So the midweek Cooler Quiz question: how much are you influenced by branding in your choice of audio gear? Would you generally be inclined to pay higher prices based on this influence regardless of product merit?
I'm not sure I would necessarily pay a higher price for something simply because of it's brand reputation, unless that reputation was specifically for exceptional build quality and longevity. For eg I'm happy to pay the "Apple Tax" because I know their products are built to last and hold their value well if I decide to resell. Same would go for audio products from 64Audio, Campfire and Meze, just to pick 3...
Beyond that our tastes and approaches are so totally opposite that I tend to really only take note if he dislikes something as that's an indicator to me that I might really like it.
If I had a nickel for each time I've read something along these lines from you I'd be able to get .... a CCA CRA maybe?
Because of my many-flavors approach to the hobby so far, I find I agree with much of what Crinacle praises (eg A/U12t) and disagree with much that he doesn't (eg Cascade, Onyx/Honeydew). End of the day, I think his reviews provide a very worthwhile yardstick comparison.
Moondrop is very popular but I'm always jaded by build quality of ChiFi products and have not had much interest in their products despite their raging popularity.
Yeah, initially the term "ChiFi" put me off and made me think immediately of 'low-quality', but that has definitely not been the case at all with the ones I've purchased. I can't think of anything that has been bad, and in fact build quality has pretty much always been quite a lot better than expected vs price. I've only got the one Moondrop, but I can say the Aria is way up there in terms of it's fit and finish, I have no reason to expect it to fail any time soon.
Wish my wife’s handbags were that cheap, it’s only leather, no technology there.
One new handbag==one new IEM, amirite??
Skipped a step:
3. Will your wife kill you? If no go to step 4
4. Purchased
Well I'm not dead yet...
The "explain to the Mrs." is a good bell-weather topic.
I find I don't have much to explain anymore, ref. handbags above.
I spent years on the fence due to the impression process and reading stories here about multiple refits etc...But in the end it turned out to be pretty painless. I checked some local audiologist reviews and went during lunch one day and walked out ~20 minutes later and $50 lighter with boxed impressions ready to be shipped. The audiologist intern wound up taking mine lol (while his preceptor looked on). I was ok with this as it didn't seem like rocket science and general audiologists have plenty of experience taking impressions for hearing aids. I think the prevailing wisdom that you have to shop around for an impression taking 'guru' is probably hype, that or my intern is like a future all star in his rookie year.
@Tokpakorlo excellent post on the topic of getting his own CIEM convinced me that it's not as daunting a prospect as it might at first seem. I finally got around to this myself yesterday, and went to the audiologist recommended by the 64A dealer I'm getting my A12t from. They knew all about doing the impressions for IEMs, I was in and out of there in about 15 minutes. The proof will be in the fit when I get them of course, but at this point I'd do it all over again no problem, if/when I decide to get another custom.
- kind of an allegory -