[B[van]]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaosfayt /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hey , can anyone do a little comparison of them with the tf10s? Thats what i have now and im considering the mages should they be a worthy upgrade . One of the things holding me back is the bass, from what people say about the mage bass , it sounds rather...unsettling for a custom . "Adequate" bass just doesn't cut it y'know?

Cable for cable (ES), IEM for IEM (Quad TF10 vs Mage), the quantity of bass on the Quads TF10 is more than the Mage.

I had a PM before, asking for my opinions on the bass of the Quad tfi10s against EBs and a 2-300 hour Atrios. I personally felt the quantity of the bass of the reshelled quad tf10 is in between the EB and Atrios, but if you chose the ES cable the sound somehow feels a little muddy. Impact of bass I'd say EB, Atrio and then the remolded quad.

If we factor in the mage,

quantity = Quads
quality = The mage doesn't go as low as you would like, but there wasn't any 'boomy'ness or muddyness.
impact = I really can't rmbr this, but the quads seemed to do reproduce the bass more efficiently.

Again this is just my personal take. No offense if my post irks anyone's displeasure here. I was using a iPod Touch 2g, crystal lod and a predator during the test. My genres are mainly Jpop, country and rock.

 

[bakhtiar]

I just got the Mages this afternoon, and now having a good time with them

Listening to favorite songs through iBasso D10.

My first impression.
One word: REFRESHING

Yes, the sound is so refreshing. The clarity and details excellent, more or less and better than my PFEs, and also with very well controlled. So, even at splashing treble, there is no siblant. Superb treble.

Mages + Sony Walkman X1000. Great portable combo. I love them... It made my UM3Xs sounded soo dull

...

The best genres so far. Anime and J-Pop

. Other genres also excellent.
Wait... if I am not mistaken, I think I already heard this kind of sound signature/quality.... It remind me to my audition of Sony MDR-R10s, many-many years ago.

Very nice mid and treble clarity.


To be continued..

Note: Err.. find out what is the unique feature about my Mages

Look carefully.

 

[tstarn06]

Hey, great news. The search is never ending, and it seems you might have hit a temporary stop on the road. I'm still looking. But now that I see these Mage customs, I have to wonder if I should start saving towards $600 pair and forget all the other time I waste on IEM buying and trying. In other words, will this cure me? Doesn't seem to have cured MaoDi.

 

[RSVRMAN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bakhtiar /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just got the Mages this afternoon, and now having a good time with them Listening to favorite songs through iBasso D10. My first impression. One word: REFRESHING Yes, the sound is so refreshing. The clarity and details excellent, more or less and better than my PFEs, and also with very well controlled. So, even at splashing treble, there is no siblant. Superb treble. Mages + Sony Walkman X1000. Great portable combo. I love them... It made my UM3Xs sounded soo dull ... The best genres so far. Anime and J-Pop . Other genres also excellent. Wait... if I am not mistaken, I think I already heard this kind of sound signature/quality.... It remind me to my audition of Sony MDR-R10s, many-many years ago. Very nice mid and treble clarity. To be continued.. Note: Err.. find out what is the unique feature about my Mages Look carefully.

I went with Blue as well. It may be your screen name on the side, but maybe theres something else unique?

I should have just stayed away from here until I received mine in the mail.. now I'm all ansy again...

Though I just picked up a ipod nano5g and seems to be much better than my old zune for clarity. Hopefully it has the juice to power the mages.

 

[FYJX]

the unique feature is it has your name on it

i noticed it right away. Hehe. Would be nice to have my name on mine, maybe i'll get that for my remolds/custom monitors from them from now on. The other thing is that your ears are large enough to have the perfect driver placement, 180 degrees to the sounds tube, it's a good thing.

 

[bakhtiar]

Yes, you got it: The S/N for my Mage is my own name

. Actually I am quite surprised that my outer ears are quite big

... My UM3Xs looks like a small brother to Mages

The color is 'Candy Blue'. transparent, withour any artwork.

Ok, I just said little bit over about the UM3Xs being dull, compared to Mages. IMO the UM3Xs sound signature is mid->bass tendency . and the Mages is mid->treble. The Mage's bass is there, just shy and decaying very fast + being covered by the treble clarity (hint: masking effect).

Ok, with my Mages, I got Frequency Response graph. It showed almost flat from 20Hz - 1kHz, +2dB around 2kHz, +10dB around 5-8kHz. But, the weird thing is, I did not hear any sibilant at all, ehem .. might be because of my age.

. I still hear sibliant with other universal earphones. I think the custom fit do smoothing the harshness of the treble. Even after long hour listening I don't feel 'ringing' in my ears.

IMHO, using Mages is just like enabling 'BBE' sonic maximizer or 'exciter' effect or clarity effect in Samsung's YP-S5 DNSe. Everything just crystal clear, and everything just like new and shiny.

 

[mark2410]

wow

that sound sig graph, thats a lot of treble

 

[bakhtiar]

Yes, if it is just from the data/graph, the HF/treble is a lot, but, in my experience, custom fit or custom sleeves have advantage to smooth or control it, from becoming sibilant, as in heaphones or universal earphones.Anyway, we can use EQ to tone it down.

 

[Paradoxus]

Has anyone remoulded Livewires yet? I'm wondering how the dual bore to single bore would affect the sound. Cause the bores are really long as opposed to the IEMs.

Also, how much does it cost to remould? It must be written somewhere but haa, if someone could give me a quote that'll be great! Oh and is that price inclusive of cable?

 

[FYJX]

Wrong thread my friend haha. Head over to the remold thread, this is "Magic" appreciation here

But it's about $90 USD + Shipping. No the price does not include cables.

 

[B[van]]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bakhtiar /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just got the Mages this afternoon, and now having a good time with them Listening to favorite songs through iBasso D10. My first impression. One word: REFRESHING Yes, the sound is so refreshing. The clarity and details excellent, more or less and better than my PFEs, and also with very well controlled. So, even at splashing treble, there is no siblant. Superb treble. Mages + Sony Walkman X1000. Great portable combo. I love them... It made my UM3Xs sounded soo dull ... The best genres so far. Anime and J-Pop . Other genres also excellent. Wait... if I am not mistaken, I think I already heard this kind of sound signature/quality.... It remind me to my audition of Sony MDR-R10s, many-many years ago. Very nice mid and treble clarity. To be continued.. Note: Err.. find out what is the unique feature about my Mages Look carefully.

Yea, I agree to the JPop and anime songs genre being one of the better sounding genres ones out of the Mage

Didn't have enough time to try out more when I auditioned it though. Argh I can't wait!

 

[sosrah]

Mage are my first pair of customs and the only other iem i own are Shure SE530( i listened to my wife Westone UM2 too).
I did my listenings with two different rigs:

Cambridge Audio 840C-->RSA Shadow-->MAGE\SE530
Ipod Touch-->RSA Shadow-->MAGE\SE530

Given that i agree with the very detailed review made by Maodi, i'll try to make a little comparison with Shure SE530; maybe could help some universal iem's user that want to take a leap in the customs world.

*** I apologise for my english grammar and phrasing, i'm not a native speaker and i not often use other language than italian ***

I have nothing to compare with but i like the construction very much: the shell and the faceplate looks like a single piece, the plug fit tight in the socket and they fit in my ears perfectly.
The Westone ES cable is far superior to SE530 cable: it has the right thickness, the right flexibility, it's a single piece and has memory sheath around ears.

I never had comfort problem with the SE530(with black foam tips), i have big ears so the shell stays comfortably in the it and i almost can't feel it; with customs i have a total different feeling, first time i wore them it remember me the sensation i had when the audiologist filled up my ears to take impressions. This contribute also to create a very good seal(the first day i had difficulty to unwear them) to the ease of isolation, that for me is comparable if not superior to the best i can achieve with SE530 but that need more skill and time.

Highs are very clean and sweet and more forward relative to SE530 that are oriented to low-mid range ,i never hear sibilant or harshness that cause me irritation after some time. Mids on mage sound a little recessed in comparison to Shure but smooth and detailed. The bass is fast, dry and punchy, comparing to SE530,( in answer to Rip 'n Burn) not as loud and less swollen but i can't say Mage lacks in low-freq response.

Instrument separation is very good on both iems but sound stage is wider on Shure

The presentation is different: with Shure it seems to be on stage near the vocalist\s while instruments sound nearness and the bass beat hard; with mage you ear music like in studio post processing with different frequency ranges blendig better.

RSA Shadow + Mage reminds me of my home rig, Nad S300 + B&w CM1.

Comunication with Sam@UM was sometime difficult due to its limited knowledge of english an answer times.Impression sent on 14/10 and received 18/10, Mage ready on 12/11 sent 14/11 and received home 18/11. For the quality and the price they are worth the wait.

 

[Rip N' Burn]

Thanks for the comparison Sosrah. It's good to hear that the Mage doesn't lack in bass. It's disappointing to hear that it has a smaller soundstage but I guess it can't do everything perfectly.

 

[sosrah]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rip N' Burn /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for the comparison Sosrah. It's good to hear that the Mage doesn't lack in bass. It's disappointing to hear that it has a smaller soundstage but I guess it can't do everything perfectly.

Maybe i have to explain better that the difference is very small and to me it depends on different presentation so don't think Mage has poor sound stage.

 

[FYJX]

it definitely isn't small. It's wide, just not that tall or long from front to back.