This’s me with EQ 100% …I don’t keep sets I don’t jam with why faff?..
Thank you guys for you input. I’m 1 step closer in knowing what I want.
@progdvd Seems like I was in the same boat for bit! I suppose I can add another opinion to the mix between the FD5 and Monarch now that I’ve been listening to the latter for the past few days.
I’m new to this hobby so I’m not really sure what kind of tuning I prefer but unfortunately the Monarch has been a mixed bag. It really does lack the mid-bass fullness that I now realize is very important to me. I was hoping that large sub-bass lift would compensate along with the better technical detail but I’m not really hearing it to my ears. It doesn’t seem any more impactful then the FD5 (IMO). It’s possible Clair would have been the better pick. But I was worried about the treble and detail reductions.
I do like the mid range and detail is really cool. Treble is also perfect. But for the music I listen to, mid-range isn’t super important I’ve found. At least I now know what a “neutral with sub-bass boost” sounds like. I think I prefer V-shaped.
Your mileage may vary of course. I’m still deciding whether keep it or not, not sure if the Excalibur is worth bothering with though. I may try that 20ohm resister mod.
There are several reasons why I will go for the Monarch over Clairvoyance.
- I have few V iems that I like… Morarch will be something different.
- If I realy find mid bass lacking I can always EQ it.
- Superior tuning past 2k over Clair
- Superior stage and technicalities over Clair
…For all that I know about the twins Morarch is the logical choice. I’m just scared of thier size a bit, and TA-Linsouls QC and customer service.
F…k it, I’m ordering it tomorrow
Go for the 50-75ohm adapter instead. 20onm doesn’t do much IMO, I tried it on some other sets.
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@progdvd I had a good experience for Linsoul’s CS on Discord when I asked if I may have been sent a Clair instead as the shells had very little gold specs in them; they look very close to Clairvoyance.
One of their reps, Deng, went so far as to pull up my serial no. unasked to verify the individual FR for my unit when it was tested to confirm and sent it to me. Was very kind of him.
The waiting time was a bit longer then expected due their week holiday in May but nothing too bad. I knew it would be a long wait.
I think you will like them if you want something different to complement. The mid-range, treble and imaging is really nice. A shame the music it is really good on only makes a small portion of my library up. I think my problem was expecting too much. I suppose I would need to go all the way to something like a Z1R or Odin to get the “wow” factor I was expecting.
Alas, that is not in my budget for some time. Maybe one day. Maybe a future Z2R. 
I may consider looking into the future revisions of the S8F or something like it. That slam and crystal like treble on the FD5 is very addictive, even it may be a bit sibilant, it doesn’t bother me at all.
Don’t forget these things all put the same music into your ears. You’re just looking at your music through a different lens. The “wow” factor you’re hoping to experience is very possibly imaginary. Especially when you’re just guessing at other products that might deliver on your imagination. That’s a dangerous place to be. Enjoy the journey you’re going to have searching for it.
Fyi… Before I bought the Odin myself, @hawaiibadboy suggested that I buy the Clairvoyance instead because of its superior tuning.
Just look at Crins’ tier list, you’re already at the point of hugely diminishing returns. There’s nothing I’ve heard that is going to give you a huge “wow” factor over Crins already top tier IEMs. Crin even rates the Odin 1 step below the Monarch.
The issue I have with the Clairvoyance vs the Monarch is the Clairvoyance makes too many sacrifices in its technical abilities for its tuning. I usually do not listen to older/poorer recordings where the Clairvoyance FR may be beneficial. The huge loss in midrange detail is the sin the Clairvoyance makes I can not forgive vs the Monarch. Unfortunately, these two IEMs are not the same other than slight tuning changes. They sound quite different from one another.
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In different ways yes
Which can have a drastic effect from lens to lens, if you care at least (which generally most people in this hobby do)
Or it’s very possibly ultra present, just depends on the iem (and the person, and the source gear, and the tips, etc). “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”. It’s foolish to ignore other options when you aren’t satisfied with what you have, only because there’s a chance it may not scratch that itch, getting stuck up on “what ifs” isn’t going to lead to anything productive. What actually triggers that “wow” factor will vary from person to person, but I can say that the majority of people will find something out there that can achieve it, so you have to go looking and trying things you are interested in to see
You are also at the same time just guessing that the thing you currently have is best suited for you and can already provide an experience better than other options, without trying other options. You are just guessing that the things above or to the side aren’t worthwhile, when they very well could be
One of the reasons this hobby is so interesting and enjoyable is the journey imo, that’s where you get a better understanding of what you enjoy and what other options exist, and of course improve your skill as a listener (among other things as well)
Cool, and if you care about tuning a ton that’s great, but from my experience I can’t say that “wow” factor has ever really come from tuning, that’s just a single factor in a lot of different aspects of sound, but again that’s just me
When I look at crins list I see a great example of what happens when you restrict yourself source gear wise, the things that are at the top happen to be the more amp forgiving or least demanding, and the things more dependant on source gear naturally sink lower since they don’t preform well without paying any attention to what they are being ran off of, especially in the high end (an ifi micro black label can only do so much)
Either way a tier list is just one person’s option, so it should be taken as such, it’s definitely not the end all be all, especially if you find that their higher rated choices don’t really impress you, that’s a good indicator preferences don’t align (and many other things) and that tier list likely isn’t going to be meaningful to you
From what you wrote above, it would make it sound like things can’t be quite different from each other lol, and this is with iems from the same brand, imagine the potential differences with other non related iems
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M0N you make it sound as if I’ve only heard a few IEMs in my life. Come on bro! You know better than that. Lol.
What M0N is trying to say is that you should begin looking at all the gear surrounding your IEMs, amp/dac tips etc and begin looking at everything not just the earphone to help get you to your wow moment.
This isn’t about the amount of iems you have heard, I simply don’t agree with your take on how things should be approached and I feel it is fundamentally misleading
Then please teach me master M0N. You know I personally appreciate your advise more than just about anyone on the planet.
To be fair we were just discussing IEMs in this thread but if we want to bring in the aspect of sources into the conversation, by all means. I completely agree. The headphone/earphone will only get you so far.
I already said what I felt needed to be said above, you already know that the experiences and journeys will vary from person to person and aren’t going to be the same for everyone, and that what works for one person may not for another, etc. I disagree with what you posted previously since it really feels more like telling someone to ignore their own experiences and ignore what they hear. I just don’t think it’s worthwhile to try and convince someone to not try out other options
This really wasn’t about the given iems whatsoever, moreso the general sentiments you posted
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Just purely out of curiosity and I swear I am not trying to poke fun or be snarky, but what percentage of those were from Linsoul?
We were talking about unrealistic expectations. They can be very real. You know that. Nothing wrong in learning what the boundaries are. That’s the journey we’re all on here as I stated.
I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say then. What I was attempting to convey was that when someone has unrealistic expectations…
And then guessing that spending more money might get them there, they may still be disappointed. Just as I was after buying the Empire Ears Odin as @hawaiibadboy said I probably would be.
Just as you pointed out, looking at the entire picture, source quality, dac/amp/headphone/earphone synergies, ear tips/pads will all make reaching that “wow” moment more possible than just looking at 1 part of the chain.
I would be hypocritical to suggest anyone not to follow their own journey. I wasn’t saying that. I was saying that having unrealistic expectations during our journey can make it a never ending journey and a very unsatisfying one at that, but everyone is welcomed to take it. I personally feel it’s a little more constructive to reel those expectations in a bit if I want to enjoy myself and my gear or else I’ll end up like this…
And still not be happy. 
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And the way to find out if expectations are realistic or unrealistic is to try things, which you are somewhat trying to discourage. The best way to tell if something is realistic or unrealistic expectations is to try other things that actually sets those expectations. If you have the means to try out something you are interested in, I wouldn’t be dissuaded by the fear of it not stacking up, it will either break or confirm your expectations. Now if you really have to push things alot to try something like that, then it obs becomes less worthwhile, so it all depends on the situation
Or they could find it gets them where they wanted to be, they don’t know until they try, they could end up more satisfied since it would give them more of what they were expecting, or it couldn’t. That’s how you define expectations and find out if they are realistic or not. These days it’s hard to get any judge on that since expectations are blown out of the water pretty easily, so you just need to hear them yourself
Correct, but the chain is only going to be as good as the weakest link. I’m sure you would agree that typically the iem is going to be the most important part yes?
Gotcha, the way it read to me in that initial post was moreso “there’s definitely not any other worthwhile options from what you have, see look at these few people who rate it highly therefore it definitely will be the same case for you, anything potentially better for you will just be imaginary and it’s just diminishing returns so absolutely not worth trying,” which might be your experience, but that doesn’t mean it would be others.
Keeping things realistic is important, but you don’t want to reel in so much you aren’t willing to try other things, finding that happy medium is important, and again will differ from person to person
And who would be to blame for that? If you aren’t getting any worthwhile benefit or extra happiness from a setup like that I’m not sure why you would continue to invest time, money, and energy into something that isn’t worthwhile to you after you have experienced it
From my own personal experience, I am trying to discourage the idea that $$$ automatically will get anyone to their imagined WOW moment. This just is not true.
Try everything you can! I’ve never suggested otherwise.
I’m trying to give helpful advise because I own the IEMs being discussed here and can speak from experience. If I’m not being helpful, I’m happy to go away and enjoy my Monarch. 
I’m not trying to discourage anyone, I’m trying to help them make informed purchasing decisions.
M0N, I ask you for advise regularly because you have first hand experience with a lot of gear. I want to hear from you why you prefer or dislike gear that is being discussed.
If I recall, you just discouraged me away from purchasing a D90 a few days ago. lol
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Of course, but you never really said that. To me it more looked like trying to push the notion that spending more wouldn’t really ever be worthwhile and could not lead to that imagined moment. But looks like I misinterpreted it
To me this really looks like trying to dissuade someone from trying things higher end, but idk. Those things just happen to be more money, which you personally may not find worthwhile, but again that doesn’t mean others wouldn’t, it’s still absolutely worth trying and finding out for each person if they can
And this isn’t what I’m taking issue with nor discussing
I basically said try it and see how it goes, getting perspective is important, I didn’t even say anything positive or negative about it, not sure how this counts as trying to discourage you from trying a d90
Regardless, I will stop disrupting the thread now, apologies for any disruption/inconvenience I may have caused to the rest of the thread.
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I’m the poster child for “$$$ does not always = better”. Sorry I wasn’t as clear as I could have been.
I was attempting to reel in expectations that are not real. But as I think we both agree, we all should continue down the rabbit hole to find out for ourselves if we are driven to do so. I’m still digging it myself with no end in sight.
That is you dissuading me not to bother with a D90 when I own a Bifrost 2 and I appreciateed that advise. Thank you.
I always appreciate and value all your insights. Thank you for the discussion. You always give me something to think about. I’ll have to try to do a better job of expressing myself in the future. No promises tho.
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That wasn’t meant to sound condescending and I quickly clarified afterwords when you pointed it out, that was my bad. If it was meant to suggest that, I would have just straight up said so, I have no reason to try and act snarky about that, I would have just said something like “it’s probably not worth your time” (or something of the sort). It was mainly meant to be taken at face value, as in try it and see what happens
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You didn’t do anything wrong! You gave me advise that I value and probably helped me not make a mistake.
FYI… I did exactly this and ended up selling the jotunheim 2 this weekend. lol
I don’t think you realize how seriously we (or maybe just I) take your dac/amp advise, or audio advise in general.
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