Hi fellow seekers of the perfect sound ,

Ok, so I've owned the super fi 5 pros, the SE530's, the Sennheiser HD 555's, and the Sony XB300's. Basically: I love the treble of the super fi's and the 555's-- they are smooth, yet detailed (at least sufficiently so for my tastes), but I find the treble of the SE530's to definitely frequently be a little harsh or too present or forward (something I realize is unusual to hear around here). I should mention that I use the silicone tips and always make sure I get a proper seal. So, I'm looking for an IEM that has similar treble to the super fi's or the 555's (555's have better extension though), and maybe a tad more bass than the SE530's would also be nice. However, I find the IE8's to definitely have too much bass on the minimum bass setting (flabby, bloated). So... does such an IEM exist?

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My source is the 2nd gen itouch that has a virtually perfectly flat frequency response (aside from a virtually nonexistent 0.2db boost at 16khz). All comparisons will be made to the SE530's.

So, bass aside with the XB300's (I EQ to bass reduction on my itouch only with them, otherwise I have EQ off), I find the Sony's to definitely have recessed mids-- which I can guess is that dip in the ~300-900hz range. I also feel that the Sony's suffer from even harsher highs at times-- compared to the SE530's, you can see that there is a boost past 1khz. Also, as you can see from the graph, the 555's dip relative to the SE530's past 1khz-- so, I will assume this is responsible for the smoother highs (which I want). I feel that past 3khz isn't responsible for my harsh highs, as all the phones seem roughly similar (or maybe I'm totally wrong...?).

I really also wouldn't mind a slight boost in mid-lower bass relative to the SE530's. Certainly nowhere near that of the XB300's or the IE8's.

My hypothesis: since ALL songs (or albums) have different biases, I think that the perfect 'phones would have it so that 1/3 of songs would have too much bass, 1/3 would have too little, and 1/3 would have just about enough (so on and so forth for treble, mids).

So, that pretty much sums that up-- any ideas?

Ortofon e-Q7 seems to be what you want, or Westone UM2 to a lesser degree. There are a few review on the e-Q7 in the forum if you search around. My e-Q7 sum-up is in my signature (Multiple IEM shootout v3), which also has a link to my in-depth review.

I invite you to participate in the following thread: Shure SE530's treble harsh?

Just a question: have you actually heard the IE8 or are you simply referring to the graph?
It is really strange that you find Shure's treble harsher than Super fi's. I personally never heard the shures, but they are supposed to have rolled off trebles. Compared to ie8, super fi 5 pro have artificial, emphasized, not-so-natural trebles, imo. I would have agreed with you before listening to IE8, but now I have, I have a hard time going back to Super fi's. The Senn extends much higher, and do not have that emphasis around 10 khz.

What about the Westone W3? Is has deep bass and less treble a far as I remember...

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I have auditioned the IE8's and it became immediately clear that it suffered from flabby, bloated bass (I can't comment on treble). All I know is that I listened to the super fi's for years day in and day out and I virtually never found the treble too much. Going to the SE530's in the last 6 months it was pretty readily apparent that they were too bright.

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I can't seem to find this thread... (?). Can you provide a link please?

LESS treble than the SE530's? Wow... maybe you're talking about the mids (which is indeed too forward for some)? Can't think of another IEM in the higher tier category that is less harsher in the treble, I'm afraid... 530's are as rolled off on highs as you can get.

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Well, maybe you're right-- as I say in the OP, I suspect that the problem might actually lie in the +1khz to 3khz range (which is definitely upper mids territory). I suppose I should get more acquainted with what the frequencies sound like-- then again a frequency response test sounds entirely different from actual music .

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Flabby, bloated bass? IE8s have some of the tightest, clean bass response that I've ever heard. They aren't flabby or muddy at all when it comes to bass. Not to mention that their treble response is crisp and not rolled off like the Shure line of IEMs. Maybe you put the IE8s inside your ears too far like an IEM, when they are only supposed to go in your ear slightly.

Also, the IE8s that you auditioned, were they even burned in for more than 100 hours? The sound of the IE8 changes dramatically, especially after the first 100 hours.

Klipsch Custom 3 has better bass response than SE530 especially if you are looking for more quantity without loosing quality(iIt has less highs).

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1) It's all subjective (i.e., only comparative remarks are useful here in this sense 2) yup

TF10pro seems to fit. Not that i've heard SF5pro, so i don't know whats the difference in bass quantity between those 2, but i do find TF10pro having more bass, deep bass especially, than SE530.

Ortofon e-Q7 is also a good alternative, in fact i'd recommend it more than TF10pro, but i'm not sure if you'll be satisfied with the bass quantity. It does has more bass than SE530 too.

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Thanks! Looks cool

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Aren't the TF10's supposed to be brighter than the SE530's?