Am I crazy? I heard tons of awesome reviews. I bought these almost 2 years ago and tried to like them. They have great accuracy and soundstage and have a presence better than any earbud I had heard to date (when I bought them). But they are soooo shrill on the top end I can’t listen to them.
I followed them up with the meze rai solo and found those much more easy to listen to. I’ll have to go back and compare the soundstage and clarity…
But people seem to swear by ikko… am I nuts?
These are my favorite set and nowhere near my most expensive. Do you EQ?
Perhaps, you just don’t like them? That’s alright too, mate
Nope. I don’t enjoy EQ. I like to listen to things how they were intended.
Could be I don’t like them but not sure what I’m missing. I don’t think my ears are broken. Do you hear a weird compression on the high end?
Anecdotally, i’ve found that an elevated 2~3khz combined with a non recessed 5~7k region usually has this effect on me too. Idk clearly some like it given how known the oh1s is in the chifi space
FWIW too it seems that the shrill sound to be a semi common thing in chifi, from the ones i’ve tried anyway. Pre 2021 tanchjim hana was a notable example of this, or if we go a little pricier, hyla’s stuff like the ce5
Ig comes down to genres of music and listening volume too, like how the human brain picks up the vocal region frequencies more and stuff
honestly speaking, you don’t have to like every IEM people likes, I mean, remember when people would recommend the ATH-M50X’s?
Ikko oh10, oh5 and oh7 are the ones people swear by.
Had a similar reaction to yours when first I got them: good bass but shrill up top WITH STANDARD TIPS. However, tried the shallow tips that came with them and the FR was much better, so I kept them. If you have a Qudelix (although I didn’t need to use my Qudelis), try the shallow tips and EQ that shrill range to align the FR with your preferences, However, if you don’t like them, I’ve no argument.