So it's been about 3 weeks I think since I first heard the 3DT and I've gone through a few phases with the it.
I've had the Vision Ears Elysium since early January and though it was a massive stretch financially I don't ever regret it as the quality of the DD mids has been a revolution to what I now prefer in terms of tone and timbre in an iem.
When I first heard the 3DT, the timbre was reminiscent of that signature in the Elysium and for the level of iem it is it was admirably close. I was immediately taken by the 3DT. I was comparing it to the Fiio FH3 and it's much more natural sounding in timbre and the soundstage and decay of notes was clearly a large step up for my tastes and preferences. People say the FH3 was a great bass iem (for the price) but I never heard it so the bass on the 3DT was comparable... until i tried the FH3 on the M8.. there's the bass. Suddenly I was finding the 3DT bass light and this was getting to the second phase of my relationship where I was a little disappointed by what seemed to be everything great except the bass. Perhaps it was the pairing with the Qudelix 5k and my iphone as that also didn't seem to show the FH3 bass.. but seeing as this was to be where this iem was to fit into my rotation, I was having a little more trouble loving it..
In the midst of all this I met up with
@Rockwell75 and was graciously loaned other iems by
@tgx78 so in rapid succession I demoed the Penon Volt, 3DT, Dunu Zen, Softears RSV, Dunu SA6, Sony ier-Z1R and M9 and 64Audio Nio... and each evening I would retire with my reference, the Elysium. I got a bit burned out comparing everything across the board not taking into account price... and the 3dt started to fall short. I found them bass light and a bit piercing in the upper mids... I took
@tgx78 's advice on the filters and installed them.. At first that was too blunting so I poked a few holes in them.. It seemed better but it's not an easy thing to a/b so I just left it at that.
But things have now calmed down and recently I relaxed and I used the 3DT in the role I had planned for it, working in the basement listening to music and I would get moments of noticing a nice tone and ring of a piano, a vocal that had a very lifelike quality. The beauty of the mids has come back and even though the music was more or less backgound, little moments would break into my attention with a really nice timbre and I would just enjoy. And in these calmer moments I find the bass to be quite fine and somewhat source dependent. I do find the bass is a bit light sometimes but compared to what? These are not a V-shaped iem and these days with the filter mod I find them very well balanced and vocals and the mids in general are just the perfect timbre and tone. The treble is well extended and provides enough overtones to give vocals a real sense of presence with no artificiality.. For me, these are a very calm iem that reveals it's strengths slowly and I find myself really looking forward to listening with them. I have gone through my "dark night" with the 3DT and have come through on the other side into the wonderful sunlight.