Aug 27 2008, 11:44 AM
Pleased to announced that the new versions of Crossroad has landed here, it's call Mylarone Bijou, bijou means 'jewel' in French.
I have just gotten them on hand and can't wait to listen to the new sound, to find out whether it worths a jewel
Let's take a look at the sneak peek first.
The colour I got it is 'gunmetal'. Metalic and really gorgeous, love it very much. Other colours available is pink, ruby and black; with different level of bass to be adjustED, I got myself a "3", meaning the X3i level of bass which I preferred. Stock haven't arrived yet so I also no idea how it will look like. This time the whole shell is very sturdy, cos it is really made from some sort of metal, in air conditioned room the piece is icy cold to your ears.
A longer protective part attached from the shell to the cable means that less problem will occur, if you know what I means. Quote from Uncle Wilson: So what is different this time... Strain Relief where the cables exit from the housing, right angle jack, better cables, smaller housing so you can stick it deeper to keep more ambient noise out and this means lowering the volume... and protecting yourself.
The package comes with a hippo case, a new way to keep you IEM organized, invented by Mr. Hippo (secret man
. And comes with same old 4 different kinds of sleeves, S, M, L flex and double flanges. So it comes to the most important part, the sound quality of this IEM, and I will be using previous X3i and Xbi for comparison (sorry mates
).Rigs used:
Ipod gmoded with secret portable amplifier (my favourite listening rig!)
MylarOne Bijou 5 hours burn in
MylarOne X3i
MylarOne Xbi
A few songs are compared. Each of them are nicely recorded.
Susan Wong - Killing me softly - female vocal
This is one of my favourite female vocal, I am so familiar with this song and I used it to compare a lot of phones. Anyway... The BiJou really opened up my mouth this time, Susan Wong is singing Word By Word clearly,
and I am not talking about it's bright, so it is crystal clear; in fact I feel Bijou has it a dark signature, more to like Sennheiser sounding. The first feel is more bassy but listen carefully the details are better than the previous ones. You can feel the fingers tapping on the piano hard, and saxophone is very SeXy... As for staging, more articulate then the previous ones, not just left and right but depth. 
The Eagles - Get over it - rock
One of my favourite rock songs. It's live and you can really feel it's staging. This song is very good for testing the transparency as a adequate transparency will let you have a real, live feeling. This transparency ability is able to pin down a few of the big brands. Drum beating is tight and articulate. I really can start rocking my body.
Norah Jones - Come away from me - Jazz/Female vocal
Everyone knows Norah Jones, so it's convenient for me to say something. Norah Jones sings liquid yet intimate to me
I quickly changed back to previous two version the feeling is not so strong anymore. When I put back BiJou I the feeling is coming back to me. 
Lots of background instrument is playing at the beginning of the music, it doesn't mix but blends well into it; with tiny background music isn't lost. Good job BiJou... Jay Chou - Shuang Jie Gun - Pop
There has to be some Pop music for comparison as pop is still the popular music among the users. And the reason I use this song is that the drum beating part initially is very hard to perform well in a lot of earphones, as quite some instruments are playing and the drum will not goes well with them. Surprisingly BiJou did really well in the drums, I can really feels its beating and nodding my head
. I also have a fake impression that Jay Chou remake his songs and his vocals sounded more crystal clear, can't say word by word but the improvement is to be seen. Faye Wong - Tian Kong - female vocal
Everyone favourite audiophile testing music piece. Not only Faye Wongs sings well, but I feel touched - from deep of my heart to be able to listen to celestial vocals. And again, the staging is enormous again.
Final Fantasy 9 soundtracks
FF9 soundtracks features a lot of opera, electric guitar, piano, and misc instruments. All the above BiJou characteristic really performs well in the soundtracks. Older version has some problems in nicely separating the instruments, especially when there is too much music oozing at the same time.
Other songs tested: Laura Fygi - Continental (Jazz), Jewel - Fat boy (Female vocal), Johannes Linstead - Adalucia (guitar)
Very satisfied with the results
I have been listening since I uploading the pictures and typing this review, and I sell want to listen more. I don't feel fatigued from the musics.
Overall, soothing musical presentation, very good transparency and has liquid vocals. Signature went a bit dark but not losing the details.
Tight and deep bass, intimate mids but a bit of roll off at highs, not affecting much to me.
This post has been edited by walabies: Aug 29 2008, 12:50 AM
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