[Luke Pighetti]

Reviewing is serious business. I'd have a hard time ignoring the findings of others when writing a review!

 

[ngoshawk]

Reviewing is serious business. I'd have a hard time ignoring the findings of others when writing a review!

I think my plan will be to read the reviews whilst I listen to the fine product. A little light reading never hurts! Light as in to enlighten me!

 

[silvrr]

So Im pretty new to reviewing but I try to stay away from any other reviews and impressions until I have had some solid ear time with something.  
 
For example, I generally listen to a new product for 2-3 days with no swapping or comparing and write down my thoughts.  From there I will look at what others are saying and see if its something I missed due to a preference of mine or the genres I listen to.  I try to avoid reading that a bunch of other think that a product is sibilant or bass light as to me it could effect my review as expectation bias is a known factor.  I would rather address what others say and provide what my opinion on the subject is from those first 2-3 days of inital impression.

 

[ejong7]

I think its always nice to listen to it for a bit before you start reading reviews if you know you are gonna review them. This gives you a solid impression OF YOUR OWN.
 
I'll then read the reviews after, and maybe compare my opinion to the opinion of others. I think this helps especially when some of the readers already identify if they share the same taste as you or should stay away as they have completely different taste.
 
As always, YMMV.

 

[Luke Pighetti]

Taste is an important thing to consider. There are some very professional reviewers out there who can separate their tastes from the review. I think it's an admirable ability. It's not fair to can a product just because your tastes don't align with it. My taste in cars is for more utilitarian vehicles, but that doesn't mean I can't praise a Corolla for being a great car.
 
I like a lot of different sound signatures. When designing a headphone I need to write down the goal first, and then tune for it. Otherwise everything sounds good!

 

[EagleWings]

Great discussion people. It's nice and interesting to see how each individual's reviewing technique and method to evaluate a product is different from one another.
 
While we are on this topic, @Luke Pighetti, how would you describe the tuning of the Aria? I am asking this, so that I will know what to expect as I am receiving it today. I did read the 'Signature' part on the Aria's product page on your website. It mentions Controlled Bass, Deep Lows, Sloping Mids, High without Harshness of Sibilance and Good Extensions on both ends. But overall, how would you describe its tuning?
 
a) Balanced 
b) V Shaped (Elevated Lows and Highs with Polite Mids or something similar)
c) Bass-Centric , Mids-Centric or Treble-Centric
 
If these 3 don't apply or you would like to pick one and would like expand on it, please feel free to describe it in your own terms. 
 
Thanks,
 
EagleWings

 

[pkcpga]

After having them a while now I'd say, slightly V sounding but only a very small amount above balanced.

 

[ustinj]

Hi guys, I had the Aria for a while and did write a review on it.. I did speak with a couple other owners on the Aria to confirm my thoughts.
 
It's true, taste is a very important thing to consider when it comes to reviewing a product. However, my sound preference has not affected my verdict on the Aria.
 
Thoughts:
 

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

I don't think the original, intended sound was supposed to have laid-back mids. It was advertised with 'forward & clear mids'; but once people started hearing recessed lower-mids, it suddenly turns out it was always intended to be v-shaped. That is kind of disappointing especially if you can only afford to splurge on 1 IEM to be your 'do-it-all'.
 
Even if the mids are not forward and are more recessed, I really enjoy a v-shaped, laid-back mids signature -- 3 of my headphones that I've spent the longest time with in my life have been v-shaped signatures. But the mids feel more scooped-out. The dip is sudden and short, rather than a gradual dip downwards into the mids that rises back up. 
 
The Aria is almost a perfect sound signature apart from that tiny scoop-out. It's by far the most natural-neutral sounding signature I've heard, bar the vocal dip. But that small hiccup in the sig sort of takes a toll on the overall sound experience. I really hope this issue can be resolved because the Aria is really so close to being a very strong contender in its price bracket.
 
I felt this way about a couple days into listening and wasn't 100% sure if I was hearing it right, so I asked others to see what they were hearing (without mentioning my own thoughts). My impressions were confirmed when our thoughts aligned pretty accurately! 
 

 
Remember to form your own opinions and confirm them after! Sound is always a preference, that's just the nature of the hobby.

 

[Luke Pighetti]

  Great discussion people. It's nice and interesting to see how each individual's reviewing technique and method to evaluate a product is different from one another.
 
While we are on this topic, @Luke Pighetti, how would you describe the tuning of the Aria? I am asking this, so that I will know what to expect as I am receiving it today. I did read the 'Signature' part on the Aria's product page on your website. It mentions Controlled Bass, Deep Lows, Sloping Mids, High without Harshness of Sibilance and Good Extensions on both ends. But overall, how would you describe its tuning?
 
a) Balanced 
b) V Shaped (Elevated Lows and Highs with Polite Mids or something similar)
c) Bass-Centric , Mids-Centric or Treble-Centric
 
If these 3 don't apply or you would like to pick one and would like expand on it, please feel free to describe it in your own terms. 
 
Thanks,
 
EagleWings

 
If I were going to pidgeon-hole it, I would say somewhere between balanced and U-shaped. To delve in deeper, the goal of Aria is to present top extension with controlled and smooth subbass, preserving microdetails and allowing articulate subbass landscapes to form. This type of tune is certainly versatile, but I think it does best with electronic music which has a very complex bassline that is usually lost in the fray of inarticulate low end that you see in a lot of hybrids and Knowles CI based earphones. I find that Aria opens up a whole new world of appreciation for complex subbass while still retaining complex microdetails.
 
And I know that makes it sound like some crazy vee-shaped signature, but the really crazy thing about Aria is that it is relaxing, non-fatiguing, and it's still very versatile. Hard to explain, really. I think you'll enjoy it. It's a unique signature.
 
In short, Aria preserves complexity in regions that are often overlooked or over driven, and presents it effortlessly.
 
Kind of rambling, it's hot in the shop today, hope that's helpful!

 

[Luke Pighetti]

@ustinj I haven't been able to reproduce the scooped out mids you refer to. What frequency range are you referring to?

 

[ustinj]

I'd say somewhere in between 1.5-3 khz, I spoke to another user and they were able EQ those ranges to counteract the slight dip

 

[Luke Pighetti]

What was the EQ scheme that you used to make Aria fit your preferences? Was this on the custom and the universal? If you can give me your exact EQ scheme I can have a listen and report back. 

 
As a note, I tune and retune until I blind EQ flat, then I develop custom tooling and a strict QC procedure for each final tune... so I'm very confident that the signature is performing very well. That said I'm always looking for improvements. 

 
No tune will ever please everyone, just like no painting will ever inspire everyone. I could care less about the Mona Lisa, but I have a pixelated Starry Night on the shop door!
 

 

[EagleWings]

   
If I were going to pidgeon-hole it, I would say somewhere between balanced and U-shaped. To delve in deeper, the goal of Aria is to present top extension with controlled and smooth subbass, preserving microdetails and allowing articulate subbass landscapes to form. This type of tune is certainly versatile, but I think it does best with electronic music which has a very complex bassline that is usually lost in the fray of inarticulate low end that you see in a lot of hybrids and Knowles CI based earphones. I find that Aria opens up a whole new world of appreciation for complex subbass while still retaining complex microdetails.
 
And I know that makes it sound like some crazy vee-shaped signature, but the really crazy thing about Aria is that it is relaxing, non-fatiguing, and it's still very versatile. Hard to explain, really. I think you'll enjoy it. It's a unique signature.
 
In short, Aria preserves complexity in regions that are often overlooked or over driven, and presents it effortlessly.
 
Kind of rambling, it's hot in the shop today, hope that's helpful!

 
Thanks for this. Very helpful!

 

[Luke Pighetti]

   
Thanks for this. Very helpful!

Sure thing! Don't let my post pigeonhole Aria for you... it's a fun signature for all kinds of music. That's my take on what I find really special about it. Cheers

 

[pkcpga]

I'd say somewhere in between 1.5-3 khz, I spoke to another user and they were able EQ those ranges to counteract the slight dip

That's an extremely high and wide range for vocals, I find the slight dip, very slight around 200-250 hertz range. Under 150 hertz are very present and over 500 hertz are boosted a bit again. Most male vocals are mostly under 300 and female under 500 minus opera singing going to 1,500 maybe a bit higher. A dog whistle is 16,000-20,000 hertz.