Andrew L Weekes
Reverse Engineer
The problem with buying one great bit of kit (Chord Mojo) is you get a bug and then think, how would this sound with better headphones? I've been seriously considering dropping a large lump on some Etymotic ER4-SR's, but couldn't quite bring myself to press the buy button.
My favourite IEM's were the relatively cheap set of Etymotic HF5's I had for many years until I broke them. They really got me hooked on that balanced armature openness and midrange clarity and even though the bass response was a little limited on the Ety's, they had that Naim IBL quality of clarity that never resulted in me missing any bass weight. They just gelled so well and had phenomenal external noise attenuation. The Ety's also were not great for bedtime use, even though they go deep in the ear, they weren't practical for side sleepers.
I replaced the Ety's with a pair of Shure SE425's and whilst they have the midrange quality and are great for bed time use, they are far from balanced and sound to me as of the two drivers aren't well integrated. They're good, but I was always harking back to the Ety's, the top end is a bit recessed compared to the Ety's. I've also tried cheaper hybrid / balanced armature IEM's like the 1MORE triple driver, but these are clearly tuned for a less neutral approach.
I came across a deal on the AKG N40's this week, these were £350 when first released and I think they may be in the process of being discontinued, but I picked these up for £80, which struck me as worth a gamble!
Initial impressions are great, they are by far the most comfortable, unobtrusive, IEM's I've used, they have fantastic midrange and treble from the balanced driver and there's surprising bass weight from the dynamic driver that fills in the bottom end. The integration is far more seamless to my ears. They aren't forgiving of poor sources (e.g. most mobile devices) but with an external DAC they are clearly very revealing and musically enjoyable. So far nothing is bugging me that it's missing, I'm just enjoying the music. They also seem to block out external noise well.
I've only used them with the Dragonfly Red so far, whilst I warm them up a bit, but I'm expecting great things on the Mojo. I've also only used the neutral filters (they come with a bass-enhancing and treble-enhancing filter if you want a different balance, but they sound great with the neutral filters to me.
It's a lovely package, as you'd expect, with airplane adapters, two cables (one with a mic and media controls, one shorter simple cable) various sized tips, a tool for cleaning them and a nice quality carry case.
My favourite IEM's were the relatively cheap set of Etymotic HF5's I had for many years until I broke them. They really got me hooked on that balanced armature openness and midrange clarity and even though the bass response was a little limited on the Ety's, they had that Naim IBL quality of clarity that never resulted in me missing any bass weight. They just gelled so well and had phenomenal external noise attenuation. The Ety's also were not great for bedtime use, even though they go deep in the ear, they weren't practical for side sleepers.
I replaced the Ety's with a pair of Shure SE425's and whilst they have the midrange quality and are great for bed time use, they are far from balanced and sound to me as of the two drivers aren't well integrated. They're good, but I was always harking back to the Ety's, the top end is a bit recessed compared to the Ety's. I've also tried cheaper hybrid / balanced armature IEM's like the 1MORE triple driver, but these are clearly tuned for a less neutral approach.
I came across a deal on the AKG N40's this week, these were £350 when first released and I think they may be in the process of being discontinued, but I picked these up for £80, which struck me as worth a gamble!
Initial impressions are great, they are by far the most comfortable, unobtrusive, IEM's I've used, they have fantastic midrange and treble from the balanced driver and there's surprising bass weight from the dynamic driver that fills in the bottom end. The integration is far more seamless to my ears. They aren't forgiving of poor sources (e.g. most mobile devices) but with an external DAC they are clearly very revealing and musically enjoyable. So far nothing is bugging me that it's missing, I'm just enjoying the music. They also seem to block out external noise well.
I've only used them with the Dragonfly Red so far, whilst I warm them up a bit, but I'm expecting great things on the Mojo. I've also only used the neutral filters (they come with a bass-enhancing and treble-enhancing filter if you want a different balance, but they sound great with the neutral filters to me.
It's a lovely package, as you'd expect, with airplane adapters, two cables (one with a mic and media controls, one shorter simple cable) various sized tips, a tool for cleaning them and a nice quality carry case.