Q-Jays vs UM2 vs SE530 ? - Page 2

[Off subject]
Great choice for music listening, the Clip. It'll now do OGG/Vorbis audio files very well with the latest firmware. It plays OGG better than any DAP I've come across. The Zune will do MP4.

get the shures x2

The consensus from what I've read (I'm a Shure guy) is that the SE530s are superior. The question is, are they $250 better? I would say, no. But absolutely better, yes. If money isn't an object, get the SE530s.

I bought SE530 a few days ago and have been listening to them quite a bit since then. I asked my friend to come over with his Q-Jays so that we could compare a bit. I had heard the Q-Jays a few times previously but wanted to test them side by side.

SE530 wins on bass quantity and quality.
Q-Jays wins on low frequency bass. (which is surprising considering the size and also the fact that the SE530 has 2!!! bass drivers).
Q-Jays wins on high fequencies.
SE530 kills Q-Jays when it comes to soundstage. That alone is worth the price of admission if you can solve the SE530 shortcomings with your listening device of choice.

I use the flextips and not the olives. The olives made the bass distort when I used them. The bass distorting ruined the high frequencies for me.

SE530 start rolling off at 10khz. You then have to raise each subsequent band 2 decibels. So 12khz = +2db. 14khz = +2+2db. It's easy to figure out using foobar since it has a 20 band EQ. Then you can pop up the 50hz and 70hz bands a bit and autolevel everything so it doesn't distort.

Listening to SE530 is the closest I have come to listening to speaker-like sound with an IEM. Compared to Q-Jays, Shure e2c, e3c, Denon c551, m-audio IE40 which are more the kind of "i'm singing in your forehead" type of IEM.

The SE530 is bling! It's comfortable too.
Q-Jays have the advantage of being able to worn with the cable hanging down as well as around your ears.

I do not think the SE530 is twice as good as the Q-Jays since the Q-Jays beats the SE530 in a couple of areas. But the SE530 shortcomings can be overcome with proper synergy and EQ:ing.

Also the Q-Jays will not hiss. The SE530 will depending on your device.

After the price of Q-Jays you start reaching the land of diminishing returns. But like I said... the soundstage in SE530 is so nice that you forget you are wearing IEMS.

Another shortcoming of the SE530 is the thickness of the connector cable that connects to the extender.

If you buy Q-Jays you are just going to want SE530 anyways. Q-Jays in Sweden cost 1200 swedish kronor. I got the SE530 for "cheap" since it was their last pair. 3000 swedish kronor. Otherwise you are looking at triple the price of Q-Jays here in Sweden.

Regards, Mike.

excellent post Random.

i didn't realize the Q-jays are now up to $239 US. I paid $179 just couple months ago.

my advice...as wishy-washy as it was before...now has to consider the smaller premium of paying list price for Q-jays vs. buying the 530's at deep discount to msrp. that equation now tilts more to the 530's as being "worth it". now $100 more buys you the shures, which i would say is justifiable.

am i wrong...in my previous post?

The Q-Jays appear to still be relatively hard to get and the best price i have seen in $229. The Shures--depending if you want "authorized dealer" can be had as low as $339.

Thanks Robster.

I agree, 100 dollars is definitely justifiable and I would go so far as to say that 100 dollars is a joke compared to prices over here. Sadly it is hard to audition iems so you have to listen to other people's opinions, read reviews, etc. There are a couple of bad reviews about the SE530 and a ton of very positive ones.

It's sick that Q-Jays cost so much over there. They are "cheap" here in Sweden in comparison to other headphones and iems.

2 x Q-Jays = 1 HD650
3 x Q-Jays = 1 SE530, or 1 AKG701

I had another reason for buying the SE530. It means I get to own something that none of my friends have (or probably will ever have). But that's just me.

Sometimes Q-Jays are better than SE530.
Most of the time SE530 is better than Q-Jays provided you can EQ or provided you have a "forward" sounding device.

Of course it's down to personal taste and people wanting to justify the fact that they spent a ton of money on iems.

After buying the SE530 I actually felt free as far as iems go. I've reached the top when it comes to universal fit IEMs for portable unamped use! And for only 500 of your US dollars! I got 100 dollars off!

But I might just buy the Q-Jays anyway!

Other things I could do with the money instead of buying Q-Jays:

Have 4 dinners out.
Buy 25 packs of cigarettes.
Buy food for 2 weeks.
Eat 20 Big Mac & Co or 20 pizzas, kebabs, whatever.
Buy 2 or 3 Xbox 360 games.

I also don't know what kind of salaries you have in the US so it's hard for me to say.

No you aren't wrong, I was just going with the MSRP pricing, I didn't know what the prices were like in Sweden. But, they are relatively close to what I said, but even worse with the SE530s being 3x more! Here in the U.S., you are right, the SE530s can be gotten from eBay for $100 more (mine cost me $320 from a reputable dealer). Personally, I think $320 is a VERY fair price for this quality IEM. Having said that, I still want to pick up a pair of q-jays eventually... That's the fun of this obsession, I mean hobby.

I have the UM2s and i think they are massively underrated on here too. For the price I think they are a bit steep. Having not tried the q-jays I think the UM2s were better for portable listening than the SE530 overall.

Remember, for portable applications it is more about comfort, microphonics etc. than all out sound quality. UM2s have amazing isolation too with the the shure 'olives'.

I do think they need amping to sound their best.

If I think the UM2s are overpriced, then i certainly feel the SE530 despite some sonic improvement to be well overpriced. I know it's a weird thing to say, especially since I listen to classical music, but the UM2 sound sig for portable listening suited me. On the move, the beauty of ety er4p was lost on me and was a bit thin and tiring after a while. SE530 was nothing special either. I would much rather get a UM2 sound sig on the move and a HD650/AKG701 or similar for semi-portable quiet listening with amp.

However, having said that I am itching to rebuy the 530 and buy a set of q-jays for a three way comparison...But I think I'm leaning towards the freqshows personally as something completely different.

It's expensive for a dual driver but I think UM2 is priced right where it should be. It kills the Super Fi Pro and is much closer to quality SQ of SE530 and TF10. I flat out prefer it to TF10 and would say it is 90-95% of what SE530 is. Ergonomic/fitwise...it beats them both. So I think it is priced right.