The saturation of DD and BA/hybrids is different. Those have been the dominant tech for so long that yes you can have the issue of too many sets to deal with.
An analogy to planar would be tvs this year have a brand-new tech QD-OLED. There’s only two tv makers making this new tv (Sony and Samsung). This planar rush is like if 15 companies came out in 2023 with a QD-OLED.
Oversaturation due to a tech being at the mature end of its life cycle is one thing. This kind of release schedule is worse. The people who bought Hook X just got screwed, and the people who are loyal to HBB and have Hook X are especially stuck. The way they’re just throwing planars at the wall and waiting for user beta testing to tell them how to make the REALLY good sets is kinda gross and we’re rewarding the trend
I like HBB, and mostly agree with his tuning preferences, but there is no reason to own both versions of the Hook X. There isn’t enough difference to justify it.
I am very happy that Timeless and S12 satisfied my need for planar IEMs.
I personally believe in planar tech since I discovered the planar magic with my he400i headphones.
For iems, I only tried timeless for now, and they didn’t click.
I have 2 new planars now I bought during 11.11 sales. I’ll see if they suit me more.
What is strange to me in this planar gold rush is that all the tunings are kind of a v-shaped signature for now. The new Solaris and Talos departed from this, so good days may come. In the meantime, we as consumers should exercise caution and wait/refrain from wanting to buy every new set that seems promising. That way we could let the dust settle down and see what’s left from the ashes of the brawl.
P1 Max is a pretty mid-centric, closer to neutral set. But it just never got hyped. I think it’s tangibly better than S12 (I’ll let you know how it is against Timeless soon-ish…maybe).
Have any of you guys seen any impressions on the Mangird Top?
I’m loving the EJ07, but I still feel a black hole in my life that I fear can only be filled by Xenns/Mangird. Maybe I’ll go for the UP at some point as it would seem to have a very different delivery to the EJ07.
I have not heard the Panda, but as far as non-V go, DUNU Talos gets my rec (over dioko as well, but costs double).
As for the V, so far Wu Zetian, with Hook-X coming right behind. I do take HBB’s Hook-X over OG, but my unit seems to have less bass than my OG, so there’s that.
I have high hopes for the planar I’m getting tomorrow and HBB’s WZ.
Yes, naturally I’d want something that gives something else sound-wise. The EJ07 is excellent and I’d be more than set with is as the only higher end IEM to use, but “the hunger grows while eating” as they say in my country.
I gotta disagree with you there. I greatly prefer the S12s. Don’t get me wrong, the P1 Max are quite good, but the S12s are just a smidge better to my ears. But you know what they say, different strokes for different folks, right?
