IEM general discussion thread

you needn't worry about your girl, seriously, if she is into consumerables, and i mean anything that could be monetised, the japanese would be have the specialist retailer for it lol

 

Unfortunately, she's not into much. She is very... Well, thrifty I like to say. No designer anything. She likes bargains. On top of that, she isn't much of a shopper. She's not the typical woman that likes a million handbags, shoes, dresses, etc.

She grew up fairly poor. Her parents didn't make a lot of money, unfortunately. She has learned some valuable life lessons at a very young age and she held on to them. She's told me things that I couldn't imagine. I grew up comfortably, and in my teens my dad opened a business and became very successful, so I had pretty much the exact opposite upbringing as she did.

She makes excellent money and has for years. I do pretty good myself now, but she still doesn't waste money. She does spoil me though, I won't lie. But she won't spend on herself. SHE'D probably have a heart attack if she knew what I spend on my toys. Lol.

Sorry for the OT.

 

your girl is like my missus in that case lol ... gotcha, at least my superior half loves books i suppose but ya... an pair of andro is around 60 novels lol

 

Wow, @Warrior she sounds like a real keeper! Best wishes!



Back to audio, Hifiman just announced the re-800 iem. The re-1000 is a dual driver DD, bassy, dark, warm with a spike in the treble then a strong roll-off. A bit of a disappointment, 3-star ciem.

So, the re-800 will be $700. Looks like a single driver DD?


The re-2000 is coming out, too. Looks like a hybrid with some BAs added to the double DD? $2,000 it looks like it might be, someone said on HF?

 

The RE-2000's look to me to be a bit of a Frankenstein - kind of like someone cut up pieces of a bunch of different IEM's and then glued them back together...and I can't decide if I love it or hate it.

 

Seems like there's a TF10 shape fan in the team that made the RE2000

 

HFM are on a roll with horrible looking products.

 

Brainwavz is coming out with a retuned B2 and a new series of BA iems
See this thread: http://www.head-fi.org/t/817415/new-ba-iems-from-brainwavz/30#post_12967643

 

Rhines Custom Monitors announced a universal IEM based on the Stage 7 CIEM. Called "rhines 7". Limited to 200pcs.

https://www.rhines-customs.de/en/produkte/rhines-7/

 

So the 1More Quad-Driver has been announced. No info on the tuning yet. I'm hoping for a more mature tuning. Less bass and flatter treble. That would be nice. We definitely don't need another v-shape. Even if it's "only" 200 $.

https://usa.1more.com/collections/headphones/products/1more-quad-driver-in-ear-headphones

 

Vision Ears just teased the VE8. The VE6 X2 was quite popular and is often compared to the HD800. Personally, I easily prefer the ProPhile 8 over VE6 so it'll be interesting how the VE8 will be tuned.

 

So has anyone given Garage1217's attenuator cable a try yet? It was mentioned a while ago in one of the threads, but I don't remember if anyone actually purchased one or not.

http://www.garage1217.com/garage1217_diy_tube_headphone_amplifiers_012.htm

 

Yes. I tried it with Jotunheim. The attenuation was spot on but it pushed Andromedas treble a little too far for me. I didn't enjoy.

 

I ended up ordering one this morning. 3ohms might be on the leaner side but even with the 11ohm OI on the sonett 2, I don't find the Andros leaner than the UERMs or HD800s.

 

I purchased one as well and use it between by low impedance headphones (ATM-50 and Lyra II) and older amps without gain control (Headroom Max and a Pete Millet something). It helps reduce the noise floor and let me turn the volume knob up enough to avoid channel imbalances. I think the cable is a helpful tool to have if you want to use older desktop amps with your IEM. I would like to hear your thoughts @thegunner100 once the cable arrives.

 

My main concern is that the cable might cause a loss in SQ. When I had the IEMatch, it worked well in attenuating, reducing hiss, and providing a good OI for the Andromedas. However, there was a noticeable loss in SQ with the Sonett 2 and Neco V5. Music sounded kind of dead with the IEMatch in place. Part of the blame goes to the low input impedance on the IEMatch, which is around 16 I think? The 35ohm on the Garage1217 cable should be an improvement in that regard.

 

Yeah, there was something extra weird going on in Andromedas treble for me, more so than just the FR shift I get with my iphone 6s.

It worked great as an attenuator for using other IEMs with big boy amps though, so I think it is relatively transparent.

 

There's something wrong with my attenuator cable. I tried it with both my Andro/UERM and Sonett 2/Neco v5. It made the mids sound hollow and the bass anemic and flabby :x.