Luna

Over the past few days, I did some auditioning of several earphones. As a reference, Mahler's Symphony No. 2 : to check the state where many instruments are sounding simultaneously from the lowest to the highest notes. (It is a scene where a choir of about 150 people and an orchestra of about 120 people, plus an organ playing the lowest notes and exploding metallic percussion, are sounding at ffff.) Robert Glasper : to check modern resolution and bass recording. Cornelius : to check sound images that are filled with fine, sparkly sounds like pointillism. (Where minute sounds are scattered in the space, flying around left, right, front, and back with panning and effects.) James Blake : for checking vocals and sub-bass. My orchestral studio recordings. This experience is completely my subjectivity and is a result suited to my ears and needs, so there are no specific claims. It would be helpful if you could keep that in mind. The earphones I tried were: Ultimate Ears / UE Reference Remastered Plus Pro, UE LIVE, UE Premiere 64 Audio / U18s, U18t, U12t ZiiGaat / Luna Etymotic / ER4SR And so on. Writing my impressions one by one would become too long, so I will omit that, but simply summarized, it was like this: UE Reference Remastered Plus Pro The volume difference between instruments, positioning of each instrument, localization, and layering are understood quite well. Especially with my self-made recordings, the materials of the recording itself and the not-good parts of the mix are easy to understand. However, a very big problem—which I suppose is a problem of having 3 drivers—is that there is no separation of instruments. The sound comes heard gathered together in highs, mids, and lows, and in parts where many instruments ring, it was saturated. I thought it might be quite good for mixing with a small number of instruments. UE LIVE, UE Premiere Information of many sounds comes in indiscriminately. The tuning is not neutral at all. A sensation that the sound is raging. And a "clumped" sensation (dumpling-like feeling). My own recordings somehow sound good. It was not for mixing purposes. 64 Audio / U18s, U18t, U12t U18t The resolution was amazing. It is transparency. And the airiness. It is an image where things like particles are visible. However, the sound changes quite a bit depending on the impedance and the environment of the playback device. And the bass is quite quiet, so I predicted that if I perform mixing with this, there is a possibility that the mix will become boomy. I thought that if it is a fixed, high-quality, stable playback environment where the characteristics are firmly understood, this would be the best. U18s Overall, the mids are lifted a little, and it was a sensation that the highs are rolled off. As a result, the resolution and transparency that were in the 18t were lost, and instead, it was a feeling of putting out a musical ringing and stable mids and lows. Also, the connection between sounds is mellow and—shall I say—silky... Because of that, it is very easy to listen to, but I felt that the separation of sound is lost. I felt it would be easy to use as a stage monitor. But not for mixing. U12t This one fit me the best. Not to the extent of the 18t, but I felt the balance of resolution, transparency, separation, localization, grasp of depth, etc., was very good. Also, even when I performed playback tests from several devices, there was no change in the sound the most. (I use earphones and headphones in diverse environments, from smartphones to laptops, studio earphone amps to DACs, and various types of audio interfaces.) Etymotic / ER4SR It was the flattest among what I heard. Flat to anywhere. However, the sound field was quite narrow, and the placement of the orchestra was hard to see. ZiiGaat / Luna It was quite good. It was a sensation like a lower-compatible version (lite version) of the U12t. A common point regarding the problems of the ER4SR and UE Reference Remastered Plus Pro was that I somehow understood that ones with few drivers do not match my use. Of course, there are probably many good things even for single drivers, but this is regarding my hearing. Also, the IE900 did not have the flatness I imagined; the bass and treble were lifted, and I felt it is for listening, not a monitor. Sony / IER-M9 Alclair / Electro Six Driver FiR Audio / Xenon 6 I wanted to try these, but I did not have the opportunity.