Vision Ears and Rhines Custom Monitors (formerly Compact Monitors)

[Mimouille]

   
You're welcome. I was actually very surprised to see VE turn up on that day since I heard that they were very local in the past, a reflection of  FitEar in some aspects. Those in Singapore are really lucky to have all the renowned brands gather in one place.
 
About how they are up against the 335 (no haven't heard the 435 unfortunately), I reckon among the Stage 3 and 4 only the 4 MIGHT be considered as 335's rival. The Stage 3 has a totally different way to approach sound reproduction with it focusing mainly on rendering a record's sense of space. In terms of being relaxing only the Parterre from FitEar's lineup can compete with the Stage 3 (and perhaps the F111 as well but I haven't got an opportunity to try them yet). However the Parterre wins hands down when it comes to musicality and fun factors. While the Stage 3 possesses better imaging and soundstage I still have the feeling the Parterre has better transition from lows to mids to highs compared to the 3.
 
If I were to compare, Stage 4 vs TG334 would be a much better match. No seriously the 335 wins almost in any way you look at now that I think about it, the only downside of the 335 I can think of is its overwhelming sub bass but then again the Stage 4's sub bass isn't very good (for its price) to begin with. However for the most part the Stage 4 and TG334 both have very similar driver config (I might say identical but there's not enough evidence as of yet) thus sound signatures of the 2 do share some similarities. I can't recall much at this point but the TG334 possesses better sub bass as well as its notorious musical mids while the Stage 4 wins in terms of treble rendering (not by a fair margin though). They both are fun sounding IEMs but I suppose the Stage 4 will be a keeper to those who cannot stand TG334's bass.

Once again very interesting and thanks...I really love the sound of the 335 appart from the bass bump. It takes all the qualities for the TG334 without the bass bloat. However, I am not sure I want to get the 335 because I really find the bass too thumpy...it tires me even at low volumes. Hence the 435...If the Stage 4 cannot compete with the 335 I will pass...
 
But I will wait for other opinions too

 

[Mimouille]

   
Not an amicable divorce, I presume? Well, at least they have joint custody of the kids...

 
Yep...we'll see what Rhines says about it. But the fact that the boss of VE takes time to answer is a good point for them.

 

[Mimouille]

I don't understand this part

"Rhines is more or less a "one-man-show". I don´t know if you heard from other people who ordered from compact monitors, that they had to wait approx. 4-5 month to get their ordered In-Ears."

4-5 months time for Rhines Customs to have the monitor built , or when last time before they split, it was 4-5 months turnaround time ? The way Marcel says things , seems like he meant by he doesn't belong to Compact Monitors last time ? Or he wanted to change something about the long turnaround time and decided to split into 2 companies ?

Oh and as for the Asian market rights, for Rhines Customs so far I've only seen one distributor in Asia which is Caesar Palace .

Your guess is as good as mine. I supposed he was not satisfied of how things were done at Compact and could not convince his partner to change...we will wait and see what Rhines says.

 

[tranhieu]

  Once again very interesting and thanks...I really love the sound of the 335 appart from the bass bump. It takes all the qualities for the TG334 without the bass bloat. However, I am not sure I want to get the 335 because I really find the bass too thumpy...it tires me even at low volumes. Hence the 435...If the Stage 4 cannot compete with the 335 I will pass...
 
But I will wait for other opinions too

 
You wanna try the 335 with a resistance adaptor, something more than 50ohm will alleviate the bass by a fair amount, though that also means more treble at the same time. 
 
I suppose some Singaporeans will chime in soon enough

 

[Mimouille]

You wanna try the 335 with a resistance adaptor, something more than 50ohm will alleviate the bass by a fair amount, though that also means more treble at the same time. 

I suppose some Singaporeans will chime in soon enough

Or I might just use them with my Tera player

 

[lee730]

Or I might just use them with my Tera player

 
That would be a Terabific pairing .

 

[Mimouille]

I added to the first post the following from Rhines Customs:
 
Here is the same exchange I had with Felix Reinsch:
 
 
Hi Michael,
 
Thanks for your fairness and interest.
I am a little short with my time at the moment  so I will try to say what's important in a few sentences:
 
All in all i can say that i am pretty amazed about what marcel schoenen tells about the situation so far and i do not understand why he does.
 
 
These are the facts:
 
- Rhines is not a "one-man-show". i am pretty sure the team here is as big (or bigger) as/than the vision-ears-team
 
- Everyone here at rhines-customs  is a performing-musician, skilled acoustician and long-time-in-ear-user
 
- Compact-monitors was founded in 2006 and built up on my technical know-how and the experience of my background as a musician and audiophile since the early 90's
 
- I founded my first in-ear-company in 1998, which was years before anyone else in germany ever did multi-driver-custom-in-ears and also years before the first two-way-universal appeared (um2/shure e5)
 
- At vision-ears there are two people from the old compact-monitors-team. Marcel schoenen and one ex-employee.
   but  "not to be indiscrete or talk bad about my old partner"  is also something that i would prefer...
 
- Our lead-times are usually also not more than 2-3 weeks and we also have the capacity to grant this….
 
- We also offer about 20 different beautiful wooden faceplate-designs and many more options like photorealistic multi-colour designs, laser-engravements, carbon-fibre and so on
 
- After the split we more or less immediately came up with one new model and there are more to come in the near future
 
- I also can not tell anything about the quality at vision-ears. I can only say that here at rhines we continue the standards of compact-monitors and this i can absolutely promise because it all was built up on the way i handcrafted it many years before when i started the whole thing in the late 90's
 
We are located in the former compact-monitors-headquarter and from here we will carry the whole thing to the next level which will be based on both tradition and innovation.
 
 
About Stage3 vs. Stage4:
 
I absolutely agree to the description of Marcel about the difference between Stage 3 and Stage 4. That's what we told the people about the products at compact-monitors and why should we say something different about these now?
 
I myself love the Stage 3 more than the stage 4 but I am more into jazz, classics, zappa and things like that. Always when iIm listening to music like Massive Attack, Slipknot or others like that with a big bottom end and glittering highs I absolutely prefer the Stage 4.
 
I hope that helps to make a decision if necessary….
 
All the best to you and everyone out there who reads these lines,
let's stay in contact for everything to come...
 
Felix

 

[lee730]

It's a bit confusing to be honest. Hopefully buyer satisfaction will be good with both companies. But it makes me wonder and I can see now why people were nervous with the situation between Tralucent and Rhapsodio....

 

[tupac0306]

  It's a bit confusing to be honest. Hopefully buyer satisfaction will be good with both companies. But it makes me wonder and I can see now why people were nervous with the situation between Tralucent and Rhapsodio....

 
That's different...u know it.

 

[hilosxdd]

Did he replied you just now ? Am still waiting for a reply since yesterday

Everybody says the same thing about their lead time and stuffs like that , you need to really try or ask someone who has it , how is it like , how long does they take to make it etc . I'm particularly interested in the Stage 3 , as the Stage 4 may be a little too bassy for me (and money wise) . Gonna head down to the local distributor to try it someday , probably in the next few weeks .

 

[lee730]

   
That's different...u know it.

 
lol well I knew it. But other people at the time didn't and in that, that's how I'm relating to such a situation.... 

 
 

 

[Mimouille]

Did he replied you just now ? Am still waiting for a reply since yesterday

Everybody says the same thing about their lead time and stuffs like that , you need to really try or ask someone who has it , how is it like , how long does they take to make it etc . I'm particularly interested in the Stage 3 , as the Stage 4 may be a little too bassy for me (and money wise) . Gonna head down to the local distributor to try it someday , probably in the next few weeks .

He seemed very busy but mayne took the time because he wanted to answer Vison Ears on the thread...

 

[Ultrazino]

I can update my impressions on Stage 3, if anybody's interested. I spent a lot of time at Rhine's booth today.
 
 
 
I have paid great attention to tranhieu's impressions and I cannot confirm them, especially about the treble. The extension is phenomenal and was not easily achieved by universal multi-BAs long ago. There is no peak I could find with my demo pair, even when searching with a tone generator and going from 1k to 16k in 100Hz steps. The treble performance is among the best I've heard, including fullsize cans.
I am not very experienced when it comes to customs, but the quality of the demo is far better than _any_ universal I have heard. I completely forgot about the SE846 today and the IE800 performed poorly next to the Stage 3 (slow muddy bass, veiled mids, tinny treble).
 
I can only talk for myself, but today I was even more impressed by the Stage 3 than last time and there has to happen an IEM-revolution soon for that this will not be my next audio purchase.
I went through all genres and I loved them all with the S3. There's enough bass when asked for, voices can be intimate and treble is always present without drawing attention/ having issues with sibilance. The soundstage works really well with my imagination and thus projects a holographic reproduction of the recording. This IEM can make me forget I'm wearing in-ears, even though the demo housing is anything but comfortable. I am _really_ really impressed.
My guess is that the frequency response is close to the Olive-Welti or Golden Ears target.
 
I would have loved to compare with the LivePro 4 of InEar but I was told not to do so. Officially, the LivePro 3/ StageDiver 3 is the flagship as it surpassed the performance of the old LivePro 4. That's why the LivePro 4 is being reworked and the ETA is "hopefully next year". Comparing with SD-3 is pointless as their tonality is too far apart. Also the SD-2 is more mid-focussed and warmer.
The one that comes closest is the Fischer Amps FA-3E with the Stage 3 having better extension in both directions, having a much bigger soundstage and having a higher resolution.
Again, I am not experienced enough to compare with other CIEMs but no IEM ever hit my personal sweet spot as hard as this baby.
 
I did not audition the Stage 4 today (will do so tomorrow), but I got a demo of an unofficial Stage 4. It was a customers request to reduce the v-shape and indeed it sounded nice.
 

 
I only got my hands on it when my ears were already tired and I am not sure if there are any technical improvements noticeable compared to Stage 3. Bass is more, but not too much. If you're considering to get the Stage 4, be sure to ask for the reduced pair too before making your decision. This one should not be as fatiguing.
 
Finally, here is an overview of some wood pieces from Rhines Customs.
 

 

[Mimouille]

Thanks Ultra, these impressions are indeed very helpful. It would indeed be interesting to ask for a more balanced Stage 4.

 

[tranhieu]

And that's why we need different people's opinions when it comes to how something sounds 

But apart from the extension your impressions don't deviate much from what I heard Ultrazio.