CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS
Lobby => IEM Measurements => Topic started by: Marvey on November 19, 2013, 03:20:54 AM
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Aurusonics ASG-2 FR Measurements
First set is uncompensated.
Second set is per my usual compensation. Reminder that peakages past 8-9k are not necessarily accurate. I feel the second set better represents what I hear with the laid back midrage.
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Quick subjective impressions (taken before measurements):
- Keeping in mind that my reference is UERM:
- Bassy. Lots of mid-bass extending into high bass and bleeding into lower mids. Would have liked to be able to hear sub and low bass better because I feel the mid/high bass emphasis is masking it. The bass was just way too much for Bob Marley Legend.
- Mids seem sucked out, especially upper mids. Snares and trumpets lack bite. It's difficult to gauge overall coherency because of this gap in the transition between treble and bass. From memory, the 1p2 (earlier version) had better overall coherency with the dynamic+BA arrangement and still remains a gold standard.
- Some sizzle up top around the "definition" region ~10k. Very interesting because of the way it's presented. Although the volume is up there, the presentation is soft rather than harsh. The treble does seem overly polite - so in that sense, the timbre is off to me. The TG334 by contrast had treble which is more difficult for me to handle (glare and sibilance that builds up over time).
- Although the presentation / tonal balance is not to my personal preference, I find these quite a seductive listen.
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Very cool, Purrin. Will you do a CSD graph?
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Are you going to do a graph of the GR07 Bass Edition as well?
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Are you going to do a graph of the GR07 Bass Edition as well?
If you send it to me! :)p13
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Are you going to do a graph of the GR07 Bass Edition as well?
If you send it to me! :)p13
I thought they were supposed to come with this certain pair of ASG-2s! :)p8
I don't have the GR07 BE, but I'd be curious to see how bad some of my lower end IEMs measure, hahaha.
Back on topic, the measurements honestly look pretty decent. No super jaggy treble or anything like that. These might just be right up my alley for an on-the-go IEM. Does that ~4khz hill push female vocals forward at all from your experience?
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Oh doh! Are they in there in the box? I saw two IEMs bags?
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Does that ~4khz hill push female vocals forward at all from your experience?
Not all all. It's very laid back. Subjectively seems like entire region from 2k-8k is pushed down. To reiterate, I do honestly find them seductive. Not a polite keyword I'm using to indicate they are shit. Just to be entirely clear.
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CSD attached.
NOTE: I don't trust anything above 8-9kHz on my IEM measurement rig. The extent of that peak at 9-10k is most likely overemphasized. There's a little mid-treble bump, but it's not that bad.
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Oh doh! Are they in there in the box? I saw two IEMs bags?
Yeah, hopefully they are. He said he was sending both of them out in the same box...
Does that ~4khz hill push female vocals forward at all from your experience?
Not all all. It's very laid back. Subjectively seems like entire region from 2k-8k is pushed down. To reiterate, I do honestly find them seductive. Not a polite keyword I'm using to indicate they are shit. Just to be entirely clear.
Huh, that's interesting. Some folks in the ASG-2 thread would have me believing the exact opposite...
Oh well, I definitely look forward to hearing these sometime in the near future.
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The recordings I use for the "forward vocals test" are Taylor Swift (2nd CD) and the first few tracks from Madonna Immaculate Collection.
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The recordings I use for the "forward vocals test" are Taylor Swift (2nd CD) and the first few tracks from Madonna Immaculate Collection.
Lol. Never listened to any Taylor Swift or Madonna... I'll give those albums a listen though.
Also, where was the bass adjuster at with this measurement? This looks drastically different from Rin's measurement, but after all this pair was rebuilt by Aursonics...
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I didn't adjust any bass stuff - I think I left everything sealed.
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Kinda matches what I heard, except the 10k peak perhaps. I didn't find these to be that reduced in mids, but they definitely had a cut.
Pair-by-pair difference perhaps.
Perhaps the closest relative in FR (but not much else) is Paradox, or at least the pair I have, both close to electrically flat presentation.
I cannot say about bass, I didn't have the Paradox back when listening to a "demo pair".
I can't say about how equalizable ASG-2 are, since they're BA, likely not that well.
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Except they don't sound anything like the Paradox.
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Completely off-topic, anyone have experience with IEMs that DO sound like the Paradox?
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No. I have not heard an IEM which sounds like (has a tonal balance sufficiently close) to the Paradox, HE-500, Abyss (modded), or even my speaker setup.
Maybe the UERM, but the UERM is very "studio monitor in front of your face" neutral, i.e. HD600, HD558.
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1/24 smoothed curves per vwinter's request.
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Why did vwinters ask for the 1/24 oct smoothed graph?
Also, is it worth noting on a graph like this one when the 2nd order distortion increases (or decreases) while the FR is flat over a given frequency range? E.G. at 5k or 80hz
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In the timbre they don't. In the FR they do. My pair of Paradox is not anywhere close to how I define neutral (what with those -6 dB high mids and >10k roll) - you must've got a more tuned one or something. It is notably bass-slanted, but not boomy at all, and the timbre is excellent - unlike the bit noisy feel I had for those other person's ASG-2.
Perhaps different insertion depth moved the resonances around? Customs are quite notorious for not being accurate at this...
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First post updated with compensated and uncompensated measurements.
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Got the ASG-2 in the other day, part of the same loaner tour as Purrin.
So far I'm really enjoying these. A much better earphone than the ASG-1 I had. The treble is there, but it has this silky and easy-going quality to it. I can listen to these for a while without feeling fatigued. Very polite.
My biggest complaint is the suck-out in spots, in particular the effect it has on some vocals. Makes them sound withdrawn. Actually I'm experiencing the same thing as on the LCD-X, what I call the "volume roller coaster" now: having to continually adjust the volume up and down depending on the track.
Build quality on these seems nice, and I'm finding them to be extremely comfortable.
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At certain styles of music the ASG-2 sounds good but on most styles of music it is horrible. I feel bad I spent my money on them.
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Why did vwinters ask for the 1/24 oct smoothed graph?
Also, is it worth noting on a graph like this one when the 2nd order distortion increases (or decreases) while the FR is flat over a given frequency range? E.G. at 5k or 80hz
Hmm, I'm still curious about this. Could someone speak to what changes in 2nd order distortion (with a flattish FR) do to the sound?
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Pls update/edit: Aurusonics? :P