Which customs have the most out of the head soundstage (like ie8 or better)?

[sofastreamer]

hi,
 
i am looking for a custom iem, that has a soundstage experience like that of the ie8 or even better. after testing most of the high end universals, there is none, that has such a deep, wide and out of the head projection as the ie8. so i hope to find that in a custom with the clarity and precision of ba drivers. 
 
when it comes to sound signature it should be equal to the ie8 also, but maybe a tad less midbass emphasis (but more pronounced sub bass).
 
which custom would you recommend?

 

[SolidVictory]

In my opinion, the EarSonics SM3 had a more 3D soundstage than the IE8.
 
JH13 or JH16 will easily exceed the IE8 soundstage, as will most customs above the $500 price range.

 

[sofastreamer]

no, the sm3 is more 3d, but it sounds like me sitting among the musicans, while with the ie8 the whole band stands 5 meters in front of me. and that is what i am searching for in a custom.

 

[james444]

Subscribed. Interesting topic, though not an easy one, since people usually don't distinguish between soundstage size and forward projection. The IE8 have the most forward projected soundstage I've heard in IEMs so far. Not the best match for intimate music, but pretty impressive with almost everything else.

 

[sofastreamer]

hope someone with customs knows what we are talking about and can give some advice.

 

[SolidVictory]

I think the forward projection of the IE8 was too artificial sounding and did not sound realistic.

 

[sofastreamer]

not for me

 

[CantScareMe]

The senn mx980 has more of a headstage than many of the closed full sized cans I've come across.
 
Which custom would beat their headstage???

 

[midoo1990]

Quote:

 
JH13 or JH16 will easily exceed the IE8 soundstage, as will most customs above the $500 price range.

i dont find that the case with my jh13. ie8 soundstage is bigger.not deeper but larger.
i tried explaining that once in ie8 thread so ill try my best.
due to the very shallow fit of ie8 and the very airy presentation and light housing,i feel as if there are no boundries to the soundstage.sometimes i completly forget about the ie8 presence and only feel the huge soundstage.
 
with my jh13 i never feel that way first because soundstage is not bigger than ie8,second because of the weight and the feeling of the acrylic shell in my ears so i never get that dissapearing effect.
the jh13 soundstage is more accurate and true,but i never felt that the ie8 soundstage was artificial even in comparison.
the ie8 forward projection as james described and the light airy spacious feeling effect,i never experianced in anything but ie8.
one day,ill get the ie8 again.i regret selling it the most since it was my first iem and because it is very special in its sound.
 

 

[rawrster]

Quote:

Subscribed. Interesting topic, though not an easy one, since people usually don't distinguish between soundstage size and forward projection. The IE8 have the most forward projected soundstage I've heard in IEMs so far. Not the best match for intimate music, but pretty impressive with almost everything else.

By forward projection do you mean how far away from the stage it sounds like it is coming from? ie: IE8 is like in the middle row of the concert hall, e-Q7 is the first few rows, etc?

 

[sofastreamer]

yes

 

[laon]

anyone with um mage here? 
 
here's a quote from mike's review about the soundstage 
 
Quote:

Let’s talk about the soundstage first, since I think that’s the most kickass part of this IEM. Upon first listen, I was already impressed. No universal IEMs are going to match the Mage in terms of soundstage, not even the IE8, not even the Baby Stax. Then, as I’m writing the draft for this review, I became curious, and I tried to do a comparison between the Mage and the AKG K701, something you’re all familiar with.
 
So what was the result? The Mage has a soundstage on par as the soundstage on the AKG K701. Yes, I’m A-B ing between a full size AKG K701 and an IEM, and I find their soundstage to be on the same level. The full size K701 presents soundstage in a different way than the Mage, but somehow I find the soundstage on the Mage more realistic. Maybe it’s because of the depth. The soundstage width may be a little smaller in the Mage, but the Mage has a much deeper depth in the soundstage, making the K701 sounding very two-dimensional in comparison. Not only that, but the Mage has a much much better instrument separation than the K701. If the vocals and the different instruments are well separated in the AKG K701, the Mage goes the extra mile to put some real space between those instruments, resulting in a better image on the overall position of the band. This was through a direct comparison utilizing the two headphone outs in the Grace M902 amplifier.

 
http://www.headfonia.com/um-mage-customs/3/

 

[SolidVictory]

Quote:

i dont find that the case with my jh13. ie8 soundstage is bigger.not deeper but larger.
i tried explaining that once in ie8 thread so ill try my best.
due to the very shallow fit of ie8 and the very airy presentation and light housing,i feel as if there are no boundries to the soundstage.sometimes i completly forget about the ie8 presence and only feel the huge soundstage.
 
with my jh13 i never feel that way first because soundstage is not bigger than ie8,second because of the weight and the feeling of the acrylic shell in my ears so i never get that dissapearing effect.
the jh13 soundstage is more accurate and true,but i never felt that the ie8 soundstage was artificial even in comparison.
the ie8 forward projection as james described and the light airy spacious feeling effect,i never experianced in anything but ie8.
one day,ill get the ie8 again.i regret selling it the most since it was my first iem and because it is very special in its sound.
 

I respect your opinion but I've got to disagree with you on this. I've owned the IE8 for over a year and though it has a very wide soundstage and good forward projection, I think the JH16 easily beats it in those two attributes. The IE8 has a large soundstage, but the soundstage only appears that way because of a lack of cohesiveness in the imaging. I think this makes it more susceptible to "wow" at first but the IE8 has a lot of difficulty with the resonance of sound in a hall where sound bounces off the walls. I found that with good jazz or classical recordings, the IE8 does not even recreate the actual sound resonating within the soundstage. What I mean by this is, where the sound is actually supposed to stop resonating the IE8 cuts that very short where the JH16 extends it completely to the outer edge of your right, left, or front.
 
I think because of this lack of precision in soundstage, sometimes the IE8 sounds like it has a bigger soundstage, but when you listen carefully with very good recordings it is apparent that the IE8 soundstage is not as wide as the JH16. Because of the precision of the JH16 in rendering the position of instruments in a soundstage, it may not sound like it has a wider soundstage on just "OK" recordings. It takes a really good recording or a binaural recording to show that the JH16's soundstage is indeed larger than the IE8. The airy/spacious feeling that you experienced with your IE8 is definitely there on the JH16/JH13, it just takes very good recordings/binaural recordings to bring it out. If the audio signal does not require a sound to be positioned all the way in front of you, then the JH16 will not position it there whereas the IE8 will position it farther than it really is--thus creating a constant larger soundstage than the JH16 until a recording actually calls for the JH16 to position the sound all the way in front of you (60 feet or farther out), this is where it is very apparent that the JH16 soundstage is larger than the IE8.
 
All this being said, I respect your opinion and I do agree that the IE8's soundstage is very large.

 

[average_joe]

From the customs I have heard, the EP-10 Plus has by far the biggest soundstage, which is close to the size of the LCD-2.  Like the IE8, there is a lot of mid-bass and not the best isolation.  There is probably more mid-bass and the isolation is probably worse for the EP-10 plus vs. the IE8.  But just on soundstage it is huge.  Now, if my JH16 reshell will ever arrive...

 

[ZARIM]

UE11Pro, UM Miracle.