I recently got the Prisma Lumen and Lux in for review (the same units @listener recently reviewed) - I’ll have a video out on them shortly because I think there’s a lot to talk about with these. But as a preview, here are my initial thoughts.
Visual Design - Possibly the best thing about these IEMs is their visual design, with a simple, clean, classy look to both of them. I wish they were in more muted and understated colors, but I’d rather have these in my ears than most IEMs because they don’t make me look ridiculous when I wear them - or at least… my ridiculousness isn’t enhanced by some bonkers design idea someone has gone for.
I can’t tell you how many people tell me “I bet those sound good but I could never wear something like that” whenever I show them some of the more flashy looking IEMs. Normal people don’t want that stuff, and yes, I primarily talk to normal people in my day to day life - apart from @taronlissimore. So I appreciate Prisma going for this design, as it has a more ubiquitous appeal beyond ‘audiophile’.
Comfort / Fit - Comfort is fine with these but unfortunately I find they constantly slide out to the edges of my ear canals. I can get them in flush, and then over the course of five to ten minutes they just slide out and I’m forced to push them back in. They don’t fall out completely, but with IEMs you typically want as deep an insert as possible to limit the dreaded length mode resonances inherent to the acoustically hellish condition that is a blocked off ear canal.
I’ve tried the various included tips, settling on the M size, but it’s just the way this shell is designed that doesn’t work for my ear shape. I suspect the main problem is that where the nozzle connects to the shell, it’s a slightly fatter area than what I’m used to, and this is coming up against my ear canal entrance that keeps pushing it out. So while the nozzle itself isn’t too large for my ear, the rest of the shell is.
Lumen
To my surprise, the Lumen is unfortunately not great for me. There’s an inherent risk to tuning an IEM to be dead on neutral, and the Lumen is on the wrong side of that risk for me.
The bass is reasonable and I can tell that the midrange is quite nice, if a bit on the lean side of things, but its hard to focus on that because the treble profile is an absolute glare fiesta to my ear. The lower treble length mode resonance around 6khz isn’t as drastic as I find on other IEMs, so its not outright spicey in the treble, but this whole region, along with the primary ear gain rise is made more punishing as a result of rather dark mid and upper treble.
Basically… problems inherent to all IEMs aren’t being masked because the treble is just too dark, causing it to sound shouty, harsh, and compressed all at the same time.
I think if I didn’t have so many issues with the shell ergonomics / fit, I’d be able to kill the length mode resonance issue by reducing the air volume between the IEM and my eardrum. I expect that’s the core reason as to why I’m struggling with this one a bit, and for those who can get a really deep insert, or anyone with more meager and childlike ear canals, the Lumen will sound exceptional.
I’ll be experimenting with some alternative tips for this to try and fix that issue, but as it is, with stock tips, this is a bit rough.
UPDATE - I’ve since tested the Lumen with the Coffee tips (same as Shortwide), and it’s considerably better. They don’t totally fix the length mode issue I get with this IEM but they dramatically improves it. We’ll update the graphs of that soon.
- Prisma Lumen Sound Score: 4.6 / 10
- Prisma Lumen Overall Score: 4.2 / 10
- UPDATE - Prisma Lumen with Coffee Tips Sound Score: 6.3/10
B&K 5128 with JM-1 Compensation (how population average hears it)
B&K 5128 with JM-1 Resolve Blocked Canal Compensation (how I hear it)
Lux
The Lux sounds a lot better to me, fixing most of the issues I have with the Lumen. That’s right… I’m the fun one here.
The Lux is quite a bit more V-shaped, with… notably more bass and treble. I’m comfortable saying this is an unhinged level of bass and treble, definitely too much for what I like, but with IEMs, this can be the lesser of many evils.
The extra bass balances out the strong ear gain rise into the treble, and the extra upper treble presence serves to mask any length mode issues in the lower treble that I’m getting. So it’s not that those resonances don’t exist on the Lux where they do exist on the Lumen, it’s that on the Lux they’re not nearly as noticeable or punishing because they’re being obscured by an upper treble emphasis.
As a result, the Lux doesn’t have any of the glare or compression issues I was having with the Lumen, but that does also come at the cost of the bass and treble often overshadowing what is otherwise a nice midrange presentation, so some of that gets lost a bit with this tuning. Still, I’m really enjoying this one, it sounds fun and engaging for the most part.
If I had my druthers, I’d want something that’s somewhat in between Lux and Lumen, or perhaps something like the Lumen with a shell design that fits deeper into my ear so that the treble issues are lessened. But between these two it’s not really very close for me, I much prefer the Lux.
- Prisma Lux Sound Score: 6 / 10
- Prisma Lux Overall Score: 5.3 / 10
B&K 5128 with JM-1 Compensation (how population average hears it)
B&K 5128 with JM-1 Resolve Blocked Canal Compensation (how I hear it)
