[KuroKitsu]

E12 is $1799? That’s …high.

If it delivers A8K levels I say that would be reasonable.

Whats high is USD to CAD is now at 1.39. Guess I'm on hiatus again until it drops.

 

[darveniza]

What do you use for a source? Supermoon in my experience really benefits from a warm leaning or analogue source to take the edge off. The CL DAC in my SR35 and also my LP6 are great matches for it and one of the factors in the SM remaining among my very favorite IEMs.

Always on the move, currently using it with IFI Hip DAC 3, found that dongles do not work well, except an XDuoo that seems to have a lot of power.

 

[darveniza]

+1 for the Mezzo LE. It's also aesthetically beautiful.

Yes agree it it's quite a very special design approach in which the shell and cable aesthetics work with each other

 

[Imusicman]

Guys, I was looking for a small DAP( pocket friendly ) relatively inexpensive with streaming capability. Anyway I finally settled a used (less than a week old) Shanling M3U. I have to say I am pleasantly surprised by how good it actually sounds/performs, both from the SD card but also via Qobuz. I'm lucky enough to be heading off to Cape Verde in a few weeks time with my better half and I am really looking forward to spending some quality time with my new toy ( and of course the Mrs )

 

[Tex Irie]

Guys, I was looking for a small DAP( pocket friendly ) relatively inexpensive with streaming capability. Anyway I finally settled a used (less than a week old) Shanling M3U. I have to say I am pleasantly surprised by how good it actually sounds/performs, both from the SD card but also via Qobuz. I'm lucky enough to be heading off to Cape Verde in a few weeks time with my better half and I am really looking forward to spending some quality time with my new toy ( and of course the Mrs )

Safe travels!

 

[CharlyBrown]

Kann Alpha owner here. This is a documented issue for many of their players. It’s a 2fold problem:

1. A&K have officially stated the bitrate LED only correctly functions 100% of the time when using the (imo garbage ui) stock music player
2. Anything other than the stock player goes through the stock android audio sink. Meaning AM will max out at 24bit 48khz regardless of input
3. You’ll have more luck using the stock Tidal app vs the most recent version, since the stock version is hard-coded to bypass the Android audio sink. Too bad it’s authentication is out of date and rarely works correctly - up to date sideloaded versions also run much quicker

I typically use Apple Music and local files on my Kann Alpha. I’ve managed to skirt around A&Ks extremely limited software (they took the laziest approach possible to prevent “unwanted” apps) but Android is still Android. I plan to test UAPP and its accompanying driver this weekend. Wish A&K support wasn’t dog water on devices costing as much as these do

Thank you for your point of view. I tried the stock player and it still only shows "Master" with corresponding green LED. With the old version of Tidal (I paused for half a year or so) that was also the case with the side loaded app. It only showed "Master" (no FLAC with different bitrate was available at that time). And the A&K light was correct all the time. Now with FLAC 24bit files, it doesn't work anymore.

Just like with Apple Music, the A&K light is never wrong. It always represents the bitrate from the current track.

Makes me wonder why only Tidal is the problem with Android audio?

 

[CharlyBrown]

To cut to the chase, yes the Scarlet has more bass than the TH900. It’s not close. But it’s also not as far off as one would think looking at the frequency responses. But if you convinced a “normie” in your life to try both, they wouldn’t hesitate to tell you the Scarlet has more bass, even if they struggled to tell you exactly why.

The sensation of bass with IEMs is fundamentally different to on-ear. The haptics of over ear produces a lot of intrinsic bone conduction. This occurrs from the headphone’s mechanical surface touching your skin (pads and clamp), while also being coupled to the driver. You can think of this as a huge version of FIR’s Kinetic Bass, that envelopes your whole ear. The concept of “slam” makes more sense in this context. The driver and haptic response are literally barraging the side of your head with Bass energy.

For IEMs, like Scarlet, the internal nature of the source is very evident. It feels like there is a sub-woofer in my ear canal and the bass energy is trying to explode outward. There’s much less area for natural BCD around the canal. Factor in the higher acoustic impedance IEMs face in low frequencies, and a picture where you need to add 5-10 dB of bass boost to an IEM for the same apparent bass level starts to make sense.

So no, I’m not listing my Fostex in the classifieds any time soon, but YES the Scarlet Mini produces bass at a much higher level - even notable beyond the dramatic perceptual differences discussed.

Wow, what a great read, thank you!!

I made the full switch from full-size to IEM-only this year. I had the TH900 for quite some yeas (mk1 in 2013 and after a couple years pause, the mk2 from 2020). I never found the bass quantity satisfying out of the box. I EQ'd sub-bass (massively) with my RME and this made it shine (also with some additional tweaks in the mids and treble).

The GM on the other hand, blows me away with It's bass (also mids and treble) out of the box. No EQ needed.

 

[Leonarfd]

Just got a tour shipment from my good friend @Charlyro222

To early to share any meaningful impressions, but so far I really like what I hear. Anyway some nice photos of the 4 of the top models from VE.

Venture Electronics Sun Copper

Venture Electronics Zen Shining

Venture Electronics Zen SU

Venture Electronics Asura Pure White Shining (APWS)

 

[Beh0lder]

Bonneville, Singularity, Diva 2023 or IE900 for max 1500USD? Maybe FirAudio E12 for a little more? A "little" Xe6 would be fantastic!

Priorities: technicalities (soundstage, macro-dynamics, resolution) > bass (quantity and quality) > unobtrusive upper-mids/lower-treble. Music reference: electronic in various forms.

I'd say the Symphonium Crimson. I AB'd it with Singularity and I think the Crimson is more technical of the two, with blacker background and better separation. Ie900 might be brighter with worse technicalities, although this goes from memory even though I use it quite often. The Bonneville is quite warm so the technicalities suffer a bit.

 

[Scubadevils]

Congrats @gLer Definitely Ireland next time

 

[phiemon]

I'd say the Symphonium Crimson. I AB'd it with Singularity and I think the Crimson is more technical of the two, with blacker background and better separation. Ie900 might be brighter with worse technicalities, although this goes from memory even though I use it quite often. The Bonneville is quite warm so the technicalities suffer a bit.

I have already received the tip on Crimson. I think I should slowly start to take it into account. I'll take a look. Thanks a lot!

 

[Scubadevils]

I’ve listed my MEST again with a price so good it’s actually frightening, massive Halloween discount HERE

Reason being, I need Erebus in my life… they continue to haunt me (I’ll get my coat…)

 

[Neweymatt]

Maybe FirAudio E12 for a little more? A "little" Xe6 would be fantastic!

Yes, a "little" Xe6 would be fantastic! But the E12 is definitely not that.
E12 is much more of a U-shape than Xe6 with very pleasing sub-bass, but significantly less mid bass/lower midrange that makes Xe6, well Xe6. My biggest gripe tho with E12 is that it's trying to eke out as much as it can from the single-DD for it's treble, but it's quality is simply no match for Xe6's Estat. I thought E12's treble was a bit harsh when I demo'ed it at a show last weekend and I'm pretty sure on a longer listen I'd find it fatiguing after 45 minutes or so.

 

[gLer]

Congrats @gLer Definitely Ireland next time

Thanks mate. My heart won't survive another tournament like that. It's all yours!

 

[OneEyedHito]

Got the Singularity in, really great listen, spent a lot of time with them yesterday and last night. One thing that is apparent to me from them is that I prefer a shorter nozzle on my IEM’s since that is what these have. These fit me great.

Looking for suggestions of other IEM’s to try with a sound signature that caters well to edm (bordering on ambient not pop or dance stuff) with shorter nozzles. I haven’t heard anything from CA yet? How is their fit comparatively speaking? As an example I loved Odin’s sound but not the fit. The shell were too big and I had to seat them inside my ear which wasn’t ideal as it gave me hotspots.

Thanks in advance again.