[HardstyleLoco96]

Crazy how much eartips and fit can change the sound. Was using stock medium tips. At home, everything sounds great. No complaints. But I noticed when out. The low end seems to drop and treble comes up a touch. Nothing crazy but I did notice it. I decided maybe try the large. I'm usually a medium. I try the large, fit is a bit tighter, I do feel it pressing in my ears but after 5 minutes, all seems fine. Did a good 2 hours of listening, no issues. But the sound. So so much better. Like WTH. It's not as deep of a fit like the medium tips. But everything just gained a huge sense of space and separation. I already thought with the medium tips, the Prestige LTD sounded amazing. But this is so much nicer and smoother. I think it's time to really do some proper tip rolling. Ordered myself some Dunu S&S for now in all sizes as it seems people size up on them. But yeah, you may think you have a good fit. But maybe with different eartips, try a size up. It could actually do a huge difference. Time to do a whole listening session and re-evaluate my impressions.

 

[OhmsClaw]

Crazy how much eartips and fit can change the sound. Was using stock medium tips. At home, everything sounds great. No complaints. But I noticed when out. The low end seems to drop and treble comes up a touch. Nothing crazy but I did notice it. I decided maybe try the large. I'm usually a medium. I try the large, fit is a bit tighter, I do feel it pressing in my ears but after 5 minutes, all seems fine. Did a good 2 hours of listening, no issues. But the sound. So so much better. Like WTH. It's not as deep of a fit like the medium tips. But everything just gained a huge sense of space and separation. I already thought with the medium tips, the Prestige LTD sounded amazing. But this is so much nicer and smoother. I think it's time to really do some proper tip rolling. Ordered myself some Dunu S&S for now in all sizes as it seems people size up on them. But yeah, you may think you have a good fit. But maybe with different eartips, try a size up. It could actually do a huge difference. Time to do a whole listening session and re-evaluate my impressions.

That's what I noticed with the Radon6 but the other direction. The M Crystal's don't fit as deep and idk if it's the insertion depth affecting the FR or the extra material interacting with the sound, but the M's were more spacious and had a stronger decay. The MS on the other hand was detail on steroids even if they start to slide out after a while from skin oil causing them to not be as sticky. Thankfully MS isn't an issue on any other shell shapes so I'll just go with MS! Now I have a tackle box filled with useless tips

I want to still try the Eletech Baroque tips, but I feel like I'm just wasting 30$. Should just order like 6 more MS Crystals.

 

[DunninLA]

Crazy how much eartips and fit can change the sound.

Crazy yes, but also it makes sense when you think about how bass sound is transferred ... the firmness the coupling (pressure) of the eartip to the inside of the ear determines the amount of low frequency transmission due to both conduction, and proper air seal. I mean think about how hard it is to get bass to be just right in a stereo speaker listening room. Eartips are absolutely the "room treatment" of IEMs. Seems nuts to spend $1000 on an IEM and not have 6-7 choices of tips to roll through.

I think anybody spending more than a couple of hundred on an IEM really needs spend another $150 to have at least a half dozen different tips on hand each in two different sizes to try out on every new IEM they audition. All the usual suspects... Final E, JVC Spiral Dots, AZLA Sedna Earfit, Sony hybrid foam/silicone, Spinfit (all designs), foam, etc. Imagine buying a $1500 suit and not paying another $100 to get it tailored. The place I draw the line is foam. If a manufacturer can't tune an IEM to sound best with silicone/latex, then they're just lazy. And any reviewer who uses foam to evaluate an IEM is misguided since 90% of audiophiles won't use foam on a long term basis (gross). You mentioned the L size gave you more bass. Just that little bit of extra coupling pressure inside your ear probably boosted the transfer of those low frequencies by 2-3 db.

 

[GDunlop]

I have a quick question in regards to my original Mk1 Monarchs. There probably isn't much I can do but I thought I would ask just in case. The cable that I am currently using for this set is now pretty stuck (in both ear pieces as well) and I can't seem to pull them out. I am trying with a fair bit of force but I don't want to break them obviously because I will end up with pins stuck in the earpieces and also with a broken cable. Do I just accept it or is there something that can work to get the cable out? Also does this mean that the pins have rusted in the holes? How much would this affect the sound really? They still work with the cable as far as I can tell.

 

[ozz007]

I have a quick question in regards to my original Mk1 Monarchs. There probably isn't much I can do but I thought I would ask just in case. The cable that I am currently using for this set is now pretty stuck (in both ear pieces as well) and I can't seem to pull them out. I am trying with a fair bit of force but I don't want to break them obviously because I will end up with pins stuck in the earpieces and also with a broken cable. Do I just accept it or is there something that can work to get the cable out? Also does this mean that the pins have rusted in the holes? How much would this affect the sound really? They still work with the cable as far as I can tell.

You could try some WD40 just make sure don't go inside the iems

 

[HardstyleLoco96]

Crazy yes, but also it makes sense when you think about how bass sound is transferred ... the firmer the coupling (pressure) of the eartip to the inside of the ear determines the amount of low frequency transmission. I mean think about how hard it is to get bass to be just right in a stereo speaker listening room. Eartips are absolutely the "room treatment" of IEMs. Seems nuts to spend $1000 on an IEM and not have 6-7 choices of tips to roll through.

I think anybody spending more than a couple of hundred on an IEM really needs spend another $150 to have at least a half dozen different tips on hand each in two different sizes to try out on every new IEM they audition. All the usual suspects... Final E, JVC Spiral Dots, AZLA Sedna Earfit, Sony hybrid foam/silicone, Spinfit (all designs), foam, etc. The place I draw the line is foam. If a manufacturer can't tune an IEM to sound best with silicone/latex, then they're just lazy. And any reviewer who uses foam to evaluate an IEM is misguided since 90% of audiofiles won't use foam on a long term basis (gross). You mentioned the L size gave you more bass. Just that little bit of extra coupling pressure inside your ear probably boosted the transfer of those low frequencies by 2-3 db.

Easy I gained 2-3db in the low end. I have heaps of eartips but felt the stock silicone sounded best with the Prestige LTD. And me usually using medium sized tips with most iems I thought stock medium tips worked for me. And they did from the first day I got the Prestige LTD. But after going outside and noticing that it seemed I didn't have a 100% seal in my ear. I tried the large and it was a world of difference haha.

 

[Knale]

This is probably a weird personal quirk but maybe someone else can relate. Whenever I try foam tips I feel like I'm very aware of the lifespan of the eartips compared to silicone, even though the longevity probably isn't THAT different between materials, but psychologically it feels like I'm burning through more of a finite resource with foam and I'm very aware of it.

 

[DunninLA]

This is probably a weird personal quirk but maybe someone else can relate. Whenever I try foam tips I feel like I'm very aware of the lifespan of the eartips compared to silicone, even though the longevity probably isn't THAT different between materials, but psychologically it feels like I'm burning through more of a finite resource with foam and I'm very aware of it.

that's not weird at all. People who have achieved financial success don't do so by spending money unnecessarily. It's funny, Warren Buffet has always advised buying a car and driving it for 15 years or until it costs more to repair than its worth. No matter how rich a person is, they still don't like wasting money.

 

[Rayon]

This morning I noticed that MK3 shares one trait with Utopia: when listening at casual levels, that treble is way too much and music feels like it's pushing me away. Both MK3 and Utopia just sound harsh and very bright. My intuition says that if I turn volume up, that treble will rip my ears to pieces. But counter-intuitively, I get the opposite effect. The relative balance between different frequencies changes (at least how I perceive it) and they become very balanced. For me MK3 doesn't actually compete with Sus or TC (in the over-ear world), but Utopia. Susvara is something that I can listen casually at lower levels and it still has weight on notes, but everything is butter smooth, still very detailed. TC has that speaker-like kick and craziness without being too dynamic. But TC's problem is it's weird, jumpy midrange that is impossible to get "just right".

Enter MK3. When driven hard, MK3 has some elements of that TC's bass, but with 90% of Utopia's slam. It's walking this thin line where it's almost too much. For me, Utopia definitely was too dynamic. But this is definitely a matter of taste. Then this 1k-3k area IMO was Utopia's Achille's heel. I really didn't like it. MK3 does it better than Utopia, Sus or TC. On treble side MK3 has it's own nature and treble is clearly pronounced. However, again, when driven hard, it no longer dominates the soundstage, but instead brings up details and plays more together with other frequencies. Overall, now that I "found" MK3 at higher volumes, it's quite an amazing package, especially considering the 1000€ price point. However, I do still see use cases for both TC and Susvara (and especially Susvara), as MK3's motto seems to be "drive hard or drive home".

 

[andjar]

Finally a decent video review of the Hype10.
I'm quite interested in these as a sidegrade.

 

[KinGensai]

Crazy how much eartips and fit can change the sound. Was using stock medium tips. At home, everything sounds great. No complaints. But I noticed when out. The low end seems to drop and treble comes up a touch. Nothing crazy but I did notice it. I decided maybe try the large. I'm usually a medium. I try the large, fit is a bit tighter, I do feel it pressing in my ears but after 5 minutes, all seems fine. Did a good 2 hours of listening, no issues. But the sound. So so much better. Like WTH. It's not as deep of a fit like the medium tips. But everything just gained a huge sense of space and separation. I already thought with the medium tips, the Prestige LTD sounded amazing. But this is so much nicer and smoother. I think it's time to really do some proper tip rolling. Ordered myself some Dunu S&S for now in all sizes as it seems people size up on them. But yeah, you may think you have a good fit. But maybe with different eartips, try a size up. It could actually do a huge difference. Time to do a whole listening session and re-evaluate my impressions.

Tip rolling never ends. Tip collection is almost as addicting as IEM collection itself lol.

I'm not sold on dunu s&s tips, they are floppy and kind of strange with fit due to the rather unergonomic design. YMMV, but they don't work quite as well as dome shaped tips.

You may like Divinius velvet tips. They are currently my favorite universal tips both for ergos and sound profile, and given what you said I think you'll like them too. Very thick silicone makes for strong bass response, and the dome shape combined with the smooth matte finish makes positioning easy.

Try alternating between shallow and deep fit and pay attention to the treble region. That region is most sensitive to phase interference, so that's probably what is causing the change in sound image perception.

 

[Knee Deep In Epoxy]

I like the divinus velvet and the S&S and final type E clears.

It depends on the item really, but I use all of them on the LTD at different times.

I love the seal on the S&S. But because you have to size up, I find it can cause a bit of unwanted pressure in my left ear during long sessions. I think Dunu should introduce more sizes like ML and MS.

Currently listening to my LTD with Velvets. Wonderful

 

[gentzen]

Anybody has tried custom/third party cables with Prestige LTD and can recommend some? I like the sound out of the stock cable but I'm really fed up with the 4-pin system, really poor construction and the cable comes off the 4.4 tip where the 4 pins clip in all the time, it's not even safe any longer. Casting my mind back to my Dunu Noble mmcx cable, such a well manufactured cable! Thinking of getting a 4.4 mmcx cable for the Prestige as well and am willing to spend up to $300 bucks (so no top range Eletech cables or similar, let's keep it reasonable). Thnx.

 

[andjar]

Very true! I superglued the 3.5mm tip on ... sorted!

 

[gentzen]

Very true! I superglued the 3.5mm tip on ... sorted!

I thought of such tricks too (like taping it ), but I don't want to waste the flexibility of other connections (e.g., for other devices that only have SE PO ports). I also thought I'd ask in case I could at the same time get an upgrade (just for me 320Max). If I could use the Noble I'd do it in a flash, but it's not a 2-pin clip onto the iem casing unfortunately. I'd be quite interested if anybody had any suggestions for this precise iem.