Elysian Acoustic Labs - Annihilator (2020)

me believe high-end iems is worth it as they offered more capabilities in their tech savvy stuff. we can eq everything but it's limited to the hardware that offered inside the iems. yeah, we can tweaks eq in cheappo thrash apple earpods till we get our personal likings. but still it won't beat the high-end mk4 or anni or anything that named high-end.

+1 I prefer it over my annihilator and mest mk2

It's the Elysian annihilator

As expected of any hollow resin shell iems but I feel like they're quite high quality. Wouldn't feel confident dropping it though.

https://preview.redd.it/mfe7nhgbdmnf1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=506709efb3de3d31c874f4e78b603b59a4db16c7 By far, the annihilator and not a lot of things are as good.

I mean the day the elysian annihilators driver configuration and tuning which is a price you pay for is offered at 50$. I think price always carries a level of return that you inherently purchase. But it must hurt knowing you haven’t listened to a expensive iem and compared it to something much cheaper.

Yup. When it comes to treble, Annihilators are on a league of its own. I heard the Hex gets close though but 3x the price + 3x the wait time = no thanks lol I'll probably buy on the secondary market if it appears... problem is they get snatched superfast, just like subtonic storms but I heard the storm and it's not my cup of tea.

Annihilators have the best treble I’ve ever heard. It’s a very sweet sounding treble.

Ok so this if from my personal experience.... I have several iem range from sub 100 until 500 some I lent to my friends or I just keep on my house...I have several friends which audio hobbyist they have audio store so I have opportunity to try before I buy one..so someday I want buy 1000usd iem, read reddit and head-fi forum then go to my friend store...so I tried moondrop chu2 compare to my kadenz yes the quality is very different, compare again with letshuoer s15 the s15 better than my kadenz for my taste...so when I put monarch mk3 it's blow my ear, damn this iem so amazong and I decide to bought it....then several weeks later my friend call me then say I have 64audio tia demo and annihilator just come....with fully excited I'm going there when I tried both of them, I dont feel WOW like I tried monarch mk3 the first time then at that time I realize, mk3 is my peak and I cant tell the significant difference between mk3 - annihilator and tia So thats why I like to try and buy several 100-500usd iem and sometimes sub100 too because I can tell the difference and I can choose whats signature I want..like a week ago I choose simgot ea500lm rather than ew300 because I found the sound more aggresive because mostly my iem is warm and neutral.... So from my story, I have limitation and taste for me, spent 1000 iem in monarch mk3 is one of the best choise I ever made and beyond that price point my ears cant tell fhe difference so..but back again thats my experience and opinion....

My perception of bass is strong so Annihilator has enough bass for me and beyond that the songs just become boomy unless bass is vented like in Grand Maestro you can hear elevated bass yet songs never become boomy as ut is vented. So Grand Maestro is my absolute bass head IEM. Empire Ears Legend Evo in my opinion the bass bloats the low end

> if I have the FR graph for the Annihilators then I can easily just EQ my Hexas such that the EQed Hexa graph matches the Annhiliator graph This is a super common mistake people make. That does not work. For several reasons: 1. The graphs are smoothed 2. The graphs are not completely accurate anyway 3. The graphs may be measured at different insertion depths 4. The graphs are measured on a simulated ear, not a real human ear and certainly not *your* ear What you actually need to match is FR at the eardrum. Not any eardrum, *your* eardrum. That needs to be done by ear. And that's something hardly anyone actually has the skills to do. So while technically it's accurate to say it's all just FR and you can do pretty much anything with EQ, it does leave out that for the vast majority of people, it's effectively impossible. It's not even something you can just pay an expert do do for you, because they have no way to hear what you hear. What's more likely to happen (especially if you use AutoEQ) is that you'll make any peaks/dips in the treble [worse](/r/headphones/comments/1ivy4u7/how_measurement_error_hurts_eq/).

Adding my top 5 that I've personally owned. 1. Ice Labs Spectrumica (bought new, under 2k) - 2. Forte Mefisto (bought second hand for $1850) 3. Elysian Annihilator (under 2k second hand) 4. Thieaudio Valhalla ($1600) 5. Symphonium Crimson (around $1500) Others in this price range I've owned that don't make the cut Monarch Mk4, Monarch Mk3, IER-Z1R, UM Multiverse Mentor, Elysian Diva

I bought the Elysian Annihilators, and returned them without issue from the company. Shipping internationally was another story though. If you’re willing to spend that much, just go to CanJam.

The Elysian Annihilators are definitely a fantastic set, but I get the need for something that really brings the bass for genres like hip-hop. Out of the ones you’re considering, the FatFreq Grand Maestro is a solid choice! It’s known for delivering powerful, impactful bass while maintaining great clarity and detail—perfect for hip-hop. The Omega is also a strong contender, but if you’re looking for that extra bass depth and slam, I think the Grand Maestro could really complement your Annis. Have you had a chance to hear them yet, or are you still deciding based on reviews?

I have a somewhat different take on this. I collect high-end iems and own most of what people call the S+/S tier. First, let’s get it out of the way - I’m fortunate enough to have more money than common sense. No one needs 20 iems that cost $1,000 - $8,000 each. With that out of the way, I never EQ any of them. Why? I assume (perhaps incorrectly) that the designer had an objective goal/sound in mind when they created the iem. To me, EQing a high-end iem would be like buying a Monet painting and adding a little more blue paint because that’s your favorite color. To be sure, I understand that the iem does not sound exactly the same in my ears, with my tips, and with my source, as what the designer heard. But I will never know exactly what the designer heard, so getting a good fit with a great source is as close an approximation as I can get. And to me, THAT’s the point. At the high end, to me, there generally isnt “better”, they’re just different, although I will admit I’ve purchased a couple $3,000+ iems that I thought sounded like crap. But most sound amazing, and they give me the opportunity to explore and experience a piece of music or album in a unique way. EQing it to sound more like XYZ iem or what I think the sound should be defeats the intent. If I buy the Anni from Elysian, or the APX SE from PMG, I want to hear what Mr. Lee or Pietor intended for me to hear. On the other hand, for cheap iems with obvious shortcomings /flaws, EQ away, understanding that you may be introducing more technical inaccuracies, but if it’s a sound you like, go for it.

(I like U-Shape) I had an HE1000 Stealth and it was great. Got an IE 600 and i found it better cause of the very strong sub bass, and then I got an Elysian Annihilator, and I seriously doubt ANYTHING has better sound than it, for my tastes. I don't know if it's even possible for a headphone to have the kind of bass the Annihilator has. Also, Annihilator has better mids and treble FR than every HiFiman. HE1000 Stealth was peaky and sharp in comparison. I've never seen a headphone with an FR graph nearly as good as Annihilator. There's no recession anywhere, and the treble boost has an intentional gap in the 6kHz area, where the HE1000 Stealth has a peak. Annihilator has very good stage width and imaging. With headphones, you have to deal with limited bass response, more external noise, replacing expensive pads, having long and ugly stock cables, heavy weight, sweaty ears, hair getting on the driver, higher cost, larger size and lack of portability, and worrying about things poking the driver. With headphones, they will get very dirty and be hard to clean, whereas with an earphone, you just wipe some little white bits of ear wax off the tips. Only downsides to earphones are that I guess they tend to have worse staging, can be unusable for people with ear deformities, block your voice wheb talking, and sounds weird when eating (im used to it) and there's ear wax but thats barely an issue.

Or you could just produce on what sound you prefer. Would make more sense for me to produce on my Annihilator I use for everything rather than switching to a boring headphone.

I was fine with my IE 600 not having a waifu on the box but WHY THE FUCK DOESN'T MY ANNIHILATOR HAVE A TOMBOY WAIFU ON THE FUCKING BOX, LEE? WHERE IS MY BLESSING 2-STYLE ENGRAVED WAIFU ON THE FACEPLATE? (not enough budget i guess)

I'd recommend $25 Zero 2. Great comfort and good sound other than the highs being too dark for me. But instead of that, you could try $100 Juzear Defiant or $300 Elysian Pilgrim. There's also the Yu9 QUE which will be available soon. $400 QUE might be the best option if you want something of decent price. I haven't heard any of those three I just mentioned, but they are probably pretty great. Universally liked. I have a $3,000 Elysian Annihilator.

Just use something that sounds good. The only good mixing headphone is one that sounds good. I have a "summit-fi" IEM (Annihilator) I use for everything including music production. Just get a good earphone/headphone/whatever and stick to it and you'll know what good mixes sound like. Zero 2 is a good choice.