Dr.Dre

I listened to many kinds of music ripped or downloaded in various levels of quality.
I noticed that while this combo does manage to capitalize on each speaker design’s strengths – when pushed, the disadvantages of each speaker design sometimes becomes apparent. For instance, on some (not all) R.E.M. songs, their trademark, jangly guitar sound could border on brittle in the higher frequencies. I wouldn’t say it’s irritating, but it is noticeable. I’m half-certain that it’s the recording and not the earphones, because it was rare when I heard it. Most of the time, the balance between the armature and dynamic speakers was spot-on. Their scatological song, “It’s the End Of the World As We Know It,” has an obscure bottom end when the group sings “… And I Feel Fine. With better earphones, you can feel the drum kick and on the IEM856m, I can feel it.
Sigur Ros is a group I have only recently discovered after becoming a fan of Jónsi and Alex. Their avant garde album, (), is a mixture of lead singer Jónsi Birgisson’s falsetto vocals combined with various electronic noises and instruments, making it a perfect test for the IEM856ms. You really have to like this kind of music or you will run from the room screaming. The song, Untitled #6 (E-Bow), is a good example of covering the frequency spectrum in a song without veering too far towards the low or high ends. With the IEM856ms headphone, I never got fatigued listening to this album.
“Actor Out Of Work” from the nom de guerre St. Vincent (Annie Clark) is an in-your-face, distortion-fest with vocals pushed so far up front that you can hear and almost feel every breath Clark takes as she sings into your head. Clark’s siren singing is both discomforting and inviting at the same time and the IEM856ms let you hear it all.