[MaggotBrain]

I am always glad to take vacations, but one of the things I would always miss out on was that my portable gear used to take a backseat to my speakers




But no more!

The DMPZ1 has been an awesome travel buddy. Made the trip from Hawaii to Australia with lots of battery to spare.
With the Red Halo/Orpheus it has been a great marriage of source/cable/IEM - with the Sony accentuating the BA
bass and enhancing the bone conduction effect.

Finally got around to ripping some albums onto an SD card so I didn’t have to tether it my ipad via USB.
Listened to albums not available to streaming services - for legal issues (De La Soul) and
batsh#t crazy reasons (the KLF - who literally set a million dollars on fire!). Even oldies like these
were well served by the Sony - it was like getting a dirty water hot dog served on a fine china.

A couple words on Melbourne. Oh my goodness what a world class city!
So clean, so walkable. Awesome parks, friendly folks everywhere.
And the food - so much variety with TOTL Thai, Indian, Middle Eastern, Vietnamese, Japanese, even Italian. They are prolific with great restaurants like their native sons King Gizzard and Lizard Wizard put out albums (20 in ten years and 5 this year)
I look like one of these fat wombats after each dinner



You know that any city with an AC DC Lane would HAVE to rock! Anyone with leftover cash from their audio budget should consider a trip here - absolutely incredible!

 

[Damz87]

I am always glad to take vacations, but one of the things I would always miss out on was that my portable gear used to take a backseat to my speakers




But no more!

The DMPZ1 has been an awesome travel buddy. Made the trip from Hawaii to Australia with lots of battery to spare.
With the Red Halo/Orpheus it has been a great marriage of source/cable/IEM - with the Sony accentuating the BA
bass and enhancing the bone conduction effect.

Finally got around to ripping some albums onto an SD card so I didn’t have to tether it my ipad via USB.
Listened to albums not available to streaming services - for legal issues (De La Soul) and
batsh#t crazy reasons (the KLF - who literally set a million dollars on fire!). Even oldies like these
were well served by the Sony - it was like getting a dirty water hot dog served on a fine china.

A couple words on Melbourne. Oh my goodness what a world class city!
So clean, so walkable. Awesome parks, friendly folks everywhere.
And the food - so much variety with TOTL Thai, Indian, Middle Eastern, Vietnamese, Japanese, even Italian. They are prolific with great restaurants like their native sons King Gizzard and Lizard Wizard put out albums (20 in ten years and 5 this year)
I look like one of these fat wombats after each dinner



You know that any city with an AC DC Lane would HAVE to rock! Anyone with leftover cash from their audio budget should consider a trip here - absolutely incredible!

Glad you enjoyed your time in Melbourne! Hope you got decent weather while you were here

 

[dmphile]

For me personally, I expect IEMs to have a certain level of technicalities (combined with a tuning/tonality I enjoy) the higher they are priced. To me, that’s what separates a low and mid-fi IEM from a TOTL IEM, and what I want from my hard earned money.

Of course this is another massive YMMV like anything in this hobby, and there are exceptions to this personal rule I have if a particular IEM offers something unique that no other IEM can provide. I’m guessing Trifecta could potentially fall into that category for its timbre and more analogue tone. I’m still keen to demo Trifecta in a couple of weeks, but by the sounds of impressions from people I trust here, I don’t think it will be something for me at it’s price point. I’ll try to keep an open mind though.

I agree that higher prices should mean better everything, and that generally means technical performance (because even a $20 IEM can have exceptional tuning). But I'm still hoping to hear a TOTL IEM that breaks this mould despite not being competitive with other TOTLs technically. Could Trifecta be that IEM? Time will tell.

Yeah, and moreover in this case involving luxury items, it's more like buying an experience. There is a quality there that is subjectively valued, be it cosmetics, design, craftsmanship, history, reputation, prestige. Time-keeping, bread-toasting, goat-floating alike have this practicality and art intertwined in the process

I agree with all these comments. A Benz may be your preference or maybe a Bimmer, or maybe a Honda Civic but the former two both command a "luxury" price point which comes with a certain level of experience and expectations. When you are shelling out premium $, I would expect premium touches that separate it from the rest of the pack. This includes hardware choices, tuning choices, materials/build quality and technical performance to meet ones audio preferences. Cloth chair vs Nappa leather? OFC, ambient lighting? Maybe, massive screens and technology to the max? 100%. Every hobby has this IMO, audio included.

 

[drftr]

After reading the whole M6 Ultra thread I could only come up with one single question: @Xinlisupreme why did you choose M6 Pro over M6 Ultra if I may ask? Or did you already have the former perhaps and in the end decided not to upgrade to the latter, or perhaps not yet? Tnx...

drftr

 

[MaggotBrain]

Glad you enjoyed your time in Melbourne! Hope you got decent weather while you were here

High 70s low 80s during the day. Not too dissimilar from Honolulu to be honest (except the mid 50s temps early mornings). Perfect walking around weather.

 

[gLer]

Wouldn't you consider timbre part of tuning? I'd agree if you'd say No for sure but I don't see it as part of technicalities either. I'd say it's the 3 Ts:

1. Tuning
2. Timbre
3. Technicalities

And we only measure the first for IEMs, currently.

drftr

Yes and no. I think timbre is not as universally accepted as important to many people, or put another way, many people can't really discern between good, great and best timbre. Timbre is also not that relevant for large swathes of popular music, like just about anything not recorded with real instruments. So like tuning it becomes more of a preference, as opposed to a technical quality like resolution or imaging that can more or less be universally agreed on.

If I was to list them based on TOTL ranking criteria, I'd say 1. Tuning, 2. Technicalities and 3. Timbre. Just my 0.02.

 

[CodenameBK201]

I agree with all these comments. A Benz may be your preference or maybe a Bimmer, or maybe a Honda Civic but the former two both command a "luxury" price point which comes with a certain level of experience and expectations. When you are shelling out premium $, I would expect premium touches that separate it from the rest of the pack. This includes hardware choices, tuning choices, materials/build quality and technical performance to meet ones audio preferences. Cloth chair vs Nappa leather? OFC, ambient lighting? Maybe, massive screens and technology to the max? 100%. Every hobby has this IMO, audio included.

At this point, I would settle just for nicer stock cables. Just start having Effect Audio, Dunu and Eletech be the official cable sponsors for everything, give me swappable end adapters at 3.5, 2.5 and 4.4 as the industry standard and never, ever offer me another IEM where the wire gauge is anything above 24awg.

Also, my thoughts reading this thread at around 6am: christ, don't any of us ever sleep?

Also my thought reading this at around 6am: apparently not.

 

[dmphile]

Also my thought reading this at around 6am: apparently not.

One of the "benefits" of waking up multiple times a night to catch up on WC thread from a hungry 5 month old that's teething, feeding and giving my wife some minor breaks in between.

 

[CodenameBK201]

One of the "benefits" of waking up multiple times a night to catch up on WC thread from a hungry 5 month old that's teething, feeding and giving my wife some minor breaks in between.

Gee, I wonder what that's like, not that I would know...

 

[drftr]

Timbre is also not that relevant for large swathes of popular music

You bring up great points and I hadn't considered this one, probably because I start all demos with 45 min acoustic music anyway.

For me preferences would (accidently) be in the same order I listed them: 1. Tuning, 2. Timbre, 3. Technicalities.

drftr

 

[Doug2507]

I am always glad to take vacations, but one of the things I would always miss out on was that my portable gear used to take a backseat to my speakers




But no more!

The DMPZ1 has been an awesome travel buddy. Made the trip from Hawaii to Australia with lots of battery to spare.
With the Red Halo/Orpheus it has been a great marriage of source/cable/IEM - with the Sony accentuating the BA
bass and enhancing the bone conduction effect.

Finally got around to ripping some albums onto an SD card so I didn’t have to tether it my ipad via USB.
Listened to albums not available to streaming services - for legal issues (De La Soul) and
batsh#t crazy reasons (the KLF - who literally set a million dollars on fire!). Even oldies like these
were well served by the Sony - it was like getting a dirty water hot dog served on a fine china.

A couple words on Melbourne. Oh my goodness what a world class city!
So clean, so walkable. Awesome parks, friendly folks everywhere.
And the food - so much variety with TOTL Thai, Indian, Middle Eastern, Vietnamese, Japanese, even Italian. They are prolific with great restaurants like their native sons King Gizzard and Lizard Wizard put out albums (20 in ten years and 5 this year)
I look like one of these fat wombats after each dinner



You know that any city with an AC DC Lane would HAVE to rock! Anyone with leftover cash from their audio budget should consider a trip here - absolutely incredible!

Small world, was listening to de-la-soul on DMP/Red Halo a week or so ago, and thought it sounded fantastic.

 

[Wyville]

It's really hard. And it is impossible to explain. This is the kind of experience that makes you stronger and changes your attitude to many things, often in a more pragmatic direction.
But that's definitely not an experience anyone would voluntarily want to have. Each of us now has friends who have been forced to flee, or have died, or are now fighting to protect our safety and our lives.

So I understand how your friend feels and I wish she could take dad to a safer place. I hope friend can do it as soon as possible.

Thanks! We are all keeping our fingers crossed she will be able to give her father the treatment and safety he needs soon.

I wish you and all your loved ones a return to peace soon.

Perspective's a funny thing like that. I'm very much in the boat of having only the finest audio gear is very much a first world problem, and I have no illusions about that. Practice gratitude first for what you do have rather than what you don't, how lucky you are to be born where you are, etc. That said? I got my first real high end DAP, my AK240 Blue Note, when I got out of my...I can't even count anymore, 5th? 6th major hospital stay? I got my dad his custom Nobles when he had a real medical scare not long after. My Sony nw-wm1am2 was a gift to myself from my family after my last hospital stint that ran nearly three weeks. I imagine @Auricon knows exactly where I'm coming from here.

When things are bad, and life seems bleak, hobbies aren't a needless indulgence; hobbies are what keep us  sane.

I can understand that. I got into this hobby out of necessity for my (mental) health and music has been a great help in difficult times. High-end gear really helps to make the music more engaging and is a very effective way to escape and drift away into the music for a little. It has been a life saver for me in that regard.

That said, I hope for you that this hobby will stay an indulgence and that you won't need it for yet another major hospital stay.

 

[kevin638880]

Yes and no. I think timbre is not as universally accepted as important to many people, or put another way, many people can't really discern between good, great and best timbre. Timbre is also not that relevant for large swathes of popular music, like just about anything not recorded with real instruments. So like tuning it becomes more of a preference, as opposed to a technical quality like resolution or imaging that can more or less be universally agreed on.

If I was to list them based on TOTL ranking criteria, I'd say 1. Tuning, 2. Technicalities and 3. Timbre. Just my 0.02.

My 0.02 is that if I pay 3k+ for an IEM you better give me all three.

But in all seriousness I agree - wrong tuning for you (e.g. XE6) and you probably won't bother listening to it any further, so Tuning is also number 1 for me.

 

[claud W]

Ok... Legend Evo incoming!

You talked me successfully out of the Nio @MatW

I was also intrigued by the Trifecta but I am looking for an "audiophile basshead" IEM and @Rockwell75 imo pretty clearly showed in his first impressions that the Trifecta is going a different route. Other than that price played also a role. I was never and don't want to spend more than 2500 on Headphones/IEMs. I declared this my psychological limit and all my headphones were below that threshold (I broke the rule with the DCA Stealth wich I returned for a full refund..).

At first, I hesitated because of Evos treble limitations. After thoroughly thinking about that and reading _a lot_ (also many helpful responses in this thread) I came to the conclusion that an IEM that steps back a little in terms of treble/detail&resolution is an ideal complement to my humble collection, because all the details presented by Odin/Supermoon can also be a burden sometimes when I just want to enjoy the sound and not discover every single tone in a track. Also, from what I've read, treble is not 'veiled', just more on a natural/neutral level, which is ok for me.

My EE EVO arrived a week ago. It has been burning in since then. I was expecting a VERY bassey sound, but what I got is an IEM capable of sub bass with a good midrange. This one is going to get a lot of air time. At some point I will upgrade the cable.

 

[claud W]

End of year survey question: What's something you regret selling this year?

I have sold a DAP and two IEM cables with no regrets.