Touched by an IEM guru, running the SBAF Dick Gauntlet, and why target curves for IEMs won't work

Don't get me wrong, if you enjoy the PP8, that's fine. I haven't heard it from all sources; but my best sources were from devices with 1.75 ohm source impedance or less. I have the Pixel and iPhone, but they are not as good as the ZX2 or Magni / Modi Multibit stack.

My beef is mainly against the Internet reviews out there claiming the PP8 as neutral. I don't remember which reviews, but I remember skimming them. It's not even close to neutral, even from 4.5 ohms source impedance. From 0 source impedance, the PP8 a lean and shrill disaster, but with good timbre for a BA. This studio neutrality stuff is false advertising - assertions from people without properly trained ears - without access to calibrated speakers. I don't like it when certain expectations are set up and then not met.

None of what I have said has anything to do with the Andromeda, which has its own issues, clearly documented in its own thread, caveats highlighted in the first post.

 

It's all context. In my own PP8 analysis thread I was more generous. In this thread where the OP has made some bold claims, I will use equally bold claims to bring balance to the Force.

 

Yeah. I'm being kind of a dick and f'ing with k.e.

@shotgunshane likes the PP8, and I would never give him crap. This is because of two things: over time, I have begun to understand his preferences; he makes relative comparisons to other gear where I can understand where he is coming from.

The OP review read like this: FR perfect, just slightly rolled, timbre awesome, perfect to Harmon curve (which is crap), clarity best, separation unheralded, headstage reference, triangles - nothing more realistic. There are no comparisons to other IEMs on any specific sonic attributes.

When new members (again, we don't know their preferences, acuity, experience, ear-training) make fantastical claims about gear, and I and two other people I trust get our hands on said gear and do not have the same touched by angels experience, then someone is going to get roasted.

 

Like @Kunlun said: I’m mirroring back to you.

You are the one who signed up. I didn’t force you to do so. Are far as the elitist attitude, it’s true, and it’s always been this way at SBAF. The opinions of established members do matter more than new members. A huge part of this is because established members know the sonic preferences and pet peeves of other established members. The pecking order is not fixed. New members can and do become established members over time. Some members are branded as perma-randos that only admins and mods can see. I myself defer to other members in areas where I lack sufficient knowledge and experience.

Sometimes, established members will even rip apart the opinions of other established members. The Mutec USB to SPDIF converter was an example of this. @zerodeefex saw the proliferation of the Mutec and was concerned for various reasons, i.e. the high cost, the debatable improvements, the USB nervosa, etc. After I got my hands on the Mutec, a stock Mutec, the tone on SBAF changed from a must-get-product-to-improve-USB-digital to one that where its prescribed use was more conditional. This was a good thing.

You see. This shows just how much you do not understand and how self-unaware you are. Small differences in volume, fractions of a db, can be heard if these differences are across large portions in the audio spectrum. Anyone with non-defective hearing can hear these small differences. I assume you bring this up because you want to minimize my the stance that source impedance matters with the PP8. You’ve mentioned that the Andromeda is reactive to source impedance, yet at the same time, you seem blinded by the fact that the PP8 is also reactive to source impedance. Much less so than Andromeda, but it is affected nevertheless, like most other multi-driver balanced armatures. We can argue that the small changes in frequency response from source impedance might not be significant, but there may be other factors at play such as transient response. Zin / Zout is called damping factor after all. (see http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...sal-with-two-switches.3427/page-7#post-168025) More exploration needs to be done in area.

As for the 8kHz peak, I am assuming that you are referring to the Andromeda. This discussion is a bit different because the one above is about relative differences caused by external factors. Regardless, I did find the Andromeda sibilant with the stock silicone tips. That is why I use the Comply tips with the filters which take the edge off, but I must admit that I still find the mid-treble a tad bright (like a horn-loaded tweeter with less off-axis roll-off as opposed to an unloaded dome tweeter).

I find it interesting that you of all people accuse me that I think my measurements are reference when you are the one who keeps harping on the Andromeda’s 8kHz peak. What you have done is cherry pick the measurements that suit your own narrative. There are measurements out there that show Andromeda to have a 2db peak. There are measurements out there that show the PP8 to have a 5-7db 8kHz peak! While I do hear a very localized 8kHz sibilance on the PP8, you don’t see me going into threads all over the Internet and shouting “PP8 has 8kHz peak! PP8 has 8kHz peak!” while providing the one suitable graph that fits my narrative. IEM measurements are notoriously unreliable in the highs. You should know this.

I would argue that you are the narcissistic one and what I am doing to simply mirroring back to you your behavior. You heard the Andromeda, you didn’t like it, the upper mids were not energetic enough for you. That’s cool. But one of the first things you did after you got your PP8 was jump into the Andromeda thread and loudly proclaim that the Andromeda was not a neutral reference, while completely ignoring the caveats, tweaks, source pairings that had been discussed by SBAF members in the past fifty pages of the thread. If I remember correctly, you were even so brazen as to proclaim something to the effect of this: “who has neutral speakers anyway in a good room?” I mean, who the f**k is you?

Now instead of concerning yourself with how many sound studios I've visited around the world, or how many rotting speaker cabinets I have sitting in my garage, or how nights I've spent behind a console for live shows, or how many thousands of hours Ive spent measuring gear and re-measuring gear, why don’t you concern yourself with how you can improve your own understanding and hearing acuity? Why don't you move away from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset?

Finally, I offer this advice (especially if you are going to make strong claims of what is neutral), purchase a pair of neutral studio monitors. The new JBLs, Yamahas, Mackies are good candidates. Measure the monitors with a microphone on-axis and as they are set-up at the listening position with 1/3 octave smoothing. Treat nearby surfaces if necessary. The listening position measurement should have downward slope of 1db per octave or be according to B&K or something similar. Set bass and treble trim accordingly. Don't talk about neutral if you can't recognize neutral if it kicked you in the balls.

 

Oh, get off your high horse. I never said that. I only suggested that you establish a reference for yourself if you are going to use words like neutral, which have you done so probably twenty times in this and the Andromeda thread. That fact that you have refused to consider this advice and instead twisted it into something that I did not say to defend your position (PP8 is perfect) just shows that not only do you have no idea how neutral sounds like, you have no desire to grow and learn.

This is YOUR problem. And obviously it's not really a problem since you still choose to participate.

 

I don't even know how people come up with this stuff. I had to think really hard to come up with my own credentials:

I've had the honor of being lectured by the grandfather of standalone DACs, who happens to like record players and Decca cartridges, and we talk on a pretty regular basis, mainly because we are passionate about hi-fi, but strangly enough, we mostly end up talking about schlongs in audio.​

 

And your weaksauce appeal to authority to establish cred isn't bullshit? Keep digging.