Vision Ears and Rhines Custom Monitors (formerly Compact Monitors)

[Vision Ears]

Hmm okay it's bugging me a bit so I figured I would share my thoughts here as there's no other place to do it.

I had placed an order for a custom Elysium back on March 16th, on March 17th non-essential businesses in my area were closed due to Covid, therefore making getting impressions impossible.

Fast forward to a bit over a week ago I started wanting a new IEM to enjoy during lockdown as I'm listening to more music than I ever have, so I considered the Erlkonig as universals were my only option at this point from VE, and I wanted to own a VE IEM. Long story short, I paid for the Erlkonig one week ago (last Monday 20th, received it Wednesday the 22nd). The following day (Tuesday 21st) the universal Elysium was announced. Would I have bought that instead of the Erlkonig had I have known it was going come out the day after? I'm not totally sure as I am a fan of customs, but I can't help but feel that not even 24 hours after I paid for the Erlkonig that maybe some sort of heads up for the universal Elysium would have been given? After all, they have had my CIEM Elysium order with them for over a month at this point so it was no secret that I shared a high interest in the Elysium.

Now one week from the day I paid for the Erlkonig they've announced the original is no longer produced and there will be a new limited edition Erlkonig coming out in June. I don't really expect to be given any sort of heads up on a situation like this, but I just can't help but feel that between the universal Elysium situation and now one week later there will be a LE Erlkonig coming out, that I was sort of purposely withheld information to help them get rid of the last Erlkonig inventory, and to end up spending $4200 instead of the $2200 USD or so the universal Elysium would have costed me.

I love the Erlkonig and I am happy with the buy for sure, but being my first VE purchase I can't help but have a bit of a salty taste in my mouth with this purchasing experience, and I really feel like I had a quick one pulled on me.

Hi Bobby,

I want to step in here to apologize and explain:

You are definetely in the bad position that you sat in between the frontlines. Not only ones, but twice: With your ELYSIUM purchase and the later ERLKöNIG.
I can understand that you are disappointed as you did not get a heads-up especially for the ELYSIUM purchase. And I agree that it would have been better to give you a heads up on the ELYSIUM universal release. This was my fault as it did not appear to me in that moment, because we had a lot to do with the release.

For the announcement with the ERLKöNIG, it is just bad timing. For every release and announcement there needs to be a certain point in time when it is made. And there will unfortunately always be customers who will have bought the respective items directly before that release or announcement. But this will not change if we shift announcement 2 weeks back or forth. It will always be the same. That is just in the nature of business. And I can assure you that there was no strategic considerations involved like pushing you towards a certain product to clear the stock. We would not mind to keep some units for us, as they are quite pretty.

Johannes has been nothing but awesome with me throughout our conversations and super helpful, but here the collective events sort of left me feeling a bit bummed I guess.

Thank you for that. I really appreciate it! Despite all of this, you are definetely in an uncomfortable situation as you had to experience this bad timing twice now within a short period of time. And we will not leave you alone in that ambiguous feeling. Please check your e-mail.

 

[Spie1904]

I’ve been eying a ve8 for so long but haven’t gotten around to it! They are at 150km of my house but I haven’t gone there yet If only they were open in weekends

 

[mvvRAZ]

I’ve been eying a ve8 for so long but haven’t gotten around to it! They are at 150km of my house but I haven’t gone there yet If only they were open in weekends

I’m pretty sure @Vision Ears arrange some weekend visits as long as you ask in advance actually - they can confirm though

 

[Vision Ears]

I’ve been eying a ve8 for so long but haven’t gotten around to it! They are at 150km of my house but I haven’t gone there yet If only they were open in weekends

I’m pretty sure @Vision Ears arrange some weekend visits as long as you ask in advance actually - they can confirm though

Hi there,

weekend visits are indeed not too preferred. But if there is no other possibility we will find a solution.
On short notice and given the virus-situation we could send you a demo unit to your place if you want.
If that is something you want to do, please send us an e-mail to info@vision-ears.de .

All the best,

Johannes

 

[fiascogarcia]

Shot them an email, we’ll see what happens. At this point I don’t think there’s anything in my control anyways.

Wow, you definitely got the double whammy on that sequence of events! Glad you love the one you have at least!

 

[aaf evo]

Wow, you definitely got the double whammy on that sequence of events! Glad you love the one you have at least!

Yeah the timing was pretty ridiculous, haha. VE has reached out to me though and all is well.

 

[Jalo]

Yeah the timing was pretty ridiculous, haha. VE has reached out to me though and all is well.

Yohoo!!!! My Erlkonig is obsolete. Thank you VE for making a non LE Erlkonig LE. I truly believe what you have is a classic. @aaf evo please let me know whenever you want to let them go. The fact remain is that you still can buy the LE Erlkonig now but the OG Erlkonig is gone forever. Toaster is lucky to be able to snatch the one and only from the FS forum. Btw where is the LE Erlkonig anounced? I want to read about it. Oh I've just found it in the announcement fourm.

 

[Rockwell75]

Yohoo!!!! My Erlkonig is obsolete. Thank you VE for making a non LE Erlkonig LE. I truly believe what you have is a classic. @aaf evo please let me know whenever you want to let them go. The fact remain is that you still can buy the LE Erlkonig now but the OG Erlkonig is gone forever. Toaster is lucky to be able to snatch the one and only from the FS forum. Btw where is the LE Erlkonig anounced? I want to read about it. Oh I've just found it in the announcement fourm.

I've seen a few used Erlky's for sale out of Asia/Australia, but they're always priced about the same as they cost new for me here in Canada anyway.

 

[Jalo]

I've seen a few used Erlky's for sale out of Asia/Australia, but they're always priced about the same as they cost new for me here in Canada anyway.

Very well said as I know most of their Erlkonig orders come from Asia. It sounds like VE is making the last batch LE without a change of sound character. We'll see.

 

[toaster]

Yohoo!!!! My Erlkonig is obsolete. Thank you VE for making a non LE Erlkonig LE. I truly believe what you have is a classic. @aaf evo please let me know whenever you want to let them go. The fact remain is that you still can buy the LE Erlkonig now but the OG Erlkonig is gone forever. Toaster is lucky to be able to snatch the one and only from the FS forum. Btw where is the LE Erlkonig anounced? I want to read about it. Oh I've just found it in the announcement fourm.

My set was originally purchased in Egypt from a reseller in the UK, then sold to a second buyer in the U.S.

The only reason Leo sold them to me was because he works for UM, and got a crazy deal on a new custom. Otherwise, he likely wouldn't have sold.

I remain super curious how many Erlkys actually live in the U.S., there definitely cannot be too many...

 

[Rockwell75]

I just learned that ErlKonig translates to Elf King, which is a pretty sweet name for an IEM.

 

[toaster]

Another fun fact is that the erlkonig design used on the iem is similar to the erlkonig camouflage used to test new cars:

ah...zee Germans...

 

[named name]

From the early days of the Erlkonig when it was on preview tour.
Photo taken from Headfonics.

 

[Damz87]

Hello Erklonig owners! Just wondering if there are any aftermarket cables that are recommended for this IEM? Or is the stock cable the best option?

Thanks

 

[toaster]

Stock cable sounds fantastic and is nice and light.

it’s a custom high end ea cable, can’t really go wrong.

I wish it tangled a bit less easily, but otherwise no complaints.

I also just picked up a great case for these, it’s actually the same van nuys case from the erlky demo kit. Will be arriving any day now from Japan.