Got back from a little meet in Toronto with
@dleblanc343 and a few other folks here from the watercooler thread and outside of it.
And when I say "little meet", I mean there was a lot of great gear there, including the Subtonic STORM that I handed off.
Any way, here are some quick impressions of the gear that I got to try at the meet (in order). Thanks to everyone for bring them over.
As usual, these are
first impressions not a proper review. Take with several grains of salt.
1. Aroma Fei Wan
- Great IEM, very enjoyable. Slight driver flex upon insertion.
- Bass is tight and resolving. Quite a bit more midbass punch and presence compared to subbass heft and decay.
- Upper mids in the vocals can be a bit forward and shouty.
- Nice treble response. Hats and cymbals are splashy and can be a bit too crisp but it doesn't feel unbalanced.
- Superb sense of coherency and spaciousness.
2. Noble Ronin
- Very lukewarm about this IEM. It feels like I've heard something like this many times before.
- Quite a bit on the warmer side, personally would prefer a bit more upper mids/lower treble to balance out notes like the crack of the snare and give it that tighter transient snap.
- The only thing that really stood out for me is that it has some good grit and texture in it's bass. Some good physicality. But not enough to elevate it beyond other similar IEMs.
3. Noble Ragnar
- Coming from the Ronin, this was a complete 180.
- Bass feels rather light, especially on tracks where I'm expecting a big bass drop.
- I was a fan of the treble. Crisp without being overdone. But there are some peaks that can be needle sharp, especially for vocal sibilance. It's not really painful or anything, just something I'll notice like "Oh there's a very very thin peak here".
- Good resolution, I can pick-up a lot of "trailing ends of tones", to borrow a phrase I hear often.
- Overall, it comes off as lean sounding. I prefer it to the Ronin mostly because it's a bit of unique IEM in the higher-end space. It feels like many IEMs are leaning towards that warmer sound nowadays.
4. Custom Art Fibae 5
- Really bassy. But has nice definition and punch.
- Nice instrument separation and layering. Vocals are pushed slightly forward in the stage.
- Treble can be a bit exaggerated.
- Good coherency.
- I liked this IEM quite a bit.
5. FiR XE6
- In my first attempt with it, I only had one word: Mud. Upper mids are extremely depressed, especially for pianos and snares. It's like it's been overcooked in warmth.
- In my second attempt with it, I tried it with the Eletech Ode to Laura cable. I'll note I'm not much of a cable roller but this one seemed to make a difference. The first thing I noticed was that I had to turn the volume down. The Eletech cable seemed to make everything much louder. The second thing I noticed was that there was definitely more definition to the XE6 despite still having the same level of warmth. Quite a bit more palatable, and probably enjoyable with more time and brain burn-in. But still not my cup of tea.
6. Vision Ears VEX
- Other than the STORM, this was the IEM I've been most excited to hear. I heard the prototype red and blue versions in CanJam NYC 2023 and really enjoyed both. So I was very much looking forward to revisiting the final release.
- Unfortunately, this was quite a disappointing listen. Warm sounding with quite a lot of lower mids blooming. Bass definition can be sometimes good and there's some texturing present, but that bloom really hampers it, especially without the treble energy to balance it out.
- Female vocals and brass instruments can be a bit too forward and shill, probably a bit too much around 5 - 6 kHz.
- Bass guitar lines are the standout though. They sound tight.
- In the end, I don't think is a bad IEM. Just disappointing compared to my memory of being impressed the first time I heard the prototypes.
7. Custom Art Fibae 7U
- Didn't have a ton of time with this one but I thought it was similar to the Fibae 5, just not quite as V-shaped.
- The treble is strangely "click-y" with the hats though. Usually I'm fine with this to some extent but the 7U crosses the line to being rather unnatural.
- Prefered the Fibae 5
8. Sony IER-Z1R
- I've heard the Z1R a couple times before but wanted to revisit it again after a long time.
- The first tips I used were the AET07 small which had a killer upper treble peak. But I swapped out to some AZLA Sedna mediums and that took care of the problem.
- There isn't as much of a subbass rumble and decay. It's more of a deep punch. Still quite a nicely dynamic bass response and a benchmark for high end bass.
- Layering and positioning is excellent.
- Midrange has some weirdness going on.
- I've liked the Z1R in the past and still do, but I don't think I've ever really loved loved it. My revisit here reminds me of that.
9. Elysian Audio Anni 2023 (Titanium)
- I've heard Elysian's products a few times and they tend to have a certain house sound that's excellent for my type of music - energetic rock.
- So of course, I enjoyed this one too. The bass has a great explosiveness, but unlike some of the other Elysian IEMs, this one is very well rounded with a lot more depth and body. The dynamics here are excellent.
- The treble is coherent; crisp without being peaky. It does sound brittle to me though, with a sort of "splayed" nature where hats and cymbal notes break up towards the end of their decay.
- Excellent resolution.
- Vocals can be sibilant and too forward, especially for female vocals.
- Good stage depth and imaging.
10. Vision Ears EXT
- Lots of physicality in the bass while still being punchy with more subbass heft rather than upper/mid-bass punch.
- Fit can be custom-like if you use shallow times, but the body does press against my ear.
- Treble is crispy and peaky. But it's more of a series of micropeaks rather than a few massive peaks that destroy your ear.
- Definitely on the warmer side. Pretty nice staging, but not a ton of depth. Feels more centered and slightly in front of my face.
11. Subtonic STORM
- I had the STORM for a bit over two weeks but didn't have much time to listen to it because of work. Gave it as much time as I could before this meet. And to close the night before it fully left my hands, I gave it one last listen.
- Unquestionably, it is still the best IEM I've ever heard and easily the one I would take over everything I've heard.
- It has no gimmicks - no oddities in its tuning to niche itself with a certain crowd. It's one of the best tuned "generalist" products I've heard.
- I'll put out a full in-depth written review in the coming weeks but suffice it to say, the three things that stand out to me with the STORM are: 1) Thunderous dynamics; 2) Superb midrange resolution and timbral control; and 3) Near perfect layering and coherency.
- I'd consider it 2-steps above everything else. Part of that is because of its extremely agreeable tuning that not every IEM has, but mainly because I think what it does in terms of technical performance altogether just outclasses everything else. Some IEMs might compete with it in some aspects, but not all at once. Hence, 2-steps above.
- In my mind, the STORM doesn't compete with IEMs. If you want the best, you buy the STORM. The STORM competes with things like vacation trips to Japan.
Bonus: DUNU Glacier
- I have a DUNU Glacier that I was going to review before the STORM, but obviously deprioritized it. Brought it to the meet along with the DUNU Mirai for folks to try.
- The Glacier seemed to get quite a bit of love for its bass performance and upper mids presence.
- I'm personally still trying to suss out my thoughts on it cause I have mixed feelings BUT the one thing I will say is that the size and shape of the Glacier will be a deal breaker for anyone looking into this IEM. It's ungodly large.
And that's it! Once again, thanks everyone who managed to come by and share in the love of gear! You know who you are (don't wanna tag in case they'd like to keep it private).
