NEWBSOUND LEGEND - Short Impression
Bisoy Sisan has been quite an old name in the field of artisan earbud makers for quite some (y)ears now. When I got into earbuds, I reached out to him to purchase any of his earbuds, only to find his previous stocks are all sold out and he is not making anything anymore. New research is under progress, but no confirm launch date yet.
But that did not mean he forgot my request, which I found out later with a pleasant surprise when he suddenly pm-ed me a head-fi classifieds listing of Legend. I promptly secured the deal.
And it will suffice to say that was one of the best decisions ever. The retail price of Legend was $135, I got it for just $85! Talk about a great deal...made greater by the incredible sound output!
Legend has a sound unlike his previous creations, as per Bisoy Sisan's claim - it was tuned to sound more like a mainstream iem. Which means a V sound signature, except that it is more of a U signature to my ears. The subbass is very well extended and sounds completely natural, the midbass has a nice audible slam but is also controlled so that it colours the lower mid very little. The midrange is quite transparent and is rather neutral - vocals that are on the leaner side sound a bit digital instead of analogue on the Legend. Treble is quite bright, has a lot of energy and well-defined big notes, and sounds slightly forward with beautiful sparkles and extension. The upper midrange and treble might sound a bit grainy on certain tracks, but with Hiegi foams that was taken care of to a large extent. The overall presentation is quite big, extending very well in width and height, and quite fairly in depth as well. Accurate imaging, outstanding separation, and plenty of space between the notes truly made me go WOW from the very beginning. To my ears, the sound certainly does follow the name
.
However, despite being 32 Ohm, they need above-average power to get to a listenable level. So it is recommended to use them via balanced out (if it is terminated to balanced plug already). I found out that the Jcally JM6-4 can drive it pretty well.
Most people have actually chosen IEMs as Their Way. Not us of course, but you may find that to be true for yourself as well… With that said, you can DIY and earbud for that money that will compete with the best of the best. You could actually do almost 2 of them for that kind of money.
