[jwilliamhurst]

Quite an exhibition! Whose place is it?

My guess would be @tgx78 art studio.

 

[Ace Bee]

I’m enjoying so much Acoustune HS1677ss with Hiby RS6 while I’m burning my Aroma’s IEMs.
I never had much time with Dark Sky but right now I’d live happy with HS1677ss.
It provide a wall of sound with incredible stage and funny tuning.
Bass is punchy deep but never too much, mids are so clear but never harsh and with touch of musicality.
Highs are airy, fast and precise, reminds me a lot EST highs.
I can’t believe it’s a DD, I’ll never suggest to people who like dark or muddy sound, but if you’re looking for a punchy iem with incredible stage and presence you should try Acoustune HS1677ss.
For sure it’s in my top 5 ever had.

A brief comparison between the Dark Sky and 1677Ss Please?

 

[DanielListening]

@Rockwell75 and @holsen

That looks like such a nice space. Good vibes.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

What is your personal IEM of the Year?

I would choose either Empire Ears Legend EVO for its Bombastic Bass or Unique Melody Indigo for its Insane Imaging.

I am sure that if I heard them that Elysian X or Annihilator would be in the running for its Tremendous Treble and Vision Ears EXT or Phonix for its Monumental Mids.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

The C9 is a good device. Unfortunately the novelty wore off for me. The majority of the IEMs sounded bolder and threw an image larger than my DAP with minimal noise but ultimately it didn't add enough musical enjoyment. I was also disappointed by the only slight difference I could appreciate between Korg Nutube and the SS. The Nutubes never went tubey enough for my tastes. Maybe my opinion was jaded by not hearing it paired with a true LO but alas, I'll probably never know. I'm quite happy with the Shanling M8, it's got such power under the hood already and I have my sights on an R2R DAP purchase next year.

It's a great device to have by your side for versatility though, it drove my overears really well. Such a golden age for portable audio!

Dang. After your post, I got my C9 out and paired it with my DX312 and Monarch mkii. This is a tremendous pairing. It's definitely giving me that Wow factor. No Thieaudio product has ever done that for me. This one is. It is really making Jazz music come to life. I think that @snapandslide and @jwilliamhurst would love this sound. I know that @snapandslide slide has a DX300 Max, I think source would really make the Monarch mkii come to life as well.

 

[Ace Bee]

My guess would be @tgx78 art studio.

Now that you mention it, it does look like it.

 

[jwilliamhurst]

Dang. After your post, I got my C9 out and paired it with my DX312 and Monarch mkii. This is a tremendous pairing. It's definitely giving me that Wow factor. No Thieaudio product has ever done that for me. This one is. It is really making Jazz music come to life. I think that @snapandslide and @jwilliamhurst would love this sound. I know that @snapandslide slide has a DX300 Max, I think source would really make the Monarch mkii come to life as well.

Ahhhhh!!!!! So tempting! Have you paired it with your desktop system? Same effect?

 

[holsen]

@Rockwell75 and @holsen

Good times! Thanks for the hospitality @tgx78 and great to hang with you @Rockwell75. Really great afternoon with a couple really great guys.

 

[HarveyLowis]

Santa ( postman ) come early today....

Super long wait.. at least it still arrived before 2022.. The First Time cable already wait for her about 2 month...

Ps. When Typing this post, another Santa come again...
This time is Timeless...

 

[jwilliamhurst]

Dang. After your post, I got my C9 out and paired it with my DX312 and Monarch mkii. This is a tremendous pairing. It's definitely giving me that Wow factor. No Thieaudio product has ever done that for me. This one is. It is really making Jazz music come to life. I think that @snapandslide and @jwilliamhurst would love this sound. I know that @snapandslide slide has a DX300 Max, I think source would really make the Monarch mkii come to life as well.

Dang it, replied to the wrong post again this was for @HiFiHawaii808 with his question “What is your personal IEM of the Year?”

This is a tough one!

UM Mason fs for its amazing tactility across the fr making jazz and classical come literally ALIVE

UM Indigo for its imaging and balanced Tonality.

Other than Traillii but that was not released this year. Other wise it would be number 1 for giving me the music exactly as I prefer.

UM in my opinion had a slam dunk year, now only if they could keep it a little more professional with there competitors and keep
It healthy instead of trying to feud.

Honorable Mention is U12T- not new by any means but I had the opportunity to own it and it def shows how gracefully it’s aged and how it still outshines a lot of its competition. Some of the best Dynamics in the game!

 

[jwilliamhurst]

Santa ( postman ) come early today....





Super long wait.. at least it still arrived before 2022.. The First Time cable already wait for her about 2 month...

Ps. When Typing this post, another Santa come again...
This time is Timeless...
Will edit and upload picture again...

Anxious to hear your thoughts on the first times versus the stock cable…now that the hype has died down about the first times….

 

[Rockwell75]

Good times! Thanks for the hospitality @tgx78 and great to hang with you @Rockwell75. Really great afternoon with a couple really great guys.

Indeed! I reciprocate the sentiment. Props to @tgx78 for his graciousness and hospitality-- I really enjoyed spending time in the audio man cave he created for us in his art studio. It was a treat to be immersed in some audio reverie and look around to see his beautiful artwork-- much of inspired land and scenery very dear to me.

With so much ale and merriment about I'm not sure how objective I'll be able to be...and I have to go spend some time with my family that is hosting me. A couple quick summary blurbs.

1) Standout for me far and away was the Stealth. I've been craving a more robust planar experience ever since hearing the Timeless and it did not disappoint. Stunning, breathtaking...if a desktop setup wasn't totally impractical for me I'd be plotting how to get myself a VC and a nice planar...that would satisfy all my audio urges at that level.

2) IE900-- time was limited with this and I had no chance to try any EQ but:

+ some of the nicest bass I've ever heard
+ highs were impeccable-- sweet, sparkling and detailed
+ versatile

- mids were too pushed back at times
- I agree with the slightly veiled sentiment
- If I were to buy these it would be for the bass & highs and if I were to pick up an IEM mainly for bass & highs for that money I'd probably grab another IER Z1R

3) Monarch II - tuning is incredible. Strikes me as something of a poor man's u12t...which I listened to just before this.

4) u12t - admittedly the most fun I've ever had listening to this particular IEM...could have been the beer I dunno. I've come to appreciate neutral tuning a lot more since last hearing this and I'll have to do some adjustments to my rankings to give it a more fair shake. Still though the BA'ness is a thing (with this and the Monarch II) and I really miss the more full bodied dynamic mid-range I've become so accustomed to with the likes of Isa, Zen Pro & Duo.

5) Traillii - still 100% my first choice in an IEM without DD mids...I don't know how they got that timbre so natural without a DD or planar...but I do wonder if this IEM could sustain me in the long term given the lack of DD bass.

Surprise of the day: Yanyin Aladdin. What an effortlessly engaging non-assuming listen this. Should be in the conversation whenever $200 benchmarks are brought up.

So nice to have the Zen Pro back-- I've missed it so. It's emerging as the de facto IEM of 2021 for me and my current daily. I still have 8 days to settle that one though.

Thanks again for a great day boys!

 

[mashuto]

Man... Spend all day in the car driving up to the inlaws and miss like 15 pages of this thread.

I'm actually quite close to Canada! But... Still thousands of miles from you guys in BC.

Watercooler question: What's the biggest revelation you've had or shift in your understanding or approach or tastes that you've had in 2021? What did this year mean for you as far as this hobby goes?

That's a good one. I think simplifying has been my approach this year. Sold off a large chunk of my higher end IEMs and am down to just two (and a few lower end pairs too). Went to a ridiculous driver config with the Jolene but in the end I have just been wowed by the simplicity of the 64 duo. They are still not cheap but for a high end offering, with a simple driver config seemingly pushed to just extract the most out of them. Doesn't hurt that the tuning just works for me.

I recently picked up an ifi go blu and it's been extremely enjoyable using it. And it's just such easy to jump in and listen, especially compared to powering on my n6ii and making sure I have a strong wifi connection (especially not great using my phone as a hotspot). Any sound quality differences are also seemingly lost on me too, as I think the go blu sounds great.

Honestly, my kit is almost certainly overkill in terms of price for what I need and for what brings me enjoyment. And with something tuned well and to my preferences, I likely would be happy with a kit costing maybe a few hundred at most.

So yes, enjoyment and convenience are incredibly important, much more so than trying to chase some very likely extremely marginal and hard to define sound quality improvements. It also means that my trend toward having less desire to keep chasing new gear is currently as low as it's been in at least a couple years.

 

[HarveyLowis]

First listening to Timeless, it reminds me with u18t.
the tuning of timeless and u18t are same with impact drum, forward woman vocal and cymbal ( best for anime ost / woman j-rock )

 

[feverfive]

@Rockwell75 Honestly surprised you enjoyed the Monarch MKII so much, truly. I thought they may be too "reference'ish" for you, hahaha. They definitely hit the mark of what I was after. As I said upthread a couple weeks ago, it was becoming more & more of a want to have a set to complement my IE 900....and I leaned towards going back to my audio roots (2-channel speaker rigs as a teenager) where reference was the goal....but I have become, well, not a basshead, but someone who can appreciate all sorts of tunings barring bass-light ones.

The MKII are the neutral'ish with bass boost set that I sought. It was a very short search, frankly, LOL. Again, not for everyone to be sure, but if this is the tuning that you can appreciate, and want to stay out of multi-kilobuck land, I have a hard time coming up with something better.