IEM general discussion thread

Discussion in 'IEMs and Portable Gear' started by Griffon, Nov 1, 2015.

  1. Gleb Lev

    Gleb Lev New

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    Didn't know they have one for the earphones.
     
  2. Mimouille

    Mimouille Facebook Friend

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    Contradictory audiophile marketing? That's like a pleonasm.
     
  3. HAL9000

    HAL9000 Almost "Made"

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    [​IMG]

    look kinda moosey to me
     
  4. HAL9000

    HAL9000 Almost "Made"

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    Just got a pair of IMR Acoustics R1s and am really liking them. Hybrid consisting of beryllium DD beautifully crossed over to a ceramic tweeter. 5 tuning filters, taking you from laid back to basshead. Vents on the back that can be opened and closed.
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2018
  5. Mimouille

    Mimouille Facebook Friend

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    I am intrigued by these. I am not a fan of tunable stuff, and the look is weird, but I have a feeling they sound nice, whatever that means :D

    On the same topic (iems), just got these in, they sound really nice so far, more balanced than their predecessor from memory.

    [​IMG]
     
  6. kirayamato

    kirayamato Friend

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    hi guys anyone know how these are UE PRO 18+ Custom in-Ear with bluetooth

    wanted to know how their bluetooth technology is
     
  7. Mimouille

    Mimouille Facebook Friend

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    I sometimes really feel BAs cannot match the texture of dynamics.

    [​IMG]
     
  8. Mimouille

    Mimouille Facebook Friend

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    Just tried SE on LPG, and 4.4 on WM1Z. On LPG high gain was better, so I went directly to 4.4 on the WM as it is more powerful.
     
  9. james444

    james444 Mad IEM modding wizard level 99

    Pyrate Flathead IEMW
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    Sometimes? [​IMG]
     
  10. k.e.

    k.e. Winning combo: narcissistic and stupid

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    Surely you meant the other way around, right? I mean in general BA receivers provide far more texture detail than dynamic drivers.
     
  11. Grahad2

    Grahad2 Red eyes from too much anime

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    It's the viscerality and physicality that gives DD's a certain texture that no BA has ever given me. It's a different meaning behind texture vs what you're thinking of.
     
  12. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    The closest I can think of describing it in my experience is that it's similar to the difference between speaker driver cone materials and transducer type, i.e., paper versus polyprop versus metal, cone/dome versus ribbon versus AMT, etc.
     
  13. Mimouille

    Mimouille Facebook Friend

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    What he said
     
  14. matique

    matique New

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    There are some BA iems that can actual match DD for physicalism and slam. For me that'd be the 64 Audio U12. Man those things have really really solid bass. I sold mine a few weeks ago so can't really go into detail. But I fondly remember the awesome bass it produced.

    Now that I've settled with the Andros, I am tempted to get the Vega just so that I could have another fun bassy iem.
     
  15. Mimouille

    Mimouille Facebook Friend

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    It is not a matter of bass for me, even though it is true dynamic bass usually moves more air, and is thus more visceral. It is overall texture of the sound, this viscerality, as ifBAs are reproducing a beautiful detailed painting, and dynamics are taking a raw movie.
     
  16. drgumbybrain

    drgumbybrain Science Nut

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    @Mimouille , can you give a brief comparison between ie800s and your shure kse1500?
     
  17. Mimouille

    Mimouille Facebook Friend

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    I will have to listen side by side, they have really different tonalities.
     
  18. Kunlun

    Kunlun cat-alyzes cat-aclysmic cat-erwauling - Friend

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    Listened to the Noble Bells, the $199 dynamic driver step up from their $99 Velvet. These are both micro dynamic drivers in a tiny shell designed to be everyday sort of iems. Better build than hifiman iems ("lasts just long enough to be hyped on HF, then breaks"), seems like.

    The velvet are low-fi, bassy and not terribly well controlled, perfect for your friend who wants something a little better than skullcandies who thinks your two-BA iems sound like sharp, bright, bassless ass, but who loves you anyway.

    The Bell has a metallic shell, and different tuning, adding a little more treble and some dampening to the bass. It sounds better to me, haven't listened long enough to find hidden ass, but nothing terrible on initial listen with some classical to suss out violins, timpani and voices.
     
  19. money4me247

    money4me247 Friend

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    Maybe a bit harsher thoughts, but I feel like the Velvet negatively impacts Noble's credibility, tuning abilities, and overall image as an audiophile brand. Velvet's tuning is just very significantly bass heavy and dark. pretty significant coloration and bleed into the midrange. pretty easily noticeable loss of micro detail and texture with its sound signature giving notes a bit of blur, not the cleanest attack and decay on notes. very intimate presentation and pretty cramped and closed-off sound stage. tbh I think the price point on them not competitive at all for that type of sound signature and overall technical performance. kinda disappointing for me if that is the best they could do for $120 iem. I think that they were intentionally aiming for this really bass-heavy "more general public bose/beats consumer market orientated" sound tuning, but after running some side-by-side comparisons of the Velvets with a few 'non-audiophile, consumer-brand' headphones, I was not really impressed by the Velvet's technical performance.

    While I understand that it is common practice for companies to upcharge for different tunings, my personal experience with the Velvet and my subjective view on their poor performance : price ratio does not really make me excited for the rest of Noble's EDC line-up at all. Seems to me like they are coasting more on their brand name and throwing out offerings just to try to grab a piece of the market segment rather than really innovating or improving upon what is already currently widely available. Any audio company and their grandmother can make a decent bass-boosted IEM, especially if charging as much as Noble is for the Velvet. The real test would have been making a well-balanced entry-level IEM at the $99 price point, which something that many other audiophile brands have already achieved.

    I didn't originally mean to post a negative-sounding post, but I do feel a bit frustrated with the current state of the headphone industry, where there is actually growing and strengthening relationships between manufacturers and enthusiasts/reviewers, but instead of seeing more innovation and growth with improving products, there are all these ho-hum products being released and flooding the market even from very reputable and innovative brands, but the audiophile community just shrugs their collective shoulders and accept these efforts rather than speaking out and pushing for better products. I feel like the best thing for this hobby is more critical posts to push for improved sound quality.

    As always, these are subjective opinions and YMMV. No disrespect or offense meant.
     
  20. drgumbybrain

    drgumbybrain Science Nut

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    Take you time friend!:bird:
     

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