Ive basically bought a shit ton of those as gift for friends.

Yeah, I've been switching between my custom cable and the quarter inch that came with the cans. They all have had the same issue with both cables, so I'm fairly sure the cans were the problem. Hopefully the cables I used thus far haven't all been defective, though. That would suck.

Make sure you aren’t using the same wire.

I’ve had channel imbalance before on some beyerdynamics that was due to a bad cable. I was correcting it manually for months. I bought a cheap Chinese cable out of curiosity, and viola!, the headphones sounded perfect.

I do like the rosemary quite a bit, it really is great for the price. If you are finding it a bit muddy I do recommend trying the easy and simple mod of taping over some of the vents to adjust the bass. This changes the sound quite a bit and is easily reversible, the amount you cover is just to preference but make sure to leave at least one open.

I uninstalled the software thinking that was the issue--nope! I set the software to its most basic "direct" audio mode, still happened! Suddenly flipped audio while playing FPS games. I could reset it by toggling the direct mode on/off again in the menu, but it was massively irritating.

SoundBlaster software for the G3 and G6 is buggy, especially on the Mac. G3 is a $45 USB Dac so I'm out very little if it fails me in the future.

I really like these for when I want a simple pair of in-ears and don't need anything fancy, but they just do not stay in my ears properly.

I hope you have more luck than I did with SoundBlaster, I gave away my AE5 sound card because it kept inverting my left and right channels. Other than that, I did think they had a fun variety of sound processing options.

You can also try hesuvi, if your soundcard is read as 5.1 / 7.1 in windows you can use it for almost no latency.

For an extra, tried iSine10 for gaming, it was really good because openback.

SBX is the G3/G6 faked 7.1 and I don't care for it. SXFI is another attempt by them and I also don't like it. Voices become metallic robots and everything sounds like you are in a massive cave.

All that stuff turned off and just receiving 7.1 signal seems to up clarity and seperation. Perhaps I'm just getting a less intrusive DSP that I find pleasing.

I agree about stereo music, or rather I'm not focused on music with this setup.

I will say the ie200 sounds better in games like Doom Eternal when a soundtrack kicks in vs the a4000.

7.1 with headphones is just DSP trickery that works for some people but not everyone.

If it works for you, great.

Even if you were to listen to a movie with a 7.1 audio track, you would not get real 7.1 surround, because your headphones only provide you with 2.0 setup. One left and one right channel that's it. DSP just uses a bunch of time delay and crossfeed to simulate a 7.1 experience.

I think all those plugins sound utterly horrendous, especially with stereo music, but if you like that, then more power to you I guess.

Good point in the difficulty with fitment on a measurement rig. I’ll have to snag a pair of those Iris’s. Thanks for sharing.

Honestly, I prefer the Iris 2.0 over the rosemary with its even cheaper price and I prefer its sound signature more. FR curve are generally harder to find especially with less interest over iems and headphones, and the fact that its hard to get a consistent fit on a measurement rig which makes getting proper results harder.

I think output impedance issues are the reason for more bass. Truthear x Crinacle Zero doesn't work correctly unless a low output impedance amplifier is provided. This IEM has two drivers with a crossover, and the bass region of the spectrum has the higher impedance, so it uses less current relative to the highs at that volume level. Devices that struggle to provide enough current will thus tend to recess mids and highs. You have probably never heard how this IEM is supposed to sound.

Cheapest thing that should drive them just fine is the $9 Apple dongle, as its output impedance is less than 1 ohm. One known issue is that Android phones can't adjust the hardware volume of this dongle, so maximum may be a little on the quiet side for some.

Edit: dug up the ASR measurement of the impedance: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?attachments/truthear-x-crinacle-zero-iem-thd-impedance-measurement-png.230795/ which is smoothly variable but also rises towards the low end. 10 ohms is less than most planars, and planars usually also have constant impedance.

I am going to order the apple USB C to 3.5mm and test it to see if I can tell a difference. I am sure my headphone jack on my PC isn't the best way to test these. Thanks for offering some information to help me out I appreciate it.

I don't know about that specific one but computer headphone jacks often have higher output impedance, and the Zero is quite sensitive to that, any significant amount of source impedance will make the make the low-frequency "subwoofer" audibly louder than the other driver.

AFAIK the measurement guys usually use a source that's known to have a near-zero output impedance, like the Apple dongle.

Ok cool I’ll give that a look thanks for the recommendation!

Planar iem’s in general will take all the power you can give. Planars prefer low output impedance amps that can give lots of current. They tend to scale well with more power. I had the s12 (not pro), and it sounded best on a singxer sa-1 desktop amp, a topping nx7, or a xduoo link2 bal. Higher current helped pull more detail, increase speed, and tighten up the bass. Underpowered planars sound slow/bloated and veiled. No need to go crazy, an xduoo link2 bal is probably all you need.

I tend to prefer DD bass which is punchier, but the s12’s had more detail and speed. I thought the bass was a definite strength. My only real knock on them was I felt like the soundstage was an average width with no real depth (2d). It didn’t feel as immersive as other sets I like.

That does make it seem a bit like a sealing issue if the bass stayed low with increase volume. If you ever want to do a pretty good volume match, a multimeter with AC voltage is a good option for cheap.

Do you have access to a PC to listen with that you can use EQ APO on? If so, you might put a low shelf on the one that has less bass. If it takes more than 1-2dB to sound like the other one then it is probably certainly a sealing issue.

An alternative test is to use a tone generator like this one and see how low it goes. If the seal is broken on the less bass one, it should roll off much sooner than the other.

I do have a USB C port maybe I will pick up that dongle. I would prefer more bass though as that's what triggered this whole confusion. I thought the S12 Pro being higher on the frequency chart was assuming that meant "more bass" but in the end I was naive and not understanding it completely.

So buying a higher quality IEM, with better frequency response in the areas I wanted to see an improvement I was just thinking it would have had more bass. The clarity is there for sure just a noticeable decrease in the bass buy a good margin.

most common program is EqualizerAPO, with the Peace GUI added on. There are videos and other resources here that are really helpful too.

Well I volume matched them to the best I could with my own ears. I don't have a good device to determine if they are accurately at the same level.

I did try to increase the volume little by little on the S12 Pro until it appeared to be at the same volume and even went a little further thinking maybe they just need to be pushed more but that just increased the volume and didn't give me more bass.

Another possible consideration, did you volume match them and if so, by what method? If one is a bit louder, they look close enough in sound that the extra perceived bass from loudness increase could also explain it.

I did tip swap them and it didn't make a difference sadly. I even tried the foam tips that came with the S12 (although the middle ones were missing). Maybe I should buy another IEM tip and try that out instead?

One thing not mentioned here, how are they sealing? IEMs are especially sensitive to seal tolerances. If you have too big of a tip, the tip will deform and break the seal, if you have too small of a tip, the tip won't occlude the ear and there will be no seal. Tip material can matter on the seal as well. I have not personally listened to either of these, but that is often an overlooked reason why something will sound different than it measures.