There is no doubt that the most talked topic (regarding In Ear) last week was the announcement of Grado's entry to IEM market with their latest IEM, the GR8. In case you don't know what company Grado is, they are a NYC based company that are well-known for their retro styling opened-back audiophile-targeted headphone. Not much is know for now except a pretty high price tag of US$300, but there will be another less than US$100 models as well. For such a price, I do hope it will be a lot more than what meets the eyes.- Driver: Moving armature
- Frequency range: 20 -20,000 Hz
- Sensitivity: 118db/1mw
- Impedance: 120 ohms
- Maximum input power: 20mW
Japanese sure love their gadget! Thanko, a well known Japanese electronic accessories maker, just released a new model of IEM under its Vonia brand. The EMP-708Lite is a dual dynamic drive IEM where "first one (transducer) is a canal ear type providing you the treble, while another one, a kind of “external speaker” will be in charge of Bass & mid-sound by reverberate the sound on your cartilage." - Basically this means it is a conventional + bone conduction hybrid IEM. Frequency response is 60Hz- 20,000Hz, impedance is 8 Ohms (±20%), and the maximum output power is 20mW. Priced at just under US$50, EMP-708Lite is an IEM with interesting concept but most likely won't be enough for you to toss away your regular IEM.Check out the image below on how it works.
