[roadrat]

After a year of tip rolling, I finally settled on and love the Sennheiser Silicone Eartips for IE 40 PRO....on the IE900

 

[RIGATIO]

I use own comply foam stock eartips. I heard that these tips reduce the treble, but unfortunately they do not. I guess there is no choice but to sell it. I will buy Beyerdynamic xelento 2.

Hah, im just comparing the ie900 to the Xelento 2 and have them both on hand and want to decide which one im gonna keep. So could post some impressions later.
I also ordered the Truthear Nova to compare a completely different tuning approach. The Novas are the closest thing to the Harman 2019 in iem world right now, if im not mistaken. Will have them on saturday.

 

[RIGATIO]

The stock foam tips give me a horrible sound with the ie900. There is lack of bass and the trebles are piercing.

 

[RIGATIO]

I use own comply foam stock eartips. I heard that these tips reduce the treble, but unfortunately they do not. I guess there is no choice but to sell it. I will buy Beyerdynamic xelento 2.

The Xelento 2s are definitely safer if the high tones of the ie900 bother you. The ie900 are more analytical and "cleaner" and there are moments when the trebles are rougher.
I went through the most problematic songs i know and there wasnt even one moment when Xelento didnt sound smooth and safe, even on high volumes.
The ie900 are very smooth too (smoother than the u12t for example), but their trebles are definitely boosted. On the other hand, these are the only set of this type that somehow never bothers me and im very sensitive to the uneven trebles. Their trebles have great quality and they manage to never push this goodness this one step further, where they would become sibilant.
Xelento 2 are warm, safe, very detailed but there will be shock for you when you switch from the ie900. You will have an impression of a very bassy and warm sound. At first they can appear as less separated and clean. But there is everything there but served in a different manner.
Xelento have this huge, concert-like sound with monstrous bass and all the details are more blended with the rest of the music but all is still there. Its like a huge wall of sound that surrounds your head.
Ie900 are cleaner, precise and they also create very good soundscape impression but more like you are in between sounds popping up around your head.
Xelento have definitely more midbass and they kick harder, with a very tight punch. Ie900's midbass isnt as powerful and is softer. Their main focus is on the subbas which is amazing- deep, insanely detailed and layered. Xelento have similar amount of subbass but is bit more rounded.

 

[Metalingus]

View attachment IMG_0435.jpeg

Experienced $100 vs. $1000 IEMs. Here are my thoughts.

Few days ago i acquired these from a retailer that offers no questions asked return policy and i was lacking IEM’s so gave these a try.

I find IE 100 to be great improvement over my pair of Airpods Pro 2. More refined, darker background which i really miss coming from Noise Cancelling pairs which even best of them has a hiss. Tight and controlled bass, clear mids and slight roll of at treble.

IE 900 after IE 100 blasts your face off with significant increase in clarity, more layered bass and definitive impact and slam. Slightly wonky mids which i like better on cheaper IEM, more sparkly treble but 0 fatigue.

My test tracks were;
Billie Jean, September (based on December), Hotel California, Veto and Breathe by Jax Jones.

Source: iFi iDSD Diablo with IE Match, Lightning dongle, Apple Music Lossles.

After switching back and forth i didn’t find any value in keeping IE 900. Despite being a clearly better IEM’s, i find myself reaching out to my HD 600 at home which are clearly better than these tiny IEM’s. For the 1/10th of value with better mids and comfort and no stupid cable connectors IE 100 was no brainer. Kept IE 100, returned the IE 900. Wish i was rich enough to have both.

View attachment IMG_0200.jpeg

Bonus picture above: I tried Astell Kern x Campfire Pathfinder above and it was leagues above any other IEM’s i’ve ever heard till this date. Fit, finish, package, cable etc. was entirely different experience made me wonder how their higher end models compare. Which i get to test at the end of May. If i’m shelling out $1K for IEM, i might spend $1.5K to get these instead which price is no concern after all…

Thanks for reading.

 

[MusicalDoc8]

Experienced $100 vs. $1000 IEMs. Here are my thoughts.

Few days ago i acquired these from a retailer that offers no questions asked return policy and i was lacking IEM’s so gave these a try.

I find IE 100 to be great improvement over my pair of Airpods Pro 2. More refined, darker background which i really miss coming from Noise Cancelling pairs which even best of them has a hiss. Tight and controlled bass, clear mids and slight roll of at treble.

IE 900 after IE 100 blasts your face off with significant increase in clarity, more layered bass and definitive impact and slam. Slightly wonky mids which i like better on cheaper IEM, more sparkly treble but 0 fatigue.

My test tracks were;
Billie Jean, September (based on December), Hotel California, Veto and Breathe by Jax Jones.

Source: iFi iDSD Diablo with IE Match, Lightning dongle, Apple Music Lossles.

After switching back and forth i didn’t find any value in keeping IE 900. Despite being a clearly better IEM’s, i find myself reaching out to my HD 600 at home which are clearly better than these tiny IEM’s. For the 1/10th of value with better mids and comfort and no stupid cable connectors IE 100 was no brainer. Kept IE 100, returned the IE 900. Wish i was rich enough to have both.



Bonus picture above: I tried Astell Kern x Campfire Pathfinder above and it was leagues above any other IEM’s i’ve ever heard till this date. Fit, finish, package, cable etc. was entirely different experience made me wonder how their higher end models compare. Which i get to test at the end of May. If i’m shelling out $1K for IEM, i might spend $1.5K to get these instead which price is no concern after all…

Thanks for reading.

Headphones mog IEM. IEM mog absoloutely no one in the same price range and only thrive on their portability and being able to be stored in a pocket whereas a HP needs more carrying space.
A 1:1 price range will end up favoring the HP, and in my experience even if the IEM costs twice as much as the HP, the HP wins.
IEM are basically "ok so now i have the best HP but i gotta go outside for work and i can't carry them so i buy something giving me 8/10 of the HP experience at twice the cost". At least this is my personal experience.

 

[mathi8vadhanan]

Headphones mog IEM. IEM mog absoloutely no one in the same price range and only thrive on their portability and being able to be stored in a pocket whereas a HP needs more carrying space.
A 1:1 price range will end up favoring the HP, and in my experience even if the IEM costs twice as much as the HP, the HP wins.
IEM are basically "ok so now i have the best HP but i gotta go outside for work and i can't carry them so i buy something giving me 8/10 of the HP experience at twice the cost". At least this is my personal experience.

Yep, Different tools for different jobs. Good luck trying to power a full size HP out of portable devices.

 

[MarkParity]

Yep, Different tools for different jobs. Good luck trying to power a full size HP out of portable devices.

Plenty of portable devices are more than good enough to drive most full size headphones. Would you consider the Focal Stellia a full-size headphone, it certainly has a full-size price and can even be driven from a smartphone, assuming it has a headphone socket of course.

 

[MusicalDoc8]

Yep, Different tools for different jobs. Good luck trying to power a full size HP out of portable devices.

meanwhile my lcd5 can be driven even by my humble r6pro2, and my heartland and xc don't need much power. and I tried the hd800, I have no nice things to say about them so I won't say what I think