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Who feels there's maybe "too much" choice now?

post #1 of 18
2/19/10 at 9:25pm
Thread Starter 
I dunno, seems like a crowded market place, how does a newbie even choose now heh. I remember when I first got into iems, it was all about shure vs etymotic and UE. I haven't used another IEM since I went custom 4 years ago and the amount of new brands and models now is just
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post #2 of 18
2/19/10 at 9:28pm
That's unpossible.
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post #3 of 18
2/19/10 at 9:28pm
The number of choices itself isn't bad, but the lack of reviews for some of the most obscure IEMs is really maddening.
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post #4 of 18
2/19/10 at 9:30pm
well there may be more choices but i find it a good thing. theres been a lot of advances in the iem world imo and it's good for us as a consumer. A couple years ago to get to the universal level of where its purely based on sound signature was strictly limited to UE Triple Fi, UM2, SE530 and maybe Ety ER4 and the most affordable was the Ety at somewhere under 200 with the rest into the 300 dollar price range. Now there are a lot of iems that can be categorized at that without breaking the bank where it can go as low as 80ish for some people with the RE0 to others in the 100-200 dollar range. It may be very confusing for newcomers but thats why such a forum such as head-fi exists. There's ton of knowledge here and useful threads such as those multi iem which gives those newcomers a short summary about those earphones and the kind of sound signature they offer. I like all this new competition, new advances and things will probably only get better from here.
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post #5 of 18
2/19/10 at 9:34pm
Yes, technology is bringing down the prices of IEMs dramatically, and improving them at the same time. I like the fact that there is a lot of new products, except for the wallet portion
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post #6 of 18
2/19/10 at 9:42pm
Amen, I remember when it was basically ER6 vs E2c for "affordable" IEMs.
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post #7 of 18
2/19/10 at 9:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by theKraken11 View Post
The number of choices itself isn't bad, but the lack of reviews for some of the most obscure IEMs is really maddening.
++
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post #8 of 18
2/19/10 at 9:51pm
Don't forget good sales on IEMs so the rest of us can actually grab some of them
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post #9 of 18
2/19/10 at 10:46pm
This reminds of an almost off topic story. A friend of mine here in the US once hosted an exchange student from Russia. On the way home from the airport, he stopped at the grocery store, so he could stock the house with food. The kid that was visiting was absolutely amazed at the number of choices that were available. For example, in the US there are about 100 different varieties of potato chips (or "crisps"), whereas Russia evidently isn't like that. "How do you ever decide what to buy?"

I think most people choose a favorite brand or a few brands and stick with that many products. They don't add another brand to the list unless someone recommends it or it catches their eye for some reason. I think headphones, and electronics in general, are the same way.

Plus, if there wasn't so many different products, what would we have to talk about?
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post #10 of 18
2/19/10 at 10:53pm
There may be a lot of choices, but accurate iems are still hard to find. Most iems tend to be designed with a "fun" sound. On top of this, iem frequency range is still weak compared to full-size phones. I want to see a reasonably priced universal iem that can compete in these areas with full-size phones.
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post #11 of 18
2/19/10 at 10:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by theKraken11 View Post
The number of choices itself isn't bad, but the lack of reviews for some of the most obscure IEMs is really maddening.
...

if there are no reviews, go buy it and review it
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post #12 of 18
2/19/10 at 10:56pm
I really find the IEMs very compatible to use, awesome sound, decent sound stage , separation of instruments and so on.

The choices available is definitely a boon as customers can decide on a specific sound signature
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post #13 of 18
2/19/10 at 11:08pm
its good for us , they will compete to be better and better
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post #14 of 18
2/19/10 at 11:36pm
Yes, the $80-$200 range seems flooded with choices these days
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post #15 of 18
2/19/10 at 11:47pm
Universal IEMs are indeed becoming a over saturated market. That's one of the reasons why I am exploring customs.
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