Phonak Audeo (PFE) Appreciation Thread - Page 140

For those types of music, you might want some bumped up bass. The PFE's are very fast which would work, but the bass is not thick and heavy.

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or maybe an amp with bass boost?

i've never found that these lack bass imho, especially with the black filters.

I set my sony's clear bass to 2, with grey filters, plus a Fiio E5 with bass boost on, which I find gives the perfect balance between bass and clarity. The thing about the black filter is that I find the sound soft and flaccid (lolz).

HOWEVER, the sibilance on the PFE is up there on my list of "Reasons to die", and to this day I still wonder if I'd realise it had I not read about it.

Wow, I've never heard a split second of sibilance from the PFE (but I agree with you about the black filters). I think I've only ever heard sibilance from the q-JAYS, though, and I've never come across another remark to the effect that the q-JAYS are sibilant. I sometimes wonder if everyone has the same definition of "sibilant." With the q-JAYs, it was a SHHHHHHH sawing sound that accompanied every vocal or string instrument. Not so much a hissing, "S" sound.

My period of being totally blissed-out by the PFE is over, but it's still the most listenable IEM I've ever heard. I never get sick of it, though I find it incapable of handling quite a few albums.

My filters seem to get sick of me, however, as only one of the grey ones it came with has never once crapped out on me. Very weird. Maybe my eardrums secret venom.

Well, I do digress, you can definitely do a whole lotta worse than the PFE's in terms of sibilance *stares at the CX500* but the thing is, everytime there's a "sss", "sshh", or "tsss", or even an "kkk" sound, I ALWAYS notice it, and it does over power the other sounds in at that moment. But yeah, it's definitely not as bad, I just played Teardrop with the CX500, and "s" sound is headache inducing.

I'd say the bass is really a matter of taste... hip-hop is my primary genre, i like electro too, and i love the bass coming from the PFE, it's superbly deep, tight and linear. Of course if you prefer a bloated and sluggish bass you won't like it.

I agree. It's tight and accurate but you're not going to get bass on par with sub-woofers or anything like the IE8. It's good, but it's not bloated.

If you're getting it for house music you MIGHT feel that it's too light; they weren't made to be bass monsters :/

Yes, that works as well. I do agree with jiamenguk that bass boost + greys sounds better (to me) than the black filters, but that's just personal preference.

QFT. One of the things I like about the PFE + bass boost is that you get PLENTY of high quality bass with a good thump. As mobbaddict as pointed out, it's not subwoofer style bass, but a lot of subwoofer like bass headphones toss out a lot their bass quality. Some toss out ALL of their bass quality (e.g. Klipsch S4)!

Arguably part of the problem is the recording itself. Recordings are getting hotter and hotter.

I do think the PFE can be a little hot sounding as far as sibilance, but it rarely bothers me until the recording itself it too hot. Some music needs the HD650 to sound listenable.

From elsewhere on the WEB I found a review of these which stated:

"Astonishingly so, just by reversing the tips, the Comply® are crisper and at the same time, a little less bassy. Whereas before, they slightly muddied the sound, reversing them keeps bass, treble and mids clean, crisp and maintains the excellent seal for which Comply® tips are are renowned."

Has anyone tried this?

i dont know if someone already ask about this, but how to see the difference between PFE V0 to the newest V1?

The new ones have a strain relief on the Y-splitter, the old ones don't. That's probably the most obvious difference.

I loaned my new PFE to a friend, but I will get them back today. I can post some comparison pics, new vs. old, later.

I'm loving mine. Much better than the Super Fi 3s I had before. More clarity, thicker, fuller sound.

Top = new, bottom = old:

Selling a fresh set cheap in the for sale forum. Like them but I think I need to up the budget.

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't they improve the casings also? I haven't been keeping track lately.