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Best IEM for Airy and Open Soundstage? - Page 2

post #16 of 30
12/7/08 at 10:12am
Quote:
does anyone have any good tracks for testing soundstage?
have you got any live albums?? especially of ang gigs that you have been to or bands you have seen live. this is a very good test of soundstage because you actually have a yardstick to measure by. otherwise bands like massive attack are good for testing. OH just thought of one. the portishead live album is fantastic I used it yesterday to test the differences in soundstage between my Blackgate LOD's and my new VCAP guess which came out on top
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post #17 of 30
12/7/08 at 11:15am
If not price sensitive get the UE11. King of the IEM world. Great soundstage, deep bass, awesome treble. And you avoid the hassle of getting a good seal with different tips.
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post #18 of 30
12/7/08 at 11:23am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mindblock View Post
(1) I am still caught in the "high end audio" vortex.....how did you escape??

(2) I agree with other posters, you should at least give the UE Triple.Fi 10 Pro's a listen. I find them to have a pleasant soundstage and sonic signature. Shure 530's sounded good as well, but they were a bit "tubby" with too much bass emphasis for my taste.

(3) By all means, LISTEN to these people when they say that source matters.....if using iPod you absolutely need to use a LOD.....the sonic difference is like night and day.

(4) Happy hunting!!

1) I found another hobby (law school).

2) I think I know what you mean by "tubby." Many of the IEMs I've tried - admittedly, not very many - seem to have that 80's midbass bloom.

3) What's an LOD? I did a quick search but I'm still confused.

4) Thanks to everyone for the replies. Very informative.
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post #19 of 30
12/7/08 at 11:46am
LOD = Line Out Dock. A connector that enable you to use your iPod's line-out signal.

Something like this:
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post #20 of 30
12/7/08 at 2:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by FeedMeTrance View Post
does anyone have any good tracks for testing soundstage?
Find yourself a Chesky audio testing CD. They go through all the "audiophile" type tests and tell you what to listen for.
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post #21 of 30
12/7/08 at 3:12pm
Odd as this may sound, a good test for soundstage width would be some lossless electronic music... I always really enjoy listening to the Chemical Brothers because the sounds are coming from all over the place.

If I remember correctly, the first track from the Brian Setzer Orchestra's Boogie Woogie Christmas begins with the sound of sleigh bells moving their way from left to right, another good test of width.

Last recommendation is Yanni Live at the Acropolis, personally one of my favorite things ever to listen to on a high-end setup. TONS of air, detail and separation to be had.
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post #22 of 30
12/7/08 at 6:48pm
I loved the Triple.Fi's soundstage back when I was able to use IEM's; it's pretty big and out of the head. My Yuin OK1's have a bigger soundstage (but just a bit), which has more depth. However, when I compared them, I was surprised to find that the Triple.Fi's soundstage almost matches that of the OK1, meaning that it's really big.
Another good option would be the Head-Direct RE1; from some reviews (thank you ClieOS ) it seems that it has (when amped) a bigger soundstage than the Triple.Fi's.
Hope that helps.
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post #23 of 30
12/7/08 at 6:59pm
Another vote for the 3 studio's here,massive soundstage and wonderful all rounders.
Very musical and miles better than Se530.
One of my favourite iem's.
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post #24 of 30
12/7/08 at 7:07pm
My vote would be for the Sennheiser IE8, bigger in my opinion than the Triple Fi and UM2 which are the only other IEMs I own that begin to compete on this measure.
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post #25 of 30
12/7/08 at 7:50pm
My Sennheiser IE8s have the largest soundstage of any of my phones, IEM or otherwise.
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post #26 of 30
12/7/08 at 8:25pm
Head-Direct RE1 has a huge, huge soundstage when amped.
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post #27 of 30
1/6/12 at 8:36am

Four years after this thread has started, my research suggest that the consensus is that the Sennheiser IE8 is #1, followed by the TripleFi10s, followed by the Shure SE530/535?

 

 

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post #28 of 30
1/6/12 at 9:04am

Im suprised the W4 has not been mentioned here as it has great detail in soundstage/imaging and also is very "airy".

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post #29 of 30
1/6/12 at 5:40pm

"most spacious, detailed, and accurate soundstaging? Big bass is less important than speed and detail. Cost is flexible."

 

As I re-re-read the OP's requirement I would have to add the Grado GR10 into the mix.  It is basically an ER4S withe a bit more bottom end and a much larger airy, open soundstage.  One of the best I have ever heard.  I might argue it is the most "accurate" soundstage of any universal in production.

 

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post #30 of 30
1/6/12 at 7:11pm

Odd, I find the ex600 as well the ex1000 airier than the TF10.

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