[Auricon]

I have the stock RN6 cable for sale if interested.

Bummer, I ended up rage purchasing SoA

In another week or maybe an Orpheus

 

[F208Frank]

Bummer, I ended up rage purchasing SoA

In another week or maybe an Orpheus

Orphy is a special cable indeed.

Love mine to death.

It is also priced insanely and when it came out, I scoffed at it and thought I'd never own one.

I am still to this day surprised myself owning one, but it is what it is. There are many more damaging expensive vices out there (lol)

The industry/hobby will always have these price battles as to what companies CAN charge and what customers are willing to ACCEPT.

I do feel the prices have been getting ridic in all categories of gear whether they are cables, iems, or daps for sure though.

 

[linux4ever]

After trying out few TOTL iems, I keep going back to 64Audio A18t as my daily driver & allrounder. It has a balanced tuning and handles pretty much everything that I throw at it.

Currently in my collection:
Multi BA based iem - 64Audio A18t (CIEM)
Tribrid (1 DD for bass, 2BA for Mids and 1 Magnetostatic Driver for Highs) - Itsfitlab Fusion (CIEM)
3DD - Penon Serial (Universal)
1DD - Nightjar Acoustics Singularity (Universal) (incoming)

I might add Fir Rn6 sometime later to have the bone conduction driver also in the mix.

 

[Piotr Michalak]

I couldn't resist. It is simply too good.

Amber Pearl (IEM only) ordered.

Haha Welcome to the club & you won't regret it.
AP inspires me (tempts?) to get myself LeJardin UIEM also, as a compliment to the CIEM I already have. It's telling.

 

[Zachik]

Bummer, I ended up rage purchasing SoA

You are one ANGRY person!!!

 

[Bret Halford]

Good evening everyone

I hope you are all well, Weekend question,

If you could only choose just 1 iem an All-rounder and Good or excellent in almost everything, what would you say....


Have a great weekend to everyone

If I could only have one, it would be Grand Maestro.

I find the neutral plus huge sub bass, default tuning highly satisfying across my listening, the modules and switches let the driver technicals excell across tunings. Despite all the praise the standard tuning draws, I really enjoy control with vocal on too.

 

[NovaFlyer]

From ET, SoA (Sonnet of Adam) or 2nd hand Aeneid. I’m only 8 hours into SoA and it’s definitely an “upgrade” of Aeneid with wider soundstage and airy mids (really opens up XE6’s signature and mids).

Agree that SoA is a step above the Aeneid, but there are very close and you can't really go wrong with either one. I compared both at SoCal as I was looking for TOTL cable and went with the Aeneid since I was able to get a open box deal on one.

 

[NovaFlyer]

Just curious, I'm sure it's been asked before, but has anyone done a formal survey in here regarding genre preferences, favorite tracks etc.?

I feel like there's a stereotype that every audiophile just listens to some combination of Dire Straits, Norah Jones, Daft Punk, and their one favorite female vocal jazz track (for the imaging), but I'm curious as to what the community is actually listening too.

Personally, I lean towards rock, alternative, and progressive metal – with a healthy dose of jazz, funk, and fusion.

Some of my all time favorite albums are:

Incubus "Morning View"
Dream Theater "Awake"
Pineapple Thief "Your Wilderness"
Stanton Moore "All Kooked Out"
Funkadelic "Maggot Brain"
Coldplay "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends"
Rush "Signals"
Thelonious Monk "Monk's Dream"
Beatles "Abbey Road"
Polyphia "New Levels New Devils"
Weezer "Pinkerton"

Would also be interesting to hear what tracks folks use as their key test tracks and for what aspects, e.g sub-bass, mids, treble separation, sound stage, etc. Some of the best reviews for me are when the reviewer lists the tracks and calls out those details. That greatly helps me understand and learn more. I listened to a huge variety of music, but key on rock, 80s music, jazz, alternative, and soundtracks. Some of my favorites, to include test tracks are:

Candy Dulfer - Lily was Here on Candy Dulfer Live in Amsterdam
Red Rider - Lunatic Fringe
Phil Collins - In the Air Tonight Live on Face Value Deluxe (only found on CD and not streaming)
Manu Katché - 2 tracks on Unstatic, Unstatic and Presentation
Dave Grusin - Fascinating Rhythm on The Gershwin Collection
Star Wars Episode 1 soundtrack - Duel of the Fates
Halo 3: ODST soundtrack - the first track Overture, the opening has a rain storm that's a great test portion
Tool - Chocolate Chip Trip on Fear Inoculum
Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar on Me (Live) on the Hysteria Super Deluxe release. This is the same track that was used in the video that was recorded and filmed in Feb 1988 at the then McNichols Arena in Denver. I happened to be at that concert and still remember it clearly today
Van Halen - Dreams on 5150
Boston - More Than a Feeling
Hans Zimmer, The Dark Knight Soundtrack - Why So Serious?
Hans Zimmer, Interstellar Soundtrack - Mountains
Whitesnake - Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City (Live) on the 30th Anniversary Super Deluxe version of their 1987 Whitesnake album. I demo'd the Sonnet of Adam with my LX using this track and I could hear and sense the individual guitar strings.

How do you guys feel about putting together an official Watercooler playlist?

Maybe we can all contribute some tracks to it, to cover many genres or various audio qualities that we listen for. This way, manufacturers and exhibitors can have those tracks downloaded and available at all CanJams and events - thus circumventing any show wi-fi issues.

Perhaps we can even come up with two lists - one list of perennial reference tracks, and one rotating seasonal list to account for whatever earworm is burrowing through our brains at the moment?

Just a thought.

Great idea!!! The other great aspect is the music discovery I've gleaned from tracks recommend by fellow Head-Fi'ers

 

[Auricon]

Orphy is a special cable indeed.

Love mine to death.

It is also priced insanely and when it came out, I scoffed at it and thought I'd never own one.

I am still to this day surprised myself owning one, but it is what it is. There are many more damaging expensive vices out there (lol)

That's the word. I'm still vacillating on spending over $5K on a cable and have more cables than IEMs, LOL. More likely punt until FiR E12 is announced which I'm hearing in a month or so.

The industry/hobby will always have these price battles as to what companies CAN charge and what customers are willing to ACCEPT.

I do feel the prices have been getting ridic in all categories of gear whether they are cables, iems, or daps for sure though.

Ja, I agree. I usually set soft ceilings but eventually surpass them, LOL. N30LE was one but I can't deny the smiles it provides every time I hit play.

 

[NovaFlyer]

But whhyyyy??? I'd arm myself to fight against the zombie apocalypse, the one that has surely descended upon us, such that we could only have one IEM each.

EE LX in customs as I would have great bass and a great seal with ambient sound reduction to reduce the gunfire noise as I kill zombies

 

[KuroKitsu]

Bummer, I ended up rage purchasing SoA

In another week or maybe an Orpheus

But did you really? SoA has a lotttttt of gold

I too have my Rn6 cable listed if you need it.

 

[stacey]

I couldn't resist. It is simply too good.

Amber Pearl (IEM only) ordered.

I wonder how it will compare to the rest of UM’s Mason/Red Halo/Le Jardin lineup.

 

[Auricon]

But did you really? SoA has a lotttttt of gold

I'm guud with SoA gold, it's like Aeneid gold – classy. Raven gold, too bling for my ears

I too have my Rn6 cable listed if you need it.

I've lost that luvin' feeling with doubling up on RN6 cable

 

[solstice15]

Tapping the Cooler hive mind again. Which complementary 2 out of 3 should I have in my collection: Mentor, Annihilator 23, and/or Jewel.

As context I am generally more bass/DD focused given my library, but am interested in expanding my tastes, in SQ and music. And having complementary IEMs to do that with. Note I have Traillii which has a permanent seat at my table. I am willing to give spots to 2 out of these other 3 IEMs and would love some perspectives!

Of these 3, I'd personally go with Mentor and Jewel, simply because I've never been able to get on with Anihilator, objectively good but just doesn't inspire me to reach for it.

I think Jewel would be a bit redundant if you already have Traillii tbh. I think Mentor is different enough with its bcd magic. For a third I'd consider a bassier DD set (XE6, RN6, Raven etc..)

 

[KuroKitsu]

I'm guud with SoA gold, it's like Aeneid gold – classy. Raven gold, too bling for my ears


I've lost that luvin' feeling with doubling up on RN6 cable

Speaking of gold, I'm waiting for Gladiator to drop their GPS. Its a lot more gold sheen than most GPS out there.

If I paint it gold though? You can't say to a gold Rn6 stock cable