Noble Audio - Viking Ragnar

Noble Viking Ragnar. First time I was truly left speechless listening to headphones or IEMs. So detailed and such a spacious sound

Yes, it is a fact. Apart from any signature preferences, IEMs have a resolution advantage, due to the use of tiny drivers. The name of the game, is speed. Speed is the one metric which inherently gives us resolution. Resolution = more real sounding. On average, most top quality IEMs have a noticeably greater speed and recovery in impulse response. The problem arises of different characteristics that the drivers give.. We have "DD" (dynamic driver) sound, which is superior to large headphones, due to the size to motor strength ratio. We have "Planar" drivers that are faster than "DD", and have their own cleaner sound. Depending on size, they can range faster than "DD" to "BA" speeds. We have "BA" (balanced armature) sound, which tends to vary from clean to euphoric and also can have rounded transients. They perform faster, so higher resolve than "DD" drivers. We have electrostatic drivers (EE) that are cleaner and faster than "BA" and everything else. Unfortunately they're limited in range to trebles, although very few manufacturers have made them extend better (Noble Audio Ragnar, for instance). All of the above, is superior to any normal large size headphones. This is why only the best large headphones can compete. This is also why most good IEMs will be more detailed and better performing than large headphones. Yet large headphones do have their own attributes that is hard to replicate, such as soundstage. Very few IEMs will give you the largest Soundstage of a headphone. (Noble Audio Ragnar is one of them). Only the latest headphones out, are improving in this area. This is also an attribute that single driver IEMs can have a bit more over others, but will fall short of resolution. IMO, the most resolving IEMs currently are the Noble Audio Ragnar, & the APX-SE. This is most probably due to implementation of driver speed. Unfortunately, neither are neutral in tonality of thier upper range. The first is on the bright side of neutral, while the second is on the darker side of neutral. Also, both are at an uber expense, but are examples of IEMs that can clearly beat any large headphones in almost all areas. The main take-away from this discussion, is that the overwhelming majority of users preferring IEMs, because they are simply superior in many aspects. The truth is that the headphone manufacturers need to step up their game in order to compete. The only way is to make higher resolving headphones, and stop the merry-go-round of similar "mid-fi" gear having different looks, but same perfomance. So they need better performing drivers. Stop the lack of innovation.