I didn’t really offer comparisons, just because I feel it’s too much left to memory/imagination if I don’t have both sets to hand, and I no longer have the Teas. I got the Aladdins some time after I had the Teas, 2 months or so. I can take from notes I made when I had them:
Tea Impressions
- Weird tonality – compared to at least 3 other IEMs I was trying at the time, they were the only ones to balance things out how they did, and to be honest it seemed artificial. The relative volumes of vocals and backing guitars etc. I always felt like I was listening to recorded music, it didn’t engage me correctly.
- Sub bass was great, but from my memory, no better than Aladdins.
- I remember feeling that compared to everything else I was trying, snare strikes felt weird and unsatisfying.
- They really do give a surrounding soundstage BUT IMHO that’s not all it’s cracked up to be – remember that IEMs use FR dips/troughs and psychoacoutics to achieve this, they obviously aren’t sending different signals to differently positioned speakers. I felt like the extent to which the Tea “3Ds” things was again artificial and a little extreme. Things were pushed further away than they ought to be. Sometimes the same instrument would be fanned out. It didn’t feel more realistic, but more like a “surround sound” gimmick on a smartphone player had been flicked one. For contrast the Aladdins never make something sound like they’re playing from another room (which I wouldn’t want), but something they catch about reverberations gives a very clear feeling of space, whether a studio (Neil Young and a couple others mic’ed up) or stage (Faun performing live with gazillion artists chiming in).
- To be fair, it was very genre versatile, and the hyper-3D had its place (watching movies).
My gut feeling is that everyone recs the Teas because they are good, but if they heard the Aladdins, they might rec them instead. Very few people have tried them, as far as I can gather. It’s a bold claim, but hey, it’s unproven so far. At least I’ve heard both.
I’ve mentioned some Aladdins traits as relevant contrasts above, but I’ll now address anything that’s left (both pros and cons – although I couldn’t find anything wrong with them for months, there are one or two areas that could be improved – and given my change in priorities, one of those might finally mean I move on from the Aladdin, or at least that the Aladdin shares a seat with an IEM that nails it.
Aladdin pros and cons
It’s all pros except for two cons which I’ve marked.
- I was instantly mesmerized. With the Teas it took me a day to start hearing what was more special about them, meanwhile I was increasingly hearing the things I wasn’t so fond of about them.
- Sub-bass is warm, and only opens spaces never closes them (something about Penon Audio’s deep sub-bass always somehow makes the overall feel more stifling, not more expansive)
- CON 1: Mid-bass could use more impact/slam. That’s the flaw I noticed earlier on with them.
- CON 2: Timbre could be improved for bowed and plucked strings. Perhaps horns. I’m not qualified to say if piano is already accurate or not. This is the main issue for me, but for most people (including the majority of the Tea Cult, from what I have read) timbre is usually a lower priority, and compromised timbre by no means spoils their listening. It’s certainly not something I started hearing until the lat 2 months or so. But now I can’t unhear it, and think I’ll be moving pretty much to DD setups. I think the reason cello sounds a little lacking on the Aladdin for me, as far as I can quantify, is that there is slow attack, so notes float in (exaggeration) rather than having an abrupt start. This actually has a charming effect on vocals though, especially with the warmth of the tuning.
I almost exclusively notice it with classical music. Listening to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss sounded divine, even though it’s almost exclusively vocals, plucked guitar, and bass.
- Vocals/mids are some of my favorite. When I was trying the RSV, the mids sounded only marginally better if at all – and that’s meant to be the calling card of that $730 MSRP set. Intimate vocals.
- The bio-cellulose driver gives such a gorgeous, slowish decay, accurately textured bass for low percussion, and bass guitars.
- The treble is never harsh, but it is the perfect amount. Always there for sparkle, and you can hear the detail of a cymbal sound, it’s not just a sssh or shsh (for what those letters are worth!)
- Immersive, but zero muddiness or bloat. Maybe the lack of umph given to the mid-bass is justified by the clean-ness of the bass. The bass is a pillow of warm air lifting the other sounds but never blocking them.
- Price - at launch they were $250, but $200 with a promotional code. Now they sell for about $120-140 second hand. This means that either comparing new for new, or used for used, they are cheaper than the teas.
- So comfortable. I never have to think about their fit.
- With stock tips (which easily sound the best even after months of rolling) and their shape, isolation is great.
What might be more fair than a comparison with a set I don’t have (although the second section of pros/cons is completely relevant) is if you give certain tracks and ask how the Aladdin handle various portions/instruments in them? I have limited time, but if I can, I will. I already committed to answer questions which is why I took the time to write the above. Very few people can write about them, but they deserve to be lauded and defended, so I’m just doing what any person who has enjoyed them as much I have would do.
I certainly don’t think people are mistaken for enjoying the Tea as much as they do, different ear canals, different ears, different preferences once it reaches the brain, etc. You can see how the vote count is going, and you’d most likely be over the moon with them. I just think the Aladdins deserve similar fandom, and they were on the list.
Sorry for the length.
Ten thousand words in the cave of audio forums will give you SUCH a crick in the neck!
Please any other Aladdin owners chip in, either to agree or to disagree and add to the cons list! The fuller a picture the better, favorable or not.
Quick add-on: For what it’s worth, the bass and mids of the Aladdin are essential identical to the MEST. Those are considered end-game for so many folks. Treble is less strident on the Aladdins, and considering that the only complaint I hear about the MEST is that it can be a little too detailed and sometimes treble, seems like a wise move.
Aladdin = MEST Jr
Just listened to Pink Floyd’s Welcome to the Machine on the Aladdins, great experience. So spacious and surrounding, but accurately. CCR’s Run through the jungle just came on, same deal. And just now How soon is now by the Smiths. So clear, and separated.
Second edit:
In the time I’ve owned the Aladdin I have bought multiple IEMs of higher value – two valued $700ish new, plenty valued $500ish new, and then quite a few from the $300-500 mark. I would say they were only clearly surpassed, not just in one area ie: timbre, once you get to the $500+ mark.
And that’s some real diminishingg returns type improvement. That’s why I still have these. They are 100% worth the money, and are at least as good as $500 sets. The only set I’ve heard that I preferred in several areas but still didn’t keep was the Dark Magician, and that was only because of fit. Nothing else really makes the Aladdin feel cheap/compromised/dwarfed.
Just a last note: The S12 is super recent, but there are some other sets only just out that might edge some of these choices for all we know. Case in point I’ve never heard the Yume Midnight but maybe it would be better than all of these for you, and at a good price point? As always the more reviews the better, no one likes to buy new gear blind or based on limited hype.
