Inks, I am not showing any hostility whatsoever. I really wish people wouldn't try to read the emotions of others through printed words. I rather you just ask how did I mean for my comments to be taken.
With that stated, I do feel that some in our community are too pushy in making it seem like they are the absolute gospel in describing the sound signature of a product, and whether or not it's worthy to be deemed top tier, mid-tier or garbage. Some think that if one had reviewed hundreds of IEMs then that person must know what is the best for the masses in the IEM community. But I don't buy into that. The person who has listened to hundreds of IEMs may appreciate a totally different sound signature than I do; he or she may listen for certain qualities and quantities in sound that I don't use as a quantifying factor - which would negate that person's positive or negative review for me.
That's why I always harp on the fact that you have listen for yourself. I know this is impossible for many of us to do (even I know I will never hear the AKG k3003 as long as it retails for over $1,500, but I'm curious about it). To your point about us all relying on someone's opinion to some extent, I do agree with you. But for me I rely on someone's opinion in describing mainly what is the IEM's sound signature is, in general (i.e. is it warm, very recessed mids, no bass, analytical, cold, etc.). I never rely on an head-fiers opinion as to whether a product sounds good or not (well unless it's the opinions of a few members that I know we enjoy the same sound signatures, such as FlySweep, james444, cn11, shotgunshane and a few others). And even then, many of those guys will offer to let me hear an IEM I'm really interested in - if they have it -before suggesting I buy it. Or we will have a series of long inbox conversations about a particular product and its strengths and weaknesses before I will even consider it. I think the W4 had been out for over half a year before I really considered buying it. I did my research because on paper it didn't appear to be the IEM for me.
Really, FlySweep is one of the few people who can suggest a product for me to buy without hearing it and I will. And that's only because we have spent countless hours inboxing each other about our perspective favorite sound signatures in an IEM and headphone, and debate the pros and cons back and forth. On top of that, we pretty much enjoy the same sound signatures, and anything he has suggested to me - and I bought - he hasn't been wrong about. Or he knows that certain IEMs he enjoys I abhor (like the DBA-02). So he would never try to push that IEM on me.
Which leads to my final point, sir. You stated you have listened and made objective findings. Well, your findings can't be objective since they are your opinions based on what sounds good to you. They are subjective. Likewise, whenever I comment (some say rave) about an IEM or product I am clearly giving my "subjective" opinion. Meaning I'm telling you how this product sounds to my ears and why I like it. In the back of my mind, however, I'm always consciously aware that you or any other person may not hear that product in the same manner that I do. It's like our first talk about the TF10 (my first one). I made extensive notes about what I was hearing and not hearing, especially the severely recessed mids I was hearing. Whatever it was, I didn't like the first TF10 I owned at all - for the most part. This was going by memory and by extensive notes I wrote about it while listening. You, my friend, tried to tell me not only that my memory was faulty, but that my written notes were too (lol). That was a bone of contention between us, unless you have some way of hearing exactly what I heard (I'm not saying this with any hostility). Now, I even conceded that I might have had a faulty pair of TF10s, but that UE certainly didn't sound like the the UE I'm hearing now (which I love now).
We all have our methods, Inks, is all I'm saying to you. I don't go in too deep with charts to decide if I like an IEM or not. What I get from the head-fi community is a general sense of what an IEM's sound sig is like, and if it one I might enjoy. If the answer is yes for me, I will seek it out to hear it. Upon listening, I decide if it meets MY standards of the sound I want to hear. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. I have taken risks and the sound didn't pan out for me. I have taken risks and struck gold for my ears. I don't go by what's most popular.
Examples:
- I like the EX600 and 7550 over the EX1000 (albeit the latter is technically superior to both)
- james444 thought I wouldn't like the W4 because he felt it would be too neutral for me, but it's one of my favorite univeral IEMs
- The SE535 has anemic bass to my ears despite many debating to the contrary with me (actually I find that the W4 has quite a bit more bass and sub-bass than the SE535 (the SE530, however, has more bass than the SE535 - again to my ears)
- The DBA-02 is severly lacking details in the mids and in bass to my ears
- I liked the SM2 over the SM3. The SM3 was a is a great IEM, but it was just a bit too much of a good thing to my ears
All findings uniquely EricP and not going with the masses. All my subjective views. Happy listening Inks... No hostility sir...
Quote:
Don't understand the hostility toward my findings, I have both listened and made objective findings. My case is different though as the ES cable i used did the opposite since it decreased impedance making it a bit brighter with a bit more subbass. The graphs do reflect what you hear as I had mentioned before and i heard the same coming from the ES cable to stock.
We all rely on someone else's opinions to some extent, otherwise we wouldn't have overrated products here on headfi. Graphs are useless to those without the knowledge and understanding of their relation to actual listening but should be respected in certain areas such as these (impedance changes) as they are completely objective here.
Changes are definitely there with the Fiio cable with the most prominent change in the treble. Whether the changes are big or positive are for the user to decide, ClieOS wasn't as optimistic about the changes, but Eric sees it as a pretty big leap. A good choice if you want to warm up the TF10 nevertheless.
