Conclusion
Writing negative reviews isn’t fun, particularly when a manufacturer sends a product to evaluate.
The EM6Ls aren’t a “bad” pair of IEMs either, I’ve no doubt Harman Target fans will appreciate them. Build quality in particular is excellent, so if you value clarity over tonality you may like what they offer.
Unfortunately I’m not someone who enjoys Harman-tuned earphones.
To me the Harman sound is just too hollow & lifeless to be enjoyable, and I always come away suspecting the Harman Curve was designed to create an artificially enhanced sense of clarity & spaciousness at the cost of instruments that sound real – a “hack” to give cheaper earphones boosted technical performance without adding more drivers, or improving driver quality.
As an audiophile of nearly three decades experience I’d rather spend more money on IEMs that deliver great technical performance and believable tonality, but not everyone has that luxury. The Harman Curve lets manufacturers bring higher levels of technical performance to the masses without raising prices, but to me the tradeoff isn’t worth it – at this price level I’d prioritise tonality instead.
Sadly the Harman Curve has a legion of followers manufacturers must find it tempting to tap into, so this won’t be the last Harman IEM we see… but hopefully the industry moves away from Harman in future.
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