Need advice on my first decent IEMs - Page 2

I owned a pair of SHP8500 and they sucked in my opinion. Was loads better than my Koss UR21 though. I honestly don't think much about brands when I buy them, its the SQ that matters. Having said that, I've tried gears from different manufacturers, both cheap and expensive. I owned Bose, which I abhor and own a pair of Koss Portapros which I adore. It's not about badge snobbery, its about trying the right pairs of headphones I guess. Like I said, maybe I haven't tried the better sounding Philips audio gears. I just let my opinion of the 2 Philips gears that I have tried overrule me. Plus I don't think badge snobbery comes in much when you develop a taste for the distinctions. For example, you might simply like the sound signature of a certain brand more than others and you keep going back to the same brand. It happens. 

I understand now that Philips do produce decent gear. So thank you for that insight ddoingwell. I guess I'll give those SHP9000 when I get the chance.

Well, I guess Klipsch S4 is a good pick. Grado recently released three IEMs, iGi, GR 8 and the GR 10. The GR 8 seems to be fairly good, but then isn't worth the money (according to one reviewer at least). Last time I checked, iGi was somewhere in the 80-100 dollar market. If I had only 80-100 dollars to drop on a pair of IEMs these two would be my pick. 

I'm not sure what the reviews on the iGi are saying about them...I was only bothered to read about the GR 8 and GR 10 since I'm in the 400-500 dollar IEM market. I sort of stopped buying IEMs from lower price points due to general disappointments. I also don't have access to as many IEMs over here as I would like. 

Grado sound signature is quite good. The sound is clean and the bass is tight and controlled. The sound can be described as being slightly warm. But its not exaggerated like the kind of warmth you get from Bose. The details and clarity is very good too. I own the SR60 and I definitely think they're the best headphones at the 70 dollar price point. So Grado's reputation is well deserved. I heard good things in general about their new IEMs. Whether they're all worth the money is a matter of opinion I guess. Lots of people think that the Sennheiser IE8 aren't worth the money. I would have agreed back in my 200th hour of burn in, but now that its been 260+ hours, the sound has shifted slightly again. Well anyway, a matter of opinion.

Or you can go all in and buy an upgrade that will not only sound great, but last you ages. Like try a Monster brand earphone. Some come with a Lifetime warranty, and Monster will replace them once no questions asked if you were to break them yourself. Koss has a lifetime warranty too, with a small fee per replacement. But they don't carry lots of good IEMs, and the only Koss I ever really liked are the Portapros.