[james444]

Ok, I'm celebrating my 6 year anniversary as a Head-Fier and decided to give away six of my IEMs to mark the occasion.

 

 
Left to right: JVC FX500, Cyclone PR2, Cyclone PR1 Pro, Atrio M5 (w/o package), ATH-CK100, ATH-CKM70
 
This thread will be open for about two weeks to give everyone the chance to participate. After that a winner will be chosen among the posters, who can then take her/his pick. After that second place, and so on. All items are free giveaways in used but very good condition and include free shipping to anywhere in the world (please don't PM me with buying offers as these are not for sale). Flowerpots and cactuses are for decoration only and will not be included.

 
The winners will be chosen by random number generator among all posts, but for the first two picks I will prefer those who take the trouble to use search, gather some information and post their opinion about one (or more) of these IEMs. Of course you can also provide a link to some external assessment/review of yours if applicable. While this is not meant to become a die-hard discussion thread, any exchange of opinions is welcome.
 
Rules:
- Please don't spam the thread to increase your chances. You'll most likely end up on my ignore list.
- Please don't PM me in this matter unless absolutely necessary. If you have questions, ask them here.
- Please be polite (we don't want to get this thread locked).
 
Enough said, let the game begin - have fun and good luck!

 
P.S.: Updates / FAQ in post #2

 

[james444]

Updates / FAQ:
 
Quote:

2 weeks might be a long time for this thread. 

 
Agreed, but for us folks in the northern hemisphere it's summer vacation time and I want to give everyone the chance to participate, so let's all just be patient.

 
Quote:

should you deem me worthy ...

 
The winners will be chosen at random. Only for the first two picks I'm going to check whether the contestant did at least a minimal amount of research, or in other words showed some genuine interest in these phones. If you're already an established member of the community you have nothing to worry, but if you just signed up and posted "Count me in" you won't be eligible for the first two picks. However, you can always go back and edit your first post to show you've done your homework.
 
Quote:

PS: I think the rules should have been one post per member, it's just going to be a thread full of people trying to turn it into a discussion thread maximizing their chances.
I personally wouldn't award that kind of approach, but that's just me.

 
I see your point, but on the other hand I don't want to ban discussion. Nevertheless, to keep it fair, only one's first post in this thread will be eligible. That means, if the random number generator picks a specific post, I'm going to check whether it's that member's first one in the thread. If not, I'll just skip it and generate a new number. That way there'll be equal chances for everyone and you'll be free to discuss as much as you like.
 
Quote:

Oh, and it might be a good idea to make a rule about reselling.

 
I've thought about this before I started the thread. As a matter of fact I'll have no control over what the winners do with their prize. So as far as I am concerned, you may do as you please, pass on, trade or sell, whatever. However, that doesn't guarantee that you won't be breaking any rules if you put them up for sale on Head-Fi, as I've seen admins go ballistic over folks who tried to resell their $99 TF10's at a higher price.

 

[B[van]]

Well I've read about the harshness of the CK100 and the recessed mids associated to it but apparently they are not really that popular here compared to the CK10. Is it really bad or is it just the price or marketing of the 100's that didn't appeal to people?

 

[ClieOS]

Thanks for your generosity to the community, James. Also an early congrats to the lucky winners of those lovely IEM. Please do not count this post in and leave the chance to the next inline.

 

[mp3]

I have the CK10's and appreciate them highly, would be interesting to see whether the CK100's are better or not. On the other hand, I have only hear one wooden IEM, the Vivanco Black Walnut, so I'm quite interested in a comparison between them and the FX500 as well

 
Anywhichway, a very, very nice initiative!

 

[tacomn]

thanks james for this giveaway or should I say give back to the community.... Seriously generosity like this is just startling to me 

  Being not really in the iem market too long I would love to really try any of these. I just like every one else would love to here the ck100 with there seemingly great highs, forward mids, and fast bass.  A balanced iem seems appealing, especially the first ever triple driver one. But at the same time, would love to hear the atrios for there thundering low bass

 

[Fred_fred2004]

My son's name is James, and Vienna is a really lovely place,
 
and you are a wonderful generous head-fier
 
hopefully
FRED

 

[Punslayer]

I haven't heard any of the earphones you're giving away.  I've been quite curious about the FX500, but tend to like my headphones a bit on the bass-light side, which doesn't seem to be JVC's style.  
 
The CKM70 could be nice as I think the CKM50 are possibly the most comfortable canalphones I've tried, but I don't like the recessed mids.  I've wondered if the 70s are a little more mid-forward or not?
 
Good luck with your giveaway, the time does fly doesn't it?

 

[SolidSnake3]

 
James, 
 
The FX500 really appeal to and interest me as I have never gotten the chance to hear a wooden iem. I have heard some woodied headphones before and really loved the way it altered the sound, I got a bit more of a natural or organic feel to the music from the wood as opposed to a more harsh metallic sound.
 
The ck100's also appeal to me immensely because I have just finished auditioning a pair of ck10's and would be very excited to possibly compare the two. I really did like the ck10's however it would be amazing to try/own these and see where my preference lies for ATH.
 
Thank you for this great contribution to headfi and it's members!

 

[LCDScreen]

Wow that's mighty generous of you. Great initiative to let people who do not have the means to own multiple iems(ie students, like me. =x) get an experience of a different sound.

 

[DaEMoNteNTAcLe]

wow, very nice of collection u have there james444, and very generous of you.
well good luck to the winner as well.. i do hope to win though.
 
Quote:

Well I've read about the harshness of the CK100 and the recessed mids associated to it but apparently they are not really that popular here compared to the CK10. Is it really bad or is it just the price or marketing of the 100's that didn't appeal to people?

i believe, the reason why ck10 / ck100 is not so popular is more because it is hard to obtain, and because of its high price (+ shipping + tax).
i have heard and compared both prior to getting my ck10, but from what i can say from my memory is,
ck100 is not recessed at all, in fact it is very forward, mid and upwards.. to a point that, anything else i tried after ck100, even ck10 feels so recessed in the mids and treble. otherwise, i did not found it harsh, since i do have problems with harsh treble, and ck100 being more prominent in treble than ck10, i found it to be quite smooth instead. I was able to listen to a whole song without itch, but it does tire my ears.
 
i do found that my ck10 is very unforgiving of source, even small distortion, compression, jitter, etc, are obviously presented. I already stopped using mp3, so its not a problem. Even from a good recordings, cutting down a 1000kbps song into say, 192kbps is going to cut and average the signal from 1/5th to the whole sum.. thus introducing distortion, noise floor, jitters, etc. 
im using modded ipod + rockbox, which is very revealing, but very smooth sounding as well as long as the song is not poorly encoded.
 
being more forward than ck10, i would say ck100 would clearly (harshly?) produce this defects.
|joker| have a review on ck100, and he does comment that it is very source dependant, and would sound lovely on the correct ones.
 
i do think ck100 is a unique iem, that focus on mids upwards as its presentation.
 
if i can give my opinion on the others;
fx500 - i have not heard personally i cant comment, except that people here commented on the recessed mids and very harsh/spiky treble.
cyclone pr2 - there's quite a few reviews around, i havent gone into it at all tho..
cyclone pr1 - same as above
Atrio M5 - very bassy, was once regarded in head-fi as a top iem few years back, and still regarded as a bass monster with immense amount of bass punch for an iem.
ck100 - as above
ckm70 - is this dynamic? im kinda confused with the new ck90.. or is it ckm90? im not sure. xD
 
anyways good luck to the winners, i hope i can be one of them.. i really like woods tho..

 

[rskbug]

Lady luck for CK100's.. Smile Lady Luck
 
CK100 Reviews:
 
Toughnut : http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/419992/tf10p-ie8-ck100-reviews
Trysaeder: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/483569/audio-technica-ck100-review
Shigzeo: http://www.touchmyapps.com/2010/01/06/audio-technica-ck100-inner-earphones-in-review/
Sieg9198: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/409871/audio-technica-ath-ck100-impression
 
 
 
 

 

[2rooi123]

x2 on the generosity
hopefully some lucky newbie will get picked and start their audiophile journey
don't count me in by the way

 

[TekeRugburn]

I been wondering about the cyclone PR1 pro for sometime but hard to come by since its out of production.  I havent heard anything bad about it....but a real bang for buck iem.... i take that back i remember people saying the build quality was so-so..... with a couple have them die on them. 
 
BTW.... this is awesome..... one day hopefully I can do something like this!  

 

[praetor47]

wow. awesome idea (more for the rest of us than for you, i guess ). anyway, much kudos to you for this.
 
i'd really like to hear those picky CK100 mids (especially since i don't have any midcentric iem at my disposal) and how they pair with the Sony X, or that famed timbre of the JVC woodies