^ Have a huge plan for it
. Unfortunately, it's getting postponed for too long :ashamed:
Anyways, the IEMs I got today were Eterna V1 re-release and Silver Bullet V2 from GD-Audiobase at $68 shipped apiece. Since our local Fischer dealer did not update me for long
, I decided to get them from Russia with love...more like Russia with fear since I had to use the Moneybookers gateway. Having never heard about it before, I was hesitating for a long while. But, then a Virtual CC thankfully helped me sail through. After that, it took it's own sweet time to cross Russian borders....
07 April 2011 10:57 ST.PETERSBURG PI-7 arrived at the international exchange
11 April 2011 21:03 MOSCOW PCI-2 arrived at the international exchange
12 April 2011 09:44 MOSCOW PCI-2 Transferred to Customs
13 April 2011 16:40 MOSCOW PCI-2 Export to India
Since this was my first ever transaction with Russia, I thought the last line meant it was already in India and was eager on 15th. No posts! No status on IPSWeb. I had to take help from
Fast Translation plugin since Google Translate still sucks (It kept showing Russian characters for the last lines, which is what led me to believe that it might have crossed borders). Once in India...15th - Landed at New Delhi, 18th - Chennai customs + clearing, 19th - received by courier. The outer box had caved in a little and I suspected that there might be no IEMs inside. I did not have much hope till I finally removed the brown papers to see the two little packages.
Anyways, I still have no idea which versions they are for sure. The external box does not say "Eterna V2", so they must be Eterna "V1". Sound signature wise, it is difficult to tell them apart unless one has both and compares them side-by-side. Fischer did not even do a marking or use a new box for SB2, it's just a cable change that is marketed as "V2" by the seller. Fischer Audio
site does not mention any official V2. So the only way is for me to wait for a few months and see if the cable breaks. If it does, I got a V1. Sigh!
Eterna is darkish sounding. I expected the bass to be 'bass-head' like M31 (Should've done that review in Hippo Epic-Sparkle style). But Eterna is surprisingly not as bad as it is engaging to listen to. It took sometime to get a good fit. But once I got a good fit and seal routing over the ear, I could hear bass even at -28 / -31 with Deadmau5 on Clip+. A low volume bassy IEM! Confispect on head-fi compared Eterna V1 to SM3 and I can see where he's coming from.
SB is a bit more balanced with more treble. I expected SB to have less bass, but on the contrary, it has lot of bass - may be because it's much easier to fit. But, I don't like the tiny strain relief on the big metal housing. Hope it lasts through some pulls.
At this point, it's all in the same bracket - Brainwavz M3, ECCI PR401, Eterna, SB, Xears TDIII and TDII, Hippo VB. Barring differences in emphasis (bass / mid / highs), quantity and presentation, no one IEM is too far ahead of the other. I don't think it makes sense for anyone other than me to own all these IEMs. It doesn't make sense for me either, but then I am a sub-$100 addict with no sign of cure :ashamed:
PS: Something wrong there... M3 is actually Brendon's, but it's with me for far too long