Vibro Labs ARIA IEM

Initial thoughts:

+ Well tuned, good overall tonal balance
+ Not veiled to shit
+ Just enough bass punch without getting into that muddy IEM sound
+ Good microdynamic ability and articulation...a very involving listen

- Raw and gritty BA treble texture is there unfortunately
- Vocal timbre is off, with sibilance region being emphasized over the presence region

+/- Spacious sounding, but almost to the point where images become thin. Midrange is euphonic but thin at the same time. Hard to describe

My ears do not gel with the wide bores (never have) and I have to take these out after 30min or so.

More to come.

 

Thanks OJ, it's so good to see some returns to the IEM land. A couple of questions: what's your source and amping? How does it sound in relation to UERM?

IIRC the Aria is on paper a custom, so this also brings out an old common question: how do you think of the difference between universal and custom for a same model?

 

Source/amping is Hilo headphone output at the moment. I'll try it with the gamma1.5 later. I don't own a UERM, but from memory it's bassier with more slam and punch. Similar sort of BA etch there, hard to tell without direct comparison. I have no idea how the custom would sound, supposedly the same but it never is.

 

Totally agree with the grainy texture through the uppermids and treble. When we spoke last night I was worried I heard something completely different. Guess not. The gritty texture, that seemed to grow as frequency rose, grated on me over time and I could not enjoy them. The bass quality is superb and the tonal balance is fantastic. The increasing grittiness wore on me and made these an unpleasurable listen overall. I also got very little warmth in the midrange and that was a turn off to me. I like a warm leaning tilt towards the midrange.

It seems that our ears align, but how much we like them doesn't.

 

I wouldn't say it's bassy at all. The bass is incredibly tight, but not boosted to my ears.

 

My thoughts in brief: