I was just at the NYC CanJam hosted by Head-fi. I would never buy a high end IEM without hearing it first...Find a way to listen to them before you pull the $1000 trigger...
CamoGekoReally, the only alternative is Amazon due to their lax return policy. And that's if they offer what you're looking for in the first place. Guitar Centers in my area used to be great for sampling different sets but nowadays they don't demo units or get anything worthwhile in anymore. Same with Best Buy in their Magnolia section.
IcefalkonAwesome! Did you get to listen to anything new that we should be excited about? I wanted to go but couldn't justify the trip.
Honestly I think it was kind of shitty of them to hold canjam over the Chinese New Year.... Very inconvenient for the Asian companies.
SciHoboYes there are some GREAT new things coming out. One of the most amazing are the iBasso IT01's for $99....I'm nor joking...they sound AMAZING. The other thing they had was an IT04 that honestly sounded better than Campfire Audio's best (the Andromeda). I also checked out the $3600 Tia Forte's...nice, but not for that price. To my ears, there were better sounding IEM's for a lot less money. Empire Ears have some phenomenal IEM's...custom and universal. Jerry Harvey Audio even cleaned my Angies and gave me a new balanced cable!
Audeze and ZMF had some amazing stuff as well. I also spent some time at Westone...but I wasn't impressed.
Now onto the whole Chinese New Year thing...Dude, that wasn't a problem for ANY of the Chinese manufacturers...they simply had reps from the United States or their dealerships show up and man their booths. The Canjam was also over at 7 Saturday and 5pm Sunday so we were all able to see our families in Chinatown.
IcefalkonThey it01 are out, I might have to buy them to compare to the tfz king pro.... Any ideas what the it04 will go for? I haven't seen much on those, but if they best the Andromeda, that's high praise.
SciHoboThe IT01's are ridiculous. No one could believe they were $99...seriously. There was a guy from Headphone Guru there putting them through the pace and he was like these things sound like $300 dollar IEM's. The IT04 are supposed to be released this week or next. They had 3 Knowels drivers and one dynamic driver. They sounded FANTASTIC. They are going to be $499 or something like that. Under $500...
IcefalkonThat sounds very attractive, 3ba plus dynamic is the sweet spot for me, I'll have to wait for specs, might not be able to use them if they're extremely low impedance like the andromeda.
As for the it01 that's how I feel about the tfz king pro, they're astonishing. I'll have to order them, can get them prime from Amazon already...
OneLoveHuh? What are you talking about? Oh that guy, his name is Todd something. His wife is one of the eye candy girls at one of the booths. Everyone was amazed...lol.
IcefalkonWell, so much for self control, my it01 will arrive at my office on Wednesday.... Thanks stranger on the internet!
Tried to get myself to hold off for the 04 but in the end, well, I have a problem.
I prefer a neutral to touch of warm sound actually. I didn't say that they sound better than the Andromeda's...I mean, come on...the Andy's are $1200 and the IT01's are $100. They aren't in the same weight class.
IcefalkonI think I have an account from several years back, but you're what they call an "enabler", aren't you! I read plenty of head fi threads, I just don't want to start posting or I'll go even further down this rabbit hole.
I'm trying to keep this obsession at least borderline healthy... It's a losing battle.
SciHoboHa! very true. For me, it's how much a year I allow myself to spend on it. I usually trade or buy/sell my can's and IEM's on the head-fi for sale thread. You always get great deals there from people who want to try different stuff.
I'm not an enabler...I'm an addict just like you lol.
IcefalkonThat might be what gets me, I have a lot of gear that I really don't use because I impulse buy everything. Really should sell some of it to further feed my addiction.... I was addicted to this stuff in high school 20 years ago, but it's all so much better now that all of it is pretty amazing comparatively.
Still need to replace my 10 year old HT receiver and 20 year old paradigm and jmlabs home speakers for something modern to see how that's progressed.... IEMs are crazy now, my ancient first gen etymotic er4p ($400 I think) sound like shit compared to any of my newer IEMs starting at 60 bucks.
SciHoboIf you're into home theater, definitely check out all the tech for Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and Dolby Vision. A lot of 4k BluRays are coming out with properly mastered tracks and it all just sounds amazing on a properly co figured system. Just be prepared to spend a pretty penny. Receivers have really come a long way so I would start there as you'll be able to reap a lot more benefit before upgrading your loudspeakers and subs.
SciHoboYes Jay's absolutely right. At the NYC CanJam there were a few "systems" manufacturers there with high end audio setups. Ha...not just the Sennheiser HE1 (their $80,000 rig)...but Cayin had some great home theater system setups as well. Go back on Head-fi and put your stuff up for sale. For the right price I can pretty much guarantee someone will buy it.
Yes, IEM's have blown up. It's funny for me, as I've been into IEM's for a decade and a half...but to see some young "kids" (millennial's) trying to school us more experienced fans is amusing. I tried everything from the $20 Chi-fi cheapo's...to the $3600 64 Audio Tia Forte's...
IcefalkonI came back into IEMs last year, and I'm just blown away by the value of equipment nowadays. I remember buying a 200 dollar headroom amp that distorted like mad with any headphones, the ety er4p, shure e2c, akg 501k and others. Now if you drop 200 dollars on an amp you're getting a pretty awesome amp. And those e2c IEMs were 100 dollars at the time and in no universe are they comparable to the 60-100 dollar IEMs today. The 3-400 etys are even easily outclassed in that pricerange now. I get my hiby r6 soon and can't wait to experiment with balanced, any recommendations for IEMs around 500 other than the it04?
OneLoveThat's the chocolate vs. vanilla ice cream argument. They're both equal and really boil down to whatever little nits you require. Yamaha tends to have better bluetooth, networking and app features so I tend to side with them over Denon and Onkyo. Also, YPAO and their customizable EQ is great. Their Aventage line is really value-packing for its price point.
jaydunndidditAbout 10 years ago I was a Yamaha fan. Their recent offerings lack features that can be found on a Denon at the same price point. Denon and Marantz are sister companies. I would avoid Onkyo like the plague unless you need a cheap HTIB for the basement. (Too many issues for me). I still love Yamaha, i just don't want to pay $1200 for the basics.