[Jenz]

You made a mistake at crinacle! When rating the Creative Aurvana Trio, you write 3BA - but it is a hybrid in-ear (2BA & 1DD).

 

[SilverEars]

Rare Head-Fi update befitting of the occasion...

In-Ear Fidelity Acquires GRAS Setup for Headphone Measurements
​

Hells yes! It's about time.

I hope to see more of the multiple samples measured for headphones. It's very useful to know if manufacturers are being conistant.

 

[SilverEars]

@crinacle Can you measure the Drop HD6XX to compare with the HD650? Rtings recently did a review of HD6XX and does look different from HD650 response. Really curious how multiple samples of them fare. This would provides insights on how they can vary among each other. I think the challenge with these measurements would be the pad conditions, which will throw off consistancies.

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/sennheiser/hd-6xx

 

[Jenz]

Please check the CE320 from CTM. One of the best In Ear releases of 2020!

 

[HaBo]

JH10x3 PRO are not in the list.

 

[vcoheda]

waiting for meze elite measurements. thanks.

 

[Dasbeerboot]

Also looking for the Elite measurements. It was my favorite headphone at CanJam this year. Definitely saving to purchase a pair myself.

 

[Aerael]

So, new Lime Ears Anima = Bass Head friendly flagship piece (BA/DD hybrid sub bass, ES upper treble) is out. Eagerly awaiting measurements, even if it's too bassy for me. ^^

OT:
Somebody got any recommendations for TOTL CIEMs with a FR between DF and Harman (so brighter upper mids amd treble and less bass than Harman)? God-tier transient speed is a must. BA bass is fine, as long as Sub-50 isn't lacking too much.

 

[Animagus]

So, new Lime Ears Anima = Bass Head friendly flagship piece (BA/DD hybrid sub bass, ES upper treble) is out. Eagerly awaiting measurements, even if it's too bassy for me. ^^

I have measured and reviewed Anima HERE. All measurements are on Page 2.

OT:
Somebody got any recommendations for TOTL CIEMs with a FR between DF and Harman (so brighter upper mids amd treble and less bass than Harman)? God-tier transient speed is a must. BA bass is fine, as long as Sub-50 isn't lacking too much.

What's your budget?

 

[Aerael]

I have measured and reviewed Anima HERE. All measurements are on Page 2.


What's your budget?

Thank you so much for your reply and the link! ^_^

I already knew about your measurement and your review of Anima is the currently best one out there. Deeze's is (as always) a little too esoteric for me, and the Headfi one (also as always) does not feature measurements, but else mostly agrees with your sentiments. As your's and Crinacle's bass response of Aether R (which I own and use) differ quiet a lot from another, I was hoping for a second graph to get a more complete picture of Anima's bass amount. The bass FR I hear from my Aether R CIEMs seems To be more in line with Crinacle's curve, hence ehy I asked here.

My budget is -- in principle -- unlimited. I'm searching for true endgame, and if I can't afford it, I will save up for it.

I know Odin is a good contestant, and from FR responses so are the Softears RS10 and Moondrop S(?)8, ehich you own -- but I didn't try any of those. VE Elysium I tried, and it (nuances!) lacked in bass resolution and had slightly too pronounced lower treble to my ears, but was a very good IEM.

Aether R in my experience has really insane micro detail and transient speed. I like the very forward sound -- high pinna gain is something I seem to enjoy, even if it may be sliiiightly too pronounced in Aether R. To me, it lacks about 6-8dB in bass, but mostly in the sub ~60Hz region (but I do not like Aether R's mid/upper bass elevation if you choose bass up). Slightly more bass all around (3dB?) would not hurt either.
From the FR, I love Anima's bass response curve, but I'm pretty sure it will be too much in sheer volume for my personal taste. Aether R's super dry and blazing fast bass response is the type of bass character I really enjoy, and I am not sure how well DDs deliver that.
I also find Aether R's treble lacking in extension. Up to ~8kHz is fine, but after that it just drops too much and is too spikey. My hearing is quite good (up to 18kHz) so I would like to have a good extension up there.


Sorry for the wall of text, feel free to give a short answer -- thank you so much! :3

 

[ducnsh]

Hi guys, Do you guys know what is the difference between sample 1 and sample 2?

 

[Animagus]

Thank you so much for your reply and the link! ^_^

I already knew about your measurement and your review of Anima is the currently best one out there. Deeze's is (as always) a little too esoteric for me, and the Headfi one (also as always) does not feature measurements, but else mostly agrees with your sentiments. As your's and Crinacle's bass response of Aether R (which I own and use) differ quiet a lot from another, I was hoping for a second graph to get a more complete picture of Anima's bass amount. The bass FR I hear from my Aether R CIEMs seems To be more in line with Crinacle's curve, hence ehy I asked here.

My budget is -- in principle -- unlimited. I'm searching for true endgame, and if I can't afford it, I will save up for it.

I know Odin is a good contestant, and from FR responses so are the Softears RS10 and Moondrop S(?)8, ehich you own -- but I didn't try any of those. VE Elysium I tried, and it (nuances!) lacked in bass resolution and had slightly too pronounced lower treble to my ears, but was a very good IEM.

Aether R in my experience has really insane micro detail and transient speed. I like the very forward sound -- high pinna gain is something I seem to enjoy, even if it may be sliiiightly too pronounced in Aether R. To me, it lacks about 6-8dB in bass, but mostly in the sub ~60Hz region (but I do not like Aether R's mid/upper bass elevation if you choose bass up). Slightly more bass all around (3dB?) would not hurt either.
From the FR, I love Anima's bass response curve, but I'm pretty sure it will be too much in sheer volume for my personal taste. Aether R's super dry and blazing fast bass response is the type of bass character I really enjoy, and I am not sure how well DDs deliver that.
I also find Aether R's treble lacking in extension. Up to ~8kHz is fine, but after that it just drops too much and is too spikey. My hearing is quite good (up to 18kHz) so I would like to have a good extension up there.


Sorry for the wall of text, feel free to give a short answer -- thank you so much! :3

Hey! Thanks! I hope I'm not stepping on Crin's toes here. Yes, I've noticed the difference in Crin and my Aether R's measurements even though we have the same IEC711 coupler. My sample is from a much later batch than people who got their hands on one around when it was released. My impressions of Aether R were a bit different from the early impressions of reviewers/users too. Where some of the early reviewers/users felt that it was warm and had a slightly intimate soundstage, my Aether R sounds a bit bright (mostly lower-treble oriented) and has a nice clean and open soundstage, which I can see with the difference in both FRs. I did see Precog mentioning that he auditioned Aether R in Singapore Canjam recently and felt that it was tuned like Moondrop Blessing2, which it kinda does to me too and these impressions are more in line with my Aether R's frequency response that has the bass shelf like Moondrop Blessing2 (see below). So, maybe Lime Ears tweaked the Aether R around when I got my sample? I don't know. I'll have to ask Emil.



All IEMs you listed are really good. I'd suggest going with Empire Ears Odin, 64 Audio U12t or Softears RS10 if you want a more reference tuning with a nice bass shelf. Odin and RS10 are slightly more clinical relatively and U12t is more on the musical side. Lime Ears Anima for a more musical approach and Legend X/EVO for basshead bass with decent pinna gain. I hear Elysian Annihilator is pretty good too! The graph looks great but I haven't heard it myself, so can't say from personal experience.

If you're into CIEMs (considering you have an Aether R CIEM) and wanna try RS10, I can confirm RS10 CIEM being really good. Received it last month and have been loving it since. Soundstage is wider and it sounds slightly clearer and more detailed to me than the UIEM.



PM me if you have any questions about IEMs I have or have reviewed. Always happy to help, cheers!

 

[John Culter]

I'm super curious if there will be any FR difference between PP8 universal and new custom version.. Hope @crinacle will be able to get his hands on custom pair anytime soon
https://www.inear.de/en/products/monitoring/custom-inear-monitoring/prophile8custom

 

[goodvibes]

PP8 response is VG by any standard. I personally never thought it special outside of overall balance through the critical ranges which makes it a great device for mixing etc. Informative but does sound a bit like an old school multi driver BA. Always preferred it with all switches off position as the bass switch on reached a bit too far into the mids (for me but less than most top devices do anyway, warmer seems to be a trend) and the treble switch greater emphasized the BA character or treble bump, whichever it is.

 

[SilverEars]

Makes sense why I thought viento universal demo sounded too bright.

Maybe there was some notoriety with NT6 back then since there weren't many custom builders back then, and you had one guy reviewing them. lol You have one guy's opinion to go by at the time, but also there wasn't many customs, so it's lack of choices that probably made it stand out. I think UE was the main go to custom due to lack of choices at the time, and NT6 just got pointed out by one guy, but I wouldn't think it was hyped like UE (which probably had the majority of custom market back then). It was just a few of us on the thread talking about it. lol Can't recall why I went with NT6 over UE for my first CIEM, you would think I would be swayed by UE's popularity at the time. I will say though, the universal demo version of UERM was impressive at the time. This may have been at the point when JH sold UE or after, can't recall exactly.

I think Hidition was around awhile because they made hearing aids, which is where BA use for hearing came from.

Anyway, all this stuff was an interesting past time when it was a novelty, but now the market is too saturated that it's just 'been there, done' that ordeal. I really don't have much interest in it.

Edit: I do recall why I went with NT6. One guy on the forum that was very knowledgeable with iems at the time told me it's the clearest sounding CIEM. Now, looking back, I'm not even sure if he heard it before making that remark! lol. I feel like back then, there was people that was really obsessed with something in this hobby like CIEM, IEM, etc.. (similar to Crin) and they would be easily recognizable to get advice from. So, it seemed like a good environment to get expert advice.