My thoughts after about a week.
Wide, Slightly Dark, Brilliant, Smooth. Acoustic.
This is the most enjoyable and accurate IEM I have ever heard. If you put in the work, it provides such a realistic and analytical result, and even things like listening to Youtube videos, become so much more articulate and enjoyable, and intelligible, with this IEM. Highly recommended. Listening via a TempoTec Sonata BHD, which drives it with so much ease, with volume of the low gain set to max on the DAC, I still have 45dB headroom in the digital domain, on my laptop.
Pros :
1. Smooth and Extended Top End.
2. Very good transients
3. A bass region that is unforgettable - You get an exaggerated sense of cues like room reverb/artificial reverb, in a recording, coming from some other IEMs. GIves you the impression that you have a subwoofer in place - not overdone, a tight sub bass sound. (but it does not add bass, only emphasizes the bass in the audio, only if there is bass.)
4. Accurate Extended High frequencies - same thing, emphasizes them only if they exist in the audio, making them immediately audible, If they are there, you will hear them, with ease, and you will hear treble that will surprise you - like wow - is this how treble is supposed to sound? But only if its there. It is like an analytical tool, show you what is there, in a way that other IEMs may not.
5.Excellent transitions, from bass to mids, to highs. Everything sounds cohesive and organic, and non fatiguing.
6.Very Accurate and True, it shows you what is in the audio, and some music you revered my be exposed as not exactly as fantastic as you remember, and others will become even more fantastic as their better quality of recording and production/mastering is revealed. Good resolution, without getting into fatiguing territory. Solid Presentation. Many things which sounded brighter on another IEM, just sound so much smoother on this, the mid bass and mids are so seamless, natural, and nothing sticks out, in the entire frequency range, in other words this does very little to colour the audio. Sounds like a well tuned, bass solid, mids solid, and non fatiguing high end. Makes you appreciate the huge difference between tracks by different artists, and different tracks on the same album.
7. Very sensitive to volume. While it does very well at low volumes, for ambient listening in the background, it encourages you to volume match every track, manually, to bring each track to the a similar listening level, to get the best from it. This is not for the casual listener., This is for an accomplished listener who knows about the Fletcher Munsen hearing phenomena.
8. Great wide soundstage - Left to Right, for audio which is panned so - old school music like Miles Davis - Kind of Blue.
9. Amazing layering - of near and far instruments.
10. Positioning - easy to pinpoint where in the stereo field everything is.
11. Excellent value for money
12. Intimate - Fantastic intelligibility. Seemingly more accurate rendition of vocals. Very easy to hear what the singer is saying. e.g in rap vocals and all vocals.
13. Great separation of every element in the mix.
14. Superb Dynamics - things jump out at you, and surprise you. Lively.
15. Comes with excellent case and packaging
16. Comes with a really good looking cable, that should last another 500 years, and remain intact.
17. Looks like an IEM that will retain all of its original cosmetic quality, for the next 50 years
18. Sounds great from the get go, needs some burn in, sounds even better, with a bit of EQ to correct any minor excesses, gets even better. Takes to EQ very well.
19. An IEM you can listen to for hours and hours, once you get used to it.
20. If there is any harshness, its from the recording! not this IEM, which only portrays what is there. But it will show you every flaw, very accurate, do not buy unless you want to hear the truth. This is the real Truth Hear. Unfortunately it shows you which labels have gone the extra mile with their recordings and mixing and mastering, so a lot of good music, will not sound as good as we think it should, cos not enough effort has been put into the recording and mixing.!! Music still sounds great, but this IEM separates the men from the boys.
21 This is the kind of IEM that will force you to upgrade your listening sources, so you can hear the best version of each track you listen to. Differences between different editions of tracks on streaming media are revealed starkly.
22. This is the IEM for anyone wanting to move forward from the budget sub $30 category, without spending a fortune. Sound as good as IEM;s in the $100 to $200 range. A bargain, if you buy on sale.
23. Definitely a very good entry into the Planar Magnetic domain., for not too much money. The kind of thing you buy, and live with for a while, until you can afford things in the $150 to $2,000+ price bracket - if you can afford such. I have not personally heard any really expensive IEMs' but this sounds to me like the point of diminishing returns, where you need to spend 2 or 3 or 20 times more, to get any further incremental improvement (based on the various reviews I have read/listened to)
Cons :
1. Some may not like the look, I am far more interested in the sonics, so not an issue for me. The looks are classic to me. Have grown on me.
2. Some would complain that the shell is NOT metal. Not sure if this is a benefit or has anything negative about it.
2. Insufficient number and style of tips that come with the IEM, I had to use the tips that came with another IEM, to get a good fit
3. Very Very sensitive to sealing, insertion depth, and any lack of sealing. This IEM needs to be properly sealed.
4. Its nozzle is a bt short and also a bit larger than other IEM's so the shell tends to be right against the outer ear, which may take a bit of getting used to. Initial soreness, from the cable behind the ears, the need to have a good nozzle seal, and the shell rubbing against the outer ear, caused some initial soreness.
5. Getting this to sound right, is a delicate dance between choice of ear tips, placement i.e insertion depth, and volume/level management. Every slight change in any of these has a discernible impact on what you are hearing. Every millimeter change in size of ear tips or insertion depth and every dB or half dB change in volume, is immediately apparent. This is NOT an IEM for newbies, but anyone who will take the time to learn how to get it sounding its best, will be rewarded with the most engaging immersive, enjoyable music, that makes you want to listen to your favourite well produced music, over and over and over again. You MUST invest the time to EQ it properly, to extrude the best from it.
6. Having said all that, this has a fantastic balance of everything needed, but does not stray too much in any direction. So it needs a user who is patient to learn what natural sound is like, if you are transitioning from V shaped, Bright Etymotic style, or Bass Head presentation, This has a slight V, with emphasis on the Bass - but clean bass - NOT Bass like Beats by Dr Dre. This will be an education in listening, cos you will hear many things, you have never heard before, the separation will take a while to get used to. I think it will take about a month, to fully appreciate what is on offer here. It reminds me of old Hi fi speakers and how you need to put a bit of effort into placing them properly in the room, and set them up properly. This is the same. Takes effort to setup, but once that is done after about a week or two of gradual changes, you arrive at a place that is unique to this IEM - great accurate, non fatiguing and True sound, seamless connection, life like, from Bass to Treble, very cohesive, and natural sounding.
7. A lot of music will sound a bit dull and bland, and not as spectacular as when you heard them on other IEM's. But this IEM brings you closer to whatever the TRUTH is., with a definite emphasis on the bass. How some could want more bass than this, is mind blowing, This IEM does not lack in bass, in any way. Timing inaccuracies, frequency imbalances, room reverb in spoken word videos on Youtube, this IEM will reveal everything, more than many other IEMs.
8. Easy to insert them too deep, and it becomes a bit too bassy., so they are rather unforgiving IEMs, they need a bit more attention. Kind of reminds me of Italian sports cars or Porsches, never driven one, but I can imagine, the drivers of such cars need to be involved, cos they are a key component of the driving experience. Compared to a Lexus or a Toyota, which is great for everyone. So these are IEM's for those who know what they want.
9. It is definitely analytical, and tending towards balanced, slight V, and not for everyone.
