Annihilator 2023

Mysticraft Myth and Elysian Annihilator 2023. Really sounds amazing.

I mean sure, but at the end of any day subjective experience is paramount. I'm not trading Abyss Diana for a Kiwi Ears KE4 since the Diana smashes the shit sound wise to my preferences (and it better for like 15X the cost). Kilobuck iems are the same. Elysian Annihilator 2023 (I know people say 2021 is better but havent tried them) was the most resolving and full sound IEM, Ive ever had. The Performer 5+2 and Odyssey I have dont compare.

My personal favorite IEMs under 1k are the YU9 Que and the Pentaconn Sloflo MS001GM. Most of my listening time is spent with much more expensive sets like the Annihilator 23 and the Canpur CP622B, but I still really enjoy spending time with the Sloflo and Que.

I wish the Grand Maestro shipped with the soundstage NOAH modules, I took them from my Quantum and it really opened up the sound on the GM, but I still prefer the Elysian Annihilator 23.

My favorite set are $100 - NiceHCK F1 Pro $250 - Canpur Silver Flash CX3-02 $350 - Hercules Noah $500 - YU9 Que and Pentaconn Sloflo $1000 - Mysticraft Myth Over 1k - Elysian Annihilator '23 and Fir Rn6

YU9 Que and Elysian Annihilator

In my experience, the most expensive iems do tend to have better technical details over cheaper ones. The details on sets that cost $5k+ (Storm, Hex, CP752B, etc) are for the most part better than say the ones in the $2k bracket. Tuning does play a role, but it’s less about justifying cost and more about how warmer sets can ‘hide’ details compared to their brighter counterparts. Take the bgvp Solomon, it's the brightest iem in my comparison and it's also the most: detailed, resolving, and most unforgiving with poorly recorded tracks. My two most expensive sets atm are the annihilator 2023 and fat freq grand maestro, and to my ears they do have better technicals (for the most part) compared to the the iems I've included in this review. There are outliers though, such as the Z1R. That iem to this day has one of the most expansive soundstages I've experienced with an iem. I upgraded to the grand maestro from it, but I do miss that set at times.

It's a hard choice, especially if you're unable to demo them. I'm more of an emotive listener, as opposed to a technical one, so the Solomon is bottom of my list. I've got an annihilator 2023, so the maven doesn't get as much eartime, as the anni covers most of what the maven II can offer. So, that leaves the valhalla and dawn X.

I love it! It's probably one, if not my favourite iem. Mind you, mine has been modded (grills removed) which imparts more warmth into the mids, and gives more air in the treble region. It's basically the only iem that gives me constant goosebumps, no matter what I throw at it.

Endgame for me would be something like Annihilator 2023. I think the Mangird Xenns Top Pro is a good “endgame” iem. I have the Top OG and although it was real good, I tried the annihilator, elysian x effect, u12t so now I consider endgame to be the best possible experience for me. I upgraded to the FatFreq Quantum and I’ll keep these until I can justify spending $2k-3k on IEMs.