IEM general discussion thread

Weirdly, over-ear is really easy. It probably causes less torsion on the barrel and thus pressure on the ears too as you're bearing the weight of the cable mostly on the top of your ears. You just need to rotate the body through 180ish degrees, so the cable angles up and slightly forward like an "normal" IEM. Don't pull the cable too tight, maximise seal and comfort etc..

Edit:

Microphonics do occur when I badly need a shave- stubble under the chin catching near the cinch

 

I will definitely try it on the way home from work. I have never been able to grow any decent facial hair so I don't think that particular issue matters for me.

The main reasons I swapped were actually for the shorter length and straight plug. 1.2m is nice on the go, and the straight plug is great as I use a dongle with an iPhone 7 Plus. Whatever phone I end up upgrading to in the next few years will likely also have no headphone jack and require a dongle. All the other 'positives' I noted are just little bonuses.

 

Has anyone heard the KZ AS10 iems? They have 5 BAs per ear. Note that these are a different model than the KZ ZS10 and are supposedly better sounding than those. I picked these up from Amazon for $63. I think they sound really good, better than the edc3. FR seems to be fairly neutral. Good sense of space and sound stage. I would be curious to hear other impressions.

Edit: These are fairly new on my ears, so still getting used to them. I think I should amend my FR description to say that they are warm sounding and do have a bit of bass bump, so not quite neutral.

 

Has anyone had ears on the new Sony IEM range? I love the WM1Z/A walkmans but their headphones have never really grabbed me. It sounds like they are aiming at more of a reference tuning with these new IEMs.

https://www.sony.com/electronics/in-ear-headphones/ier-m9

https://www.sony.com/electronics/in-ear-headphones/ier-m7

https://www.sony.com/electronics/in-ear-headphones/ier-z1r

 

Hold onto your wallets, Massdrop and Empire ears are releasing a supposedly slightly retuned version of the 14 driver Zeus for $1000 USD.
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-empire-ears-zeus-universal-iems#overview

 

Wow, Eiji talks a big game...

 

Oh shit, this is going to be ambrosia, the legendary warmpoo of the gods. I mean, my fear is the tuning will be Japan warmpoo-ophile, but here's the thing:

Honestly, this is the first and only hybrid design that actually looks well thought through rather than some off-the-shelf shit thrown together and hastily dampened. f**k, a custom dynamic microdriver supertweeter mounted co-axially? Oh yeah, Sony makes their own damn armatures and dynamic drivers and they are really going for it here. Seriously, just having a true custom housing is a big, big advance in the field. Not kidding, it's a big f'ing deal for tuning DDs. 99% of iems are stock housings.

Good. I'm in with this won't quite fit in your ear, clumsy Sony Glorfindel*. f**k you, multi-multi sonion/knowles BA shit.

On a side note, whoever in China who makes Ken Ball's drivers will hopefully have something decent for the third iteration of their ADLC coated driver, hope they are taking notes on Sony's multi-layer/multi-coating diaphragms here.

*yes, the elf-lord is now an audio term for bananas might be great, might suck uber-gear, I'm coining that shit.

 

Oh nice. Did they mention any comparisons to established IEMs?

 

I also have reservations about what Sony considers ‘reference’ tuning, but some of the design elements, especially with the Z1R, are really interesting. Coaxial IEMs? f**k yeah. It’s a very different application but Genelecs new coaxial monitors blew my dick off when I first heard them.

Thanks, although I was actually referring to the people within your circle.

 

I had the opportunity to compare the andro and the M9 side by side form iphone.

They sounded quite close to me, andro had an edge on detail retrieval.

 

Out of interest @shotgunshane, what gear are you currently running with?

 

Ok, so a quick follow up post regarding the KZ AS10. These are 5 driver BA iems, and are up on Massdrop now for $52. I've been listening to these a fair bit and have a better sense of what they are doing. But I am somewhat new to iems, and don't have a lot of reference between iems, so my impressions will be limited.

These are definitely a warm iem with a strong bass. Perhaps even dark, as the treble is perhaps slightly rolled off. That said they have a huge, robust sound with an enveloping sense of space and separation. They sound good with most genres of music, maybe slightly weaker on acoustic/classical, but still quite nice. Compared to the edc3, these are certainly less neutral with a warmer sound, but with better separation and more engaging overall. Compared to the 1More Triple Drivers these don't have that boomy bass that the triple drivers have, which is a relief.

It's hard for me to say much more than that, having never really heard a top of the line iem, but for the price I think these are pretty impressive. I would like to hear any other impressions out there.

 

@Brause would probably have something to say about KZ hybrid comparisons, but he’s currently AFK. From your description, it seems that although they’ve moved away from the extreme W tonality of the ZS5-6-10 (in order of height, IIRC), they haven’t entirely eliminated it.

I haven’t heard the AS10 or edc3, but I didn’t mind the ZSR, which while having a treble spike and somewhat elevated bass, didn’t have the 3-5k emphasis of the others. Your description jives with impressions from elsewhere that the edc3 is an improved ZSR (which I take to mean, has better technicalities; ZSR was a bit ragged). Think I need to borrow @Brause ‘s edc & AS for listening & measuring when he returns…

I haven’t heard a TOTL IEM either, and not many BAs. If you want to compare the KZ hybrids to what a cheap DD can do when tastefully (and easily) modded, try the HiFi Walker A1 as modded by @james444 . If you’re looking for a good multi-BA that won’t break the bank, the Brainwavz B400 has been recommended by many including @shotgunshane .

Edit: @lm4der , apply my comments above on the edc3 to the KZ es3 - I got the name mixed up with the Nuforce model. Apologies for the confusion!

 

New stage/studio monitors from Sennheiser.

https://en-de.sennheiser.com/new-pro-in-ears-from-sennheiser-enhance-monitor-sound

It’s light on details but there are 3 models mentioned; IE40PRO, IE400PRO and IE500PRO.

https://en-au.sennheiser.com/ie40pro

I’m a little disappointed they haven’t gone balls out on the marketing like they did with IE800S.