I think Zeos nailed it in his review: the S4 isn’t going to be for “musical enjoyment”. It’s a “work IEM”. Those are truly monitor sets, of the highest caliber, for analyzing the midrange first and foremost
1 Like
As soon as I heard him say they were “not for musical enjoyment”, my brain retorted “THIS IS NEUTRAL-HEAD ERASURE!”. I feel like it’s an unfair statement to simply declare them as “sterile and joyless” because it’s not your preferred style, but he does deal in hyperbole so for his typical audience, it’s fine.
4 Likes
Definitely, well, according to the tuning of course. Timmy praised its mid range performance, calling it up there with the Monarch and the OG Oracles and that’s some serious praise if you ask me. Subjectively, I’d say that the OG DMs have a more favorable Mid-range for me personally, being slightly warm tilted.
3 Likes
Perspective matters in the statements. When Zeos is saying something like that we have to remember he’s not listening for the same things as Timmy:
I’m more in line with Zeos than Timmy and felt like P5 was lacking musicality. I think it’s very clean and a great monitor/work IEM but didn’t find musical enjoyment in them. Timmy would strongly disagree with me on that. But S4 is absolutely doubling down on what P5 was going for, so I think it’s a fair statement from my perspective. I feel like Timmy would not see it that way.
Doesn’t make either perspective wrong. It’s just understanding where someone is coming from when they say what they say.
Also, I absolutely do not partake in that “neutralhead erasure”. I actively point out that from the graph, S4’s seminal purpose is to portray the midrange as best as possible. I think that best gets done from a neutral playback. So if it hits the marks for people that want that clean a playback, then I’m happy for you all.
I just know P5 didn’t do it for me, S4’s graph is even more pronounced in the reasons why I didn’t click with P5, and I agree with Zeos’ explanation of his opinion from my perspective.
But I wish everyone who wants S4 the best experience possible.
4 Likes
Anyone remember this list Crin had years ago?
https://web.archive.org/web/20210226102544/https://crinacle.com/hype-monitor/
Lovely timeline of hyped iems.
5 Likes
I remember the Triple Fi 10s being the first IEMs that some of my non-musician and non-hed geat aficionado friends actually knew about and that some actually ordered. It seemed like just about anyone who was even tangentially aware of IEMs was talking about them at one point in the early 2010s. That was probably the first IEM hype train that I was aware of. Thanks for the walk down memory lane…
2 Likes
Just ordered the legato from linsoul. I’m hoping I’m one of the first orders and it ships out quick! Will report back once I get them
6 Likes
I placed an order too. This video has had my very interested in what the “Big Speaker Box Sound” will be an IEM. I know it graphs similar to the Rosefinch however, the dual DD has me more interested in Legato.
4 Likes
Did you grab the reservation code or no?
I’m glad to hear someone here is getting them, I’ll wait to see what you think as I know how you’ve described other sets
2 Likes
I’ll definitely do a review A/Bing them with the Rosefinch since they are almost the same FR.
5 Likes
I’m going to wait and see how this turns out. I’m gonna let you tell us how worth it the upgrade from Rosefinch to Legato is.
Looking forward to it
2 Likes
Legato on order as well!
1 Like
Sounds posh for Lego? 
Yup still playing with toys!
1 Like
Lol we’re gonna have to specify which Rosefinch we’re talking about now.
2 Likes
We’ve already been over this. There’s only one OG, and if you know, you know
1 Like
So I´ve been to Switzerland last weekend to audition a few IEMs and wanted to share a few words, nothing special and not in depth at all.
I went to Zürich with my girlfriend and met Tom, the owner of audio essence who was more than kind and helpful when we were in contact via mail before.
If you get the chance to go to Zürich make sure to visit Tom, he is one of us, an absolute enthusiast who made his hobby to his job 
Tom brought the following IEMs for me to listen to (ranked from “cheap” (lol) to
" 
"
Oriolus Szalayi, Unique Melody MEST MKII, 64Audio Nio, 64Audio U12t, Aroma Audio Thunder, Nostalgia Audio Camelot, Empire Ears Legen Evo
I started with EVO and was utterly impressed 
THAT BASS!! Yes, it is elevated, it is elevated a lot, BUT, it is of such good quality it´s nothing like I´ve ever experienced before.
It definitely isn´t just a bass canon. It creates a unique atmosphere that will immerse you fully into the music you are listening to.
The midrange is really good and did not seem recessed at all and the treble is well extended, detailed and nothing is missing but ofcourse it is not the ariest/sparkliest of IEMs but that was to be expected with that amount of Bass.
Technicalities are very good and I would describe Evo as a very capable audiophile Basscanon which is not only for Bassheads.
To make it short: I am in love! 
Afterwards Both U12t and Nio did not really catch me. U12t is technically very good and nothing to fault really but it also did not give me any emotions I guess that´s why many people call it borderlining to boring.
Don´t really have much to say about Nio, it just did not click while it was good and i enjoyed it.
Then came Aroma Audio Thunder which was quite nice but cheap cable and also nothing that catched me.
Then there was Szalayi and another “wow” effect…there it was again, the emotion. Szalayi sounds bold and smooth with really nice stage…i was impressed right from the begining.
It looks stellar and the build quality is also very nice BUT it is chonky and somewhat misshaped. EVO is bigger but fits SO MUCH BETTER.
I did not tip roll with Szalyi but I am sure i could have get a slightly better fit with other tips (I used Tri Clarion Tips for all other IEMs and fit was always good, maybe Xelastecs would have helped with Szalayi)
I mean it was sitting in my ear and i got a good seal but it was sitting strangely and most likely it would easily loose fit when wearing a hood or whatever.
After that I listened to Nostalgia Audio Camelot, of which I have not heard before.
Technicalities were also really impressive and gave me another wow effect. Tonality wise it was very good but I would have wished for a little more Subbass.
Next came MEST MKII and there was another “fuck yeah” moment…that stage…fantastic! Energetic but maybe a tiny bit too energetic or not enough bass for me to balance it out.
Nevertheless it left me impressed and i thought about getting it because of what it can do technicaly.
All these IEMs did not get nearly enough listening time from my side but with a “shortlist” like that you need to trust your first impressions.
And my “shortlist” was even longer but not all demo units were available
I did not get a chance to listen to 64Audio Trio, Empire Ears Legend X and Valkyrie MKII.
This audition definitely showed me that for me it is more important that an IEM gives me a wow moment/emotions and that only technicalities will not achieve that.
After all there is this one big question
WHO NEEDS A KIDNEY?
Because i do need EVO in my life 
12 Likes
Awesome breakdown, bro! Thanks for sharing your impressions. I was pretty impressed when I heard the Evos as well, even though the tuning isn’t my cup of tea. How they maintain that level of bas quantity and quality is truly crazy. I just picked up a pair of the Szalayis and my reaction to them was very much in line with yours. They’re such a dyanmic and smooth IEM to listen to. I have really been enjoying them over the last week or so since I got them.
3 Likes
