[leungie]

might give the Shure Tri-flanges a go....

 

[shigzeo]

@OP, my old review of the CK10 from 2008 is here: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/382519/review-audio-technica-ck-10-dual-armature-iem

 

[Szadzik]

Paid for a pair of used CK10s yesterday and should have them in two weeks or so. My first IEMs and I hope I will be happy with them. I generally dislike IEMs but for traveling they seem the best option so I want to give them a try. 
 
I will report later how I like them.

 

[shigzeo]

Yes, do tell us how it went. I am still in love with these almost three years from my original purchase. Despite hearing more expensive and exotic earphones, I love them still.

 

[Szadzik]

 
Quote:

Yes, do tell us how it went. I am still in love with these almost three years from my original purchase. Despite hearing more expensive and exotic earphones, I love them still.

I got the IEMs yesterday evening and am in the process of testing them. I got scared i nthe beginning as I heard raw harshness when I first put them on and had to EQ extensively to lower mids and highs harshness. I put them away for some time and when I got back to my accommodation I tried them again and the harshness was totally gone. A real mistery. I am now using them with no EQ on my Sony X. I should be getting Corda Stepdance and Headsixx so I will see how these sound with an amp. I do not have my Sony LOD with me though and will have to test headphone out for now and when I get home in 3 weeks I will try with the LOD too. I compared them a bit with my Senn MX980s and they are a bit different. The Senns are a bit smoother with more bass while ATs more neutral with no emphasis on bass. I like both I have to admit . I will compare CK10s to the 7x pricier T5Ps whn I get them at the end of the week. 
 
So far I tried the small tips and Sony hybrid ones and to me it seems the AT ones are better. I tested them on AC/DC Black Rain/ Anything Goes and with the hybrid's the thump at 33-40s is barely audible while with AT tips it is present. The I suppose it is also because of fit as I am getting much better fit with AT tips than with Sony hybrids. 
 
I like them for now and have to say these seem to be the real Jack of all trades (master of none, but not a slouch either). They just sound ood with anything I throw at them.
 
I will report back later when I have more impressions.
 
P.S. As for fit, cable, construction - great. The cable is much nicer than the one on ESW9s I had some time ago. 
 
Isolation is great too. I have never used IEMs so now I am astounded by how much they isolate - definitely not for office use
 
P.P.S. When I am back in Europe  I will try to get hold of some other tips too to see how they work.

 

[Szadzik]

And here i what I love about headphones - every time i buy a new pair I cannot stop listening to music. I feel compelled to put the new pair on and listen, listen, listen.
 
Ck10s may be not the most engaging IEMs out there but the neutrality is great. Listening to Marillion's Misplaced Childhood Demo CD I cannot stop smiling
 
 
Edit: Listening more and more to these I get the impression that they are great, however sometimes with some songs they lack the sparkle, the fun part of headphones. I listened to a few tracks that need headphones with a sparkle - Dire Straits Money for Nothing, Mech  Painkiller, Ozzy Osbourne Perry Mason and a few others and I have to say I missed the fun of ESW9s, even though it was often overdone in ESW9s.
 
I am now also trying to use them as much as possible to try and get used to having something inside my ear canals

 

[Szadzik]

After further deliberation, a quick look at my current setup and the isolation T5Ps provide I think my CK10s will not get much use and am already thinking about getting rid of them.
 
I will put an ad in for anyone interested. Such a shame I am letting these go but next to my t5ps they just have no chance of being used and I am not a collector either.

 

[kingpintps]

What price would you be letting go of them for? They have been on my wish-list for long, but I just can't seem to afford them right now. Would you be okay with shipping it to India? Let me know once you post the ad and I might consider.
 
Quote:

After further deliberation, a quick look at my current setup and the isolation T5Ps provide I think my CK10s will not get much use and am already thinking about getting rid of them.
 
I will put an ad in for anyone interested. Such a shame I am letting these go but next to my t5ps they just have no chance of being used and I am not a collector either.

 

[amnsiac]

Bit of a saga;
 
So maybe three months ago I started having trouble with my CK10s. I bought them off a fellow head-fier (music_4321, who has been nothing but helpful throughout all our correspondence) last February. Naturally I absolutely loved them, they got hours of use every day for months on end. I liked them so much that I took a hiatus from head-fi because I felt this was the best I could expect and otherwise I'd fall further down the rabbit hole and buy more expensive gear that I didn't really need. So I was pretty bummed when things went awry.
 
Basically the left channel seemed to get blocked somehow. At first it was complete, then it went away and they were fine, then it got intermittent but eventually it was constantly there. I don't think it was a loose wire or one of the BAs failing or anything, I spent a lot of time listen with demo tracks and right left faders and it seemed to be across the board attenuation of the signal. Straight up blockage. I thought at first the blockage was in the tiny vent on the back face of the earphone, but if I blocked the vent on the other side it didn't make much difference to the sound at all. Then after searching around the net a bit I noticed that my 'phones seemed to be missing the cotton-type filters at the nozzle. Even though, same as most IEM users, I was pretty vigilant about earwax, it seems that over time some got right down into the nozzle and blocked it.
 
I got in contact with the AT service centre in London. They said send them over and they'll see what they could do. Initially I had no receipt so I was worried about how strict they were on warranty info. Music_4321 had got them sent to him by a friend in the US, and he had thrown out the receipt. Anyway I told AT it was a gift and hope for the best. Thankfully when when talking to AT they said 
 
Quote:

I really must request again that you provide me with proof of purchase to carry out any sort of repair under warranty.
Your proof of purchase can be in the form of an old bank statement? Or a letter headed document from the place where they were bought from

so this meant that a quick inbox search for music_4321's friend turned up enough info to suffice as proof of purchase.
 
Now the not so good news. AT said that the CK10s are totally discontinued and that as the earphone is a sealed unit they weren't able to repair them. Bugger. I was on the phone with them this morning and they're going to send out a pair of ATH-CKM90s to me, along with the original CK10s. There's not much out there about the CKM90s, but they're single BA, and apparently a bit bass heavy. Probably pretty decent, but unfortunately not CK10s! In fairness I can't really complain, considering how helpful AT has been and they're doing the best they can.
 
Basically that's it! I should have the CKM90s in about a week, and I'll probably put up a half-decent review since there isn't much out there about them. I'm going to try and fix the CK10s myself when they return. I may as well. I think I'll try putting them oven at 50 degrees C, I can't see that dong much damage and if the wax worked its way in there at body temp (~37) then maybe if I heat it up a bit it'll work its way out. If that doesn't work I'll try opening them. I know they're sealed but I've seen them opened before so hopefully I can manage it without doing too much damage. I've nothing to lose really since they aren't really usable in their current state.
 
\end saga
 
P.S. Dzadzik are you from NI for Nicaragua or Northern Ireland?

 

[Donnyhifi]

Hello Amnsiac,
 
I doubt the CKM90 will sound as good as the CK10, maybe you can attempt to try and fix it yourself or have them reshelled. They can be opened up though, check out this thread, post#827
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/467576/audio-technica-ath-ck10/825

 

[amnsiac]

Yeah I really don't expect them to sound as good, I just hope they aren't that bad.
 
I'm not a believer in reshelling myself, I don't see the merit really. If you want customs, pay for them to be done right.
 
As for the post, that's the picture I've seen before of them opened. I think opening them will be a last resort. Considering it's probably a nozzle blockage, I'm not sure if opening the back of the 'phones will be any help.

 

[Szadzik]

 
Quote:

What price would you be letting go of them for? They have been on my wish-list for long, but I just can't seem to afford them right now. Would you be okay with shipping it to India? Let me know once you post the ad and I might consider.
 

 

$220 but I am open to offers. Here is the listing:
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/533851/fs-audio-technica-ath-ck10

 

[Szadzik]

 
Quote:

 
 
P.S. Dzadzik are you from NI for Nicaragua or Northern Ireland?

Northern Ireland

 

[dansus]

Quote:

Bit of a saga;
 
Basically that's it! I should have the CKM90's in about a week, and I'll probably put up a half-decent review since there isn't much out there about them.
 

Please let us know how they go, thinking of buying some soon.
 

 

[amnsiac]

 
Quote:

Please let us know how they go, thinking of buying some soon.
 

Sorry for not replying sooner, I've been pretty busy lately.
 
I know I said I was going to put up an extensive review but I haven't had time really. Basically the M90s are pretty good but I never use them. They obviously don't sound as good as CK10s, there's less mids, boomier low end and overall less detail, but they're still pretty good. I never use them because I got used to wearing my headphones the whole time when the CK10s broke and when the M90s arrived I tried them out for a day or so and then went back to the headphones. They have fairly noticeable microphonics which meant that even though they probably did sound better than my headphones I was happier with the cans. 
 
I should probably sell them since I never use them, maybe PM me if you're interested or I might just set up an ad here. Maybe I'll give them to |joker| for a real review, if he doesn't already have 20 earphones in the queue that is! 
 
Anyways I hope that helps, any specific questions, I'll do my best to answer them.