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doctorpangloss
6
Mar 27, 2018
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Just received mine.
- The nozzles turned out to be maybe even 1mm larger than Westone and Shure nozzles, which is too bad. - They sound muddier than the Westone 4R using the included Comply tips. - They sound and seal better with tri-flange tips, but they don't ship with them. - The microphone is positioned poorly, it falls somewhere in the middle of my belly. It should really be positioned where it is with iPhone headphone cables, on the right headphone's cable. - EQ adding another 20db to the 10khz-20khz range significantly reduces the muddiness of the sound. This is consistent with their frequency response (https://www.innerfidelity.com/images/NuForcePrimo8.pdf) and compared to the Westone 4R (https://www.innerfidelity.com/images/Westone4R.pdf). With respect to my personal preferences, my hearing is pretty consistently good and I'm a classically trained musician. - You get less telephoning with braided cables than the one it ships with.
With EQ, they sound as good as the 4-armature Westones. That's a big achievement! I got my W4 used for $180 in 2013, so this is a pretty great deal in that respect.
To put something more concrete to a description of the detail: - EQ greatly improves the rendering of noisey/glitchy music and church & chamber reverb. It's super clear. - For noisey artists like Sleigh Bells, Anamanaguchi and Marnie Stern, all the harmonic interference and heterodyne comes in great. - Contraltos and mezzo-sopranos don't sound as good as they do on the Westones. This would be the vast majority of the female voices in Indie music I listen to. It's just a little clipped and muddy. - Baritones in the contemporary music sound a little muddy too. - High voices come through less muddily generally. - EQ improves the quality of voices overall.
This is consistent with the Westone 4, but exceeds the $100 Shure E3C lineage of IEMs.
The detachable cable will be handy and I'm glad this uses the contemporary MCMX standard.
The copy on Amazon indicates these are Knowles drivers (i.e. use the Knowles patents). I wonder who manufactures these.
Mar 27, 2018
Jyri
818
Nuforce
Mar 27, 2018
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doctorpanglossThese are A-stock new pairs. Normally in the beginning of product life cycle development, certification etc costs are amortized within the price and as total volumes go up manufacturing costs go down. What we did with our suppliers under year ago is that we agreed to do one more production round and everyone agreed to cut costs so that we can push the price down. So the trick is - crazy good expensive IEMs at a bargain price. :-)
- Jyri/NuForce
Mar 27, 2018
doctorpangloss
6
Mar 27, 2018
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JyriI went ahead and edited my notes after getting a hold of better tips.
Mar 27, 2018
FOBean
125
Mar 28, 2018
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doctorpanglossI guess everyone hears things differently, because I think that the Primo 8 sound a little bit lean in the low-end and have a great high-end to them LoL 😁 But I've also burned them in for around 50+ hours so far.
Kinda Crazy how everyone hears things Completely different from each other!
Overall they're really good sounding IEM's IMO, and if I didn't need my car worked on ASAP, I'd definitely be keeping them!
But for now my Westone UM Pro 30's and Nuforce EDC IEM's will do me just fine and I'm content with the both of those for right now!😎👍🎧
Mar 28, 2018
FOBean
125
Mar 28, 2018
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doctorpanglossTo my knowledge, the Primo 8 IEM's do NOT use Knowles Balanced Armature Drivers. The HEM lineup (2, 4, 6, 8), all use the Knowles BA Drivers though, correct?
Can you confirm that Jyri?
Mar 28, 2018
FOBean
125
Mar 28, 2018
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doctorpanglossAlso, I use my Comply Size 100 Isolation+ tips with my Nuforce and Westone IEM's, and I have no problem using them with both nozzle sizes FWIW.
So they might be a little bit tight fit at first, but like I said, my Comply tips fit the both of them great IMO!
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Mar 28, 2018
gemmoglock
63
Mar 31, 2018
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doctorpanglossHi you mentioned you are classically trained. Do violins sound realistic on these? An issue I've had on some IEMs is that the violins sound thin and slightly shrill due to lack of treble extension.
Mar 31, 2018
doctorpangloss
6
Mar 31, 2018
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gemmoglockI took a listen to https://open.spotify.com/track/6p7qLtTZzjPZpyA8EKUNX0 (a brand-new recording of material I'm pretty familiar with) in 320kbps and it sounds pretty good to me.
It sounds better with EQ that boosts the treble, which looks like https://www.dropbox.com/s/rg8kbckm5pre9kf/Screenshot%202018-03-30%2018.43.24.png?dl=0 . High notes on the GDA strings come out better, like I hear the timbre better. The reverb sounds better, and that does a lot for how these recordings are done (on stages, not anechoic chambers). Otherwise I wouldn't say it's that much of a difference.
I'm pretty sure classical recordings are already mixed to help high strings a bit better, so it's really tough to say without listening to a ton of recordings. Older recordings (I'm thinking Heifetz) sound like old recordings.
If I pump the volume up to 50% of the MacBook's output (a reported "-12 db"), which is quite loud on these headphones, the difference between treble-boosted and flat is less noticeable. When it's very loud, it's all a little tough to listen to, so it's hard to say.
This is straight out of the MacBook Pro 2016's audio output, I don't use a headphone amp or anything like that.
On this machine I don't have any FLAC audio to test. I'll try it later.
Mar 31, 2018
gemmoglock
63
Mar 31, 2018
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doctorpanglossThanks for the quick reply! I'm trying to cross shop these with UE900 and Brainwavz B400. I use a Pinnacle PX/P1 and have liked a demo of the Sennheiser HD600. Are there any comparisons that you have with other earphones?
Mar 31, 2018
hiilari
70
Apr 23, 2018
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doctorpangloss20 dB sounds like a HUGE boost in the last octave. But my Primo8's sure lack treble sparkle and extension compare dto UE900 or even the nice& affordable NuForce Massdrop EDC. That's why my initial impression ws a huge disappointment. But first impressione sometimes are - I hope some burn-in helps.
Apr 23, 2018
doctorpangloss
6
Apr 24, 2018
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hiilariI’m pretty confident about the lack of treble, both based on the real measurements and listening. Maybe it’s improved on better amplified sources. I listen on the iPhone X’s lightning adapted connection with Spotify extreme codec.
Regarding comparisons to other headphones I’m most familiar with the Westone 4 and it’s a little less flat sounding. It also costs a lot more. A $30 pair of Sony amplified headphones sound better than both. It’s not a really fair comparison, if you want to use over ear headphones they will almost all sound better than the Primo8 or indeed any IEM.
Apr 24, 2018
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