[Dolores Dolomites]

Is that app Neutron? If it is, how do you configure that view?

Hi there, firesign buddy!
Yup, sure it is Neutron! My favorite app on Android hands down and cuffed... Not getting into the reasons why here, of course.
Welp turns out that - if you're running a recent version - you don't have to get dirty into configurations (which can get admittedly painful in Neutron sometimes) to get the oscilloscope/VU meter VU... er... view.
Just cycle between the artwok and the meters by tapping on the (almost invisible, fallible!) icon at the left-bottom of the artwork. =)

Sorry for the track and artwork by the way... Random banger off of my phone. *shrug*

 

[slex]

Another one bites the dust!

 

[TylersEclectic]

@Resolve puts them head to head...

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

@Resolve puts them head to head...

Fantastic review. Andrew is my favorite reviewer because he makes concepts very understandable and clear.

 

[dcd564]

Fantastic review. Andrew is my favorite reviewer because he makes concepts very understandable and clear.

Except now I’m really not sure which one to to buy

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Except now I’m really not sure which one to to buy

Yeah, I was sure I was going to buy the Monarch. Now, I am thinking the Clairvoyance may be better because I love great treble and mids. I may get the Clarvoyance now because there are technically better IEMs whereas tonal balance is harder to achieve.

 

[slex]

I think I may have Claire on the 20 Ohm adapter, anyone using it?

 

[Dolores Dolomites]

Hey slex!
I occasionally slip the HiBy's 20Ω adapter in between my outputs and the Monarch in order to thicken the mid/upper bass when listening to some older rock / pop, that is more or less the 3% of the music I play. =)
To my understanding - but no hard proof since I don't own the Clair - only the Monarch benefit from the adapter for that purpose (to the expense of slightly "fuzzier" imaging)... I'd probably refrain from using it with the Clairvoyance according to its frequency response.
This post gives you an idea of the reason why I think that you probably don't need it with the Clair:

It primarily boosts the sub bass, but it also boosts the mid bass/upper bass a little, and brings down the upper mids and treble a little. I would think that it effectively adds a little body to the midrange, though you really need the input of @ngd3 and others that have already heard it.

 

[slex]

Hey slex!
I occasionally slip HiBy's 20Ω adapter between my outputs and the Monarch in order to thicken the mid/upper bass when listening to some older rock / pop, that is more or less the 3% of the music I play. =)
To my understanding - but no hard proof since I don't own the Clair - only the Monarch benefit the adapter for that purpose (to the expense of slightly "fuzzier" imaging)... I'd probably refrain from using it with the Clairvoyance according to its frequency response.
This post gives you an idea of the reason why I think that you probably don't need it with the Clair:

My bad, should had mentioned Clairvoyance sound signature since I had ordered Mornach. Any attempt to use equalizer to counter the fuzziness or change of cables in your inventory?

 

[Dolores Dolomites]

My bad, should had mentioned Clairvoyance sound signature since I had ordered Mornach. Any attempt to use equalizer to counter the fuzziness or change of cables in your inventory?

Ha. Don't worry: no bad ever from you, mate... You're a nice guy. always keeping the buzz alive, so no need to apologize at all !

Fact is, I just hate equalizers. Ouch. =\
Unless they're used during the production and the mixing stage: they do help intertwine or separate instruments and seldom come up with curious and unexpected results.
A little overall EQing might occur at the mastering stage, but that's just about it for me.
Listening is a completely different sport.
All in all, why would you ever buy (and possibly love) that peculiar set if you constantly kept looking out to fix what you... don't like?! 0_o
All pieces of gear have their character and I don't want to use violence against them. EQing is violence at the listening stage. My own view, of course, but that's just it.
I might be jumping on that new DAP, DAC or amp, or a resistor in this case, or maybe a better cable (nope, not that dragon$kin one, no way! I'm drooling for Penon's OSG right now, let's see if I can keep myself from getting it)... But may I be damned if I dared to EQ!

The Twins' cable is excellent, in my opinion. I've been rolling some other fairly fine cables from ****, Tripowin, DUNU and Linsoul itself but the stock one always edged those in both sound and use, although no night-and-day... There really isn't much more one should be hunting for to improve the Twins' performance if you ask me.
The adaptor does provide some extra bass thickness to the Monarch, along with slightly recessed upper-mids (that's one of the reasons why the imaging gets fuzzier, but not the only one... FR is just half of the cake IMO) but it comes in handy for many older, subbassless rock recordings. Things I don't listen to anymore, 97% of the times, I'm afraid.
My personal point: the Monarch is an electronica (and some jazz and folk) Ruler. Untouched.
Clairvoyance looks to be more suitable for another kind of audience, based on words I could collect so far.
Cheers!

 

[eacl87]

So between the Monarch and the Clairvoyance, which would you recommend for classical music, rock, alternative, jazz and pop?

 

[Wanny]

I'm pretty sure the Clair is better for rock, not sure about jazz. I can't imagine the Clair being better than the Monarch for pop music. The Monarch sounds incredible with every pop song I've listened to.

 

[fast edi]

I'm pretty sure the Clair is better for rock, not sure about jazz. I can't imagine the Clair being better than the Monarch for pop music. The Monarch sounds incredible with every pop song I've listened to.

Antdroid did a beautiful table about his preferences on music genre between the two IEMS.

You can find it here, just scroll down, the third review. https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/thieaudio-clairvoyance.24605/reviews

 

[Zambu]

@Resolve puts them head to head...

Good stuff. His personal comparison at the end kind of reminded me of my reasoning to go for the Clairvoyance. When I ordered it, there was a bit more "enthusiastic praise" for the Monarch in general. And in the past months, I'd say there's been a lot more of that towards Monarch.

In 2020 and going forward, I've been having a majorly renewed interest in exploring new music and expanding my taste in music. And by "new music" I mean new for me, or stuff that I have sort of ignored previously. What it means in practice is that since autumn I have been listening mostly to late 60s and 70s music, particularly psychedelic rock, funk, soul, African music from the 70s etc. A lot of Prince, and then it kind of fuses to my long-time preferences as well in 90s Goa/house/rave/trance and ambient/psybient and stuff like britpop, Depeche Mode, Vangelis and early Pink Floyd.

Like here's a shortlist of bands/artists that I have sort of "found" in the past few months and listened a lot lately (obviously knowing many of these by name but not given a proper listen):
ELO, Traffic, George Harrison, Gong, Future sound of London, Dr. John, Kourosh Yaghmaei, Dur-Dur band, Gil Scott-Heron, Mike Oldfield, Elton John (well I just started with Captain Fantastic), Curtis Mayfield, Ramases, Gandalf, Fela Kuti, Kendrick Lamar, Jeff Buckley, Loreena McKennitt, and frankly even the great Beatles albums since 1965. And many more of course.

But thing is, I have no idea how much of this is an actual effect of Clairvoyance and how much would I have drifted to this direction with other IEMs (I haven't really listened to other IEMs since getting Clairvoyance). Or how much the effect of the excellent Cayin N3Pro. I just listen to a lot of music and Clairvoyance is an excellent facilitator for stuff in the 1965-late 90s range in particular, and works well with male and female vocals.

Of course, I do also listen to stuff made in this century, but it doesn't seem to be the focus for me at this point. There's just so much good stuff that was made particularly in 1967-1975 that those records along with electronic music of the 90s is enough to fill a lifetime.

These ramblings were partly to give my account to the Clairvoyance vs. Monarch issue. Which is a pretty tough choice for many I think, and most of us can't even try both of them. So I have no idea how much I would enjoy Monarch. Probably it would steer my listening habits to a partly different direction? I suppose if Thieaudio would come up with "2nd generation twins", I would probably buy the Monarch equivalent to facilitate discoveries in recently recorded music´, and integrate that to my other preferences.

 

[slex]

Ha. Don't worry: no bad ever from you, mate... You're a nice guy. always keeping the buzz alive, so no need to apologize at all !

Fact is, I just hate equalizers. Ouch. =\
Unless they're used during the production and the mixing stage: they do help intertwine or separate instruments and seldom come up with curious and unexpected results.
A little overall EQing might occur at the mastering stage, but that's just about it for me.
Listening is a completely different sport.
All in all, why would you ever buy (and possibly love) that peculiar set if you constantly kept looking out to fix what you... don't like?! 0_o
All pieces of gear have their character and I don't want to use violence against them. EQing is violence at the listening stage. My own view, of course, but that's just it.
I might be jumping on that new DAP, DAC or amp, or a resistor in this case, or maybe a better cable (nope, not that dragon$kin one, no way! I'm drooling for Penon's OSG right now, let's see if I can keep myself from getting it)... But may I be damned if I dared to EQ!

The Twins' cable is excellent, in my opinion. I've been rolling some other fairly fine cables from ****, Tripowin, DUNU and Linsoul itself but the stock one always edged those in both sound and use, although no night-and-day... There really isn't much more one should be hunting for to improve the Twins' performance if you ask me.
The adaptor does provide some extra bass thickness to the Monarch, along with slightly recessed upper-mids (that's one of the reasons why the imaging gets fuzzier, but not the only one... FR is just half of the cake IMO) but it comes in handy for many older, subbassless rock recordings. Things I don't listen to anymore, 97% of the times, I'm afraid.
My personal point: the Monarch is an electronica (and some jazz and folk) Ruler. Untouched.
Clairvoyance looks to be more suitable for another kind of audience, based on words I could collect so far.
Cheers!

Not apologizing infact, thought I was confusing you again.