I was going to wait until tomorrow to start this but it will help me this weekend if we get a head start today. It's officially fall up here in the northern hemisphere which means it's time for our seasonal poll.
Survey: What are the top 3 IEMs that own your heart right now?
Criteria for selection is entirely up to you-- favourites, new loves...what 3 IEMs are occupying your mind and heart at this moment in time? To see the results of the summer and spring polls head to the opening page of the Watercooler thread.
Hi Rockwell75,
As of now, the top three iems that connect with me the most on a frequent basis are ranked, from the following.
1. Vision Ears VE8. To this day, the VE8 holds a place in my heart where its nearing presence and intimacy of the music reaches in to my heart through an ever-narrowing lens taking me alongside a life’s journey of emotions and feelings.
2. Campfire Audio Supermoon. There’s something enticing and satisfying about Supermoon that makes nearly every listen an enjoyable experience. From the way it presents the music in an expansive and up-close way, its agile and visceral-like prowess takes the stage in delivering a thrilling performance of sound with a bit of musical flair through full-on presence, focused coherence and dextrous speed.
3. Sony IER-Z1R. The IER-Z1R has a unique sense of liveliness in its dynamic and immersive energy that draws me in to the music on almost every listen in an uplifting and satisfying way. It still remains at the top three for its unique sonic qualities and the grand sense of feeling it conveys.
On a more 'mainstream' note in the audio side of things, going back Friday evening (9/23, up until past midnight on Saturday, 9/24) after work, on my way back home, I picked up a new Airpods pro 2nd gen, and I gave it few hours of listening to some tracks from Tidal on iPhone 14 Pro Max.
iPhone 14 Pro Max (in deep purple) and Airpods pro 2nd gen (9/23).
Van Halen - Eruption (45 Version), streamed by Tidal, on iPhone 14 Pro Max w/ Airpods pro 2nd gen (9/24).
Claude Debussy - Suite bergamasque 82, L. 75: III. Clair de lune (pianist Alexandre Thauraud), streamed by Tidal, on iPhone 14 Pro Max w/ Airpods pro 2nd gen (9/24).
Here are some of my brief impressions and thoughts of its sound and presentation.
With noise cancellation turned on, first thing I noticed was a slightly widened spatial effect of outside noise being filled in with more compressed faint sounding static noise in a subtly more smoothed out way.
Vocals and instruments sound more noticeably present with a more soft and breathy timbre for some realism effect.
Sound stage extends and opens up a bit with a little more reach towards the upper and lower corners, and projects positioning and placement of vocals & instruments slightly more outward and a bit further off to the sides.
There is slightly more discernible sense of separation, with smoother transitions of positioning and panning effect between and among vocals and instruments with less overlap in busier passages of songs.
However, in most songs with soft sounding vocals, some “sss-” and “t-” sounds can come off pronounced and emphasized differently as “thh-” and “ssh-.”
Also, in the low end, mid-bass and sub-bass are decent for the effect of impact and fair amount of reach it delivers with smoother transition in physicality & decay and with slightly more speed. But, the way it renders & scales depth from low end is still lacking in volume definition and texture, as it sounds like some instruments and vocals are fairly smoothed over in presentation of smaller details with a bit of haze-like veil.
Overall, in short summary, coming from the former 1st gen of Airpods pro, I think the 2nd gen model of Airpods pro goes for a more smooth-natural tone of sound with an ‘easy-going’ kind of presentation while retaining a fairly decent amount of surface detail, without coming off as strident nor harsh in any way for longer hours of non-fatiguing & enjoyable listening on-the-go.
Test tracks (streamed by Tidal, w/ iPhone 14 Pro Max & Airpods pro 2nd gen):
Van Halen - Eruption (45 Version)
Claude Debussy - Suite bergamasque 82, L. 75: III. Clair de lune (pianist Alexandre Thauraud)
Benny Goodman - Runnin’ Wild (2001 Remastered)
Johann Sebastian Bach - Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068 - 2. Air (arranged for orchestra and organ, by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor James Morgan, and associated performer Juliette Pochin)
Priscilla Ahn - True Love Will Find You In The End
Audiophile fit…
Maybe I’m suspicious about the opinion. Supermoon Audiophile fit on the way.
Hi CrocodileDundee,
Nice to see the addition of Supermoon ciem. I must say audiophile-fit is by far the most comfortable fit & wear I’ve had for a custom-fit iem, where I don’t feel any pressure nor build-up of any hot spots in my ears when worn for few hours of listening at a time. I’m really considering adding another custom-fit iem, but with a hybrid driver setup. It would be nice to see Empire Ears adding bone conduction driver to their next gen entry-level iem Bravado MK3 (while still retaining similar driver setup from MK1 w/ dynamic driver + BA) and have it offered in custom-fit.
For now though, I’m really considering going for their universal-fit iem and see how their Weapon X bone conduction driver fares in feel & performance with other iems at similar price points w/ bone conduction drivers. I might just have to give one of their flagship universal-fit iems a try, despite the price being more than what I’m used to paying for iems in the 2k range, as I’m very curious to see what the full-range bone conduction driver is all about (as opposed to bone conduction driver for the middle frequency on MEST MK1). =)
-Daniel.