I have huge driver flex in both sides. I cannot say on side of my head with them how are yours?
when I started with some vocal centric very rich sounding tracks (in terms of quantity-of-details-recorded like newest Nick Mulvey, Fiona Apple etc) I felt like I have some partial loss of hearing. Olina never gave me that feeling. I started having regrets of selling it (it was due to the money put in audio at that point, fit and comfort). I was disappointed a bit and started looking for some alternatives.
But, but!
I said myself, ok, I cannot really work efficiently with full focus with that music on anyway. I turned the library shuffle on. Then Silk Sonic popped up on shuffle and now we were talking! Kai shines on more fun music like that. My head was bobbing, feet were tapping and fingers were snapping all the time. What is interesting - my tasks requiring theoretically full focus (designing parts â translation into manufacturing drawings afterwards) was going smooth as hell. Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic - Leave the Door Open [Official Video] - YouTube
and the cable - I love it, my 2nd favourite (after Xinhs Graphene 4core which cost more than 50% of Kai) at the moment of all stock and aftermarket ones.
I just decided to ditch my ranking system
I was not consciously thinking that but, after breaking down like a review into bass/mid/treb etcâŚ
the whole thing changed.
It now actually matches my thinking and i just changed the way of looking at the same thing
You had paralysis by analysis then said fuck itâŚplay that music.
I was chillin with my ranks, and now am in paralysis mode. This will take months.
I have hundreds of sets not even on my list yetâŚso much work
1st world probs
I donât understand anything about your new board.
I had you on a pedestal. One of my favourite reviewers.
I thought what you were saying was consistent. This board has completely changed my perception.
Iems that were up are now down and vice versa, bad scores on iems that were good, etc etc etc.
Of course more inconsistency between youtubers on certain models.
What a mess!!!
Crazy times, my man. Iâve been contemplating âThe State of The Hobbyâ and what I want out of my setup versus how I enjoy my music, and I think that thereâs going to be a great culling of my collection soon. Too much time spent chasing the dragon and not enough time just enjoying what I have.
I totally agree. I havenât been involved the hobby for too long but it seems like manufacturers are producing at an unsustainable rate. It seems like consumers are starting to fall into camps where they follow some set of reviewers whose listening habits most align with theirs and try a handful of recommended IEMs before they go âI think Iâm good for a whileâ.
The unfortunate part of the hobby is that, unless you live in specific regions where you can demo what you want or make it to frequent meet-ups, all you have is someone elseâs word or taking the plunge. Combine that with a post-Amazon sense of instant consumer gratification and New Toy Syndrome, and unless a company reliably churns out expensive trash, it really IS sustainable. I have tried to do my part, between loaning out units and selling what doesnât get used often at reasonable prices, but thereâs only so much anyone can do. The good news is that weâre still in a price:performance renaissance, and expensive units consistantly come down on the second-hand market within a year or so of releases. Iâm gonna cut some killer deals when I shed weight, because you canât take it with you and anyone in this hobby to make money is a fool
Like @hawaiibadboy always says, âItâs all about THE MUSIC!â
This is a âyes-and-noâ thing. I agree that it should feel like this pace is not sustainable because there are so many new sets our heads spin.
HoweverâŚthe thing the hobby does best is endlessly hype the next big thing. There is such a sense of FOMO that people have. Even HBB, who has collabs that are literally his tuning preference of sets he loves would keep other sets besides his collabs.
I think unless you unplug from the forums and following influencers, there is no getting out of the hobby. And I think itâs because of the never-ending pace. Thereâs always something new to want
After i got myself Kinda Lava iâm so low on âhobbyâ money so i canât get myself new IEMs even if i want to. Plus, even if I really get hyped over something, I will rationalize for a long time about why I need another IEM in the same price range or even cheaper, so the whole hype will wear off. So iâm just enjoying forum discussions and influencer content without bothering much about my wallet getting too thin.
This is all that matters; everything else is a luxury. I have gear that I can be done with from $100 all the way up to $1000, my excuses for keeping more than one set are variety and sentimentality.
This is why I say itâs unsustainable. Iâm betting that people who frequently buy the lastest release and reviewers like HBB are in the super small minority of consumers who buy these IEMs . Just look at how many unique people post on head-fi and here. I gotta imagine itâs < 1000.
You canât sustain a whole industry but having a couple thousand people buying new IEMs every week or two. Eventually people run out of money so it becomes a one in one out situation (like it is with me now). The used market doesnât help manufacturers either.
The thing about this argument is that the Internet forum community covers such a small percentage of the real audio market. Weâre just the loud and obvious corner of the hobby.
Itâs the same thing with TVs, where the AV community goes to war over which specs are 3% better in the flagship TVs, and the best selling tv is the entry-level 55" model at $500 because thatâs what the average person can walk into Best Buy and be sold at that budget and itâs good enough.
Weâre the loud minority, where millions of people will never even know thereâs a $6500 set of IEMs when they just want a $20 set that doesnât fall out of their ears and doesnât sound TERRIBLE
I feel like you made my argument for me. Itâs the vocal minority that are buying every new release where most people may buy one or two IEMs in a year if not multiple years.
Most electronic companies (TVs included) drop a new lineup once a year. Some IEM companies are dropping new IEMs like once a month (looking at you 7Hz). Plus it seems like there are a lot more IEM manufacturers than there are TV manufacturers so the number of potential IEMs in the market is so much more.
Here in the US there are maybe a handful of TV models that are in the $500 price range. I canât even count how many IEMs are in the < $100 price range and thatâs not including models from the previous years which are still competitive.
Until you remember that 11.11 is the single biggest shopping day on the planet and the market for earphone/headphone tech geared to that. The music listening audience is WAY bigger than we give it credit for, beyond our little corner. At the end of the day, they donât pump all all these IEMâs every month for their own generosity or boredom.
Plus itâs easier to justify splurge purchases in a product that can release this quickly and cheaply. I bought 2 tvs last year and Iâm not going to look at buying a tv again for up to 5 years. I bought 4 IEMs at Black Friday/Christmas, just bought 3 in the last month, and I canât lie and say I wonât buy anything at 11.11. Do I need them? Nope. Does it matter? Also, nope.
I have multi-kilobuck iems. The most enjoyable has been the sony ex8000st. Everything sounds so much like it does when youâre listening to music in real lifeâŚ
Theyâre more enjoyable to me than mest mk2, lx, xenns up etc⌠Not better, just more engaging to me with the tape mod, huge stage and open back sound.
Outside they sound even bigger imho. Because of the open back sound.
how are yours?
