Rockwell

@Merrick it's a mature take on their house sound...but imho it's there house sound nonetheless. Warm leaning with slightly recessed mids and effortless & smooth treble.

To my ears it's like a greatest hits package of some of my favorite CFA IEMs-- it's got a bit of the bombastic swagger of the Dorado, the spaciousness and grandeur of the Solaris and the technical yet fun sound of the Andromeda...topped off with some single driver planar goodness. I consider it a step up from the LCDi4 and the Timeless but YMMV there.

For real. I couldn't believe how much I instantly loved it.

Haha I KNEW CFA would make an ortho iem now. I've thought they could sound awesome for a decade, suddenly people try it and hey, it does sound awesome. Orthos are the future of everything except maybe small speakers...

Yeah it's hard to go back after a good planar experience. I hope the CFA IEM doesn't suck I've heard good and bad reports. We will see. I'm listening to the LCDi4 right now... it was complete shit without EQ but after I applied some EQ settings I got from a friend who has it I must say it's actually pretty amazing.

Same here. Esp. to @Azimuth and @Merrick for the advice on the MJ1.

The price is too high for me unfortunately.

That's too bad...hopefully a set will come across the used market at some point at a price within your grasp (just to be clear I'm talking about the $600 Isabellae and not the nightmarishly expensive $6K Trailli made by the same company). I'll look into arranging an SBAF loaner tour with my own set once I've burnt it in.

Yes, the $600 price is out of my range for one IEM. I currently don’t have any individual full size headphones that cost $600!

How’d it get up to Canada already?

@rythmdevils I had an opportunity for a great deal on a used one off a friend so I jumped on it. I'm still game to participate in the tour as the Canadian end had the Dorado bundled with the Solaris LE if I remember correctly. I know these won't appeal to everyone but they're really hitting the sport for me. I posted some impressions in the thread.

Impressions in the "IEM General Discussion Thread".

What do you think of the highs? I found the timbre of those electrostats a bit different (in a hard-to-define way), but my HF hearing stops at 12-13k so I'm not one to judge the top octave.

@Biodegraded I haven't really fully registered an opinion on the highs yet...which I guess is a good sign as nothing yet has irked me or triggered my OCD. It's early days though and presently I'm too caught up in the intimacy of the mid-range to focus on anything else. I've never haerd instruments and voices presented quite like that before.

https://forum.headphones.com/t/something-of-a-4-way-shootout-my-impressions-of-the-vision-ears-ve8-campfire-audio-solaris-se-64-audio-u12t-and-empire-ears-legend-x/5794?u=jrockwell

I’ve been trying to get my hands on a Solaris and no luck so far. IMO, Leg X is not a worthy competitor in that circle.

@EagleWings I hear you...but I gotta give credit where credit is due. As an all-rounder the LX certainly doesn't belong with the other 3, and if I had to pick only one it would be the last, however for a certain subset of my music (some modern pop, hip hop and some live funk and jazz) the Legend X is so much better than everything else that I can't deny it a seat at the table.

It's definitely a guilty pleasure IEM...but when I'm feeling guilty and seeking pleasure, the LX is unbeatable.

I shared it in the Flinkenick thread

To be honest @insidious meme I only use HF for Buying/Selling. The Noise from when I signed up in 2009 was just overwhelming for me.

Thanks @Rockwell | @YMO not a big deal since I don't post much there as i'm under mod watch there. lol.

Still using the N6 A01 with it?

Yes I am...great pairing!

100%

Chinese DAPs: Software Bugs

Cayin's a pretty well established brand and I would hope that any bugs will be worked out with firmware updates...but what I've read so far has been positive enough for me to take the plunge so time will tell. I will be sure to post my impressions here when I get it.

I had a Cayin i-DAP6 before and it was bugs galore. Personally I never had the best of luck of Chi-Fi DAPs.

I love having a dedicated music player-- I imagine a good DAP will be a big improvement over an un-amped iPhone. The balanced out on Sony players is especially good.

Also, I'n not sure what IEMs/headphones you're using but I asked KB directly what a good mid-fi option would be to get the most out of Solaris and he listed the ZX300 through a balanced out as one of the best options.

I have the Solaris as well :) Nice, that's good to know. Thanks!