The Watercooler -- Impressions, philosophical discussion and general banter. Index on first page. All welcome.
Oct 5, 2021 at 6:24 PM Post #3,106 of 84,894
Oct 6, 2021 at 8:10 PM Post #3,109 of 84,894
Great track. The first Deepchord album "The Coldest Season" a huge favourite for me in terms of dub techno.

Coldest Season is a classic. I'm a huge fan of Rod, Stephen and the whole Echospace sound.

Auratones is another Deepchord classic:

 
Oct 7, 2021 at 12:26 AM Post #3,110 of 84,894
listening to the reborn the next few days on the Dave and Hugo! thanks for letting me borrow Rockwell75
 
Oct 7, 2021 at 3:28 PM Post #3,111 of 84,894
Blur arrived today - wow is the best single word I can choose! What they lack in look and feel, they make up multiple times in what they are supposed to do - sound effing fantastic. Quite incredible for less than $200. Need to push my NW-WM1A up to almost 60/120 on high gain and balanced so they certainly need juice - Traillii rarely go above 40. A bit brighter than the Fiio EM5 but also more punchy bass, enjoying some D&B right now and sounds incredible. The natural but huge soundstage is incredible too.

I'm looking forward to getting to know these in the coming days...

20211007_113800.jpg
 
Oct 7, 2021 at 3:53 PM Post #3,112 of 84,894
Blur arrived today - wow is the best single word I can choose! What they lack in look and feel, they make up multiple times in what they are supposed to do - sound effing fantastic. Quite incredible for less than $200. Need to push my NW-WM1A up to almost 60/120 on high gain and balanced so they certainly need juice - Traillii rarely go above 40. A bit brighter than the Fiio EM5 but also more punchy bass, enjoying some D&B right now and sounds incredible. The natural but huge soundstage is incredible too.

I'm looking forward to getting to know these in the coming days...

20211007_113800.jpg
Yeah, those are super unimpressive looking. Like what you'd net at a grab and go off the highway.
Or... a time machine just took you back to the sweet 80's? Gotta love those disintegrating grill covers. In fact, these are hipster af. Thumbs up. lol
 
Oct 7, 2021 at 4:04 PM Post #3,113 of 84,894
Yeah, those are super unimpressive looking. Like what you'd net at a grab and go off the highway.
Or... a time machine just took you back to the sweet 80's? Gotta love those disintegrating grill covers. In fact, these are hipster af. Thumbs up. lol

Yeah definitely no prizes for looks - or feel, the cable is stiff and the buds are light plastic. You'd guess they might be $10 buds if you didn't know better... plug them in your ears though and 😯
 
Oct 8, 2021 at 2:01 AM Post #3,114 of 84,894
The EXT arrived today!!!! Just did a brief listen before I strapped them in for burn-in. They are just what we all asked for, Ely mids, with deep, powerful bass!
 
Oct 8, 2021 at 9:07 AM Post #3,115 of 84,894
The EXT arrived today!!!! Just did a brief listen before I strapped them in for burn-in. They are just what we all asked for, Ely mids, with deep, powerful bass!

Man I can't wait. All signs are pointing to the EXT being my next major IEM purchase.
 
Oct 8, 2021 at 11:21 PM Post #3,117 of 84,894
The EXT arrived today!!!! Just did a brief listen before I strapped them in for burn-in. They are just what we all asked for, Ely mids, with deep, powerful bass!

Would love to hear some more impressions if/when you can. I'm literally on the edge of my seat about these.

In other news, could anyone so inclined describe for me how they understand the following terms as pertaining to IEM tuning: neutral, reference, balanced-- in particular as they pertain to tonal & timbral accuracy. I've been thinking about a comment I read yesterday where it was stated that an IEM tuned to harman would objectively have more accurate instrumental tone & timbre. On the surface I disagree with this as it's not how I understand the Harman target at all, which itself seems to me to be more of a lowest common denominator sort of tuning, aiming more to maximize preference and not necessarily having anything to do with accuracy. In this way I see it as sort of the communism of IEM tuning (haha) but I don't understand how this translates into tone & timbre accuracy (whatever that means) which to me has as much or more to with driver types & acoustical configuration as it does tuning.
 
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Oct 8, 2021 at 11:38 PM Post #3,118 of 84,894
Would love to hear some more impressions if/when you can. I'm literally on the edge of my seat about these.

In other news, could anyone so inclined describe for me how they understand the following terms as pertaining to IEM tuning: neutral, reference, balanced-- in particular as they pertain to tonal & timbral accuracy. I've been thinking about a comment I read yesterday where it was stated that an IEM tuned to harman would objectively have more accurate instrumental tone & timbre. On the surface I disagree with this as it's not how I understand the Harman target at all, which itself seems to me to be more of lowest common denominator sort of tuning, aiming more to maximize preference rather than accuracy. In this way I see it as sort of the communism of IEM tuning (haha) but I don't understand how this translates into tone & timbre accuracy (whatever that means) which to me has as much to with driver types as tuning.
I don't have a wealth of knowledge here, but I was under the same impression as you. Tuning to that curve doesn't inherently grant you magical accuracy powers, organically speaking. General favorable human hearing tuning target. And that is what I thought more or less was under the "reference" banner. The other 2 not absolutely sure. They get thrown around and likely misused all the time.
 
Oct 8, 2021 at 11:43 PM Post #3,119 of 84,894
Would love to hear some more impressions if/when you can. I'm literally on the edge of my seat about these.

In other news, could anyone so inclined describe for me how they understand the following terms as pertaining to IEM tuning: neutral, reference, balanced-- in particular as they pertain to tonal & timbral accuracy. I've been thinking about a comment I read yesterday where it was stated that an IEM tuned to harman would objectively have more accurate instrumental tone & timbre. On the surface I disagree with this as it's not how I understand the Harman target at all, which itself seems to me to be more of lowest common denominator sort of tuning, aiming more to maximize preference rather than accuracy. In this way I see it as sort of the communism of IEM tuning (haha) but I don't understand how this translates into tone & timbre accuracy (whatever that means) which to me has as much to with driver types as tuning.
Another Wonderful question @Rockwell75 again this will have many answers but for me, neutral would be flat and linear without any part of the FR boosted which depending on source and amplification(in all scenarios) how that will translate to the user…for example, my Rhapsodio Eden is considered a neutral iem and I would agree. Nothing is boosted and it’s smooth and natural.
Reference tuning would encapsulate extreme detail retrieval on the micro level with excellent dynamics and imaging will excel. I feel that macro dynamics lends itself to a more open and natural tonality which in my opinion would be a balanced tuning. I feel that Traillii is the most balanced monitor that I have heard on any source I’ve paired it with. Balanced to me is a monitor that excels in tone and timbre but also technicalities and stage. Traillii is not perfect but to me is the most balanced due to its tuning. In my opinion from my experience, the implementation and tuning are what is important not necessarily driver type. Technology has def improved upon with BA and DD as well As bone conduction.
Thinking further about Isabella and I wouldn’t place this monitor in any of these categories. I would say it’s closer to balanced when talking timbre and tonality but no where near the level of Traillii. I have heard others say Traillii is a version of reference but I disagree because of the upper harmonic scoop. Reference to me is anole VX. Balanced is Traillii and Nuetral would be Eden or the Soft ears Turii. Harman is closer to neutral with a sub bass boost

I’m not the most knowledgeable here and I’m just relaying what I’ve learned on my journey. Please if I said anything amiss, please be gentle and don’t attack me. I would rather learn and hear what others think as well :) as I’m always willing and wanting to learn more!

Thank you @Rockwell75 for the great questions recently. Love that it gets the community thinking and talking. 🙏🏼✌🏼
 
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Oct 8, 2021 at 11:50 PM Post #3,120 of 84,894
Another Wonderful question @Rockwell75 again this will have many answers but for me, neutral would be flat and linear without any part of the FR boosted which depending on source and amplification(in all scenarios) how that will translate to the user…for example, my Rhapsodio Eden is considered a neutral iem and I would agree. Nothing is boosted and it’s smooth and natural.
Reference tuning would encapsulate extreme detail retrieval on the micro level with excellent dynamics and imaging will excel. I feel that macro dynamics lends itself to a more open and natural tonality which in my opinion would be a balanced tuning. I feel that Traillii is the most balanced monitor that I have heard on any source I’ve paired it with. Balanced to me is a monitor that excels in tone and timbre but also technicalities and stage. Traillii is not perfect but to me is the most balanced due to its tuning. In my opinion from my experience, the implementation and tuning are what is important not necessarily driver type. Technology has def improved upon with BA and DD as well As bone conduction.
Thinking further about Isabella and I wouldn’t place this monitor in any of these categories. I would say it’s closer to balanced when talking timbre and tonality but no where near the level of Traillii. I have heard others say Traillii is a version of reference but I disagree because of the upper harmonic scoop. Reference to me is anole VX. Balanced is Traillii and Nuetral would be Eden or the Soft ears Turii. Harman is closer to neutral with a sub bass boost

I’m not the most knowledgeable here and I’m just relaying what I’ve learned on my journey. Please if I said anything amiss, please be gentle and don’t attack me. I would rather learn and hear what others think as well :) as I’m always willing and wanting to learn more!

Thank you @Rockwell75 for the great questions recently. Love that it gets the community thinking and talking. 🙏🏼✌🏼
Also, I’ve never been a huge fan of harman curve at all. To me tone and timbre hasn’t existed with the harman targeted monitors I’ve heard! Harman excels with EDM because of its inherent synthetic elements and because the gain area of the FR is accentuated. Natural music is more mid bass oriented over sub bass. Again my opinion. We all hear differently so YMMV
 
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