[drftr]

If you’re asking about the Noble Sultan - a $3,000 IEM that can often be found on sale or open box around $2,000 or so - it is in my opinion when of the most under appreciated IEMs. It may be my personal favorite, at least it has been for a very long time. I really love the Sultan. They have a warm sound signature while offering great technicalities. The weight on the notes and their textured presentation is very engaging to me. I think they are the best IEMs that Noble ever developed. I think around their launch a known reviewer gave them a hard time, which forever hampered their sales. But to my taste, they are fantastic.

Ramen.

drftr

 

[kumar402]

Random, unexpected moments of emotionally-charged joy in audio occured this afternoon... which I figured I'd share as a somewhat stream of thought!

I hooked up my recently delivered FiiO FA19 to also my also recently delivered DITA Navigator as there were a few songs I was curious to hear on TIDAL, most notably ‘Angel of the Morning’ cover by Juice Newton as I had heard it a few months ago on a TV show (The Leftovers) and really brought me back to a time in early childhood. I’ve noted before, there is nothing for me that is more effective to ‘time travel’ than music, a unique ability to plunge me back to moments in life over the last fast-approaching five decades of my existence - the music fuelling a sense of almost actually being back at whatever point of life the song is connected to - in this case, I guess ‘Angel of the Morning’ must have been playing on the radio a lot at the time, I would have only been 5 years old but my Mum always had either the radio or records playing from as early in life as I can remember… as I say, personally speaking music is by far the most powerful vehicle to memories throughout my life. Anyway, I found myself pretty quickly in tears, followed by a combination of laughing at myself for crying - the emotions heavily two-fold… 1/ the music was doing exactly as what I just described, bringing me back to distant childhood memories that even with the passing of many years, I can still feel like being in those moments… sometimes an overwhelming experience 2/ Absolutely mesmerised by how the Navigator / FA19 combo hooked up to my phone were performing, absolutely jaw-dropping stuff which combined with emotional memories, had my brain spinning in musical awe at the same time, hence ending up laughing at myself!



I often talk about my love for the humble DD, but I indeed have an enormous soft spot for a well-tuned multi-BA set, and the FiiO FA19 is absolutely that - an effortless, but pristine tuning with truly phenomenal pinpoint, but not clinical imaging, and while the overall signature has excellent clarity and quite neutral tuning, it is at the same time beautifully captivating and incredibly engaging - be it male or female vocals, acoustic or electric guitars, percussion, synths etc etc… everything just sings with a breath-taking accuracy to my ears, and with buckets of emotion. The vented sub-woofer for me handles the lower registers of bass incredibly well, and even have a ‘rumble’ sensation - personally speaking where I find a DD can’t be beaten is more from a ‘thud’ or ‘punch’ of a kick-drum where a BA just can’t quite achieve that visceral sense of vibration in the mid-bass, and for genres like techno for example I would tend to favour a set with a DD in the mix, the Bellos X4 a great example, and while I’ve only recently waxed lyrical about that, there is definitely more to come - not sure it will include tears though…



So far I’m absolutely loving FA19 with ambient, classical, rock, folk, indie, experimental music etc but still need to further explore my electronic shelves such as house, techno, IDM. I’ve previously enjoyed the FiiO FD7 and FH9, but the FA19 is in another league altogether and for me not only represents fantastic value for $999 when compared to sets multiple times more expensive - I’m not suggesting it is a kilobuck-killer but I would certainly urge folks to give it a listen should the opportunity arise, you might just end up in tears and laughing at the same time



Funny how a song can trigger a burst of emotions, followed by a desire to document the moment by putting pen to paper, and then fingers to keyboard! And none of this would have happened had I not binge watched The Leftovers a few months ago, a quirky but brilliant series.

Good to see analog notes in the background

 

[Scubadevils]

Good to see analog notes in the background

I find it much more difficult to express thoughts to a keyboard, where possible I prefer to revert to pen/pencil and paper as it seems to flow more - then of course type it up!

 

[drftr]

Good to see analog notes in the background

Is that the Egyptian stuff I've heard about?

drftr

 

[Trance_Gott]

I went back to check my NYC notes and lo and behold I tried the AME Raven! Here's what I thought from 1 song of listening:

AME Raven: big beautiful sound with nice deep bass and super treble. This is a detail monster, best non DD bass maybe, still miss a DD, but this is a good mimic.

AME Custom have amazing IEMs I don't understand that not more people write about them. They make not much marketing but Boy are they great!
I have the Gaia now and Raven incoming. Gaia is one of the best IEM I ever heard a treble to die for! A design and workmanship on the highest possible level!
I opened a separate thread for the AME Custom Flagships.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ame-custom-flagships-gaia-raven-impressions-thread.972806/

 

[drftr]

AME Custom have amazing IEMs I don't understand that not more people write about them. They make not much marketing but Boy are they great!
I have the Gaia now and Raven incoming. Gaia is one of the best IEM I ever heard a treble to die for! A design and workmanship on the highest possible level!
I opened a separate thread for the AME Custom Flagships.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ame-custom-flagships-gaia-raven-impressions-thread.972806/

Have to say I'm impressed by their brilliant choice of model names: Raven, Gaia, and Aura.

I'm putting $25 on their next model being called... Traillii.

drftr

 

[aaf evo]

Have to say I'm impressed by their brilliant choice of model names: Raven, Gaia, and Aura.

I'm putting $25 on their next model being called... Traillii.

drftr

Haha right? I liked the AME Raven a lot though. I thought it had some of the nicest treble I have heard with it feeling weighty and impactful but staying rather smooth and free of aggressive peaks with great extension. It's a really enjoyable IEM.

 

[drftr]

Haha right? I liked the AME Raven a lot though. I thought it had some of the nicest treble I have heard with it feeling weighty and impactful but staying rather smooth and free of aggressive peaks with great extension. It's a really enjoyable IEM.

Fair enough, that's all that matters, Bobby. Just couldn't help myself.

drftr

 

[aaf evo]

Fair enough, that's all that matters, Bobby. Just couldn't help myself.

drftr

We all think the same thing

I do wonder if any of the AME models came out before their twins? AFAIK AME isn't a new company and they've been around for a while. I just don't know the timeline of their releases.

 

[wolfstar76]

We all think the same thing

I do wonder if any of the AME models came out before their twins? AFAIK AME isn't a new company and they've been around for a while. I just don't know the timeline of their releases.

Or maybe they sincerely don't know those names are already taken.

 

[theintention]

Or maybe they sincerely don't know those names are already taken.

Not knowing the market you are trying to be involved in is a bold choice lol.

 

[aaf evo]

Or maybe they sincerely don't know those names are already taken.

Perhaps, I don’t think it’s a big deal regardless. Nordic names also seem to be reuse within the industry.

 

[AxLvR]

Have to say I'm impressed by their brilliant choice of model names: Raven, Gaia, and Aura.

I'm putting $25 on their next model being called... Traillii.

drftr

50$ on the next flagship called AME-rica

 

[drftr]

50$ on the next flagship called AME-rica

rAMEn?

drftr

 

[aaf evo]

50$ on the next flagship called AME-rica

LOL. Yes please.