The Watercooler -- Impressions, philosophical discussion and general banter. Index on first page. All welcome.
Dec 30, 2021 at 2:14 PM Post #8,866 of 84,886
Great movie...one of my favourite soundtracks. Amazingly I'd never heard Caravan before seeing this movie.



Edit ^ through Zen Pro & RU6 is magnifique. Highlights the technical chops & timbre of the former and smooth & natural character of the latter.

My joy of listening to caravan is only surpassed by the joy of playing caravan with a band.
 
Dec 30, 2021 at 2:21 PM Post #8,867 of 84,886
I agree! This would be rad.
I like what many Youtube reviewers do like @Resolve from headphones.com. They have a topic and then open it up for Q&A and that can last for hours. You get all of the questions answered that you care about. Something like that may be a good venue. Doing it on a message board format might get unwieldy for the brand and responder.
 
Dec 30, 2021 at 2:35 PM Post #8,868 of 84,886
Well that was a lot of movies a couple of my favorites were not listed but they are pretty strange ones to like so much.

Outland (Sean Connery, space movie)
Great scene with a drip of blood going up, subtle way to show zero gravity. Sean against the corrupt monopoly.

A Boy And His Dog (post apocalyptic fiction)
The boy chooses his dog over a beautiful young women, who to eat, twisted.

Definitely big vote for Pan’s Labyrinth,
truly incredible movie.
 
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Dec 30, 2021 at 2:40 PM Post #8,869 of 84,886
Dec 30, 2021 at 2:46 PM Post #8,870 of 84,886
I am finally able to publish my first top 10 IEM list. I am not publishing this on the top 10 I've ever heard thread because this is the all star line up that I own and I may not just buy the 10 best IEMs for a collection as I have different use cases and want to avoid overlap. My case holds 12 and an NBA all star team has 12. So, I have reserved 2 roster spots for EXT, Phonix, X (if it's worthy and still buyable in the aftermarket) or Annihilator

Anyway, here it is:

1. Empire Ears Legend EVO. Mind blowing bass for that Club experience
2. Oriolus Traillii. Best combination of tuning, resolution, coherence for all around listening
3. Unique Melody MEST Indigo. Break through imaging and staging.
4. Empire Ears Odin. Perfect companion to EVO for all genre EVO can't cover. Perfect for Piano.
5. Sony IER Z1R. Best transients in the market. Makes everything sound energetic and perfect for live music.
6. Thieaudio Monarch mkii. My reference monitors. Great for classical music and jazz
7. Empire Ears Legend X (CIEM). My original bass head monitors I use for airplanes given great isolation
8. Vision Ears VE8. My male vocals monitor with its slightly elevated lower mids and great bass to mids transition
9. Oriolus Isabellae. My favorite monitor for walking around. And my favorite instrumental timbre
10. Sennheiser IE900. Addictive bass response.
 
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Dec 30, 2021 at 3:34 PM Post #8,871 of 84,886
Not much need for me to make a movie list. You guys covered it except two.
High Fidelity Watch it once to enjoy the story and a couple of more times to see if you can name all the HiFi equipment.
Almost Famous See Kate Hudson play a groupie in a movie about Cameron Crow
 
Dec 30, 2021 at 3:40 PM Post #8,872 of 84,886
I am finally able to publish my first top 10 IEM list. I am not publishing this on the top 10 I've ever heard thread because this is the all star line up that I own and I may not just buy the 10 best IEMs for a collection as I have different use cases and want to avoid overlap. My case holds 12 and an NBA all star team has 12. So, I have reserved 2 roster spots for EXT, Phonix, X (if it's worthy and still buyable in the aftermarket) or Annihilator

Anyway, here it is:

1. Empire Ears Legend EVO. Mind blowing bass for that Club experience
2. Oriolus Traillii. Best combination of tuning, resolution, coherence for all around listening
3. Unique Melody MEST Indigo. Break through imaging and staging.
4. Empire Ears Odin. Perfect companion to EVO for all genre EVO can't cover. Perfect for Piano.
5. Sony IER Z1R. Best transients in the market. Makes everything sound energetic and perfect for live music.
6. Thieaudio Monarch mkii. My reference monitors. Great for classical music and jazz
7. Empire Ears Legend X (CIEM). My original bass head monitors I use for airplanes given great isolation
8. Vision Ears VE8. My male vocals monitor with its slightly elevated lower mids and great bass to mids transition
9. Oriolus Isabellae. My favorite monitor for walking around. And my favorite instrumental timbre
10. Sennheiser IE900. Addictive bass response.

Great list! This is how a top 10 should be…a few standards plus a few more personalized choices. Keep ‘‘em coming everyone.
 
Dec 30, 2021 at 4:15 PM Post #8,873 of 84,886
I am finally able to publish my first top 10 IEM list. I am not publishing this on the top 10 I've ever heard thread because this is the all star line up that I own and I may not just buy the 10 best IEMs for a collection as I have different use cases and want to avoid overlap. My case holds 12 and an NBA all star team has 12. So, I have reserved 2 roster spots for EXT, Phonix, X (if it's worthy and still buyable in the aftermarket) or Annihilator

Anyway, here it is:

1. Empire Ears Legend EVO. Mind blowing bass for that Club experience
2. Oriolus Traillii. Best combination of tuning, resolution, coherence for all around listening
3. Unique Melody MEST Indigo. Break through imaging and staging.
4. Empire Ears Odin. Perfect companion to EVO for all genre EVO can't cover. Perfect for Piano.
5. Sony IER Z1R. Best transients in the market. Makes everything sound energetic and perfect for live music.
6. Thieaudio Monarch mkii. My reference monitors. Great for classical music and jazz
7. Empire Ears Legend X (CIEM). My original bass head monitors I use for airplanes given great isolation
8. Vision Ears VE8. My male vocals monitor with its slightly elevated lower mids and great bass to mids transition
9. Oriolus Isabellae. My favorite monitor for walking around. And my favorite instrumental timbre
10. Sennheiser IE900. Addictive bass response.
Man, miss EVOs bass quite often. My basshead animal is still in there somewhere, waiting to burst out on decent bass cannon release.
 
Dec 30, 2021 at 4:19 PM Post #8,874 of 84,886
Great list! This is how a top 10 should be…a few standards plus a few more personalized choices. Keep ‘‘em coming everyone.
Good insight. When a person first gets into high end audio, they really haven't heard enough IEMs or headphones to know what their preferences are. The first thing they hear is probably better than anything they've heard before. It takes hundreds or thousands of hours of listening and A/B testing to really nail down what an individual likes. This is why people rely so heavily on reviewers. But, the reviewer may not have your preferences. But, it doesn't matter most of the time because they don't know what they are missing anyway. When you look at someone's top 10, if they look like a reviewers list, they probably don't have a lot of listening experience and are just choosing what they've read is the best rather than what they have determined on their own is the best. A top 10 should be a snapshot of a person's audio personality and that personality is as different as our finger prints.
 
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Dec 30, 2021 at 4:20 PM Post #8,875 of 84,886
Man, miss EVOs bass quite often. My basshead animal is still in there somewhere, waiting to burst out on decent bass cannon release.
You will come back to it sooner or later just like you did Indigo. Don't fight it.
 
Dec 30, 2021 at 4:27 PM Post #8,876 of 84,886
Great list! This is how a top 10 should be…a few standards plus a few more personalized choices. Keep ‘‘em coming everyone.
I am too new to this, there are not ten IEMs I actually liked, of the ones I listened to.
The ones in my signature are the ones I liked and bought plus the Durado which I did not as of yet have a lot of time listening to. I have heard 15 others that did not move me.

1-Traillii
2-Mason FS
3-Thummim
4-Isabellae
5-Elysium
6-U12T
7-Mest
8-Durado (not sure where it would fall in my limited ranking)

1-2 are my daily drivers with the P6Pro
3, 7, and probably 8 my C9 morning partners.
4-5 my night time companions

I have a lot of hope in the Phonix being one that I will like a lot, and the Indigo has potential.
 
Dec 30, 2021 at 4:41 PM Post #8,877 of 84,886
I am too new to this, there are not ten IEMs I actually liked, of the ones I listened to.
The ones in my signature are the ones I liked and bought plus the Durado which I did not as of yet have a lot of time listening to. I have heard 15 others that did not move me.

1-Traillii
2-Mason FS
3-Thummim
4-Isabellae
5-Elysium
6-U12T
7-Mest
8-Durado (not sure where it would fall in my limited ranking)

1-2 are my daily drivers with the P6Pro
3, 7, and probably 8 my C9 morning partners.
4-5 my night time companions

I have a lot of hope in the Phonix being one that I will like a lot, and the Indigo has potential.

I’ve had the Phonix on for about 3 continuous hours so far today. I think you’re going to love these. Very very special IEMs. Just not entirely sure where they may fit into your collection, but looking forward to seeing what you think regardless.

Whatever new BA driver they’re using for the highs in the Phonix is flat out amazing. I’ve heard some damn good treble IEMs too but this one I think takes the cake, even over the Elysian ESTs. It has speed, smoothness, detail, weight, texture, extension, fantastic timbre, natural presentation. I can’t get enough of the highs. It’s like the love triangle child of the Tia drivers, Traillii timbre, and Elysian EST qualities.

VE’s tuning ability is just straight up awesome. Between the Phonix and EXT they really released two fantastic IEMs.
 
Dec 30, 2021 at 4:49 PM Post #8,878 of 84,886
I’ve had the Phonix on for about 3 continuous hours so far today. I think you’re going to love these. Very very special IEMs. Just not entirely sure where they may fit into your collection, but looking forward to seeing what you think regardless.

Whatever new BA driver they’re using for the highs in the Phonix is flat out amazing. I’ve heard some damn good treble IEMs too but this one I think takes the cake, even over the Elysian ESTs. It has speed, smoothness, detail, weight, texture, extension, fantastic timbre, natural presentation. I can’t get enough of the highs. It’s like the love triangle child of the Tia drivers, Traillii timbre, and Elysian EST qualities.

VE’s tuning ability is just straight up awesome. Between the Phonix and EXT they really released two fantastic IEMs.
Well now I am even more intrigued to hear Phonix.
I missed out on Erlk so this is as close as I am going to get for a new purchase and it actually seems it may be even better anyway.
 
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Dec 30, 2021 at 4:51 PM Post #8,879 of 84,886
Mest II
Dunu Zen Pro
VE V8
Dunu SA6
Dorado 2020
Isabellae
Soft Ears RSV
Timeless
CA Solaris SE
Moondrop Kato

I can pick up any one of these and a Shanling DAP and just let the afternoon flow on.
 
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Dec 30, 2021 at 4:52 PM Post #8,880 of 84,886
Well now I am even more intrigued to hear Phonix. I missed out on Erlk so this is as close as I am going to get for a new purchase and it actually seems it may be even better anyway.

It’s still different to Erlkonig, enough to where people will prefer one or the other but it’s got the erlky DNA inside it. Phonix is closer to Erlkonig than EXT is to Elysium.
 

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