Audeze Euclid Review

Audeze Euclid

 

Mids

Euclid’s midrange timbre is very good with a high level of clarity and naturalness. The mids are spacious and airy sounding, with the vocals slightly more forward but not too much.

Separation here is excellent and decay and extension are exemplary. The detail retrieval and precision of the mids are really good. Just like the bass, the mids are engaging, realistic and very musical. For me the mids sound open and spacious, and I am not getting any impressions here of intimacy and compression. A closed back monitor on paper, but not to your ears. Isn’t that what we all want?

If you want some more warmth and smoothness in the midrange, you can switch to the foam tips.

 

Treble

For me the treble of the Euclid is more like the tuning of the LCD2 headphone. Good but not it’s very strongest point.

Treble is clear, precise and spacious, but it doesn’t have the energy and extension as other high end models do. Treble is natural though, so it’s nice and soft to the ears. Treble is never sharp, harsh or overly present. For me the treble tuning is safe in all ways. So easygoing treble, not offending anyone and I am sure it will please the largest group of IEM listeners.

In this case I really recommend to stick with the silicone tips as the foams tips soften down the treble a little too much in my opinion. But like with all things, you might like just that.

Audeze Euclid

Sound – Sources

According to Audeze, the Euclid’s high sensitivity and low impedance make it an ideal companion to any high resolution audio player.

I have mostly been using the Euclid directly from my laptop and from a series of DAPs, and I have to say I never felt the need for any amplification. The HiBy R8 DAP is one of my most used sources with the Euclid, but I also quite like it in combination with the AK SP2000 which still is my number 1 portable source in the collection.

From the AK SP2000 you get a higher level of technicalities compares to with the R8, but you in return get less body and overall presence. So it in fact is an even higher end, more neutral sound with a slightly lower level of musicality. If absolute precision is what you want however, the SP2000 is the way to go. For my personal taste, I prefer hooking it up to a fuller and slightly softer sounding source, which still has a high level of technicalities.

Directly from my OnePlus 8 Pro smartphone, using a standard dongle to go from USB-C to 3.5mm, the Euclid sounds a more bass heavy, in body and presence. The level of clarity is not as high, the intimacy level is higher and the overall presentation is warmer and smoother with super soft treble. I can see why the general consumer would like this type of tuning, but it’s not for me. It also doesn’t really let the Euclid shine and show why it’s such a good IEM. So my phone for me is not a good source.

I also wanted to test the Euclid from a USB-dongle and in this case I chose the MQA featured EarMen Sparrow. The Euclid and Sparrow combo is excellent to my ears, and it’s like the marriage of the R8 and SP2K, taking the best from both units. The technical precision of the AK, with the presence and musicality of the HiBy. This is really.

From the CENtrance Hifi-M8 V2, the Euclid sounds more like the HiBy R8, very full. The bass isn’t very controlled though and it’s missing some technicalities here. The Hifi-M8 is very musical, but it’s not the most resolving and precise combo.

From the Chord Mojo, you get a very nice mix of precision, technicalities and musicality and it makes the Euclid sound impressively good. It’s like the Sparrow & Euclid combo, but then at a higher technical level. The only downside here is the layering and extension which isn’t as pronounced.

All-in-all there are many good sources for the Euclid and it’s reasonably easy to drive and pair up, but it’s clear as well that not every source gets the very best out of the Euclid.

Audeze Euclid

Comparisons

The difficulty here is that I don’t have any closed back planar magnetic IEMs to compare the Euclid to. The only IEM I could somewhat compare it to is the Unique Melody but that was an open back IEM and it’s not even available anymore at his time.

If you however want to see it compared to any of the IEMs in my collection, please let me know in the comments and I’ll do my very best to give you a short comparison if it makes any sense at all.

Conclusion

The Audeze Euclid is an IEM that grew on me quickly as it looks great and sounds excellent. For a closed back IEM, the Euclid simply performs exceptionally. If you don’t know it is a closed back IEM, you probably would say it’s an open back one, it’s that open and spacious sounding.

If you like the typical planar magnetic driver sound and dig a neutral and technically strong tuning with a musical delivery (who doesn’t?), then the Audeze Euclid certainly is an IEM to audition. I’m a fan of the previous IEMs Audeze has produced, and I am adding this one to that list.

Before I listened to the Euclid, the price tag seemed a bit high to me but after multiple weeks of listening I can only conclude that the Euclid easily has the sound quality needed to defend this price tag. Audeze has delivered yet another high end, top quality IEM.

I for one, look forward to see what they come up with next.

 

Page 1: Audeze, Planar Magnetic Technology, Euclid, Specifications, Box & Accessories, Design & Housing

Page 2: Build Quality & Cable, Fit & Comfort & Isolation, Sound Intro, General, Classics Part 1

Page 3: Sound Classics Part 2,  Sources, Comparisons, Conclusion

4.1/5 - (171 votes)
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Lieven is living in Europe and he's the leader of the gang. He's running Headfonia as a side project next to his full time day job in Digital Marketing & Consultancy. He's a big fan of tube amps and custom inear monitors and has published hundreds of product reviews over the years.

4 Comments

  • Reply June 8, 2021

    Michael Koller

    Interesting – how does it compare with the following: a) Obravo EAMT and b) Cupid. Also interesting would be a comparison with CA Solaris
    Thanks Michael

  • Reply June 8, 2021

    Jeremy H

    Thanks for your review. Can’t wait to have the opportunity to try those one day. Do you have a Campfire Solaris to compare to? That’s one I liked a lot when I tested them, and it’s on my list of IEM to buy when money is not a problem anymore… But I am a full size Audeze owner, and those may be a good fit for both the sound signature and for my pocket (after emptying it of my money of course).

  • Reply June 9, 2021

    Tark P

    The open-back-like soundstaging is very surprising given the size of these. I wish the Reveal+ plugin wasn’t so expensive. I’m curious as to how much the soundstaging changes on the Euclid’s by the use of the head-related transfer function.

    Can you please compare them to the Audeze i3/i4? It seems like the driver miniaturization is a progression from that model. What do you make of the Cypher(DSP) tech not being used in this model?

  • Reply June 13, 2021

    deniz eylül parlak

    hey lieven can u compare it with xelento ?

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