shotgunshane’s IEM (custom and universal) recommendations, favorites and classics

Discussion in 'IEMs and Portable Gear' started by shotgunshane, Jun 7, 2016.

  1. randytsuch

    randytsuch Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2017
    Likes Received:
    259
    Trophy Points:
    65
    Location:
    Los Angeles, Ca
    I would vote for a separate TWS thread too, I was reading the long thread at big place but high signal to noise ratio, did learn about what's available, mostly chifi stuff.

    I'm actually using a TRN bt20 right now with some RevoNext QT5 iem's. Just got the bt20's yesterday. Not as convenient as a real TWS, but you obviously get more options this way.

    Randy
     
  2. jafnvaegi

    jafnvaegi Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2015
    Likes Received:
    99
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    NOVA
    Meze's Rai Solo has been listed on their site and in some other places: https://mezeaudio.com/products/rai-solo

    Specs:
    • Driver: 9.2mm UPM dynamic driver
    • Diaphragm thickness: 9µm
    • Impedance: 16Ohm
    • SPL: 105 ±3dB at 1mW / 1kHz
    • Frequency response: 18Hz - 22kHz
    • Distortion: < 1% at 1mW / 1kHz
    • Stock cables: MMCX connector ending in 3.5mm
    • Warranty: 2 years
    Thoughts? Appears to be essentially the same shape as the Penta, which seems to have good ergonomics and tuned with slight V-shape for what they consider a 'fun-Neutral' signature. What I find most interesting though is the driver's 'Unified Pistonic Motion' technology, which seems to be Meze exclusive...maybe something designed in house? I don't recall ever seeing anything like this so I wonder if it's been done before. Assuming it works well and sounds good (which Meze has had a fairly positive track record with) the price seems fair. The Penta has a traditional dynamic driver incorporated (but there's a lot of evidence that's more or less a re-shelled A91) so this certainly has me more interested as a fan of single DD.

    Edit: I think it's up for pre-order but the page has all the details.
     
  3. Augmentin

    Augmentin MOT - DUNU IEM Company

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jul 2, 2016
    Likes Received:
    189
    Trophy Points:
    33
    Location:
    Between TPE and LA
    Highly doubtful it's an in-house development. From all indicators, the company doesn't have the driver production and research capability to do something like this. Looks like fancy marketing to me JM2C. But provided that it sounds good, a comfortable shell goes a long way.
     
  4. mscott58

    mscott58 Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2015
    Likes Received:
    2,028
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Philly - Yo
    Pistonic motion? We don't need no stinkin' pistonic motion... ;)

    (no dynamic drivers were hurt in the making of this joke)
     
  5. Augmentin

    Augmentin MOT - DUNU IEM Company

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jul 2, 2016
    Likes Received:
    189
    Trophy Points:
    33
    Location:
    Between TPE and LA
    Pistonic motion is ideal for speakers; it merely means that the diaphragm/some moves in and out uniformly rather than having twisting and other inhomogeneous motions that contribute to distortion.

    Contrary to what they state, this design does not guarantee pistonic motion. The material of the diaphragm determines uniform motion more, because most voice coils are simply not that heavy and magnets are powerful enough to drive them well. But it does decrease the inertial moment of the diaphragm and inhomogeneities generated by the gluing process.

    Not exactly sure how this new membrane is coupled to the voice coil, but it sure seems like an indirect coupling and reacts only to the changing magnetic field — in similar (if not identical) fashion to the Drop x MEE Planamic IEM. Such a system will likely benefit from a powerful magnet so that the driver displacement is more easily controlled.
     
  6. shotgunshane

    shotgunshane Floridian Falcon

    Staff Member Pyrate Flathead IEMW
    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    6,304
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Clear, clear water
    Is the Rai Solo a sealed dynamic? I didn’t see any vents on the website pics.

    Not a fan of the brushed steel. Reminds me too much of RHA iems of the past. The shape is really nice looking; would have liked to see a sexier finish.

    Hopefully it is tuned well. In audiophile land I think we get too caught up in special materials and other technical specifications. None of that matters if tuning is subpar.
     
  7. Ash1412

    Ash1412 Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    667
    Trophy Points:
    93
    I don't get the point of technologies trying to reduce distortion in mostly sealed IEMs. Whens the last time anyone's found an IEM where the distortion got above 1-2% anywhere? This is the kind of stuff that takes time away from the real problem of controlling peaks and resonances.
     
  8. oldschool

    oldschool Acquaintance

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2016
    Likes Received:
    38
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Bulgaria
    Romanian earphones company, wow :bow:

    After finding out RAAL are actually Serbian I guess nothing should surprise anymore.. way to go Southeast Europe! Now if only my country would make any audio product of notice..
     
  9. mscott58

    mscott58 Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2015
    Likes Received:
    2,028
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Philly - Yo
    But there are already headphones from Sofia! ;)

    [​IMG]
     
  10. oldschool

    oldschool Acquaintance

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2016
    Likes Received:
    38
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Bulgaria
    LOL

    Btw looking at that Solo membrane could help recalling that scene from South Park movie:

    [​IMG]
     
  11. james444

    james444 Mad IEM modding wizard level 99

    Pyrate Flathead IEMW
    Joined:
    Jun 3, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,100
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Vienna, Austria
    Tbh, I don't get the point of piezo tweeters. I've heard three different DD + piezo hybrids and to my ears the tweeters just added some very high and thin treble sizzle that didn't sound all that natural in my book. Could be that my ears are already too old though, to properly appreciate the beneficial effect of piezo tweeters.

    If isolation is not a must, then here's something worth trying for you. I call it "IEMbuds" and have come to love it. :)

    [​IMG]

    You'll need the TRN BT20 or BT20S, a preferably bassy pair of IEMs and some earbud foam covers.

    You basically mount those earbud foam covers on top of your tips and wear the IEMs like earbuds with earhooks. The goal is not to insert them into the ear canal, but to wear them just pressed against your ear canal entrance instead. The trick may not work for all ear shapes, but thanks to the TRN's firm clamping, it does work beautifully and consistently for me.

    Needless to say, you'll lose some bass (that's why it works best with bassy IEMs), but you'll gain huge soundstage and openness. There's virtually no footfall noise and of course it's also super comfy, compared to fully inserted IEMs.

    It took me some experimenting to get the fit right. But now that I got the hang of it, this thing has almost become my favorite listening device!
     
  12. CEE TEE

    CEE TEE MOT: NITSCH

    Pyrate IEMW
    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,724
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    California Bay Area
    Home Page:
    Regarding the electrostatic tweeters, I haven't heard many but FitEar's implementation is very good: the FitEar EST

    Well-integrated and not what I expected. Tastefully done and not some separate high frequencies riding on top of or through the rest of the sound.

    Bassy pair of IEMs possibly suited to your IEMBud creation: JVC HP-FX700 (big bass if not modded, might be a little dry-sounding though)
     
  13. james444

    james444 Mad IEM modding wizard level 99

    Pyrate Flathead IEMW
    Joined:
    Jun 3, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,100
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Vienna, Austria
    Agreed, all wooden JVC models like the FX850, FX1100, FW01 are pretty well suited for that.

    The FX700 don't have detachable cables though, so you can't use them with the TRN earhooks. IME, the latter's clamping force is crucial for keeping the IEMBuds firmly in place and achieving consistency of sound. If you just use earbud foam covers and no earhooks, the result may sound similarly inconsistent as regular earbuds (lots of variation in bass, depending on placement).
     
  14. rendyG

    rendyG Acquaintance

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Nov 9, 2017
    Likes Received:
    30
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Czech Republic
    Audiosense T800 + E1DA 9038S g2
    [​IMG]
    (diy cable)

    The biggest hit of the year I´d say. I don´t think you can do better for the price and I´ve heard a lot this year...
    $300 for 8x Knowles tuned to Harman target? and $80 for this powerful little usb-DAC which s*its on my DX120?
    Well, thats what I call bang for your buck. Chifi is getting so much better and cheaper its insane :)

    I prefer T800 even to Andros. Treble is not that airy, but other than that T800 wins for me. They can have a bit more bass for people liking it flat, but there is a small vent which you can tape over and make the bass tighter (vented BA). I swapped the stock grey damper for white one to tame the 3k region a bit, but thats just my preference (always found the Harman tuned iems too shouty).

    There is a lot of talk online about both, so I don´t think I need to write more about sound.
    Feel free to ask any questions. If you´re interested, I can share my crude measurement of different dampers.
     
  15. james444

    james444 Mad IEM modding wizard level 99

    Pyrate Flathead IEMW
    Joined:
    Jun 3, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,100
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Vienna, Austria
    IEM Early Stage Burn-in Test
    (Don't know if it's ok to post this in here - if not, mods please move to appropriate place)

    I've always been quite skeptical regarding claims about burn-in, for one thing because I personally never noticed any noteworthy changes with my IEMs. And after I got my miniDSP EARS, I also never measured any differences over time, other than those caused by slight variations of insertion depth between individual measurements.

    Apart from that, I've always had a gut feeling that changes from break-in might actually happen during very early use, possibly within the first few minutes or so. It's worth mentioning that several audiophiles I've discussed burn-in with, have not been aware that reproduction of a 1000 Hz tone requires the diaphragm to move back and forth a thousand times per second. Which means, that after playing a 1000 Hz tone on a brand-new driver just for one minute, the diaphragm has already flexed 60000 times.

    So, when I recently received two brand-new pairs of Philips 3590 IEMs, it seemed like a good opportunity to take a closer look...

    Test sequence:
    Two pairs of IEMs amount to 4 earpieces. I used one earpiece just to calibrate the signal level.
    The other 3 earpieces (labelled A, B and C) have been measured...
    1. brand-new out of box = red graph
    2. after 1 minute of playing pink noise @120dB = orange graph
    3. after 5 minutes of playing pink noise @120dB = green graph
    4. after 60 minutes of playing pink noise @120dB = blue graph
    (Needless to say, the earphones remained untouched inside the coupler throughout the entire sequence.)

    Results:
    Measurements show very small changes from step 1 "brand-new out of box" to step 2 "after 1 minute of playing pink noise". These changes happened on all three earpieces A, B and C, and mainly in the upper mids and treble region (see zoomed graphs). After step 2, no further changes have been observed and the graphs 2, 3 and 4 are pretty much identical.


    Earpiece A:
    [​IMG]

    Earpiece A zoomed:
    [​IMG]

    Earpiece B:
    [​IMG]

    Earpiece B zoomed
    :[​IMG]

    Earpiece C:
    [​IMG]

    Earpiece C zoomed:
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Oct 28, 2019
  16. Walderstorn

    Walderstorn Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Mar 20, 2016
    Likes Received:
    1,904
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Europe
    Just a guess but shouldn't bigger diaphragms provide bigger changes? Would u be able to discern the audio differences after step 1?
     
  17. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2015
    Likes Received:
    14,051
    Trophy Points:
    113
    If I could mod these I would
     
  18. james444

    james444 Mad IEM modding wizard level 99

    Pyrate Flathead IEMW
    Joined:
    Jun 3, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,100
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Vienna, Austria
    I have no idea. But I can repeat the test with the next brand-new large driver IEM that comes my way.

    I think not. But in practice, it's somewhat of a moot point imo, considering how early the change occurred.
     
  19. Brause

    Brause Friend

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Nov 25, 2016
    Likes Received:
    467
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Location:
    Calgary, AB
    Sure, but what about timbre and all the unmeasurable stuff. Not that I disagree with you, I also have not heard any noteworthy differences in my "career"...and in two cases, I could A/B brand new to 50 hours old.
     
  20. mscott58

    mscott58 Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2015
    Likes Received:
    2,028
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Philly - Yo
    Last edited: Oct 28, 2019

Share This Page