Dr. Lobotomy said:
Anyone used these?
This is my first foray into IEM's. I bought these based on rec from the people on Scott's Bass Lessons.
My experience after a couple of gigs is that they are very detailed but also very brittle/thin sounding.
Is this the expectation for an IEM?
It's fine, I can hear everything and in general it's an improvement over our previous monitoring woes at the back of the stage. But, because the bass tone is so brittle it makes it challenging to get a feel for how I sit in the mix and at times it changes how I play.
Does the tone improve when you spend much more for the real professional ears (the ones that cost $1000+ and have custom molding) or is it just the detail that improves?
I started out in the same place...
I have a set of the ZX10Pro, and they worked well for home practice, but found they're a bit scooped and bass heavy for me live along with slightly harsh upper end. I also found them difficult to keep in my ears due to the thickness and the weight of that outer metal plate. I find I want a whole lot less scoop in the mix so I can hear my note definition, and often have a stage amp for the guys in the band who don't wear ears, so I end up with way too much low end (I actually HPF my ear mix above 120hz most of the time, the rest blows by the seals from the stage and everything is way cleaner that way). I ended up buying a set of Truthear Pure which are an update to the Hexas and are even "more neutral" with more present mids.
I ordered these, and the Pure at the same time, and sent the Hexa back:
Truthear Hexa
Truthear Pure
They're both really good, but I like the cable better on the Pure, and on paper the slightly flatter curve shoudl serve me better as stage IEMs. Both of these are 4 driver (1 dynamic, 3 balanced armature).
I also have a set of these, which are very good as well:
Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red (what a name!)
These are a little more scooped than the Hexa and Pure, but are very good sounding all in all. These a dual dynamic driver, and are currently 52.99 on amazon. There's a Blue version which has a little low end, maybe a bit more scooped.
The 'Crinacle' in the name is the username name of a headphone and IEM reviewer with a big following. He's got his name on a few colaborations with Chi-Fi IEM makers, and one branded "Crinear". He seems to prefer a neutral response without massive bass hype, and smooth upper mid and highs. He has a reference curve he prefers, which is a little flatter than the supposed "neutral" Harmon curve. You can find a list of his revewed and "approved" IEMS
here, with test response curves and other info. The Hexa and Pure are on that list, as well as his collabs and, including teh one above. That site is also a good searchable database of a lot of IEMS - with test results from crinacle and other reviewers- including Ultimate Ears, 64 Audio, and other high dollar musician IEMS- so you can visualize and compare the differences if that interests you.
One of his other collabs sells for about $23, the
7Hz x Crinacle Zero:2 - I have that one too. It's shockinly good sounding for the money, but doesn't handle the low note amplitude as well as the other to use it daily as a bass player IEM. I do like them for music listening though, and at this price, they're probably a reasonable backup to keep in your gig bag.
Sorry for the long winded rant - but I should mention the ear tips too- With any of them, you'll of course need to try some different ones to get a comfortable reliable seal. The sound will change a bit with different types (foam, silicone), as well as the shape of the tips, because it'll affect how far they go into your ears. I have fairly large ear canals and find I need to often use the largest ones, but my ears taper too, making it hard to get many of them to stay in, and with longer nozzles, I am often better off with medium tips. I've tried quite a few from Comply foam, to several models of SpinFit, and one called Dunu S&S which are silicone, but don't taper like most silicone buds, and for whatever reason stay in my ears better than most.
