It depends on what you call neutral, but the Kato could fill the bill, I guess, as it’s harmanish tuned
Thanks all! Many good points, guess I need to look around a bit and take my time.
Was thinking Kato originally!
For my jazz library I always pick a DD over Tea2, and I’m a big tea fan as anyone knows.
Olina fits the bill and costs 100.
Unless you need isolation, go earbuds for those genres.
As a fellow acoustic music listener who recently took the detour into earbuds, I second this recommendation!
Curious now, guys. Which earbuds? And why?
Mine.
(just ask the others that got them lol.)
Thanks, guess I have some iem threads catching up to do.
Doh, how could i forget! Yeah, @TimpTim44 you should check out earbuds! I’m enjoying my Alter Rider 1 for jazz and stripped down vocals+acoustic music. Just note that you might not find the shells as comfortable as IEMs - I can use earbuds for 1-2 hrs max vs 5-6 hrs with Yanyin Canon
I recently received Riku’s Grand Archer 1, a specialized “Chaconne Killer” which has not been reviewed yet (to my knowledge). I’m still putting together my thoughts and will post on Riku’s thread very soon (maybe even later today). But my bottom line is going to be some version of, “Wow, the LBBS is so great at acoustic music, and highly recommended… Unless you can get your hands on the Grand Archer 1, which is the best I’ve heard for this music.”
fate much?
haha, indeed thats the reference.
(maybe you know what other classes I might add later. )
I’ve been out of the audiophile game for a few months due to work but been slowly creeping back in to see what I’ve missed.
I got to demo the Sennheiser IE600, Oriveti OV800, Elysian Annihilator and the new Elysian Diva.
I tried the Oriveti OV800 first and it’s… not that comfortable to wear for me. It sounded slightly better than my Moondrop Variations. The seal is pretty darn good though but I couldn’t listen for long.
The Sennheiser IE600 is hella small to wear but once I found a way to put it into my ears, it just fits like charm and felt real comfortable. The sound felt more natural-sounding and I can see why it’s getting praise from reviewers and impressionists. Overall, it is slightly better than the Variations and slightly more resolving for my music library (K-Pop). Probably works better with rock-ish tracks though.
I then tried out the Elysian Annihilator. Yeah. This slaps. Even on my Shanling M3X. This slaps hard. It’ll probably sound even better on a better audio source. Everything just felt spacious in my ears. It almost felt a bit uncomfortable to wear but it’s bearable for me comfort wise.
Lastly, I tried the newly released Elysian Diva which is his “Budget” IEM. While the Annihilator is in godly levels of sounding, the Diva is no slouch for half the price of the Annihilator. It’s a more “Fun” iem to me and the vocals in the mids has more presence. It most likely drives well with the Shanling M3X tuning more than the Annihilator. For an All BA’s iem, the mid-bass is almost dynamic driver feel-like. It’s also more comfortable to wear than the Annihilator for me.
I didn’t know it’s an all BA iem until the shopkeeper told me so and I got surprised. It’s a definite upgrade from the Moondrop Variations and fits in-line with my music library well. It also “fixes” the mid-bass and thin male vocals of the Variations in the Diva and felt towards more of an all-rounder for my music library.
If I’m aiming for an entirely endgame iem for me and my music library, the Elysian Diva is probably it. Also this being made by a Malaysian which I am one, so bias strikes .
That’s about it for now. They wanted to recommend me the Monarch MKII but they can only get a demo unit within the next 2 weeks. And they hyped up a few new upcoming Accoustunes IEMs as well. Will probably drop by again in 2 weeks or so.
Hard to see - what happened?
the 2 pin connector’s placement on the right piece of my Kato have gotten deeper, after removing the cable I was using for it. It is now misaligned, I cannot connect the 2 pin on it.
that’s my fear of this hobby - not many repair services. I know a guy in the US that can fix things like this, but no one where I am (UK). I think @Tonytex_Teixeira might be able to do this and he’s at least in Europe