In this light, I would like to share some rambling of mine.
Always happy to read your contributions
Land surpasses Zen effortlessly. 3-dimensional immersive holographic presentation, imaging, airiness, note definition and dimensionality, separation - Land exhibits all of them in a far more superior way than Zen
Land has a clear advantage in the areas you list given that it is a hybrid with BAs and e-stats. I would make the same claims about Elysium over Isabellae (Ely wins in technicalities) and for the same reasons-- the drivers Elysium (and Land) use lend themselves to imaging, speed, note definition, airiness etc. in ways that a single DD cannot keep up with. A single DD does have its advantages though, if exploited through good tuning. These include primarily for me things like 1) single driver coherence, which gives the overall sound a fundamental unity that is, as a rule, easier to embrace emotionally (whereas technical skill is, by and large, more intellectual in character) and 2) the advantage of having natural DD timbre from top to bottom.
For me an IEM that, through great tuning, exploits the potential of a single DD to the fullest is the Oriolus Isabellae. While I consent that Elysium excels Isa in all the ways you list as Land besting Zen I cannot fail to note that Isabellae at its best presents no less an enjoyable listening experience as the Elysium-- and in the right circumstances even excels it in some ways.
I have been thinking a lot about this in light of some of the great discussion that has been taking place in this thread. I will address this further in a reply to
@SBranson below.
.Although, it is common knowledge that multi-BA iems have greater command in separation, imaging, and sometimes note definition, over single DD iem. Why then was I so surprised that Land outclasses Zen in those aspects by a considerable margin?
I think it's partly the e-stats. They have a capacity for speed, weight and clarity that is really special...especially the second gen of e-stats in Trailli, Spark, Odin (and I'm curious if they're in Land).
Don't know, may be I had too much expectation, may be Land is simply much superiorly tuned, may be Zen has a different tuning that is not up my alley.
I think this is a huge part of it. The Isabellae has really opened my eyes to what is possible with summit fi tuning. Also, while I haven't heard the Zen I have heard that it has quite. an "Eastern" tuning to it-- which is consistent with your description of the mids. That and harmon tuning are two of my biggest turn offs in IEMs....not that people can't justifiably love them, I just don't.
That’s why “better” is in quotes. It’s in reference to “accuracy” and even then it’s a grey area. Does emotional content count for “accuracy”?
It’s like playing a Bach fugue with no dynamics, robotically but with perfect time and no wrong notes.. it’s “accurate” with the tone of the piano being real and all but is it “music”?
In some definitions yes..
Same piece played through a crappy single speaker am radio.. you get the “music” but miss out on the subtleties of the musician’s technical proficiency in voicing and key weight.. ?
If I know the piece, I can kind of fill in the “music” in the first example or appreciate that it was on a Bosendorfer rather than a Steinway piano, and in the second I can revel in the style even if I can’t hear all of the subtlety.
This was wonderfully elucidated, thank-you. It presents a really clear metric for assessing the "better or worse-ness" of an IEM's presentation. I think when one is really specific like this there are certainly objective standards regarding whether one thing is better than another-- in these cases it wouldn't simply come down to "personal truth". Where we get into trouble is when we start comparing different sorts of things. What you've beautifully described above applies most to classical and solo instrumental stuff. My library contains virtually none of that so as poignant a metric as it is it has no real application to a lot of the music I listen to. When I'm listening to a Dire Straits album, some Romanian minimal techno, classic 80s pop or some Blue Note Jazz classics from the 60s the notion of separating the nuance of the individual performer from his interpretation of a classical piece doesn't even apply here and so fundamentally we're seeking and often talking about different things. Thus I can say "for my purposes Isabellae stands alongside and even surpasses Elysium at times" and simultaneously agree when you say "Elysium far surpasses Isabellae in ways that matter to me" and yet still maintain that all our judgments were according to objective standards...we just used different objective standards due to the varying nature and needs of our music libraries.
Finding the iem that balances both is what I’m looking for rather than one from each camp.. We all look for something different from music..
What, if anything, do Elysium &/or Trailli leave lacking in this dept?
MusicTeck must be pretty busy. I have a shipping label created for Isa, but no email communicating anything. My order is marked fulfilled though, so not complaining if it magically shows up next week sometime. The wait has seemed extremely long for this little amber gem. I blame
@Rockwell75 exclusively for this.
This is the closest I've ever been to the centre of a hype train...I hope at least most people are satisfied with it. Really looking forward to people's thoughts regardless.
Sorry for the delayed response. Bass on the TE5B seems to be more slightly more mid-bass focused. It doesn’t reach quite as deep as the LX, but I don’t know many/any that do. I find that with the LX it can sometimes be overwhelming, especially on tracks that already have a boosted sub-bass. Bass on the TE5B is quicker and with more punch, while LX seems “bigger”. Overall the TE5B seems sharper, Legend X smoother.
Thanks for sharing. I was actually talking about the LX vs. LX SE in my comment.
Edit: Also, my Honeydew finally landed in Richmond, which means I'll have it Monday
