I know, man, crazy is right. If this is a honeymoon stage, it sure is a long one. I can find faults in all the sets I own, but the faults I find in the Simgot disappear after a while. Whereas with the Monarchs I get fatigued after a while, the DMs don’t fit me the best, and the Minis just have that damn pressure build-up for my ears… I really have to be willing to deal with that when I listen to them. During their honeymoon stage, I didn’t mind it as much but now it’s a different story, unfortunately. I still love them to pieces, tho! Don’t get me wrong.
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So this was my rotation just one month ago. Now it’s this (in no particular order):
Oriolus Szalayi
SoftEars Twilight
ThieAudio Prestige
Campfire Supermoon
TRI i3 (OG) + Ikko OH10
The last two are just super fun to listen to. Since my girl finally forwarded the OH10s to me just recently, I have been pleasantly surprised by how many genres/styles sound good with them. Based on reviews and posts, I was expecting the bass to be borderline overwhelming and relegate them to occasional use on a select few tracks. My experience has definitely been the opposite. They’re definitely an unabashedly v shaped IEM, but they’re still pretty competent and that big bass is tight, agile, sub/mid bass balanced, and it exists in pretty good balance with the treble energy so it works. Edit: Surprisingly, I have found myself really enjoying aome jazz with the OH10s. They make upright bass sound crazy good and they can make tenor and baritone saxophones really rip.
The 64Audio IEMs have been getting a break when it comes to musical enjoyment. I have been using them for monitoring (mostly the A18s) and when it comes time to listen to music, I find myself passing on that presentation because of it.
The OG i3s find their way into my ears often by virtue of their fun and engaging sound and their laid back style which makes them a good pick when relaxing.
The top four are just a murderer’s row of heavy hitters that are just awesome. Each on of those IEMs could easily be a “one and only” for me if it came down to it and make me totally happy and satisfied. They’re all quite different from one another, but, in the end, each one makes me want to listen to music more often and makes it hard to stop once I start. That quality is the single biggest characteristic I look for in a transducer. All of them just have that je ne sais quoi, that “it factor,” about them.
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I’m glad the Szalayi is working out for you!
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Thanks, bro! It has a very dynamic and powerful presentation that is just addicting. The OH10s I got from you have turned out to be quite the pleasant surprise, as well. I am VERY happy with my current IEM lineup. I bought a pair of Monarch Mk2s so I can try them again because I found a few new tip styles that I think might make the fit passable for me, but that’s just to satisfy my curiosity more than anything. Whether they work out or not, I’ve got my bases totally covered.
The ThieAudio Prestige has been exactly what I was hoping it would be. After diggin’ the Excalibur (also from you lol 
), I was hoping ThieAudio would take a crack as a Monarch Mk2 level moderate v that was essentially a more refined version of the Excaliburs. One of my specific desires for that was to see them pull the mids back up a bit because the Excaliburs do bury the beginning of the upper mids a bit too far for my tastes on some songs. When I saw the graph for the Prestige, I knew they had potential to be what I was looking for, but, in the end, the exceeded my hopes.
So basically, I’ve had an awesome run of acquisitions lately and the Szalayis just capped it off. 
Edit: Woah! It let me give you a like…
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I just saw the graphs and the excaliburs are really interesting…
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I thought about moving the Excaliburs after I got the Prestige, but I decided against it. They just do some music so well and I love it. Plus, it took me long enough to find this pair so I’d be burnt if I sold them and then ended up wanting them again. The way I look at it, they aren’t going to bring a lot of money back in so as long as I’m still using them and appreciating them when the fancy strikes, it makes sense to just keep them.
If you want to give them a try we cab probably work that out though.
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Seconded, please? Lol
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The OH10s almost made my top 5 as well but I had to keep it 
- even though I think I’ve fixed my main issue with my particular pair, which was its lack of bass actually, the fit is still something of an issue. The nozzle is so short on these and there’s really nothing for most of my tips to latch onto, so a majority of what I have just slips off and if they don’t, it’s almost like I don’t achieve the most confident of seals. I guess my ears are strange. Sound wise though, I think they hit way above their respective price range - there’s some magic in that solid copper shell. Layering and staging is fantastic to my ears, and I can confirm, jazz does sound amazing with them.
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If you haven’t tried stub tips on the OH10 that’ll give you some extra punch
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yes! I would love to try them out. They graph pretty close to the IE600 so I would love to see if they fall in my wheelhouse
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Okay, we may have to wait until I get home in June because my girl found out that we’re having a kid in about 5 months so she’s been ultra busy getting her work prepared for her to not be there and getting things ready at home for a baby. I’ll bring it up with her if she ends up sending out a package for me or something in the meantime.
Either way, we’ll make it happen. I think they’re an underrated set on the tribrid scene so I’m all for sharing them so my friends know what’s up.
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Any that you’d specifically recommend?
Well fuckin’ A congrats, bro!!!
IEMs can wait. Let your girl do her nesting/prepping thing, that’s way more important.
Also, way to miss the whole first trimester not knowing! HAHAHA I guess it’s lucky that it’s been an easy enough pregnancy that you didn’t find out till now 
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Congratulations to you guys!
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Congrats on the baby!
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Congrats chap 
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Very lowkey way of dropping the baby bomb on us 
Big grats, my dude!
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Congratulations! That is so wonderful!
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Thanks fellas! The reason we didn’t know until about a month ago was because she has a birth control implant and she wasn’t showing at all so there were literally no signs. She went in for a regular check up and mentioned some minor symptoms to her doctor and we found a week later from the blood test they did. The doc says that those implants are like 99.99% effective so we kinda hit the lottery. Both of us are super excited even though it came as a complete surprise. We’re in a good place financially/careerwise for this to happen now so at this point it’s just a race to the finishline to get stuff ready.
I’m gonna have to rearrange some tour dates so I can be around for a bit when it happens. Thankfully her parents are retired and they only love an hour away, but her mom is going to move into our guest suite for a while to help out since one of us (me thankfully) has to keep working to bring home the bacon. Her work allows her to take up to 90 days maternity leave and she has a bunch of sick/vacation days saved up too. As for me, my band is rearranging tour dates so I can take a couple months off right around the due date and I have some breaks scheduled in so basically it looks like it should all work out pretty smoothly.
As for getting you guys the Excaliburs, if she does end up sending me another package before I head home, I’ll have her mail those out too. If not, then we’ll just have to wait until I get home in the first week of June. Sound good?
P.S. PM your addresses to me so that I’ll have them just in case she does send out a package. Whichever one of you is closest to SoCal gets it first unless you guys want to do it in a different order.
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Wow - this is totally a surprise to me, absolutely, this 100% is***** (I literally wrote isn’t but totally meant is, my subconscious got the best of me 
) the first time hearing about you becoming a dad in a few short months 
All the love, dude. You’re going to absolutely kill it being a father, I know it 
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