A.kempersThey are more coherent than CA Vega and Andromeda and outdo the outstanding bass of the Shure SE846 to my ears. I never have been a fan of the Baker's Dozen multi-BA sound, so I don't even consider the usual suspects in that sector to be contenders. They have a soundstage that betters many flagship HEADPHONES. There is NO high frequency stridency (=ear fatigue). The few people who have complained about treble problems are actually hearing phase correlated noise from their DACs' PCM filters and/or feedback induced intermodulation distortion from their amplifiers. These are truly reference level transducers.
A.kempershttps://www.head-fi.org/showcase/imr-acoustics-r1.22682/reviews
"compared to the Vega the R1 has greater quantity of bass (black filter) and I want to say better quality as well. Hits harder because it has a bit more midbass and has greater potential for eq, maybe because of the size difference (13mm vs. 9mm)..."
"Bass on the R1 hits harder, cleaner and deeper. The 2.5 has a lot more midbass and it colors the whole presentation, making it warmer and more mellow. Mids on the 2.5 are veiled and lack detail comparably, a lot more recessed..."