[Kerouac]

I feel sorry for artists like Rick Astley or Nicolas Cage who become "memes" larger than themselves that they struggle to get out of. It's always beautiful to see them outgrow that shadow and prove that they have (and have always had) the raw talent to shine on their own terms. The cream always rises to the top.

Hi Daniel, I'm glad that you're still around and active on HF, after you quit reviewing!
And I think you're totally right about the above...

Cheers buddy!

 

[LikeHolborn]

Between all sounds you guys tried, what's the most like a singer front, instruments being a background (possibly distant) while not being thin, or wide in the soundstage for musical enjoyment/engaging or a more lively kind of sound? That would be for me

 

[Wyville]

It has been a while, but I finally found some R&R back with my beloved Phantom and thought I would post the picture here in the thread where it all started.

 

[subguy812]

It has been a while, but I finally found some R&R back with my beloved Phantom and thought I would post the picture here in the thread where it all started.

Ah yes...the Phantom

 

[Wyville]

Ah yes...the Phantom

Although I enjoy much brighter IEMs such as the A8000 and VE7 these days, I still love the Phantom. This pairing with Plato and the LPGT works really well and has something warm and inviting. Perfect for immersing myself in music all day long.

 

[subguy812]

Although I enjoy much brighter IEMs such as the A8000 and VE7 these days, I still love the Phantom. This pairing with Plato and the LPGT works really well and has something warm and inviting. Perfect for immersing myself in music all day long.

Amazing how our taste in a sound signature can change through the years. We are a fickle group in this hobby as well! With those three you could have your bases covered pretty well, I would say. Love those VE mids. The FIBAE 7 U reminds me of an IEM you would really enjoy.

 

[Wyville]

Amazing how our taste in a sound signature can change through the years. We are a fickle group in this hobby as well! With those three you could have your bases covered pretty well, I would say. Love those VE mids. The FIBAE 7 U reminds me of an IEM you would really enjoy.

Yes, it is quite funny to see how preferences change over time. Lately, I have been especially enjoying clarity such as with the VE7 and of course I always love the VE5 (which I don't have around anymore). Although I guess that getting older might also have something to do with it.

I actually have the FIBAE 7U in the back of my mind as an option for CIEMs. I would love to get customs again and @Animagus praised the FIBAE 7U. I always take his opinion very seriously. For audio that is, anything else and I completely disregard his existence. (Just kidding buddy!) I can't afford customs any time soon (because of Barnie, as always), but when I can Vision Ears and CustomArt top my wish list.

 

[Animagus]

For audio that is, anything else and I completely disregard his existence. (Just kidding buddy!)

Ouch that hurt. ❤

For a CIEM, I think you'll like the FIBAE 5 even more or maybe even the new H3 Pro which I've been enjoying quite a lot lately as a detailed oriented musical IEM. I've always loved clean, spacious signatures that make instruments sound a little further apart and the clean soundscape it presents is just right up my alley. Wait, I'll PM you.

 

[Animagus]

Oh forgot to add on...

F7U is a great UIEM but it gets warmer and fuller sounding as a CIEM and kinda misses the X-factor it has as a UIEM, which is a cleaner, open and spacious sounding sound presentation (imo). It mainly has to do with the 7-13kHz dip in the CIEM. I'd personally recommend F7U more as a UIEM.



But on the other hand, H3 Pro will make for a great CIEM and it's half the price but the same quality of IEMs F7U and F5 are. It's mostly positioned at a lower price point because DDs and planars aren't that expensive. I've been meaning to write a first impressions post about it but keeping very busy with work. I'll do one soon!

 

[subguy812]

I wanted to quickly show you the latest Earsonics offering, this is the Elements line and the model you see is named Ocean. It just hit their site and I have had this offering since Prototype. It is 3 drivers, two BA and one DD for bass. Price is 399 euros, slightly over 400 USD. It most certainly strikes above its price point. I wasn't given any info and was so surprised when they told me the driver count and the pricing. A review is forthcoming.

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/earsonics-elements.26610/

 

[EagleWings]

So nice to hear from the old gang. Hope all you guys are doing great.

 

[LikeHolborn]

Brief impressions EM10


(pic from EarSonics, but design is always black and gold symbols)

So I received the EM10 on Friday. Out of the box, the EM10 sounded very transparent, with nice body in the midrange, but rather cold. So I put the EM10 on to burn for two days, and the higher frequencies settled in revealing the EM10’s intended sound, which is very balanced, and especially beautiful.

The EM10 has a beautiful tone, with an emphasis on excitement and musicality. Yet, it’s very smooth, with some natural elements in its signature. Keywords here are ‘melodic’, or ‘euphonic’. It’s a joyous sound that enhances the upper mids, but doesn’t sound bright by any means. The key to its tuning lies in a lift in its upper mids/and lower treble, but essentially, followed by a dip in the mid treble region. As a result, the treble itself is very smooth. It’s a tuning that is close to the A18 (M20) in tone. In addition the EM10 has nice body in its vocals, resulting from a 1-3 KHz bump. Finally, it’s finished off with a punchy well-defined bass, with a linear relation between sub- and mid-bass. It’s a typical type of bass that we like to see – fun and engaging.

The EM10 has an exciting tuning that makes me want to spend more time with it than I currently have, due to the shootout. It’s signature is extremely pleasing, almost the very definition of musical (at least mine), and its transparency is well above average. If this all sounds too good to be true, it’s because the EM10 comes with a downside of its own – its stage leans towards intimate. It’s roughly the same as the S-EM9 in overall dimensions, but the EM10 follows a similar issue as the Samba and Flamenco. Both the S-EM9 and Samba have a smallish to average stage, but excel in separation because of their optimized relationship between the note thickness and stage dimensions. However, when you add more body to the sound with a similar-sized stage (as with the EM10 and Flamenco), the stage automatically feels smaller, and the separation is not as effortless.

However, this is me being critical as usual. Make no mistake, the EM10 is a truly fantastic-sounding ciem, and without a doubt, EarSonics’ best so far. It’s a melodious yet smooth tuning, that simply just sounds very good. I can see this becoming a personal favorite on short term.

This is what I would say it roughly looks like in a graph :

"The key to its tuning lies in a lift in its upper mids/and lower treble, but essentially, followed by a dip in the mid treble region."

Y'all wouldn't know some lower priced alternatives that put the instruments a background to vocals like that? I'd like to research as many options before buying, all price brackets welcome of course still has to be full sounding in a way etc ..nothing technical rather engaging!

 

[LikeHolborn]

I wanted to quickly show you the latest Earsonics offering, this is the Elements line and the model you see is named Ocean. It just hit their site and I have had this offering since Prototype. It is 3 drivers, two BA and one DD for bass. Price is 399 euros, slightly over 400 USD. It most certainly strikes above its price point. I wasn't given any info and was so surprised when they told me the driver count and the pricing. A review is forthcoming.

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/earsonics-elements.26610/

What.. I just had a recommendation question about an earsonic fr, in the em9 s or whatever it's called review's it mentions that a couple of es models have v signatures with a soundstage like people into here, but the no soundstage models are more cohesive and engaging. Musical not technical. Oh man if this is like that am Soo buying it lol

 

[LikeHolborn]

I will ask Nic this question after the next weekend when he attends CanJam London, but for you - which one do you prefer, A18 or Fourte, assuming you have A18 and probably heard Fourte at MS?

I was gna get the dh3 based on your review of it too. Would you call it one of the most engaging iem's you heard? Is it still relevant that way?

 

[subguy812]

Very nice cable for the price....