[jwilliamhurst]

*Taps ZMF sign*

I'm waitinnnnnnnng

I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.

 

[salwani8888]

Serious issues with my left ear and we don’t know what is wrong yet…pending a MRI….

hope its nothing and it all works out for you. All the best !

 

[yaps66]

I have a Lavricables Grand on the way for IE900, review coming soon. Speaking of which...

My full review of PW Audio's co-flagship First Times Shielding is now online here. Enjoy the read.​

Damn! Your pictures almost make me want to cxx!

 

[yaps66]

An obvious choice for me tonight… along with a glass of wine.

Would have loved to have seen the glass of wine and maybe even the bottle!

 

[emdeevee]

Whew! What a day at the Cooler!

In other news, my Meze Audio 109 pro’s arrived a few days ago and has made me wonder what in the hell took me so long to go down this route…I guess I never suspected a headphone could be so comfortable as the Meze 109 Pro. Comfort aside, the sound is what really draws me in. It’s certainly different than an iem and I like that. I won’t go into much here as I need more listening time. However long story short is that I’ve been having some
Serious issues with my left ear and we don’t know what is wrong yet…pending a MRI….so my doctor suggest I take some time off of iems and limit my time with them to under 1 hour a day which isn’t much as a music lover. So with that being said, I’m going further down the over ear rabbit hole. I just put a down payment on a Meze Empyrean Phoenix limited edition that Bloom had 1 left of! They are simply beautiful in my eyes!





Should have these in a few weeks time.

I also ordered the new Eletech Baroque Tips for when I do get to use my iems. Praying I don’t have to altogether give iems up….

Oh Bro! So sorry to hear this and hoping/praying modern medecine will solve your problem!

Not that it will make you feel better, but my 17 year old (big water kid) has recently experienced a sudden loss of hearing and tinnitus in his left ear We're doing everything we can with the doctors we have available to do whatever we can! Unfortunately, his diagnosis seems a little dire.

Gotta protect our ears and treat them well. You never know what tomorrow could bring. Hope it resolves favorably soon!

 

[Rockwell75]

Top 3 <= $1500

Top 10 (Crimson jumps in to round it out):

Nightjar Singularity x19
Elysian Diva x13
CFA Supermoon x13
Sennheiser IE900 x11
UM MEST MKi/ii/iii x11
Thieaudio Monarch MKii/iii x10
CFA Bonneville x6
Thieaudio V16 Divinity x6
CFA Solaris x5
Symphonium Crimson x5

Sound Rhyme DTE900 x4
Custom Art Fibae 5 x4
7th Acoustics Supernova x4
CFA Andromeda x4
64 Audio u/a4s x4
AüR Neon Pro x4
Sennheiser IE600 x4
Dunu SA6/MKii x3
Aur Audio Aurora x3
FatFreq Scarlet Mini x3
Final E5000 x3
Sony IER Z1R x3
Technics TZ700 x3
Night Oblivion Butasur x3
Oriolus Szalayi x2
Plunge Audio Unity x2
Bellos Audio X4 x2
EE Bravado MKii x2
Oriolus Isabellae x2


EE Hero
Symphonium Helios
Truthear Nova
Sound Rhyme SR8
Westone Mach 70
Kinera Imperial Verdandi
Astell & Kern AKT9iE
Custom Art Fibae 7 Unlimited
Symphonium Helios SE
Dunu Falcon Ultra
MA Eclipse
Noble FoKus Prestige
AK Zero 1
Softears Turii
Meze Advar
Noble Audio Stage 3
CFA Andromeda Gold
Penon Volt
Itsfitlab Fusion
Sony IER M9
Shokz Openrun Pro
Airpod Pro 2
Dunu Zen Pro
Madoo 821
634ears Miroak-II
Softears Twilight
Penon Serial
AüR Audio Alita
Fitear TG334
634ears LOAK-T
Unique Melody MEXT
Noble Mystique
Hyla TE5
Beyerdynamic Xelento 2
Westone Mach 60
Penon 10th
Audeze Euclid
QDC Anole Tiger
Penon Legend
Kinera Urd
64 Audio u6t
Inear Profile 8s

Honestly, it makes me feel like dropping my vote for NP, great IEM that it is and didn't need "Aurists" to be pushed as it was already doing pretty well.

I agree with @aaf evo on this, even tho I own a pair, that it is gross for an iem brand to disrespectfully dismiss @HiFiHawaii808 and others in this group offering to organize a tour, and then tell its followers to come here and vote for them. You do care, you don't care, which is it?

Anyway, like @Rockwell75 said, it's sad for that talented guy (Abel Hsu) who knows how to handcraft and tune excellent iems at super competitive prices. That's a recipe for success drowned in a boil of oil and water.

Same mixed feelings about mine

@bgillis @emdeevee and @jwilliamhurst you may each contribute a vote for one more IEM of your choice.

Whew! What a day at the Cooler!

In other news, my Meze Audio 109 pro’s arrived a few days ago and has made me wonder what in the hell took me so long to go down this route…I guess I never suspected a headphone could be so comfortable as the Meze 109 Pro. Comfort aside, the sound is what really draws me in. It’s certainly different than an iem and I like that. I won’t go into much here as I need more listening time. However long story short is that I’ve been having some
Serious issues with my left ear and we don’t know what is wrong yet…pending a MRI….so my doctor suggest I take some time off of iems and limit my time with them to under 1 hour a day which isn’t much as a music lover. So with that being said, I’m going further down the over ear rabbit hole. I just put a down payment on a Meze Empyrean Phoenix limited edition that Bloom had 1 left of! They are simply beautiful in my eyes!

Man I really hope you're ok! Not being able to use IEMs anymore would be a devastating blow-- they bring so much joy to my life

Wow! Love that there was a seemingly unintentional Watercooler jump on the Empyreans. Mine just came in today and I'm spending a couple late night hours with them. I also have the same reaction as you... I have no idea why it took me so long to take this jump into cans. I think you'll love the Empyreans if you like the Trifecta. The tonal balance leans thick and warm like the Trifecta, although the treble is a completely different story. That being said, enjoying warm sound definitely makes you more likely to enjoy these. I need a lot more time to process these (literally just had about an hour and a half of listening time) but they're outstanding to me. This is also my first experience with a "planar" driver at all which makes it doubly interesting to hear. Anyway, I'll report more at a later time, but I'll be looking forward to your impressions I also got mine from Bloom but did not take the jump on your absolutely *gorgeous* set.

How are you liking Trifecta?

 

[Deezel177]

I love analogue warm sounds the most!

If the Elite’s are anything to go by, you’ll love these. All the best with your health as well, mate. My fiancee’s been struggling with similar issues; sinus-related. ‘Hope it all works out in the end.

 

[phiemon]

My Top 3 under 1.5K:

Elysian Diva 2021
Night Oblivion Butastur
Nightjar Singularity

Hi Nate,

which of these would you buy yourself and therefore recommend? Have you possibly heard the IE900?

 

[jwilliamhurst]

Hey!

First, I hope your prognosis isn't severe and allows you to use IEMs fulltime again

Second, glad you are enjoying the 109 Pro. Had a feeling you'd connect with it.

Third, woah what a phenomenal looking Meze Empy.

There are a wide selection of headphones for you to enjoy just in case you aren't able to use IEMs, but we pray it doesn't come to that and you can enjoy both iems and headphones. The Baroque are as good as it gets when it comes to comfortable tips.

Thank you my friend

A man wishes another a speedy recovery.

Appreciate your kind words

Wow! Love that there was a seemingly unintentional Watercooler jump on the Empyreans. Mine just came in today and I'm spending a couple late night hours with them. I also have the same reaction as you... I have no idea why it took me so long to take this jump into cans. I think you'll love the Empyreans if you like the Trifecta. The tonal balance leans thick and warm like the Trifecta, although the treble is a completely different story. That being said, enjoying warm sound definitely makes you more likely to enjoy these. I need a lot more time to process these (literally just had about an hour and a half of listening time) but they're outstanding to me. This is also my first experience with a "planar" driver at all which makes it doubly interesting to hear. Anyway, I'll report more at a later time, but I'll be looking forward to your impressions I also got mine from Bloom but did not take the jump on your absolutely *gorgeous* set.

Looking forward to how Empy continues to evolve for you. It will be my first planar in a headphone as well. I’m very much looking forward to hearing them. Thank you for sharing your experience.

You can add the Code 23 cable on the Empyreans to completely make it at Campfire Trifecta sound signature on a headphone

Meze headphones are gorgeous just like ZMF headphones. My only wish was it had the Susvara drivers on it since it's the closest to Sennheiser HE-1 sound out of all the planar headphones that I've demoed

I wish Susvara wasn’t so hard to drive.

Code 23 sounds tempting…

hope its nothing and it all works out for you. All the best !

Thank you so much.

Oh Bro! So sorry to hear this and hoping/praying modern medecine will solve your problem!

Not that it will make you feel better, but my 17 year old (big water kid) has recently experienced a sudden loss of hearing and tinnitus in his left ear We're doing everything we can with the doctors we have available to do whatever we can! Unfortunately, his diagnosis seems a little dire.

Gotta protect our ears and treat them well. You never know what tomorrow could bring. Hope it resolves favorably soon!

Appreciate your kind words Sir. I am sorry to hear about your kid. Sending all of my positive energy your way!! Thank you for sharing and I hope/pray for a full recovery as well.

@bgillis @emdeevee and @jwilliamhurst you may each contribute a vote for one more IEM of your choice.

Thank you!

UM- Mest OG

Man I really hope you're ok! Not being able to use IEMs anymore would be a devastating blow-- they bring so much joy to my life

Thank you and I feel the same! Hoping for the best!

If the Elite’s are anything to go by, you’ll love these. All the best with your health as well, mate. My fiancee’s been struggling with similar issues; sinus-related. ‘Hope it all works out in the end.

Thank you and sending my
Best to yours as well.

 

[RonaldS86]

As for the AüR drama and as one who likes their NP:

1. I don't like Nicholas behaviour since I realized that he had been posting on head-fi under the alias Joey Pang without revealing his connection to AüR transparently. Reading his messages on Facebook today almost made me spill my coffee...

2. I do like my Neon Pro and have shared my enthusiasm about it on head-fi - be it here in the Watercooler or elsewhere - since receiving my unit somewhen at the beginning of 2023.

3. I will continue to share my opinion about the Neon Pro despite 1. as I judge the product (which - for me - is what a platform like head-fi should mainly be about) and honestly believe it is a very good one, especially in it's price bracket.

4. Imo those who put their disappointment about Nicholas behaviour above their enthusiasm for Abels product are oversensitive and do not really help the community which is - or at least should be - based on honest opinions and experiences.

5. Because of that, my first thought about Jeffs decision was "wrong" given the fact, that the votes for the NP had already been given before Nicholas Facebook bullsh*t and mainly from well known names on head-fi and the Watercooler. Second thought though made me think "fair nuff" out of respect for those who asked for deleting their votes (despite me thinking 4.).

In the end it really is a pity that Nicholas does almost everything to ruin his and Abels brand reputation...

But now let me move on and listen to some new stuff. Andris Nelsons latest and final Shostakovich instalment is waiting

Based on this only is enough reason to put him on my ignore list
I love my coffee time while reading a Cooler posts

Whew! What a day at the Cooler!

In other news, my Meze Audio 109 pro’s arrived a few days ago and has made me wonder what in the hell took me so long to go down this route…I guess I never suspected a headphone could be so comfortable as the Meze 109 Pro. Comfort aside, the sound is what really draws me in. It’s certainly different than an iem and I like that. I won’t go into much here as I need more listening time. However long story short is that I’ve been having some
Serious issues with my left ear and we don’t know what is wrong yet…pending a MRI….so my doctor suggest I take some time off of iems and limit my time with them to under 1 hour a day which isn’t much as a music lover. So with that being said, I’m going further down the over ear rabbit hole. I just put a down payment on a Meze Empyrean Phoenix limited edition that Bloom had 1 left of! They are simply beautiful in my eyes!





Should have these in a few weeks time.

I also ordered the new Eletech Baroque Tips for when I do get to use my iems. Praying I don’t have to altogether give iems up….

Oh Bro! So sorry to hear this and hoping/praying modern medecine will solve your problem!

Not that it will make you feel better, but my 17 year old (big water kid) has recently experienced a sudden loss of hearing and tinnitus in his left ear We're doing everything we can with the doctors we have available to do whatever we can! Unfortunately, his diagnosis seems a little dire.

Gotta protect our ears and treat them well. You never know what tomorrow could bring. Hope it resolves favorably soon!

If the Elite’s are anything to go by, you’ll love these. All the best with your health as well, mate. My fiancee’s been struggling with similar issues; sinus-related. ‘Hope it all works out in the end.

@jwilliamhurst @emdeevee @Deezel177 best wishes for you and your loved ones
I hope there's nothing serious and everything will get better soon

I just did an MRI too a week ago for my knee pain problem and it turns out that my ACL ligament and meniscus are torn so I'll have to do some mini surgery next week

If only we can use our DAP and IEM while doing MRI that would be great
Can help to ease my claustrophobic feeling when I do MRI too for my cervical pain last time.

 

[Neweymatt]

Thank you my friend

Appreciate your kind words

Looking forward to how Empy continues to evolve for you. It will be my first planar in a headphone as well. I’m very much looking forward to hearing them. Thank you for sharing your experience.

I wish Susvara wasn’t so hard to drive.

Code 23 sounds tempting…

Thank you so much.

Appreciate your kind words Sir. I am sorry to hear about your kid. Sending all of my positive energy your way!! Thank you for sharing and I hope/pray for a full recovery as well.

Thank you!

UM- Mest OG

Thank you and I feel the same! Hoping for the best!

Thank you and sending my
Best to yours as well.

What pads are included with your Empyrean?
Mine was an older one that had the OG leather & alcantara pads, but the newer angled alcantara are definitely an improvement as they get the drivers closer to your ears and "open up" the top end. This gets the Empyrean just a little closer to the Elite, esp as far as technicalities and detail retrieval.

 

[MN8372]

Hi all,

Long time lurker (not really a poster). I just wanted to give a big shout out to this thread which was the main reason why I took the plunge and started my IEM / portable journey (with a newly minted 320MAX and RN6 combo with Raphael cable - wow!).

Quick question - I love to have the option at least of a headphone/iem with a warm analogue sound. With a neutral/technical DAP like the 320MAX what would be the best TOTL IEM that falls in this category (short of an Amber Pearl which is out of my price range)? I would love to try the Phonix LE but it's not for sale anywhere and it looks like the Aura is quite a bit brighter? Is the OG Phonix still competitive (accepting its weakness in the lower bass)? Any cheaper alternatives at $2000 I should consider? Main use would be with simple vocal based music (male and female) and would supplement the more reference RN6. Try before you buy is not possible down here in NZ...

PS

I don't think I can vote on the top 3 under $1500 as I've only heard one IEM that qualifies - but I still think the OG Solaris is really good (although the RN6 was a bit of an eye opener as to what is now possible)

 

[gLer]

Whew! What a day at the Cooler!

In other news, my Meze Audio 109 pro’s arrived a few days ago and has made me wonder what in the hell took me so long to go down this route…I guess I never suspected a headphone could be so comfortable as the Meze 109 Pro. Comfort aside, the sound is what really draws me in. It’s certainly different than an iem and I like that. I won’t go into much here as I need more listening time. However long story short is that I’ve been having some
Serious issues with my left ear and we don’t know what is wrong yet…pending a MRI….so my doctor suggest I take some time off of iems and limit my time with them to under 1 hour a day which isn’t much as a music lover. So with that being said, I’m going further down the over ear rabbit hole. I just put a down payment on a Meze Empyrean Phoenix limited edition that Bloom had 1 left of! They are simply beautiful in my eyes!





Should have these in a few weeks time.

I also ordered the new Eletech Baroque Tips for when I do get to use my iems. Praying I don’t have to altogether give iems up….

So sorry to hear about your ear my friend, hopefully it's only temporary. If you want to talk ear issues, drop me a note - my brother can write you a book about it. Incidentally he also switched to headphones for a similar reason, and also owns and loves Empy. You've picked two headphones that you don't need dedicated desktop gear for - they'll be perfect off the Cayin DAP. Hope you recover quickly and enjoy the trip down the new rabbit hole!

 

[named name]

My top 3 under $1500
IE900
IE600
Supermoon

Though I am super curious of the Singularity & FF Scarlet mini.

 

[fabio19]

Ljoma

I want to share about a IEM from my country Norway, had it for demo for some good time now.
The driver configuration is 5 BA. This is made by one man called Kåre, I recently met him and tested his IEM. This was at a local hifi show where he had booked a room to let people demo his creation. I listened for a long time and compared it to some of my own IEMs. Price is on the more expensive side, around 1400 usd. But I understand how expensive it is to manufacture in Norway, so the price is acceptable.

I had a chat with Kåre about Ljoma, he clearly has a big understanding of the tech and what driver he chose to use here. He used Aroma Jewel as tuning inspiration, but with 5 balanced armatures instead. He also has worked hard to get maximum out of the drivers, as you can see on the measurement below it has very good extension in the upper treble.

The shell is slightly large in size, but even so very ergonomic. I have no problem using it for many hours without any pain spots. It's not ventilated, similar to my Neon Pro. But I guess due to the large shell it's never any pressure buildup, I know this is personal and your experience can be different. The texture of the IEM shell is quite special, it does feel more grippy due to the slightly textured surface. It's also super light, one of the things he also had marketed on the fliers outside his demo room.

The design is quite unique and looks really nice, the faceplate has a 3D effect to it. Color changes with angle and lighting. The white ring is also fluorescent and lights up in the dark if it has been under a light source. The cable and connector is very new to me, it's the T2 Estron connectors. It's like an improved MMCX, much more easy to insert or take out than MMCX. Few brands like the new models from Etymotic and Westone have started to use this style of connection.

Subjective impressions:

Bass is very nice on Ljoma, it is among the best BA IEMs in this regard. It's tuned in a way where it gives you some note weight without bleeding into the mids, some would have preferred maybe it to flat out earlier but not me personally. Bass is impactful and fast, not the soft BA bass some IEMs have. This passes for me, even if I do think it would have been even better as a hybrid with a nice DD here. As for amount, it's okay and one the more neutral side. Personally I would have liked some more, but I regard myself as slightly basshead.

Mids are forward and clear, vocals and instruments are both in focus. There is plenty of presence in male and female vocals, also instruments for that matter. I find male and female equally good, but I do think people more sensitive to midrange energy would find this too much.
Some instruments thread a thin line where they are very detailed and forward without having too much of a sharp sound. For example listening to some Miles Davis I find his trumpet clear and forward without being piercing, but still have that aggressive tone trumpet is supposed to have.

Treble is executed very impressively, with plenty of resolution and extension. For me personally maybe more than what I prefer, but I know this is sort of tuning very few IEMs do and many also lust after this. Even if it's plenty forward and extended it is not overly sharp, it just has plenty of detail and air going on. Upper mids/lower treble has a sibilance dip that is there but not too big, my kind of dip where you get all the presence and detail.

Soundstage is spherical with good depth and layering, not the best I heard but better than your average IEM.

Overall the Ljoma is very resolving, fun, energetic and musical.
Strongest positives is the extended and airy treble, few IEMs do it this well. Also being tuned coherently on the whole range, where no range is lacking. And being highly resolving.
If there is a negative it's the price, but even so it's made by one person in Norway.

ljoma.no

Have an Official Site ?