Review: Vision Ears VE 3.2 – Evenhanded

Vision Ears VE 3.2

Aftermarket Cables:

Cables, you either love them or you don’t. There’s pretty much nothing in between. Many people swear they can hear a difference when cable rolling. I have done enough cable-reviews to be known to enjoy swapping out stock cables and replace them with something more premium.

Below are two fine examples of cables I have found to pair well with the VE 3.2.

Effect Audio – Leonidas

Yes, that is the original Leonidas I am talking about here. Last year Effect Audio has introduced its successor, but the first generation Leo still is a superb cable that finds its way to many monitors of mine.

Leonidas brings a good amount of body to the midrange, while tightening up the low end. It stretches the sound stage of my VE 3.2 to a wider and deeper room. What it also does is give better layering and resolution. It brings out details with more ease and darkens the background.

Vocals and instruments appear more organic and have a fuller body. The dry sound also moved more towards a slightly richer one. All the things I did miss with the stock cable have turned for the better. This is a great example of why new isn’t always better.

Vision Ears VE 3.2

Vision Ears VE 3.2

PW Audio – 1960s (2w)

The PW Audio 1960s is a pure copper cable with a coaxial design. It adds some good weight and body to the lower registers while keeping resolution, texture and top-end speed in tact. The PW Audio cable does stretch a wider and deeper sound stage with impressive layering and imaging.

The 1960s especially puts some good weight into the bass. It fattens up the response and gives a certain physicality that makes the VE 3.2 a more fun sounding monitor. With the PW in the line, the Vision Ears sounds a touch richer as well.

Sources:

The VE 3.2 has a very high sensitivity of 119dB/mW at a low resistance of 18 Ohms. This makes it a super efficient IEM that does not need a lot of power to get to loud volumes. On the other hand it also makes this monitor a little prone to noisy sources. Some people do detect hissing easier than others, I am a little more sensitive than most folk, that’s why I try to stick to silent gear as it really can annoy me. Most of my equipment plays well with the VE 3.2 in that regard, but there are some sources that do produce hiss, like the Hugo2 or Mojo. So if you’re also more sensible to that, check your pairing out beforehand.

Astell&Kern – SP1000M

The SP1000M is a very fine source for the VE 3.2 in my opinion. You get good body, excellent texture and layering and a dead silent noise floor.

The VE 3.2 pairing with the SP1000M results in a fast sound with superb instrumental separation and precision. You get a smooth midrange with wonderful transparency and an organic sound. The soundstage is wide and spacious, with good air between the musicians, so they don’t sound closed in. The M is one of my favourite sources for In Ears.

Bass is well controlled and tightly bound. It has nice weight and body. The M puts some good emotions into the vocals of the VE 3.2 which seem a bit denser than with the Lotoo PAW Gold Touch for example.

Every instrument and musician enjoys a clear spotlight and each note is contoured very well for a precise imaging.

Vision Ears VE 3.2

Vision Ears VE 3.2

Cowon – Plenue L

The Plenue L is a DAP that doesn’t get as much exposure as it should in my opinion. As the market concentrates on getting features of smartphones into DAPs, the Plenue L does the contrary. It comes without WiFi or Bluetooth and is purpose built for audio only. That it masters.

You get a fuller sound with excellent resolution and imaging. The Plenue L has a slightly warmer than neutral signature, which plays very well with the balanced and almost reference class sounding VE 3.2 in my opinion.

The Cowon adds some of the missing blood and emotions to the sound. It does not fall short in terms of resolution at all, as the Plenue L definitely knows how to properly do D/A conversion.

With the Plenue L you get a finely nuanced and well extended sound, that stretches a good stage and keeps things organized.

The final page of the review is all about Comparisons and Conclusion.

4.5/5 - (152 votes)
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A daytime code monkey with a passion for audio and his kids, Linus tends to look at gear with a technical approach, trying to understand why certain things sound the way they do. When there is no music around, Linus goes the extra mile and annoys the hell out of his colleagues with low level beatboxing.

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