Band: opinion spread · Dot: weighted average
The reason the Annihilator has a reputation. Nearly every editorial, community and critical source rates it best-in-class — very extended, very fast, and unusually free of sibilance. The dissent is about tolerance rather than quality: several listeners who admire it say it tires them within the hour, a minority hear it as bright and synthetic, and one ranked reviewer rejects it outright.
“it’s not often you see treble rising upwards at 5KHz and basically staying elevated with minimal dips right through to the air frequencies”
Guy Lerner, The Headphone List
“This is one of the best treble performances in the whole IEM market, and you especially wonder how Lee managed to make a treble that extends incredibly well but stays non-fatiguing.”
Berkhan, Headfonia
“There's no question that this is a brighter treble response that some listeners might find fatiguing via extended listening, higher volumes, or on particular tracks.”
Precogvision, Headphones.com
“it is simply a bright treble which can be fun for treble heads but it's a bit splashy and synthetic sounding.”
dleblanc343, Head-Fi
Measured
Eighteen rigs, each normalised to its own 500 Hz, put the ear-gain peak at a median 3.7 kHz (3.1–4.1 kHz) and +9.4 dB, then a notch at a median 6.3 kHz sitting about 7 dB below that peak — straight through the classic sibilance band — and 7–12 kHz averaging about +5 dB above the midrange. One rig measured the same unit at three insertion depths: a shallow fit fills that notch in, putting 5–6 dB more energy at 6 kHz than a standard or deep fit.
vs. listeners — Above about 13 kHz the rigs stop agreeing, which matters because that is exactly the air the set is famous for: at 15 kHz they scatter from 7 dB below the midrange to 9 dB above it, so no single graph settles the extension claim. The insertion-depth result also suggests the 'never sibilant' and 'spicy' camps may be hearing different fits rather than different taste.