Re: Can someone lend me their RE-ZERO
My initial impressions of TF10:
Build and Fit:
This was a major concern for me as many people reported fit issues with it. The first thing I did when I received them was try to fit them in my ear (even though I did not have my fuze at that particular time) but I didn't have much of an issue in doing so, I wouldn't say that they fitted me perfectly (like the M3 did) but still they were atleast not falling off as I had feared them to. I must say that the ear pieces are quite big in size, which is a negative for me as they poke out of my ears and look odd. These also aren't very comfortable to wear, like with the M3 I could never get the feeling as though they aren't in my ear, I could constantly feel there presence. The build of the earpieces is good enough but the cable is yuck! Why the hell did they cut costs there? If they are charging so much for these, the least they should have done was to provide a decent cable. The cable also has a memory effect and tend to go back to their earlier position. The L-plug with the strain reliefs is a plus point. Isolation is about above average and if not equal than a tad bit more than M3.
Sound:
Form the first listen these IEMs sounded lush, with superb detail and excellent imaging although lacking somewhere in soundstage. I from the first listen felt one of the dimensions of the soundstage to be lacking a bit compared to others. These have great depth in them, but aren't very good width wise. The height is also good and overall, the soundstage is definitely an upgrade from M3. I also felt that the bass has been overexaggerated on these, Bass isnt really emphasized on these and rather than having significant quantity of boomy muddy bass that a basshead might fancy, these have a controlled, weighty and refined bass with great impact which is very much to my liking. Although I expected the Bass to go very very low and extend deep, they didn't impress me as much as I thought they would in this particular department of bass. The M3 had a more tighter bass, and extended a little more than on the TF10. (This could also have been because of the way they fitted me, will try these later with the Sony hybrids which I prefer over the stock silicone tips I got with the TF10.)
The treble is a huge improvement over the M3 and Im quite satisfied with it. They aren't too piercing or too laid-back for me. I can finally hear the upper-mids and highs with good energy and detail. The mids actually did disappoint me in certain tracks, I reckon they cannot keep up with the energy, detail and Naturalness of the instruments and the imaging.The mids sound quite recessed when playing 128kbps mp3 files but things improve with FLAC/320kbps. TF10, with certain tracks (or rather genre; For eg. Pop, Jazz, Classical, Fusion) have a sense of artificiality with the vocals, and with certain genre's like metal and rock they sound fine. The mids definitely aren't the strength of these IEMs, I should also like to add that the mids aren't fluid but rather thick. The overall tonality of TF10 is a bit thick and impactful, be it the bass or the vocals. Electronic instruments as well as acoustic sound excellent. A certain degree of musicality from the vocal seems to be missing, specially with certain Fusion-based genre's like for eg. Rabbi Shergill, Kailash Kher etc. I must say it again though, the instruments sound really excellent and the imaging is also the best I've heard. They sound the best for genre's like metal, rock and electronica. They are also very revealing of the soundtrack.
The presentation is overall very likable, they lack a bit in terms of width wrt the depth and the height they have, and a result they sound quite intimate. Instrument separation is astonishingly excellent and they have the ability to portray the tinniest of the fragments of a soundtrack with great accuracy.
Pro's and Con's:
+Great set of accessories (Specially the shiny metal case
)
+Detachable Cables
+Excellent imaging and instrument separation
+Near-perfect Bass
+Overall Very good Presentation
+Astonishingly Detailed
+Treble neither too piercing nor too laid-back
-Mids may not be up to the mark in certain genre's/tracks
-The cable seems cheap and fragile
-USD400 MSRP
-Fit isn't really great; some may have difficulty getting a decent fit
-Huge size
-Not very comfortable to wear
-They could do with some more width soundstage wise
To sum it up they are excellent IEM's but I wouldn't pay anything more than wait I paid to get them (~USD200), would definitely not buy them at their MSRP. The mids aren't as bad as they are made out to be by some people but aren't very good either. After paying around ~147% more money than the M3, I could say I have got a ~15% increase in SQ (not that I'm complaining or that I expected a 147% increase in SQ as well
).
Also please keep in mind that I only have my unamped Fuze as a source.
These are my impressions about them after using them for 3-4 days only and are subject to change without notice
P.S There may be some errors but I'm feeling to lazy to go through it again and correct any mistakes that I might have done, do pardon any mistakes for now. I will go through it again at some later time and correct any mistakes I might have made.
