New girl just dropped in from out of town:
Rikubuds Grand Alter Saber 2
Impressions to follow once I’ve had some time with her!
EDIT: Yeah, no, these things are stupid good. I don’t know if it’s the fact that the Val39 shell lets me get a deeper fit than other buds I have tried, but these hit all the notes just right for me. The only minor nitpick may be that vocals seem to be pulled back JUST SLIGHTLY in the mix, but per the description, male and female vocals are even and uncolored in the best way. Kudos to the chef @Rikudou_Goku , you knocked it out of the park with these again! It immediately had me looking at the other Gen2 offerings, but I honestly don’t think that I need another set with these in hand. The most astonishing part is the bass; I have other sets that have more quantity, but the impact and texture of bass on these is nuts (again, I think it may be down to personal fit as much as tuning and tech) all without being out of control. I even used these last night for my annual holiday viewing of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, and the way subtle things like the turning of a page or a cap being placed on a pen popped out in the audio mix was crazy. Dialogue of characters off-screen legitimately had me turning my head like they were next to me.