[Tex Irie]

Groovy morning listening to Silk Sonic with CA F5 and M6U.

How do you like that pairing @claud W ?

 

[552609]

It is a lot of work, and for that reason I have always avoid reviewing anything save what really inspires or touches my audio heart in some profound way. I for one really appreciate your input and feel you're contributing a lot of valuable perspective and content. However don't fall into the trap of feeling as though anyone owes you something for what you're doing as that is also problematic. If it the joy inherent in the hobby isn't suffiient reward then perhaps dial it back, otherwise burnout is real. That's what I did and it's served me well. Keep up the great work.

Yep, no one owes me anything and I don't owe anyone else anything either - something I have to remind myself of. But yes, I am slowing it down and not really planning any reviews after the Fitear TG335 that should be coming in next week. Unless someone buys the RS8, then I'll review that before I ship it out. Thanks again for the Trifecta recommendation - still one of my favorites.

I hope you feel better @Wolfhawk46!

Thanks, bud.

 

[Kiats]

Picked up the SP3K Cu today from Jeremy of AV One who set aside one set for me. Big thanks!

Been putting it through the paces with the FitEar DC Ti/Ode to Laura and the FitEar Air 2/Socrates 8. I am pleasantly surprised how well they play with the SP3K Cu. It’s going to be a long night.

 

[kumar402]

The coating scratches very easily - you can find micro scratches on basically every Xe6 ever - also, it picks up fingerprints like crazy. The Rn6 doesn't have that issue, which I can really appreciate. Also, REALLY appreciate the RN6's cable - did not like the scorpion cable. I have 7 unfinished reviews right now

XE6 is an IEM with its own character and attitude. Its attitude is like wear gloves while handling me and don't put me on rough surface else I will scratch myself

 

[bigbeans]

For those interested, I've re-listed my ciem XE6 (at a good discount from retail) as I prefer Trifecta.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Groovy morning listening to Silk Sonic with CA F5 and M6U.

Ooh. Another Silk Sonic fan. Singularity is going to play that back really well..

 

[Ayretan]

I have a tough question. I have under 850usd to spend. There is douk audio 4493 on drop for 599. Thats 300 off. The Cayin mk2 idac6 which has wonderful reviews. I want an amp I can op amp roll. I listen 99.9% to oem.
For 299 I can get a double pcm1792a dac from china plus frieght, and a most likely clone tube headphone amp for 250.

Or I can do teac dac,amp, marantz dac,amp, or peachtree deecho or thier streamer in the 190 to 400 range. I am dying so will be my last purchase of this type unless I find some good speakers and a sub later on. Please help me get euphoric, holographic sound. I am autistic, treble sensitive and like to chill to liquidy bass and sythwave.

Btw sale closes in 6 days on drop, I use deezer or amazon. Android 12 phone and tablet. Laptop in yhe future alienware.

 

[552609]

For those interested, I've re-listed my ciem XE6 (at a good discount from retail) as I prefer Trifecta.

Best of luck with the sale.

 

[cn11]

Got this purdy lil' nugget in yesterday. Super impressed by the sound quality put out by this thing. IEM match is such a useful feature. Everything I run through this GB sounds so much better than the L&P W2 (orig).

 

[CodenameBK201]

I'll do what I can. The Xe6 is such an odd duck. It honestly won't end up with a great score on my grading scale (especially thanks to the cable/packaging/build quality scores), but I can't help liking it. Going directly from the Trifecta (which I prefer over the Xe6 other than the sibilance) and the Xe6 to the Rn6, I was disappointed. The Rn6 is a brand new IEM though and likely needs some time to burn in - so I'm trying to hold off judgment until it has the time to break in a bit. Still, the Xe6, despite not scoring all that well, is just a really cool-sounding IEM - as others have mentioned, there's an emotional experience that the Xe6 provides. Yes, the lows bleed into...literally everything, but the soundstage matches the Mentors and it's so tiny compared to most high-end IEMs. The Rn6 appears technically capable, but so far it's far more neutral, so it'll likely get a much better score than the XE6, but I don't know if subjectively I'll like it more (also, the cable and build quality will be much higher scores). The Xe6 has made me take a long look at my scoring chart - and while I can't see myself adding 10 points in there for subjective impressions, it's made me contemplate it.

Here's the FRGs if you're curious: https://wolfhawk.squig.link/?share=FiR_Rn6,FiR_Xe6,CA_Trifecta

Give it time. Take a week, listen exclusively to the rn6, then go back to the xe6. I think you'll sing a different tune. What you're describing was exactly my experience, and it took me a bit to wrap my head around it, and now I love it.

 

[552609]

Give it time. Take a week, listen exclusively to the rn6, then go back to the xe6. I think you'll sing a different tune. What you're describing was exactly my experience, and it took me a bit to wrap my head around it, and now I love it.

Yep, that's why I said I'm giving it time. It's brand new - I'm letting it break in a bit first - it's not that it's bad by any stretch - it's just not blowing my mind yet. My Xe6 was used, so it came out of the box swinging - once I turned it up a bit anyway.

 

[phiemon]

I got them yesterday haha. Jewel is coming in today. Also sick with a cold, just wrapped up the Xe6 review, but it won't be up till...probably Monday at the earliest.

I wish you a good recovery!

I'll do what I can. The Xe6 is such an odd duck. It honestly won't end up with a great score on my grading scale (especially thanks to the cable/packaging/build quality scores), but I can't help liking it. Going directly from the Trifecta (which I prefer over the Xe6 other than the sibilance) and the Xe6 to the Rn6, I was disappointed. The Rn6 is a brand new IEM though and likely needs some time to burn in - so I'm trying to hold off judgment until it has the time to break in a bit. Still, the Xe6, despite not scoring all that well, is just a really cool-sounding IEM - as others have mentioned, there's an emotional experience that the Xe6 provides. Yes, the lows bleed into...literally everything, but the soundstage matches the Mentors and it's so tiny compared to most high-end IEMs. The Rn6 appears technically capable, but so far it's far more neutral, so it'll likely get a much better score than the XE6, but I don't know if subjectively I'll like it more (also, the cable and build quality will be much higher scores). The Xe6 has made me take a long look at my scoring chart - and while I can't see myself adding 10 points in there for subjective impressions, it's made me contemplate it.

Here's the FRGs if you're curious: https://wolfhawk.squig.link/?share=FiR_Rn6,FiR_Xe6,CA_Trifecta

Yep, I know exactly what you mean about the Xe6 : https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the...n-first-page-all-welcome.957426/post-17503340

The graphic is very interesting and it totally matches my impressions of the Xe6 and Trifecta. It also confirms that I would like the Xe6 more than the Rn6. Still, if only there wasn't that sound leakage...
However, I wouldn't say that soundstage is comparable to Mentor. Maybe it's because of the CA1000T, but I paid extra attention to this aspect (last week when I had it in loan and I also could compare it with Mentor in tranquility) because it's so important to me. By the way, not only is the soundstage of the Xe6 for me a little smaller, but the Xe6 is also noticeably less airy and has worse imaging. That general technicalities are not the strength of the Xe6, is known. Nevertheless, it had managed to please me a lot. And I still can't explain today why.

Thank you very much for the efforts. I know that such work is unpaid and I really hope you get your retribution in a different way. There is a lot of work and suffering in what you do. And in my opinion you do it quite well and convincingly. Many thanks for the efforts!

 

[gLer]

In other news, new toys...

First impressions: love the screen (5.9-inch, bright, sharp), light (I'm so used to TOTL bricks), smooth, clear sound out the box (pre-100h burn-in). Drives HiBy's Zeta beautifully (and loudly) at 40/100, medium gain, in case anyone was worried about power output.

More to follow in the coming days and weeks.

 

[dmphile]

I have to respectfully disagree, with respect to soundstage. I A/Bed Ronin/Mentor again yesterday, using the same cable (Orpheus) on both, and I didn’t perceive any advantage in soundstage from the Mentor.

I find the two to be within 10% of each other, the key difference being that the Ronin sounds just a little bit more natural and coherent, and has better mid-bass, while I agree that the Mentor has a more sub-bass. The Mentor is slightly less warm and has just a little bit more treble energy. But again, they’re surprisingly similar.

I can’t speak to how they compare with their respective stock cables.

Thanks to @MRT-Man, I've now got a pre-order in for a Ronin from a local dealer since he's out of stock but pretty sure I prefer Ronin over Mentor given the second audition I had with it yesterday. Will see which will be the new reigning all-rounder champ but I have a feeling Mentor may be dethroned in this area. I agree Ronin has a bit more organic/natural timbre and tonality. I also perceive it to have a bit more oomph in the bass and slightly smoother top end and better fit.

 

[phiemon]

Thanks to @MRT-Man, I've not got a pre-order in for a Ronin from a local dealer since he's out of stock but pretty sure I prefer Ronin over Mentor given the second audition I had with it yesterday. Will see which will be the new reigning all-rounder champ but I have a feeling Mentor may be dethroned in this area. I agree Ronin has a bit more organic/natural timbre and tonality. I also perceive it to have a bit more oomph in the bass and slightly smoother top end and better fit.

I wouldn't say that that Ronin has more oomph in the bass (this is also confirmed here: https://wolfhawk.squig.link/?share=Noble_Ronin,UM_Multiverse_Mentor), but it is certainly so that it has a smoother top end which I personally like more (even if First Times solved the problem for me taming the treble). The fit is actually paradoxical: although Ronin is huge, it sits extremely comfortably in the ear and it's super light. It is really beautiful!