I think I'm done shopping for headphones/earphones for awhile. Which is too bad, because it sure is fun to read these forums and shop. I'm well-set with Klipsch X5's, Yuin PK2's, Head-Direct RE2's, and SoundMagic PL-30's. Someday I will probably try the Sleeks, but I think I'm done for awhile.

What is it about IEM's that causes this obsession? I did not have the same issue with traditional headphones. I got the Grado SR-60's, immediately liked them, and did not feel the need to seek out more or better headphones.

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Because no matter how good an earphone is, it is always a severe compromise or sacrifice next to a full-size headphone. Either it's deficient in one of the three frequency ranges, or the cable's godawful, or the isolation is terribad, or it's uncomfortable, or the cord is too stiff... I could go on for hours.

I had the same problem that you did. I went through close to a dozen different pair of earphones before I found one that had at least a tolerable level of suck.

I've given up on earphones though. If I ever get the urge to upgrade my HF5, they're going to be replaced with ATH-ESW9.

I don't know. I started with Grado SR-80s and then quickly bought RS-1s. I wanted to try IEMs so I bought RE-1s to see if I could tolerate them. I could, and though they were decent for the money, I went ahead and bought Shure SE530s. About that time, I decided I wanted a little more variety over the Grados so I bought Sennheiser HD-650s.

I suspect I'm not done yet with full size headphones, but I think I've pretty much planned to stop experimenting with IEMs. The Shures are good enough for travelling and don't need an amp to sound good. The full size, on the other hand, almost beg to be tweaked out with different amps, cables, etc.

I suppose I'd say my experience is the inverse of yours.

Oh, and I've never really experienced "levels of suck" -- I like all my phones for different reasons.

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I don't know, but I've only been here 2 says and I'm already feeling like I might just be more addicted to this then I'll be to my headphones when I get them.

Nope. No IEMs for me. While I have had no issues with fit, that uncomfortable feeling of detachment from outside world (I believe it is called isolation in here) is not very appealing for me no needed. And compared to full-sized headphones IEMs simply don't deliver enough on eargasm per price ratio. I'll stick to non-isolating earbuds or portable cans for now.

I own over 30 headphones that I like. I've sold a few that were decent but not for me and one redundant one. I'm definitely in the collector realm. If you want to see an amazing list of headphones, checkout WeatherDVX's profile

You can start picking up lots of full-sized headphones, too. It never really ends.

I have bought a lot of different IEMs because it seems that every pair I get has a flaw. I feel the other way about full size headphones: I buy them because there are so many great cans with different positive attributes. It seems that my full size headphone glass is half full while my IEM glass is always half empty.

I've owned more than one pair of fullsize headphones before, and what usually happens is one pair gets used for everything, and the other pairs collect dust.


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I feel exactly the same way.