I’ve known Tony (aka Akros) for some time now. We regularly message about audio stuff (well, I bother him more tbh, but he’s a good sport and always finds time to reply!) I was in the market for a sub-150 GBP/euro hybrid after I sold my Yanyin Canon - sorry @fendiking, I love that set, and it deserved more playtime than it was getting. Tbh, earbuds have taken over my life, and I wanted to slim down my IEM collection. I chatted with Tony, and he recced a couple options, including the Erasmus. I paid full price for these Erasmus, so my opinions are my own. @Tonytex_Teixeira, I’m tagging you now so you can take a look if you have time!
Preamble
Erasmus:
Driver config: 1 bio-fibre DD + 2 BA
Tuned by Tony (Akros on YouTube)
Two tuning switches per shell. Note: I think there are only two tuning options that sound different (as opposed to the total 4 possible permutations). I did all my impressions with switches set to OFF
Tips used: Final Audio type E
Fit: These shells fit like CIEM. I get excellent passive noise cancellation, and they are very comfortable. Much better than the Olina
Price: 125 euros
Olina
Driver config: 1 DD
Double filter modded
Tips used: kbear07
Impressions and comparisons
Erasmus
Smoother treble vs Olina. Carta by Silvana Estrada sounds more peaky in Olina; same with Coming back, by James Blake. Olina makes violin sound rather thin and scratchy
Stage: taller, deeper than Olina; width goes to Olina
Imaging: Olina edges it out
Timbre: Olina edges it out slightly
Nicer mid-bass. More texture. Rumbles. Bit looser bass than Olina
Vocals are more forward in the Olina. At times this is nice, like in Gone by James Vincent McMorrow. In other times, the treble gets a bit aggressive
Surprise comparison
Starring TGXear Ripples
Swashers, by Yosi Horikawa: on Ripples, the waves sound individual and pronounced. More washed out in Erasmus and Olina, like the individual peaks and troughs aren’t as pronounced. This song sounds amazing on the Ripples
Rosita, by Coleman Hawkins & Ben Webster: timbre is just so good on the Ripples! On Erasmus, note-weight is decent (heavier than Olina)
Coming back, by James Blake (recording not as high quality IMO): vocal more forward in Erasmus than Ripples. Piano not as natural sounding. More sub-bass rumble than Ripples (obviously).
Summary
The Erasmus is both comfortable to wear and to listen. The bass hits well (but not too much), and the treble is smooth and not aggressive at all. It has surprising depth and height to the stage, but with average width. I think the timbre is pretty solid, although every now and then I catch a whiff of BA timbre. Bear in mind that I’ve been listening to a lot of single DD earbuds lately, so I am pretty much a timbrehead now So for all intents and purposes, the Erasmus replaces the Olina and will stay in my collection as a comfortable IEM to use when I need some passive noise cancellation in the house or on the go.
Thank you a lot! <3
I don’t see a typical summary of your first thought feelings whether you like them or not, but since you put it against no other set than Ripples it must not be bad impression at all (even though it obviously lost the comparison)
Love the comparisons, brother. Good quick impressions! I’m surprised that even with the double filter mod the treble still gets a touch hot on the Olina. Regardless - The ripples seemed to have mopped the floor with both, as to be expected!
I assume that the UPs do what most properly designed IEMs with EST drivers do which is to dampen the DD and BA drivers accompanying the ESTs so that they all put out similar SPL. If they don’t do that, the ESTs are much quieter and essentially get drowned out which is why many early EST IEM designs were pretty terrible. Anyways, that dampening of the DD and/or BA drivers is what generally makes those types of IEMs require more power to drive them to their best.
Again, that’s just an assumption on my part, not having the UPs myself, and there may be other reasons as well. I know that this has been the case with every EST based IEM I have owned and this is the explanation I was given when I asked. The designer/tuner of ThieAudio’s Monarchs explained it on Discord during a Q&A session.
Intresting, thanks for sharing. The tracking says that the UP will be here in 2 days so that’s nice. I’ve got way too many sources so it will be interesting to see how the UP synergizes and scales with various DAC/Amps.
I’ve been thinking about making a comparision between some of my DAC/Amps like Mojo 2, Gryphon, RS2, NX7… but I’m not sure if that’s something people here care much about. I get the impression that this forum predominantly focuses on transducers rather than sources or maybe it’s because I have not lurked around in the other threads as much .
I think the UP is probably the most source selective of all the IEM I own.
AKM and Cirrius Logic chips sound best to me the SHIO is surprisingly good synergy for a cheap option , but you got some baller ones. Nice!
I, for one, would definitely be interested. I have found that my various EST based IEMs synergize well with sources that have a touch of warmth or musicality about them like the Gryphon, some of my R2R and Multibit stuff, etc so it will be interesting to see/read what you come up with. I think people around here are mostly down to exchange ideas and opinions about anything, TBH.
BTW, how do you like the RS2? You wouldn’t happenes to have tried any other portable R2R devices, like the Cayin RU6 or N6ii for instance, that you could compare it to, would you?
Just a stupid question of me guys: Can a IEMs sound worse by dropping? I always put my Thieaudio Legacy 4 in the carrying case after use, the problem is that i dropped the case with the IEMs inside to the floor from my table( about 1m height) like you know, every week lol(mainly by accident, show how silly i am). So does that make my IEMs sound worse when time passing by ?
So for all intents and purposes, the Erasmus replaces the Olina and will stay in my collection as a comfortable IEM to use when I need some passive noise cancellation in the house or on the go.
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