[Rockwell75]

Figured this will get lost with the SG CanJam excitement. I had my friends bring over some listening gear, since I've been camped out in the hospital, and jotted down novice casual listening impressions of Rn6 and Xe6 in the FiR thread:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/fir-audio-thread-discussion-and-impressions.910581/post-17476268

Thanks for sharing! I hope you're well.

You will be missed!
I do intend to do SoCal as well, so will see you there

Thanks man yeah it's too bad. There is always SoCal

Hello! @Rockwell75 , @ranfan ,
@Ojisan , or someone familiar with Japan music..



Aragaki Yui - Hanamizuki



Ken Hirai - Omoiga Kasanarusonomaeni

Why do these two songs sound similar to me? Are they based on same original song or something? Thanks a bunch!!

I don't know much of anything about Japanese music sorry.

Nice time with @SBranson & @Rockwell75

Great photos...your "plate of IEMs" picture turned out much better than mine.

At a wedding in Maryland one of my nephews.
Catching up with some people I have not seen in a very long time.









Happy days, these two have been together for ten years, started their journey together as sophomores in high school.

Stunning photos of what looks like a very beautiful day.

I've been listening to the Penon Impact from the tour and WOW!! This the first chance I've had to listen to something in this price range. The stuff I have on hand to compare it with is the UM Mext, Hifiman Edition XS, He6seV2. I'm listening on a Topping L70/E70V stack.

I've tried with a Final Audio Tips and Azla Xelastic tips, I didn't hear much difference between them and settled on the FA tips due to being more comfy. I'm not using any EQ.

The vocals are the star the show, these are very vocal centric, prominent but not shouty. The treble is clean, clear, crisp, detailed. Soundstage seems wide comparable to the Mext. The bass is surprisingly good, I'm definitely a basshead, and while these aren't basshead level quantity, its textured and has good slam. I guess I was expecting it to be a lot less.

I've been listening to tracks that I'm very familiar with on all my gear and everything sounds amazing. There was a few rap songs that didn't sound great but very few. This definitely plays everything I've thrown at it extremely well. As soon as the pipes came on in Amazing Grace it hit me in the feels. These are the best I've heard so far, now I know what TOTL sounds like!

Smashing pumpkins - today
dire straits - money for nothing
G-easy - provide
Ramin Djawadi - light of the seven
Kaleida - think
Dynoro - in my mind
Postmodern jukebox/Allison Young - where is my mind
Migos - straightenin
Hans Zimmer - Interstellar - no time for caution
Helene Fischer - Never Enough
Helene Fischer - amazing grace

Impact is awesome glad you're enjoying it

Some impressions from today:


Campfire Audio Trifecta:

HATERS gunna hate. This IEM is fantastic. Yes it can’t do everything and might not have the speed and nimbleness to do electronic music and fast paced transients. This is three dynamic drivers, doing amazing things.

1. It’s “worth” the price
2. It’s not for everyone
3. I can’t afford it but I can certainly appreciate it


Empire Ears Bravado MKII:

1. I still love this fun V shaped IEM.
2. Love the electrostatic highs and the weapon lows
3. Beautiful build
4. Kinda missing a bit in the middle of the highs and lows.
5. Still a great IEM
6. Let me know if you have one to sell



Fat Freq

Oh wow. These are good and deserve the hype. 100%

Maestro SE:

Wow. This is really good. Definitely need to listen more. It has a good punch to the bass. It’s really hitting nicely for me. Expansive soundstage with a speaker like quality.

Maestro Mini: I need to listen more but I thought it was a $1,000 IEM so that is a good sign.

Effect Audio X Elysian Acoustic Labs: GAEA Hybrid In-Ear Monitor IEMs​

I like them.

I didn’t have enough time with them.

The build is supremely excellent and just impeccable quality. Wow. The cable is really nice. These IEMs were gorgeous to look at.

I liked the sound. I didn’t find them sibilant. Definitely not my first pick but I could see it being an excellent specialist with some music.

Great meet up with @DanielListening and @Rockwell75 at a better venue than usual, thanks Daniel. And thanks Jeff for bringing so much good stuff to try.

Overall impressions were that though I thought I was “fine” with the Bravado 2 and Lotoo Paw6000, I discovered some things lacking in that set up.

As said by Daniel above:



Wonderful analogue sound with great timbre. A bit more in the mid bass/lower mids than I usually prefer and something I know is perfect for @Rockwell75 based on our previous meetings. Very enjoyable sound with a very large stage with great depth. Sounded great with the M6U (thanks Jeff for the demo) but even better with the LP6, particularly SE.




The LP6 is a marvel. It’s just made everything sound better. Definitely worth the price of admission if you can afford it.

I had been reluctant to really mention the FatFreq Maestro after my tour time with it as I didn’t not get much listening done this week and it didn’t really grab me until last night. I put on a new track:

I just got it last night and tried the Maestro knowing I was passing it along to Daniel today and Wow… the vocals were mesmerizing. I was transported to an old emotion, the song eliciting feelings from decades ago. So much more gripping than the mids of the Bravado 2..

Almost everything else was less than 2 minutes listening so very brief initial impressions as really we spent more time talking.

Great to see you guys again.

Great impressions you both thanks for sharing. It was really nice to connect again after the better part of a year.

Highlight for me today was the Fir VxV.




An unnassuming little unit. Not too flashy, doesn't hit you over the head with anything...but a very enjoyable listen with decent bass that doesn't do anything really wrong. A great little EDC sort of IEM.

 

[theveterans]

Nice time with @SBranson & @Rockwell75

That shirt aged like fine wine and so does the Eletech Socrates with the beautiful patina layer

 

[552609]

It fit me perfectly fine, and I haven’t heard anyone complain about the fit either, but that’ll be wildly subjective, of course. I think it’s similar to Odyssey, if that helps.

They actually packed all the internals really tightly with barely any sound tubes. I tried to draw the internals by memory, ‘cus it looked really symmetrical and satisfying.



The only IEM that gave me a ton of fit issues there was the Noble Ronin. That thing was insanely chunky. I couldn’t get a definitive fit in the end.

Ah, you said "massive, massive." I thought you meant they were really large.

 

[552609]

Thanks for sharing! I hope you're well.



Thanks man yeah it's too bad. There is always SoCal



I don't know much of anything about Japanese music sorry.



Great photos...your "plate of IEMs" picture turned out much better than mine.



Stunning photos of what looks like was a beautiful day.



Impact is awesome glad you're enjoying it





Great impressions you both thanks for sharing. It was really nice to connect again after the better part of a year.



Highlight for me today was the Fir VxV.




An unnassuming little unit. Not too flashy, doesn't hit you over the head with anything...but a very enjoyable listen with decent bass that doesn't do anything really wrong. A great little EDC sort of IEM.

One of these days I'll get a hold of an Impact... I wish they had a US dealer.

 

[Deezel177]

Ah, you said "massive, massive." I thought you meant they were really large.

Ohh, my bad, my bad. I was talking about the driver config being massive (in quantity and variety of types). The IEMs themselves are large, but I found them comfortably-shaped, and so did everyone I spoke to. Of course, that won’t be unanimous.

 

[LoryWiv]

The only IEM that gave me a ton of fit issues there was the Noble Ronin. That thing was insanely chunky. I couldn’t get a definitive fit in the end.

Noooo, noooo...it goes in your ears!!! (I hope @Deezel177 has a sense of humor, I couldn't resist)

 

[552609]

Noooo, noooo...it goes in your ears!!! (I hope @Deezel177 has a sense of humor, I couldn't resist)

Ha, good one. I think the Ronin is large, but I don't have any real issues with fit - I find a lot of IEMs just kind of stick out a fit - other than the Final A5000, that thing fits right in the ear like a glove.

 

[552609]

Answered my own question.

 

[Leonarfd]

Answered my own question. Asked about why there is no AüR Audio Aure on the website.

Hi. They had to discontinue it due to DD driver doesn't have the same quality as when they started to make it. They have the upcoming AüR Audio Aurora coming in May or June. I have a feel the new release will perhaps go past Aure already being a highly praised set.

Website is up without any products until mid April, they need to finish the last orders and finish development of Aurora.
They are also coming out with 1 or 2 more releases this year, one being aimed at higher tier than Neon Pro and Alita.
I have some inside info since I have been in contact with both the maker Abel and Nicholas, I have high hopes for them after had the Neon Pro now for a month.

https://www.auraudio.store/

 

[552609]

Hi. They had to discontinue it due to DD driver doesn't have the same quality as when they started to make it. They have the upcoming AüR Audio Aurora coming in May or June. I have a feel the new release will perhaps go past Aure already being a highly praised set.

Website is up without any products until mid April, they need to finish the last orders and finish development of Aurora.
They are also coming out with 1 or 2 more releases this year, one being aimed at higher tier than Neon Pro and Alita.
I have some inside info since I have been in contact with both the maker Abel and Nicholas, I have high hopes for them after had the Neon Pro now for a month.

https://www.auraudio.store/

Thanks for the info!

 

[ejong7]

The only IEM that gave me a ton of fit issues there was the Noble Ronin. That thing was insanely chunky. I couldn’t get a definitive fit in the end.

It’s funny because Ronin fit me perfectly fine but the Raven was a bit big for me. Different ear shapes beautifully in play here.

 

[ejong7]

In other news, would highly recommend everyone to go try the new U4S - this is going to cannibalise the U12t market for sure. Had very similar mids and highs, with more sub bass and perhaps a bit narrower stage for a fraction of the price. If you want to tune the bass down like I did to be closer to U12t you can do it with the modules easily. Unfortunately you can’t call it kilobuck because it comes in $99 more than that.

 

[552609]

In other news, would highly recommend everyone to go try the new U4S - this is going to cannibalise the U12t market for sure. Had very similar mids and highs, with more sub bass and perhaps a bit narrower stage for a fraction of the price. If you want to tune the bass down like I did to be closer to U12t you can do it with the modules easily. Unfortunately you can’t call it kilobuck because it comes in $99 more than that.

Fibae 5 price

 

[Deezel177]

In other news, would highly recommend everyone to go try the new U4S - this is going to cannibalise the U12t market for sure. Had very similar mids and highs, with more sub bass and perhaps a bit narrower stage for a fraction of the price. If you want to tune the bass down like I did to be closer to U12t you can do it with the modules easily. Unfortunately you can’t call it kilobuck because it comes in $99 more than that.

I would’ve called the U4s a U12t with a DD, had it been better technically, and had the bass been leveled a bit more conservatively. I think it falls short technically of the U12t by quite a bit; dynamics, refinement, resolution, air, imaging, etc. It performed about as well as I’d expect a kilobuck IEM to, personally. And, I think they tried to show off the DD a bit too much. I didn’t try it with other modules, though, so that issue might be fixable. Overall, I think it’s good for its price, but a used U12t still has better value to me, unless you’re really, really, really particular about having a DD bass; like, if your life motto was “no DD, no dice,” or something.

 

[552609]

I would’ve called the U4s a U12t with a DD, had it been better technically, and had the bass been leveled a bit more conservatively. I think it falls short technically of the U12t by quite a bit; dynamics, refinement, resolution, air, imaging, etc. It performed about as well as I’d expect a kilobuck IEM to, personally. And, I think they tried to show off the DD a bit too much. I didn’t try it with other modules, though, so that issue might be fixable. Overall, I think it’s good for its price, but a used U12t still has better value to me, unless you’re really, really, really particular about having a DD bass; like, if your life motto was “no DD, no dice,” or something.

DD or bust. DD or death. Dynamics R Us.