gazzington
Headphoneus Supremus
I'd love the z1r but I think my wife would kill me!
flinkenick's 17 Flagship IEM Shootout Thread (and general high-end portable audio discussion)
davidcotton
X-CANs and HDAMs
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Only one way to find out!
chungjun
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
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HeadFi-ers thought trying out many TOTL IEMs offerings are bad for their wallet... till they venture into...
OC AuX
ergonomics: excellent, not soft as EA but plenty supple exhibiting a little memory
sound: attack that isn't harsh, clean sounding with good tone. Smooth yet detailed up top. Sounds relatively warm. Good positioning, though positions aren't as sharp as can be, they are distinct. decent width. Extended subbass with thunderous rumble. A little veiled sounding compared to the more transparent cables.
OC Orpheus Mk5.5 (4.4 converted)
ergonomics: a but stiff, reminds me of the PW no.5 in stiffness and texture. Shows memory
sound: not quite percussive sounding like the AuX but has exceptionally black background imo. Stage positions clearer than the AuX due to this background. Note thicknesses are distinct, likely due to midbass lower mid increase compared to the AuX. Not as clear sounding as AuX. Not as much subbass rumble.
Quick comparison with PW No. 5: they sound really really similar, though I think the No. 5 has a thick upper mids and treble sound. I would pair the Orpheus with a warmer iem while I would pair the No. 5 with a brighter one. Background is blacker on the Orpheus, stage is also better too. The No. 5 is honestly not very transparent
OC Montana
ergonomics: quite thick and heavy, but doesn't feel like the hansound Y-split, that is not pendulum feeling, just a general heaviness. A little stiff too, but little memory.
sound: powerful subbass, similar to the AuX. sounds quite natural to me. not transparent and clear like the silver cables I tried but much clearer than the AuX pretty sharp positioning of instruments in the stage, more natural stage expansion than the Agni. great piano timbre following Agni.
HS Agni Mk.ii
ergonomics: similar to the Zentoo but quite a lot thicker
sound: nothing jumps out in a good way. Exceptional timbre presentation. transparent and true to the recording Good positioning. A little unnatural in the center image, but nothing really is for me imo. Note thicknesses are pretty spot on I think.
Quick comparison with EA Cleo: Cleo is more percussive sounding, piano sounds thicker as well, position is more clear. timbre is close, mostly better on the Cleo, but I prefer timbre on the Agni. Cleo comes off as more V-shaped vs the Agni. neither of these have the subbass of the AuX but the Agni is closer.
HS Zentoo
ergonomics: thin and supple, a little bit of memory. cable has a sticky feeling. Heavy Y-split, like all other HS cables.
sound: this does not sound like a typical copper cable at all. It has a thinness I wasn't expecting, it isn't a bad thinness, more like a lack of bloat, everything sounds crisp, though possibly bordering on thin. Reminds me of a smooth sounding UeX which is a silver cable. positioning isn't as good as the AuX or the Orpheus, stage sounds almost artificially widened. Not as clear sounding. Good subbass rumble, not as much as the AuX but a little bit more than the Orpheus.
I'm torn between the AuX and the Agni mkii. One is warm neutral with earth shattering subbass while the other is transparent with excellent timbre. I can see myself wanting to use either depending on my mood, AuX for pop/electronic and Agni for jazz. considering the A12t, the AuX would play with its strengths while the Agni would fill in its weaknesses.
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but these were all cheap tho...
wait these ain't cheap at all
in all seriousness, I think a bigger problem I encounter is the need for more than one of them. I bought one cable but now I really really want another
mvvRAZ
Headphoneus Supremus
This cable business is super shady, I’m in the same boat.... contemplating between cables priced at around 200£, and suddenly a wild Leonidas appears and I’m there like, but what if
Gotta chase them 16kHz bro.
cue pithy, who actually cant hear above 16khz in one of his ears.
also, I wasn't particularly a big fan of the Leo II, I wonder what the original Leo sounds like, really wanna try it at some point
deafdoorknob
1000+ Head-Fier
@pithyginger63 how bad was the ergonomics of the Montana? Any worse than EA’s plus series or 8 wire types?
Oh, I replied a little earlier. In short, the Montana cloth is soft, so not too bad for comfort on the top of my ears, but the unit I tested was very stiff and one of the cables would keep falling off my ear. The weight also affected the fit of my iems after a while.
oh boyTime to upgrade the other ear:
Strangely tho, the ear that has bad treble hearing, is the ear I hear better with, especially voices. my other ear, when I hear people talking, it feels like I can't understand what they're saying. weird as fk
deafdoorknob
1000+ Head-Fier
sorry, completely missed your earlier reply
ごめんなさい
No problem-desu senpai
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