I'm on the fence about Phonix vs. Traillii-- they each have their strengths and I'm not sure either could entirely replace the other. EXT is its own thing entirely and may in fact be my favorite of the 3. Yesterday with the OG Sednafit eartips EXT sounded a touch bassy with the M8 but today with the Crystals it's pitch perfect. In a way EXT is exactly what I was hoping a followup to the LX would be-- big but more controlled bass, dynamic, natural, unveiled, forward and sufficiently resolving mids and ethereal highs. The only ding in the armour for me so far is fit-- EXT has this weird bump on the nozzle, which I think has something to do with the placement of the HALC...but if it's not positioned just right it causes me some fatigue over time. After a few hours with this setup I switched back to Phonix, which I intentionally started with last night, and while it's still epic in its own right my heart is much more oriented to the musical, dynamic, bodied sound the EXT's DD's provide, even factoring in the slight loss of sheer technical performance you get when going from something like Phonix to EXT. This is typical BA vs. DD stuff and I imagine most people already know where they stand here...but now as before I'm strongly in the DD camp. YMMV.
These have had the bulk of my ear-time today; beautifully musical and engaging, one could forget aspirations for audio nirvana while walking about with zero wires to consider and just enjoying the music! Much better also than my previous Sennheiser TW2. I had them paired to the ZX507 on a walk this morning and can say with certainty that I enjoyed more than previously when cables to consider - plus Sony on Sony just seems to gel. Also, wandering about the house doing some chores made all the more enjoyable. Another 'best' bang for buck purchase, the first of 2022... I was on the fence way too long with these.
Fow TWS, the XM4 & final ZE3000 are two of my favourites at the store. If you happen to find a final booth at CanJam, I'd highly recommend giving them a try as well The Sony has incredible noise isolating feature, unbeatable in its class. And the sound was tuned more to the warmer side. The ZE3000 to me sounded more balanced, with a fun 6mm DD bass and clearer mids. And the weight is lighter too, with excellent fit & enough insertion depth so that they don't fall easily
I haven't done an in-depth comparison yet...but here are few things off the top of my head.
Sameness:
They both go for a balanced sound and both have a nice blend of technicality & musicality.
Tonal balance from bass -> treble is superb-- I perceive the whole signature as a unity and am not drawn to bass or treble or mids specifically on either IEM.
Both are magnificently coherent with single driver-type setups.
Both have a nice weighty, sure footed sound.
Differences:
+ Zen Pro
-- DD timbre
-- DD bass
-- it's only $900
-- bass hits the pit of your chest
-- in its own way it may surpass the Phonix in terms of transparency-- I think because the bass in Phonix is a bit more heavy handed, perhaps trying to compensate for the BAness, whereas the Zen Pro takes the minimalist approach where the level of bass is almost homeopathic but due to the qualities of the DD it hits damn hard and is eminently satisfying despite the low quantity. This lesser bass quantity gives the rest of the signature room to breath. This is the true genius of the Zen Pro's bass tuning.
+ Phonix
-- about $3K worth of tuning & technicalities
-- further to above resolution may be the best I've ever heard...perhaps equal only to Traillii
-- smoother & more relaxing up top, but no less dynamic.
-- less source sensitive
-- more extension above & below
-- some of the most forgiving BA timbre I've encountered yet
-- there is a degree of precision & clarity to Phonix's sound that is unique in my experience and which is straight up addicting
I just got my Andro 2020 back after they were out on a personal loaner tour for 6 months+. It's wonderful to have them back again and interesting to hear them again after so long, it's almost like I'm having a fresh perspective on them. I've been listening to my original Solaris exclusively recently (among IEMs), and the Andro's comfort, for me, is incredible; the mid-bass is far more emphasized than I'd remembered; I agree @Rockwell75 about the limp bass, although I hear its weakness being mainly in the sub-bass region. But, man, it has such an enjoyable and engaging sound. This weekend's a second honeymoon!
Nice enjoy. I've said this before but the Andromeda 2020 remains my number one rec for someone of whom I know nothing of their tastes, who isn't a full time hobbyist ready to nitpick about minutia, and who wants to maximize their enjoyment.
+ Phonix
-- about $3K worth of tuning & technicalities
-- further to above resolution may be the best I've ever heard...perhaps equal only to Traillii
-- smoother & more relaxing up top, but no less dynamic.
Thank you! I really appreciate the comparisons. It sounds like you find the Phönix more appealing than the Odin; IIRC, you found the latter to be too analytical, so it's encouraging to hear that the Phönix has such great resolution but with a tuning or overall sound that works better for you.
I just got my Andro 2020 back after they were out on a personal loaner tour for 6 months+. It's wonderful to have them back again and interesting to hear them again after so long, it's almost like I'm having a fresh perspective on them.
Fow TWS, the XM4 & final ZE3000 are two of my favourites at the store. If you happen to find a final booth at CanJam, I'd highly recommend giving them a try as well The Sony has incredible noise isolating feature, unbeatable in its class. And the sound was tuned more to the warmer side. The ZE3000 to me sounded more balanced, with a fun 6mm DD bass and clearer mids. And the weight is lighter too, with excellent fit & enough insertion depth so that they don't fall easily
Good to know. I have a pair of xm4 and like them. But I find them pretty uncomfortable. I really need iems that are slim down near the stem, not bulbous like the xm4. The ze3000 is interesting looking, but and sound might be more appealing, but without the extra tws features like noise cancelling, I'm not sure there's a lot of point to them when I already have Bluetooth options like the ifi go blu. I'll still be keeping an eye on them.
Last Friday afternoon I had the pleasure of visiting The Source AV and spending quality time with some of the IEMs they have in their collection. They were extremely kind, welcoming, and helpful. I encourage anyone in the area to give them a visit if they get the chance. I think I more or less sampled all of their TOTL offerings other than the LDCi4 (I literally stayed until closing time lol). The IEMs I sampled were the Empire Ears Odin, Empire Ears Legend X, DUNU Luna, Sony IER-Z1R, and the Sennheiser IE900. I also brought 2 pairs from my collection, the Oriolus Traillii and 64 Audio tia Trio, as points of reference. So I suppose that what follows can be called a shootout of sorts. I'll put a disclaimer right up front that these are all impressions based on relatively short listens and so feel free to take them with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, I tried my best to be systematic and thorough so I hope there's something for you to enjoy as this is definitely my highest effort post yet! Either way feel free to ask me questions about anything I omitted while it's all fresh in memory and remember that (as we like to say around these parts) YMMV
Over the course of 3.5 hours I listened to each IEM sequentially, devoting a full uninterrupted 30 minutes of critical-listening (as detailed a listen as I've ever done to be honest) to a given IEM while taking notes, and then taking some time to compare against one of my own sets or another set in the shootout if there was a particular standout point of comparison. I chose either the Traillii or Trio depending on whichever was closer in tonal balance to the IEM in question. I repeated this process with each IEM until the store closed haha. As far as equipment, for consistency I used stock cables for all IEMs (except for the Trio for which I have the 64 Audio upgrade cable), and Final Audio E tips as well. All of my listening was done out of an iBasso DX300 w/AMP12 out of the 4.4mm balanced port on high gain. You can find my listed musical samples in the list below (all from my library and 16bit/44kHz FLAC or better). Finally, since these are all demo units (or my extensively used units) they've all been sufficiently burned in.
Empire Ears Odin:
The Odin is Empire Ears' current (co-)flagship boasting an astonishing amount of proprietary tech and excellent performance to show for it. Odin's arrival to the IEM scene was an interesting spectacle to witness from afar: the initial wave of amazement at its technical performance was very strong, until it slowed down a little as a proportion of its user base experienced fatigue from its elevated upper mids. Up until hearing the Odin, I had never heard an IEM with forward upper mids so I didn't have a frame of reference for understanding criticisms leveraged against it. En fin, the Odin has helped me realize that I do have a sensitivity in that region that I guess I have been lucky to avoid thus far in my own journey.
Despite all that upper mid talk I want to get started by talking about Odin's bass. This is the best quality of bass I have heard in an IEM (quantity-wise not quite my calling card but that does not stop my admiration for it). The bass is more or less reference tuned with a modest sub-bass elevation. It extends to cavernous depths and provides an outstanding level of rumble. It is full of texture and tactility beyond any of the other sets I demoed (or own). Truthfully, what is most amazing to me about it is how it manages to always be present when needed (and even steal your attention) despite lacking elevation in the signature. From my personal test tracks, I used Autechre's to test bass speed, Floating Points' to test bass texture and extension, and Flume's to test slam. The Odin's bass excelled at all of them... but the rest of the FR not so much. Now, the mids. This is where the Odin loses me a bit. I find its midrange to be on the cold and thin side of things. This is particularly apparent with male vocals, where I find the timbre to be strangely off and unnatural. This issue also presents itself in some facets of instrumental timbre, reeds in particular, which tend to sound a bit shrill to my ears. Brass, strings, and especially piano are all rendered beautifully, however. Female vocals are outstanding as well: night and day difference when compared to male vocals. This brings us now to the upper mids, which indeed I find a tad too aggressive and in-your-face despite making female vocals really shine. This is particularly apparent in tracks with prominent snares or claps (drums in general are tough for me to withstand). Not sure what else I can add that hasn't been already said about it though. You either can live with it or you can't, and I can't, so why beat a dead horse? Finally, the Odin's treble. What to say about it? Honestly, it's fine for what it is but it strikes me as a missed opportunity. It rolls off fairly early, which seems at odds with the rest of the tuning philosophy here (but hey I'm no expert). The treble is nothing to write home about in my opinion.
As others have mentioned, the Odin is like a microscope that takes in your raw signal and zooms into every little detail (thanks in part to its upper mid tuning). Layering, imaging, and soundstage are all excellent---however, I generally found it hard to differentiate all the IEMs I listened to based on these qualities within the time constraints I had. In part, this is because every single IEM in this shootout is an excellent performer when it comes to these technicalities so their differences are subtle, and thus better understood with more time than I had available. So probably best to not overanalyze the intangibles.
Noteworthy Points of Comparison:
vs. Traillii: The bird is very different from the Odin. They seem to take almost opposite approaches to their presentations at times. The Traillii has a laidback/relaxed tuning with (measured) warmth and musicality throughout its signature. While at first glance the Odin may seem the more detailed of the sets, over time you see that the bird is also reproducing all those details but it's not trying to draw your attention to them as much. Other than Odin's bass, I prefer the Traillii for everything else but especially vocals.
vs. Luna: Another detail-oriented and clarity focused signature, but their bass tunings couldn't be more different. The Luna thumps when the Odin rumbles. The Luna holds its own regardless with an upper mid tuning that I find more agreeable, while maintaining excellent technicalities.
vs. Everyone: I think that as far as bass texture, extension, and detail goes, the Odin has absolutely everyone beat. It's genuinely stunning how good it is.
Empire Ears Legend X:
There's not many IEMs that have the kind of reputation that the LX has. The former heir to the basshead throne only usurped by its EVOlution. (Here and there I see disagreements about that, but I have never heard the EVO so I don't actually mean to take a stance on the matter.) Once upon a time I came very close to buying an LX instead of the Trio. Ultimately Resolve's comparison video pointed me in the Trio's direction, and now coming to hear the LX I feel that I made the right decision for myself. Since I have heard from some that the LX requires long-term brain burn in to "get," I again encourage you to take my words with grain of salt. I only mean to speak for myself and what I heard during this experience rather than make an indictment of the IEM.
As expected, we begin with the bass since it is the focal point of the signature. The LX is the bassiest monitor I have heard. Its bass quality and texture is incredible (only really outdone by the Odin). It is thick and rich like dark chocolate mousse. It has an extended reach with very slow decay that makes your head rumble as though you had 20inch subs strapped to your head. It truly is to die for and it makes genres like Hip-Hop sound perfect. However, for faster IDM (such as the Autechre song in my samples) the LX leaves me wanting. The complex passages requiring extremely quick macrodynamic contrast tend to bleed into one another. That being said, this kind of ultrafast bass is not in most genres so it's a criticism that may be specific to your music library. When I take a close look at the mids, I feel the echoes of the bass throughout. Their timbre is rich, warm, and organic, if a bit dark. Male vocals sound excellent with a hefty huskiness and smoothness to them. Female vocals are sweet and soft as well, in part due to a tasteful upper mids lift. However, here is where the bass has a negative effect for me. The warmth from the bass overcrowds the mids and diminishes my sense of space. Additionally, I find that it negatively impacts instrumental timbre by making it overly syrupy and warm, leading to inaccuracies when listening to things like jazz (not that I expect these to have been designed with jazz in mind). On the flip side, pop sounds incredible: drums sound big, vocals sound rich, and the grooves lock in place nicely. The LX's treble is really good, but a little short of *outstanding* personally. It is well extended and sparkly but not as detailed as some of the other sets in this comparison. I hesitate to call it "airy" because I really don't get a big sense of air out of the LX. Either way, cymbals, hi-hats, and crashes still sound great (which solidifies the LX's Hip-Hop supremacy to me).
Onto the intangibles. I'll keep it brief: the LX has good imaging and layering but suffers in separation due to excessive warmth from the bass. I'm sure that's no surprise that that's my opinion based on the rest of what I've written. The soundstage *must* be a great size because it manages to contain all that bass without making the rest of the FR sound overly congested. Nonetheless, the bass does lessen my perception of a large soundstage (only relative to the caliber of IEMs I'm comparing to here). As a final comment, I am in awe of how close the Bravado Mk2 get to the LX for a fraction of the price... Big rec if this is your kind of sound but not your kind of budget lol.
Noteworthy Points of Comparison:
vs. Trio: I think in general the Trio is trying to be a more versatile set than the LX in its design (just one man's opinion here!). On the sub-bass end of things the LX has nicer texture than the Trio, but I think I prefer the more even sub-bass to mid-bass balance on the Trio, as well as its faster speed, for my use cases. The mids on the LX and Trio are like night and day, respectively. The trio is closer to reference with a colder/glassier timbre---not the best for instrumental timbre but really good with synthetic music. Also the Trio's treble is a bit more detailed and airy. I find the technicalities of the Trio (outside of the bass) to be slightly better than the LX overall.
vs. Z1R/IE900: For some reason I really expected the LX and these guys (as well as the Trio) to be more similar to the LX than they are. It turns out they are quite different. While all of these sets have some sort of claim to highest echelons of incredible bass, they are really not tuned very similarly in my opinion. They present different visions of what it means to be a basshead audiophile. The LX is the only of the bunch that seems to build its entire signature from the ground up from the bass, whereas the others seem more holistically tuned while maintaining excellent bass as a pillar of the design. If the former is your goal, look no further than LX (or maybe EVO these days? I don't know, ask someone else about that one ).
DUNU Luna:
When I asked for some TOTL IEMs in the demo room of The Source AV, I was immediately beckoned over to a table in the back and told "look at the packaging for this thing, when we received it we thought we were sent multiple units on accident." What I saw was a massive black box big enough to contain TOTL open-backs, but atop it sat these two tiny lunar pebbles. The packaging for the DUNU Luna is the most complete I've ever seen (on the verge of being comical); a true TOTL package containing every accessory under the sun. But what do the Luna sound like?
The Luna's single Beryllium DD is tuned for maximum clarity. This is a brighter, crystalline signature where vocals shimmer and sparkle in a spacious and neatly organized stage. They remind me a bit of the OG Elysium but with slightly tamer treble and punchier/dynamic bass (although I won't speculate further as my Elysium are far away from me at home). There's a sense of top to bottom coherency that I gather is what attracts people to single DD sets---and I get it, it's great stuff. The bass presentation is mid-bass focused, adding warmth to an otherwise brighter signature, but with a not-so-subtle sub-bass roll off. Nonetheless, the bass is outstanding at what it's trying to achieve. There's a sense of speed, punch, slam, dynamism, and macrodynamic contrast that seems to match what people tend to credit Beryllium DDs in full-sized headphones for (I got a very similar feeling out of the Focal Stellia). This makes drum kits in general sound great---I really enjoyed Steely Dan and Pink Floyd here. The mids are tuned for clarity with slight forwardness but don't come off as cold, thin, or aggressive---female vocals are particularly jaw-dropping. Instrumental timbre comes off as correct, albeit not musical or romantic, which works well with more critical/academic jazz listening sessions. The treble is very detailed and exciting with lots of air and lower treble energy. It's important to note that depending on your particular treble sensitivities it could be fatiguing, but personally I find that the dip at ~5-6kHz prevents that from happening to me (which is why I think I don't find the Trio's treble as hot as most seem to, while the Z1R's treble does bother me, but more on that later). In short, I find the treble excellently done but YMMV.
Technicalities-wise, I think the Luna is outstanding, and certainly the tuning plays a big role in this. The primary standout technicality where the Luna excels above everyone else in this shootout (other than the Z1R) is in macrodynamic contrast. Drums sound incredible, they punch real good and fast. Imaging, layering, and soundstage, as previously stated, are roughly up to par with the rest of the IEMs here (save for the bird). I think I should comment on the fit here as well despite it being a highly-personal matter. These things are tiny, like *tiny* tiny, even smaller than the IE900. I felt like I could fit the entire IEM inside my ear canal even with the largest Final E tips lol. This fit was not my favorite and I'm not sure would work for me long-term.
Noteworthy Points of Comparison:
vs. Traillii: The bird is warmer that the Luna in general with greater sub-bass quantity and a more relaxed treble (the graphs look similar in the mid/upper treble so I surmise that the rest of the tuning is what leads to this perception). Vocals are presented differently as well, with the Luna placing them closer in your face but without getting shouty. However, other than the Luna's sense of slam/dynamics I think I prefer the bird across the board.
vs. Odin: Their bass presentations are quite different despite both being tuned for clarity. The Odin's clear sub-bass tilt and lack of mid-bass slam is the ying to the Luna's yang. I find the Luna's upper midrange to be much more agreeable while retaining very good detail retrieval (although maybe not as much as Odin).
Sony IER-Z1R:
The Z1R is another IEM with a longstanding great reputation. Having now listened to it I can share that I feel it is well deserved, especially at its highly competitive price point for flagships and with its lavish accessory set (short of the Luna, but isn't everyone?). However, the elephant in the room when it comes to the Z1R tends to be the fit. I can see why this has caused issues to many. Personally, I was just able to have a good fit while sitting still, but with their weight I wouldn't expect to be able to walk around with them secured in my ears. I find the build stunning as well, both aesthetically and quality-wise---I feel like if I ran these over with my car I'd pop a tire while the Z1Rs rock along to Pink Floyd like nothing happened (do not try at home).
The Z1Rs signature is what I'd call a very mild U-shape. The way people talk about it sometimes I'd have expected it to be a bass cannon on the level of the LX (or even the Trio), but that's really not the case. Yes, the sub-bass is elevated, but not drastically so. Either way, the Z1R's bass is indeed a highlight, being very quick, textured, extended, and tactile, but it does not slam hard enough to dominate your attention. The bass is extremely good, yet it is not the sole focus of the signature. I think the Z1R's talents are more diverse and bigger picture than a given frequency band. The way drums are portrayed on the Z1R is incredible and likely my favorite of the IEMs in consideration (though cymbals push my limits sometimes). Kicks, snares, toms, 808s, etc. sound crisp and full of space. Each kick drum hit is followed by a spacious void created by its contrast with the black background that follows it---you can really groove with the Z1R. It'd be tempting to summarize the Z1R's mids as the "supporting cast" of the signature, but that would be too simplistic. The reality is that the Z1R's lower mids are a bit recessed, leading to male vocals sounding just OK. However, the rest of the midrange tells a different story. Simply put, female vocals on the Z1R are some of the best I have ever heard---near the level of the OG Elysium and Traillii (hard to really be precise based on short listens). If your library is full of female pop, I can see how the Z1R may very well be your endgame. Personally, with my library this dichotomy in the Z1R's mids makes me hear a lack of coherence. However, we will not end on a negative note, because the Z1R treble is excellent. It's a little on the hot side (tickling my ~5-6kHz sensitivity), but it is so well extended, sparkling, and shimmering that it also is a highlight of the Z1R to me.
Like the Luna, the thing that truly amazed me about the Z1R was its ability to render macrodynamic contrast in drums. However, I think it surpasses the Luna in this regard, rendering possibly the most realistic drumkits I've heard---Steely Dan really grooves on these. Imaging, layering, soundstage, and separation are on the same rough tier as the other IEMs being considered here (though maybe not Traillii or Odin but this is a relatively low-confidence claim), which is to say excellent.
Noteworthy Points of Comparison:
vs. Trio: The Trio has a more even sub-to-mid bass ratio than the Z1R's sub-bass skew. My cup of tea is closer to the Trio but of course this is entirely a personal taste matter. In terms of texture I find the Z1R and Trio to play at a very similar level, to the point where I am not sure I can declare either a victor. The mids is the place where I can see opinions diverging the most regarding the Trio and Z1R. I hear male vocals are a little recessed on the Z1R, while they are reference on the Trio. I prefer the Trio there, but for female vocals there is no contest: the Z1R has some of the best female vocals I have ever heard. I find the Z1R's treble just as detailed yet a little hotter than the Trio's but at least during my short tenure I was not very bothered; this is something I chalk up to their difference in energy at ~5-6kHz, so it may not be relevant to others if they don't have similar sensitivities.
vs. Everyone: I don't think any other IEM here can capture rhythms like the Z1R can. Truly special stuff.
Sennheiser IE900:
Not many brands can claim the pedigree of Sennheiser in the world of personal audio (well, Sony can but let me talk up Senn for a sec). However, their return to flagship IEMs was something that surprised and excited many of us in the hobby, some of us having feared that they had shifted their focus away from our niche market segment. Then, along came the announcement of the IE900 flagship to assuage any fears we had, and modestly priced relative to its competition as well! So how did Sennheiser do?
Spoiler alert: I love these.
Since I have gone through the trouble of covering my perspective on the Z1R, explaining the IE900 relative to it is very effective. The IE900 has a U-shape signature, with sub-bass and upper-treble boosted a noticeable amount relative to the Z1R. Beyond this, there is one additional twist: less upper-mid energy. I'll admit right away that for whatever reason, this tuning works extremely well for me and my library. Zoning into the bass, I find that timbre, extension, and rumble are excellent on the IE900 and competitive with the Z1R and Trio (not quite LX and Odin but not far). The bass slams nicely (more so than Z1R) and is very punchy, fast, and dynamic. In the midrange, things get interesting to me. There is a laidback warmth that permeates it. While it is clear that vocals and instruments are placed slightly behind the bass, I wouldn't call them "recessed" but maybe slightly veiled if anything. Part of the reason for this is the fact that the mids are presented evenly and consistently in the IE900---male and female vocals both sound similarly warm and comforting. In contrast, the Z1R's standout female vocals leave male vocals behind, creating the impression of a recession more so than in the IE900 (YMMV on this point though). This even midrange tuning combined with the single DD nature of the IE900 gives it an excellent sense of timbral coherency top-to-bottom that hybrids in this shootout don't quite strike (despite mostly avoiding any issues). But if female vocals are your focus, you may still prefer the Z1R and I wouldn't blame you. However, the IE900 excels at everything I throw at it. Finally, the IE900 treble is great, well extended, and competitive with most sets in this list, yet doesn't quite reach the levels of detail of the Trio and Z1R. At the same time, it comes off as slightly more relaxed (while not lacking in detail), thereby making it versatile across a variety of music genres.
I'll be brief on technicalities. The IE900 performs well and at a similar level as all other sets discussed, even if it doesn't take the crown in any given category. However, I want to say that this set stuns me on 2 more subjective fronts: 1) its price to performance ratio and 2) its all-rounder everyday carry nature. Sennheiser has created something extremely impressive in the IE900 that competes with sets many times its cost. Finally, I truly feel that I could play almost anything in my library and have a great time with the IE900---it is the definition of EDC to me.
Noteworthy Points of Comparison:
vs. Trio: The Trio slams a little harder in my opinion due to its stronger mid-bass. While the Trio's mids are also even-keeled like the IE900s, the Trio has a colder more reference take on it while the IE900 has a bit of a diffuse laidback warmth across. The trebles are similarly detailed and extended with the Trio going a little further to reproduce the air frequencies (the tia magic touch).
Personal Big Picture Takeaways:
The bass on the Odin is absurd.
Drums on the Z1R are bananas.
The IE900 is the real deal in my opinion. An amazing value proposition over both the Trio and Z1R in my opinion, and an incredible everyday carry. Yes, you can get slightly more detail out of the Trio and Z1R (or more bombastic bass out of the LX), and better female vocals/drums in the Z1R. However, in my opinion none of those behave as nicely with as diverse a music library as the IE900. I'm genuinely considering selling my Trio to get my hands on one of these.
I am still very pleased with the bird and remain untempted to move away from it
That wraps things up for me. If you read this crazy long write up, thank you very much! It's my first time putting this much effort into impressions, and also my first time with so much access to TOTL gear. I want to emphasize that in one way or another I found every piece of gear I listened to remarkable in some way, and that we really are splitting hairs here. Enjoy your weekends!
Last Friday afternoon I had the pleasure of visiting The Source AV and spending quality time with some of the IEMs they have in their collection. They were extremely kind, welcoming, and helpful. I encourage anyone in the area to give them a visit if they get the chance. I think I more or less sampled all of their TOTL offerings other than the LDCi4 (I literally stayed until closing time lol). The IEMs I sampled were the Empire Ears Odin, Empire Ears Legend X, DUNU Luna, Sony IER-Z1R, and the Sennheiser IE900. I also brought 2 pairs from my collection, the Oriolus Traillii and 64 Audio tia Trio, as points of reference. So I suppose that what follows can be called a shootout of sorts. I'll put a disclaimer right up front that these are all impressions based on relatively short listens and so feel free to take them with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, I tried my best to be systematic and thorough so I hope there's something for you to enjoy as this is definitely my highest effort post yet! Either way feel free to ask me questions about anything I omitted while it's all fresh in memory and remember that (as we like to say around these parts) YMMV
Over the course of 3.5 hours I listened to each IEM sequentially, devoting a full uninterrupted 30 minutes of critical-listening (as detailed a listen as I've ever done to be honest) to a given IEM while taking notes, and then taking some time to compare against one of my own sets or another set in the shootout if there was a particular standout point of comparison. I chose either the Traillii or Trio depending on whichever was closer in tonal balance to the IEM in question. I repeated this process with each IEM until the store closed haha. As far as equipment, for consistency I used stock cables for all IEMs (except for the Trio for which I have the 64 Audio upgrade cable), and Final Audio E tips as well. All of my listening was done out of an iBasso DX300 w/AMP12 out of the 4.4mm balanced port on high gain. You can find my listed musical samples in the list below (all from my library and 16bit/44kHz FLAC or better). Finally, since these are all demo units (or my extensively used units) they've all been sufficiently burned in.
Empire Ears Odin:
The Odin is Empire Ears' current (co-)flagship boasting an astonishing amount of proprietary tech and excellent performance to show for it. Odin's arrival to the IEM scene was an interesting spectacle to witness from afar: the initial wave of amazement at its technical performance was very strong, until it slowed down a little as a proportion of its user base experienced fatigue from its elevated upper mids. Up until hearing the Odin, I had never heard an IEM with forward upper mids so I didn't have a frame of reference for understanding criticisms leveraged against it. En fin, the Odin has helped me realize that I do have a sensitivity in that region that I guess I have been lucky to avoid thus far in my own journey.
Despite all that upper mid talk I want to get started by talking about Odin's bass. This is the best quality of bass I have heard in an IEM (quantity-wise not quite my calling card but that does not stop my admiration for it). The bass is more or less reference tuned with a modest sub-bass elevation. It extends to cavernous depths and provides an outstanding level of rumble. It is full of texture and tactility beyond any of the other sets I demoed (or own). Truthfully, what is most amazing to me about it is how it manages to always be present when needed (and even steal your attention) despite lacking elevation in the signature. From my personal test tracks, I used Autechre's to test bass speed, Floating Points' to test bass texture and extension, and Flume's to test slam. The Odin's bass excelled at all of them... but the rest of the FR not so much. Now, the mids. This is where the Odin loses me a bit. I find its midrange to be on the cold and thin side of things. This is particularly apparent with male vocals, where I find the timbre to be strangely off and unnatural. This issue also presents itself in some facets of instrumental timbre, reeds in particular, which tend to sound a bit shrill to my ears. Brass, strings, and especially piano are all rendered beautifully, however. Female vocals are outstanding as well: night and day difference when compared to male vocals. This brings us now to the upper mids, which indeed I find a tad too aggressive and in-your-face despite making female vocals really shine. This is particularly apparent in tracks with prominent snares or claps (drums in general are tough for me to withstand). Not sure what else I can add that hasn't been already said about it though. You either can live with it or you can't, and I can't, so why beat a dead horse? Finally, the Odin's treble. What to say about it? Honestly, it's fine for what it is but it strikes me as a missed opportunity. It rolls off fairly early, which seems at odds with the rest of the tuning philosophy here (but hey I'm no expert). The treble is nothing to write home about in my opinion.
As others have mentioned, the Odin is like a microscope that takes in your raw signal and zooms into every little detail (thanks in part to its upper mid tuning). Layering, imaging, and soundstage are all excellent---however, I generally found it hard to differentiate all the IEMs I listened to based on these qualities within the time constraints I had. In part, this is because every single IEM in this shootout is an excellent performer when it comes to these technicalities so their differences are subtle, and thus better understood with more time than I had available. So probably best to not overanalyze the intangibles.
Noteworthy Points of Comparison:
vs. Traillii: The bird is very different from the Odin. They seem to take almost opposite approaches to their presentations at times. The Traillii has a laidback/relaxed tuning with (measured) warmth and musicality throughout its signature. While at first glance the Odin may seem the more detailed of the sets, over time you see that the bird is also reproducing all those details but it's not trying to draw your attention to them as much. Other than Odin's bass, I prefer the Traillii for everything else but especially vocals.
vs. Luna: Another detail-oriented and clarity focused signature, but their bass tunings couldn't be more different. The Luna thumps when the Odin rumbles. The Luna holds its own regardless with an upper mid tuning that I find more agreeable, while maintaining excellent technicalities.
vs. Everyone: I think that as far as bass texture, extension, and detail goes, the Odin has absolutely everyone beat. It's genuinely stunning how good it is.
Empire Ears Legend X:
There's not many IEMs that have the kind of reputation that the LX has. The former heir to the basshead throne only usurped by its EVOlution. (Here and there I see disagreements about that, but I have never heard the EVO so I don't actually mean to take a stance on the matter.) Once upon a time I came very close to buying an LX instead of the Trio. Ultimately Resolve's comparison video pointed me in the Trio's direction, and now coming to hear the LX I feel that I made the right decision for myself. Since I have heard from some that the LX requires long-term brain burn in to "get," I again encourage you to take my words with grain of salt. I only mean to speak for myself and what I heard during this experience rather than make an indictment of the IEM.
As expected, we begin with the bass since it is the focal point of the signature. The LX is the bassiest monitor I have heard. Its bass quality and texture is incredible (only really outdone by the Odin). It is thick and rich like dark chocolate mousse. It has an extended reach with very slow decay that makes your head rumble as though you had 20inch subs strapped to your head. It truly is to die for and it makes genres like Hip-Hop sound perfect. However, for faster IDM (such as the Autechre song in my samples) the LX leaves me wanting. The complex passages requiring extremely quick macrodynamic contrast tend to bleed into one another. That being said, this kind of ultrafast bass is not in most genres so it's a criticism that may be specific to your music library. When I take a close look at the mids, I feel the echoes of the bass throughout. Their timbre is rich, warm, and organic, if a bit dark. Male vocals sound excellent with a hefty huskiness and smoothness to them. Female vocals are sweet and soft as well, in part due to a tasteful upper mids lift. However, here is where the bass has a negative effect for me. The warmth from the bass overcrowds the mids and diminishes my sense of space. Additionally, I find that it negatively impacts instrumental timbre by making it overly syrupy and warm, leading to inaccuracies when listening to things like jazz (not that I expect these to have been designed with jazz in mind). On the flip side, pop sounds incredible: drums sound big, vocals sound rich, and the grooves lock in place nicely. The LX's treble is really good, but a little short of *outstanding* personally. It is well extended and sparkly but not as detailed as some of the other sets in this comparison. I hesitate to call it "airy" because I really don't get a big sense of air out of the LX. Either way, cymbals, hi-hats, and crashes still sound great (which solidifies the LX's Hip-Hop supremacy to me).
Onto the intangibles. I'll keep it brief: the LX has good imaging and layering but suffers in separation due to excessive warmth from the bass. I'm sure that's no surprise that that's my opinion based on the rest of what I've written. The soundstage *must* be a great size because it manages to contain all that bass without making the rest of the FR sound overly congested. Nonetheless, the bass does lessen my perception of a large soundstage (only relative to the caliber of IEMs I'm comparing to here). As a final comment, I am in awe of how close the Bravado Mk2 get to the LX for a fraction of the price... Big rec if this is your kind of sound but not your kind of budget lol.
Noteworthy Points of Comparison:
vs. Trio: I think in general the Trio is trying to be a more versatile set than the LX in its design (just one man's opinion here!). On the sub-bass end of things the LX has nicer texture than the Trio, but I think I prefer the more even sub-bass to mid-bass balance on the Trio, as well as its faster speed, for my use cases. The mids on the LX and Trio are like night and day, respectively. The trio is closer to reference with a colder/glassier timbre---not the best for instrumental timbre but really good with synthetic music. Also the Trio's treble is a bit more detailed and airy. I find the technicalities of the Trio (outside of the bass) to be slightly better than the LX overall.
vs. Z1R/IE900: For some reason I really expected the LX and these guys (as well as the Trio) to be more similar to the LX than they are. It turns out they are quite different. While all of these sets have some sort of claim to highest echelons of incredible bass, they are really not tuned very similarly in my opinion. They present different visions of what it means to be a basshead audiophile. The LX is the only of the bunch that seems to build its entire signature from the ground up from the bass, whereas the others seem more holistically tuned while maintaining excellent bass as a pillar of the design. If the former is your goal, look no further than LX (or maybe EVO these days? I don't know, ask someone else about that one ).
DUNU Luna:
When I asked for some TOTL IEMs in the demo room of The Source AV, I was immediately beckoned over to a table in the back and told "look at the packaging for this thing, when we received it we thought we were sent multiple units on accident." What I saw was a massive black box big enough to contain TOTL open-backs, but atop it sat these two tiny lunar pebbles. The packaging for the DUNU Luna is the most complete I've ever seen (on the verge of being comical); a true TOTL package containing every accessory under the sun. But what do the Luna sound like?
The Luna's single Beryllium DD is tuned for maximum clarity. This is a brighter, crystalline signature where vocals shimmer and sparkle in a spacious and neatly organized stage. They remind me a bit of the OG Elysium but with slightly tamer treble and punchier/dynamic bass (although I won't speculate further as my Elysium are far away from me at home). There's a sense of top to bottom coherency that I gather is what attracts people to single DD sets---and I get it, it's great stuff. The bass presentation is mid-bass focused, adding warmth to an otherwise brighter signature, but with a not-so-subtle sub-bass roll off. Nonetheless, the bass is outstanding at what it's trying to achieve. There's a sense of speed, punch, slam, dynamism, and macrodynamic contrast that seems to match what people tend to credit Beryllium DDs in full-sized headphones for (I got a very similar feeling out of the Focal Stellia). This makes drum kits in general sound great---I really enjoyed Steely Dan and Pink Floyd here. The mids are tuned for clarity with slight forwardness but don't come off as cold, thin, or aggressive---female vocals are particularly jaw-dropping. Instrumental timbre comes off as correct, albeit not musical or romantic, which works well with more critical/academic jazz listening sessions. The treble is very detailed and exciting with lots of air and lower treble energy. It's important to note that depending on your particular treble sensitivities it could be fatiguing, but personally I find that the dip at ~5-6kHz prevents that from happening to me (which is why I think I don't find the Trio's treble as hot as most seem to, while the Z1R's treble does bother me, but more on that later). In short, I find the treble excellently done but YMMV.
Technicalities-wise, I think the Luna is outstanding, and certainly the tuning plays a big role in this. The primary standout technicality where the Luna excels above everyone else in this shootout (other than the Z1R) is in macrodynamic contrast. Drums sound incredible, they punch real good and fast. Imaging, layering, and soundstage, as previously stated, are roughly up to par with the rest of the IEMs here (save for the bird). I think I should comment on the fit here as well despite it being a highly-personal matter. These things are tiny, like *tiny* tiny, even smaller than the IE900. I felt like I could fit the entire IEM inside my ear canal even with the largest Final E tips lol. This fit was not my favorite and I'm not sure would work for me long-term.
Noteworthy Points of Comparison:
vs. Traillii: The bird is warmer that the Luna in general with greater sub-bass quantity and a more relaxed treble (the graphs look similar in the mid/upper treble so I surmise that the rest of the tuning is what leads to this perception). Vocals are presented differently as well, with the Luna placing them closer in your face but without getting shouty. However, other than the Luna's sense of slam/dynamics I think I prefer the bird across the board.
vs. Odin: Their bass presentations are quite different despite both being tuned for clarity. The Odin's clear sub-bass tilt and lack of mid-bass slam is the ying to the Luna's yang. I find the Luna's upper midrange to be much more agreeable while retaining very good detail retrieval (although maybe not as much as Odin).
Sony IER-Z1R:
The Z1R is another IEM with a longstanding great reputation. Having now listened to it I can share that I feel it is well deserved, especially at its highly competitive price point for flagships and with its lavish accessory set (short of the Luna, but isn't everyone?). However, the elephant in the room when it comes to the Z1R tends to be the fit. I can see why this has caused issues to many. Personally, I was just able to have a good fit while sitting still, but with their weight I wouldn't expect to be able to walk around with them secured in my ears. I find the build stunning as well, both aesthetically and quality-wise---I feel like if I ran these over with my car I'd pop a tire while the Z1Rs rock along to Pink Floyd like nothing happened (do not try at home).
The Z1Rs signature is what I'd call a very mild U-shape. The way people talk about it sometimes I'd have expected it to be a bass cannon on the level of the LX (or even the Trio), but that's really not the case. Yes, the sub-bass is elevated, but not drastically so. Either way, the Z1R's bass is indeed a highlight, being very quick, textured, extended, and tactile, but it does not slam hard enough to dominate your attention. The bass is extremely good, yet it is not the sole focus of the signature. I think the Z1R's talents are more diverse and bigger picture than a given frequency band. The way drums are portrayed on the Z1R is incredible and likely my favorite of the IEMs in consideration (though cymbals push my limits sometimes). Kicks, snares, toms, 808s, etc. sound crisp and full of space. Each kick drum hit is followed by a spacious void created by its contrast with the black background that follows it---you can really groove with the Z1R. It'd be tempting to summarize the Z1R's mids as the "supporting cast" of the signature, but that would be too simplistic. The reality is that the Z1R's lower mids are a bit recessed, leading to male vocals sounding just OK. However, the rest of the midrange tells a different story. Simply put, female vocals on the Z1R are some of the best I have ever heard---near the level of the OG Elysium and Traillii (hard to really be precise based on short listens). If your library is full of female pop, I can see how the Z1R may very well be your endgame. Personally, with my library this dichotomy in the Z1R's mids makes me hear a lack of coherence. However, we will not end on a negative note, because the Z1R treble is excellent. It's a little on the hot side (tickling my ~5-6kHz sensitivity), but it is so well extended, sparkling, and shimmering that it also is a highlight of the Z1R to me.
Like the Luna, the thing that truly amazed me about the Z1R was its ability to render macrodynamic contrast in drums. However, I think it surpasses the Luna in this regard, rendering possibly the most realistic drumkits I've heard---Steely Dan really grooves on these. Imaging, layering, soundstage, and separation are on the same rough tier as the other IEMs being considered here (though maybe not Traillii or Odin but this is a relatively low-confidence claim), which is to say excellent.
Noteworthy Points of Comparison:
vs. Trio: The Trio has a more even sub-to-mid bass ratio than the Z1R's sub-bass skew. My cup of tea is closer to the Trio but of course this is entirely a personal taste matter. In terms of texture I find the Z1R and Trio to play at a very similar level, to the point where I am not sure I can declare either a victor. The mids is the place where I can see opinions diverging the most regarding the Trio and Z1R. I hear male vocals are a little recessed on the Z1R, while they are reference on the Trio. I prefer the Trio there, but for female vocals there is no contest: the Z1R has some of the best female vocals I have ever heard. I find the Z1R's treble just as detailed yet a little hotter than the Trio's but at least during my short tenure I was not very bothered; this is something I chalk up to their difference in energy at ~5-6kHz, so it may not be relevant to others if they don't have similar sensitivities.
vs. Everyone: I don't think any other IEM here can capture rhythms like the Z1R can. Truly special stuff.
Sennheiser IE900:
Not many brands can claim the pedigree of Sennheiser in the world of personal audio (well, Sony can but let me talk up Senn for a sec). However, their return to flagship IEMs was something that surprised and excited many of us in the hobby, some of us having feared that they had shifted their focus away from our niche market segment. Then, along came the announcement of the IE900 flagship to assuage any fears we had, and modestly priced relative to its competition as well! So how did Sennheiser do?
Spoiler alert: I love these.
Since I have gone through the trouble of covering my perspective on the Z1R, explaining the IE900 relative to it is very effective. The IE900 has a U-shape signature, with sub-bass and upper-treble boosted a noticeable amount relative to the Z1R. Beyond this, there is one additional twist: less upper-mid energy. I'll admit right away that for whatever reason, this tuning works extremely well for me and my library. Zoning into the bass, I find that timbre, extension, and rumble are excellent on the IE900 and competitive with the Z1R and Trio (not quite LX and Odin but not far). The bass slams nicely (more so than Z1R) and is very punchy, fast, and dynamic. In the midrange, things get interesting to me. There is a laidback warmth that permeates it. While it is clear that vocals and instruments are placed slightly behind the bass, I wouldn't call them "recessed" but maybe slightly veiled if anything. Part of the reason for this is the fact that the mids are presented evenly and consistently in the IE900---male and female vocals both sound similarly warm and comforting. In contrast, the Z1R's standout female vocals leave male vocals behind, creating the impression of a recession more so than in the IE900 (YMMV on this point though). This even midrange tuning combined with the single DD nature of the IE900 gives it an excellent sense of timbral coherency top-to-bottom that hybrids in this shootout don't quite strike (despite mostly avoiding any issues). But if female vocals are your focus, you may still prefer the Z1R and I wouldn't blame you. However, the IE900 excels at everything I throw at it. Finally, the IE900 treble is great, well extended, and competitive with most sets in this list, yet doesn't quite reach the levels of detail of the Trio and Z1R. At the same time, it comes off as slightly more relaxed (while not lacking in detail), thereby making it versatile across a variety of music genres.
I'll be brief on technicalities. The IE900 performs well and at a similar level as all other sets discussed, even if it doesn't take the crown in any given category. However, I want to say that this set stuns me on 2 more subjective fronts: 1) its price to performance ratio and 2) its all-rounder everyday carry nature. Sennheiser has created something extremely impressive in the IE900 that competes with sets many times its cost. Finally, I truly feel that I could play almost anything in my library and have a great time with the IE900---it is the definition of EDC to me.
Noteworthy Points of Comparison:
vs. Trio: The Trio slams a little harder in my opinion due to its stronger mid-bass. While the Trio's mids are also even-keeled like the IE900s, the Trio has a colder more reference take on it while the IE900 has a bit of a diffuse laidback warmth across. The trebles are similarly detailed and extended with the Trio going a little further to reproduce the air frequencies (the tia magic touch).
Personal Big Picture Takeaways:
The bass on the Odin is absurd.
Drums on the Z1R are bananas.
The IE900 is the real deal in my opinion. An amazing value proposition over both the Trio and Z1R in my opinion, and an incredible everyday carry. Yes, you can get slightly more detail out of the Trio and Z1R (or more bombastic bass out of the LX), and better female vocals/drums in the Z1R. However, in my opinion none of those behave as nicely with as diverse a music library as the IE900. I'm genuinely considering selling my Trio to get my hands on one of these.
I am still very pleased with the bird and remain untempted to move away from it
That wraps things up for me. If you read this crazy long write up, thank you very much! It's my first time putting this much effort into impressions, and also my first time with so much access to TOTL gear. I want to emphasize that in one way or another I found every piece of gear I listened to remarkable in some way, and that we really are splitting hairs here. Enjoy your weekends!
Don't know if anyone is interested in MMR IEMs, but Musicteck has a clearance sale on the Balmung & Thummim this weekend (50& & 30% off respectively). I've always thought MMR IEMs were too expensive/overpriced, but $1350 for the Balmung sounds more palatable. I've never been a fan of the design of the Thummim though.
Timing of that sale is a bit haha.
Having some minor audio meet up next friday where i get to hear Thummim.
I am hearing some serious praise about its?soundstage. Which is my weakness. But i am very skeptic about its tuning...
Though if it works out that its my thing, i would defo buy it for that discount.
But first i need to get KR5 and see if they can replace my beloved Indigo.
So I grabbed my Zen Pro for the first time in a couple days to see how it sounds to me after ~24 hours under the spell of EXT & Phonix. As always when demoing IEMs of that caliber I was a little nervous going back to my more modest setup, perhaps subconsciously fearing it would no longer cut the mustard for me. This fear was unfounded as shortly after I fired up my SR25ii => Zen Pro listening to The Eagles' Take it Easy the idea of comparing totally vanished from my mind and I got completely absorbed in sound of the Dunus. Technically (and perhaps technologically) the Zen Pro are clearly behind the likes of the EXT & Phonix, and I understand why the latter command the premium prices they do...but in terms of sheer enjoyment & musical immersion the Zen Pro damn good and hold their own with the best imho.
Last Friday afternoon I had the pleasure of visiting The Source AV and spending quality time with some of the IEMs they have in their collection. They were extremely kind, welcoming, and helpful. I encourage anyone in the area to give them a visit if they get the chance. I think I more or less sampled all of their TOTL offerings other than the LDCi4 (I literally stayed until closing time lol). The IEMs I sampled were the Empire Ears Odin, Empire Ears Legend X, DUNU Luna, Sony IER-Z1R, and the Sennheiser IE900. I also brought 2 pairs from my collection, the Oriolus Traillii and 64 Audio tia Trio, as points of reference. So I suppose that what follows can be called a shootout of sorts. I'll put a disclaimer right up front that these are all impressions based on relatively short listens and so feel free to take them with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, I tried my best to be systematic and thorough so I hope there's something for you to enjoy as this is definitely my highest effort post yet! Either way feel free to ask me questions about anything I omitted while it's all fresh in memory and remember that (as we like to say around these parts) YMMV
Over the course of 3.5 hours I listened to each IEM sequentially, devoting a full uninterrupted 30 minutes of critical-listening (as detailed a listen as I've ever done to be honest) to a given IEM while taking notes, and then taking some time to compare against one of my own sets or another set in the shootout if there was a particular standout point of comparison. I chose either the Traillii or Trio depending on whichever was closer in tonal balance to the IEM in question. I repeated this process with each IEM until the store closed haha. As far as equipment, for consistency I used stock cables for all IEMs (except for the Trio for which I have the 64 Audio upgrade cable), and Final Audio E tips as well. All of my listening was done out of an iBasso DX300 w/AMP12 out of the 4.4mm balanced port on high gain. You can find my listed musical samples in the list below (all from my library and 16bit/44kHz FLAC or better). Finally, since these are all demo units (or my extensively used units) they've all been sufficiently burned in.
Empire Ears Odin:
The Odin is Empire Ears' current (co-)flagship boasting an astonishing amount of proprietary tech and excellent performance to show for it. Odin's arrival to the IEM scene was an interesting spectacle to witness from afar: the initial wave of amazement at its technical performance was very strong, until it slowed down a little as a proportion of its user base experienced fatigue from its elevated upper mids. Up until hearing the Odin, I had never heard an IEM with forward upper mids so I didn't have a frame of reference for understanding criticisms leveraged against it. En fin, the Odin has helped me realize that I do have a sensitivity in that region that I guess I have been lucky to avoid thus far in my own journey.
Despite all that upper mid talk I want to get started by talking about Odin's bass. This is the best quality of bass I have heard in an IEM (quantity-wise not quite my calling card but that does not stop my admiration for it). The bass is more or less reference tuned with a modest sub-bass elevation. It extends to cavernous depths and provides an outstanding level of rumble. It is full of texture and tactility beyond any of the other sets I demoed (or own). Truthfully, what is most amazing to me about it is how it manages to always be present when needed (and even steal your attention) despite lacking elevation in the signature. From my personal test tracks, I used Autechre's to test bass speed, Floating Points' to test bass texture and extension, and Flume's to test slam. The Odin's bass excelled at all of them... but the rest of the FR not so much. Now, the mids. This is where the Odin loses me a bit. I find its midrange to be on the cold and thin side of things. This is particularly apparent with male vocals, where I find the timbre to be strangely off and unnatural. This issue also presents itself in some facets of instrumental timbre, reeds in particular, which tend to sound a bit shrill to my ears. Brass, strings, and especially piano are all rendered beautifully, however. Female vocals are outstanding as well: night and day difference when compared to male vocals. This brings us now to the upper mids, which indeed I find a tad too aggressive and in-your-face despite making female vocals really shine. This is particularly apparent in tracks with prominent snares or claps (drums in general are tough for me to withstand). Not sure what else I can add that hasn't been already said about it though. You either can live with it or you can't, and I can't, so why beat a dead horse? Finally, the Odin's treble. What to say about it? Honestly, it's fine for what it is but it strikes me as a missed opportunity. It rolls off fairly early, which seems at odds with the rest of the tuning philosophy here (but hey I'm no expert). The treble is nothing to write home about in my opinion.
As others have mentioned, the Odin is like a microscope that takes in your raw signal and zooms into every little detail (thanks in part to its upper mid tuning). Layering, imaging, and soundstage are all excellent---however, I generally found it hard to differentiate all the IEMs I listened to based on these qualities within the time constraints I had. In part, this is because every single IEM in this shootout is an excellent performer when it comes to these technicalities so their differences are subtle, and thus better understood with more time than I had available. So probably best to not overanalyze the intangibles.
Noteworthy Points of Comparison:
vs. Traillii: The bird is very different from the Odin. They seem to take almost opposite approaches to their presentations at times. The Traillii has a laidback/relaxed tuning with (measured) warmth and musicality throughout its signature. While at first glance the Odin may seem the more detailed of the sets, over time you see that the bird is also reproducing all those details but it's not trying to draw your attention to them as much. Other than Odin's bass, I prefer the Traillii for everything else but especially vocals.
vs. Luna: Another detail-oriented and clarity focused signature, but their bass tunings couldn't be more different. The Luna thumps when the Odin rumbles. The Luna holds its own regardless with an upper mid tuning that I find more agreeable, while maintaining excellent technicalities.
vs. Everyone: I think that as far as bass texture, extension, and detail goes, the Odin has absolutely everyone beat. It's genuinely stunning how good it is.
Empire Ears Legend X:
There's not many IEMs that have the kind of reputation that the LX has. The former heir to the basshead throne only usurped by its EVOlution. (Here and there I see disagreements about that, but I have never heard the EVO so I don't actually mean to take a stance on the matter.) Once upon a time I came very close to buying an LX instead of the Trio. Ultimately Resolve's comparison video pointed me in the Trio's direction, and now coming to hear the LX I feel that I made the right decision for myself. Since I have heard from some that the LX requires long-term brain burn in to "get," I again encourage you to take my words with grain of salt. I only mean to speak for myself and what I heard during this experience rather than make an indictment of the IEM.
As expected, we begin with the bass since it is the focal point of the signature. The LX is the bassiest monitor I have heard. Its bass quality and texture is incredible (only really outdone by the Odin). It is thick and rich like dark chocolate mousse. It has an extended reach with very slow decay that makes your head rumble as though you had 20inch subs strapped to your head. It truly is to die for and it makes genres like Hip-Hop sound perfect. However, for faster IDM (such as the Autechre song in my samples) the LX leaves me wanting. The complex passages requiring extremely quick macrodynamic contrast tend to bleed into one another. That being said, this kind of ultrafast bass is not in most genres so it's a criticism that may be specific to your music library. When I take a close look at the mids, I feel the echoes of the bass throughout. Their timbre is rich, warm, and organic, if a bit dark. Male vocals sound excellent with a hefty huskiness and smoothness to them. Female vocals are sweet and soft as well, in part due to a tasteful upper mids lift. However, here is where the bass has a negative effect for me. The warmth from the bass overcrowds the mids and diminishes my sense of space. Additionally, I find that it negatively impacts instrumental timbre by making it overly syrupy and warm, leading to inaccuracies when listening to things like jazz (not that I expect these to have been designed with jazz in mind). On the flip side, pop sounds incredible: drums sound big, vocals sound rich, and the grooves lock in place nicely. The LX's treble is really good, but a little short of *outstanding* personally. It is well extended and sparkly but not as detailed as some of the other sets in this comparison. I hesitate to call it "airy" because I really don't get a big sense of air out of the LX. Either way, cymbals, hi-hats, and crashes still sound great (which solidifies the LX's Hip-Hop supremacy to me).
Onto the intangibles. I'll keep it brief: the LX has good imaging and layering but suffers in separation due to excessive warmth from the bass. I'm sure that's no surprise that that's my opinion based on the rest of what I've written. The soundstage *must* be a great size because it manages to contain all that bass without making the rest of the FR sound overly congested. Nonetheless, the bass does lessen my perception of a large soundstage (only relative to the caliber of IEMs I'm comparing to here). As a final comment, I am in awe of how close the Bravado Mk2 get to the LX for a fraction of the price... Big rec if this is your kind of sound but not your kind of budget lol.
Noteworthy Points of Comparison:
vs. Trio: I think in general the Trio is trying to be a more versatile set than the LX in its design (just one man's opinion here!). On the sub-bass end of things the LX has nicer texture than the Trio, but I think I prefer the more even sub-bass to mid-bass balance on the Trio, as well as its faster speed, for my use cases. The mids on the LX and Trio are like night and day, respectively. The trio is closer to reference with a colder/glassier timbre---not the best for instrumental timbre but really good with synthetic music. Also the Trio's treble is a bit more detailed and airy. I find the technicalities of the Trio (outside of the bass) to be slightly better than the LX overall.
vs. Z1R/IE900: For some reason I really expected the LX and these guys (as well as the Trio) to be more similar to the LX than they are. It turns out they are quite different. While all of these sets have some sort of claim to highest echelons of incredible bass, they are really not tuned very similarly in my opinion. They present different visions of what it means to be a basshead audiophile. The LX is the only of the bunch that seems to build its entire signature from the ground up from the bass, whereas the others seem more holistically tuned while maintaining excellent bass as a pillar of the design. If the former is your goal, look no further than LX (or maybe EVO these days? I don't know, ask someone else about that one ).
DUNU Luna:
When I asked for some TOTL IEMs in the demo room of The Source AV, I was immediately beckoned over to a table in the back and told "look at the packaging for this thing, when we received it we thought we were sent multiple units on accident." What I saw was a massive black box big enough to contain TOTL open-backs, but atop it sat these two tiny lunar pebbles. The packaging for the DUNU Luna is the most complete I've ever seen (on the verge of being comical); a true TOTL package containing every accessory under the sun. But what do the Luna sound like?
The Luna's single Beryllium DD is tuned for maximum clarity. This is a brighter, crystalline signature where vocals shimmer and sparkle in a spacious and neatly organized stage. They remind me a bit of the OG Elysium but with slightly tamer treble and punchier/dynamic bass (although I won't speculate further as my Elysium are far away from me at home). There's a sense of top to bottom coherency that I gather is what attracts people to single DD sets---and I get it, it's great stuff. The bass presentation is mid-bass focused, adding warmth to an otherwise brighter signature, but with a not-so-subtle sub-bass roll off. Nonetheless, the bass is outstanding at what it's trying to achieve. There's a sense of speed, punch, slam, dynamism, and macrodynamic contrast that seems to match what people tend to credit Beryllium DDs in full-sized headphones for (I got a very similar feeling out of the Focal Stellia). This makes drum kits in general sound great---I really enjoyed Steely Dan and Pink Floyd here. The mids are tuned for clarity with slight forwardness but don't come off as cold, thin, or aggressive---female vocals are particularly jaw-dropping. Instrumental timbre comes off as correct, albeit not musical or romantic, which works well with more critical/academic jazz listening sessions. The treble is very detailed and exciting with lots of air and lower treble energy. It's important to note that depending on your particular treble sensitivities it could be fatiguing, but personally I find that the dip at ~5-6kHz prevents that from happening to me (which is why I think I don't find the Trio's treble as hot as most seem to, while the Z1R's treble does bother me, but more on that later). In short, I find the treble excellently done but YMMV.
Technicalities-wise, I think the Luna is outstanding, and certainly the tuning plays a big role in this. The primary standout technicality where the Luna excels above everyone else in this shootout (other than the Z1R) is in macrodynamic contrast. Drums sound incredible, they punch real good and fast. Imaging, layering, and soundstage, as previously stated, are roughly up to par with the rest of the IEMs here (save for the bird). I think I should comment on the fit here as well despite it being a highly-personal matter. These things are tiny, like *tiny* tiny, even smaller than the IE900. I felt like I could fit the entire IEM inside my ear canal even with the largest Final E tips lol. This fit was not my favorite and I'm not sure would work for me long-term.
Noteworthy Points of Comparison:
vs. Traillii: The bird is warmer that the Luna in general with greater sub-bass quantity and a more relaxed treble (the graphs look similar in the mid/upper treble so I surmise that the rest of the tuning is what leads to this perception). Vocals are presented differently as well, with the Luna placing them closer in your face but without getting shouty. However, other than the Luna's sense of slam/dynamics I think I prefer the bird across the board.
vs. Odin: Their bass presentations are quite different despite both being tuned for clarity. The Odin's clear sub-bass tilt and lack of mid-bass slam is the ying to the Luna's yang. I find the Luna's upper midrange to be much more agreeable while retaining very good detail retrieval (although maybe not as much as Odin).
Sony IER-Z1R:
The Z1R is another IEM with a longstanding great reputation. Having now listened to it I can share that I feel it is well deserved, especially at its highly competitive price point for flagships and with its lavish accessory set (short of the Luna, but isn't everyone?). However, the elephant in the room when it comes to the Z1R tends to be the fit. I can see why this has caused issues to many. Personally, I was just able to have a good fit while sitting still, but with their weight I wouldn't expect to be able to walk around with them secured in my ears. I find the build stunning as well, both aesthetically and quality-wise---I feel like if I ran these over with my car I'd pop a tire while the Z1Rs rock along to Pink Floyd like nothing happened (do not try at home).
The Z1Rs signature is what I'd call a very mild U-shape. The way people talk about it sometimes I'd have expected it to be a bass cannon on the level of the LX (or even the Trio), but that's really not the case. Yes, the sub-bass is elevated, but not drastically so. Either way, the Z1R's bass is indeed a highlight, being very quick, textured, extended, and tactile, but it does not slam hard enough to dominate your attention. The bass is extremely good, yet it is not the sole focus of the signature. I think the Z1R's talents are more diverse and bigger picture than a given frequency band. The way drums are portrayed on the Z1R is incredible and likely my favorite of the IEMs in consideration (though cymbals push my limits sometimes). Kicks, snares, toms, 808s, etc. sound crisp and full of space. Each kick drum hit is followed by a spacious void created by its contrast with the black background that follows it---you can really groove with the Z1R. It'd be tempting to summarize the Z1R's mids as the "supporting cast" of the signature, but that would be too simplistic. The reality is that the Z1R's lower mids are a bit recessed, leading to male vocals sounding just OK. However, the rest of the midrange tells a different story. Simply put, female vocals on the Z1R are some of the best I have ever heard---near the level of the OG Elysium and Traillii (hard to really be precise based on short listens). If your library is full of female pop, I can see how the Z1R may very well be your endgame. Personally, with my library this dichotomy in the Z1R's mids makes me hear a lack of coherence. However, we will not end on a negative note, because the Z1R treble is excellent. It's a little on the hot side (tickling my ~5-6kHz sensitivity), but it is so well extended, sparkling, and shimmering that it also is a highlight of the Z1R to me.
Like the Luna, the thing that truly amazed me about the Z1R was its ability to render macrodynamic contrast in drums. However, I think it surpasses the Luna in this regard, rendering possibly the most realistic drumkits I've heard---Steely Dan really grooves on these. Imaging, layering, soundstage, and separation are on the same rough tier as the other IEMs being considered here (though maybe not Traillii or Odin but this is a relatively low-confidence claim), which is to say excellent.
Noteworthy Points of Comparison:
vs. Trio: The Trio has a more even sub-to-mid bass ratio than the Z1R's sub-bass skew. My cup of tea is closer to the Trio but of course this is entirely a personal taste matter. In terms of texture I find the Z1R and Trio to play at a very similar level, to the point where I am not sure I can declare either a victor. The mids is the place where I can see opinions diverging the most regarding the Trio and Z1R. I hear male vocals are a little recessed on the Z1R, while they are reference on the Trio. I prefer the Trio there, but for female vocals there is no contest: the Z1R has some of the best female vocals I have ever heard. I find the Z1R's treble just as detailed yet a little hotter than the Trio's but at least during my short tenure I was not very bothered; this is something I chalk up to their difference in energy at ~5-6kHz, so it may not be relevant to others if they don't have similar sensitivities.
vs. Everyone: I don't think any other IEM here can capture rhythms like the Z1R can. Truly special stuff.
Sennheiser IE900:
Not many brands can claim the pedigree of Sennheiser in the world of personal audio (well, Sony can but let me talk up Senn for a sec). However, their return to flagship IEMs was something that surprised and excited many of us in the hobby, some of us having feared that they had shifted their focus away from our niche market segment. Then, along came the announcement of the IE900 flagship to assuage any fears we had, and modestly priced relative to its competition as well! So how did Sennheiser do?
Spoiler alert: I love these.
Since I have gone through the trouble of covering my perspective on the Z1R, explaining the IE900 relative to it is very effective. The IE900 has a U-shape signature, with sub-bass and upper-treble boosted a noticeable amount relative to the Z1R. Beyond this, there is one additional twist: less upper-mid energy. I'll admit right away that for whatever reason, this tuning works extremely well for me and my library. Zoning into the bass, I find that timbre, extension, and rumble are excellent on the IE900 and competitive with the Z1R and Trio (not quite LX and Odin but not far). The bass slams nicely (more so than Z1R) and is very punchy, fast, and dynamic. In the midrange, things get interesting to me. There is a laidback warmth that permeates it. While it is clear that vocals and instruments are placed slightly behind the bass, I wouldn't call them "recessed" but maybe slightly veiled if anything. Part of the reason for this is the fact that the mids are presented evenly and consistently in the IE900---male and female vocals both sound similarly warm and comforting. In contrast, the Z1R's standout female vocals leave male vocals behind, creating the impression of a recession more so than in the IE900 (YMMV on this point though). This even midrange tuning combined with the single DD nature of the IE900 gives it an excellent sense of timbral coherency top-to-bottom that hybrids in this shootout don't quite strike (despite mostly avoiding any issues). But if female vocals are your focus, you may still prefer the Z1R and I wouldn't blame you. However, the IE900 excels at everything I throw at it. Finally, the IE900 treble is great, well extended, and competitive with most sets in this list, yet doesn't quite reach the levels of detail of the Trio and Z1R. At the same time, it comes off as slightly more relaxed (while not lacking in detail), thereby making it versatile across a variety of music genres.
I'll be brief on technicalities. The IE900 performs well and at a similar level as all other sets discussed, even if it doesn't take the crown in any given category. However, I want to say that this set stuns me on 2 more subjective fronts: 1) its price to performance ratio and 2) its all-rounder everyday carry nature. Sennheiser has created something extremely impressive in the IE900 that competes with sets many times its cost. Finally, I truly feel that I could play almost anything in my library and have a great time with the IE900---it is the definition of EDC to me.
Noteworthy Points of Comparison:
vs. Trio: The Trio slams a little harder in my opinion due to its stronger mid-bass. While the Trio's mids are also even-keeled like the IE900s, the Trio has a colder more reference take on it while the IE900 has a bit of a diffuse laidback warmth across. The trebles are similarly detailed and extended with the Trio going a little further to reproduce the air frequencies (the tia magic touch).
Personal Big Picture Takeaways:
The bass on the Odin is absurd.
Drums on the Z1R are bananas.
The IE900 is the real deal in my opinion. An amazing value proposition over both the Trio and Z1R in my opinion, and an incredible everyday carry. Yes, you can get slightly more detail out of the Trio and Z1R (or more bombastic bass out of the LX), and better female vocals/drums in the Z1R. However, in my opinion none of those behave as nicely with as diverse a music library as the IE900. I'm genuinely considering selling my Trio to get my hands on one of these.
I am still very pleased with the bird and remain untempted to move away from it
That wraps things up for me. If you read this crazy long write up, thank you very much! It's my first time putting this much effort into impressions, and also my first time with so much access to TOTL gear. I want to emphasize that in one way or another I found every piece of gear I listened to remarkable in some way, and that we really are splitting hairs here. Enjoy your weekends!
So I grabbed my Zen Pro for the first time in a couple days to see how it sounds to me after ~24 hours under the spell of EXT & Phonix. As always when demoing IEMs of that caliber I was a little nervous going back to my more modest setup, perhaps subconsciously fearing it would no longer cut the mustard for me. This fear was unfounded as shortly after I fired up my SR25ii => Zen Pro listening to The Eagles' Take it Easy the idea of comparing totally vanished from my mind and I got completely absorbed in sound of the Dunus. Technically (and perhaps technologically) the Zen Pro are clearly behind the likes of the EXT & Phonix, and I understand why the latter command the premium prices they do...but in terms of sheer enjoyment & musical immersion the Zen Pro damn good and hold their own with the best imho.
Take it Easy is one of my demo tracks. This is what I love about audio. Once I clear my audio palette by sleeping on it, I can listen to anything I own and still love it.
Take it Easy is one of my demo tracks. This is what I love about audio. Once I clear my audio palette by sleeping on it, I can listen to anything I own and still love it.
Yup and for me there's some magic inherent in a well executed single DD setup that is not found elsewhere. I would be curious to hear your thoughts on the Zen Pro.
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The Sony has incredible noise isolating feature, unbeatable in its class. And the sound was tuned more to the warmer side. The ZE3000 to me sounded more balanced, with a fun 6mm DD bass and clearer mids. And the weight is lighter too, with excellent fit & enough insertion depth so that they don't fall easily
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