[zlayde]

They are very complimentary in my books. Traillii has very laid back analog tuning without any digital glare, with superb mids. Its far more cozy than the energetic Anni 23. It doesnt have Annis treble and the punchy bass, but you will recognize it only comparing both A/B, when you have Traillii in your ears you are surrounded by slightly warm mids with great vocals and most genres apart of highly energetic electronic music will play very well with it. With Anni you will get more micro detail due to emphasisd superb treble, punchier bass and far more energy. You will miss out some of the mids magic of Traillii though. Saying that Annis mids are still very well executed. But ultimately Anni 23 will make you want to dance, while with Trailli you might want to grab a cigar and a whiskey=)

I sold my Trailli only since I couldnt justify keeping two 3k+ Iems in the same time and needed the funds for my tube amp (Feliks Envy incoming!) Will see to get my hands on Traillii or Ti version sometime down the road again.

Excellent comparison. Much appreciated. Is there anything you would put alongside Trailli for that profile of laid back/vocal rich sound?

 

[drftr]

thanks very much for the detailed explanation.
I sometimes feel the treble of APX is a bit too bright, so silver cable may not be very ideal.

I think there's something to say for both strategies. Personally I would agree with your take to use a cable that tones down the treble. But I've read plenty of reports where bright(er) IEMs were liked best with bright(er) cables as the synergy can be amazing. I can absolutely see that some brighter cables do deliver much much more than just brightness, and if you fall for those other qualities brightness would be the least of your worries as apparently you're not allergical to it based on the choice of the IEMs in the first place. In this case for those fans 1+1=3, while for us 1+1=0. Both valid.

drftr

 

[dleblanc343]

Now that I think about it, Anni is not remembered for the resolution for me. I don't know, but everyone praised Anni for that very aspect, but guys... I personally found it below the level of, say, Mentor, CP622B and Rn6 and others. In hindsight, I realize that must have been one of the reasons why I couldn't really enjoy Anni as much. The only strength of Anni for me was the treble section due to the fantastic extension. But texture was missing in both the bass and the mid range, and that was quite obvious to me.

In general, the impression was that the sound was comparatively too polished just without texture (or grain if you want), the microdynamics were lacking and so I interpret it all as "not resolving enough". Yes, great IEM for the price, honestly... certainly unsurpassed. But for me personally, it couldn't keep up with the big ones.

I think it's only fair that someone who is interested in Anni doesn't get the wrong impression. But to emphasize it one more time: this is of course my opinion.

At such a high-resolution tier, I feel like it's difficult to categorize. Then of course every different IEM has tonal and textural variance relative to some others (+/-).

But from my experience, if I were to expand the top tier into sub tiers, here's how I would rank some great IEM's from the past 2 years, my personal opinion of course:

Resolving ability:

S+++: Storm, CP622B, Anni23/21 (well amped)

S++: KSE1500, Red Halo FE, Mentor, Tansio RGB, Viking Ragnar,

S+: Feiwan, RN6, Volur, Jewel, Trailli, Anni23/21, Impact, Z1R (well amped), CP54E, A8000 (well amped), Ronin

S: Z1R, XE6, Odin, U18T, Phonix, V16 Divinity, A8000, Monarch MK3, Trio, Indigo, Supermoon, Luna, etc

S-: DIVA 21, Helios, EXT, Fourte Blanc, IE900, MEST OG, U12T, M9, E12, etc


This is an ordered "rank" based on my times with them. There are sets not mentioned I may have tried but just forgotten, and of course no mentions of sets I have not heard.

On the topic of Annihilator, there has been a lot of varying opinions out there because it's a high-scaling IEM. At first I found resolution inferior to Mentor consistenly, but that was off DX320x. With higher quality upstream gear, and especially more amp load, Anni23 becomes an overall stronger performer in nuances, but the midrange isn't as fleshed out or textured as Mentor no matter what.

There's only a handful of IEM's that I've found to really scale significantly with power, notables being Storm, Helios, Anni, Z1R & A8000 which can go up or down the echelon based on pairings. Most IEM's on the market are fairly efficient and unrestricted by source.

 

[wolfstar76]

At such a high-resolution tier, I feel like it's difficult to categorize. Then of course every different IEM has tonal and textural variance relative to some others (+/-).

But from my experience, if I were to expand the top tier into sub tiers, here's how I would rank some great IEM's from the past 2 years, my personal opinion of course:

Resolving ability:

S+++: Storm, CP622B, Anni23/21 (well amped)

S++: KSE1500, Red Halo FE, Mentor, Tansio RGB, Viking Ragnar,

S+: Feiwan, RN6, Volur, Jewel, Trailli, Anni23/21, Impact, Z1R (well amped), CP54E, A8000 (well amped), Ronin

S: Z1R, XE6, Odin, U18T, Phonix, V16 Divinity, A8000, Monarch MK3, Trio, Indigo, Supermoon, Luna, etc

S-: DIVA 21, Helios, EXT, Fourte Blanc, IE900, MEST OG, U12T, M9, E12, etc


This is an ordered "rank" based on my times with them. There are sets not mentioned I may have tried but just forgotten, and of course no mentions of sets I have not heard.

On the topic of Annihilator, there has been a lot of varying opinions out there because it's a high-scaling IEM. At first I found resolution inferior to Mentor consistenly, but that was off DX320x. With higher quality upstream gear, and especially more amp load, Anni23 becomes an overall stronger performer in nuances, but the midrange isn't as fleshed out or textured as Mentor no matter what.

There's only a handful of IEM's that I've found to really scale significantly with power, notables being Storm, Helios, Anni, Z1R & A8000 which can go up or down the echelon based on pairings. Most IEM's on the market are fairly efficient and unrestricted by source.

Z1R is more resolving than U12t?

 

[btwine]

I spoke to @AxLvR about this as he was writing his impressions, and there’s reason to believe the Ti has genuine differences - beyond just unit variance - against the Gold and SS Anni ‘23’s. The Ti version has a titanium nozzle, which means the sound waves the drivers produce make direct contact with a few milimetres of raw titanium before reaching your ear canal. Because each material has different resonant qualities, that nozzle will absorb or reflect soundwaves differently if it was made of SS, gold or titanium, which is what causes the differences in sound. How rigid the material is will determine whether it absorbs (and reduces) the bass frequencies, for example, or how how much the highs ring and amplify.

This is actually an old tuning method called waveguides. It’s been used in IEMs from JH, Jomo, FitEar, etc., where they place a small metal tube at the end of the standard, plastic sound tube, so you get the resonant qualities of that material. It’s almost like a metal adapter at the end of the nozzle. In fact, the optional upgrade FitEar offered from the 335DW to the 335DW-SR was simply the addition of these waveguides. It wasn’t that long ago that Jomo released the Trinity with two nozzle materials - SS and Cu - and they measured ever-so-slightly differently like the Anni’s here. So, it genuinely does make a difference.

Fascinating, thank you for these insights. I am reminded of Coreir tips with their brass insert, which make a clear difference in highs/lows and overall sound character with whichever IEM I have rolled them onto.

And, now I am wishing I still had my Anni Ti on hand to do an A/B. I'm happy with my Anni 23 gold but am feeling a bit of "whomp whomp" about having traded my Ti and missing what would possibly be bass quality even more attuned my tastes. No doubt there are production variations to smaller degrees on these complex tiny devices we put in our ears. Still at these price points, as a consumer I would hope for excellent and consistent qa/qc, and more transparency on expected product variations.

 

[tjzurlaaa]

At such a high-resolution tier, I feel like it's difficult to categorize. Then of course every different IEM has tonal and textural variance relative to some others (+/-).

But from my experience, if I were to expand the top tier into sub tiers, here's how I would rank some great IEM's from the past 2 years, my personal opinion of course:

Resolving ability:

S+++: Storm, CP622B, Anni23/21 (well amped)

S++: KSE1500, Red Halo FE, Mentor, Tansio RGB, Viking Ragnar,

S+: Feiwan, RN6, Volur, Jewel, Trailli, Anni23/21, Impact, Z1R (well amped), CP54E, A8000 (well amped), Ronin

S: Z1R, XE6, Odin, U18T, Phonix, V16 Divinity, A8000, Monarch MK3, Trio, Indigo, Supermoon, Luna, etc

S-: DIVA 21, Helios, EXT, Fourte Blanc, IE900, MEST OG, U12T, M9, E12, etc


This is an ordered "rank" based on my times with them. There are sets not mentioned I may have tried but just forgotten, and of course no mentions of sets I have not heard.

On the topic of Annihilator, there has been a lot of varying opinions out there because it's a high-scaling IEM. At first I found resolution inferior to Mentor consistenly, but that was off DX320x. With higher quality upstream gear, and especially more amp load, Anni23 becomes an overall stronger performer in nuances, but the midrange isn't as fleshed out or textured as Mentor no matter what.

There's only a handful of IEM's that I've found to really scale significantly with power, notables being Storm, Helios, Anni, Z1R & A8000 which can go up or down the echelon based on pairings. Most IEM's on the market are fairly efficient and unrestricted by source.

Anni on the violetric v550 is a resolution monster they do a scale a lot !

 

[phiemon]

At such a high-resolution tier, I feel like it's difficult to categorize. Then of course every different IEM has tonal and textural variance relative to some others (+/-).

But from my experience, if I were to expand the top tier into sub tiers, here's how I would rank some great IEM's from the past 2 years, my personal opinion of course:

Resolving ability:

S+++: Storm, CP622B, Anni23/21 (well amped)

S++: KSE1500, Red Halo FE, Mentor, Tansio RGB, Viking Ragnar,

S+: Feiwan, RN6, Volur, Jewel, Trailli, Anni23/21, Impact, Z1R (well amped), CP54E, A8000 (well amped), Ronin

S: Z1R, XE6, Odin, U18T, Phonix, V16 Divinity, A8000, Monarch MK3, Trio, Indigo, Supermoon, Luna, etc

S-: DIVA 21, Helios, EXT, Fourte Blanc, IE900, MEST OG, U12T, M9, E12, etc


This is an ordered "rank" based on my times with them. There are sets not mentioned I may have tried but just forgotten, and of course no mentions of sets I have not heard.

On the topic of Annihilator, there has been a lot of varying opinions out there because it's a high-scaling IEM. At first I found resolution inferior to Mentor consistenly, but that was off DX320x. With higher quality upstream gear, and especially more amp load, Anni23 becomes an overall stronger performer in nuances, but the midrange isn't as fleshed out or textured as Mentor no matter what.

There's only a handful of IEM's that I've found to really scale significantly with power, notables being Storm, Helios, Anni, Z1R & A8000 which can go up or down the echelon based on pairings. Most IEM's on the market are fairly efficient and unrestricted by source.

Z1R is more resolving than U12t?

Not only that, I simply cannot for the life of me agree with the way Rn6, Mentor, Ragnar, Traillii, Ronin, Z1R... and A8000 (!), to name but a few, supposedly are. Yep, it's just blatant how different the expectations, perceptions and assessments are; of course, sources etc. play a big role as well. Still …

 

[Leto Dal]

At such a high-resolution tier, I feel like it's difficult to categorize. Then of course every different IEM has tonal and textural variance relative to some others (+/-).

But from my experience, if I were to expand the top tier into sub tiers, here's how I would rank some great IEM's from the past 2 years, my personal opinion of course:

Resolving ability:

S+++: Storm, CP622B, Anni23/21 (well amped)

S++: KSE1500, Red Halo FE, Mentor, Tansio RGB, Viking Ragnar,

S+: Feiwan, RN6, Volur, Jewel, Trailli, Anni23/21, Impact, Z1R (well amped), CP54E, A8000 (well amped), Ronin

S: Z1R, XE6, Odin, U18T, Phonix, V16 Divinity, A8000, Monarch MK3, Trio, Indigo, Supermoon, Luna, etc

S-: DIVA 21, Helios, EXT, Fourte Blanc, IE900, MEST OG, U12T, M9, E12, etc


This is an ordered "rank" based on my times with them. There are sets not mentioned I may have tried but just forgotten, and of course no mentions of sets I have not heard.

On the topic of Annihilator, there has been a lot of varying opinions out there because it's a high-scaling IEM. At first I found resolution inferior to Mentor consistenly, but that was off DX320x. With higher quality upstream gear, and especially more amp load, Anni23 becomes an overall stronger performer in nuances, but the midrange isn't as fleshed out or textured as Mentor no matter what.

There's only a handful of IEM's that I've found to really scale significantly with power, notables being Storm, Helios, Anni, Z1R & A8000 which can go up or down the echelon based on pairings. Most IEM's on the market are fairly efficient and unrestricted by source.

I would put Trailli in S and Fei Wen with Jewel in S++ but other than that its pretty much on point (when it comes down to the units I heard)

 

[dleblanc343]

Z1R is more resolving than U12t?

Overall, easily for me. Owned both and U12T excels with midrange and treble for rez, and definitely extracts more detail. But the lows are much less nuanced and textured in resolve compared to Z1R's DD unit. Summed together, Z1R reconstructs more from the source overall.

U12T off Apple dongle is among the best plug n play solutions, and hard to match for such a modest set up. Z1R requires a lot more to come to life. On desktop gear, it's kind of mind blowing. I am sure @HiFiHawaii808 can attest to that when pairing with DMP-Z1

Not only that, I simply cannot for the life of me agree with the way Rn6, Mentor, Ragnar, Traillii, Ronin, Z1R... and A8000 (!), to name but a few, supposedly are. Yep, it's just blatant how different the expectations, perceptions and assessments are; of course, sources etc. play a big role as well. Still …

Mileage may very! I know if using an R2R source, I'd probably shift things around quite a bit just from a synergy standpoint. It's really just grasping at straws

All those listed can be summed into a more broad "S Rank" for resolution as mentioned. They're all great products but we fight for every last % change.

 

[zlayde]

Elysian Pilgrim will show up at the Musicteck booth at Canjam NY this weekend:

 

[drftr]

Noble Onyx???

drftr

 

[maegnificant]

Super Review comes running down the field with THE RETURN! WHAT A HIT, EVERYONE IS COMING DOWN TO THE COMMENTS, NOW THIS IS GOING TO BE A SERIOUS SECOND HALF. This game just got real.

 

[Blueshound24]

Is there a Tidal appreciation thread? I have searched and searched, and cannot find one. Just wondering if anyone else had gotten this notification saying they were going to offer full lossless, HiRes FLAC, and Dolby Atmos sound for the same price of $10.99 in April. Cross posted to The Discovery.

Starting April 10, 2024, you will now get access to our music library in full lossless, HiRes FLAC, and Dolby Atmos sound for the same price you pay today of $10.99 (plus applicable sales tax)/month. This is because we’re making it easier for everyone to enjoy best-in-class sound quality by combining our HiFi and HiFi Plus tiers into a single subscription tier called TIDAL. You will see these changes reflected on your Subscription page at account.tidal.com on your first billing date on or after April 10, 2024. Thanks for choosing to be a TIDAL subscriber.

 

[Dragonite820]

Highest resolution for me: canary pro with astral reference silver, neither the anni23 nor others

 

[MusicTeck]

See our product lineup for Canjam NYC: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/check-out-what-musicteck-will-bring-to-2024-canjam-nyc.971950/
Over 90 products and many new brands will be at the party!