Z.buds impressions - Page 3

Stock, UE SF3 medium silicone, Comply T400. Most of the listening was with the T400.

Well, I'm sorry you didn't end up liking the Z.Buds. Perhaps I like a colored sound more (for certain things). I really enjoy the Z.Buds for artists like Eric Johnson and Infected Mushroom, for instance. On the flip side, I didn't find the NE-7M to come as close as you say to the Image X10, and I feel the SCL4/E4C beats it soundly as well. It's certainly an outstanding IEM for the price, but I can't honestly say it beats anything I've paid more than $100 for (or that commonly has a street price over $100) other than my UE Super.fi 5 EB (Which is mainly because I thoroughly dislike THAT much bloated bass).

As they say, different strokes for different folks. I'll be updating my three-way comparison soon to reflect some of the discussion in this thread and my further personal thoughts, mainly between the Z.Buds and NE-7M.

I've been eying the Phonaks, but I'm going for my D2000 first (and finally) and then a proper amp for it (like the Rockhopper M3 or something similar), so it's going to be a fair number of months before I do another IEM.

If you do pick the Phonaks up, I'm interested how they compare to the Image X10 and the E4C and that ilk more than stuff in the sub-$100 range. I keep hearing the Phonaks rival the top-end stuff for a rather dirt cheap price, so the more reviews that back that up the better.

You just have to find the right tips, canal position and fit for the NE-7M. In my case it's the Shure E2c black silicone tips or Complys T400 foam tips. I was able to make the stock tips work if I only inserted them deep enough to grab onto the outer ear canal (like I had to do with CX300). IEM like E4c and SE310 are fantastic amped, but left a little to be desired un-amped, which is why I originally picked my Denon C700 over those two as my keepers. Then later the NE-7M come along and handily put down the Denon C700 side by side, so it's an indirect comparison to the Shures.

The NE-8 are even more neutral and transparent after I struggled to get the right fit and seal, using either the bi-flange that come with it and a shallow insertion, or the Complys T400 tips and mash them as deep as they will go. The NE-8 are hard to get inserted deep where I need them to be to seal and make bass with my medium foam tips, and I don't have larger foam tips to get a seal with a shallow insertion. Once I got the fit right with 150 hours of burn-in I liked the NE-8, but it may be too much trouble for the avg joe to make them work out of the box. I'll still take the NE-8 over the Denon C700 as well, despite the lesser bass. I'm listening to them right now with my iPhone 3G and Diana Krall "Live in Paris" and it is wonderful.


I'll have the Phonak here in a couple of days, and have no doubt they will be good. So, not sure why I ordered them other than to be able to say I've heard them (same with Z.buds).

Hi Larry, are you going to (or have you) ordered the IE8s so you can say you have heard them? A lot of people value your opinion, me included.

LOL - no, not for $450.

Also, I switched back to the Complys foam tips over the past hour which didn't help when the Z.buds were fresher and newer, but now they do seem to be helping the sound more now that they have a total of almost 125 hours. (note - some of my reports may be a few hours after I was listening, depending on my schedule. So they are not always posted at the exact hours I am referring back to. But my 80 hours report was 48 hours ago and was reported at the moment I hit 80. Since I have had the Z.buds burning in for all but 3 hours of the last 48, taking time to mess with the NE-8 some more, I am at about 125 hours)

Anyway, the EQ needed at 110 hours (this AM) and even to 124 hours with the clear silicone tips is the same as above in "Z.buds EQ 9" without much change, but I hadn't tried Complys tips in days and now with the Complys on the Z.buds the amount of EQ needed to make them listenable with the Macbook and 3MOVE is even less than before:



Apart from the coloration and timbre/tone differences, at least the frequency response has improved some more with the Complys tips being added back in addition to the burn-in. Since they haven't changed much between 110-125 hours (when not changing tips), I do think the burn-in part is done.

About $240 from Advanced MP3, but not quick! Just sayin...

The thing is I have my set of full, rich and grand sounding IEM that I couldn't be happier with (Westone 3 that replaced the X10), and I don't want to spend $250-450 for another one that will maybe sound dark like the HD650. Especially now that I have dropped $3000 on two headphones lately (JADE/HD800). The NE-7M are also fairly full and rich sounding, and with more hours and Complys tips remind me a lot of the X10, while the Z.buds took it just a little too far for me.

But now as dkft (or is it dfkt) says, I am exploring my analytical/monitoresque IEM needs. So far the NE-8 and depodded IM716 fill that role just fine, but I want to give a try to an analytical one that costs me less than the IE8 and that works with my iPhone for music and phone calls without a Griffin iPhone adapter. I will also compare that to my de-podded multi-impedance IM716 which are between the ER6i and ER4P/S (I can switch them to 0 ohm, 5, 22, 33, 47, 55, 80 or 102 ohm with a DIY pod by DanT). Since I got the Nuforce IEM I haven't used the IM716 which MUST be amped, so I am looking forward to trying one like the NE-7M and NE-8 that doesn't need to be amped.

Besides, my next big ticket IEM is going to be the Westone ES3X custom.

I understand why you wouldn't buy, but your write ups/reviews are so excellent, and you have heard so many different headphone related products (you are like a walking headphone encyclopedia) your perspective would have been very useful to me, and I am sure others.

From my reading I think the IE8 is the best choice for my sound taste and *cough* budget. Because of your NE-7 review, I held off on the X10 purchase, have the NE-7s, and now have IE8s on the way, which from what I have read are better in every way.

Oh, and thank you very much for all your reviews and comments on all the various products you have and have tried, it is invaluable to my head-fi learning curve

I almost think we can forget why we buy these items. At least in my base, the IEM has to be powered by the iphone without an amp. The Z.buds basically are far to inefficient to meet this simple requirement for me (again I do use mp3 gain and so my volumes are -10 db from files not modified by this program).

This is the first (well, the last time you posted it) I have heard of using mp3 gain...what does it accomplish? Thanks.

With it you can change the volume of mp3 files without reencoding them.

I received the zbuds this afternoon and the audio keeps cutting in and out after 1hr of use. I realized that there is a poor connection where the wire enters the head phone jack. I have never had a set of headphones last less then a year never mind a day. Tips fit very loosely on the drivers. Very poor manufacturing. Not impressed what so ever.

Wow. I must be deaf but I have it at half.

Interesting read.

I'm downgrading to Z-buds (new for 9.99 shipped) from ER4Ps. I don't listen to my iPhone (2G) with earphones as I have a headamp and AKG702s at work. I'll post some reflections soon.

DC

Am I reading this wrong, or did you say you got them for $10?