What a great way to start the new year! I’m already in love…
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Yes and that´s why companies constantly refuse to put PEQ and a good software to their products…it´s not that they could not…they don´t want to! 
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Heck yeah! Since Squig got that equalizer feature it’s been such a QoL improvement for people who EQ or want to get into EQ’ing. I used to use REW and while it accomplished the same thing it was much more of a hassle and there was no way to convince people to try EQ’ing by downloading REW.
Now, you can just point someone to a URL and say “go nuts!”
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Good god damn those are really pretty. Looking forward to the Impressions! Heard some not-so-great things over on Head-Fi so I have my fingers crossed.
// Only relevant for certain tips check update
I’m afraid to say it, but I can see why 
. I’ve been popping in between the MKII and this, and I’m taking issue with a few things (at least with my A/B on the JDS EL III.) I like bodied vocals, and extra midbass can accentuate male ones, but I prefer the Softears Twilight execution over the Prestige as the latter is coming off a bit boomier to me (also more in the background.) There’s a loss in clarity in the mids and an upper-treble “sheen” to vocals that’s not volumetrically strong enough to bother me too much, but still audible.
//
I’ll spend some time doing tip swaps (currenly the same as the MKII, it might need something different).
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That is unfortunate. I’m happy I don’t have that impulsive buy finger and the wallet to match, otherwise I’d be knee deep in IEMs at this point.
Looking forward to your follow up post 
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Oh boyo a new playground has been discovered with this AutoEQ thing.
I created a github repo where I’ll commit all my profiles:
Feel free to contribute.
This is currently only what I played around today.
Some fun and interesting profiles are.
- Tripowin HBB Olina x Fatfreq Maestro Mini
- Moondrop Variations x Mangird Xenns Top
- Kiwi Ears Cadenza x Softears Twilight
- TRN ST5 x Huawei Freebuds Pro 2 + High Shelf
There’s a lot more profiles to follow. The possibilities are almost endless.
Right now I only use the APO profiles.
To Do:
- Create APO/wavelet converter script
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Olina on the maestro mini signature is not where I expected today to go 
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Cadenza transformed into Softears Twilight?! what a bold move!!
Your repo sure does interest me; I take this page in my bookmarks and visit it a bit later, when I’ll have a litlle more time…
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Just keep in mind that there isn’t a negative pre-amp for EQ’d files so it might clip if there is any +dBs.
Mine should be here tomorrow or Monday. I didn’t get that initial wow from the Monarchs, but I could hear the potential for greatness and I did really like them. The graphs of the Prestige make it look like a version of the Monarch with tuning changes exactly where I would like them so I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that they’re closer to that than what you’re hearing.
Sorry they aren’t an immediate home run for you, though.
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Spent the last hour-or-so doing tip swaps. My findings are that deep-insertion/qdc double-flanged tips are necessary for the Prestige to sound its best, and actually end up fixing a lot of the initial gripes I had with the set (less boominess and a lot more mid-clarity.) On the opposite end, the MKII I find is nice as a shallow fit with the 7hz horn tips, but when I use the double-flanged tips, the mids get borked/unresolving. I don’t suggest foams for either one.
(I forgot to mention I received the MKII only a few days prior, so I’m at an initial listening phase with both)
It’s amazing how temperamental IEMs are when it comes to tips/seal/etc. They’re toe to toe now in performance, imo, and any future comparisons will be based on that. Apologies if I threw some people off there, but I think describing the process might be helpful to some. I try to eschew any potential psychoacoustic bias by reporting my initial testing thoughts, but tip-rolling is really important as well.
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Nice to hear that they’re shaping up for you afterall! 
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Since it’s the end of the year, I opened a thread out of curiosity on what others’ value pick is this year (since the market has been so hectic and fast moving). Come say hi! What's your value/budget IEM pick for 2022?
Also, new vid 
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Kinera has partnered with the legendary audio reviewer, Z Reviews (ZeosPantera)
…
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I made a little bit of tidying in my “audio drawer”, and I have found a piece that belongs to a museum:
Behold the almighty Sony xba-C10B.AE !!
I bought them in November 2014 for the eye tearing price of 33.11€.
They were a gift for my wife, and she used them… Twice iirc…
The tips are genuine, but I’m very good shape regarding the conditions they were stored in. The specs say they are a BA set.
I just listened to it and they actually don’t sound that bad. They are warm of course, but not too boomy. The thing they lack, really, is extension in both ways.
Looking back at the specs, no wonder why: they are 100Hz-15kHz. A set that would go out nowadays with that kind of spec would be immediately trashed…
Here is a graph I found on the Web (the axis may be shit, I adjusted them but not very precisely):
The tips are good but a little small, so they need a deep insertion. The separation and resolution aren’t great but again, at 30 bucks in 2014…
I’ll have a little fun tip rolling these, see if I can squeeze a little more performance out of it 
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I saw it at 65€ on a french store. I didn’t pay attention wether it was new or used though.
Prestige are out for delivery! I’m quite excited for this IEM. I hope they sound just like the graph indicates they will. 
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