Craft Ears Omnium and Craft Ears Omnium Ti

Omnium OG is an old acquaintance of mine, an IEM I have tested and nearly bought before, and heard a couple more times along my voyage to my current line-up. It was too voice forward and a tad bright for me in the past, but my preferences shifted a bit and now it falls right in the middle. I have also heard Ti a couple of times before, once in Munich, at High-End and once at CJL.  

I listened to them in parallel, on a Nipo N2 or the Audma Brioso. Both need some grunts and either of these devices has plenty of reserve. 

The songs I have chosen are: 

 Lingua Ignota – Persefone, it is a very immersive and engaging song,  the particularity thereof being a very gritty sound, with most of the stuff happening in mid-bass and lower mids. If the IEM has too much of a dip in the mids, it will sound incoherent and disconnected, the sub-bass receives a bit of the gritty character, while the treble is singled out and becomes distracting.  

How I like it to  sound, drums thundering, with a clear difference in decay between snare and toms (fills). The guitar gritty and bassy  (a good, fast bass, like Storm’s does wonders here). The treble has to be a bit subdued for it to work best.  One IEM that makes this song enjoyable is the Asteria.  

How do the Omniums fare: OG sounds clear and sharp, there is some nicely controlled subbass, but the bridge between that and the mids is a bit too depressed to get the most out of this song. The treble sounds fantastic and clear, with good timbre and good energy and air. There is plenty of textures in the highs and mids. 

The Ti is hardly reminescent of OG. It sounds more forceful, with the mids-bass sounding exactly how I was hoping it would; the bass guitar is easy to follow, without dominating the scene (I have used rather skinny, wider bore tips).  The treble is more depressed than OG, but no problems, there is still plenty of air and energy. The details appear a bit masked compared to OG, but what is lost in highs is more than gained in mid-bass. 

The place where I belong – Riverside Here I am looking for clarity and immersive sound. This is good for checking the upper mids balance, as there is no need for gritt here. There’s a nice bass line that I like to focus on until the keyboard starts.  

Ti plays safe, ample bass, with the balance tipped more towards sub-bass, that is constantly in action. The voice is clear and occupies its own space, just like the rest of the instruments.  

OG is more voice forward, clearer and brighter. Funny enough, I’d say there are more details in the upper mids. When alternating between them, OG sounds more competent, while the Ti is the warmer, easier to listen-to, somehow safer option nowadays. The voice and bass control elevate OG over Ti for this song. The organ sounds more spatial and the layering is closer to my taste.  

Approaching Babel – Orgone. The cymbal work is exquisite, just like the bass. It’s all about details here, no need for extra oopmh i the bass.  OG does well until things get loud, then it feels a tad crowded and it borders on strident to me. Nice interplay bass-cymbals, though. It doesn’t cross the line, it remains on the safe side, but is maybe not my first choice for this title. 

Ti has a sweet warmth, it almost feels like different music. The bass guitar is Omnipresent (got it?!) . It still feels less detailed than OG, but oh, so addictive. I am happy to trade some details for a graver sound. 

WIndow pane – Opeth  Started off with Ti. What I look for here is basically maintaining the atmosphere, the nostalgia, the contrast between Mikael’s soothing voice and the seriousness of the lyrics. Disembodied loneliness…Not only Ti, Both Omniums are good for this slow homage to 70’s prog music. The drum part is genious, is the one setting the tone for this melancholic music, while at the same time the hi-hat is what draws back into the light. A course in controlled melancholy. With it’s more correct, more detailed approach, OG is chipping away at the blackness of this song. Not in a negative way, it’s just that it  easier to stay in the spirit with Ti. It depends on my mood, and the time of day, for an evening, Ti is soothing and relaxing. For a morning, OG does the trick. 

What New York couples fight about – Morcheeba I am looking for the layering of the voices, the space between one another and the distance to the accompanying music. I particularly like the focus of OG on the main voices and the way the background voices are portrayed while maintaining  nice stereo effects and leaving enough space for the chorus, when the music is fuller, but filling a space that did not seem empty before. Tbh, OG is simply perfect for this music. 

Ti keeps some of the voice forwardness, but not the whole of it. I’m not sure the extra bass brings anything here. It’s still very good, but I prefer OG for this one. 

All Eyez on me – 2Pac. Unfair fight, this version of the song (from Qobuz) is produced with too much treble and a touch of sibilance. As expected, no problems for Ti. No sibilance, no harsh treble. Just goodness. I think Ti is one of the best IEMs I have heard this piece with. Also unsurprisingly, OG cannot quite rise to the occasion. Afterall, Ti has set the bar very high. The difference is less than I imagined, there is still enough warmth, enough details in the bass, the voices are, as before, clear and the sibilance is so well controlled. The OG remains a very good IEM. 

The conclusion of this week with the two Omniums is that Omnium OG remains a shockingly good IEM, very resolving and with impressive layering, while putting the main voice closer to the listener. Intimate voice, but wide stage. The mid-bass and sub-bass are a bit on the lean side. 

The body of 7th Acoustics Asteria is very similar to that of Omnium, but much deeper, to accommodate all those drivers

Ti is addressing the mid- and sub-bass, but it does so while reducing the treble and taking the voices half a step back (spatially). It is a safer play, with less peaks and it sounds less resolving. Now, this could be just a side effect of decreased treble energy or a deliberate choice from their maker (trends come and go and very resolving IEMs gave way to bassy monsters). Ti can be quite polite, with wide bore tips, maybe a shallower insertion (like Baroque, Divinus WB), but it can become teeth rattling with tips like the CP145 or Finals. 

Most of my music is dark and depressing, so Ti is probably a better match for it. One thing I am sure of, you can’t go wrong with either of them.  

Omnium and Omnium Ti are available from Elise audio.