RedditRecs
#522 in IEMs

Elysian Acoustic Labs - Annihilator (2020)

Reddit Reviews:


Topics Filter:

4
1
2

Liked most:

25

14


"it's a detail monster. ... This IEM has introduced me to so many hidden nuances and details in many songs."


"I have no idea how ANY headphone coukd sound as good as my Annihilator 2023. Same type of sound signature as the HE 1, but it has massively more bass. ... I used to have an HE1000 Stealth and it is weak and peaky and dull compared to Anni. ... My idea of "good" is enormous bass and enormous treble, and anything that heavily reverts from that is irrelevant to me."


"Annihilator has better mids and treble FR than every HiFiman. ... 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."

47

3


"It is so immersive for my brain that when my eyes are closed I can actually feel my body trying to react to the sounds like they are physically present. ... Using an orchestral example, my brain tries to SEE where sections of instruments are sitting, or where soloists chairs are in room, it feels like I am standing right above a percussion pit looking at the orchestra as a conductor."


"Absolutely insane imaging. I can point exactly where each sound comes from: left, right, front, or even a bit behind."


"The soundstage feels genuinely wide — about 4 to 5 meters in perception, which is something rare even among much higher-end gear."

3

0


"Annihilator has better mids and treble FR than every HiFiman. ... 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."


"When it comes to treble, Annihilators are on a league of its own."


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

1

1


"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."

1

0


"my Annihilator I use for everything"


"I have a "summit-fi" IEM (Annihilator) I use for everything including music production."

Disliked most:

4

1


"Tooooooo bassy for me."

2

4


"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"


"Like my old moondrop aria, can be beaten by newest stuff at the same price like EW300."


"I can directly compare my Cantor, Doscinco, Ea1000 and Arias and all I can hear is "hmm yes the sound is slightly more sound-ier on the Cantor" ... You're not going to hear notable differences unless you're getting a soundstage monster like the HD800s or just speakers lads"

0

7


"the filters are expensive as shit"


"The Dyson is our most expensive one and we would probably not buy again. ... it doesn’t perform any better than the BlueAir which was a fraction of the cost."


"Low quality parts. ... very expensive cheap parts that fail even after 1-3months"

0

1


"annihilator and mest mk2"

1

1


"I get the need for something that really brings the bass for genres like hip-hop. ... if you ’re looking for that extra bass depth and slam, I think the Grand Maestro could really complement your Annis."

Negative
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amarevy97 • 3 months ago

+1 I prefer it over my annihilator and mest mk2

r/iems • What's the best IEM release of 2025? ->
Positive
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chilLlama • about 1 month ago

It's the Elysian annihilator

r/iems • IEMs for a very specific case. ->
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chilLlama • about 1 month ago

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

r/iems • IEMs for a very specific case. ->
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chilLlama • 3 months ago

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.

r/iems • Share your favourite IEMs ->
Neutral
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DaeDuLasX • 8 months ago

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.

r/iems • What are your audio unpopular opinions? ->
Positive
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daskxlaev • 2 months ago

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.

r/iems • I quit ->
Positive
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Dear_Archer7711 • 3 months ago

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

r/iems • Yu9 Que | Is the hype justified? ->
Neutral
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demdemhyts • 12 months ago

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....

r/iems • Is it Worth buying 2000 dollars set of iem? ->
Positive
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devopsdelta • 9 months ago

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

r/iems • Best BASS/Hip-Hop IEMs? ->
Negative
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dr_wtf • 4 months ago

> 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/).

r/iems • High-end IEMs: still worth it if you EQ everything? ->
Positive
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ListlessHeart • 9 days ago

People have different tastes, also it seems that Crinacle tends to review IEMs from companies he has connection/relation with. Personally, I demoed the Storm and I consider it the endgame refererence (slightly) warm neutral IEM. The Monarch MkIV isn't bad but it didn't feel anything special to me, solid for the price but it didn't awe me like the Storm or Annihilator.

r/inearfidelity • Crinacle's Favourite IEMs (at every price point) ->
Negative
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pillsontherocks • 4 months ago

Demoed 64audio duo during the Hifi show. It’s like letshuoer s12 but perfect. They have the full-bodied vocals that I am always looking for. So I jumped into the 64audio train and talked to their staff what I am looking for in an IEM. I end up with U6T and it’s perfect — the full-bodied lush vocals inside my head that it feels like the artist is whispering to me, makes every track emotional. My daily driver before this was TFZ No. 3 so imagine the jump. I would say totally life-changing. During a trip to SG, I visited The Hangout by Crinacle and Zeppelin. Got to try lots of TOTL IEM. That experience reaffirms that 64audio is my best choice for vocals. My star IEM on that trip was the Monarch MKII because it has the widest soundstage out of all the IEMs I have tried, couple with the thumping bass — feels like I’m in a concert. Also tried the Annihilator. I was not impressed at first, not until I got home and listened to some music I used with the Annihilator. It was like a night and day difference when it comes to the highs that I could not hear the sparkle I heard from the Annihilator. (Tho I still don’t like how the vocals sounded in them — they sounded thin but maybe because of the airiness.) My next goal is to find a moderately-priced IEM with EST driver that gives the same sparkle to the highs.

r/iems • What was your first experience with more expensive IEMs like? ->

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