[drftr]

Try living in Africa...

There's worse places than Stellenbosch

Are you living close (enough)?

drftr

 

[gLer]

There's worse places than Stellenbosch

Are you living close (enough)?

drftr

Less than an hour from there. Not complaining - but gear-wise I'm one of only two people even remotely interested in high-end IEMs...in the entire country afaik!

 

[drftr]

Less than an hour from there. Not complaining - but gear-wise I'm one of only two people even remotely interested in high-end IEMs...in the entire country afaik!

Hmm... That would make for an orderly CanJam I guess...

Here in India it would be slightly different. Even if you'd be waiting for the show to be opened first in line with your nose against the door there will be 30-35 people in front of you before the key has turned completely. I still don't know how they do it.

drftr

 

[fiascogarcia]

Hmm... That would make for an orderly CanJam I guess...

Here in India it would be slightly different. Even if you'd be waiting for the show to be opened first in line with your nose against the door there will be 30-35 people in front of you before the key has turned completely. I still don't know how they do it.

drftr

Years of bus and train commuter survival training!

 

[Frankie D]

Portable turntables are making a comeback actually!

I have to say, plugging in my headphones in the audio output (not its intended purpose but it works well) of the Soundburger makes for a really pleasurable, luscious and dynamically rich listening experience

Ha! How many needles will get destroyed because there is no damped lowering of the cartridge? Looks cool though, but also looks like some further improvements are needed. Will probably still be a nitch hit though. I would love to hear this at CanJam.

 

[Frankie D]

Hey guys,

I just bought a new IEM and will have it on Saturday, and for me, this is a very unique set … an IEM I’ve bought new for the second time.

I’m a big fan of qdc, both sound and build quality-wise. When the Anole V14 first came out, I immediately ordered one since I had an Anole VX and just loved it, so I assumed the V14 was going to be a noteworthy improvement to the former flagship. Well, after a while I kind of missed the trebles in the VX even though the V14 used the new (at the time) 2nd gen e-stats. The V14 was a fine set, especially if you liked an emphasized low end, but it ended up becoming fodder for my next purchase.

Fast forward 3 years and I have a new set of the VX arriving Saturday.

I have read that some here prefer BA treble over e-stats and my experience above somewhat confirmed that may be for me as well. I have the Mason FS that uses BA drivers for the trebles (actually, its 13 drivers are all BA), used to have a VE 8 all BA, and of course the VX, and there is just a presence in the mid-trebles that sounds so musically engaging, to my ears anyway.

I was wondering if anyone else wanted to chime in on their experience with BA tweeters over e-stats. I am much more forgiving of the bass and mids compared to the trebles when we’re talking about flagship level sets.

For those that can get along with the treble, the VX is still one of the best IEMs ever made. All BA with great bass impact.

 

[drftr]

Years of bus and train commuter survival training!

In India? I've travelled about 15 months all over India by now and always with the cheapest sarige busses and trains, but it still amazes me how there can be 10 people getting inside the train before the first person can get out.

drftr

 

[Rockwell75]

For those that can get along with the treble, the VX is still one of the best IEMs ever made. All BA with great bass impact.

VX has what is to this day the best BA bass I’ve heard, Upper mids were a little too vibrant for me though. Still one of the most satisfying all BA IEMs I’ve heard.

 

[Natesdailies]

Subtonic Storm measurements

 

[maegnificant]

A new toy arrived!

These are my first impressions for the Shure Se 846 Gen2 (which just means there is a new filter included, which is the new standard filter):


Unboxing experience was quite straightforward.

I bought these from @caracara08, whom I can really recommend as a seller

So anyways, putting the filters in was quite easy and quick to do, the nozzle only seems to fit these shure foam filters, but I need to try some other tips out at some point. I quite like foam filters for the sound and isolation they provide, but I hate the process of putting them in and also that I need to replace these after a while.

The cable is UGLY.

It does the job, and it´s not annoying me physically while I am using the earphones, but holy hell it looks bad.

After putting these into my ears, I noticed that they fit my ears exceptionally well.
Isolation is very good and they are almost unnoticable to me (except for the foam of course). There is some sound coming from the earphones and the cable while I am moving around, but that only comes through when the music is off or very low volume BECAUSE

They do thump. A lot.

I was quite startled and a little frightened at first, having heard the IE600 just half an hour or so before, coming to these is a rather baffling experience. What didn´t help was that I was listening to the newest Snarky Puppy record, which was a live studio recording done by some of the best professional mixing and mastering engineers in the game right now.
It did not sound good. Bass was blowing everything away, mids where practically sucked out and sounded like a ghost, a hint of their once great presence. Treble came through, but had no sparkle or shine at all.

I was trying to cope pretty quickly, by switching to the first track of this album:



Crackling drums, phat bassline, nothing gets in between the rhythm section and me. This is most important to me as a drummer, to hear the basslines under all circumstances.

My next thought was: This must play lo-fi stylised music pretty well. So unto the next track:



The dry sound of this track gets perfect representation through these earphones. With other IEMs or speakers, the drums and bass sound muffled and "behind the music" not with the SE846. (red filter)

Another one:



Sound match. I really enjoy this now. This track has a vinyl quality to it, which also works very well.

Last one:



This kind of music is what these earphones are made for in my opinion. It keeps the dirt in the track and does not try to expose it, but embraces it. Bass thumps along while the vocals accompany the rhythm instead of taking the lead. Guitars stay in their lane. A nice change of pace for me, knowing how much most guitarists dislike that

Speaking of drumming, I instantly switched out the Blessing 2 Dusk as my practice buddys. I play on an electric Roland set at home and while I played through my exercises and tracks for today, I enjoyed the gain in bass and its definition a lot. I think I do get the BA vs DD difference now. For playing music, BA bass is much better.
The sound signature works super well for what I need and with the right mixing, I will have a great foundation to listen to my bandmates and myself once I get back in a band where we actually use In-Ear Monitoring again.

Okay now to the (expected) drawbacks:
These do not work as audiophile speakers. At all. Of course I will get used to the sound of them if I wear them for a while, but listening to well recorded acoustic Jazz does not sound great. No sweet highs, no sparkle, if at all, the treble gets quite harsh when there is nothing else in the track. They still sound pretty clear if the bass is seperated well in the mix, but it´s not the kind of seperation an audiophile seeks. Every instrument has it´s place with these and some that would normally stand out quite a lot more, like pianos, vocals, guitars etc. lose a lot of their presence.
So again, these are great tools. They are not great at replicating art in a way a consumer would love to hear, in my opinion.

I am still quite happy with them, since I expected as much, despite the weird marketing Shure is putting out about these and the (totally real and not biased at all) reviews I have read by actually pretty popular tech sites.

They are way overpriced though. Shure is selling more than 10 year old tech for the same price and more, without actually looking over to see what has happened in the audio space since then, and had they not the name recognition they got, they would get more flak for that.
This concludes my write up of the impressions I got, trying out the Shure Se846 Gen 2. I hope some found it interesting or maybe you even have your own impressions with these or have other thoughts or question surrounding this post? If so, please do write your thoughts down, I will be happy to read them and be part of a conversation.

Thanks for reading!

 

[drftr]

A new toy arrived!
These are my first impressions for the Shure Se 846 Gen2

Keepers? Too early?

drftr

 

[maegnificant]

Keepers? Too early?

drftr

I am pretty sure I will keep these for drumming and the occasional "dirty listening session"

 

[wolfstar76]

Shure SE846 used to be the TOTL IEMs, at least to me many years ago. Now even I haven't heard it, I am not that interested in it since it is outdated. But I assume the fitting is still top-notch.

 

[maegnificant]

Shure SE846 used to be the TOTL IEMs, at least to me many years ago. Now even I haven't heard it, I am not that interested in it since it is outdated. But I assume the fitting is still top-notch.

Yes, I agree with that. I still think they are quite useful, but the audiophile market, especially in the IEM section, has grown out of this kind of sound many many years ago.

 

[Frankie D]

VX has what is to this day the best BA bass I’ve heard, Upper mids were a little too vibrant for me though. Still one of the most satisfying all BA IEMs I’ve heard.

You hit the nail on the head! The treble can get crazy! The rest is top notch though. The Orpheus cable corrects the treble, but an awfully high price to pay to do that and the Traillii still exceeds it for me.