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SE530 OWNERS: sound quality lacking on low volumes?

post #1 of 13
4/28/08 at 11:55pm
Thread Starter 
Hey guys. I have the SE530s and i have to admit they are the way to go if you love bass.

However, Im only getting these results at high volumes.
5g Ipod/iPhone/3g nano:
60% volume is bearable. Still getting that thump in there.
75% volume is incredible. Dont want to do deaf though.

What do you guys think? Maybe its because im using the headphone jack of the ipods?

Should i get an amp and go LOD? Mini^3 + DIY LOD w/ solid silver cables?

Did a side by side comparison of Rockbox 5g ipod no EQ (laggy and stutter) vs Electronic EQ Regular firmware 5g ipod. Rockbox has less hiss and bit more thump in bass, but hate the rockbox firmware so im sticking with electronic eq ipod. In rockbox i can get a little better quality on lower volumes.
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post #2 of 13
4/29/08 at 8:05am
theres no loss of quality with the volume lower, in fact technically all headphones lose quality the higher you put the volume as things like harmonic distortion gets higher and so on.

i think what your experiencing is what we all experience, that need to go higher because when we enjoy music our brain sort of tells us to pump it up.

also with dual and triple driver design earphones it really is a joy to crank it up because the earphones really come alive and show why multi driver designs are king!

if you crank up a single driver earphone and a triple driver phone, eight out of ten times the multi driver phone will do its job and create less distortion thus making the experience that little better. at lower volumes its very easy for single driver phones to compete, when you turn the dial tho the multi driver designs just power away while single driver phones just struggle to put out none distorting bass

EDIT: also its worth pointing out that bass usually requires more power to show itself. can you imagine if bass was as loud as the mids and highs at lower volume, the mids and highs would just suffocate and sludge away in heaps of muddy bass
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post #3 of 13
4/29/08 at 8:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by qspeedss View Post
Hey guys. I have the SE530s and i have to admit they are the way to go if you love bass.
However, Im only getting these results at high volumes.
5g Ipod/iPhone/3g nano:
60% volume is bearable. Still getting that thump in there.
75% volume is incredible. Dont want to do deaf though.
What do you guys think?
I don't agree with jinx20001 at all. In fact, I believe he agreed with other people in previous posts that the quality was not so good at lower volumes. Why he's saying something different now, I don't know.

One of the reasons I sold mine was down to the quality drop off at lower volumes. Some headphones manage to retain the frequency details at lower volumes, but I didn't find the E500 to be one of them. They sounded extremely average at lower volumes. Other users have also mentioned the same thing.

They're fine if you plan to listen fairly loud all the time, but I like to listen at night sometimes, and they just sounded cheap to me once the volume was turned down. For the price they were, I expected them to sound at least fairly decent at all volumes.
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post #4 of 13
4/29/08 at 8:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by soozieq View Post
I don't agree with jinx20001 at all. In fact, I believe he agreed with other people in previous posts that the quality was not so good at lower volumes. Why he's saying something different now, I don't know.

One of the reasons I sold mine was down to the quality drop off at lower volumes. Some headphones manage to retain the frequency details at lower volumes, but I didn't find the E500 to be one of them. They sounded extremely average at lower volumes. Other users have also mentioned the same thing.

They're fine if you plan to listen fairly loud all the time, but I like to listen at night sometimes, and they just sounded cheap to me once the volume was turned down. For the price they were, I expected them to sound at least fairly decent at all volumes.
well you just aint talking technically are you, ive always said that the shures sound better a higher volume like most earphones of higher quality but what i said if you read carefully is in theory volume technically gets worse due to harmonic distortion, read up on harmonic distortion and then come back and tell me im wrong.

i also never said they sound better at lower volume i said there is no loss of quality, that dont mean i said its better at lower volume
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post #5 of 13
4/29/08 at 8:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by soozieq View Post
I don't agree with jinx20001 at all. In fact, I believe he agreed with other people in previous posts that the quality was not so good at lower volumes. Why he's saying something different now, I don't know.

One of the reasons I sold mine was down to the quality drop off at lower volumes. Some headphones manage to retain the frequency details at lower volumes, but I didn't find the E500 to be one of them.

.
this is exactly what is kept at lower volume with all high end earphones, its when the volume gets higher you start to lose frequency detail, such as a guitar may sound like a guitar at lower volume but lose that guitar sound at higher volume, turning it into just a sound instead of a guitar sound. again linking in with harmonic distortion, so do please study the facts before tellin somebody they are wrong.

here dont take my word for it, try reading up on the subject first and then start telling us the e500 loses detail at lower volume Total harmonic distortion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ofcourse you hear more at higher volume, but what your hearing does not mean its more detailed than at lower volume. dont get me wrong i myself think the e500 shines at higher volume, maybe due to the triple driver design like i mentioned. but all i said is no quality is lost at lower volumes, thats all and thats a fact
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post #6 of 13
4/29/08 at 8:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jinx20001 View Post
i also never said they sound better at lower volume i said there is no loss of quality,
that dont mean i said its better at lower volume
I see your memory hasn't improved one bit. I can't be bothered to drag up your previous posts, but you DID agree they weren't so good at lower volumes. If something's not so good, then it can be perceived as a drop in quality. Before you start winding people up like you used to do, perhaps you should try and remember what you've written before so you don't contradict yourself or give people misleading information.

I also see you don't read properly. I did not imply you said they sounded better at lower volumes. I said you agreed they didn't sound so good with the volume turned down. You posted about this well before you even knew what 'harmonic distortion' was. You're also well known for chopping and changing your views from post to post making it difficult for anyone to know which parts to take as 'fact' or 'fiction'. Don't make me drag up your Atrios comments as proof, or the C700 debacle.

If you've come back here (which it looks like you have), then don't start off insulting people with your thinly-veiled sarcasm and insults. You may just get banned this time.

qspeedss - like I said, some headphones manage to sound perfectly good at lower levels. If what jinx20002 said is true, then ALL headphones would sound inferior at lower volumes, and that just isn't true.
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post #7 of 13
4/29/08 at 8:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by soozieq View Post
I see your memory hasn't improved one bit. I can't be bothered to drag up your previous posts, but you DID agree they weren't so good at lower volumes. If something's not so good, then it can be perceived as a drop in quality. Before you start winding people up like you used to do, perhaps you should try and remember what you've written before so you don't contradict yourself or give people misleading information.

I also see you don't read properly. I did not imply you said they sounded better at lower volumes. I said you agreed they didn't sound so good with the volume turned down. You posted about this well before you even knew what 'harmonic distortion' was. You're also well known for chopping and changing your views from post to post making it difficult for anyone to know which parts to take as 'fact' or 'fiction'. Don't make me drag up your Atrios comments as proof, or the C700 debacle.

If you've come back here (which it looks like you have), then don't start off insulting people with your thinly-veiled sarcasm and insults. You may just get banned this time.

qspeedss - like I said, some headphones manage to sound perfectly good at lower levels. If what jinx20002 said is true, then ALL headphones would sound inferior at lower volumes, and that just isn't true.
aww wow banned, lol theres other forums...this just happens to be my favourite and i usually like the people who debate on here, anyway as i was saying, YES read carefully YES i have said the e500 sound better at higher volume. but what i pointed out is, detail is NOT lost at lower volume, its just more prominent at higher volume, you see you just said detail is lost...and thats just wrong. you also said the e500 sound better at higher volume, i agree with this, but again all i said is detail is not lost and technically, yes TECHNICALLY more detail is lost at higher volume, that dont mean i prefer it at lower volume.

and about chopping and changing my views, thats called a second and third opinion. one mistake many people make on head fi is not giving phones another listen, maybe you should do the same with the e500 because you have not listened for a while from how long you have not had them for, and you seem to judge the e500 very harshly even tho its been time since you have taken a listen. and most of us forget what they sound like after listening to other phones for so long, anyway, its always a pleasure to argue but must dash, work is more important than head fi unfortunately,chow
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post #8 of 13
4/29/08 at 9:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by soozieq View Post
I see your memory hasn't improved one bit. I can't be bothered to drag up your previous posts, but you DID agree they weren't so good at lower volumes. If something's not so good, then it can be perceived as a drop in quality. Before you start winding people up like you used to do, perhaps you should try and remember what you've written before so you don't contradict yourself or give people misleading information.

I also see you don't read properly. I did not imply you said they sounded better at lower volumes. I said you agreed they didn't sound so good with the volume turned down. You posted about this well before you even knew what 'harmonic distortion' was. You're also well known for chopping and changing your views from post to post making it difficult for anyone to know which parts to take as 'fact' or 'fiction'. Don't make me drag up your Atrios comments as proof, or the C700 debacle.

If you've come back here (which it looks like you have), then don't start off insulting people with your thinly-veiled sarcasm and insults. You may just get banned this time.

qspeedss - like I said, some headphones manage to sound perfectly good at lower levels. If what jinx20002 said is true, then ALL headphones would sound inferior at lower volumes, and that just isn't true.
oh, how did you work that out, i said harmonic distortion is higher at higher volumes, so in fact i said technically most of the detail is kept at lower volumes and more likely lost at higher volumes. its you that said detail is lost at lower volumes, read back on yourself
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post #9 of 13
4/29/08 at 9:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jinx20001 View Post
detail is NOT lost at lower volume, its just more prominent at higher volume, you see you just said detail is lost...and thats just wrong.
Detail IS lost at lower volumes. The bass is barely audible and needs to be cranked up to come into play. Are you saying there is no detail in bass??? If you can't HEAR the detail at lower volumes then that detail is LOST to the ears isn't it? I can't be bothered to argue with you. You've pissed off so many people here already, it's a waste of time. The fact is you're WRONG. If detail can't be heard at lower volumes, then to all intents and purpose it is LOST!
Quote:
you seem to judge the e500 very harshly even tho its been time since you have taken a listen.
I see you are still so overly defensive of Shure to the extent you can't differentiate between being 'harsh' and making a valid comment. You clearly didn't mature while you were in hiding. I'd like to say it was nice to chat with you too, but that would be a lie.
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post #10 of 13
4/29/08 at 9:14am
I own the SE530 and I find that with most IEMs, I need to turn on the volume at a higher range for critical listening..
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post #11 of 13
4/29/08 at 10:11am
@soozieq: you seriously need to chill. You're dragging baggage into this discussion that has nothing to do with the topic.

As to loss of detail in bass, I have not perceived that at lower volumes with my E500s. The bass does not thump as much at lower volume, but I have not heard any phone (IEM or head*) that thumps as good at low volume as it does turned up. The bass is plenty audible at low volume -- in a quiet room. If I tried to listen at low volume on the train or a similar noisy environment, then it would be hard to hear. No big surprise there, given those kinds of noisy environments.

Again, when listening in a quiet room at low volume, I find my E500s sound perfectly fine.
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post #12 of 13
4/29/08 at 10:55am
I have not perceived it either. If anything the opposite would/should be true.

A leaner sounding single driver type IEM would sound inadequate at lower volumes.
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post #13 of 13
4/29/08 at 12:20pm
i found if the source does not have powerful output, it will not sounds good at lower volumes.

You may want to try the same test with same source + amp and see if you get the same result.
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