IEM general discussion thread

A bit of further listening to the Noble Bell and these are a good DD iem for $199. Not noticing any issues such as harshness or dips so far, flattened V sounds pretty balanced and clear (making sure not to have pressure vacuums which arrest both the driver and ear drum). Not the greatest isolation but so far it's fine on the NYC subway.

This is one of those times where you really do get twice as much for twice the price, at least versus the Velvet. The Velvet is is low-fi and not recommended for audiophiles. The Bell is quite nice and I think people who want a dynamic iem for a decent price will find it fits the bill. I like dynamics so I will probably just use the Bell for a week or two.

 

Has anyone heard anything from Ambient Acoustics?
There AM7LAM looks interesting, although i know some here dislike bells and whistles the customization looks compelling. https://ambient-acoustics.ua/eng/naushniki-dlya-audiofilov/ambient-acoustics/am7-lam-s.html

 

Hearing the Dita dream. Surpringly good on initial listen. Bright, but not overmuch so far.

"Brightness leads to crispness, which leads to the impression of detail retrieval, which leads to fear, which leads to anger. And anger leads....to the dark side." --mah dawg Yoda said that shit.

Bass has good extention and amount isn't bassy but enough to be present, still has a bit of a treble tilt.

Should compare to Noble Katana and IE800S eventually.

 

They seem interesting, and technically competent, but I am confused by their product line. I am simple man who needs products like : reference Master, bassy bitch, expensive one.

 

The Dream is super impressive to me in terms of stage and bass quality. However I was put off by the thin / harsh mids. I was told it depends on source and need to give them another chance...will wait for your feedback.

 

I was thinking about commenting on that. I am using an apex glacier amp-a portable tuned to sound like a tube amp (it's by Pete Millett, so it actually is nice) with the dap being an old-timey ipod 5.5 gen with a wolfson chip.

Both are warm. And I am okay with slightly thinner mids as that helps the illusion of clarity (along with bright highs--my phone has corrected highs to thighs 3 times now).

I'm not having a problem with this set up. Even so, the Dita isn't a warm earphone and I can see people hearing it as harsh.

I was comparing to the ie800S last night and I will listen again for the mids, as the difference in treble jumps out more. For the Dita's treble lift, I think they are tuning to catch guitar twang as that is highlighted and brought forward.

Has anyone compared these to the Andro? Based off of hazy recollections, this might be the closest to a dynamic driver andro. I found the andro harsh, yet tolerably so as well. @KenBall please try to hear the Dita Dream sometime.

 

Didn't do a direct back-to-back, but Andro is my reference. Brief observations:

 

Thanks, I guess what you listen to as a role. I have a lot of modern music, more or less well recorded. The dry mids + slightly harsh treble combo is quite unforgiving of bad recordings.

 

I can well imagine. I think more than a few people have had the same experience you did. I did go back and listen to, well, the opposite of modern music, Bach and Corelli, to get a read on strings, plus an Indian instrument that often sounds thin, the sarangi, which is also bowed, in about the viola range. Not bad at all, but also less than helpful, sorry.

I listened to some folk metal which is a bit indifferently recorded, very guitar crunchy on the Dita. The ie800S is less harsh, by far.

 

At least now I know that the Sarangi and folk metal exist.

 

I've been meaning to post this in spwath's drinking/life-lesson thread:


(It's a parody of the logo used at the end of public service announcements aimed at kids used for like 20yrs in the U.S.)

 

It's more uptilted than harsh imo, the blue core narrow bore tips + deeper insertion control it somewhat, though at the expanse of some "spaciousness". For it's a meaningful refinement of the Sony Ex series sig, with better ergonomics, more prominent subbass and like @gixxerwimp said less "textured" treble. If the price is around that of the Andros, I would likely pick the Dream over the Andros.

(Auditioned quite a few times, most recently using ZX-300, 4.4 balanced mode)

 

Yes I agree that I 1k I would have hesitated less. I picked up the ie800s at a strong discount and it is better value IMO.

Dream and RE2000 are pushing it to charge 2k$ for single DDs...but on the other hand many people are pushing it these days.

 

Received the StageDiver 5 by InEar today.



I'm not sure about the components and crossovers but the driver count is just as high as the name suggests. These are advertised as having a W-shaped signature and are placed between SD4 (V-shape) and PP8 (neutral). Price is 899 € for the normal version. Now you can get fully wood housings too, as shown here. I think the wood options are limited to SD5 and PP8 and not all colors have been introduced yet. As I know InEar, it will take a while until these options will be available internationally.

Early impressions:
These have some seriously strong bass! 50 Hz are almost headache inducing. Lots of rumble but reasonably controlled. Yet the earphones don't even sound warm. I'd argue female voices are even slightly tilted towards bright. There is more than enough treble energy to balance the bass. Within the W-signature mids are still recessed.

Here are some preliminary measurements (red, possibly from a prototype), compared to SD4 (blue) and Andromeda (green): http://www.hifi-forum.de/bild/mit-andro_842653.html
I see some high potential for equalizing, but then again, PP8 is probably still the way to go for fans of neutrality.

 

FutureSonics G10

• THICC!!! The antithesis of the mee px, this is basshead "done right". No, not V or even U shaped, but L shaped. An iem version of the AQ nighthawk, and like nighthawk, you cant help but wonder, if this is "right", then everything is wrong.
• mids are relatively clean tho there is a slight hooded quality (dip in the presence range), mid-treble up is rather attenuated, moreso than any iem i have auditioned.
• But, the fucken BASS is epic, yes it's elevated af but it's not a muddy mess, far from it, it's possibly the most detailed and tactile bass i have heard, with a physicality that is earwax loosening. For better or worse, music sounds as tho they are remastered. If FS's ciems improve on mid range refinement and a more extended treble, then FS are special indeed, as it stands, despite its vastly superior bass, everything else is serviceable/unremarkable at best.
• Fender A2 or the Final E3000 are better balanced all rounders imho, despite a more amorphous low end.
• Both the included foam and dbl flanges attentuated its treble too much, after trying out westone and shure foam and silicone tips i finally settled with spinfits as they both tightened the bass, and let more treble out (but thats relative, like going from 80% black to 70% black choc, whereas the fender A2 and E3000 are milk choc).

TLDR visceral chunky dark sound with unique bass skillz and the rest of the range servicable, good+ isolation and compact form, it would make a decent on-the-go sidepiece.

 

For their universals FS hasn't been the best. I haven't heard the G10, but the MG5 is the darkest, but their next MG7 had some prickliness in the treble. The MG6pro has (much) better mids, but the highs don't extend as high as most BAs (has 0 treble fuckery though). The custom's bass feels even more bottomless and punchy, possibly because of the venting system.

My MG6pro is not neutral but it is right. And that is why 6 years later while my BA accompaniment changes (currently the Andro, although I should be selling it soon), the FS is still here with me.

I'm an unabashed FS fangay for a reason. Most people are probably better served with a MG5HX/FX though.

I've dropped the f'ing vents so much on my MG6pro I'm using a sticker with a hole poked in it instead of the silicone tabs now though. Get the FX or HX, no vents to lose.

 

Just to clarify (and even people in FS find this confusing and funny), when grahad2 refers to the mg5 and mg7, these are the universal fit Atrio models, now replaced by the universal fit G10, which has a different driver tuned closely to the mg7.

Meanwhile, the MG5pro and MG6pro were the custom fit models with their own drivers. The custom fit MG5hx and MG6hx supplant these with a vent in the helix and some changes to how the driver breathes and a more secure cable socket.

FS is sold 99% to professional clients, so that's what drives the changes. Slow, steady evolution within known quantities for stage, studio, and pulpit. The confusion in naming stuff is just poor planning.

Anyway, pretty different than most of what we're used to, business-wise.

 

Cancelled! The impressions are no longer valid.

I'm pretty sure the polarity is off.
Cable is correct but I am almost certain one of the sockets is wired wrongly. Maybe this is on purpose to review reviewers, haha.

 

Has anyone who has owned the Campfire Andromeda heard a KZ ZS5? I'm curious about how comparable they are, if at all.

I bought the ZS5 and ZS6 from Amazon a few months apart. I prefer the ZS5. For something so cheap to sound this good, the CFA must be awesome.

 

I've owned the ZS5, and have heard the Andro.
They don't even compare. The ZS5 is rubbish.