A small interruption in the ongoing conversation -->
I had kept myself off the GR07 since I wrote my initial impressions to purge the audio memory and the prejudiced notions that come with it.
Yesterday, I was trying an IEM medley. With Clip+ on shuffle, I was trying out all my IEMs within #10 rank (-27 to -34 depending on the IEM and the recording).
It should not be a surprise that SM3, FX700 and CK10 had the most of my ear time. CK10 required a bit of adjustment coming from mostly warm midrange IEMs. Then, I'd notice some minor details or portrayal of distance or what Joker mentioned as their "bell like clarity" (
Review: VSonic GR07 - Dynamic Monitors? Check! - Head-Fi.org Community, treble section) and I'd get hooked.
Even after all these IEMs, RE-252's midrange is something I continue to like. It lasted the longest after these three until Metallica's "One" came on, which was missing the bass when drums come on. Promptly went back to FX700.
I also liked e-Q5, which got slightly less time than 252.
Moving from SM3 to GR07 did not make me feel that it's any inferior. Of course, it was missing SM3's buttery sound, but not lagging hugely in any way.
The only two IEMs (I have only 8, since DDM is Faheem's now and I don't own RE-262) that did not make the cut were ..... TF10 and DBA-02.
TF10 - because of the thick sound. Unfortunately for TF10, the second track it had to encounter was a vocal track (Tori Amos). The vocals just did not cut it for me coming from e-Q5. Went to 252 from it.
DBA-02 - Even though the midrange was warm and nice, it too lasted only a couple of songs because of the dynamic range compression. Coming from FX700, suddenly there was a huge influx of all those details in my face. Coupled with the relatively smaller sound stage, it was not a great combo. DBA always requires a few minutes of adjustment, but this time, instead of persisting with it, I went back to CK10.
Most comfortable of the bunch - CK10, GR07.
In another related news, every time I liked a classical piece and looked at the composer, it turned out to be Mozart's.