I didn't write down my VSD1s impressions when I actually owned them almost 2 years ago, but I do remember being unhappy about some aspects of them. In particular there was something about the soundstage that bothered me. It was too small or closed in or something. It gave me a claustrophobic feeling. I used them daily and even slept with them in for maybe 4-5 months before they finally broke. Actually the first thing that happened was that I dropped them and the flimsy plastic case split apart and clearly would have had to have been glued back together with some kind of plastic glue/epoxy.
What I ended up doing both because the case was split and because I really could not stand their closed-in soundstage and lack of airiness was remove the drivers from their cases entirely and just stick the naked drivers in my ears as deeply as I could. I would position them at an angle to and very close to my eardrums and then stick a cotton ball in each ear. When I got the angle to my eardrum just right the sound was simply amazing. In some ways I liked it better than my Etymotic ER4s and Senn HD600s. It had a kind of extreme intensity and clarity and presence that I don't think I've ever experienced before or since. I'm in my mid 40s and getting a bit tired of listening to music in general and it made me feel like I was a 9 year old playing my first record on a turntable. The intensity reminded me of Grados but with an even more in-your-face presence like you are right on stage with the performers. It was just so...musical. Unfortunately and again predictably that level of intense listening experience comes with a price: fatigue. I couldn't listen for more than an hour or two like that before getting too fatigued. But anything that can make my aging ear-brain apparatus appreciate music again is worthwhile even if it's only for an hour at a time.
As you would expect using the raw drivers like that without any strain relief it was only a matter of time before the wires separated from the drivers and that is exactly what happened. I meant to get around to the very difficult soldering job that reattaching them would entail, but I ended up moving to a different country and losing one of those wonderful little drivers. IMO Vsonic has some seriously amazing drivers that they just haven't made good use of in the VSD1s. It makes me wonder if I would really love the GR07s, but for IEMs I really want something that will sit flush with my ear so that I can listen while lying on my side.
I came here hoping to get some help deciding between the VSD1s and the standard VSD1 (sounds like the non-S would be better for me due to the more open soundstage--sucks that they don't have the new cable), but found myself being sold on the Zero Audio Carbo Tenore instead. I just ordered them. I still plan to buy a VSD1 again as soon as I have the money, but maybe I'd be better off buying a used or even broken pair if I can find one because I just want to break up the case and remove the naked driver for the super-intense drug-like audio nirvana of a small speaker just a few millimeters away from my eardrums. Of course if anyone here has a Vsonic IEM, particularly a VSD1 that is broken I'd be interested in buying it. So PM me. Although I don't come here very often these days.
For me the bottom line at the time was that, despite my reservations, it sounded better than my Koss KSC-35s and Yuin G2As which were my best sounding $50 or less listening devices. So it was just my go-to cheap headphone which had the rather large added advantage of being so small and comfortable that I could basically live with them on all the time. It was the only headphone I've ever had where I could listen to music comfortably with my head sideways on a pillow. A very freeing experience that gets closer to the tech ideal of some kind of surgical implant drivers. I also find them to be one of the most attractive IEMs I've seen. Although that nice looking black plastic case is so fragile a single drop to the pavement can break it. Durability is not its strong point, but if it breaks out of warranty it's a good excuse to try using the drivers naked with cotton balls holding them in your ears. I also wonder about positioning the naked drivers properly and then putting a small dab of silicone at the entrance to each ear and letting it set. Maybe the silicone would hold the drivers more reliably than the cotton balls. The cotton balls didn't hold the drivers well enough for walking around too much without having to re-adjust them.
Oh one more thing I remember: I had to seriously EQ them right from the start on my Sansa Clip+ and Fuze+ to fix the sound signature that I did not care for. As someone else in this thread has mentioned this had a sort of unpleasant side effect that I often associate with EQing. It really made it fatiguing to listen to and just gave it an unnatural coloration that I found unpleasant. Clearly it was *not* the right IEM for me and my musical tastes that emphasize a light airy soundstage and ultra high end detail and clarity over well pretty much everything else. I don't like warmth at the expense of detail and the raw, fine textures like that of a pick lightly brushing against a guitar string. My taste in music is very narrow: almost entirely electronica with female vocals. I wish I had posted an actual review at that time. If/when I rebuy them I will definitely post a comparison between the VSD1 and the ZA Carbo Tenore. As well as post a guide to getting the drivers naked. Wish I could throw in a comparison to the ATH-IM50 as well, but I won't be able to do that for some time due to budget constraints.
