[tawmizzzz]

Fei Wan, The Golden Goose: (FW for F**king Wondrous)

I am grateful to have the opportunity to continuously demo some of the new IEM revelations. After a few recent ones that were impressive, none particularly struck out which really tempted me to jump back into the portable world. But Fei Wan…man, this IEM is a treat!

After you become complacent in the audio world, you get really used to your setup and somewhat ingrain this new standard or reference point. It's an essential part of really appreciating and understanding your gear (and obviously, for your wallet), but it can gatekeep you from other wonderful sonic attributes that your gear might not excel on.

Let me explain-not until I put the FWs the FWs forced themselves into my ears, did I realize how much I was truly missing dynamics in my music when listening out of my beloved Meze Elites. The Elites have such a beautiful tonality with a spacious, airy presentation with good energy, but here came FW with a visceral, banging opener to remind me about the importance of energy and punch.

Damn-ymics. Never have I heard metal music so lively, with authority yet control. So much energy, technically-proficient, yet musical. This Golden Goose has got me silly .

*All of my listening was done out of a Rockna Wavelight + Rockna Server + Ferrum OOR/Hypsos desktop setup, and then on the L&P W2 for portable. Stock cable.

Sound Impressions:


FW to me is a U-shaped (maybe slight V-shape) where the midrange is slightly recessed, but deceptively detailed with a strong timbre. Vocals sound sweet with good texture. My issue with previous U/V-shaped IEMs was that yes, the bass is thunderous and the treble lively and sparkly, but it comes at expense of timbre and technicalities which throws me out of the overall musical immersion. They were too much of a specialist IEM, a one-trick pony.

FW, on the other hand, is more versatile than meets the eye. Despite its fun sound signature, it still manages to have organic timbre with rich mids (albeit taking a backseat to bass and treble on the stage).



Bass: Thunderous, powerful, hard-hitting, yet controlled. Even for blistering double-bass metal tracks, I noticed how snappy and fast the bass was with clean precision. In Bad Omen’s Artificial Suicide, I found myself nearly headbanging at the 1:50 mark with the double-bass, crisp cymbals, and authoritative, gruff, and punchy vocals all to boot. The bass is powerful, textured, clean and fast, all without being too overpowering in the overall signature.

Midrange: I discussed it a bit earlier, but despite slight recession in the mids (which might not be ideal for vocal-centric tracks), the midrange is still very detailed and organic sounding with strong texture. Fast forward to the melodic breakdown at 1:55 in All That Remains’ Chiron and you’ll notice a beautiful, vivid, and rich acoustic guitar playing with strong texture to each pluck of the guitar. It’s almost as if once the bass and treble take a breather, the midrange can come out and show how elegant and high-class it really is. Overall, instruments sound superb with great microdynamics to add to their naturalness, weight, and tone.

Treble: I understand why a few people can view the FW a bit fatiguing. I think the fatigue to my ears comes from an elevated upper midrange with the constant bombardment of punchy dynamics, mostly macro although still impressive micro. To my ears, treble is tastefully done with crisp yet smooth and vivid detail, with no sibilance or splashiness. There is good air to give the sound a bit of a concert/stadium feel. In no way is the IEM dark, but I also wouldn’t call it bright. Slightly bright warm…if that’s a thing, in a good way. Oh and did I mention how fun cymbals sound?

Technicalities: Up there with some of the best. The width is large, although I hear a bit more depth than width. Strong detail with clear imaging and layering. Decay is natural yet fast and snappy to keep up with more complicated passages. FW is one of the few IEMs where I don’t feel I am taking an obvious drop in technicalities coming from open-back planar TOTL headphones, and that only further proves what a phenomenal task Aroma Audio has achieved by blending such a musical IEM with top-tier technicalities.

Reminds me of:

FW reminds me a bit of Elysian X, a previous favorite of mine in the V-shaped category. However, it seems to have built upon some of my flaws with X, mainly in bass and the mids. X had fun, abyssal-depth levels of subbass, but its midbass was whimsical in comparison. FW takes a near 1:1 approach to its midbass and subbass while retaining excellent slam, texture and control.

X’s midrange is noticeable more recessed and less organic sounding, meanwhile FW adds a touch of naturalness to blend the overall midrange into a better organic timbre. Vocals are richer, instruments more natural with good weight in comparison to X's thinner midrange.

Treble-well, X is still the GOAT there. Nothing that I have heard yet touches its ethereal, vivid yet silky treble sound. But FW is not too far behind with its' energetic, detailed yet smooth top end.

TLDR:

I am most definitely looking forward to CanJam NYC next month because a future FW might be the move . I'll of course have to check out those $80k new Unique Melody IEMs (not a typo, being facetious), along with VE10, etc., but I can't imagine they check more boxes than FW already has.

Thank you Aroma Audio for reminding me how much I love dynamics in my music while packaging it into such a technically-proficient product---whether it’s a mosh pit in my head through metal music that terrifies my neighbors, or shedding a tear to the microdynamics of each pluck of an acoustic guitar during an emotional guitar solo. Musicality, energy, and punchy, yet technical, controlled and organic---finally, a true WOW IEM for me.

 

[karaokeroanoke]

What IEM do you guys recommend for someone who wants to give BC drivers a whirl? I was thinking maybe BQEYZ winter since I'm broke right now but I am open to just saving and maybe going for gold

 

[aaf evo]

Fei Wan, The Golden Goose: (FW for F**king Wondrous)

I am grateful to have the opportunity to continuously demo some of the new IEM revelations. After a few recent ones that were impressive, none particularly struck out which really tempted me to jump back into the portable world. But Fei Wan…man, this IEM is a treat!

After you become complacent in the audio world, you get really used to your setup and somewhat ingrain this new standard or reference point. It's an essential part of really appreciating and understanding your gear (and obviously, for your wallet), but it can gatekeep you from other wonderful sonic attributes that your gear might not excel on.

Let me explain-not until I put the FWs the FWs forced themselves into my ears, did I realize how much I was truly missing dynamics in my music when listening out of my beloved Meze Elites. The Elites have such a beautiful tonality with a spacious, airy presentation with good energy, but here came FW with a visceral, banging opener to remind me about the importance of energy and punch.

Damn-ymics. Never have I heard metal music so lively, with authority yet control. So much energy, technically-proficient, yet musical. This Golden Goose has got me silly .

*All of my listening was done out of a Rockna Wavelight + Rockna Server + Ferrum OOR/Hypsos desktop setup, and then on the L&P W2 for portable. Stock cable.

Sound Impressions:


FW to me is a U-shaped (maybe slight V-shape) where the midrange is slightly recessed, but deceptively detailed with a strong timbre. Vocals sound sweet with good texture. My issue with previous U/V-shaped IEMs was that yes, the bass is thunderous and the treble lively and sparkly, but it comes at expense of timbre and technicalities which throws me out of the overall musical immersion. They were too much of a specialist IEM, a one-trick pony.

FW, on the other hand, is more versatile than meets the eye. Despite its fun sound signature, it still manages to have organic timbre with rich mids (albeit taking a backseat to bass and treble on the stage).



Bass: Thunderous, powerful, hard-hitting, yet controlled. Even for blistering double-bass metal tracks, I noticed how snappy and fast the bass was with clean precision. In Bad Omen’s Artificial Suicide, I found myself nearly headbanging at the 1:50 mark with the double-bass, crisp cymbals, and authoritative, gruff, and punchy vocals all to boot. The bass is powerful, textured, clean and fast, all without being too overpowering in the overall signature.

Midrange: I discussed it a bit earlier, but despite slight recession in the mids (which might not be ideal for vocal-centric tracks), the midrange is still very detailed and organic sounding with strong texture. Fast forward to the melodic breakdown at 1:55 in All That Remains’ Chiron and you’ll notice a beautiful, vivid, and rich acoustic guitar playing with strong texture to each pluck of the guitar. It’s almost as if once the bass and treble take a breather, the midrange can come out and show how elegant and high-class it really is. Overall, instruments sound superb with great microdynamics to add to their naturalness, weight, and tone.

Treble: I understand why a few people can view the FW a bit fatiguing. I think the fatigue to my ears comes from an elevated upper midrange with the constant bombardment of punchy dynamics, mostly macro although still impressive micro. To my ears, treble is tastefully done with crisp yet smooth and vivid detail, with no sibilance or splashiness. There is good air to give the sound a bit of a concert/stadium feel. In no way is the IEM dark, but I also wouldn’t call it bright. Slightly bright warm…if that’s a thing, in a good way. Oh and did I mention how fun cymbals sound?

Technicalities: Up there with some of the best. The width is large, although I hear a bit more depth than width. Strong detail with clear imaging and layering. Decay is natural yet fast and snappy to keep up with more complicated passages. FW is one of the few IEMs where I don’t feel I am taking an obvious drop in technicalities coming from open-back planar TOTL headphones, and that only further proves what a phenomenal task Aroma Audio has achieved by blending such a musical IEM with top-tier technicalities.

Reminds me of:

FW reminds me a bit of Elysian X, a previous favorite of mine in the V-shaped category. However, it seems to have built upon some of my flaws with X, mainly in bass and the mids. X had fun, abyssal-depth levels of subbass, but its midbass was whimsical in comparison. FW takes a near 1:1 approach to its midbass and subbass while retaining excellent slam, texture and control.

X’s midrange is noticeable more recessed and less organic sounding, meanwhile FW adds a touch of naturalness to blend the overall midrange into a better organic timbre. Vocals are richer, instruments more natural with good weight in comparison to X's thinner midrange.

Treble-well, X is still the GOAT there. Nothing that I have heard yet touches its ethereal, vivid yet silky treble sound. But FW is not too far behind with its' energetic, detailed yet smooth top end.

TLDR:

I am most definitely looking forward to CanJam NYC next month because a future FW might be the move . I'll of course have to check out those $80k new Unique Melody IEMs (not a typo, being facetious), along with VE10, etc., but I can't imagine they check more boxes than FW already has.

Thank you Aroma Audio for reminding me how much I love dynamics in my music while packaging it into such a technically-proficient product---whether it’s a mosh pit in my head through metal music that terrifies my neighbors, or shedding a tear to the microdynamics of each pluck of an acoustic guitar during an emotional guitar solo. Musicality, energy, and punchy, yet technical, controlled and organic---finally, a true WOW IEM for me.

Can't wait to get sloshed over hotel lobby bar drinks hang out at CanJam NYC with you sir! Great impressions and I agree with all of it, Fei Wan is a special IEM.

 

[emdeevee]

What IEM do you guys recommend for someone who wants to give BC drivers a whirl? I was thinking maybe BQEYZ winter since I'm broke right now but I am open to just saving and maybe going for gold

Conventional wisdom would say the UM Mest, either the new MKIII ($1500 no cable), or an on sale/used MKII. Kinera just released a new BCD set for $1100 and that one could be very interesting...i think it's called Verdandi.

 

[btwine]

Fei Wan, The Golden Goose: (FW for F**king Wondrous)

I am grateful to have the opportunity to continuously demo some of the new IEM revelations. After a few recent ones that were impressive, none particularly struck out which really tempted me to jump back into the portable world. But Fei Wan…man, this IEM is a treat!

After you become complacent in the audio world, you get really used to your setup and somewhat ingrain this new standard or reference point. It's an essential part of really appreciating and understanding your gear (and obviously, for your wallet), but it can gatekeep you from other wonderful sonic attributes that your gear might not excel on.

Let me explain-not until I put the FWs the FWs forced themselves into my ears, did I realize how much I was truly missing dynamics in my music when listening out of my beloved Meze Elites. The Elites have such a beautiful tonality with a spacious, airy presentation with good energy, but here came FW with a visceral, banging opener to remind me about the importance of energy and punch.

Damn-ymics. Never have I heard metal music so lively, with authority yet control. So much energy, technically-proficient, yet musical. This Golden Goose has got me silly .

*All of my listening was done out of a Rockna Wavelight + Rockna Server + Ferrum OOR/Hypsos desktop setup, and then on the L&P W2 for portable. Stock cable.

Sound Impressions:


FW to me is a U-shaped (maybe slight V-shape) where the midrange is slightly recessed, but deceptively detailed with a strong timbre. Vocals sound sweet with good texture. My issue with previous U/V-shaped IEMs was that yes, the bass is thunderous and the treble lively and sparkly, but it comes at expense of timbre and technicalities which throws me out of the overall musical immersion. They were too much of a specialist IEM, a one-trick pony.

FW, on the other hand, is more versatile than meets the eye. Despite its fun sound signature, it still manages to have organic timbre with rich mids (albeit taking a backseat to bass and treble on the stage).



Bass: Thunderous, powerful, hard-hitting, yet controlled. Even for blistering double-bass metal tracks, I noticed how snappy and fast the bass was with clean precision. In Bad Omen’s Artificial Suicide, I found myself nearly headbanging at the 1:50 mark with the double-bass, crisp cymbals, and authoritative, gruff, and punchy vocals all to boot. The bass is powerful, textured, clean and fast, all without being too overpowering in the overall signature.

Midrange: I discussed it a bit earlier, but despite slight recession in the mids (which might not be ideal for vocal-centric tracks), the midrange is still very detailed and organic sounding with strong texture. Fast forward to the melodic breakdown at 1:55 in All That Remains’ Chiron and you’ll notice a beautiful, vivid, and rich acoustic guitar playing with strong texture to each pluck of the guitar. It’s almost as if once the bass and treble take a breather, the midrange can come out and show how elegant and high-class it really is. Overall, instruments sound superb with great microdynamics to add to their naturalness, weight, and tone.

Treble: I understand why a few people can view the FW a bit fatiguing. I think the fatigue to my ears comes from an elevated upper midrange with the constant bombardment of punchy dynamics, mostly macro although still impressive micro. To my ears, treble is tastefully done with crisp yet smooth and vivid detail, with no sibilance or splashiness. There is good air to give the sound a bit of a concert/stadium feel. In no way is the IEM dark, but I also wouldn’t call it bright. Slightly bright warm…if that’s a thing, in a good way. Oh and did I mention how fun cymbals sound?

Technicalities: Up there with some of the best. The width is large, although I hear a bit more depth than width. Strong detail with clear imaging and layering. Decay is natural yet fast and snappy to keep up with more complicated passages. FW is one of the few IEMs where I don’t feel I am taking an obvious drop in technicalities coming from open-back planar TOTL headphones, and that only further proves what a phenomenal task Aroma Audio has achieved by blending such a musical IEM with top-tier technicalities.

Reminds me of:

FW reminds me a bit of Elysian X, a previous favorite of mine in the V-shaped category. However, it seems to have built upon some of my flaws with X, mainly in bass and the mids. X had fun, abyssal-depth levels of subbass, but its midbass was whimsical in comparison. FW takes a near 1:1 approach to its midbass and subbass while retaining excellent slam, texture and control.

X’s midrange is noticeable more recessed and less organic sounding, meanwhile FW adds a touch of naturalness to blend the overall midrange into a better organic timbre. Vocals are richer, instruments more natural with good weight in comparison to X's thinner midrange.

Treble-well, X is still the GOAT there. Nothing that I have heard yet touches its ethereal, vivid yet silky treble sound. But FW is not too far behind with its' energetic, detailed yet smooth top end.

TLDR:

I am most definitely looking forward to CanJam NYC next month because a future FW might be the move . I'll of course have to check out those $80k new Unique Melody IEMs (not a typo, being facetious), along with VE10, etc., but I can't imagine they check more boxes than FW already has.

Thank you Aroma Audio for reminding me how much I love dynamics in my music while packaging it into such a technically-proficient product---whether it’s a mosh pit in my head through metal music that terrifies my neighbors, or shedding a tear to the microdynamics of each pluck of an acoustic guitar during an emotional guitar solo. Musicality, energy, and punchy, yet technical, controlled and organic---finally, a true WOW IEM for me.

Great review of such a great set. And sweet pictures as well - I really need to learn how to take better IEM pix.

 

[deep2285]

What IEM do you guys recommend for someone who wants to give BC drivers a whirl? I was thinking maybe BQEYZ winter since I'm broke right now but I am open to just saving and maybe going for gold

Kinera Verdandi
Noble Spartacus
Mest MK3

 

[emdeevee]

So, despite the heavy LA rains, not only did DHL come thru with TSMR X, but incredibly @Sebastien Chiu was able to hand off the wildest looking Symphonium ever (and a Scarlet Mini!)!

Elysian Diva killer? Maybe, need more time, but this may the best all BA set I've heard, outside of the Storm. Like Diva, it's atmosphericly separated and airy, yet comes in with much deeper, richer and fuller bass. Wowee! Just putting it thru some paces now, and like the Diva, it needs a shnitz ton of power to bang, but bang it does without a DD! Thanks, Seb!

Edit: it's Crimson!

 

[Sajid Amit]

Guys

Hope you all are in fantastic health and spirits

Been busy with work of late haven’t found much time for audio discussions

Here’s a question that I would love to get your responses on…

What IEMs, DAPs, and headphones are you most looking forward to finding out more about, either through first or second-hand impressions, during Canjam Singapore and New York?

Will plan some purchases accordingly!

Thanks in advance

 

[wolfstar76]

So, despite the heavy LA rains, not only did DHL come thru with TSMR X, but incredibly @Sebastien Chiu was able to hand off the wildest looking Symphonium ever (and a Scarlet Mini!)!


Elysian Diva killer? Maybe, need more time, but this may the best all BA set I've heard, outside of the Storm. Like Diva, it's atmosphericly separated and airy, yet comes in with much deeper, richer and fuller bass. Wowee! Just putting it thru some paces now, and like the Diva, it needs a shnitz ton of power to bang, but bang it does without a DD! Thanks, Seb!

It looks like a Helios, though I thought what you would get is a Crimson, of course the color is definitely not Crimson.

 

[Deezel177]

Are you shouty at me??

The restaurant was called Bandung so you're spot on!

drftr

I’m not. It’s a Mean Girls reference.

IE600 is not shouty?

I remember it being more crispy than shouty, because of its recessed low-mids and 8-10kHz peak. I think its midrange had the classic “peak at 2kHz, then drop down to avoid shouty-ness” sorta curve. It was more so the mid-treble that made it sound bite-y and aggressive.

 

[tawmizzzz]

Can't wait to get sloshed over hotel lobby bar drinks hang out at CanJam NYC with you sir! Great impressions and I agree with all of it, Fei Wan is a special IEM.

, can't wait to see who wakes up with the bigger [IEM] hangover. Looking forward to it man

 

[tawmizzzz]

Great review of such a great set. And sweet pictures as well - I really need to learn how to take better IEM pix.

Thank you! Half my fun nowadays is trying to get decent photos of audio gear when demo'ing, lol.

 

[emdeevee]

It looks like a Helios, though I thought what you would get is a Crimson, of course the color is definitely not Crimson.

It is a Crimson, with a custom faceplate.

 

[RonaldS86]

Hiya guys. I hope all of you are doing well Just like what I said last time, that I'm closing in at the end of my journey of this audio world and I want to share my new toys with all of you here

Meet the Titanium Family

Can't say that much about the Trailli Ti because it's just arrived yesterday and I don't have enough time to listen to it. About the Creator, oh boy. Maybe this is the only one in my collections that's worth to be CIEM'ed
I love how analog it's sound and maybe it's sounds cliché but it really is like listening to 2-ch setup
Using Creator there's one thing that I realize. Sometimes you don't need those fancy techs like BCD to fully enjoy the music. The rumble and texture of the good OL DD driver is more than enough at least for me. I have UM AP with me and now it's just a dust collector in my Van Nuys case

The Legendary Golden Knob

I think this one doesn't need any introduction
Can't say that much about DMP too because it arrives yesterday too together with the Bird Ti. Was about to enjoy it, but then I realized there's something wrong with it.

It's bent on arrival and I suspect it's because the mishandling of the carrier. Still waiting for their response and I hope their answer is satisfying

Estat Goodness Incoming

This is my latest addition to my desktop setup and all that is left is a DAC and I'm done with all audio things (famous last word ). What can I say about this X9K + T8K setups? Well, all I can say that they sounds really great, especially when you mainly listen to orchestra or choral musics. The details on it is amazingly good. Great separation, clean, amazing soundstage, and still sounds musical to me
I'm using my N30 AP as a source and I can already enjoy it so much. I believe it will be better when using a proper desktop DAC but I'll have to do some research to find the best pairing for it

That's all folks. Now all that is left to me is to enjoy my existing gear and have a good rest like this purple man

 

[Valrhona]

Hiya guys. I hope all of you are doing well Just like what I said last time, that I'm closing in at the end of my journey of this audio world and I want to share my new toys with all of you here

Meet the Titanium Family

Can't say that much about the Trailli Ti because it's just arrived yesterday and I don't have enough time to listen to it. About the Creator, oh boy. Maybe this is the only one in my collections that's worth to be CIEM'ed
I love how analog it's sound and maybe it's sounds cliché but it really is like listening to 2-ch setup
Using Creator there's one thing that I realize. Sometimes you don't need those fancy techs like BCD to fully enjoy the music. The rumble and texture of the good OL DD driver is more than enough at least for me. I have UM AP with me and now it's just a dust collector in my Van Nuys case

The Legendary Golden Knob
I think this one doesn't need any introduction
Can't say that much about DMP too because it arrives yesterday too together with the Bird Ti. Was about to enjoy it, but then I realized there's something wrong with it.

It's bent on arrival and I suspect it's because the mishandling of the carrier. Still waiting for their response and I hope their answer is satisfying

Estat Goodness Incoming

This is my latest addition to my desktop setup and all that is left is a DAC and I'm done with all audio things (famous last word ). What can I say about this X9K + T8K setups? Well, all I can say that they sounds really great, especially when you mainly listen to orchestra or choral musics. The details on it is amazingly good. Great separation, clean, amazing soundstage, and still sounds musical to me
I'm using my N30 AP as a source and I can already enjoy it so much. I believe it will be better when using a proper desktop DAC but I'll have to do some research to find the best pairing for it

That's all folks. Now all that is left to me is to enjoy my existing gear and have a good rest like this purple man

A man is at the summit.
Exciting times!
Oh that DMP...