IMR Acoustics R1 Impressions and Modifications

IMR R1 -



Build Quality

• The R1 doesn't look and feel as nice in person as it looks in the pictures. I was expecting more heft like I felt with the CF Atlas.
• A matte finish would have been nicer, discoloration happens quickly and they look plastic-y up close.
• The nozzles don't always thread perfectly with the body and can sometimes pop out when you pull the IEMs out of your ears. Annoying.

Features

• Open vs closed doesn't seem to change anything.
• All of the included nozzles suck in terms of tonality. The ones with more bass have a sucked out midrange and hashy mid-treble. The ones with less bass feel lean and peaky up top. Yuck.

Fit / Ergonomics

• None of the stock tips give me a good seal. For some reason even my comply's don't want to seal well, even though I seal just fine with them on my Fourte and Rockets.
• The cable socket sits at a right angle compared to normal 2-pin cables. Because it's recessed, I can't use any of my other 2-pin cables either. WTF.
• The cable wants to spread outward from my head when I'm wearing it, which looks and feels awkward. It's also inflexible and cannot be turned in any direction without problems and resistance. I hate this cable. It's awful.
• For some reason one of the pairs of foam tips included with my old IE80 seemed to fit my ears with these, even though they don't fit my ears on any other IEM. Weird but it works, so problem solved. No issues with driver flex.

Sound

• Unmodded I really don't like these in any configuration of nozzles and tips. Treble always feels ringy and bright, there's a weird fucky midrange response regardless of nozzles (your choice between only lower mids and no mid-mids or upper mids, OR only upper mids and no lower mids), and it's difficult to hear anything aside from bass with most of the nozzles either.
• Modded, however, I really like the sound you can pull out of these. It's clear the 13mm Be DD is quite dynamically capable, and the ceramic transducer can actually put out quite a bit of detail and information without being overly sparkly.
• For my mods, I settled with the blue nozzles (as they give the best control of the bass and come empty, which gave me an opportunity to experiment with damping and filters).
• I cut a tiny square of stiff felt (not enough to cover the entire bore) and put it in the nozzle using the back side of a sewing needle. Then, a tiny square of once-folded teabag (also not enough to cover the entire bore), and then a twice-folded wad of surgical mask filter.
• Sounds like a lot of damping, yes, but the result is a signature that's quite similar to my modded Fourte, but a bit less V-shaped (more midbass, more upper mids, less top octave and a half). Not quite as much extension in the treble, and spatialization is not quite as precise, but comparable both in dynamics and stage width. I've tried over 20 different damping configurations since I got these in earlier this week, and I think I'm pretty much settled on this one.
• Still a shitload of quality bass, but I'm a closeted basshead, and it ultimately bleeds less into the mids than the Atlas or Vega did and generally sounds better to my ears. On some stuff I prefer these to my Fourtes too.

Conclusions

• Wouldn't recommend them stock at all at ANY price.
• Impressed only by the sonics (modded) of this IEM - everything else about it is a nuisance.
• Won't complain at the price I paid given sonic performance with mods ($175).
• I'm keeping them. Really hope I can find an alternative cable though.

Associated gear was Shanling M0, Mojo, and a bunch of desktop gear. The R1's actually scale quite a bit, particularly with dynamics and smoothness in the treble. I love the sound with these out of the Phonitor 2 I have at my desk right now.

Happy to share pictures of my modding procedure if there's interest.

 

Can we open a new Thread about both and move these messages? Would be easier for people to find the info.

Just some thoughts, unlike @E_Schaaf i liked these from the get-go but i do understand his reasoning but the thing is... i "cheated" a little since i'm using my PM6 filters and not the ones that came with the OG as i didn't like them as much, the damping material is different.The ones that i sent with the OGs are from the PM6.

Another, very important, thing to mention is that you probably got V1. It was a silent review, that's what i believe at least, but i got a pair and then i talked with Bob from IMR about the threads not being perfect, specially on the right side, discoloration and the right side ringed. I got a new pair and voilá.

I have so many filters that i could mod all of them, which is something i'm still opening to do but it will make it easier to try some recommendations. Ohhh modding galore.

Doesn't matter what tips i use, because of my very small canals, only comply are usable, it's something that i got used to now and that drops some of the things you are mentioning, although it brings others.

Like many i have several cables, from more expensive to cheaper and the ones i like the most, by a significant margin, are actually one of the cheapest ones that i bought from ebay and to be honest they are my overall favourites for 0.78:



I really enjoy my OGs and that's why i sold my Dunus.

Edit - the open/close mechanism doesn't seem to change as much as i hoped though. I think the holes should be bigger.

 

My short impressions I posted earlier on Head-fi, non-Zenith version. Do note that I'm a bassboi and fairly sensitive to treble, especially upper treble. I mainly used the black filter for the short time I had these.

PROS

• Bass = AMAZING. Probably the best I've heard out of any IEM or headphone even. There's just so much of it and it's such good quality as well.
• Soundstage is very good.
• Imaging is very good, sound is super clean (due to the scooped mids).
  
• Comfortable, but I have big ears... pretty much everything is comfortable for me.
• I love how they look, I'm a sucker for utilitarian design.
• Nozzles are easy to use and change sound a fair amount.

CONS

• Mids are just bad. Anything below upper mids are completely scooped out which, like mentioned, makes the sound very clean, but also clinical, cold and boring. The upper mids have two massive spikes in them making everything sounds shrill, unnatural and bright. No filters completely remove this characteristic. Copper filter gets closest, but kills treble as well.
  
• Treble is fairly good quality, there's just too ****ing much of it. Bit metallic sounding.
• Cable sucks but at least it feels pretty rugged.

Probably 3/5. Not for me. Maybe if I listened exclusively to EDM, hip/hop, pop, etc. But I don't.

 

Although i really enjoy the OG (with PM6 filter) reading @TurbinoZ100000 impressions i have to say that the cables are one of the worst i tried, talking about this price point. Sturdy yes but that memory is brutal.

 

Right now my mod on the blue nozzles (starting earside and going backwards) consists of a tiny square of stiff non-adhesive felt that covers about 80% of the nozzle opening, a perforated paper-like layer of the same size, and a twice-folded teabag or surgical mask liner on either side (so a 4-ply 1/6" square, stuffed as uniformly as possible). They ring quite a bit on top but with the additional materials it is actually quite smooth and doesn't glare too much.

On the black nozzles you can just stuff a load of teabag in there for a true basshead presentation with a dash of extra sparkle on top. The bass here is truly incredible, addictive, ridiculously slamming for an IEM. Not as tight as my Fourte but definitely way more thicc in a fun way.

 

Thanks for your impressions @shotgunshane . I definitely tuned them with the types of music I listen to most in mind - electronic instrumentals in particular, which tend to be mixed overly hot in the upper midrange on up, especially considering my preferred listening level which is a touch louder than it probably should be. Not to mention I only really listen to the IMRs at the gym, where the extra bass is nice.

I'm sure for acoustics, vocals, and 'real' instruments it would be nice to have a more forward upper-midrange like I have on my Rockets, and I'm glad to hear this is achievable with the simple swab mod.

Frankly this is why I'm glad the IMRs have multiple nozzles - not because they sound good as-is, but because you can empty any of them and mod each to a particular response and swap em out depending on where you listen.

 

Agreed, too bad I don't think the zeniths have a "salvation mod", which I think mainly derives from the open/close mechanism.

Have you considered widening the holes of the mechanism on yours @E_Schaaf ?

Another thought is that I have to use comply so I wonder how much extra bass I will get with them + your MOD.

 

I'm sending these to @La Cenric and I wanted to share some brief impressions for the R1 Zenith, which retails for about $635.

This is not the OG version.

I used the blue filters (which are supposed to be the most neutral).

First, the bass vents have been re-designed and they are not done well. There isn't a way to fine tune the size of the opening and they are easy to dislodge from whatever they are set. The loaner set had one earpiece's vent fully open and the other fully closed, as a case in point (or a little prank, hi Shotgunshane!). I cracked the vent open a tiny bit. Bass gets full, open sounding, and smeared with the vent overly open.

Cable is rubbery ass and I'd recommend changing it.

I used a apex glacier amp with my old ipod 5.5 with wolfson chip. Out of a phone expect less detail and control.

I listen medium loud to a range of music styles from classical and world to pop to metal.

With the set-up as I described it, which is a bit best case scenario, at least for me, the Zenith is pretty good.

Overall, a punchy sound with clear, slightly sharp transients. Detail is good, soundstage is open without being artificial (most cues come from the recording, but a vented shell can help, as it does here).

Bass is full, extended and powerful. The vent can be closed to keep it down a little, but cracked open a tiny bit is the sweet spot for a bassy but well textured sound. It's decently fast, pop and rap benefit from the bass foundation.

The midrange is clear, men's and women's easily cut through the bass. Timbre is good, transients are sharp rather than smoothed, which seems characteristic of the driver. That is likely part of why detail appears good, but the driver also has some resolution. There's a little congestion in the lower mids-ish, and some V-shape, but with my set-up and blue filter the midrange isn't sucked out. The Zenith excels with rock, but classical is very good as well.

Treble is quite good with the set-up I have, cymbals and chimes and violins are all very good. That little sharpness of transients likely means that with other filters that the Zenith may be too sharp and/or have weird resonances, but here it's good, accurately showing sharpness in music recorded that way, but not adding it overmuch.

Overall, in spite of some build and cable issues, these are good midrange iems that have the potential to be an iem in a properly driven portable set up. A lot of modding potential, as people have mentioned with the previous generation.

 

Both the modded blue and black filters were my work. Happy to hear you enjoyed the black! I also enjoy the massive bass presence for EDM and commercial tracks.

EDIT: Actually now I'm not quite sure after reaching further back into the thread. Don't want to take credit if it isn't due, and I know things got scrambled at some point! Those could be @Walderstorn 's work too.

 

I probably will enjoy the Blue one much more and the black is definitely your work. So good job and we actually got now 2 filters that took the best out of the R1s. Too bad the Zenith have no possible salvation at this point...

 

I'd be willing to try to mod the Zenith if one ever comes my way. Wondering what could be done on the inside of the housing as well with some adhesive or sticky materials, plus the nozzle damping.

 

Exactly what i was always thinking about since i last replied. How to fix it, dumping material in? seal that opening/closing mechanism? Some extreme modding is in order i feel.

 

Sealing the port could just be a matter of tape. Extremely small dots of dynamat, foam, or felt on the inside in some spots might help. Might not be worth it if we can already expect better performance with less effort (and less $$$) on the OG R1.

My R1 is still busted in one channel (bass is like at least 6dB lower), and I'm too lazy to ship it to EU to get it fixed even though Bob offered to do the repair for free. Whenever I get around to doing this I might open up those and see what more can be done there too. You know, for science.

 

Sounds good. Since i really like the R1 i would be glad doing some modding but if i was sure that i could not screw it up.