that can be heard as taps in the background, but not felt. In addition, by attenuating the mid-bass, the warmth of the bass cannot compensate for the upper midrange peak, resulting in an overall brighter tone.

Midrange
The lower midrange is recessed, resulting in a leaner note structure. Accordingly, midrange notes do not carry a lot of weight. Due to the prominent 5 Khz peak, the vocal presentation is laidback, thin, and rather diffused; the KLM earpads struggle to form a solid center image. In addition, the tone of the midrange is not completely natural. The upper midrange peak puts stress on the note release, resulting in harshness in the presentation.

Treble
The Earpads gently start rolling off after the upper midrange peak, and increasingly more so after roughly 7 KHz. Accordingly, the treble tone is not as bright as the upper midrange, and the treble quantity can be considered roughly neutral. The downside is that the KLM earpads are not very upfront in their detail; especially finer elements tend to get lost.

Select comparisons

KLM Earpads vs. Non-stop crying baby behind me
The crying baby contrasts the KLM Earpads with a midcentric signature, and main energy in the 3-4 KHz region. Similar to the Earpads, the mid-bass presentation is laidback, resulting in a brighter than neutral tone. However, due to better treble extension, crying baby has greater transparency and resolution. In addition, its imaging is more pinpoint precise - the tone is more easily localised in space. Notes have more focus in comparison to the fuzzy and diffused presentation of the Earpads. It betters the Earpads in its ability to form a solid, and dare I say, 3D vocal presentation. It still doesn’t produce very dense or warm vocals, so it tends to favor female over male vocals – this isn’t something you’d use to put on to kick back with some Frank Sinatra or Leonard Cohen. While its tone is not as bright as the Earpads, I would be hesitant to describe it as completely natural, due to the lack of bass and accordingly warmth in the tone. In both cases, the tone is not completely accurate, and there is a tendency towards harshness when played at louder volumes.

Ah yes from what I heard depressed adolescent has a flatter response, with a more prominent low end. But realistically, you don't have to be a basshead to realise crying baby is rather bass light, and it can be downright harsh for sensitive listeners. Some people describe it as less musical, but I guess it really boils down to preference.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Timbre trumping technicalities isn't saying that an IEM doesn't need to be technically competent-- it's more about pointing out that one generally has to make sacrifices on one area to maximize another. One only needs to observe how IEMs most highly praised for their technical skill tend to be all BA, or BA/e-stat. This is because thicker DD timbre tends to limit raw resolution or perception of space & layering. In my experience the phrase "timbre over technicalities" is, practically speaking, just another way of stating a preference for DD timbre.

I know that I prefer DD timbre. It sounds so much more natural to me. In the full sized headphone world, I prefer DD timbre to planar magnetic timbre as well. Planars would be perfect if they could have DD timbre. Their resolution, imaging, sound stage are fantastic. But, the sound isn't quite right.

 

[SBranson]

As well as soul, funk, rock, blues, even a lot of jazz. While Elysium is king for female vocals I actually prefer male vocals on the Isabellae so when you factor in the DD bass stuff like Dire Straits, CCR, James Brown, etc. actually sounds better to me on Isabellae.

I guess we’ll have to respectfully agree to disagree, or rather just acknowledge our listening differences and tastes.
I listen to classical/crossover type music, baroque solo instrument or small ensemble. These “mini-concerts” where acoustic instruments are mic’ed in oftentimes specific halls or churches etc., benefit from an iem that better conveys these detail. Most of the time the music is old so the “new” part of the recording is in the interpretation of the player or the instrument itself. For these I find the Elysium almost peerless and certainly in another league from the Isabellae.
But… the Isabellae is an amazing iem and if the “drive” of the music is more important than the imaging or extreme subtleties of timbre then I can certainly understand it’s appeal over the Elysium especially considering the price difference.

. my brain can adjust to and enjoy an IEM like Isabellae without feeling the need to seek out anything else.

This is the subtle distinction for me. Yes I can adjust as well. But for me the enjoyment of hearing the freshness of a new performance of old music is different from something entirely new so I tend to favour a more technical iem like the Elysium.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

I guess we’ll have to respectfully agree to disagree, or rather just acknowledge our listening differences and tastes.
I listen to classical/crossover type music, baroque solo instrument or small ensemble. These “mini-concerts” where acoustic instruments are mic’ed in oftentimes specific halls or churches etc., benefit from an iem that better conveys these detail. Most of the time the music is old so the “new” part of the recording is in the interpretation of the player or the instrument itself. For these I find the Elysium almost peerless and certainly in another league from the Isabellae.
But… the Isabellae is an amazing iem and if the “drive” of the music is more important than the imaging or extreme subtleties of timbre then I can certainly understand it’s appeal over the Elysium especially considering the price difference.


This is the subtle distinction for me. Yes I can adjust as well. But for me the enjoyment of hearing the freshness of a new performance of old music is different from something entirely new so I tend to favour a more technical iem like the Elysium.

Your description of the Elysium is different than I've read before. Very interesting. I also see that you are selling your Elysium. Does the Traillii meet your needs with this genre of music sufficiently or does not having it create a gap in your listening portfolio. I've never been that interested in the Elysium because it's so odd to have BA bass and DD mids to me. I'm concerned about taking that risk. But you description for classical baroque music is intriguing to me.

 

[immortalsoul]

Elysium is not the only iem that uses the dynamic driver for mids and balance armature for bass, the first one to come on the market was JH Audio Lola, another great iem

 

[Rockwell75]

acknowledge our listening differences and tastes.

I think it's mostly this-- I don't disagree with really anything in principle that you're saying but a lot of it doesn't apply to me given most of what I listen to.

But… the Isabellae is an amazing iem and if the “drive” of the music is more important than the imaging or extreme subtleties of timbre

Not just drive but timbre too. DD timbre (and presence and weight) down low is vastly superior-- it's one of those things I can (and did) get used to when Elysium was all I had but now that I've got two DD IEMs alongside it it's a lot harder to adjust to the bass when I go back to Ely now.

 

[NewEve]

Great to see you're on board...make sure you share your thoughts here

Will most certainly do!

Perhaps the biggest realization I've had in this hobby recently is that absolute technical performance does not correlate to an increase in enjoyment for me.

That…

 

[Rockwell75]

Speaking of DD timbre the tracking for my Honeydew just updated finally...I should have it early next week.

Also:

Spoiler: Oh Japan-- NSFW

 

[blotmouse]

Speaking of DD timbre the tracking for my Honeydew just updated finally...I should have it early next week.

Also:

Spoiler: Oh Japan-- NSFW

Yass! I'm lovin' it.

 

[Neweymatt]

Just ordered the Isabellae mainly based on comments in this thread. Even though it's a blind buy for me I think the risk factor is quite small given it's price point.

...and here I thought 3DT was a much $$ as I was willing to go on a blind...

Isabellae imho can be described with some accuracy as either a baby Elysium or an Andromeda like tuning through a single DD.

...so I'd be actually saving myself $2k buying an Isabellae.

Beyond that i can easily adjust to and be happy with a comparatively wide array of sound sigs.

Problem is that I listen to something different every day.

I wouldn't say this a problem exactly, I listen to something different every 5 minutes. This is why I'm trying to acquire a variety of differently-tuned IEMs and headphones at different price points. I figured out pretty early on that there will never be a 'best' IEM or HP for me, just a lot of really great. Mixing and matching gear with whatever I'm listening to is what I enjoy most out of this hobby, landing on those spine-tingling-fall-back-in-your-chair-with-dumb-grin moments. Had a few of those the last couple days with the new Andro I have to say.

 

[pbui44]

Also:

Spoiler: Oh Japan-- NSFW

Oh...this joke was probably leading to one of the many items that McDonald’s could not sell very well in the US:

 

[Rockwell75]

Oh...this joke was probably leading to one of the many items that McDonald’s could not sell very well in the US:

I always thought the McDick was the most obvious name for a hot dog from McDonalds.

 

[Rockwell75]

...so I'd be actually saving myself $2k buying an Isabellae.

Maybe...have a look at the last couple pages and see the posts by @SBranson and myself when discussing this. Elysium is decidedly a step up from Isa in a few key (mostly technical) ways...however depending on your music library you may or may not be taking full advantage of its abilities. Isabellae goes a long way to presenting an "Ely like experience" but has a few potent tricks up its sleeve including (imho) a peerless single DD tuning.