Damn, that looks dope…
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Another comparison that no one asked for! Estrella vs Prestige LTD:
- Prestige LTD has a flatter overall sound, more “Hi-FI”
- Bass is more taut and less emphasized on LTD, and both bring some serious thunder when needed
- Treble is smoother and more refined on LTD; extension is actually pretty even to my ears but LTD just does it more effortlessly
- Vocals (both male and female) are pushed slightly forward on LTD in comparison to Estrella, but both are natural in timbre
- Staging is a tad wider on LTD, depth and separation are great on both (bit of a wash to my ears)
- LTD shells are larger with the higher drive count but smaller footprint in my ears, no issues with comfort on either one but YMMV
- Both of them are extremely enjoyable to listen to and it makes swapping units for A/B hard haha
tl;dr, the LTD is a more refined, ‘mature’ Hi-Fi sound in comparison to Estrella’s excitement out of the box but sheer performance isn’t as far of a leap as many would expect for the price difference. I think we’ve been reaching a point in general where the $100-300 market isn’t far off from most of the kilobuck stuff in terms of actual quality of sound, and I’m a firm believer that diminishing returns are a much smaller margin than they were 3-5 years ago. I am also not a fan of applying the logic of $$$=sound or proposing “giant killers which destroy everything up to $X”, because at the end of the day preferences play into it as much as anything and generalities make for bad comparisons.
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Sweet write up as always, my dude. Thanks for sharing - I had a feeling these two would be pretty close in terms of tuning, but I wasn’t expecting them to be close in terms of SQ in general!
My memory doesn’t serve me as well as I hope it to but I do remember the LTD being a beast of a set
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LTD is for sure one of those sets that immediately sounds great, and with time sounds AMAZING. It’s not one that grabs your attention, but rather lets the music do what it’s supposed to do and just magnifies everything that’s already there. Not gonna lie, it’s been a tad redundant in the collection with Europa and Storm for similar reasons but I just haven’t been able to talk myself into letting it go as it’s such a great reference piece.
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VS
Soon…
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That’s how it sounds when volume matched by ear as well. I am not particularly scientific about it because I spend more energy listening and enjoying (and I had to do the comparisons between home and office lol) but I do my best to give fair crack.
I would reinforce that graphs aren’t everything though, as if you look up Crimson vs LTD on Jay’s database (both of which are my units) they measure VERY close up to the upper treble but the actual character of sound that ends up in your ear is not even close to 1:1.
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Great to hear. Happy to hear.
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Right on, man. I’m not trying to be in the integrity police. It was something I thought I noticed, and I probably read too deeply into it, as usual.
Some call it overthinking. Some call it a tinfoil hat. Take your pick. 
Finally, “established gentleman?” Me? Check’s in the mail, and let me introduce you to my parole officer …
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Damn, that’s what I see two hours into band practice every week …
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You dont do anything “special” with a flute at band practice do you?
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Only Alyson Hannigan gets away with that
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No no, you’re good, brother. I think you’re bringing up a good point here and I won’t call it overthinking or you having a tinfoil hat on, I think it’s more like a very important topic to bring up. Integrity in the hobby is kind of tough to come by, but it’s important to make sure it’s still around. We’re talking about people’s money here!
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Uh, no?
Just a lead singer, man. A true rock diva.
We usually play 30-32 songs per gig, but here’s a shot from the greatest gig of my life, in which I sang just one song. My only daughter’s wedding reception in June. I jumped in with the band for one tune.
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This is awesome, truly something to treasure for the rest of your life!
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Damn, whoever the photographer was for the wedding did a great job, that’s an awesome pic saving a beautiful memory forever! Rock on, brother 
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Anyone that needs a good brain massage or to test their Estrella, this just came on and I can’t deny the smile it brings to my face: https://youtu.be/ktcVwVIVrdY?si=TZMF6h6W_8Qjpd5C
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My Estralias are 18 hours from being shipped!
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I agree - They don’t stand out immediately, at least to me they didn’t. When I had them in my ears, they just came across as a nicely tuned IEM that fit really well. After a while once they set in, though, details and nuances start revealing themselves in a way only a TOTL set can.
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I had been looking for something in the $1,000-$1,500 range for a long time and had settled on the Prestige. But after much consideration I decided it would be another flagship and I was not disappointed. This thing has an incredibly wide and massive stage like I’ve never seen in another IEM and a sub bass to die for. As with most TOTL, the FR is lying here - incredible balance and HI-FI sound. I adore him. Estrella is very good, but second to him, really. But after all, after 2 days of listening, I can say that Estrella does 70% of Glacier’s stuff, despite the different tuning. Both are fantastic IEMs, no doubt. 
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