Maybe Olina filter over stock filter, then?
should work. But for those that do not have any filters you can buy some 500 mesh here.
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Woke up to this and I feel like itās going to be a long day. Feel free to discuss, and I will try to answer everything I could.
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This package weighed more like one for a desktop amp vs an iem, lmao.
A couple points on the GL-AMT16 before I go back for more listening:
- Source picky. Iām pushing 90+ on the QP2R (High Gain) and -10dB on the El III for normal listening volumes.
- Texture > Immediacy. Itās also quite shimmery. I wouldnāt consider these ideal for very busy rock/metal/electronic.
- Incredibly unforgiving for tracks with less-than-ideal production and/or mastering, at least with the stock nozzle. Iāll be switching out the nozzles for more expanded thoughts.
- Nozzle is a lot shorter/stubbier than most iems, and the provided tips are the short & wide kind. I ended up using double-flanged aftermarket tips to get a good seal YMMV.
- Next-level detail when you give it some room.
- Wide out-of-head soundstage
- [Take this with a grain of salt since I havenāt heard TOTL DD iems] Best vocals (male and female) Iāve heard in an iem, period. The mids are r i d i c u l o u s
Updates:
- Nozzles differ by internal diameter, and differ in what I perceive as vocal ānasalinessā as you get smaller, shoutiness as you go wider. This seems to corroborate with johnchparkās graph on Head-Fi for his review GoldPlanar GL-AMT16 - Reviews | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org.
- Giving this some more time, but this has that stock LCD-5 -like sound with present mids in the foreground with detailed instrumentals in the background. I find this more tasteful, but Iāll have to go back-and-forth because headphone and iem comparisons are tough.
Final Update:
- Spent a bunch of time today on desktop amps. I can definitively say that this is the LCD-5 in IEM form, tuning quirks included. The whole part of it not being ideal for busy music goes away when you give it enough juice. Kind of ridiculous, though.
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Has anyone watched this guy? The truth about high-end headphones, IEMs, burn-in, sound quality and $$$ - YouTube
What heās saying sounds absolutely bonkers to me, claiming basically that he can take a $50 no-name TWS and EQ it and it sounds better than an 800S, because that the only thing that matters is frequency response. Now he also says you have to ātuneā the FR to your own ears and his instructions for doing that for the TWS he recommends are behind a Patreon paywall (clever), but it seems to simply involve playing a sine wave sweep to find where your ears have peaks and dips and then picking an EQ profile that corresponds to that.
It seems obviously incorrect to say that FR is all that matters, like the Moondrop Chu and Kato have nearly the same FR but the Kato sounds obviously better to my ears. But this (internet rando) seems really technical and talks about technical acoustic properties in headphones that I donāt really know about. So Iām wondering if anyone with more knowledge in acoustics and engineering can weigh in because again it sounds like utter nonsense to me but there sure seem to be a lot of comments and things of people agreeing with him. In the comments he even says that he thinks ādetailā is just a function of treble presentation, which again sounds bonkers. Anyone know anything about this guy?
While I agree that FR is a BIG part of what we end up hearing, it is NOT everything. There are other factors (technicalities) that are not shown on graphs, being factors like soundstage, imaging, decay, texture, etcā¦
Beyond that, the other factors involved in tuning a transducer besides the drivers, is the shell shape, which can make or break the driver being used and even the material being used will heavily affect it.
That is essentially finding out about your HRTF and then using PEQ to compensate with the HRTF in mind.
Also, keep in mind that these people that essentially worships graphs, are literally worshipping an imperfect thing from the start. Since these iem graphs are based on the IEC60318-4 standard which are only good for 100hz - 10 000hz.
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This internet rando named Oluv is doing sound demos and audio gear commentary since 2013. He saved me a lot of money or rather disappointments over the years and also the reason why I favor sound demos over subjective reviews. Granted he shills his TWS collab IEM hard but still I like his no bullshit attitude and 10$ for a personalized EQ profile is reasonable to support his channel.
In this video the whole topic is eventually better explained.
Edit: The sound demos with pink noise are here
PS: And true the frequency response graphs on squigs etc. that are all peak normalized at 8 kHz are all wrong if someone wants to look up these graphs to decide if the IEM fits his ear canal peak.
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Great, I was hoping someone around here knew more about the guy! Thanks for responding.
So do you agree with his idea that FR is basically the only thing that matters? I mean, the problem with sound demos ostensibly would be that theyāre limited by whatever gear youāre listening to them with, but I suppose if you think all headphones sound the same with EQ that doesnāt matter? (What about timbre and speed and macrodynamics? I see he has a video just about FR, maybe I should just watch that for his thinking.)
On SuperBestAudio friends they talk about how Amir says similar things about EQāing a $9 Sony headphone and it sounds as good as expensive headphones: Audio Science Review Review | Page 50 | Super Best Audio Friends
The SBA poster seems unimpressed with them though, and rejects this idea.
Again, this seems like such a strange idea to me but the people proposing it clearly have spent a lot of time listening to different headphones and experimenting with them. Itās very seductive to say all expensive headphones are a rip-off and dismiss them and just retune a $9 headphone and be happy, but I mean, I find it hard to believe.
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Not the only factor but certainly the most important one. If you think about it, technicalities and properties like driver type, material, speed, magnet strength, cables (lol) etc. are things that add, substract, improve, alter certain attributes of earphone like spices in a soup. All these things donāt make a good earphone as long as the FR isnāt pleasing to your ears.
The thing about EQing is that Iām more of a minimalist in this regard Ā± 2dBs here and there is ok but Iād rather look for a earphone, speaker or headphone that sound pleasing out of the box. Again thatās why I like sound demos so much because they give me a very good first indication of the FR.
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Itās official, I think the Final E4000 are a great set, one of my favorites*. On the odd occasion sub-bass punch is noticeably weaker than other favorites of mine but I really like this style of bass emphasis overall, kick drums / deep drums sound fantastic. Itās a very natural tuning to my ear (not necessarily neutral, but natural). Timbre is very good, vocals are beautiful. Technicalities arenāt too shabby with stage and imaging being decent for sure, however I notice that when the driver gets busy, it can get overwhelmed, noticeable in the cymbals not carrying much detail when thereās lots to be done.
Iām using the E01 (pink) and today I have no pain or soreness in my canal at all, meanwhile theyāre so light. Thereās something freeing about so much sound without my whole ear space being occupied. Enjoying all kinds of tracks.
Sure there are things that will just be better when I swap back to either Serial or Clairvoyance for a session later on. But itās in the realm of āIād have to hear it to know exactly what Iām missing, this sounds good to meā.
I can see why I stuck to these so long near the start. Maybe one day Iāll sort out my IEM journey and add it to that thread XD
*Iāve seen the famous graphs where driver matching for Final sets is just straight-up poor. All Iāll say is that I donāt notice anything awry while listening to my music. I havenāt sine-waved for the sake of it yet. Either Iām lucky with the pair or donāt notice channel imbalance as easily as others.
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I want to apologize, I did a simple search and found this discussion: Oluv's Gadgets on youtube - #6 by John_W_Clark
Sorry I feel like I didnāt do my due diligence before talking about Oluv here. Iāll confine my comments about him to a more appropriate thread.
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Does anyone know where I can find tips that are shaped like the white ones that come with the 7hz Timeless?
Oh wow I had no idea they sold them separately thank you!
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Does anyone else have a problem of buying an IEM thatās been getting hyped, not liking it that much then taking it back, THEN buying it again down the line because you feel like youāre missing something so you keep em for another week or so then take them back again 
Iāve bought the Timeless and Blessing 2 twice expecting for them to just hit me out of nowhere and they just donāt. I like the Timeless more than I did before but itās still too intense iād say. I have a real problem lmao
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Iāve never bought something more than once unless I already liked it and wanted a backup or if I was giving them away 
The only IEM Iāve bought twice is the Sony MH755s. Lol
I did this with Timeless and Moondrop Aria.
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Itās almost like I feel like iām missing out, like surely Iāll get the hype eventually but I never do 
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Did you like either one or end up sending them back again?