Okay, so quite a few updates!
Ranking List
First, I’ve put together a ranking list of most of the IEMs I’ve heard. There's not a lot so far, but I'm looking forward to adding to it!
You can find the link in the thread's first post or here. Why do I think having a ranking list and scoring is important? Because it establishes transparency. For all the downsides of a ranking list (the subsequent drama if everything is not 10/10, S-tier, etc.), I believe there needs to be a standard which is adhered to. It forces me to critically assess what I’m hearing, and to articulate the
why in my reviews. Even more importantly, it’s a tool to be used by you to calibrate and see where your preferences align with my own.
As some might guess, the current scoring methodology is heavily inspired by another individual’s. I spent a good deal of time deliberating on whether I wanted to keep the current system or to make it more nuanced, balanced, and less “shocking”. Hell, I revised the list no less than five times. And eventually, I had to ask myself: Why bother? I’ve decided to keep the current scoring as a recognition of my own limitations. I currently have neither the experience, nor the skill, to judge to the level of nuance I’d like. A ranking list like this is
subjective. I make no claim that it is statistically balanced or anything similar; there's going to be margin for ambiguity one way or another.
And to this effect, this is ultimately a reflection of n=1’s preferences. It does not reflect anybody else’s opinion, and I think that too often it’s confused as a personal attack when these things misalign. That’s really not a good mindset, especially because everyone hears things differently. If you disagree, first ask why? And if you’re not satisfied with the explanation, or you hear something completely different,
then you can agree to disagree. I personally don't agree with plenty of other people's rankings, and I'm happy to just move on - or even adjust my own thoughts - when opinions clash.
Reviews
So far, I have distanced myself from most of the mainstream reviewing sites. But going forward, I will be working with Headphones.com to do IEM reviews. This is for a couple reasons. First, I don't have access to a lot of the gear I'd like to demo (broke college student here, remember). It's even more difficult given my fairly critical reviews. This is a mutually beneficial way for me to get access to the latest stuff and for Headphones.com to dip their toes further into the IEM space.
I know that a lot of the appeal behind my reviews was that, well, I wasn’t sponsored which obviously presents a conflict of interest. So the other reason I have chosen to work with them, specifically, is because they are quite honest about the way they run things. We agreed that my reviews will
not be changing significantly, that is to say, taking a turn for highlighting only the positives. In fact, that was one of the key points we discussed. It is their belief - and my own - that honesty is the best policy in the long-run. I'll definitely still be posting impressions here and there, but most of my full-reviews will probably end up there going forward.
Latest Review
I just wrapped up my DUNU Line-up review consisting of the Luna, DK-2001, and 3001-Pro. You can find it
here or on Audio Discourse
here if my site is having trouble loading.
On-Deck
I should have the Campfire Andromeda and Solaris 2020 coming in next week. Pretty excited for those, as I have yet to hear a single Campfire IEM. After that, I believe I'm the first reviewer on the list for the new Empire Ears stuff once they get measured!